Last Movie You Watched

[Joy Evangelion]

YOGA HOSERS.

An awful, poorly made Kevin Smith "comedy"

I was hanging with a buddy of mine and his girlfriend a couple years ago and we decided to watch Red State. While we were watching it, it pretty much kept my attention and all that, but the next day after thinking about it for a bit it pretty much pissed me off. I'm not a prude or one to shit on something that's bleak, or opposed to the type of film genre it was, but it truly seemed like just an angry and hateful watch what horrible things happen next movie. It really bummed me out on Kevin Smith altogether, which is a shame because I grew up with his films as well. Oh well.

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

This is probably the chief reason why I've only seen Clerks II a couple times as opposed to my multiple viewings of Clerks. Truly strange.

[Kazuki_Fuse]

I thought Red State was great, the first "horror" movie in a long time to actually make me feel uneasy.

[Ray]

^Never saw it.

Giving conservatives and Southern Baptist Christians a ribbing in the media is nothing new. But from everything I've read, Red State really pulls out all the stops when it comes to demonizing Christians in America.

Or rather the popular left wing interpretation of Christians in the South as racist, homophobic, pricks. As a person with a mother from the south, I can tell you those people are the exception not the rule.

It really sucks because I'm a big fan of Kevin Smiths Podcast.

[Guy Nacks]

I can't hate on Kevin Smith.

The guy's said on many occasions that he just makes movies for the fun of it and does what he wants to do with his friends. What's more artistic than the "Fuck the critics, I'll do what I want" standpoint?

He's also a genuinely amicable person and has a VERY positive relationship with his fans, which is respectable. You may not like his movies, or think the quality of his work has gone down the tubes, but you can't hate the guy based on his personality.

[Gendo'sPapa]

I wouldn't hate Smith if he hadn't have become an awfully lazy filmmaker. I've had peers who have worked on his films & from what they've told me over beers he just doesn't care. He routinely shows up late to set, he doesn't have the slightest idea about the technicals that go into filmmaking, he rushes people along so they can finish early & he regularly only does one or two takes. Even if the actors ask for another one he shrugs it off & says "Nah, we got it." He doesn't really care about the art of filmmaking anymore & everything is just a venue to make things about himself. He also personally edits his films himself - which is fine - but as of late his first cut routinely ends up being the one that gets released. The one that he charges people $60-80 per ticket to see at his Roadshow events.

The thing is Kevin Smith just makes films for the Kevin Smith fanbase simply because they eat it up & he can then go on his speaking tours. Really he should just quit filmmaking altogether & be a podcaster/public speaker. That's where his heart lies. He loves talking about himself. And people like it. He should do that. OR he should write scripts for other young filmmakers to adapt & then use his clout in the nerd scene to get those filmmakers noticed. He tried that for a few years but apparently he didn't like fans talking about people besides him.

I've always found it weird that Kevin Smith is graded on a curve against other filmmakers. He's been a paid professional for over 20 years but people still treat his work like some young kid getting his start in the film industry. He's released 12 theatrical feature films. He should at least have a solid grasp on the art of filmmaking. I hate the guy because he has it all - any struggling filmmaker would kill for 1/100th the infrastructure he's got set up to finance his films - & instead of trying to make genuinely good work he lazily cobbles together films that can't deliver on the basics of storytelling. Then he sells them to his fans with the nonsense of "This isn't for the critics, it's for the fans!" An artist should always try to push themselves to be better & give their fans something better than what they've had before. Kevin Smith doesn't do that. Kevin Smith makes movies like Donald Drumpf runs for the Presidency. Good or bad in the end all conversation comes back to being about him.

Richard Linklater gets together with his friends & does what he wants with his friends giving no thought to critics. From this he's made Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight, Boyhood & Everybody Wants Some!!. Woody Allen has made all his films without thought to the critics. For every two or three mediocre to bad films he makes there's a Blue Jasmine or Midnight in Paris. Sion Sono clearly doesn't care what anybody thinks & we've gotten such masterpieces like Love Exposure, Why Don't You Play in Hell?, Tokyo Tribe & Tag. I really wonder if Anno cares what critics say & just does what he want.
Kevin Smith has adapted the "Fuck the critics, I'll do what I want" ground since he dropped the ball hard on Cop Out. From that we've gotten Red State, flawed but one of the few films in his career where he's trying to do something great & he succeeds at times, Tusk, a garbage film made on the quick that is carried by Michael Parks, & Yoga Hosers, a garbage film that ends with a monster that is out to "kill the critics & haters".

I'd like Kevin Smith if he tried. He doesn't. He's coasting on a steadily shrinking fanbase of diehard fans who love him for his public appearances & those first films he made in the mid 90s.

His steadily shrinking fanbase is probably why his next project is Mallrats 2. He needs to get some fans back. Maybe this time he'll care enough to give a damn.

I'd love to change my tune on Kevin Smith (I have for M. Night Shyamalan because The Visit is great fun & Split is REAAAAALLLLLY FUN!) but nothing about his attitude towards his work hints at a desire to work harder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPJPphUnM58
If anyone can defend this godawful overly written scene from Tusk that wastes two solid actors in a rambling bit of unfunny nonsense that goes on for almost 5 minutes by all means.

[Kazuki_Fuse]

If you are like me and loved The Raid and The Raid 2, then see Headshot when it gets a wide release. I was lucky enough to see it at a film fest last night and it is the perfect hold-over until The Raid 3 comes out in a few years. It even features Iko Uwais as the main character (Rama in The Raid series)

SPOILER: Show

[Squigsquasher]

Watched the Lord of the Rings movies over the last 3 days. The first one is definitely the best, but they're all good movies, and much better than the Hobbit movies.

[Reichu]

Was browsing Netflix and stumbled across Look Who's Back (Er ist Wieder Da), and was sold on the short summary instantaneously. If you, like me, never heard of this book-turned-film before, the premise is: Adolf Hitler did not die in his bunker, and instead mysteriously time-traveled to 2014, reappearing perfectly intact in the park where his bunker used to be. The story cares not about justifying this set-up in any way, which is perfectly OK, since Hitler's reaction to his new surroundings, and people's reactions to him, are all that really matter. Hitler himself is the strongest part of the film, played with perfect deadpan conviction, and simultaneously hilarious and terrifying. Naturally, nobody believes he is the real deal; instead, he's embraced as a mysterious method actor who never once breaks character and eventually becomes a multimedia phenomenon. The overall result is somewhat Borat-like, in that the film is part scripted, and part improvisation. In the latter segments, it doesn't take much coaxing from "Hitler" for run-of-the-mill German citizens to reveal their right-wing nationalistic sentiments. It was hard not to be reminded of the current political environment in the US at every turn.

Spooky, but also quite entertaining, at times laugh-out-loud funny.

[Director Black]

Just finished watching Deliverance (Better known by most as that movie with the disturbing "squeal like a pig" scene"). I need some time to digest it, mostly because my interest kept waving back and forth. I liked the suspenseful tone and Jon Voight's character, but many scenes dragged on and I found myself drifting off. Still, despite my mixed feelings, I'll still say that it was worth my time.

[Ray]

We Need To Talk About Kevin:

This is a genuinely unsettling film. Not scary, unsettling. It's a horror story that sadly has too much basis in our own reality. . . I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying the plot. It's about a school shooter, and how even with a good upbringing, some people are just irredeemable.

Basically the story i's about a travel writer trying and ultimately failing to be a good mother to a child who was just ultimately born without morality. There's really nothing you can say about Kevin as a character. All the intelligence of a human, none of the humanity. Seeing him go from fussy baby, to sociopathic teen is really . . . well too much like people we see on the news IRL.

The way the film is shot really clinical, and emphasizes the isolation of Tilda Swinton's character. (Since the movie takes place in quite a bit of flashback, she's dealing with the aftermath of her sons sociopathy) and the film makes it somewhat ambiguous as to whether it was her parenting to blame, or whether Kevin was just a bad seed from the start and nothing could have been done to prevent it. You do feel pity for her, even as the film peels away the layers to reveal she was a bit of distant mother, but whether it was entirely Kevin's fault or partially her own is up to debate.

It's not so much 'horror' in the spirit of monster coming to get you. It's the horror in the human condition.

[movieartman]

Halloween (1978)
Halloween 2 (1981)
- The 2 are basically one long film, they accomplish making it feel like the same night almost perfectly, no drop in quality at all.
- It's mind blowing to me that Rick Rosenthal directed both 2 & Resurrection because they are farther apart in quality then they are in years apart. I get he was probably going for the feel of Scream & H20 in Resurrection but the direction in R doesn't have ANYTHING in common with 2.
- Carpenter apparently directed a few specific scenes but nothing stands out as having felt different or better than the rest of the film.
- Change in score is interesting, younger me liked 2's theme more, current me likes the original better but both are good.
- Hospital set is comfy & very moody at the same time.
- Imagery of Myers on unwatched security cams is unnerving and cool.

Shock Waves (1977)
- Scenes of the Zombie soldiers waking up/walking along the sea bed in full uniform is chilling & awesome.
- Brooke Adams is good here although not as fleshed out or lively as she was in the following years Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

[Gus Hanson]

My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks

Long live the Pinkie Pie quote, "NOT THE SIRENS!". Perfect pitch and delivery. The Sirens had really cute character designs for villains. their singing voices were catchy. Too bad they didn't get the Sunset Shimmer redemption treatment at the end but I guess not everybody can be saved.

[El Squibbonator]

Knights of Badassness. If you remember what Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was like, imagine that, only a thousand times raunchier and filthier. And just as hilarious.

[NemZ]

Kevin Smith's problem is he's surrounded by pothead yesmen and he really just doesn't have much to say anymore. He's a fine study of characters and dialogue but he's already tapped out his circle of friends for inspiration and can't be bothered to branch out. That said, Zack and Miri Make a Porno was pretty decent and fairly recent. People seem to forget about that one for some reason.

Look Who's Back - yes, that was amusing.

We Need To Talk About Kevin - sounds interesting, if I have time over thanksgiving break maybe I'll look that one up.

[Director Black]

So, my English class finished reading the Crucible a week ago (Thought it was a solid play), and keeping in tradition with almost every English class in America, we watched the movie adaptation. It was on the same quality as the play. The direction did have some poor choices (A lot of the cinematography was framed weird) but the performances were all fantastic. Daniel Day-Lewis (Who I unfortunetely haven't seen enough movies from) was fantastic and Wynoda Ryder made an excellent bitch out of Abigail (One classmate of mine joked that he's going to call anyone he doesn't like Abigail Williams from now on).

[NemZ]

Dr. Strange was a damn good time. My dad is a comic nerd from way back and Strange was always his favorite, so I took him to see it this afternoon.

[Ray]

^ must be nice being a Marvel fan. . .

I'm about to watch Cronenberg's The Brood. I'll be back with my thoughts later.

[Director Black]

Just finished watching Ava Duverany's documentary 13th, and goddamn. For anyone who's against BLM here, watching this doc might help greater insight into why the movement is happening.

[Ray]

The Brood:
There's not much of cronenberg's typical body Horror in this at least not until the very end. But as a straightforward Thriller with some minor monster movie elements it's actually pretty decent.

The colors are bright, the scenes are well staged and shot. The way Cronenberg uses color in this movie is very interesting. Especially this particular shot towards the end with the wife and white sitting on a pile of blood red pillows.

But damn this is one mean-spirited movie I mean really mean spirited but damn this is one mean spirited movie I mean really mean spirited. It's basically Cronenbergs big middle finger to his wife, which was going through a divorce with at the time. As such that has quite a few things in it that you could see is definitely either gynophobic or outright Misandrist. There is no way in hell this movie would get produced today.

But that's not even it! violence against old people! Seeing a pair of demon midgets smash an old man's face in with a snow globe is disgusting to watch.

EDIT:
Black Rain:

This is one of the most gratuitously 80's movies I've ever seen.
Loose Canon Cop Who Doesn't Play By The Rules? Check.
Goofy Partner? Check
Bureaucracy getting in the way of catching the bad guy? Check.
New York? Check.
Obsession With Japan? Check.
Lots of Neon? Check.
Motorcycles? Check.
Synthesizer Soundtrack? Check.
An R-Rating? Check.

What could have been just another generic cop film is elevated by Ridley Scotts direction and Hans Zimmer's Score. Not to mention Mike Douglas's excellent acting, towing the line between everyman out of his element, and badass supercop.

Sadly there is one major flaw with the movie. . . The ENDING. The entire movie is building up to this climatic shootout in a Shinto Shrine where the bad guy of the movie is being held. The entire movie has been building up to this point, the bad guy is about to get what he deserves. And then instead of going the extra mile to deliver on that, the ending seems like it's been cut from an entirely different movie, and it reeks of last minute studio, test audience interference.

But 80% of a good movie aint a bad way to spend an afternoon.

[movieartman]

Godzilla vs Destroyah (1995)
- Fantastic resolution to the heisei timeline.
- Beautiful score.
- Really good homage/rip off of Aliens with the mini Destroyers fighting swat teams.

Eye See You / D-Tox (2002)
- Pretty damn underrated Sylvester Stallone thriller with slasher elements.
- Stallone has opportunity in the first 3rd to bring in some of his better acting and emotional work like he did in Copland.
- Snowbound isolated setting is effective and foreshadows the Norwegian slasher film Cold Prey (2008) which uses the same kinda setting & imagery to even greater effect a few years later.
- Real solid cast.