Curt McGirt Posted February 1 Posted February 1 I only saw the last 1/2 hour or so of I, Tonya, but the characters were so goddamn close to how I imagined them to be watching the whole thing transpire on the nightly news as a kid, especially Paul Walter Hauser (a wrestling fan, I should note) being suuuuuch a greasy fucker. Really should watch the whole thing. Chase the dragon... chase it... 1 1
Andrew POE! Posted February 2 Posted February 2 Movies today....Wifi at my current hotel sucks lol. Probably going to go dark the rest of this week..... The Pope's Exorcist (Netflix, leaving on 2/11) - 2.5/5 stars Spoiler William Friedkin's The Exorcist given a MCU / cinematic universe spin. The approach somewhat robs the story of its power since this appears to be an introductory movie to an expanded series based on the ending (since 'there's over 199 places where God is not welcomed'). Father Gabriel Amorth (Russell Crowe) has an interesting background that the movie touches upon (his time with Italian resistance and a failed exorcist for a woman) with Ralph Ineson as the voice of Asmodeus given it a slightly sarcastic British accent. (It's amazing that Ineson can't seem to escape doing these types of movies with him appearing as a priest in The First Omen). For the most part, the movie has a lot of suspense and fear in how it was shot but is relatively underwhelming after it's done. Blood And Black Lace (Criterion Channel, leaving on 2/28) - 4/5 stars Spoiler Absolutely stylish and absolutely beautiful to watch, even with the murders that happen. This movie takes a beautiful Technicolor blueprint and intensifies it; this is the next logical extension of Hitchcock's Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much and North By Northwest. Every woman in the movie is as beautiful and as stylish as Grace Kelly or Tippi Hedgren. The characters in the movie tend to be a tad underwhelming because there's virtual no difference between any of them, even the men. They simply seem to be pawns to advance the movie along and don't have any defining characteristics except for the perpetrators of the murders (Eva Bartok as Cristiana and Cameron Mitchell as Moriacchi). In most other movies, a woman would never be regarded as a willing accomplice in murder unless motivated by revenge, insanity, or lust. The fact that Cristiana and Moriacchi have an equal willingness to commit murders is a bit progressive, even for 1960s Italy. Cristiana does express outrage towards the end with Moriacchi, that the audience sees for the first time. Yet she proceeds ahead and places the bodies next to each other. The police are convinced the murders are the work of a sex maniac (which a movie I saw last month did with The Sniper). Instead, it's a red herring and the two characters are in the clear now. As has been discussed a lot, directors like Martin Scorsese and Pedro Almodovar have drawn influences from this movie; Almodovar more than likely due to its usage of color and Scorsese for its brazen violence. Tom Ford and Luca Guadagnino I think had been influenced by this movie as well - the opening credits I'm surprised more directors haven't stylistic borrowed (although I can see Guadagnino using that in one of his horror movies). Blood and Black Lace is a stylish treat to watch. 1
Curt McGirt Posted February 2 Posted February 2 You went out on a high note at least! I was always a bit disappointed with the end to Black Lace, and the cop is a real asshole in it too, but those murders... they're still brutal even for today. And the blank faced killer, the sleazy, lurid music and characters, THE CINEMATOGRAPHY and THE LIGHTING. It's so good. I was very happen when I found a boxless VHS copy of it in a rummage box at Circus Video one year, along with a Motorhead video and Dario Argento's World of Horror! 1
odessasteps Posted February 2 Posted February 2 James Cameron, no Bond fan. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-one-character-james-cameron-hates-with-a-passion/ 1 1
HarryArchieGus Posted February 3 Posted February 3 Mike Leigh's Hard Truths is a goddamn masterpiece. Completely exceeded my high expectations. Marianne Jean-Baptiste with perhaps the finest performance of the year. There's some big laughs, tears and a little for us all to learn from. I don't recall if I commented since seeing it, but Flow was unbelievable too. One more for the 2024 Best list. I hope the Oscar nom gets it a few more eyeballs/lovers. Lastly, I thought Mufasa-Lion King (3D) was fantastic. I hadn't seen the earlier Jon Favereau film, so I was probably a bit more blown away by the cinematography than those that did. I'd also never seen a full feature length 3D movie made with 3D in mind. I had seen the T2 3D update and Bi Gan's Long Days Journey Into Night - which was 3D for the last portion (an outlier of a 3D movie to be sure). The 3D in Mufasa wonderfully tickled the senses. I watched this novie for Barry Jenkins, and thought he infused a lot of soul in the movie. On the otherhand, I'm somewhat surprised to say I did not particularly like Rober Eggers' Nosferatu. I wanna say I was disappointed, but I wasn't all that thrilled he was making the film to begin with. I found the story uncompelling. I was out of it within the first 30 minutes. That said, the performances were excellent, and the cinematography was terrific. Not at all what I would call a bad or unsuccessful film, just very much not for me. I saw Coppola's Stoker's Dracula the same day, and loved it. Especially in comparison to Eggers stuffy sexless film. Even Keanu's Bill-n-Ted act totally worked for me. A nice surprise. I'm hoping to have a look at Walter Salles' I'm Still Here this week. 1
J.H. Posted February 3 Posted February 3 (edited) Killer Force - Telly Savalas is head of security for diamond mining outfit. There's a group of diamond smugglers and word is they're going after Telly's operation. Telly has to sniff them out while dressed like he's in one of his casual Player's Club outfits. Telly is pretty good in this, he brings his best pre-Kojak smooth yet rugged charm. His Mike Webb comes into this movie as a guy with a reputation to the point where other characters are stunned he's been called in. Then we've got Peter Fonda. I've never been the biggest Peter Fonda guy. He is pretty much sleepwalking through this thing. He's playing Bradley, who is being duped by the mine administrator, Nelson (Hugh O'Brian) to steal a large diamond. Nelson hires a group of mercenaries led by Christopher Lee to pull of the heist. For what it's worth, if you ever said to yourself "I wish OJ Simlson had done a movie with Christopher Lee" then this movie is for you! So, our boy Telly has to stop the heist, figure out who is responsible for this nonsense and still have time to get to Tahoe because, after all, who loves ya baby? PLAYER'S CLUB DOES! Of course the big twist in all this is that Peter Fonda actually is the mastermind of this operation and it really isn't that big of a surprise, in this viewer's opinion. Still, for a mid 70s heist movie, it's pretty decent. I mean this isn't exactly Thief because, let's face it, no Jim Belushi acting way out of his weight class. Seriously, this one is worth a watch but not necessarily a "you must own this" movie. Like if it pops up on Amazon for free or happens to show up on Roku or Tubi, give it a whirl. James Edited February 3 by J.H.
Curt McGirt Posted February 3 Posted February 3 I wonder how many other movies Chris and Telly shared billing in aside from that and Horror Express
J.H. Posted February 3 Posted February 3 (edited) I think the thing I was most surprised by was how little Telly was perspiring for a movie about a desert diamond heist. I was expecting hot, sweaty and swearing Telly but instead got smooth operator Telly. James Edited February 3 by J.H.
Mister TV Posted February 4 Posted February 4 Prime's algorithm suggested The Longshot (1986) to me the other day, no idea how it knew I watched this flick a bunch back in the day purely because it was "on cable". Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Jack Weston and Ted Wass, play four schlubs who go to the track and never win, they get a tip about a doped up horse running in an upcoming race, borrow money from a loanshark to make the bet and there's a bunch of hijinks along the way. Tim Conway wrote it, so there's a lot of segments where its just his comedy bits, a few actually funny annoyed Harvey Korman scenes, Jonathan Winter's has a cameo where he has a line I still use when someone asks me for directions, and Irene Cara sang the title track. This movie was on the premium cable channels a ton back in the day, I swear this would be on HBO and when it was over I'd change the channel to Showtime, pick-up Bodyslam when Afa & Sika are trashing one of M. Harry Smilac's cars, watch that until it ended, flip over to HBO just in time for Rich Hall's "Sniglets" on Not Necessarily the News.
Andrew POE! Posted February 7 Posted February 7 On 2/3/2025 at 8:38 AM, HarryArchieGus said: Mike Leigh's Hard Truths is a goddamn masterpiece. Completely exceeded my high expectations. Marianne Jean-Baptiste with perhaps the finest performance of the year. There's some big laughs, tears and a little for us all to learn from. I don't recall if I commented since seeing it, but Flow was unbelievable too. One more for the 2024 Best list. I hope the Oscar nom gets it a few more eyeballs/lovers. Lastly, I thought Mufasa-Lion King (3D) was fantastic. I hadn't seen the earlier Jon Favereau film, so I was probably a bit more blown away by the cinematography than those that did. I'd also never seen a full feature length 3D movie made with 3D in mind. I had seen the T2 3D update and Bi Gan's Long Days Journey Into Night - which was 3D for the last portion (an outlier of a 3D movie to be sure). The 3D in Mufasa wonderfully tickled the senses. I watched this novie for Barry Jenkins, and thought he infused a lot of soul in the movie. On the otherhand, I'm somewhat surprised to say I did not particularly like Rober Eggers' Nosferatu. I wanna say I was disappointed, but I wasn't all that thrilled he was making the film to begin with. I found the story uncompelling. I was out of it within the first 30 minutes. That said, the performances were excellent, and the cinematography was terrific. Not at all what I would call a bad or unsuccessful film, just very much not for me. I saw Coppola's Stoker's Dracula the same day, and loved it. Especially in comparison to Eggers stuffy sexless film. Even Keanu's Bill-n-Ted act totally worked for me. A nice surprise. I'm hoping to have a look at Walter Salles' I'm Still Here this week. I'm glad you fell in love with Hard Truths too. When I get back from vacation, I'll be watching Secrets & Lies, Naked, and Topsy-Turvy on Criterion Channel (at some point this month). Since my usual tracking for death races is screwed up due to vacation. Flow felt like a PS3 game demo to me and didn't have a captivating story/world building at all. It was a great proof of concept, but made for a terrible movie. I'll be watching I'm Still Here whenever I get back.....same with Bring Them Down (that has the eternally ageless Barry Keoghan).
Curt McGirt Posted February 7 Posted February 7 Blood and Black Lace was on the Scream Factory channel the other night but it was in Italian and not subtitled?! Meanwhile they've got Paul Naschy movies in English. I don't get it.
Andrew POE! Posted February 7 Posted February 7 On 2/2/2025 at 11:15 AM, Curt McGirt said: You went out on a high note at least! I was always a bit disappointed with the end to Black Lace, and the cop is a real asshole in it too, but those murders... they're still brutal even for today. And the blank faced killer, the sleazy, lurid music and characters, THE CINEMATOGRAPHY and THE LIGHTING. It's so good. I was very happen when I found a boxless VHS copy of it in a rummage box at Circus Video one year, along with a Motorhead video and Dario Argento's World of Horror! Yeah, I tried to squeeze in Argento's The Bird With Crystal Plummage before I fell into vacation world but could only catch 30 minutes. I'm on the ship using their Wifi, so maybe I'll get lucky and finish it tonight.
HarryArchieGus Posted February 7 Posted February 7 8 minutes ago, Andrew POE! said: Flow felt like a PS3 game demo to me and didn't have a captivating story/world building at all. It was a great proof of concept, but made for a terrible movie. PS3 game demo? Terrible movie? WTF? I'm shocked that you've seemingly missed everything beautiful about that movie. That was the best animated film I've seen in ages.
Andrew POE! Posted February 7 Posted February 7 5 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said: PS3 game demo? Terrible movie? WTF? I'm shocked that you've seemingly missed everything beautiful about that movie. That was the best animated film I've seen in ages. I thought it had great animation, but that was it.....it was great animation. Memoir of a Snail was a better movie to me and stuck with me more afterwards (and even now that I think about it). I may re-watch Flow and see if I feel any better about it but I just was completely underwhelmed by it. The technical aspects with it seemed to have left me cold.
Curt McGirt Posted February 7 Posted February 7 Crystal Plumage is a hell of a giallo, better than the other Animal Trilogy (though granted, I haven't seen it since high school). If you can try and squeeze in Inferno because yesterday was its birthday.
Travis Sheldon Posted February 7 Posted February 7 1 hour ago, Dolfan in NYC said: Every time I think I've seen enough of The Rock in everything, I'm reminded of this MFer.
Contentious C Posted February 7 Posted February 7 I think it's possible, maybe even laudable, to want to see them both shot into space. Then again, that's a rapidly growing list.
Andrew POE! Posted February 8 Posted February 8 Movies today.....Carnival Cruises apparently doesn't like the Criterion Channel so no finishing Dario Argento for me today. This is from the week: Companion (rewatch in IMAX on the ship w/ my dad) - About the same as the first time I watched it but practically glorious in IMAX. Wolf Man (rewatch in IMAX on the ship w/ my dad) - Looks a bit better in IMAX, but the movie is terrible on a second viewing. The dim lighting is even worse in the format. Catch Me If You Can (free rental) - 4/5 stars Spoiler Catch Me If You Can at the time it came out was an interesting take on 1960s America from Steven Spielberg doing a take on Frank Capra's Americanism. Much of the focus of the movie was on Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale Jr, a conman changing careers without any qualifications and cashing checks in a sophisticated method. Watching this in 2025 is a bit different; it's easier to focus more on Tom Hanks' character Carl Hanratty as a member of FBI with a futile task of capturing Frank. Much of the escapades seem a bit far-fetched at first until you think about it; after all, the United States just elected a convicted felon as President, so a 19-year old abusing the 'gentlemen's agreements' of laws to assume identities isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. A lot of Frank's motivation for his crimes has to do with his parents and his relationship with his father Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken). It's easy to somewhat have sympathy for the character and even justify his behavior, but the hope is that he will get caught or will slip up. In some ways, having a charismatic white male charmer hits very differently – Frank Jr wouldn't have been able to get as far as it did if he were black or brown (which is a similar story to the much earlier Chameleon Street about a black con man named William Douglas Street). Steven Spielberg shot this movie with a lot of natural lighting and sunlight – for even a movie about a criminal, there's a bright hopeful tone throughout the movie from this. I did love the early Bond homage scenes where Frank assumes the identity of Ian Fleming to buy three suits like Sean Connery's Bond and drives an Ashton Martin through the streets of New York. The drawback with the movie is it does drag out a bit with the 2+ hour run time. For the most part, Catch Me If You Can is worth catching. Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar (free rental) - 3.5/5 stars Spoiler This movie feels like it fits neatly with Michelle & Romy's High School Reunion and Muriel's Wedding shoved into a blender with John Waters' Hairspray and Austin Powers. It literally doesn't make sense but commits so hard to its mission. It's gloriously campy and hilarious at times (Reba McEntire as a sea nymph named Trish just fits). With most Will Ferrell/Adam McKay style comedies, there's elements of maliciousness in its humor towards everything and towards the main characters. Barb & Star is shot almost the same way as those comedies (usage of long shots with a few closeups) but has a bit of 'green screen' as well. Caught bits and pieces of She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Mrs. Brown on TCM. Fell asleep with watching a movie about a guy who almost got his hands cut off while a king got his palaces surrounded (I thought it was The Thief of Baghdad but I was wrong).
Andrew POE! Posted February 9 Posted February 9 Movies today....so much stupid driving. The Other Guys (Netflix, leaving on 2/28) - 3.5/5 stars Spoiler There really needs to be a crossover movie that has Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe called The Other Guys x The Nice Guys. For awhile, I thought they were related. Anyway, The Other Guys is a bit of a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' as a movie. In some ways, Adam McKay's seriousness with "so dark you can't help but to laugh" starts here - what was shown in The Big Short, Vice, and Don't Look Up can all be traced to The Other Guys. McKay has Will Ferrell as Gamble and Mark Wahlberg as Hoitz tracking and investigating Sir David Ershon (Steve Coogan) over a financial scheme that affects the NYPD police pension fund, but there's message being told in the comedy: the rich (like Sir Ershon) are able to rob the lower class blind. In a way, it's almost distracting, which is the point McKay is trying to raise. Yes, there's absolutely hilarious moments: "Let's aim for the bushes." "You dance like that sarcastically?" "Papa needs his Glock." The comedic moments are well-done and as about as good as Step Brothers and Anchorman. Following this movie and around this time as well, there seems to be a ton of comedies aimed (pun intended) at the police: Ride Along, Let's Be Cops, The Nice Guys (although that's a bit different), Observe And Report, Paul Blart: Mall Cop. The police as a structure seems worthy of ridicule: Do as they say, but not as they do. Given the BLM movement and speaking out against police brutality, this movie presents the police as a 'boys' club.' Quite frequently, the other officers haze Gamble and dare him to fire his gun inside; which resulted in him getting a wooden gun. Hoitz is stymied by efforts to prevent him from doing his job and his desire for acceptance into the 'boys' club' (his being able to dance and playing the harp although played for comedic effect shows there's more to him). Same with Gamble's back story and desire to be seen as 'normal' as an accountant/auditor type and having an aversion to using his gun or exhibiting violence. Cinematography for The Other Guys is very much a NYC movie - at times, it reminded me a bit of Uncut Gems with how the movie was shot and how it used NYC landmarks. I really liked the John Woo-like shootout in the office with Wahlberg sliding across the desk. A lot of the colors in the movie has a lot of grey and blue in the shots. For the most part, The Other Guys is funny with a surprisingly deep message. 2
Andrew POE! Posted February 10 Posted February 10 Movies today....trying to get back into the swing of things. Got a lot to watch this month that I want to see on Criterion Channel, Mubi, Max, and Hulu. The Bird With The Crystal Plummage (Criterion Channel, leaving on 2/28) - 3/5 stars Spoiler This is my first exposure to Dario Argento, who has influenced a lot of later thrillers (like Single White Female and a couple of others). With giallo horror, a lot of the movie does bear similarities with Hitchcock as far as how the movie is done and structured. I did love one of the shots that switched from black and white version of the painting to the actual painting. The movie had some plot issues where it wasn't really apparent what happened and the ADR/dubbing was a bit bad at times. There was at least one scene where dialogue was spoken but the person on screen didn't even move his mouth! I got a few more giallo horror movies to watch this month that I hope I will do better on watching. I'm Still Here (saw in the theaters) - 5/5 stars Spoiler “Sorrioso!” I’m Still Here is absolutely devastating to watch and does an unusual trick - it talks about the political (military regime of Brazil in the 1970s) and the personal (Rubens Paiva’s arrest by the regime, murder and the aftermath for the family). Even if you don’t speak Portuguese, it’s easy to be drawn into the story and into the characters. Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva is incredible as she grapples with her emotions and what to conceal to her family and what to reveal to them. Much of the movie is in the story set in the 1970s. I loved the little details - Os Mutantes mentioned and “Baby” played, Caetano Veloso and King Crimson’s album covers, Gilberto Gil mentioned in a letter, Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je T’aime Moi Non Plus” played at a party, poster of La Chinoise, Antonioni’s Blow Up mentioned - that envelops this world. What I noticed and liked was how the different time periods depicted were filmed. 1970s had a lot of bright yellow and green coloring with the production design and cinematography….I loved the conscious choice of Torres wearing blue outfits during those scenes. Her outfit before and after interrogation is similar and even after that. Her character changes outfit color as the movie jumps to 1996 then 2014. The scenes in 1996 were a bit more reflective of the time frame as well - it used a lot of coloring from the time frame too. 2014 scenes were more “HD” filming as the coloring in the scenes as it’s a bit more brighter. I will say that I wish the movie had ended in the 1970s but I can respect the choice to include the more recent time periods. I loved a repeated shot of Torres floating in the sea and the mirror shots that are done. With those scenes, they are specific character moments. The first time was near the start of the movie as Eunice is a separated from what her family is doing - having fun, playing football and volleyball and adopting a dog. The second time the scene appears it’s after Reuben’s’ murder and is done in reflection on what happened. The mirror shots are used for self examination- which a lot of movie relied on doing as well. In some ways, this movie runs parallel to The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which is also about citizens in a government response to a regime. The father in Seed/Fig is trying to become an administrative judge while Ruebens (Pedro Pascal like Selton Mello) is being hounded by his country’s government regime. At the end of I’m Still Here, I came away worried that the United States may see something similar happen in its future with agents of the government kidnapping and killing its citizens. I’m Still Here is a warning and a reminder. Bring Them Down (saw in the theaters) - 2.5/5 stars Spoiler "What's in the box?" -Se7en Bring Them Down is a gritty rural revenge flick that attempts to be 2/3rds of a Rashomon style movie. It needed Nora-Jane Noone's character Caroline's perspective to be fully a Rashomon. I know this....this is twice that Christopher Abbott has played a character that has been the cause of an accident. Not sure I want to ride with him in a car. The movie at times is partially compelling and the story is a bit flat. Abbott as Michael and Barry Keoghan as Jake do their best with the material but can't completely save it (I found it interesting that Keoghan played a dad in Bird and played a son in this - he was a bit better in Bird). A lot of the character decisions for Michael is unresolved guilt - which explains why he doesn't kill Jake and his dad when he had a chance and why he rescued them from the wreck and why he carried Jake back to his dad's house. Chief O'Brien - I mean Colm Meaney - shows up as Michael's father Ray where his character once again fulfills a law in the universe: Chief O'Brien Must Suffer. (I mean, Meaney's character in In The Land of Saints And Sinners died and in this, he gets hurt. Can he please play characters that don't have bad fates and/or get killed?). One scene was shot really badly for me where Michael finds the lorry in the field and the taillights are almost too far out of frame to be distinguishable. Then we see a blue light/headlamp in the middle of the screen and Michael is barely distinguishable. I did love the soundtrack which reminded me a bit of Jonny Greenwood's soundtrack for There Will Be Blood. Bring Them Down doesn't bring the house down. Spring Fever (Mubi, leaving on 2/14) - 3/5 stars Spoiler Movie is interesting at times - it can be divided into two halves: before Wang's suicide and after Wang's suicide. The hand-held cinematography and editing in the first half resembles Steven Soderbergh's or late 1990s American independent filmmaking. After Wang (Wu Wei)'s suicide the movie is a bit more reflective and uses longer takes like Tsai Ming-liang or Hou Hsiao-hsien's films. The drawback for me is some of the scenes are a tad dull for me.
Dolfan in NYC Posted February 10 Posted February 10 17 hours ago, driver said: Let's Start a Cult on Hulu. Better than it should be. That's an accurate description for everything Stavvy Halkias does. 1
Dolfan in NYC Posted February 10 Posted February 10 DOLFAN WATCHES THE OSCAR NOMINEES SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO, PART 2! CONCLAVE - So... all the hype I'd read about this was it was Real Housewives-level messy. And while it's plenty fun to see, I don't think it's going to hold up to a second watch, once you know the twists that are coming. Ralph Fiennes is magnificent and always. Isabella Rossellini, who loves her Big Beef & Cheddar, was good in her very, very limited time. It's an extremely safe harbor for voters who were going to vote for Emilia Perez, which is why I'm guessing it's gonna win. However, having watched it, it's merely good... not transcendent. I left really expecting more. That said, good lord, the set designers did an absolutely incredible job. NICKEL BOYS - God damn, was this beautiful. Really, really innovative filmmaking, specifically how it was shot. The first person POV is maintained throughout except for one really powerful scene. Quite a depressing story, but what do you expect when it's a story of two black boys in the dying days of the Jim Crow South. 100% worthy of the nomination, the Cinematography deserves an Oscar. There's criticism out there that it's tough to sit through, and it is... But it's a very good film, and in other years, I could see this pulling the upset. Not this year though. 6 down, 4 to go! 4
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