Irma Vep, hot damn. Best movie I've seen in a long time. What a delicious mess, what a glorious wtf ending. I haven't been an Assayas fan up to this point, but oh boy am I glad I gave this a chance. A masterpiece if you ask me.
Irma Vep, hot damn. Best movie I've seen in a long time. What a delicious mess, what a glorious wtf ending. I haven't been an Assayas fan up to this point, but oh boy am I glad I gave this a chance. A masterpiece if you ask me.
Holy crap Split Second is an awful piece of garbage. How it is rated over 6 on IMDb is a mystery for the ages.
But, Jen and I had a freaking HILARIOUS moment watching it.
Rutgers Hauer's cop partner keeps going on and on and on about all the sex he is apparently having. Every day, every night. Sex sex sex.
Then a minute or two later Hauer makes a comment to the guy, "I don't know what it is about you that reminds me of my mother."
And Jen blurts out "must be all the sex he's having."
Sweet lord, we both laughed until our throats hurt.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
A few I saw over the last couple of weeks...
Split Second - brutally bad. I was hoping for more of a kind of Stone Cold type so bad it's good, but it is far worse and less fun. The dialogue is horrid, especially the constant pushing of Hauer's character as some "do what I want, I'm my own boss" type tough guy. His behavior would have gotten him punched in the throat, not admired.
The creature is weird, and its explanation is even weirder. I honestly want to watch the movie again just to see if I can figure out what exactly it was supposed to be. Is it a mutant? Is it from hell? Is it an alien? Why does it develop psychic connections with the people it harms?
Kim Cattrall is hot. That's about all this movie has going for it.
Felt like a committee of Canon-grade studio execs watched Alien, Blade Runner and The Terminator over a long weekend coke bender then on Monday morning said "let's do that! All of them! At once! Here's 20 bucks, get started!"
A Christmas Carol (1938) - Alistair Sim is still the definitive Scrooge to me, but this was enjoyable and well made. It was too distracting, though, seeing Reginald Owen in primitive old man makeup. And why did they make Bob Cratchitt out to be some kind of dumb, impulsive oaf? Didn't much like that portrayal of him.
The Shop Around the Corner - while this came in a box set of Christmas movies, this is more of a "movie that happens to take place at Christmas time". Sharp dialogue and good performances. Surprisingly mean spirited at times. Pretty good.
You've Got Mail - it's...okay I guess? Hanks and Ryan always have great chemistry. This is just very slight. Much tamer than the Stewart version above.
Anna and the Apocalypse - everything except the music is pretty good here. But that's a big deal, with it being a musical and all. The songs all feel very cheap and "pop song from 2002". Almost High School Musical quality. Only one song really stuck out (No Such Thing as a Hollywood Ending). Had some fun gore and kills, but yeah...the musical sections just didn't work.
The Year Without a Santa Claus - continues the tradition begun in Rudolph, of Santa being kind of a dick. The Miser Brothers are really what make this memorable. It's more Rudolph, so I enjoyed it, but could see where people who aren't fans of the classic stop motion holiday films wouldn't find anything here to change their minds.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I wonder what Hauer's best non-Blade Runner movies are that he made after his Dutch era and in which he was the lead. I do like Ladyhawke, weird score notwithstanding and The Hitcher is kind of effective.
But then? Maybe Blind Fury? Wanted: Dead or Alive? The Ostermann Weekend? The Legend of the Holy Drinker perhaps? His TV movie Escape from Sobibor is a pretty gruelling concentation camp movie.
[+] closer to next rating / [-] closer to previous rating
- Dark (S3) ✦✦✦½ [-]
- Fall (Mann, 2022) ✦✦✦½ [-]
- Ms. Marvel (S1) ✦½ [+]
- Dark (S2) ✦✦✦✦
- Moon Knight (S1) ✦✦½ [-]
- Get Carter (Hodges, 1971) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Prey (Trachtenberg, 2022) ✦✦✦ [-]
- Black Bird (S1) ✦✦✦✦
- Better Call Saul (S6) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Halo (S1) ✦✦✦ [-]
- Slow Horses (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- H4Z4RD (Govaerts, 2022/BE) ✦✦½ [-]
- Gangs of London (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- We Own This City (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Thor: Love and Thunder (Waititi, 2022) ✦✦ [+]
Blind Fury is so cool
Cool Hand Luke -- 8/10
First ever viewing, marking another classic film off of my "cinematic blind-spots" list. Enjoyed it. Curious to look at some theme discussions about it. Caught all kinds of religious imagery.
My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
My Top 100 Horror Movies OF ALL TIME.
Really entertaining movie. Struther Martin is a treasure.
Great flick. That one is quintessential Paul Newman. Also yey George Kennedy.Quoting Spun Lepton (view post)
Blog!
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
Forgot to report that The Muppet Christmas is very delightful. Some elements do not exactly work but overall this is lots of fun. Michael Caine is a pro for going along with this movie-I can imagine that after he was given the pitch he said "Hell, why not?"
I also love the giant Ghost of Christmas Present Muppet. Plus having Gonzo be the narrator was a fine choice. 9/10, check it out.
Blog!
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well, I guess this is growing up
hey, anyone want to recommend me a movie or two? I don't have a current watchlist beyond whats expiring on streaming services.
Check my letterboxd to make sure I haven't seen it if you want.
Not sure I want to after your Volcano rating.
Ever seen The Last Picture Show? I watched it for the first time a few years ago as I was doing research for my New Hollywood project, and while this may be setting expectations for it too high, it still immediately became one of my favorite films as soon as it was over.
I'm gonna check out the new Arrow transfer of Versus soon. Love that movie.
Perceval le Gallois.
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
I'm still giddy from Irma Vep. On HBO Max.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior -- 8/10
Haven't seen it in decades. Final action scene is killer.
My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
My Top 100 Horror Movies OF ALL TIME.
It's rumoured to arrive in a brand new 4k edition this year in celebration of its 40th anniversary. Since the 1979 original saw its ultra HD debut a month ago, that rumour could be right on the money. Yep, I'm one of those guys who still loves to buy stuff.
[+] closer to next rating / [-] closer to previous rating
- Dark (S3) ✦✦✦½ [-]
- Fall (Mann, 2022) ✦✦✦½ [-]
- Ms. Marvel (S1) ✦½ [+]
- Dark (S2) ✦✦✦✦
- Moon Knight (S1) ✦✦½ [-]
- Get Carter (Hodges, 1971) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Prey (Trachtenberg, 2022) ✦✦✦ [-]
- Black Bird (S1) ✦✦✦✦
- Better Call Saul (S6) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Halo (S1) ✦✦✦ [-]
- Slow Horses (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- H4Z4RD (Govaerts, 2022/BE) ✦✦½ [-]
- Gangs of London (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- We Own This City (S1) ✦✦✦½ [+]
- Thor: Love and Thunder (Waititi, 2022) ✦✦ [+]
Over the holiday:
Happy Feet (2006, rewatch) - Half a star dropped from my memory (used to be 4, now 3.5/5), as the much maligned resolution is more of a wet blanket than I remember. Not so much what happens, just how rushed and sudden the whole development and its ending are. But man, this still looks so gorgeous considered it's 3D animation from almost 15 years ago, and Miller treats this directorial work seriously, bringing along his own brand of flowing kineticism and nimble "camera" movement to frequently stunning effect. 7.5/10
Happy Feet Two (2011) - The craziest thing George Miller has directed is not Pig in the City or Fury Road, it's this. Hard not gawk at an auteur on steroid, but I'm not much of a idiosyncrasies-for-their-own-sake guy if the execution is this sloppy (Can't warm up to Zemeckis' Marwen thing either). At least the first one has a sense of build-up, whereas this feels like a director's big-budget run-on improvisation that only comes together in the climatic set-piece. Before then we're subjected to interminable half-baked stuff, especially the two krills absolutely unrelated to the main storyline, who might be catnip to full-bore auteurists but are just so irritating for me to actually watch. 5.5/10
Still Walking (2008) - Haven't realized how much my favorite of Koreeda's 2010's run, After the Storm, is a very loose reconfigure of this, right down to having Kirin Kiki and Hiroshi Abe play mother and son again as well. Beneath one of his most serene, lightly gorgeous surface are some very astute observations about everyday frustrations and heartache in growing up and apart from your family. The director does a masterful job quietly staging all the roiling emotion that can arise from large family gathering, and also the casual cruelty that only someone as close to you as your family can display or dish out (most notably conveyed through Kirin Kiki's excellent performance in two scenes, one revealing a song's origin and another her reason for inviting an outsider every year). My new favorite Koreeda in place of After Life, and a fine, fine film to start 2021 with. 9/10
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
Surprised as heck to report that Bumblebee was...kind of awesome?
To say it is the best Transformers movie by a very wide margin isn't exactly the highest compliment, but it's actually a great movie. Feels like a John Hughes movie mixed with the Transformers cartoon. Great energy, super corny in a sweet, sincere way. Steinfeld does a great job carrying the movie, and her relationship with Bumblebee feels genuine as it develops.
Action is better than anything Bay did in 5 films.
Really good stuff. Very surprised.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I have, not in many years, but I might be due for a rewatch as I went on a Bogdanovich binge most of this past year, thanks to AMC's The Plot Thickens podcast with Ben Mank.
Thank you all, I've been meaning to see Irma Vep but haven't got around to it.
Last edited by Mal; 01-02-2021 at 03:06 PM.
Some friends and I are doing the Criterion Challenge on letterboxd. 52 categories, one for each week. First week is a movie from 1984, second week Kurosawa, later on a horror, a silent, directed by a woman, from Eclipse series, etc. Anyone here interested in joining?
Absolutely!
I wish I could commit to something like that.
We're in (Jen and I).
Should I make a thread?
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
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