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2023 MOVIE DISCUSSION THREAD


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New thread, old stupid fucking habits die hard.  It's, uh, well, whatever day it is, 540 I think but I kind of don't give a shit because I'm in too much physical pain to be that clever, Everyone Except Nicolas Cage Edition.

ALERT ALERT ALERT - Unforgivable Instance of Film Malpractice, aka, American Has-Beens on Vacation

Dragon Blade - Apparently there's a 24-minute longer cut of this that released in China, but unless that extra 24 minutes is Jackie Chan making armpit fart noises for the cast and crew, I can't imagine they did anything to make this pile of shit any better.  I mean, I guess the *scope* of it is right, and the fight choreography could have obviously been worse, but...what in the ham salad fuck were they thinking with EVERYTHING ELSE??  Shitty, half-assed attempt at "historical drama"? Check.  A couple of over-the-hill Hollywood stars who look totally out of their element (not that Cusack or Brody seem to have an element anymore)?  Check.  An annoying fucking kid?  Check.  Plot threads that get strewn about like the canned string cheese in Big?  Check.  The script is awful, the sound editing is embarrassing for 2015, the violence goes from campy to tastelessly gory in 0.2 seconds, and they shoehorn this pathetic "if we can all just get along, we can make the world a better place" message into the proceeding.  Guess what China was up to 2 years later?  Yeah, treating people like equals: big priority.  I hope Chan promptly retired after healing up from the broken back he got from trying to carry this shit.

Your Baby's Dirty Diaper

Desperately Seeking Susan - The music video for "Get into the Groove" put this movie on my mind in some way or another for the last 35+ years, so it was finally time to actually watch it.  I think what was always baffling about the video is that I never grokked that Aidan Quinn and "Jim" were different people; it's obviously a lot more explicable when you have an actual story to follow, such as it is, but only so much.  Madonna is...pretty bland here, and you're kind of left hoping Rosanna Arquette and Quinn can pull something out of their ass, but that's a bit of a foolish hope.  The whole thing goes for a sort of absurdist noir vibe that never actually amounts to anything.  But, if you're looking for a movie that's very much a time-capsule more than an engrossing film, this is 1000% something to watch.

AXE Body Spray Instead of Shower

Panic - This strikes me as another one of those lesser-known indies that's probably the favorite movie of someone out there, but man did this feel really flat to me.  William H. Macy and Neve Campbell have about as much chemistry as an English Lit major at Vassar, so that's the movie's first big problem (and Neve was still firmly in her 'it-girl' phase here, so she could have had chemistry with a bucket and a mop).  Donald Sutherland is probably the highlight insofar as there is one, him or the kid who plays Macy's son.  Some of the scenes with the boy have a more authentic sort of charm to them than anything else in the movie, and Sutherland goes a long way to smash the bejesus out of those moments, so the last 20 minutes or so of the film end up working just enough that you wonder why the first hour had to be so boring.

That'll Do, Pig

A Prairie Home Companion - I still think the best usage of this show and/or film is as the backdrop for that one BoJack Horseman joke.  That said, as a sendoff for Robert Altman, this isn't too bad.  The whole film feels like a warning of sorts, of all the things slipping through your fingers without you noticing, of how almost no one lives in the good times while they're in them and only reminisces about what's dead and gone, about how the end comes to everyone and only you can know what you have to make peace with, so you best get to it.  As light as this tries to be sometimes, it's shot through with a cannon load of subtext and irony and pessimism (especially from Lily Tomlin, who's probably the best part of this).  Most of the acting is solid, though, and the "Bad Jokes" section is a good laugh; if something doesn't work, it's mostly the silliness of Keillor's script, which is more hit-and-miss than the people who populate the film. 

Maelström - OK, it's official; I've now seen all of Villeneuve's movies, and this is his worst one.   Or really, it's his least-good one, because it's still pretty good.  And for that we largely have Marie-Jozée Croze to thank - it does help when you cast a lead who basically has a flawless and utterly breathtaking face when you have to see her in nearly every scene.  Plus, it's one of her best performances, certainly with so much of the movie to carry.  But, unlike a lot of his other movies, this still has some of the same pretension that August 32nd on Earth had, and the framing device and attempts at absurdism probably hurt the flow more than they help.  All the times where titles or voiceovers break in to tell us something are times when we could have figured out those same things all on our own.  The rest of the movie, when it isn't being interrupted by the need to make sure we know what we're supposed to know, is sad and thought-provoking, and probably could have gone a bit further in really exploring why her character was so self-destructive.

Mickey and the Bear - I worried this would be Yet Another Self-Serious Indie Film, and I suppose technically it is just that, but it's one that works, so I suppose I'll allow it.  It's mostly a zweihander, with Camila Morrone as the newcomer/focal point and James Badge Dale as her awful, awful, awful, awful father.  He's not had a lot of roles this big that work, but he's got a good presence throughout: that kind of darkly smiling face that draws attention and chatter like moths to a flame, but everyone else is already aware of the punchline - everyone except him, anyway.  So he's always a half-step away from something else creeping up behind the smile.  Other people come and go, but you kind of realize everyone else in Mickey's life is just either an extension of her father or a rejection of him, so ultimately it's up to her to make a real choice about the relationship they have.  And, well, shit gets dark.  I didn't know who Annabelle Attanasio was prior to this, and since I don't think I remember her acting from anything in particular, I guess I still don't, but this was her first stab at writing & directing at 25 or 26, and it's powerful stuff sometimes.

One Maple-Frosted Donut

The Good Heart - Hey, do you like Brian Cox as an irredeemable piece of human garbage (who doesn't)?  Do you like Paul Dano when he's idiosyncratic and endlessly twitchy (or for brevity's sake, Paul Dano)?  Well then, have I got the movie for you!  This really creeps up on you with a lot of seemingly everyday bullshit that puts you on a bit of a seesaw of "will he or won't he?" with Cox's potential redemption arc.  And Dano's presence has the predictable but effective role of softening his life and forcing him to reevaluate a lot of choices.  It's got a couple of other familiar faces in it here and there, which again just lull you into thinking it's going to go a certain way, only to have the whole thing get awfully serious in a big fucking hurry and leave you wondering what the Hell you just watched.  The movie is admittedly sort of ugly and lo-fi, but that seems to have been a stylistic choice to put you in the right frame of mind.  And Cox & Dano could pull off stuff like this in their sleep.  I think I'll need to find a place for this on the bottom half of my Best of 2010s poll - it *just* sneaks on there.

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On 1/2/2023 at 12:59 PM, EVA said:

Blanc’s accent isn’t supposed to be an accurate representation of a Southern accent. It’s not a coincidence that he shares a surname with the voice actor of Foghorn Leghorn, a character that was a parody of a certain kind of early 20th century southern aristocrat. The accent is designed to underline how anachronistic the concept of the “gentleman sleuth” character is in the 21st century.

Wasn't Foghorn supposed to be based off a particular US senator?

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4 hours ago, BrianS81177 said:

Wasn't Foghorn supposed to be based off a particular US senator?

Yes, Claghorn, hence the similar name. 

Spoiler

Foghorn Leghorn was directly inspired by the character of Senator Claghorn, a blustery Southern politician played by Kenny Delmar on Fred Allen's popular 1940s radio show. Foghorn adopted many of Claghorn's catchphrases, such as "I say..." and "That's a joke, son!" Delmar's inspiration for Claghorn was a Texas rancher who was fond of saying this.

According to Leonard Maltin, the character's voice was also patterned after a hard-of-hearing West Coast-only radio character from the 1930s, known simply as The Sheriff, on a radio program called Blue Monday Jamboree. The accent has similarities to that of another Mel Blanc voice: Yosemite Sam (a strictly Friz Freleng character); and even more similar to a proto-Sam character in Stage Door Cartoon.

 

Edited by odessasteps
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23 hours ago, AxB said:

I posted this on this Discord, but it really should be seen by everyone. A twitter thread explaining just how much plot is conveyed through so little dialogue, in Conan the Barbarian (1982):

https://twitter.com/hradzka/status/1611489902570639361

There are no small parts in Conan the Barbarian.  Both Max von Sydow and William Smith did some remarkable heavy lifting with the tiny bits of script they were allotted.

Edited by J.T.
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13 hours ago, BrianS81177 said:

I watched The Menu on HBO Max, and holy shit what a movie. I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

My daughter and I both loved it.  Every frame is dripping with meaning, humor, and acid.

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I'm watching Rapid Fire with the sound off listening to Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow (because that's what you have to do sometimes) and good lord this movie is nuts. Probably one of the most insane gunfights in movie history and then Brandon Lee fighting in a flaming laundromat and busting out a European uppercut and a Superman punch to win. Rest in peace, Brandon; you would have been the next big action movie star. 

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19 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I'm watching Rapid Fire with the sound off listening to Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow (because that's what you have to do sometimes) and good lord this movie is nuts. Probably one of the most insane gunfights in movie history and then Brandon Lee fighting in a flaming laundromat and busting out a European uppercut and a Superman punch to win. Rest in peace, Brandon; you would have been the next big action movie star. 

If you'd had the sound on you'd have heard some truly awesome scenery-chewing from Powers Boothe...

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20 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I'm watching Rapid Fire with the sound off listening to Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow (because that's what you have to do sometimes) and good lord this movie is nuts. Probably one of the most insane gunfights in movie history and then Brandon Lee fighting in a flaming laundromat and busting out a European uppercut and a Superman punch to win. Rest in peace, Brandon; you would have been the next big action movie star. 

If you haven't seen it already, try and give Showdown In Little Tokyo a watch. It's a buddy cop movie with Dolph Lundgren and Lee in one of his first roles by the director of Commando. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa plays a Yakuza enforcer because of course he does, and there's a young Tina Carrere too.

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36 minutes ago, HumanChessgame said:

If you haven't seen it already, try and give Showdown In Little Tokyo a watch. It's a buddy cop movie with Dolph Lundgren and Lee in one of his first roles by the director of Commando. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa plays a Yakuza enforcer because of course he does, and there's a young Tina Carrere too.

I should spoiler this but let’s be honest THIS is what the movie is truly known for.

 

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1 hour ago, Contentious C said:

I'm done writing up reviews for a while.

I've been tremendously sick the last couple of months and have other things I need to focus on, anyway.  This was getting to be a drag unto itself, so, breaking the streak.

I always enjoy your reviews.  Get well soon.

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On 1/10/2023 at 7:12 PM, BrianS81177 said:

I watched The Menu on HBO Max, and holy shit what a movie. I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

Loved it! Gave me Demolition Man vibes. Just a fun tongue in cheek take on the class revenge genre from beginning to end. Enjoyed it way more than the similarly set up, Glass Onion, which dragged for its entire 2nd half.

It’s not like it’s the most genius take on it, but it works because it does it in the entertaining way possible, as well as done it in a very stylish way. They really nailed that quasi reality competition look that is aping the Robert Altman style that is documenting the narrative off to the side.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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On 1/12/2023 at 10:58 AM, Control said:

Currently, you can get 3 months of MUBI for $1. If nothing else they have interests you, you can pay the buck and watch DECISION TO LEAVE.

My understanding is they paid a good amount for the film, but it motivated someone I know to start using the free MUBI account they have access to somewhat regularly. So... success! 

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22 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Anyone who's seen Pumping Iron know this is totally what he would do. 

I finally saw that recently. I still crack up when I think about the story he tells where he convinced a young bodybuilder that he should scream as he poses.

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Going through the Best Picture noms, finished Tar today. Was pretty disappointed in it. Blanchett was great and will be a deserving winner, but the movie was a C. I was hoping for more of a Black Swan kind of vibe, especially with things like the maze pattern showing up repeatedly, the metronome playing, her dreams adding a strange vibe. I've heard it described as a psychological drama, it seems like they were waffling on whether to focus on the psychological aspect or drama aspect.

The ending did crack me up. But overall a lot of it seemed to just be "hey, did you know women can be shitty abusers too?" Which, sure of course they can, but still a weird point to make these days.

Watched the first half hour of Elvis before Rampage and was having a really great time.

Have dl'd Women Talking and Triangle of Sadness, so one of those are next up. Will finish off with the blockbusters, Avatar and Top Gun, maybe late next week or so

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