Films II : The Filminator

[OCH]

Godzilla Minus One

 

That, was incredible! Seen in IMAX, as a fan of b-movies and Godzilla since I was very small. This is one of the best monster movies I've ever seen. Certainly up there as one of the best Godzilla films too. It's funny, the trailer for the new Godzilla X Kong played beforehand. They are like night and day. This certainly brings Godzilla back to his horror roots. Perhaps the first time since Shin Godzilla. Similarly he has never been stronger (in Live Action). The first time he uses his Atomic Breath "Heat Ray", several in the audience myself included exclaimed "Fuck!". At the sheer power of it. The second time, is truly awe-inspiring. Godzilla fans, GO SEE IT. Monster Movie fans, GO SEE IT. Once again, no one does Godzilla better than Toho itself. 10/10

[Maryokutai]

I watched Leave this world behind on Netflix yesterday, mostly for the people on screen (Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali), not necessarily for the premise, which I won't spoil here because it doesn't really go into the direction you might initially think. It was okay. The characters are presented in a deliberately distant manner so there's not much of an emotional anchor here. It mostly wants to pull you along with its mystery setup and by forcing you to decipher its sometimes vague, sometimes more in-your-face messages.

I do think it's way too long for what it wanted to get across. It pretty much does the same kind of build-up twice in a row while only throwing some additional info at you very close to the end. I haven't read the book so I can't comment on the differences (if present, which I presume) but it would have been a better movie if it was a significant amount of minutes shorter. Younger me would also have been shocked by how much I was able to relate to the misanthropy of Julia Roberts character, but eh.

 

Trigger warning for people with a 'teeth falling out' phobia btw.

[Nag]

I watched that last weekend... enjoyed it well enough, it's definitely carried by the talent of the actors used though. 

[one-armed dwarf]

Night of the Hunter (1955) - A religious zealot who has a penchant for telling sermons and murdering widows inserts himself into the life of a family, to do some bad shit. It's got a heightened nightmarish quality from how the music is composed and the scenes are framed (lots of shots in narrow hallways, and rooms which feel like cells). This was a wonderfully dark thriller which was like a sort of surreal fairy tale and felt as though it could have been released a decade or two later than it was, except perhaps for its ending which I think lets the thing down a bit. But it's a genuinely creepy performance by the main villain.

 

But what's really doing my head in is the theme has this bit in it which sounds exactly like the opening music in Soul Reaver, the 'Kain is deified' bit. Need to tell Hbomberguy about this, and that's the 2nd video game I've mentioned now itt

 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Watched Harakiri (1962), this is one of the best movies I've ever seen, goddamn. At least the best samurai movie anyway

 

As title suggests, it's about the ritual of suicide. After a period of war in the 17th century, lots of feudal lords had their fiefdoms taken over and their retainers became wandering ronin (unemployed), and some decide to kill themselves. But it's also about the self-serving and damaging ethical code of the samurai, which you may or may not read for an allegory on post-WWII Japan if you want. It's really really good and I don't really want to explain why. Don't watch the trailer for the 2011 remake on youtube by Takashi Miike, cause it spoils the whole film

 

I don't know if the remake is any good or not, if somebody wanted an alternative to a B&W movie. He's a great director but subtlety is what makes this film (Masaki Kobayashi's) click, whereas Miike is more about the visceral stuff I think

 

Sekiro fans might like one of the scenes in this film

[mmmark]

I was looking forward to Silent Night. A Christmas action movie directed by John Woo. The trailer is excellent. What I didn’t expect was the silent meant no one talks the entire movie. An artistic choice because the main hero has his vocal box damaged early in the movie while trying to cover his son on Christmas Day. He recovers from his other injuries slowly over months but his wife is never talking to him. Instead just texting him when together as though he’s also deaf.

 

The house over months is still Christmas decorated with the dead son’s toys littered throughout. She’s been living here for the weeks while he’s in hospital awaiting his release. Wtf?

 

Once home there’s slow slow scenes of him being sad and drinking and she has had enough (still never taking to him) and moves out and leaves him. 
 

Then he finally begins to train and the whole movie builds up to the final 1/4 of the film for non stop action which being John Woo is really awesome and saves the film a lot.

 

I can’t emphasise enough NO ONE TALKS in the movie. There’s a part with a cop listening to police radio that has some taking but that’s it. People that could be taking to each other just don’t and it makes no sense. 
 

So finale is great action but before that is too long drawn out. 7/10

 

 

 

[mmmark]

Ps if you want to watch a similar movie done better check out Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon directed by James Wan.

 

 

[AndyKurosaki]

Saw X. I really enjoyed this. It was interesting to see a more human side to John. And the kills were proper gory.

[Nag]

Watched Rebel Moon on Netflix last night, it pilfered from a load of better movies and that's plain to see... it was OK enough though, certainly not as bad as some of the review scores I've seen.

 

Worth it just for Sofia Boutella tbf...🥵

[AndyKurosaki]

Started watching Oppenheimer, watched the first hour last night. Been decent enough so far, though not “OMG FILM OF THE YEAR” yet. Shall see how it goes.

[Maryokutai]

On 27/12/2023 at 17:53, Nag said:

certainly not as bad as some of the review scores I've seen.

 

I watched this yesterday and I think the 5.7 on imdb are still way too high. I can live with something unoriginal if it's executed well, but this was a complete trainwreck in my opinion. An extremely poor marriage of Star Wars and Seven Samurai, with characters so one-dimensional you might occasionally just see them as dots. It's also visually Snyder's ugliest film to date, his trademark heavy contrast simply not conveying the wonders of a new sci-fi world and all of it being muddled in a depressingly off-putting colour palette. More lens flares than even JJ Abrams would dare and such an over-reliance on slow-motion that the film would probably be 30 minutes shorter without them.

 

It actually felt like a waste of time, which is the worst verdict I could give to a film. I wonder where the confidence came from to make this a two-parter, I'm certainly not going to watch the other half.

[Nag]

Didn't know it's average was that high on IMDB tbf... but i'm ok with it being that score.🤷‍♂️

[mfnick]

Watched both Violent Night & Silent Night recently.

 

I seem to be the opposite to everyone else. Most people rate Violent and poo poo Silent but I found Violent really disappointing and really boring for the most part. When it all kicks off it’s still disappointing after all the build up. Whereas for me Silent Night pays off its build up well, when that kicks off it is fantastic. I wasn’t bored at any time either. Its very stupid but fun. 
 

Silent Night - Recommend 

Violent Night - Meh

[one-armed dwarf]

I watched Kwaidan (1964), it's by the same guy who did Harakiri, Masaki Kobayashi. I did not enjoy it half as much as that film, but still enjoyed it anyway. It's a horror anthology, a collection of 4 japanese folk horrors of fairly varying quality. First one is about a samurai who leaves his wife for a better position in life, second is about an encounter with a strange woman in the snow. Third is about a blind musician telling the story of a great battle and the fourth is about a very spooky cup of tea.

 

I don't know anything about japanese theatre or the kind of things it's trying to invoke, but it's got this really cool expressionistic vibe where they have these very abrupt changes in lighting to signify a mode and the set design kind of heightens the sense of artificiality with the painted backgrounds, but in a way that makes every scene very pretty and meaningful. I didn't really connect with it the same way I did Harakiri though, I think owing to the fairly inconsistent quality of some of the stories and lack of a throughline, but I generally find I'm like that with anthologies. The first two were the best, the third was a bit dragged out and the last one is just silly nonsense lol. Amazing looking film though, with great sound design that draws out the sense of uncertainty in each story as you wait for the penny to drop

 

 

[AndyKurosaki]

I’m nearly 2 hours into Oppenheimer. Fuck me, it’s dragging. I’m baffled as to how critics say “It’s one of the best movies ever made”.

Because so far, I can sum it up in two words: “Bloody boring”. 

[one-armed dwarf]

I've never heard anyone say it's one of the best movies ever made tbh, just that it was a great biopic and the kind of cinematic event we don't get nowadays with all the franchise film domination

 

I've not seen it yet, my amazon order has been delayed constantly. The subject matter of it is interesting to me tho I always worry about propagandizing in films about this. Also the tone deafness of the 'barbieheimer' thing was weird to me, even if that was more of a social media thing and nothing to do with WB

[spatular]

I barely watch any films these days, but watched a few over the last few days, one was oppenheimer, as above i also didnt think it was amazing, i also didnt think it was crap though, middle of the road for me i guess. Also got round to watching avatar 2, im one of the few people who liked the first film, didnt think the second was as good, its more of a straight action movie but still enjoyed it, more so towards the end. The 3d is cool, possibly that carried it a bit for me.

[shinymcshine]

Super Mario Bros Movie (2023)

 

It was okay, but overall I can't say it was any more or less enjoyable than the 1993 version.

 

A few nice nods to the game series and a bunch of 'easter eggs', but ultimately completely unessential and forgettable.

[OCH]

Cocaine Bear

Someone told me this was funny? I didn't think so. Although some of the gore was decent. A shame none of the actors were. 4/10

Expendables 4

Oh dear, what a damp squib this series became. The first one wasn't award winning drama. But it captured the essence of what it was going for. All but ensuring diminishing returns, as they didn't seem to get what made the first film work. I thought the third one was as low as it could go. Although Mel Gibson was a surprising highlight. This was just terrible. Megan Fox taking the lead role doesn't help. Not even Tony Jaa could ultimately salvage this either. 4/10

[AndyKurosaki]

I don’t mind a good biopic, and I’ve nothing against the subject matter of Oppenheimer. Maybe it shines in the final hour. I’m not expecting car chases, or a spooky cartoon dog sidekick. 
 

But to me, it’s so far consisted of :

-People in a room, talking science stuff.

-Bit of Oppenheimer being a bit of a weirdo.

-Time jumping backwards and forwards.

-More science talk. 
 

I dunno. I’ve seen plenty of reviews claiming it’s exceptional, and what have you. But so far, I’m just glad I can watch it at home, at my own leisure. I wouldn’t have been arsed to watch it in one full session at a cinema.