2024 MOVIES DISCUSSION THREAD

[The Natural]

I'm so pumped to see Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) in cinemas. Waited so long for this very moment.

[Technico Support]

Speaking of Tarantino films, there’s a deleted scene in Reservoir Dogs where White and Pink are trying to find medical attention for Orange.  Their idea is to contact a nurse one of them knows, Bonnie.  One of them even calls it “this Bonnie situation.”  I guess this was long before Bonnie got out of that life and no longer wanted “gangsters at her house doing gangster things.”

[(BP)]

53 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Speaking of Tarantino films, there’s a deleted scene in Reservoir Dogs where White and Pink are trying to find medical attention for Orange.  Their idea is to contact a nurse one of them knows, Bonnie.  One of them even calls it “this Bonnie situation.”  I guess this was long before Bonnie got out of that life and no longer wanted “gangsters at her house doing gangster things.”

She’s also in an early screenplay draft of Kill Bill. There’s an excised chapter where Go Go Yubari has a sister who almost kills The Bride, and Bonnie nurses her back to health. 

[zendragon]

There's a fan theory where all the Tarantino films are in the same fictional universe

[Zimbra]

There was an extremely long-time rumor that Tarantino was going to make a Vega Brothers movie with Michael Madsen and Travolta but I don't think it ever really got past him having the idea and saying "That would be a neat thing to do" in interviews.

[Log]

38 minutes ago, zendragon said:

There's a fan theory where all the Tarantino films are in the same fictional universe

I think that's not just a fan theory. I feel like he has talked about this.

[odessasteps]

42 minutes ago, Log said:

I think that's not just a fan theory. I feel like he has talked about this.

Yes. It’s been 25 years since the not-finished QT thesis, but it was definitely a thing.

[Brian Fowler]

Yeah. There's little things like Red Apple Cigarettes (which incidentally makes the View Askewniverse also part of it) and bigger things like Leo Donowitz in True Romance is the son or grandson of Donnie Donowitz in Inglorious Basterds, Vince and Vic being brothers (and related to Suzanne Vega), or Earl McGraw being in From Dusk Til Dawn, Kill Bill, Death Proof, and Planet Terror.

[Curt McGirt]

3 hours ago, Zimbra said:

There was an extremely long-time rumor that Tarantino was going to make a Vega Brothers movie with Michael Madsen and Travolta but I don't think it ever really got past him having the idea and saying "That would be a neat thing to do" in interviews.

Man, if only that ship hadn't sailed...

[driver]

The Instigators. A great cast, a familiar story and way better than it should be.

[J.H.]

My Dinner With Andre - I've never watched this beginning to end. Just clips here and there but never the entire film. I adore Wallace Shaun, as an actor he's carved out a very interesting career for himself. I am not really familiar with Andre Gregory but he is a compelling oral storyteller. 

Watching the entire movie start to finish is just really engrossing. You listen to how Gregory dissects his own experience for Shaun's reaction. Gregory has done things that are off the beaten path while Shaun has stayed in NYC pursuing his writing and supplementing that with acting. Gregory has experienced a different life but Shaun has merely existed. Wallace Shaun brings up the point that just going through the motions isn't really living. The irony is that what Shaun is doing, merely existing and not doing.

The argument of Shaun is living a fantasy through an electric blanket really is compelling. This movie is going to require another watch to see what juice can be gotten from this delicious fruit of a movie

James

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

Touch (Criterion Channel, leaving at the end of the month) - 1.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Movie is a mess. Starts really well with a satirical look at the nature of celebrity and religion, but half way through the movie lost its way and tried to be serious. The romantic aspect with Skeet Ulrich and Bridget Fonda were uninteresting (although Fonda was hot).

It felt like an attempt to be Get Shorty but it wasn't as good. Nothing really noteworthy about the movie although i liked some of the fantasy scenes.

Auto Focus (Criterion Channel, leaving at the end of the month) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Movie is pretty much Boogie Nights and Hardcore meets Sunset Boulevard. Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) is a complicated man - he is a teetotaler with religious convictions and an absolutely crazed sex addict.

Willem DaFoe as John Henry Carpenter is great as well - he gets pulling Crane into his world of strip clubs and using Crane's celebrity to pick women.

For the most part, I love the dream/fantasy sequences throughout the movie as Crane is thinking about his sex addiction, his show, and the women in his life. The sequence set to "I'm A Girl Watcher" is also great.

Movie isn't an all time classic, but executes really well on what it's trying to do.

The Barbarian Invasions (Criterion Channel, leaving at the end of the month) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

I wasn't familiar with Denys Arcand's work prior to this movie and vaguely knew about it from looking at Best Foreign/International Film winners.

Remy (Remy Girard) is a man in the tradition of men played by Woody Allen and Marcello Mastroianni. Like them, he pursued love, life, women, art, literature, cinema, and history. His character is informed by those things as he struggles to not go into that good night. In a lot of ways, this seems like a movie Mastroianni would have done as a sequel to 8 1/2 and be about the end of Fellini's Anselmi's life.

Upon further examination, the character of Remy in his pursuit seems to be undone by his actions and realizes this. He lost his job as a professor and seemingly didn't produce a lasting work or a lasting career from that. Except perhaps his feeling towards the works of man. "The history of man is a history of terrors."

I loved the scenes in the early goings with Remy and his son Sebastien (Stephane Rosseau). Even with the subtitles, you can hear the anger and resentment between the two characters as Sebastien storms off. This is despite Sebastien using underhanded means to get his father a private room. Remy acts awful toward his son while his son acts awful towards his father; but yet they seem to have a mutual understanding despite the awfulness.

What prevents this from being a perfect movie is the movie does lose its way a bit with the heroin side story. While it offers a temporary relief for Remy, it feels like a bit of padding story wise to the overall movie. With it being a sequel to an earlier movie The Decline of The American Empire, the characters feels 'half-introduced' but it's easy enough to follow the story.

A scene that stuck out to me is the one near the end with Nathalie (Marie-Josee Croze) walking around Remy's house and staring at the books on the shelves. One day, that will be us. We will have strangers staring at our possessions and what we owned and wonder about the titles of books, music, movies we had.

A Question of Silence (Criterion Channel, leaving at the end of the month) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows - Leonard Cohen, "Everybody Knows"

I could be wrong, but I think this movie had an influence on Anatomy of a Fall - especially the tracking shot from one side of the courtroom to the defendants' side and to the judges' bench and witness stand.

The soundtrack is god tier - just bubbling synths that set a tense, almost suffocating mood throughout the movie. I especially loved the scene where the psychiatrist Janine van den Bos (Cox Habbema) is recalling past interviews with the defendants and turns her and the synths intensify as she does so.

What I noticed is the helplessness the woman being charged with the crime feel. The judges and the public prosecutor have already made up their minds that they are guilty; the trial is merely a formality regardless of 'the social condition of the defendant.' A scene with Janine's husband (Eddie Brugman) illustrate this fact; he spoke of the justice system through the lens of everyone being a man.

The scenes where the women are shown having murdered the shopkeeper are done in an almost silent, yet non passionate fashion. It seemed more like a dance rather than a murder; the women involved are nearly stoic. This appeared again at the end.

I loved the intro scenes as well as the movie shows the three suspects in their living/work situations. What was especially cruel is Andrea (Hennette Tol) is smart and capable and makes a wise comment, only for it to be ignored and for her boss to say the exact same thing. Andrea's face afterwards is heartbreaking.

The ending especially shows that the situation cannot be resolved; the judge wondered if the same thing would have happened if the shopkeeper were a woman. I have a bit of a hard time determining what the women in the courtroom that were at the shop and the psychiatrist laughing really meant; my guess is it's an acknowledgement of a impossible situation and hopeless in the face of it. It brings to mind the phrase, "If I didn't laugh, I'd cry."

Very intriguing movie and very much ahead of its time.

 

Edited August 14 by Andrew POE!

[odessasteps]

I liked Auto Focus when I saw it in the theater, but I was a Hogans Heroes watcher most of my childhood and teen tears, since it was always on at 1300 on channel 17 in Philly, right after McHales Navy. 

[The Natural]

19 hours ago, The Natural said:

I've been debating whether to go for the 30th Anniversary of Pulp Fiction screening as it's in my top five Greatest Movies of All Time. However y'all know how much I love Batman. 

Next month some different cinemas in the UK and Ireland are having a Batman 85 Years celebration showing:

• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993).
• Batman Forever (1995).
• Batman and Robin (1997).
• Batman Begins (2005).
• The Dark Knight (2008).
• The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
• The LEGO Batman Movie (2017).
• The Batman (2022).

Of those:

• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993). Bought tickets. It's been my #1 re-release bucket list film ever. I was hoping it would be shown as a tribute to the late great Kevin Conroy in November 2002 or the 30th Anniversary in December 2023 but didn't happen.
• Batman Forever (1995). Sentimental as it was my first Batman Movie in cinemas. No need to see it again.
• Batman and Robin (1997). Watched this on original release. No way will I see it again.
• Batman Begins (2005). Watched this on original release. Tempted to see this again with Alyson. I love this film.
• The Dark Knight (2008). Watched this on original release twice in proper IMAX which is why I'll stick to those screenings.
• The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Watched this on original release in proper IMAX. By far the worst film in The Dark Knight Trilogy so won't see it again.
• The LEGO Batman Movie (2017). Watched this in cinemas when originally released. Won't see it again.
• The Batman (2022). I'll stick to my memory of seeing this with my Dad and Aje on my birthday when originally released.
• Surprised there's no Batman (1989) or Batman Returns (1992) especially the former turned 35 this year. I experienced both in the cinema for the 30th Anniversary.

Once I tick Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) off, I'm only missing Batman (1966).

Funny timing as 24 hours later, The Light Cinema I go to has added the following screenings:

• Shaun of the Dead (2004) 20th Anniversary. I'll definitely go to this as it's the only film of the Cornetto trilogy I haven't seen at the cinema. I saw Shaun of the Dead on TV before Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013). I've always felt Shaun of the Dead was the best of the three.
• Halloween (1978). A classic I'd like to see on the silver screen but perhaps not on actual Halloween when it's getting shown.
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) 40th Anniversary. A horror classic. Not sure whether I'll see it there or not.
• The Terminator (1984) 40th Anniversary. Great film but James Cameron doesn't need my money and I've always preferred Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
• Young Frankenstein (1974) 50th Anniversary. Very tempted. One of the funniest films ever made. Always thought it was better than Blazing Saddles (1974).

Any take your fancy?

Funny my cinema has little hope for The Crow (2024). Only one screening a day.

[The Natural]

Just now, The Natural said:

Funny timing as 24 hours later, The Light Cinema I go to has added the following screenings:

• Shaun of the Dead (2004) 20th Anniversary. I'll definitely go to this as it's the only film of the Cornetto trilogy I haven't seen at the cinema. I saw Shaun of the Dead on TV before Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013). I've always felt Shaun of the Dead was the best of the three.
• Halloween (1978). A classic I'd like to see on the silver screen but perhaps not on actual Halloween when it's getting shown.
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) 40th Anniversary. A horror classic. Not sure whether I'll see it there or not.
• The Terminator (1984) 40th Anniversary. Great film but James Cameron doesn't need my money and I've always preferred Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
• Young Frankenstein (1974) 50th Anniversary. Very tempted. One of the funniest films ever made. Always thought it was better than Blazing Saddles (1974).

Any take your fancy?

Funny my cinema has little hope for The Crow (2024). Only one screening a day.

Interesting how Halloween (1978) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) are now 15 certificates, down from 18, the highest in the UK. Same for Die Hard (1988) and The Crow (1994).

[HarryArchieGus]

9 hours ago, odessasteps said:

I liked Auto Focus when I saw it in the theater, but I was a Hogans Heroes watcher most of my childhood and teen tears, since it was always on at 1300 on channel 17 in Philly, right after McHales Navy. 

Having just seen it again, I can say for me it holds up well. Not that I had any doubt. Greg Kinnear was never better - perfectly cast. Willem Dafoe's creepy John Carpenter is great and kinda hilarious 'big daddy!'

Has anybody tackled Schrader's Dog Eat Dog from 2016 starring Dafoe, Nicholas Cage and director Schrader? The reviews aren't strong, but it's hard not to be curious. Looking over Big Paul's catalog - there's a bunch of films I'm barely aware of. Adam Resurrected? The Walker? Dominion-Prequel to the Excorcist? Dying of the Light? Light of the Day with Michael J Fox and Gena Rowlands!?! Touch? Oh I see Poe had a look at that last one. I've been wanting to see Mishima for far too long. Also curious to see his Patty Hearst. I recently saw the Comfort of Strangers and loved it. Looking to revisit both Light Sleeper (with it's weak and intrusive soundtrack) and maybe my favorite Scharader film - First Reformed. 

[Andrew POE!]

39 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Having just seen it again, I can say for me it holds up well. Not that I had any doubt. Greg Kinnear was never better - perfectly cast. Willem Dafoe's creepy John Carpenter is great and kinda hilarious 'big daddy!'

Has anybody tackled Schrader's Dog Eat Dog from 2016 starring Dafoe, Nicholas Cage and director Schrader? The reviews aren't strong, but it's hard not to be curious. Looking over Big Paul's catalog - there's a bunch of films I'm barely aware of. Adam Resurrected? The Walker? Dominion-Prequel to the Excorcist? Dying of the Light? Light of the Day with Michael J Fox and Gena Rowlands!?! Touch? Oh I see Poe had a look at that last one. I've been wanting to see Mishima for far too long. Also curious to see his Patty Hearst. I recently saw the Comfort of Strangers and loved it. Looking to revisit both Light Sleeper (with it's weak and intrusive soundtrack) and maybe my favorite Scharader film - First Reformed. 

Dog Eat Dog is on Mubi and sooner or later I'll get to that before it leaves. All the others you mentioned are scattered - either on Tubi/Pluto TV, not available or on a YouTube upload.

Light Sleeper is on Criterion and First Reformed is on Hulu (both of those I'll check out too).

I was surprised at how little I liked Touch. It clicked with me at first but then just fell apart. Auto Focus was a surprise and when DaFoe said his name was John Carpenter I thought "Oh no, the director John Carpenter who did Dark Star and Escape From New York?"

[Curt McGirt]

Mishima helped me during a dog-watching week where I had my head in the toilet from tequila poisoning half the time. Great movie. 

[J.H.]

Do you mean Light of Day with Joan Jett and Fox?

James

[HarryArchieGus]

3 hours ago, J.H. said:

Do you mean Light of Day with Joan Jett and Fox?

James

Michael Rooker, Michael McKean and Cherry Jones as well.

[elizium]

18 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

snip

For Denys Arcand, Decline of the American Empire is quite good, probably what he's most known for. My personal favourite is Jesus of Montreal, about a group of actors tasked with modernizing the Passion Play for a church. I'd recommend checking them both out.

e: I forgot about Stardom. Haven't watched that one in a long time, but really loved it when it came out. It's listed as 15 Moments on imdb, so I assume that's its Quebec release name. Stars a pre-Mad Men Jessica Pare

Edited August 14 by elizium

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

Polite Society (Amazon Prime, leaving tomorrow) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Rather cheesy and somewhat felt like Indian/Pakistan version of Everything Everywhere All At Once meets Crazy Rich Asians. Some rather funny bits throughout the movie.

The last 20 minutes is a bit barmy but fun to watch. Part of me was hoping the lab that Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) found was all in her head, keeping up with the fantasy/illusion motif through most of the movie.

I liked the ending quite a bit.

Broken Mirrors (Criterion Channel, leaving at the end of the month) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Marleen Gorris invented a David Fincher movie.

To elaborate a bit, this movie fits within the type of thriller that Fincher did with Zodiac and Dan Gilroy did with Nightcrawler. The split stories work effectively.

I have to point out one of the scenes where it shows various women at the brothel in the aftermath of having to 'entertain' men. It's devastating in their ordeal and the toil it takes on them.

I gasped at the person who helped drive one of the workers to the hospital towards the end. The ending sequence took my breath away.

The Last Island (Criterion Channel, leaving at the end of the month) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Bleak, depressive movie with some cheesy acting but executed quite well. When left to their own devices, if you have a group of men outnumbering women, they'll make decisions that doesn't help anyone (which is largely Marleen Gorris' point). Religious conservatives will always try to take over. Always. Then they have the gall to act like 'they are the minority' when they are assuming command anyway.

Some choice quotes from Joanne (Shelagh McLeoud).

"They know not what they do, so they don't have to know the consequences."

Ending is bit of a funny ending to be honest.

Marleen Gorris is one of the better directors I've seen recently.

Strange Darling (saw at the theater) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Movie feels like Nicolas Winding Refn directing Natural Born Killers (albeit not in his usual chronological order style). The non-linear structure works for the most part and inverted what's usually known about serial killer films.

Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner were great in their roles with both acting equally unhinged. It wasn't until Fitzgerald's character the Lady had got Kyle Gallner's character the Demon's money that you realized what may be going on.

Great cinematography from Giovanni Ribisi with everything having bright colors. I loved the sequence at start where the cars seem to drive directly towards the camera and the camera stays focused on them. Most movies do a cut away as the car is coming forward. I also loved the Blue Valentine-esque hotel room scenes. The ending is brilliant as the color fades into black and white as the Lady is dying.

The drawback is the movie won't hold up well on repeated viewings since the twist will already be known.

 

[Curt McGirt]

I'm sitting here in an entirely empty theater, waiting for the Alien movie to start, at the very back. Stole the seat because I picked the wrong end on the computer. First time I've ever been to a premier, so to speak -- 3 PM on a Thursday. Best seat in the house. The floors are sticky and the place is beautiful, one of the only pieces of old America I remember (despite the commercials) that seems to still exist. Being alone, I told the walls and seats "Thank you, theater, for being one the best friends I've ever had, that never turned against me."

Someone bought four seats way down in front of me. I hope they cancel.

[Andrew POE!]

42 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I'm sitting here in an entirely empty theater, waiting for the Alien movie to start, at the very back. Stole the seat because I picked the wrong end on the computer. First time I've ever been to a premier, so to speak -- 3 PM on a Thursday. Best seat in the house. The floors are sticky and the place is beautiful, one of the only pieces of old America I remember (despite the commercials) that seems to still exist. Being alone, I told the walls and seats "Thank you, theater, for being one the best friends I've ever had, that never turned against me."

Someone bought four seats way down in front of me. I hope they cancel.

I'll be going to the early premiere 'fan access' screening at 7 pm tonight and I'm trying to finish Morvern Callar before I go.

[Travis Sheldon]

My viewing has been randomly trying to catch up on certain films lately.

Watched Alien: Covenant (2017) on one of the streaming services, as if I'm going to see Romulus before 2025.

I liked it. Had heard loads of bad talk about the film, but it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.

I guess eventually I'll rewatch 3 and Resurrection, but they left such a negative impression on me originally that even though I've owned the Blu-Ray collection for years now, I still haven't gone back to them.

Ordered Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) 4K from Amazon and surprisingly had it delivered on release day.

Loved this one. It's not trying to be Fury Road and that's a good thing. Miller did a great job with the storytelling here.

I wasn't familiar with Anya Taylor-Joy going in, but she was great. Chris Hemsworth really knows how to chew the scenery.