Last Movie You Watched

[Chuckman]

Have you seen The Rocketeer?

Edit: Tonight Chuckman rewatched the Oshii GITS.

[Chuckman]

I'm watching TMNT: Out of the Shadows

This is one of the most aggressively mediocre movies I have ever seen.

[Ray]

^if you knew it was going to suck why would you waste your time and money?

[Chuckman]

Well it's got Krang and the cartoon shit in it. I'm giving it a chance.

Edit: I finished it. It''s just bland.

Do we need another movie where the turtles are all assholes for no reason until they come together at the end (wasn't that the first movie?)?

Also do we need *another* movie where New York is threatened by an alien invasion coming through a portal directly over the city? A blue portal? Which must be closed by an explosion and two teams working on two objectives?

Oh yeah, and Michael Bay doesn't actually direct these, he's just a producer, but they bear his visual mark anyway, only without the flair.

Mikey yelling "this is awesome" got tiresome. I stopped counting at five instances. The word cowabunga is spoken once in the entire film. By another character. Ironically.

The high point of the movie is Megan Fox's tummy.

Anyway after that I watched the 30th anniversary edition of Transformers: The Movie.

This cut has the restored hell, shit, and damn that the home video versions omitted.

God damn is that movie a fucking trip. It's so relentlessly bizarre. We all know how it starts off by murdering all the old toys and introducing new ones, but the rest of the movie is like... we checked off the plot point that the toy company insisted we include right at the beginning, now let's see how insane we can make the rest of this movie and get away with it. My persona highlight is everything on the Planet Junk, but most especially the Autobots joining a giant, planet-wide ritual dance around the dismembered body of their new leader. The whole thing is so beautifully surreal, except the ending which is ripped off directly from Star Wars.

[pwhodges]

Saw Bridget Jones's Baby last night. For the first ten minutes I though it was going to be awful, but then Renée Zellweger switched into gear, and we got the cringeingly funny film that was hoped for. The ending (and the hook for another) was pretty much as one would have predicted. Second honours alongside Renée go to Emma Thompson as the gynaecologist. Colin Firth was himself, and that was all he was required to do - but he did it fine.

[Kazuki_Fuse]

Rewatched Memories of Murder. Korean cinema at it's finest. The ending scene still gives me goosebumps.

[Squigsquasher]

Watched The Hateful Eight recently. I'm a big Tarantino fan, and whilst it was a good film it wasn't quite up to the high standard I'm used to from him. I dunno, something was just missing. Samuel L Jackson was great as always, and the acting in general was good.

One bit that annoyed me somewhat was

SPOILER: Show

The bit with Samuel's character trying to bait the old Confederate general into shooting him. I get the point of the scene, and that the general was a despicable character, and the acting was great. But it felt a little bit...unnecessary. Like, it seemed like "Black revenge porn" if that makes sense. It actually made me like Sam's character less, which I suspect was not the intention.

It was a fun flick, just not my favourite Tarantino film.

[Guy Nacks]

One bit that annoyed me somewhat was

SPOILER: Show

The bit with Samuel's character trying to bait the old Confederate general into shooting him. I get the point of the scene, and that the general was a despicable character, and the acting was great. But it felt a little bit...unnecessary. Like, it seemed like "Black revenge porn" if that makes sense. It actually made me like Sam's character less, which I suspect was not the intention.

It was a fun flick, just not my favourite Tarantino film.

To be fair, though, Tarantino isn't exactly the poster child for subtle direction.

Also, when I saw this movie in theaters, I swear the staff must've turned the air conditioning on. Keep in mind that this was in late December, so it's already cold as hell. And one of my other friends reported something similar. So, I wonder if the ever-obsessive Tarantino gave instructions to theater staff to pump the cold air into theaters playing his film to add to the experience.

[Chuckman]

Bone Tomahawk.

There's nothing in it really innovative but I liked it anyway. It's like they said, "what if we we make a cheesy 'rag tag band rescue woman from indians' movie but don't shy away from nudity and gore'" and just made it really well. Kurt Russel is amazing.

[Squigsquasher]

Just saw Ms Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children AKA The Birdy Bird's House for Weird Kids AKA Tim Burton's X-Men in the cinema.

It wasn't a bad movie. It was fairly enjoyable and had some entertaining bits. That said, it wasn't Tim's best, and suffered from a serious case of "we don't know what kind of movie this is supposed to be" syndrome. At times it seemed to want to be a happy, quirky romp, at others a more serious, sad story, and occasionally veered into outright horror. One moment we're treated to a little girl pulling a giant carrot out of the ground, the next to Slenderman expies eating children's eyeballs. They should really have picked a "feel" and stuck with it. Case in point: The skeleton fight. Rather than having the skeletons engaging in zany "LOL SO RANDUMB XD" combat antics, I'd have had them be menacing, slow moving and almost as creepy as the Hollows themselves. After all, Enoch was essentially reanimating the dead- if they'd pushed THAT point home rather than "LOL SPOOPY SCARY SKELLINGTONS" they could have had a really original sequence. I also thought the ending was overly schmultzy and rather clichéd.

That said it did have its good parts. Samuel L Jackson was great as always, and made a superb villain. Eva Green was good too, and made a better Discount Helena Bonham Carter than, well, Helena Bonham Carter. The acting in general was fairly good, and (most of) the effects were decent.

Now, the elephant in the room: The complaints of the lack of MUH DIVERSITY. Honestly, whilst yes the cast was fairly white, it didn't really bother me; it didn't make the film any less enjoyable or believable, and considering a lot of the movie took place in 1943 Britain, a "diverse" cast would have stuck out like a sore tentacle. If I had one complaint in that regard it's that I think that the girl with the mouth on the back of her head could maybe have been Japanese (as it was an obvious homage to the folktale of the Futakuchi-Onna and thus would have been a cool cultural reference- "And this is Chihiro, she has...interesting eating habits...") but at the same time, a Japanese girl in Wales at the time of the Second World War would have been rather difficult to explain away even by the standards of a story about children with supernatural powers.

Overall though, OK movie. Not a great movie but not a terrible one.

[SawItAtAge10]

Neon Demon. That movie is equal parts beautiful and just plain bat shit.

[robersora]

The Case of Hana and Alice
This is the prequel to a movie I’ve never seen, made by Junji Iwai. I know Iwai from his involvement in Anno’s beloved by myself, but divisive among other people movie Ritual-Day. I also know Iwai from his movie All About Lily Chou Chou, which portrayed youth as a grim and hopeless place to be in. I didn’t particularly care for this movie - I found it too long for its own good, but it did manage to create a dense atmosphere, especially through one of my favorite OSTs of all time.

The Case of Hana and Alice is a comedy though, and quite funny at places. Once I managed to get past the tepid first third I felt formidably entertained. The leads are extremely entertaining when they finally start interacting. And while their antics turn out to be quite comical, the movie takes the pair seriously enough to make them feel like humans. Due to the light tone it also didn’t fall into the trap of melodrama, with is always a deal breaker for me. The rotoscoping didn’t bother me one bit as well.
So yeah. Skip the first third and you’re in for a fun time.
6/10 (8/10 without the first third)

[movieartman]

RED LIGHTS (2012)
- Decently good magic thriller in the vein of Now You See Me or The Prestige
- Great cast.

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)
- Equal if not superior to the 1950s version. John Carpenter's The Thing is superior to this, however this is the bigger acomplishment as the original Invasion is a notably better film then the original The Thing.
- Great score.
- Fucking fantastic cast all around.
- Brooke Adams is adorable & her chemistry with Donald Sutherland is fantastic.
- The story adapts to the change in setting from small town to big city flawlessly. The less personal & less friendly nature of city life making it even easier for the pods to do their work unoticed.

[Gus Hanson]

Batman: Bad Blood

A mixed bag. Why build up a badass villain if you're just going to off him in a punk bitch way? And why does Batwoman put on a longer redhead wig when she's on the job? Batgirl doesn't have that problem.

[movieartman]

And why does Batwoman put on a longer redhead wig when she's on the job? Batgirl doesn't have that problem.

Same in the comics, Batgirl typically has her hair under the cowl while Kane lets it flow, its useful so if someone tries to grab her by the hair it just pops off.
When Kane & Batman first encountered each other before Batman discovered her identity he recommended she cut her hair and she smirked & said she would take it under advisement.

[Director Black]

Recently watched Control, a biopic on Ian Curtis; the frontman of Joy Division (One of my all-time favorite bands). The plot was a bit rushed and they could've covered more ground, but Sam Riley was fantastic as Ian, and, like Joy Division itself, it perfectly captured how much depression can ruin a person.

[Joy Evangelion]

Control

Control is a pretty cool movie, but man, it's so damn depressing. I know it's about someone that killed themselves so it sort of can't be not depressing, but I kinda feel that it's help propagate the belief that Ian Curtis went around being bummed out 24/7, when in reality him and the other JD guys used to moon motorists when they were driving between gigs, and did other fun things groups of four friends do. I've not nothing but love and respect for Anton Corbijn, but it's pretty important to remember that when people make these biopics they take a lot of artistic liberties and unfortunately a lot of sad young people who get into JD in their teens are going to watch the movie the first chance they get and take the entire thing at face value, leading to the belief that IC is some kind of mythical sad god, which may or may not cloud their ability to see the utter beauty in JD's music. But I didn't know ol Ian Curtis personally so maybe I shouldn't talk.

24 Hour Party People and the Joy Division documentary are both a must watch for JD fans, too.

[Squigsquasher]

Just watched The Wilder People. Holy shit what a great movie. Crazy bushwhackers taking on the government and nearly winning? Fuck yeah!

[Ray]

The Hunger

Co-starring David Bowie

Basically it's a vampire movie, with a few creative twists on the genre.

But overall I can't say I'd recommend this one. The whole plot kind of falls apart and devolves into borderline pornography once.

SPOILER: Show

Bowies character. . . 'Dies'. I use die in lowest terms because what happened to him is absolutely horrifying.

Basically the plot at least the first half is an examination of the 'vampirim is an STD'. apparently the 'immortality' only lasts about 400 years before you begin to shrivel up, before eventually becoming an immortal, senile, raisin, literally unable to die.

But once Bowie's character leaves the movie. It just stops being worth your time. At least for me.

[Gendo'sPapa]

YOGA HOSERS.

An awful, poorly made Kevin Smith "comedy" about two teenage girls, one played by Smith's real-life daughter, having to fight off tiny Nazi Sausages, played by Kevin Smith, that kill people by crawling up asses. So in short, it's an 80 minute about Kevin Smith's daughter doing whatever she can to keep her father from literally shoving his sausage up her asshole.

Maybe it was just me but nothing worked. A joke never landed. Everything was forced. None of the world building made sense - movie makes a big deal about the two sophomore girls being invited to a senior party & yet the seniors who invited them are in the same classes they're in. The acting was atrocious. The pandering cameos were grating. The forced teen writing felt like what it was, a 45 year old man writing what he thinks teenagers sound like by throwing "basic" in ever minute or so. The movie is only 80 minutes but it somehow felt twice that length.

I wasn't expecting much but I was not expecting THIS. Ah well. Kevin Smith was one of those filmmakers I grew up on & his early work, while flawed, has a real sense of passion & intelligence to it. This felt like what it probably was, an idea Smith made freestyle on an episode of one of his podcasts, wrote down a first draft & shot over two weeks. It's bad. It looks cheap - somehow this cost $5 million - & easily surpasses Cop Out as Smith's worst movie.

Also, Smith has one upped the awkwardness that was the mid 00's "Look at how Hot my Wife is" - I've never had a cinematic experience more awkward than being present for an early screening of Clerks II & the whole audience uncomfortably sitting through scenes that Kevin Smith had written & directed where his real-life wife is being groped & frenched by one of his close friends - when his camera a lot of times seems to be ogling his teenage daughter. Her wardrobe, a lot of exposed midriff & one size too small shirts, doesn't help things either.

Plus for all the talk of yoga I don't think either of the two "Yoga Hosers" have ever taken a real yoga class. As someone who does yoga three times a week I'm fine with the idea of taking a piss out of yoga - some of the joke names for yoga poses are charming - but at least try to sell me on the idea the girls can do the basic poses.

Shrugs. It's a bad movie is what I'm getting at.