28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[StuSmallz]

Kids today have no appreciation for the classics ...

I'm just surprised that Mal was that "kind" to (what I presume is) the original version of Hobgoblins; I mean, I had the benefit of Mike & the bots' riffs to get me through it, and even then that... thing Rick Sloane unleashed on the world was still pure agony to get through, and one of the worst movies they ever featured:



"I'm sorry sir, but, there's been an accident at the studio..."
"...we made Hobgoblins."

[Ivan Drago]

"My fajita plate was REALLY HOT AND I TOUCHED IT!!"

[Idioteque Stalker]

I watched Happiness today. Been intrigued for a long time but always put it off because I've never been a fan of Solondz and this movie in particular has quite the reputation for being... well... super Solondz-y. Anyway, I loved it. The cast is perfect -- anything less than 100% commitment from the actors would've been horrid with such a deranged script, but they were totally dialed-in, resulting in scene after scene of disturbing and hilarious highlights.

[StuSmallz]

"My fajita plate was REALLY HOT AND I TOUCHED IT!!"

Ooh, the smell of all that smoldering back hair...

[DFA1979]

Kids today have no appreciation for the classics ...

Crocodile Dundee II was decent enough. Never saw the Clint movie. Hobgoblins is awful and the MST3K episode featuring it is gold

[Ivan Drago]

Ooh, the smell of all that smoldering back hair...

He filed an insurance claim for 700 pairs of red shorts.

[StuSmallz]

He filed an insurance claim for 700 pairs of red shorts.

"Look at that guy wave that gel in front of the light!"

[quido8_5]

Soliciting suggestions for a streaming movie less than 2 hours in duration.

[Skitch]

Soliciting suggestions for a streaming movie less than 2 hours in duration.

Umm...if youre in the mood for action/thriller, Bastille Day aka The Take on Netflix. Idris Elba whippin ass and taking names. Its not A++ or anything, but I enjoyed it.

[Yxklyx]

Soliciting suggestions for a streaming movie less than 2 hours in duration.

My favorite go-to with limited time is The Set-Up clocking in at 73 minutes. It should be on Criterion for the rest of this month.

[Peng]

Instagram scam seemingly designed for Film Twitter: posing as director Apichatpong Weerasethakul to ask you for travel money back from Cannes, with a promise of filming UNCLE BOONMEE 2 in return, LOL.

Full translation (Jei is Apichatpong’s actual Thai nickname):

Hello, this is Jei Apichatpong. I’m sending this from my personal IG. I see you like indie films and post-rock music. Listen… actually I am not back from Cannes yet. Can I bother you for 1,000 bahts so I can fly back to Thailand? If I arrive back there I will start shooting “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives 2” just for you specially.

Long live cinema!

[Ezee E]

Film Twitter, "WORTH THE RISK."

[quido8_5]

Instagram scam seemingly designed for Film Twitter: posing as director Apichatpong Weerasethakul to ask you for travel money back from Cannes, with a promise of filming UNCLE BOONMEE 2 in return, LOL.

Full translation (Jei is Apichatpong’s actual Thai nickname):

Now this is making me wonder what Uncle Boonmee Who Can Remember His Past Life 2 would look like.

[Peng]

Uncle Boonmee 2: Recall the Electric Boogaloo

[quido8_5]

Instagram scam seemingly designed for Film Twitter: posing as director Apichatpong Weerasethakul to ask you for travel money back from Cannes, with a promise of filming UNCLE BOONMEE 2 in return, LOL.

Full translation (Jei is Apichatpong’s actual Thai nickname):

Now this is making me wonder what Uncle Boonmee 2 would look like.

[Ezee E]

Uncle Boonmee needs to cross over to the DCEU.

[megladon8]

Can I suggest Terror at Blood Fart Lake as an MC group viewing?

It's free on Prime.

[Skitch]

These Lone Wolf and Cub movies are amazing.

[Skitch]

Looking for something to watch in background at work the other day (I usually see whats starting on Pluto)...and came across Run Silent, Run Deep.

Sweet Christmas what a picture!

[StuSmallz]

Get ready for the ride of your life.


[

Show Spoiler

Whether fairly or not, Action movies are often stereotypically thought of as one of the least-thought provoking film genres out there, which is a stark contrast to the way Science-Fiction is typically perceived, with its speculative tales about what science, technology, and the future in general may hold in store for the human species and experience, serving as a sort of "escapism" that is nonetheless still rooted solidly in our day-to-day reality. However, in 1990, Paul Verhoeven built on his previous moviemaking experience to make the two seemingly polar opposites meet in fairly spectacular fashion with Total Recall, having his cake and eating it too by getting to indulge in tons of gratuitous, non-stop bloody action, while still also finding time to intellectually stimulate us with its intriguing "real or false?" reality narrative, with the film, to paraphrase Tom Breihan, getting to blow up characters' heads AND viewers' minds at the same time.

Set in the year 2084, it tells the story of Douglas Quaid, an Earthbound construction worker who has recurring dreams/nightmares of visiting Mars, which inspires him to make that dream a reality (sort of) by visiting Rekall, a company that specializes in implanting memories in people's minds, in order to get the escape from his mundane daily life he so desperately pines for. However, the procedure goes haywire, causing Quaid to seemingly uncover an interplanetary espionage conspiracy in the process, and forcing him to get his "ass to Mars" for real, all the while dodging bullets, traitorous wives, and the tantalizing possiblity that none of it is even happening for real.

Of course, even without that final detail, Recall would still be memorable for a number of other aspects, such as its unique, endlessly imaginative vision of the future, with a new detail coming pretty much every moment to help further build its futuristic world, whether it be robotic taxicab drivers, holographic decoy emitters, or gigantic X-Ray walls, the latter rendered with then-groundbreaking CGI effects. However, that's balanced out by the film's non-stop showcase of practical models, prosthetics, and animatronics otherwise, which give Rob Bottin's various creations a much-needed tactility, and help to render a surprisingly vivid sense of body horror here in the process (courtesy of David Cronenberg(!) and Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon's contributions to the production), to the point that people apparently approached Marshall Bell for years afterward and non-jokingly asked him to lift his shirt so they could see "Kuato" for themselves.

But of course, the most fascinating aspect of Recall is courtesy of the involvement of the ultimate "what is real? Sci-Fi scribe himself, Phillip K. Dick, whose 1966 story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale provides the basic skeleton onto which the meaty, Arnie-signature thrills are laid on top of here, nicely balancing all the mindless action out with a relentless, conspiracy-laden plot and a rich abundance of ideas, with the many narrative rug pulls never feeling unnecessarily convoluted, even as the bursts of exposition come at us as rapid-fire as the automatic weapons do at Quaid. It's the kind of movie where it's possible to read pretty much every detail one way or the other, making for endless possibilities, which results in a nice meta-commentary on the very nature of film itself, since, why does it matter if everything is really happening here or not, since we don't care if every other movie ever made is technically a false reality of its own?

Add onto that a nastily fun sense of humor (can you say, midget prostitutes with knives?), and a strong influence on similar films since, with its reality-warping narrative and surprisingly progressive, egalitarian gender dynamics setting the stage for multiple genre-redefining actioners, whether they be the basic story of The Matrix, or the now iconic post-apocalyptic partnership between Max & Furiosa in Fury Road, and Total Recall will definitely give you the "ride of your life", and then some.

]


Final Score: 8
.

[Irish]

It's the kind of movie where it's possible to read pretty much every detail one way or the other, making for endless possibilities, which results in a nice meta-commentary on the very nature of film itself, since, why does it matter if everything is really happening here or not, since we don't care if every other movie ever made is technically a false reality of its own?

???

confusedemoji.jpg

[StuSmallz]

???

confusedemoji.jpg

What? It's a pretty self-explanatory point.

[Dukefrukem]

What? It's a pretty self-explanatory point.

I thought it was pretty clear about the ending.

[Irish]

I agree that it's clear about the ending, but disagree "it's possible to read pretty much every detail one way or the other."

For one, the movie doesn't take its premise too seriously. It's content to be dumb fun. It might make a weird suggestion here and there, but really it's just biding its time until the next 3-titted mutant appears or the next set piece gets rolling.

For another, Arnold is too big a presence, both figuratively and literally, to sell the idea the character might be delusional, regardless of what's said in dialogue. This is the same guy from "Commando" and "Predator." He's a movie star. All of these qualities work against the movie's supposed ambiguity. Arnold's limitations as an actor don't help, either.

Also, these strike me as wild assertions:

why does it matter if everything is really happening here or not,

since we don't care if every other movie ever made is technically a false reality of its own?

The first makes action-suspense virtually impossible, ie, it matters because otherwise nobody would be caught up in the story.

The second
- depends too much on the word technically
- only applies in certain narrow contexts (people absolutely care when it comes to true crime or biopics, for example)
- brushes aside suspension of disbelief as an essential tool of fiction

[DFA1979]

Total Recall is great and all but in the end it's a ultra violent sci-fi action movie that had a really Hollywood ending. I will say that the film is one of Arnold's best roles, or maybe even his best. I've been a fan of it for years. Not sure why a remake exists, although hey Hollywood loves to do that predictable sort of thing.