Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[Doctor Cringelord]

sometimes I see people dismissing continuity as a minor concern on the basis that it really doesn't matter if it's all in a fictional universe. I just bristle at that because to me continuity and believable world building are just as important as good characterization. Good characters function best with a believable setting. Or a setting where there is at least some consistency with the continuity and logic established in that fictional universe.

 

[Totenkindly]

Redbox let me stream the most recent Charlie's Angels (2019) for 99 cents, so I was like wth -- I heard Kristen Stewart was interesting. I also got a $2 off coupon to use on another redbox stream in the next month, so that's cool.

I'm not exactly sure what I want to say so maybe I'll just make some bullet points.

- Stewart does play her role in an unexpected way. It's kind of a vapid part played in an arthouse fashion, which makes it more interesting. I think she gets a bad rap because of some serious high exposure pics she has done over the years (esp Twilight), but I've been blown away by much of her work in the foreign indie market. She just wasn't in the right niche. I think I've mentioned before that she was the first American woman to win a Cesar award (equivalent of our oscar here, for non-American films), for "Clouds of Sils Maria."

- Not sure how I should feel about Elizabeth Banks. She has managed to build a film industry career by moving from acting into producing and now directing. She's not awful, but she's not great either. (I think I liked her best as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games series, but in general I am lukewarm to her other performances.) Here, she wrote the screenplay for this film based on story treatments by other writers. It's not utter shit, but it's not really that good either. It feels a bit idiosyncratic at times without being funny, and otherwise kind of unfocused and, well, messy. She also directed this movie. I've seen a lot WORSE from people but I've seen a lot better. I guess she got the film over the finish line but with only middling results. It's obvious she is ambitious and has worked her way into getting opportunities women sometimes struggle with, so that is positive; but I'd say she's more of a workhorse than an artist / someone with obvious talent for the work. (Compare her to Penny Marshall, who got a lot of exposure on "Laverne and Shirley" and had a dad in the business, but actually had some talent directing comedy with some drama added.)

- There was no demand for another Charlie's Angels movie. The movie is definitely aimed at young girls (there's a lot of encouraging comments towards younger women, plus it's styled as a female action film) and nostalgic older people who liked the TV show. Neither group was really interested in the film. It totally bombed in the box office. Just a really bad studio decision.

- The plotting was a bit confusing, the action didn't ratchet up well and it comes off more like "The Heat" or some female buddy comedy without serious stakes, despite the stakes supposedly being series.

- Naomi Scott was one of the best (well, maybe the only good part) of the Aladdin live-action remake. Here she is wasted. She plays her part as well as she could, but it's not a well-written part.

- The third "Angel" is 23-year-old Ella Balinska, she has actual martial arts training and was actually pretty intimidating (it helps when you're 5 10-11" as well). I'd watch her in something else, she was competent and better actress than, oh, other martial arts women who made their way into movies (like Gina Carano, definitely).

- They ripped the assassin off Robert Patrick's T2 performance. he's kind of bland and uninteresting.

- Patrick Stewart. I guess he was having fun, so I'll give him a break -- he has reached a place in his career where he can just try different shit and no one will think poorly of him if it doesn't work out.

- Apparnetly Bosley isn't a real name, it's a ranking. So everyone is called Bosley in all the Angels groups scattered around the world now. (Maybe the original Bosley was real, as part of the prototype Angels group -- so they took his name as a homage?)

- After all the shocking "Blahness" of the film, the end credits sequences were actually pretty fucking funny and have a TON of cameos. Also a sweet cameo showing who is actually running the enterprise now, that was nice. I could have actually appreciated the film better if it took the crazy, frenetic, light-hearted approach completely through rather than the weird tone it had.

Not recommended, really. I think they wanted to reboot the franchise (it's a continuation of the past entries) with this based on ending, but I doubt that will happen.

 

[Totenkindly]

Just Kidding, AMC Changed Its Mind And Guests Are Now Required To Wear Masks

yeah.

I mean, I heard AMC was on the verge of going utterly bankrupt and could be bought by Amazon. (Not sure what the most current news is, that was two months ago or so.)

This bombshell this past week that they would not require masks -- wtf were they thinking. In NYC out of all places too. I'm less surprised they changed their minds after a day due to all the blowback and more surprised they said such a stupid thing in the first place, unless they were just dipping a toe in the water to gauge the audience reaction and impact on sales.

 

[Totenkindly]

Finally watched the most recent remake of "The Grudge."

- Similar to "Charlie's Angels," no one was asking for this and it shows.

- Setting is transposed to USA

- Nice color palette and some decent acting. Andrea Riseborough actually gives a performance that physically reminds me of Mickey Rourke in "Angel Heart" or Nicole Kidman in "Destroyer," they look like people beaten down by the years and hard living. If you didn't know who she was, you might not recognize her. John Cho and Betty Gilpin also bring some heavy dramatic work to the film, although it's ultimately wasted.

- Unfortunately the actors have to carry the film because the writing is thin, it's all just plot... and not THAT great.

- The movie excels in tone but is rather flat horror-wise. Yes, there are some effective jumpscares, others are predictable. The creepiest stuff is when the camera just happens to pan (and keep going) and passes over things that should not be there, without the film emphasizing the moment.

- The arthouse director did "The Eyes of My Mother" and "Piercing," which were better films. He brings moody ambiance to this film but it's flat and underwritten otherwise. The film is kind of despairing, pretty much all the characters have had shit they're dealing with and that's BEFORE the film begins.

- End credits are kind of cool idea.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I had more thoughts on Halloween 2018. It should be the perfect sequel, but something about it is off to me.

I think the creators had the right idea in mind in discarding any ideas about The Shape being related to Laurie Strode. I always thought it was needless exposition that Myers had to be motivated by familial drama or revenge. Yet that idea was so popular it kept getting done over and over again, even in the Rob Zombie remake series.

Getting away from that in the 2018 film was nice, but then they kind of go half-assed with it and still have to insert some unexplained connection to Laurie Strode. Don't get me wrong, it's cool to see Jamie Lee Curtis come back to the series, I just think it undercuts what The Shape really means. The original Halloween is not an especially scary or gory movie, but it's the randomness of the Shape's killing that makes him scary. Laurie Strode is just another random victim. I don't see any good reason he'd want to go vendetta mode on a single person who happened to escape his grasp 40 years prior. The best part of the 2018 film IMO is the sequence when Myers moves from house to house, just choosing victims at random. Will he go into that house? or the next one? It's the one part of the film I found unsettling. The rest felt like a familiar trip into nostalgia land. Fun, but we all knew more or less how the movie was going to "shape" up once we got to the inevitable third-act confrontation between Myers and Strode. But then I find that's typical in slasher films, for the first 2 acts to be strong, only to progress into the very formulaic third act where filmmakers always feel more indebted to the genre tropes than to any organic conclusion

Even Carpenter's new score is underwhelming. Part of the appeal of the original 1978 score is its minimalism and the fact Carpenter used detuned vintage synths, leading to an uneasy, off-kilter sound that simply cannot be replicated with higher end, in-tune equipment.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Also, does Jimmy die in Halloween II? They never really make that clear. There's supposedly a deleted scene showing him alive in an ambulance at the end. It's almost as unclear as Paul's fate in Friday the 13th Part 2

 

[Totenkindly]

Joel Schumacher Dies: Director Of Two Batman & Brat Pack Pics, ‘Falling Down’ & Others Was 80

Joel Schumacher, who directed some two dozen films including Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, the Brat Pack pics St. Elmo’s Fire and The Lost Boys along Falling Down and John Grisham adaptations The Client and A Time to Kill, died today. He was 80.

His publicists at ID PR said he had a yearlong battle with cander.

You'd think Deadline could proofread a bit. Did he die of cancer or candor? It's not the only typo.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

It Follows establishes that the film's curse is passed from person to person by having sex. Supposing you just got the curse from someone, if you have sex with them again, does that transfer the curse back to them?

 

[Totenkindly]

It Follows establishes that the film's curse is passed from person to person by having sex. Supposing you just got the curse from someone, if you have sex with them again, does that transfer the curse back to them?

I would think it would just bounce back around to that person. I guess the question is, is the original person out of the loop now, or does it go back the chain and come to the again, kill them... and then does it skip the person it already killed and back back ANOTHER link or just stop?

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

The freeway chase/fight from Matrix Reloaded is the pinnacle of great action set pieces.

 

[Totenkindly]

The freeway chase/fight from Matrix Reloaded is the pinnacle of great action set pieces.

it's long too. [I do like it, but my favorite fight in that movie is the room with Neo when he faces off against the Merovingian's hench guys -- with various weapons hanging around the room. It's just a cool fight, and has the whole thing about hinting at Neo's mortality. The choreography is great.]

They built that highway section over an old runway area, just for the film.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

it's long too. [I do like it, but my favorite fight in that movie is the room with Neo when he faces off against the Merovingian's hench guys -- with various weapons hanging around the room. It's just a cool fight, and has the whole thing about hinting at Neo's mortality. The choreography is great.]

They built that highway section over an old runway area, just for the film.

Specifically I enjoy the 3-way fight where agents and the twins are simultaneously fighting the heroes and one another. And my favorite fights in the series usually involve Morpheus looking badass.

 

[Lark]

Specifically I enjoy the 3-way fight where agents and the twins are simultaneously fighting the heroes and one another. And my favorite fights in the series usually involve Morpheus looking badass.

I loved the mech-warriors fighting the razor octopuses but mainly because it had a last stand/hold the line sort of feel like the defence/relief of helms deep in LOTR.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I think one of the most interesting characters from the Matrix trilogy is Cipher. I hate to say it, but I understand him a little.

 

[Totenkindly]

Started dipping into Oz Perkins films now. He's the son of Anthony Perkins of "Psycho" fame but directs films.

I watched "The Blackcoat's Daughter" yesterday and started "I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House" last night. He also did the "Gretel and Hansel" film this past year that starred Sophia Lillis (who you might know as kid Bev from "IT" films).

He seems to be really great at atmosphere and not just relying on jump scare - style film horror. There's a dreamy nature to his films, they are rather broody -- not quite on the level of "The Witch" but worth the experience if you are into that kind of thing. The acting is generally decent. I feel like he's got a lot of potential and is on the verge of really nailing something great, but is hovering right under the breakout boundary.

The story from TBD is pretty simple and I figured out where it was going halfway through, there are also some conventional elements; but I liked how it feels and the ending is still lingering with me today. There's a real sense of loss/abandonment in the film.

I think one of the most interesting characters from the Matrix trilogy is Cipher. I hate to say it, but I understand him a little.

Great character. They needed him for contrast anyway.

Boy, that steak looked good.

 

[Totenkindly]

Highlander Reboot Update from Director Chad Stahelski | Collider
Highlander Reboot Director Says The Film Is Still On Track

it looks like they are going the film route.

Sure, with Stahelski, the choreography and fight scenes will no doubt be spectacular. But what of the human element? The film at core is about a man who feels like he will always be alone because of his immortality. Even the resolution of the film makes a point of resolving that. I wonder if they will forget the human point of the film and obsess over the gloss and spectacle; it's not like John Wick is that impactful emotionally, once you get past the first ten minutes of the first film.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Gleaming The Cube is a nice little gem of a forgotten movie. Nothing superb but it does a decent job of adding a late 80s teen drama feel to a standard thriller format. There’s also some really great skating stunts and sequences. Tony Hawk helped out in this movie before a lot of people knew who he was. I like how the main character played by Christian Slater uses his wits and his skateboard in tracking down his brother’s killers. Kind of forgot about Slater, like a lot of people have forgotten about him, but damn he was and is a good actor, had a lot of promise before he derailed his career. Even if his whole thing seemed to be channeling Nicholson, he’s got good range and comes across as genuine e in his performance here

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Has Fishburn signed on for Matrix 4? He really is one of the best things about those films and I’d love to see a return of an older Morpheus

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Another movie I’d forgotten about was To Die For. Generally never been a fan of Nicole Kidman but she is great here. Really cold and chilling, she portrays a sociopathic narcissistic so great in this.

Pretty good cast all around.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I think one of the most interesting characters from the Matrix trilogy is Cipher. I hate to say it, but I understand him a little.

I think most people will identify with him even if they aren't willing to admit it.

Considering the reality of living in a cramped sub-like vessel eating flavorless gruel or living in a giant cave in constant fear of destruction by killer machines, it's understandable some would be tempted to return to the Matrix. I'm frankly shocked the free humans didn't have to deal with more traitors like him trying to get back to the matrix. Or maybe they did but we just haven't heard about those people.

On the other hand, Zion throws the best raves and people seem pretty sexually liberal, so I can see the appeal in both choices. I assume the food is also much better in Zion than it is on the hover ships, so one could just choose to live out their days in the caverns going to the giant hippie raves. I guess Cypher just didn't like techno music and eating cave fungus salads.