Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[Doctor Cringelord]

The problem with the razzies is they don't truly award worst films, but rather films that are well known, hyped, but ultimately disappointments or slightly cringey. Generally speaking, I find most movies that people consider "bad" to not really be bad. People obviously enjoy them, if not for the reasons intended by the filmmakers. If they really awarded bad films, they would probably go after more B movies or films that are just devoid of any entertainment factor. For that reason, I don't think Neil Breen films or The Room are bad per se--not that they were featured in the razzies, jut that i think we need to reexamine what we consider as "bad" movies. They are amateurish and replete with mistakes and poor editing, but there is still a high entertainment value, even if that value is derived from a different metric. Although on that latter criteria, a lot of latter day Bruce Willis films still fit the bill--but more for other reasons than his performances.

 

[Totenkindly]

The problem with the razzies is they don't truly award worst films, but rather films that are well known, hyped, but ultimately disappointments or slightly cringey. Generally speaking, I find most movies that people consider "bad" to not really be bad. People obviously enjoy them, if not for the reasons intended by the filmmakers. If they really awarded bad films, they would probably go after more B movies or films that are just devoid of any entertainment factor. Although on that latter criteria, a lot of latter day Bruce Willis films still fit the bill--but more for other reasons than his performances.

Yeah, exactly. They seem to pick performances from the hyped categories and seem more about the visibility (partly to get attention for themselves) than actual bad performances that might not be attached to films that won't attract them attention. They're not really about truly picking out bad performances per se, and sometimes focus on dubious or dumbest criticisms possible.

They really have no relevance but seem to scream every year from the rooftops to get people's attention, pretending that they do.

 

[Totenkindly]

Watched about 40 minutes of 8mm (Nick Cage, Joel Schumacher) last night. It's not a great film but I'll probably finish it -- it's more interesting in regards to the cast, which has Catherine Keener (wasted), Cage (who is crap in the early part of the film but gets better in some of the later scenes), Joaquin Phoenix probably right before he nailed Commodus in Gladiator, Amy Morton (?) who is decent but her part is kind of scattershot, Anthony Heald who I recognized as soon as he started talking and is miscast (he's just so goddam intense about everything) although his part fortunately is very much a side part and it doesn't distract much. Oh yeah, a super-young Norman Reedus with attitude, 12 years before Walking Dead. He's kind of a cliche but interesting. The direction isn't great, some of their musical selections are WTF, and I've never been much of a fan of Schumacher (he's the weakest link of a film I kind of like, the original Flatliners, despite its problems).

Oh, the most interesting to me -- the film opens in Florida but suddenly he's walking out of Harrisburg Airport. (Note: The airport didn't look like that, at least I wasn't aware of a facade that looked like that entrance.) And then he is driving along what I thought was the Susquehanna River. So I was pretty sure it was Harrisburg, PA, and the script confirms it a few minutes later when they refer to him being the best private dick in the Harrisburg and Lancaster area. (Few films focus on that area, if they aren't Witness -- "Salt" was another.) His house looks like it could be up or downriver based on its terrain and construction. I was like, "the writer must be from that area" -- and yes, that was it, he was born in Altoona and lived in Mechanicsburg growing up, he probably went to Harrisburg a decent amount.

Yeah, I was born, raised, and lived much of my life in central PA before I moved to Maryland some years back.

 

[Totenkindly]

I saw Everything, Everywhere, All at Once Monday afternoon.

Damn. I don't even know what to say about this film, except it is one of the best films I have seen in the last year and it is a star-vehicle for Michelle Yeoh. The acting is phenomenal (not just by her), the editing is crazy-remarkable, and I don't even know how you write a script for a story like this. Just profound.

I saw a clip of an interview with her last night and she cried during it, because this role allowed her to actually stretch herself and prove she has other qualities besides her action-hero background. [Note: the action that happens through part of this film, once it kicks in, is actually pretty stellar! But the film is about more than action sequences.]

this is also kind of indie film at its best. Not sure how they made all this work, because there is philosophical depth, emotional range, crazy quirky elements, visual insanity, once it all gets going. I both laughed a lot and also cried a few times during this film.

Yeoh's Evelyn is also about to learn degrees of life lessons. The film is remarkable because most films just have on cathartic moment, one arc, but Evelyn doesn't stop learning. She learns a lesson -- then has to transcend that lesson to the next stage -- then AGAIN, and so forth. It reminds me of things i learned in my own life, where I thought I would be done, and realized there was more steps of understanding beyond the first revelation so what you thought was true wasn't the end. The indie film it reminds me of in terms of large philosophical feeling is Synecdoche NY (or maybe the ending of Eternal Sunshine) but this is not a Charlie Kaufman film even if I am pretty sure the filmmakers would have seen a ton of his films, it remains more grounded in its characters and emotionally accessible.

It was also really great to see Ke Huy Quan again as a grown-up, and while Yeoh is getting all the attention, he's actually really great too. In fact, all the performances are pretty superb. Jamie Lee Curtis (who is not very recognizable to start) is also pretty great.

 

[Totenkindly]

Gilbert Gottfried, Comedian and ‘Aladdin’ Star, Dies at 67

Gilbert Gottfried has died after battling a long illness, his family announced Tuesday. He was 67.

variety.com

Everyone hug your favorite little squawky talking birds today.


This always cracked me up. There's probably one out there for Bobcat Goldthwait too.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Check out him and a young Ryan Gosling:

 

[Totenkindly]

Finished 8mm. Badly conceptualized, ehhh writing, badly directed, with some decent cast and two notable performances by Amy Morton and James Gandolfini. I mean, it was all kind of ridiculous, but you can't say the actors phoned this piece of fecal matter in at least. It's not one of Cage's better efforts but he did try at times.

I mean, it's a movie about the wickedness of snuff films and I ended up laughing through most of the last 40 minutes, it was so terrible. Plus they made Catherine Keener look dumb, for which I will never forgive them for.

 

[Totenkindly]

Son was watching tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes" remake, so I watched pieces of it including the last 30-40 minutes.

Shockingly bad for someone like Tim Burton, honestly. Most of the ape stars are talented (Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter) but the film is just poorly conceived and not well-written, and the directing feels lackadaisical in most respects almost as if Burton just handed it off to a 2nd or 3rd unit director with little experience. Marky-Mark keeps making these goofy confused facial expressions, much of the cast just stands around rather than actually feeling alive outside of their shots, most of the shots are not dynamic, and it's got to be one of the most films to look at in the history of cinema. Like, Burton has never been this non-interesting.

Who the hell is that outraged intense twiggy kid who ineffectually gets involved in everything?

The fight scenes are goofy AF, you can definitely recognize when they are bunji-jumping around and it all looks unnatural, but even the big battle in the end is pretty dumb. The battle starts with Marky-Mark running out to the field of battle to help a kid pinned by his horse (couldn't he just cut the strap himself with a pocket knife?), then said horse stands with no issue -- and the kid rides away, leaving the LEADER OF THEIR REBELLION sprinting Back to to his army with an army of screaming monkies on his heels, when he could have just let him hop on back.

The war stops for a dumb reason (not even as great as the "we're gods, let us prove it with this eclipse!" trope), and then it should have continued but didn't? And then the leader is caged up and has one of those amazing guns with about 60 bullets in its clip, while managing to not shoot himself with any of the richochetting shots. I'm confused.

In fact the whole end was confusing, when there's an attempt to return to the way things were and.... we're going back into the past but the past is affected by something that happened way in the future? Or maybe he wasn't in the future at all but the past? But then how did the ship crash there...? Oh eff it all. The whole thing was just so bad, on a laughter level -- especially after how great the original is even with technical effects not being great at the time.

While Helena Bonham Carter's character is too demure for her and kind of boring in that respect, she manages to outact everyone in the film despite having much of her face covered by ape make-up. As if no one saw that coming.

---

Then of course I suppose we must discuss why the prequel trilogy is actually pretty well done and well acted, yet ten years later or less no one talks about it and the 4K trilogy pack is only $25.

 

[Totenkindly]

Thandiwe Newton axed from ‘Magic Mike’ sequel after fight with Channing Tatum over Oscars fiasco

The feud between Thandiwe Newton and Channing Tatum escalated to such “astonishing” and “unimaginably vicious” levels that Tatum stormed off set.

pagesix.com

Thanks Will
Sigh

 

[Totenkindly]

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I was going to watch Aquaman today but thinking about it more I'm not sure I can watch something with Amber Heard. She should not have a career.

 

[Red Herring]

It's basically what if Ming the Merciless was a 90s Japanese businessman caricature (anxiety about Japanese companies buying up everything in the US and decimating American firms was a very big thing in the 90s) and by far the most racist thing about those movies even though you heard about that the least. I actually don't think George Lucas is racist beyond just being a boomer who grew up loving to watch shorts rife with Yellow Peril and not the most accurate/sensitive portrayals of other races, but oof this does not come out well. I kind of feel like it was a case like "ooh, all this stuff was in the kind of entertainment I loved as a kid, why shouldn't I try and adapt/update this?" and didn't really think about how it would come across in a modern context.

This is present in the OT to some extent with the Tusken Raiders, who are obviously a riff on the "savage Indians" of Westerns. It's interesting that the more recent shows have tried to "humanize" them somewhat and show other aspects of their culture. I think if A New Hope had come out today there might be some criticism of it; but I think people probably weren't inclined to be aware of/think of such things in the 70s (at least among white people).

They showed Die Hard (1988) on tv last night. I like that movie but there is so much political anxiety with a dotted line leading basically all the way up to Trump. The lowbrow but streetsmart, honest White American male who is humiliated and emasculated by the Asian corporation that lured away "his" woman (whose desire for emancipation is threatening the entire family). The anti-modern undertones. The evil twofaced Europeans (mainly Germans, of course) trying to steal their way to a life of luxury. The bad journalists only making things worse. The single dude saving the day (and winning back his remoseful wife) and setting things right all on his own (cheered on from afar by his sidekick the token Black cop) thanks to a combination of testosterone, audacity and disregard for "the system".


... and then of course there is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun_(film) (1992)

 

[chickpea]

I was going to watch Aquaman today but thinking about it more I'm not sure I can watch something with Amber Heard. She should not have a career.

you’re not wrong but neither should johnny depp lol. both guilty!!!

 

[Totenkindly]

Saw The Northman today. It was a little more straight-forward than I expected, but definitely not glammed up like Braveheart or anything. Decent film, great acting. No real surprises esp if you know Hamlet, aside from one scene going in a bit different direction than even Hamlet did, rofl -- you can thank Nicole Kidman for that, who seems to come alive and bump things to another level.

Pretty consistent and typical vision for Eggers. The color palette is pretty washed out / grey, aside from a few occasional elements of color.

All in all a decent revenge film that feels more authentic than other films set in that genre/time period, but not much beyond that either even while being enjoyable.

you’re not wrong but neither should johnny depp lol. both guilty!!!

They are both quite the pair, aren't they? Almost deserve each other. Kinda like watching those films where both partners are whack jobs and contributing their own brand of dysfunctionality to the matchup.

I was going to watch Aquaman today but thinking about it more I'm not sure I can watch something with Amber Heard. She should not have a career.

I liked her version of Mera better in ZSJL. As nutty as Heard is, Mera scans as pretty bold and badass -- especially when she takes Steppenwolf on face to face and tears all the fluid out of his body as he's strangling her to death. I dunno, I can deal with her okay at the moment despite it being clear she's as off-kilter as Depp.

I do find I have trouble watching Kevin Spacey movies where he is supposed to be a "good" person though.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

you’re not wrong but neither should johnny depp lol. both guilty!!!

After reading a little more about the case:

It sounds like they were both abusive; the fact that the relationship counselor had said this is something I consider to be pretty reliable.

It's kind of tricky to determine who is the worse person given this. I certainly think his texts are very extreme and of course nobody can ever really tell for sure how serious somebody is about statements like that. His idea that it was humor isn't something I really buy; that's at it's just a statement born out of rage. It does point to anger issues that, while not necessarily capable of actual murder, could very well manifest itself in physical abuse.

Looked at objectively the most likely scenario is that they were both physically abusive. I was struck by the severed finger and the permanent damage, but the lack of permanent damage to Amber Heard does not mean Depp wasn't physically abusive.

I did find some stuff about his alcohol abuse which isn't relevant to the discussion. Being a drunk isn't a crime on private property as far as I know.

I guess it is challenging because we have a "he said, she said" scenario, and it is probable that they are both lying about some of it. Heard's statement that his finger injury was because of punching a phone seems less plausible to me than the vodka bottle situation (which admittedly still seems a little bizarre).

I think people have a hard time understanding that sometimes in a conflict nobody is really the good guy. Perhaps, ironically, that could be due in part to Hollywood.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

They showed Die Hard (1988) on tv last night. I like that movie but there is so much political anxiety with a dotted line leading basically all the way up to Trump. The lowbrow but streetsmart, honest White American male who is humiliated and emasculated by the Asian corporation that lured away "his" woman (whose desire for emancipation is threatening the entire family). The anti-modern undertones. The evil twofaced Europeans (mainly Germans, of course) trying to steal their way to a life of luxury. The bad journalists only making things worse. The single dude saving the day (and winning back his remoseful wife) and setting things right all on his own (cheered on from afar by his sidekick the token Black cop) thanks to a combination of testosterone, audacity and disregard for "the system".


... and then of course there is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun_(film) (1992)

I moved the OP to the Star Wars thread, but the lowbrow but streetsmart hero is extremely common in American cinema. It seems like it started to be more of a thing in 70s which is interesting to me.

I've watched a lot of crappy 50s B-movies where the hero is of course still large and square-jawed and handsome, but also happens to be a scientist. You don't see that very much anymore.

 

[Totenkindly]

I'm just like, it's not really our concern because we have no real way to understand the inherent complex awfulness of their relationship. I had some bad shit go down in my long marriage that outsiders wouldn't have been able to understand, sometimes I was at fault and sometimes my ex was and sometimes we both were, but basically it was stuff that you couldn't really judge in context unless you saw everything and knew all the detail. It's a pretty tangled web when dysfunctional behaviors wrap around each other.

So basically now all this awfulness in their relationship is spilling out in soundbites into public domain. They both look pretty awful, but frankly without all the context, there's no way to really evaluate to a fine level of detail 'who is most at fault' and it's not our job or concern anyway. It's enough to say, "Man, they're both pretty messed up, and it's good they are not together anymore because they were bad for each other," but it's not really constructive to go beyond that. It's even enough for me to say I wouldn't really want to be in a relationship with either of them or people resembling either of them, and then let the rest of it up to the courts to figure out.

 

[Totenkindly]

anyone gonna go see Star Trek TMP director's Edition on the big screen? I don't care if they George Lucased TMP; I'm just excited to hear that Goldsmith score accompanying the visuals on a large screen. Especially for the Klingon Battle and the journey through the cloud interior scenes. I intend to pop a gummy beforehand to maximize my enjoyment. This film drags in the second act, but I think the first and third are perfection.

Huh. I hadn't heard about it, so I looked it up -- looks like it is around here on May 22-25 for a few showings. So yeah, maybe I will go -- haven't seen that film for decades.

 

[Totenkindly]

i think it's the sort of movie that actually might play better on a big screen, even after I have seen it countless times on a small screen. I remember watching Raiders about 20 years ago at The Byrd, and there was no comparison, despite already seeing it hundreds of time on a TV screen.

I saw it had released on Paramount in early April so I was tempted to watch it there -- then thought maybe the topical elements (all the space shots and ship size) might actually benefit from the big screen, as well as the sound and visual upgrades. So yeah.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

anyone gonna go see Star Trek TMP director's Edition on the big screen? I don't care if they George Lucased TMP; I'm just excited to hear that Goldsmith score accompanying the visuals on a large screen. Especially for the Klingon Battle and the journey through the cloud interior scenes. I intend to pop a gummy beforehand to maximize my enjoyment. This film drags in the second act, but I think the first and third are perfection.

I might now that you mention it. I wasn't aware of it before. It's probably actually my favorite Trek movie and I think it encapsulates the things I like about Trek pretty well with more of the visual flair of Star Wars.

I don't mind the pace at all and I feel as though it helps me enter the world, if that makes sense.