Movies 2025 Movie Discussion Thread

[Andrew POE!]

I'm planning on watching all 3 Transporter movies this month since my Starz subscription runs out on January 26th. I also want to watch The Bank Job. He and Liam Neeson can do movies where they are tough, kill bad people, and scowl the entire movie and I'll watch them.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

1 minute ago, J.H. said:

Am I wrong for wanting Statham to stretch himself cinematically?

Like, does he have an Every Which Way But Loose on him?

I'm not saying anything movie where he kisses an ape specifically but I'd like to see him in a comedy or romcom. 

James

Honestly, I could see him pulling it off. I could also see him in dramas as a Ben Foster type of actor (someone who at one point I was very high on as the "tough guy, maybe dangerous" type.)

[Zimbra]

19 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Zimbra hates my posts  

I just hate the business thread.

18 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I still have my old Orion VHS of it somewhere

Hell yeah, I had the Killer/Hard Boiled double pack from Suncoast.  Still do, somewhere.

[J.H.]

Maybe a Broothethood of the Wolf type period/action movie could be a nice twist for our boy Statham. Or maybe take Godfrey's idea and make a movie called "The Librarian", where Statham plays an actual librarian who talks real low and threatens people who talk too loud!

James

Edited January 14 by J.H.

[(BP)]

Statham is very funny in Spy. It is curious he’s been an action movie star for twenty years and he hasn’t done a family movie in the Kindergarten Cop vein like basically all of his contemporaries.  

[Technico Support]

35 minutes ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

The Crank films (because they are clearly the pinnacle of cinema) made me a Jason Statham true believer. I will give anything he's in a shot. 

Hell yes.  It's been so long since I heard it (over a decade), but the How Did This Get Made episode about Crank where Neveldine & Taylor participated in the ep was so great.  The running joke for some dumb reason was that they'd skip Crank 3 and inexplicably go right to Crank 4.

Edited January 14 by Technico Support

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Crank is still the only movie where I've seen two dudes jump up and high five each other in a movie theater. 

[(BP)]

That happened in my opening night screening of Inglorious Basterds, but it was a row full of Hasidic dudes. 

[Mister TV]

1 hour ago, Andrew POE! said:

I'm planning on watching all 3 Transporter movies this month since my Starz subscription runs out on January 26th. I also want to watch The Bank Job. He and Liam Neeson can do movies where they are tough, kill bad people, and scowl the entire movie and I'll watch them.

The Bank Job was good.

[COLETTI]

Whenever I see people wonder if Jason Statham can do comedy, it makes me realize that way less people have seen Snatch than I figured. 

He's also quite a silly goose in Spy with Melissa McCarthy. 

[Raziel]

5 minutes ago, COLETTI said:

Whenever I see people wonder if Jason Statham can do comedy, it makes me realize that way less people have seen Snatch than I figured. 

He's also quite a silly goose in Spy with Melissa McCarthy. 

Yeah, it's weird since Statham started in comedies between Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.  And Mean Machine (which is just a British version of Longest Yard).  it's showing up in The One that started his action career.

[J.H.]

4 minutes ago, COLETTI said:

Whenever I see people wonder if Jason Statham can do comedy, it makes me realize that way less people have seen Snatch than I figured. 

He's also quite a silly goose in Spy with Melissa McCarthy. 

That is a really good point, because I love Snatch but there has just been so much Statham action in the last 20 some odd years that I gloss over how good he is in it.

Like, imagine if before he became an action god Arnold Schwarzenegger had been praised for playing Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet and got Oscar nomination for it. Then BAM! Arnold makes Conan The Barbarian and all his other 80s movies and suddenly Gene Siskel wonders when Arnold will return to "Serious Acting".

See! This is the type of shit Grant Morrison doesnt cover in Multiversity!

James

[Curt McGirt]

2 hours ago, (BP) said:

That happened in my opening night screening of Inglorious Basterds, but it was a row full of Hasidic dudes. 

I have to ask, at what point in the film did they do that? 

Another question, is Wrath of Man worth a watch? It's been doing the rounds on one of the Dish channels recently. 

[Mister TV]

45 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I have to ask, at what point in the film did they do that? 

Another question, is Wrath of Man worth a watch? It's been doing the rounds on one of the Dish channels recently. 

Yes. 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

Yours For The Asking (Criterion Channel, leaving on 1/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Light comedy about a conwoman (Ida Lupino) trying to take Johnny (George Raft)'s money. Surprisingly great physical fights (Raft seems like he would be perfect for a crime drama which he did quite a few in the 1930s and 1940s).

Lupino's chemistry and charm carries the movie.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (saw at the theaters) - 1.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is the most spectacularly mid movie I've seen. Story beat wise, it's a literal copy and paste of Den of Thieves with attempts to have 'character acting' from Gerald Butler and not give O'Shea Jackson Jr much to work with (beyond his character being more confident and assured compared to the last movie).

The literal highlight is Gerald Butler's character Nick smoking Ecstacy, saying "Fuck NATO!" and talking with Donnie (Jackson Jr) about their lives in California. Nick doesn't learn a fucking thing by the end of the movie and has not changed.

The heist scenes are the most low-impact, low thrills heist I've seen in quite awhile. The movie makes it seem like it will be high pressure, high stress heist - that's not the case. It goes without a hitch (until they get to the vault and find the diamond they're stealing has changed). Then Nick fucks it up because he's a fuckup. This movie is To Catch A Thief for COD generation.

The chase sequence that was spoiled by the trailers ensues and Donnie and Nick return the diamond and visit the Mafia to celebrate. Until the police show up and....why? Gee thanks Nick for ruining other people's lives after you helped pull off a heist. Why don't you find a pit to fall into?

The ending of the movie leaves open Den of Thieves 3: (Insert Cool Metal Band Name).

Despite my numerous problems with the movie, there were some great far wide angle shots of the French seaside during the chase sequence. And the opening scene (despite being really similar to the first movie's opening scene) was shot and staged really well.

If you're watching this movie and hoping to see members of Pantera, the characters sing along with "Walk," Gerald Butler doing air guitar to "Mouth For War," or any Pantera song playing in a sequence, you'll be sadly disappointed.

They just as well played "Just The Two Of Us" during a sequence with Nick and Donnie bonding (actually that would have been better). Or got O'Shea Jackson Jr's dad to play Captain Dickson and have Nick and Donnie go undercover in a high school to sniff out a drug called HFS.

Anything than what we got.

Cry Of The Hunted (Criterion Channel, leaving on 1/31) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Movie has so much gay subtext that Rainer Werner Fassbinder would sit up. The fights felt like a dance of passion rather than physical fights to the death. Much of the story is passable at best - although I loved the A Matter of Life And Death-esque sequence where Tanner (Barry Sullivan) is imagining Jory (Vittorio Gassman) being in a Heaven/Hell type of place.

The latter half of the movie resemble Bunuel's Death in the Garden in some respects with a desperate search undertaken from Tanner for Jory.

I dug how the car accident scenes were shot where the windshield cracked and it was made to seem like it really happened with Jory getting away on foot and then on a cable car. The driving scenes in Louisiana somewhat took me out of it.

 

[(BP)]

15 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I have to ask, at what point in the film did they do that? 

When they’re machine gunning Hitler’s corpse just for fun. 

Schwarzenegger started in comedy too. His early work is mostly stuff like Hercules in New York, The Villain, and Stay Hungry.  He even worked with Lucille Ball.   

There’s also his dramatic turn guest starring on Streets of San Francisco, which is quite funny but not on purpose. 

 

[Curt McGirt]

2 hours ago, (BP) said:

When they’re machine gunning Hitler’s corpse just for fun. 

The money shot of the whole movie. Perfect. I mark out every time. (They're not doing it for fun after the fact btw -- though I'm sure it was fun for them -- that's just how they killed him, they fucking DESTROYED him.)

I always thought Hercules in New York was fun and funny. It'd be cool to have a version where Arnold isn't dubbed to watch.

[Curt McGirt]

No grindhouse thread, no problem 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3jZ0UgFD94&ab_channel=OGTENGU

This is the final fight from Along Comes A Tiger, which was just on the Midnight Pulp channel. The weapon changing from a staff to a spear to a whip to nunchucks is so sick. 

[(BP)]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

I always thought Hercules in New York was fun and funny. It'd be cool to have a version where Arnold isn't dubbed to watch.

They made the right call with the dub. In the 60s Arnold was hitting the gym way harder than the ESL textbooks. It’s fun that he sounds like every future bad Arnold impression. 

 

[HumanChessgame]

Statham was less over the top action-y and more serious in Wrath of Man.

[Curt McGirt]

Oofta. Yeah... actually, the voiceover is a great deal of the humor, too, so that's especially bad. 

(double post from horror thread)

They're putting The Substance back in theaters since Demi won the Golden Globe 

[zendragon]

On 1/14/2025 at 9:58 AM, J.H. said:

Am I wrong for wanting Statham to stretch himself cinematically?

Like, does he have an Every Which Way But Loose on him?

I'm not saying a movie where he kisses an ape specifically but I'd like to see him in a comedy or romcom. 

James

I think his subplot in I believe the 2nd Expendables made me wonder if this could work

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....having to call it early.

A Bigger Splash (Max, leaving on 1/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

While A Bigger Splash is a remake of La Piscine (which I haven't seen and probably should watch), much of the movie reminded me of Antonioni's L'Avventura, Francois Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse and Paul Mazursky's Tempest.

For much of the movie, it is simply watching the characters be around each other. The opening 30 minutes really conveys the characters extremely well and without words - you can see the languish and security in the characters' lives. Harry (Ralph Fiennes) show up unexpectedly with his daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson) - unbeknownest to Marianne (Tilda Swinton) and Paul (positively Paul Mescal like Matthias Schoenaerts). For Harry, it's a continuous party and a "la bella vita" - which eventually gets on Marianne and Paul's nerves separately.

Marianne as a character is conflicted between Paul and Harry - Paul has given her security, but Harry has given her her career. Various flashbacks show Marianne's rockstar life with the opening concert scenes reminiscent of Hal Ashby's Let Spend The Night Together. Incidentally enough, The Rolling Stones is a touchstone for the movie with Ralph Fiennes dancing around to their "Emotional Rescue."

With much of the focus being on the older actors, Dakota Johnson's character Pen sadly has little to do. It's implied that she and Paul had sex while going hiking and also implied that Harry may not be her father due to the timing of the reveal and Pen wanting him to take a DNA test. We never know what happens to this story or if it'll ever be resolved.

The murder scene was a bit cluttered as Harry and Paul struggle in the pool until Harry drowns. The camera focuses on Fiennes' eyes as Schoenaerts relinquishes his grip and the camera pans upward then into an overhead shot.

Cinematography throughout the movie has a claustrophobic, chaotic feel to it - open areas hide a sinister edge to them and closed areas have no escape.

As always with Luca Guadagnino's movies, his usage of music is great - Harry Nilsson's "Jump Into The Fire" had pivotal usage especially after Marianne discovers Harry's body in the pool.

While A Bigger Splash is great at times, it's not one of Luca Guadagnino's best work.

Youth (Max, leaving on 1/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Movie is utterly goddamn gorgeous to watch but lacking at times with the script (which seems to be the case with Paolo Sorrentino's movies from what I've seen). Michael Caine as a composer named Fred and Harvey Keitel as his friend Mick are trying to see if they can out Marcello Mastroianni each other in what's pretty much is 8 1/2 in the Alps. Cinematography throughout the movie literally carries it despite some of the aspects of the movie veering really close to Fellini's style of filmmaking. I loved the scene where Fred was 'conducting' an orchestra of cows in a field and the 8 1/2-esque scene where Mick remembers various female leads from his movies.

The story of the movie seems to be both characters staring down their regrets and what they wish they could do. Fred's against having to perform one of his compositions for the Queen of England (until the very end) and Mick is struggling to work with a group of screenwriters to finish his film.

Jane Fonda and Harvey Keitel's scene together is simply magical to watch. It's like watching those that were famous in the 1960s (Fonda) and 1970s (Keitel) kicking and screaming as they go into that good night one last time.

Paul Dano has an interesting turn as a pretentious actor known for playing a robot who then turns up dressed as Hitler (although the reasons for dressing as Hitler is not clear but no less abhorrent).

I would say I liked this better than This Must Be The Place.

The Hard Way (Criterion Channel, leaving on 1/31) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Above average melodrama/noir with some inventive sequences - I loved the fast cut between shots that were used to denote passage of time and with multiple images on the screen at once - and a great performance from Ida Lupino.

The movie has a harsh depiction of a coal miner's town and is almost a precursor to a lot of realism dramas that would appear later. I always empathize with movies that don't sugarcoat anything - not having $8 doesn't seem like a lot (but who it may seem like a lot a few years from now). After the movie goes from an economic reality to the world of entertainment and showbiz, it turns a bit. Helen (Lupino) as a character is determined not to go back to that and doesn't want her sister Katie (Joan Leslie) to go back either.

The movie does lose its way a bit with the romantic subplots but some of the subplots (the fading singer who leaves a production after talking with Helen, Katie's husband's suicide) were really bleak. I sorta wished the movie stuck with the bleak tone.

The ending sequence is a bit of a tonal shift. Katie leaves Broadway (and fame) for a simpler life while Helen dies from her injuries in a suicide. With the ending, I don't know if the movie was as successful in accomplishing what it was trying to do - even though Ida Lupino gave a great performance.

 

[J.H.]

Well tonight, in honor of David Lynch, I'm rewatching Lost Highway. Easily one of the weirdest movies I've ever enjoyed and possibly my favorite movie featuring Robert Loggia (I'm kind of a lo-key mark for Loggia)

James

[Technico Support]

I never heard of A Bigger Splash and was dreading that it was a sequel to the mermaid movie.