MovieMeditation’s Diary Reviews // “Come and meditate with me!”

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Master of My Domain
Bah, who cares, we only give out prizes to the 2000th poster.
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Letterboxd Profile: https://letterboxd.com/GatsbyG/



Me too, the world is filled with Westerns that are better than The Searchers.
haha yeah, i didn't say that because i barely remember The Searchers which is what i did say but yeah i'm with you.



I didn't read your Searchers review only because i want to see it again soon, but yeah i wasn't a fan either. At the time i found it tough to get through while respecting the visuals.
Me too, the world is filled with Westerns that are better than The Searchers.


Y'all seen Who Shot Liberty Valance? What's your thoughts on that one?



Haven't seen it. Don't really want to though.
Yeah, another film I don't exactly remember vividly, but looking at my rating it looks like I liked it a bit more than The Searchers. Still... not impressed.

I still need to get around Stagecoach and especially The Grapes of Wrath to get a better hold of Ford as a director and where I stand. Hopefully those have more to them.



Master of My Domain
I actually fully approve of Stagecoach. It's thrilling from start to end, and some parts feel like Die Hard on a coach. Grapes of Wrath is great too, including the book if you haven't read it yet.



MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... viewing day count
277 .......................... 328

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November 25th

—— 2015 ——
KNOCK KNOCK
—— horror ——



The best bad taste I've ever had in my mouth
during an entire movie…


Knock, Knock. Who’s there? Two smoking hot, soaking wet girls in next to no clothes wanting to get in Keanu Reeves' house. What does he do? Let them in, of course, that horny bastard. What happens next? Well, one of the trashiest black comedies I have seen, and surpsingly, enjoyed as well. Usually, combining comedy and horror can often result in cinematic catastrophes that fail to find the right kind of balance between the two and I guess it is generally a subjective opinion whether you want it darker, lighter, twisted or just terrifying. Whatever Eli Roth came up with here though, I liked, for some extremely odd reason, which sometimes makes me sit in the dark and reconsider my status as a serious cinephile…

Actually, I lied about the above, because I never ponder myself about my preferences in cinema. If you consider yourself a proper cinephile you either love, like or at least admire every single corner of it and never cry in shame when you realize you liked something, which isn’t widely praised. ‘Knock, Knock’ isn’t a great movie – it is a trashy film, full of plot holes, far-fetched actions and questionable going on atrocious acting – and you know what? I love it for it. The movie is endlessly quotable and the questionable acting is quasi-comedy at its finest, with a well-prepared Keanu Reeves delivering the best Nicolas Cage performance not delivered by Nicolas Cage.

The film falters at times, but the comedy elements are mostly consistent throughout and kept at just the right distance, so that it feels determined enough to be deliberately amusing, but still gruesome enough as the genre film it wants to be – both in terms of its homage to the originator, ‘Death Game’ of 1977, and when it comes to the grisly, offensive, obsessive and obnoxious cinematic cruelties – perfectly cut out in thin cardboard material, which you only need to knock on twice to tip over, but still looks surprisingly solid when you just look at it from a distance.

‘Knock Knock’ is no movie of art nor does it want to be – something that is both visually obvious with all the actual art being destroyed in this film, going from sculptures to vinyl records, but also just as a product in and on itself. Whether you like Eli Roth as the joker who plays all the cards, may also decide whether you want to see him play a royal flush or simply flush him out in the toilet as fast as possible. I must say I kind of want to flush him out, but at the same time, I kind of enjoy standing there and watch him disappear, because admittedly, at least he does make some fascinating sh*t…




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Agree, there are loads better Westerns than The Searchers. Who Shot Liberty Valance? would be one of the best though.
Glad we agree on The Searchers, SL.

But since I wasn't blown away in any shape or form by the latter, I would love to hear your essential thoughts on why WSLV is a masterpiece to you?



the samoan lawyer's Avatar
Unregistered User
Glad we agree on The Searchers, SL.

But since I wasn't blown away in any shape or form by the latter, I would love to hear your essential thoughts on why WSLV is a masterpiece to you?

Thanks for putting me on the spot MM! You know I'm not great at this but anyway, some thoughts. For me this stood out from other Westerns for some basic points. Firstly the acting was better than most,which was probably to be expected with Stewart, Wayne, Miles and Marvin but nonetheless, they all put in an excellent shift. I found this more powerful than most Westerns up to that point probably with the exception of 3:10 to Yuma, which I rate very highly also. Another point is for me this feels well ahead of its time, it has flashback sequences, plenty of action, its gripping from start to finish and what probably attracts me the most to it is that its relatively dark. From what I recall its much darker than his other Westerns that I've seen.


That's as best I can do at the minute.



MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... viewing day count
277 .......................... 328

__________________________


November 26th

—— 2000 ——
THE EMPEROR'S
NEW GROOVE
—— animation ——
DISNEY CLASSIC no.40

REWATCH
It isn’t just the Emperor
who’s got a new groove!


In the midst of The Disney Renaissance, a sudden stylistic and technical transformation happened to the studio, where the constantly evolving technology combined with a change of heart and hand, resulted in Disney daring to try new things with almost each and every release over a span of almost 15 years. Roughly starting around ‘Hercules’ in 1997 and ending with ‘The Princess and the Frog’ from 2010, which was then followed but their popular computer-animated adventures of the 21st century, starting with ‘Tangled’, which seemed to finally be where they felt comfortable…

Going through curls, swirls, crooked and conventional lines, Disney drew their way to this buddy comedy bonanza, which was boosting a fast pace and a fun surfaced style that worked like a wild ride from beginning to end; an entertaining adventure that accelerates quite quickly and rarely lets go. The storyline felt familiar, but not like a rip-off or remake but more like a greatest hits compilation inside a cult classic to be. Disney truly changed up their style and approach with this film, but though this buddy comedy with a man and a lama isn't exactly lame, I mainly see it as mindless entertainment that keeps me watching but makes me a little skeptical over how tacky, nonsensical, hectic and dumb everything actually is in the end of it.

Obviously, I’m able to sit back, relax and have fun no matter how infant or imbecile the humor might be. I honestly did just that with this film, but the story, the themes, the music and partly the characters are nothing to dance and shout about; it has one good thing going for it, but the rest of it goes up and down hill on a journey that admittedly only gets better as it moves along. In the end of it all, children will love this one and won't even care for my criticisms… but to me, there is something missing here… the movie-like magic, the moving scenes, the emotional investment, the intelligent fundament – not much of it was here and Disney opted out on almost everything apart from entertainment and a light emotional bond of two total opposites. It might be hollow, but oh my, how alive it is on the surface of things.




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Glad to see you enjoyed Knock Knock!

I didn't care for The Searchers but I loved Liberty Valance!
Hm, guess I gotta see Liberty Valance again. I just didn't like it much when I first saw it. I even thought one of my all time favorites, Jimmy Stewart, delivered a pathetic performance and not in a good way. The sets were flimsy and fake-looking and the story and moral was just too much. I don't know.

Must watch Knock Knock
Better watch with caution. It may be too much for an elderly, respectable woman like you, nebbit.