Movies 2025 Movie Discussion Thread

[Curt McGirt]

11 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Buck Williams

Now I'm wondering if you've seen the Kill Bill films because this immediately reminded me of "My name is Buck and I like to fuck" -- after considering "somebody actually named somebody that in a movie?! And it wasn't Tarantino so they couldn't get away with it."

[Technico Support]

On 6/13/2025 at 11:57 PM, Andrew POE! said:

For the most part, Friday the 13th is a decent low budget horror movie that ended up having a lot of influence on later horror movies too.

My daughter has gotten into horror and I find myself explaining to her, to the horror (ha ha) of my internal 80's horror kid, that Friday the 13th is really not a good series.  I think the 4th and 6th are the best but aside from those, oof is it rough.  We already experienced the 80s horror movie law of diminishing returns when she was so disappointed with Elm Street 4 and I was like, "yep, this is what they did back then.  Keep making worse sequels until the franchise dies."

18 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Pulp Fiction is a classic.

YES!  So glad you liked it.

On 6/14/2025 at 1:51 PM, odessasteps said:

I was happy that the chain where went the other day “only” had 5 minutes or so trailers/ads. Much better than Regal or AMC, who are the big chains here. 

For my local AMC, we just plan to get there the time it says the movie starts.  Because now that's when the trailers start.  If you don't much care for trailers, you can seriously get there 20 minutes after the posted showtime and have 5 minutes to spare.

On 6/14/2025 at 2:42 PM, Mister TV said:

Assuming that “premium spot” is right after the last trailer and right before the movie starts. I don’t go to AMC that often, but I think they stop commercials before the trailer’s start. 

AMC absolutely has one PREMIUM~! commercial right now, and has been for quite a while, between trailers and Nicole Kidman looking like AI art Nicole Kidman telling us how heartbreak feels good in a place like this.  It's been a spot for Coke since I've been going to my local AMC.  

Edited June 16, 2025 by Technico Support

[Curt McGirt]

I watched a video on the Fangoria site that talked about how/if/when Jason Voorhees became/was undead and quickly realized that these filmmakers had no idea and did not care what was going on plot-wise in their films. Each through-line pretty much hits a wall and another path introduces itself, sometimes within a single movie. They didn't even cover whether the "dream sequence" in 3 is real or not. It only covered the first six, after which everyone pretty much agrees "he's a zombie", but it was pretty neat even if it underlines how little they cared. (Then again they probably didn't expect people in 2025 to be doing deep-dives about the plot points in their 1980s trash horror films either, I guess.)

https://www.fangoria.com/friday-the-13th-jason-voorhees-undead/

Also, Universal is doing this 

https://www.fangoria.com/jason-universe-halloween-horror-nights/

[Andrew POE!]

2 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Now I'm wondering if you've seen the Kill Bill films because this immediately reminded me of "My name is Buck and I like to fuck" -- after considering "somebody actually named somebody that in a movie?! And it wasn't Tarantino so they couldn't get away with it."

Yeah, it's too easy of a joke too. "My name is Buck Williams and I fuck millions!" 

Christians are weird. 

[zendragon]

Women Talking is free on Amazon Video, was pretty good. Also watched all quiet on the western front

[HarryArchieGus]

15 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Movies today....finally saw ones that have been requested from me to see.

Pulp Fiction ("When are you going to watch Pulp Fiction?") - 5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Compared to the earlier Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction is a better movie on every level. The writing of the characters is better, the direction in general is better, and the story that's presented is better.

What made Reservoir Dogs a lesser effort is the characters are caricatures. With this, the characters reveal themselves not only in words but in actions. There's also so many ideas and situations that can spring from just this movie alone.

Vincent Vega (John Travolta) won't take advantage of his boss' wife Mia (Uma Thurman) as they go to a themed restaurant and resolves to just leave after dropping her off; in other movies, the sexual tension between the two would be fulfilled (notice how seductively Mia has a cherry in her mouth while looking at Vincent; you can guess what she really wants). This is primarily due to what happened to a man who gave Mia a foot massage, but the truth is a bit different. Butch (Bruce Willis) is given a choice to leave Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) and getting out of there, but he chooses to stay and help Wallace as he kills the pawnshop owner and leaves the security guard for Wallace. In other movies, there would be a showdown between Wallace and Butch after this. (Part of me wished that Bruce Willis decided to do samurai movies after this instead of his "Made for streaming / Made for Blu Ray" movies, but he did what he wanted). Julius (Samuel L. Jackson) could have chosen to kill Ringo (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer) in the restaurant, but chose to let them live.

Which dives in the nature of the characters further - the characters are at their face not redemptive characters or even good people. The movie doesn't pretend that these characters will receive a full character arc or anything close to it - but in small ways, they change. Julius desires not to be a hitman/gangster for Marcellus any more. Marcellus spares Butch on account of Butch's kindness. Vincent experiences a change after Mia almost dies from a drug overdose, only for Vincent to be gunned down by Butch. The would-be robbers at the start, Yolanda and Ringo, cut their losses and leave. Walter (Harvey Keitel) seems to exist as a person who doesn't feel the need to change, but doesn't need to.

The other aspects that have been covered a lot from professional critics is the expanse of cinematic techniques and references employed in the movie. The briefcase is like the car trunk from Repo Man or the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark. We the audience never see what is contained in the briefcase. The famous dance scene with Travolta and Thurman calls back to other movies where Travolta dances (like Saturday Night Fever) but is connected to Godard's A Band of Outsiders. Butch's flashback to meeting Captain Koons (Christopher Walken) is out of Fellini's 8 1/2, where the adult character remembers his childhood.

The musical needledrops are excellent and fit the scenes. Having "You Never Can Tell" during the dance scene gives a bit of a romantic interplay between Mia and Vincent that's never consummated. "Son of a Preacher Man" when Vincent walks in to the apartment is Mia's way of telling Vincent something without expressing it (attraction, love, intrigue, take your pick). Mia choosing "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" and singing along with it has Mia acknowledging that Vincent and Mia's relationship isn't a good thing for either of them and she realizes that's as far as it will go. Using "Misirlou" at the start and later "Rumble" gives Pulp Fiction a nervous tension and kinetic energy that links to Morricone's soundtracks for Sergio Leone's Westerns.

Tarantino's skill as a director is really on display in Pulp Fiction. There were points toward the middle of the movie where it dragged a bit (mainly during the scenes with Bruce Willis at the hotel), but there isn't a weak portion to the movie. Although having Tarantino self-insert as a character who then says the 'n-word' repeatedly is a bit much, but not to the same level as that being done in Reservoir Dogs.

Pulp Fiction is a classic.

Left Behind: The Movie ("HarryArchieGus: You watch everything, when you are going to watch this?") - 1/2 / 5 stars

  Hide contents

I got dared to watch this.

I knew about the book series having gone to evangelical churches and going to a Southern Baptist Church (yuck on Southern Baptists and their recent efforts to overturn gay marriage). The people behind the book series are psychopaths who essentially wrote books that are lunacy to read.

The movie just is boring to watch. Direction is mildly terrible, cinematography has a darken blue light to the scenes everywhere (that's mildly annoying), and Kirk Cameron as Buck Williams is so bland as an actor I don't feel hatred or anything. The opening scenes had some of the worst special effects I've ever seen (like I can't tell where the planes are shooting). Acting is hollow throughout the movie.

The airplane scenes are strangely comical, but having seen Airplane numerous times, it's difficult to take seriously. I half way expected Kirk Cameron's character to be the one to land the plane like Ted Striker did. Maybe people's disappearances on the plane is due to they having the fish or the beef? I imagine the air traffic controller office had someone saying, "I picked the wrong day to quit drinking." I guess if they lost the pilots, Buck Williams would be piloting. "Our only hope is to build this man up. We gotta give him all the confidence we can. Williams, have you ever flown multi-engine planes before?" "No, never." "Shit! This is a goddamn waste of time! There's no way he can land this plane!"

The only decent scenes were towards the end with Nicolae Carpathia (Gordon Currie) shooting two people and convincing everyone else in the room that he didn't do it. Currie despite the hokey Count Dracula accent is pretty compelling to watch (in a Syfy Channel / Canadian television programming sort of way). Brad Johnson as Rayford Steele has no emotion at all with his acting and is really wooden in his line reading.

I kept yelling at my screen every time Kirk Cameron called Islam practitioners "Arabs." Arabs live in a region, anyone can follow Islam regardless of region. (Just watch Spike Lee's Malcolm X if you're needing help with that, Kirk).

This movie was made by humans in 2000 and they thought that it was releasable.

 

Thank You! I appreciate this - the first review I've ever read of Left Behind. You've got me intrigued. Also, I sense something about Reservoir Dogs triggered an emotional response that clouded your judgement. Those characters are some of the best written and most memorable gangsters I've ever seen on film. Michael Madsen in particular feels like a huge star. Further, they stretched every dollar they had on that film and the result to my eyes/ears is a perfect film. IMO it's 2nd only to Pulp Fiction in the Tarantino catalog. 

3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

For my local AMC, we just plan to get there the time it says the movie starts.  Because now that's when the trailers start.  If you don't much care for trailers, you can seriously get there 20 minutes after the posted showtime and have 5 minutes to spare.

AMC absolutely has one PREMIUM~! commercial right now, and has been for quite a while, between trailers and Nicole Kidman looking like AI art Nicole Kidman telling us how heartbreak feels good in a place like this.  It's been a spot for Coke since I've been going to my local AMC.  

Wow, is 25 minutes an exaggeration? Up here, north of the border, our AMC equivalent Cineplex is about 13-15 minutes of trailers and commercials. Arriving on scheduled time means sitting thru loud, very very loud, car ads etc. I usually have to arrive at the posted time for my lady friend, but usually hang in the lobby for at least 5 or so minutes. Cineplex mixes the commercials in throughout the run of trailers. 

20 minutes ago, zendragon said:

Women Talking is free on Amazon Video, was pretty good. Also watched all quiet on the western front

Are you talking about the 2022 Edward Berger film? I thought that was very tight and beautiful film. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was kinda surprised by how strong it was. Great cinematography and staging and performances. I'd like to take it for a second spin some time. 

[zendragon]

yes Netflix has All Quiet On The Western Front

[caley]

5 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Now I'm wondering if you've seen the Kill Bill films because this immediately reminded me of "My name is Buck and I like to fuck" -- after considering "somebody actually named somebody that in a movie?! And it wasn't Tarantino so they couldn't get away with it."

My friend watched a edited for TV 'Kill Bill' one time and he claims the dialogue was changed to "My name is Buck and I came to...PARTY", then after Uma escapes his clutches, she looks dismissively at his car that has been edited to read 'Partymobile' and spits "Partymobile!" and my friend said "What DOES this woman have against partying?!" (I never saw this, so I can't vouch for its veracity but it's one of my favourite stories of his aside from the time he said "Movies" into his remote control and a message came up on the screen saying "Will not comply with searches for terms like this "P*SSY" just as his wife walked in and he was going "I honestly did not say that!")

Edited June 16, 2025 by caley

[Curt McGirt]

36 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Those characters are some of the best written and most memorable gangsters I've ever seen on film.

Yeah. These guys are far from 'caricatures'. They all have very individual personalities and even individual moral centers... to an extent. In a way he's the king of writing anti-heroes and moreover, likeable (not loveable) villains. Even his most despicable (Hans Landa, Calvin Candie, Ordell Robbie) are so charasmatic it's hard not to begrudge them that. 

[Andrew POE!]

58 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Thank You! I appreciate this - the first review I've ever read of Left Behind. You've got me intrigued. Also, I sense something about Reservoir Dogs triggered an emotional response that clouded your judgement. Those characters are some of the best written and most memorable gangsters I've ever seen on film. Michael Madsen in particular feels like a huge star. Further, they stretched every dollar they had on that film and the result to my eyes/ears is a perfect film. IMO it's 2nd only to Pulp Fiction in the Tarantino catalog. 

Yeah, it was honestly the first 30 minutes or so of Reservoir Dogs and having the characters dropping the 'n-word' left and right. Even when I divorced myself from that, I found myself not liking Reservoir Dogs as much. So far, I don't like that aspect of Tarantino's character writing. Almost all the films after Pulp Fiction though, he hasn't done that (or as noticeable). (I haven't seen Django and I'm fairly sure he does it there too). 

I didn't have the same reaction to Reservoir Dogs as I did to Mallrats; I found Mallrats disappointing to watch.

EDIT: Oh and if you value your time and your life, don't watch Left Behind (2000). It's really that bad.  

Edited June 16, 2025 by Andrew POE!

[twiztor]

On 6/14/2025 at 7:23 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Same here. I always want to watch the previews, anyway; it's the TV commercials that bother me. Shocking when they first started showing up though I suppose they shouldn't have been. It was inevitable.

this is me. we don't have cable/streaming, so when we go to the movies is the only time i see movie trailers. But the TV commercials interspersed piss me off.

6 hours ago, Technico Support said:

My daughter has gotten into horror and I find myself explaining to her, to the horror (ha ha) of my internal 80's horror kid, that Friday the 13th is really not a good series.  I think the 4th and 6th are the best but aside from those, oof is it rough.  We already experienced the 80s horror movie law of diminishing returns when she was so disappointed with Elm Street 4 and I was like, "yep, this is what they did back them.  Keep making worse sequels until the franchise dies."

5 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I watched a video on the Fangoria site that talked about how/if/when Jason Voorhees became/was undead and quickly realized that these filmmakers had no idea and did not care what was going on plot-wise in their films. Each through-line pretty much hits a wall and another path introduces itself, sometimes within a single movie. They didn't even cover whether the "dream sequence" in 3 is real or not. It only covered the first six, after which everyone pretty much agrees "he's a zombie", but it was pretty neat even if it underlines how little they cared.

at this point, anytime i watch an old horror series, i'm just pleasantly surprised when something DOES line up with what came before. yes, the movies are mostly bad. But it doesn't matter. I'm sure there's plenty of psychological profiles done about people who dig these movies. And i don't know what combination of "taboo", "wish fulfillment", "male power fantasy", "escapism", "voyeurism", "violent tendencies", and/or "subversive thoughts" is used, but it's probably all accurate to some extent. 

side note, i watched Friday the 13th (2009) last week and i liked it. is that a hot take?

[Technico Support]

2 hours ago, caley said:

My friend watched a edited for TV 'Kill Bill' one time and he claims the dialogue was changed to "My name is Buck and I came to...PARTY", then after Uma escapes his clutches, she looks dismissively at his car that has been edited to read 'Partymobile' and spits "Partymobile!" and my friend said "What DOES this woman have against partying?!" 

That reminds me of my favorite apocryphal example of bowdlerization of films on TV: as a kid, one of my friends swore Regan McNeil said "YOU MOTHER SEWS SOCKS THAT SMELL" on the TV broadcast of The Exorcist.

1 hour ago, Andrew POE! said:

(I haven't seen Django and I'm fairly sure he does it there too). 

 

You'd probably like Django a lot, as ALL the bigots get what's coming to them.  It's a really good movie.  On the minus side, Tarantino put himself in the film, as well, and does a laughable Aussie accent.  BUT it's a very short part and he gets blown up by dynamite, so take that as a win.

2 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Wow, is 25 minutes an exaggeration? Up here, north of the border, our AMC equivalent Cineplex is about 13-15 minutes of trailers and commercials. Arriving on scheduled time means sitting thru loud, very very loud, car ads etc. I usually have to arrive at the posted time for my lady friend, but usually hang in the lobby for at least 5 or so minutes. Cineplex mixes the commercials in throughout the run of trailers. 

 

I'll have to time it next time I go with a stopwatch like Green Lantern Fan, but I can definitely tell you that, at the actual film's listed START TIME, my AMC shows probably one or two more commercials, ALL the trailers, a Coke commercial, a promo for AMC's laser technology or some such bullshit, CG looking Kidman telling me all about HAHTbreak, a PSA telling everyone to shut up and turn off cell phones, one or two assorted random things, and finally the movie.  Pretty damn sure it's at least 20 minutes.

37 minutes ago, twiztor said:

note, i watched Friday the 13th (2009) last week and i liked it. is that a hot take?

It's been well over a decade since I've seen it, but I seem to recall it was passable enough and inoffensive.  I'll raise your HAWT TAEK and say it's probably better than a bunch of the original series' films.  

Edited June 16, 2025 by Technico Support

[odessasteps]

7 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

That reminds me of my favorite apocryphal example of bowdlerization of films on TV: as a kid, one of my friends swore Regan McNeil said "YOU MOTHER SEWS SOCKS THAT SMELL" on the TV broadcast of The Exorcist.

Isn't that what she says in the SNL skit with Richard Pryor? 

[Technico Support]

37 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Isn't that what she says in the SNL skit with Richard Pryor? 

Maybe!  So that could be where he got it from.  Never trust a kid.

[Curt McGirt]

1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

You'd probably like Django a lot, as ALL the bigots get what's coming to them.  It's a really good movie.  On the minus side, Tarantino put himself in the film, as well, and does a laughable Aussie accent.  BUT it's a very short part and he gets blown up by dynamite, so take that as a win.

He also gets to call Jamie Foxx "black" -- not as a descriptor, but like it's his name -- and it comes out "bleck" due to the accent which cracks me up every time. "Shut up, bleck"  It's horrible, but funny. There are a lot of extremely, horrifically ugly moments in that film that somehow get twisted into value rather than pure exploitation because they feed the script, lead to serious black humor, underline character traits, etc. 

The worst villain in that movie isn't even Candie of course: it's his, errr, right-hand man, should we call it, in place of the contemporary term?, Stephen. And of course that's Sam Jackson who just crushes it. 

I was perfectly fine with the end of that Friday the 13th but I couldn't be bothered with the rest of it. Every time I turn it on when it's on TV it's just exposition with the teenagers acting stupid, talking about weed or sex or something obvious. I need a clipfest of just the kills I guess.

[twiztor]

i watch Django about once a year......whenever i get really upset and need to see a revenge film where, as Technico put it, "the bigots all get what's coming to them". i find it cathartic.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

9 hours ago, Technico Support said:

My daughter has gotten into horror and I find myself explaining to her, to the horror (ha ha) of my internal 80's horror kid, that Friday the 13th is really not a good series.  I think the 4th and 6th are the best but aside from those, oof is it rough.  We already experienced the 80s horror movie law of diminishing returns when she was so disappointed with Elm Street 4 and I was like, "yep, this is what they did back then.  Keep making worse sequels until the franchise dies."

  

I honestly think of the big slasher series, F13 has the best run. 7,8 and 9 are the only ones I flat out don't enjoy. I'll admit some of the enjoyment comes from how dumb some of it is. Crispen Glover is a highlight for me. 

[Technico Support]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

The worst villain in that movie isn't even Candie of course: it's his, errr, right-hand man, should we call it, in place of the contemporary term?, Stephen. And of course that's Sam Jackson who just crushes it. 

 

His protest about having to burn the bedclothes and the bed itself after Django is allowed to stay at the big house is amazing.  And when he turns off his step-n-fetchit act and you see his actual cunning, when his twists Candie around and you realize Stephen is the one in control, it's absolutely incredible.

Edited June 17, 2025 by Technico Support

[Technico Support]

15 minutes ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

I honestly think of the big slasher series, F13 has the best run. 7,8 and 9 are the only ones I flat out don't enjoy. I'll admit some of the enjoyment comes from how dumb some of it is. Crispen Glover is a highlight for me. 

I'm really picky, I guess.  My evaluation of them them, in all its nitpicky stupid glory, is as follows (and bear with me because it's probably been 15 years since my rewatch)

1: it's not even Jason doing the killing, though it's a decent film

2: it's Jason, but no hockey mask?  Pass.

3: 3D gimmickry, gets the hockey mask halfway through

4: really good!

5: Fuck all this, it's not even Jason, just a copycat

6: Jason is back and now he's a zombie.  Pretty good.

7: Telekinesis bullshit

8: He's not in Manhattan until the last reel.  It's really just Jason on a boat.

9: This is the one that's like The Hidden, where Jason is actually a demon slug that possesses people?  So fucking far off the rails.  If you told me this was produced by Kassar/Vajna/Cocaine, I'd believe you.

10: I guess this is alright.  More of a campy sci fi spoof.  I loved the Crystal Lake VR sequence.

Edited June 17, 2025 by Technico Support

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....a few more short films compared to usual. 

Tongues Untied (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Part theater, part poetry, part performance art, part documentary, part musical performance, part ASMR, Tongues Untied is so unique that it's virtually undefinable. There's a lot of standout moments in the less than an hour runtime. Men recounting their experiences growing up with white men saying racist phrases in close up of their mouths. A doo wop performance juxtaposed with footage of a march. Someone recounting a feeling of loss in a city like San Francisco while footage of him walking down the street and standing on street corners. Footage of the civil rights marches shown after footage of gay rights marches.

I wouldn't be able to have an understanding of Marlon Riggs and others involved and their experiences, but that's fine. The end result is a great piece of filmmaking.

Q (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Beautiful cinematography throughout this documentary although it's a tad difficult to follow what the filmmaker Jude Chehab is trying to state in the movie. It's very likely to do with her family's complicated feelings and history with an all female Muslim sect the Qubaysiyat in Syria. What makes it complicated for them is it's not a black and white issue; the leader of the sect had an impact upon Jude's mother and grandmother and their lives in positive ways but also in negative ways too. Towards the end, when the Anisa (the leader of the sect) has died, Hiba laments the years spent but doesn't want to talk about it either.

Interspersed within the present day documentary is also family footage of Jude receiving her hijab and her childhood.

With Q, it's a beautiful yet sad documentary about the influence that other people can have on a person. The documentary doesn't present Islam negatively, but does present that other people acting as teachers in the religion can be negatively. Freedom from their influence can be both liberating and utterly transformative and heartbreaking too.

The documentary somewhat reminded me of The Seed of the Sacred Fig, although that was shot in Iran. This is shot in Syria and in America.

Q is worth checking out.

Will-o'-the-Wisp (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

With this being my first exposure to Joao Pedro Rodrigues as a director, this movie is trying to fit with Claire Denis' Beau Travail, Fassbinder's Querelle and Derek Jarman's filmography but is a bit slim on the story. An aristocrat named Alfredo (Mauro Costa) decides to become a fireman in a few midrange shots that involve the doors opening and closing at dinner, spread a few years apart. The movie opens in 2069 as Alfredo is dying.

Alfredo meets a fellow fireman named Alfonso (Andre Cabral) and they fall in love.

The movie is a bit trippy to watch; there's an extended dance sequence, Alfredo and Alfonso jerk each other off in the woods, and there's a long scene where Alfredo stares at slideshow of male genital. I can't tell honestly how much of this is just trying to be absurdist comedy in the spirit of Bunuel. There's a lot that just doesn't make sense to me and a lot of the scenes just fall flat for me.

I will say that the movie is beautifully shot though and the dance sequence was the best part.

Norman Mailer vs Fun City (Criterion Channel) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Having someone like Donald Trump as United States President, it's crazy that a writer and journalist (who got his bachelor's degree at Harvard no less and actually served in the military!) named Norman Mailer was spouting similar ideas to Trump before Trump was a mattress stain on his dad's bed.

Mailer does the same sort of playbook: blame other people for getting more to give his supporters an enemy, say outrageous things about his opponents that ends up getting published, and having ridiculous ideas without even a plan (or "concepts of a plan"). His idea for 200 story housing with a bridge made out of Legos looks like something out of Blade Runner. He wants to have New York City become the 51st State too (the logistics behind both plans are really never discussed or thought out, other than letting people in Harlem have their own sanitation department and control over their police force for example).

The documentary covers the rough and tumble campaign that Mailer and his running mate Jimmy Breslin as they go around the city to get out the vote and hear from people who really aren't sure having these two running the city is a good idea.

Mailer and Breslin don't win and only get 5% of the vote.

Mailer would have been better than Eric Adams and wouldn't have been indicted while he was mayor! Not sure I would want to live in a 200 story apartment building though.

Autobiographical Scene Number 6882 (Mubi, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

This short film is accurate to what I know of male friends I have. The lure of the line between suicide and risk taking is too strong. Ruben Ostlund is able to depict how someone is suggested to do something, gets told it's dangerous and not to do it, the others around him realize it's a terrible idea, but he does it anyway.

 

[odessasteps]

Not to be confused with Q, the 80s Larry Cohen monster movie. 

[Technico Support]

34 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Not to be confused with Q, the 80s Larry Cohen monster movie. 

I was a few lines into the review and confused over the distinct lack of winged serpents and Richard Roundtree.

[Control]

5 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Norman Mailer vs Fun City (Criterion Channel) - 3.5/5 stars

  Hide contents

Having someone like Donald Trump as United States President, it's crazy that a writer and journalist (who got his bachelor's degree at Harvard no less and actually served in the military!) named Norman Mailer was spouting similar ideas to Trump before Trump was a mattress stain on his dad's bed.

Mailer does the same sort of playbook: blame other people for getting more to give his supporters an enemy, say outrageous things about his opponents that ends up getting published, and having ridiculous ideas without even a plan (or "concepts of a plan"). His idea for 200 story housing with a bridge made out of Legos looks like something out of Blade Runner. He wants to have New York City become the 51st State too (the logistics behind both plans are really never discussed or thought out, other than letting people in Harlem have their own sanitation department and control over their police force for example).

The documentary covers the rough and tumble campaign that Mailer and his running mate Jimmy Breslin as they go around the city to get out the vote and hear from people who really aren't sure having these two running the city is a good idea.

Mailer and Breslin don't win and only get 5% of the vote.

Mailer would have been better than Eric Adams and wouldn't have been indicted while he was mayor! Not sure I would want to live in a 200 story apartment building though.

Autobiographical Scene Number 6882 (Mubi, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

This short film is accurate to what I know of male friends I have. The lure of the line between suicide and risk taking is too strong. Ruben Ostlund is able to depict how someone is suggested to do something, gets told it's dangerous and not to do it, the others around him realize it's a terrible idea, but he does it anyway.

 

Trump would have been in his 20s when Mailer ran for mayor, no?

I need to check this out. TOWN BLOODY HALL, which was previously on the Criterion Channel, is a pretty entertaining Mailer documentary, focusing on his “debate” with a handful of prominent feminists. They mostly eat his lunch.

[Andrew POE!]

3 hours ago, Control said:

Trump would have been in his 20s when Mailer ran for mayor, no?

I need to check this out. TOWN BLOODY HALL, which was previously on the Criterion Channel, is a pretty entertaining Mailer documentary, focusing on his “debate” with a handful of prominent feminists. They mostly eat his lunch.

Yeah, Trump was in his 20s when Mailer ran.

Town Bloody Hall is still on Criterion Channel now. I don't know when Norman Mailer vs. Fun City is leaving Criterion Channel, but considering the rest of the Fun City collection is leaving this month, it's likely to be next month. 

[HarryArchieGus]

16 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Yeah, it was honestly the first 30 minutes or so of Reservoir Dogs and having the characters dropping the 'n-word' left and right. Even when I divorced myself from that, I found myself not liking Reservoir Dogs as much. So far, I don't like that aspect of Tarantino's character writing. Almost all the films after Pulp Fiction though, he hasn't done that (or as noticeable). (I haven't seen Django and I'm fairly sure he does it there too). 

I didn't have the same reaction to Reservoir Dogs as I did to Mallrats; I found Mallrats disappointing to watch.

EDIT: Oh and if you value your time and your life, don't watch Left Behind (2000). It's really that bad.  

The lanaguage berrier might be an issue for me if Dogs were non-fiction. I do respect sensitivity triggers, but you watch a lot of villains/characters do a lot dispicable things in the many movies you cover. If every movie and character were written to uphold some sort of moral code you'd end up reviewing only movies featured on the Hallmark channel - tho, my Mom isn't complaining about their consistent programming. I watch that movie and it just makes sense that Nice Guy Eddie would be a flippant racist. These are not men to follow the lead of.