one-armed dwarf Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Oscar nominees, page is being updated but lots for Anora and Emilia Perez https://uproxx.com/movies/oscar-nominations-2025-full-list/ I've heard Anora is really good but I also wonder if a lot of its noms are part of a correction to when Florida Project got super snubbed. That was my film of 2017, maybe one of my faves of the decade, and only Willem Defoe got a nomination for it. Emilia Perez is super controversial for some reason, apparently cause a lot of the mexican characters are speaking with really bad accents or something. I mean that's the main reason I'd heard, seems people are anticipating a Crash 2005 sort of upset There's also nominations for Demi Moore in The Substance, which also got nominated for Best Picture. Which is cool for a genre film. Probably would not threaten the best picture bracket but a best actress win would be interesting, especially cause it means lots of people would watch the film that might not otherwise 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I've seen so few of these movies (and by that I mean exactly two), we have this weird cinema culture here where a lot of blockbusters come out around the same time as in the US but everything else shows up way later, if at all, with very limited screenings, and by that time the hype cycle has moved on. I think I might need to start writing down the stuff that interests me. I'd never have guessed that Anora is a good movie though after reading its synopsis. But then again I suppose you can make everything sound banal if you want. As for the show, I think the only reason I'm going to check out the replay is because Conan's going to host it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Sean Baker's films are really really good. They've a ton of empathy for their subject matter and have super naturalistic character interaction. Can't speak to Anora yet but I'll re-emphasise my recommendation for Florida Project. Don't base it off the synopsis. I love this scene where they fall out of character a bit but keep it in the film Tangerine is also very good but you have to kinda brace yourself for how it looks, it was filmed on a phone after all. and yeah I mean I've seen hardly any of these, not out of choice but availability. Just The Substance so far. Back when I lived in London I would have seen probably more than half of them, but a lot of the non blockbuster stuff seems to be A24 these days who are rubbish at distributing films to non anglo-phone cosmopolitan centers but at the same time you can't blame them cause people don't show up to films they distribute outside of these areas where there's more of a hipster-ey crowd. I'll be playing catch up on 2024 during 2025, have a few 2023 films I want to see as well. This one sounds interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seed_of_the_Sacred_Fig The dude who directed it was sentenced to 8 years in jail and had to film it secretly, and fled to Germany Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Terrifier 3 Easily the best of the 3. Still not actually a good film as such but a daft watch and more entertaining throughout than the other 2. Alien Romulus Meh. Sure I heard this was a return to form? Guess the bar was that low… just found it a bit dull. Not scary at all and not enough action to sit on the Aliens side. Felt nothing after it. Would to call it a bad film though. Watchable enough still I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Watched Little Women, which is a sort-of coming of age story about four sisters who are faced with the prejudices and discriminations of their time (mid 19th century), but despite some tonally darker moments it's a rather uplifting, positive film. It does meander a bit in the middle, but maybe that's by choice and some sort of reflection of how these girls come to terms with their circumstances. I really enjoyed the sibling aspect of the group and how they all dealt with their situation in their own, very different ways – and in contrast, those moments where they fail to do so. When the credits started to roll I noticed there were a lot of UK actors in the cast, despite it taking place in the US. I think this was also Emma Watson's last role before her still ongoing hiatus, but the focus is mostly on the characters portrayed by Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmark Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Emilia Pérez is a great film that spans a few genres. It has a few good musical scenes but walks a tightrope of being a fully fledged musical movie. The story is absolutely unique and and fresh. The acting is superb throughout. 8/10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandsomeDead Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 They're trying again with Resident Evil Cregger did Barbarian (I really liked that) and he has the comedy to horror background. I don't think the last film was particularly unfaithful, it was just boring, so that alone isn't going to fill me with promise but let's see I guess. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Barbarian was really good. Tbh this seems a waste of talent but I guess surprises are possible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandsomeDead Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 I suspect having a project like this is something safe to fall back on, it's potentially a retirement plan. I remember seeing him in interviews during Barbarian. Definitely a thoughtful guy who doesn't see himself above doing something like this. When it comes to RE I just hate the faithful comment. It was a fine and novel scenario for a 90s videogame. I want much more than that for a current film. I hope it's just in a more "sure, it'll be faithful 😉" kind of way. Great if it captures the specific vibe but please do a lot more with the characters and story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmark Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 I watched Heretic and it’s a decent enough thriller and not a horror. Hugh Grant is great in it. Not much to say without spoiling it but worth a watch. Glad I watched it but zero reason to ever return. 7/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 The Prince Charles Cinema in London are having issues with their landlord, who are asking them to include a new condition in their lease which would require them to leave if the landlord gets planning permission for a redevelopment, which the PCC believe is an indication they intend to do just that https://princecharlescinema.com/savethepcc/ This isn't a cinema that's struggling like many others, it's highly popular with a hipster-ey crowd and has lots of arthouse films throughout the year, lots of David Lynch and Wong Kar Wai and A24 stuff but also popular mainstream films. 90s and 80s throwback seasons, stuff like Die Hard and Terminator. As well as The Room, from time to time. Was definitely my favorite cinema when living in London 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Watched Don't Worry Darling. I've been meaning to since it came out, but I felt like I couldn't detach myself entirely from its background drama to really have a neutral viewing experience. It's a mystery thriller in the broadest sense as you follow a young couple living in a seemingly perfect city oasis but certain things make the wife (Florence Pugh) start asking questions, particularly about where all the husbands disappear to every day for work. The first half is deeply committed to building tension, sometimes rather creepy, too, with a haunting score, which, along with Pugh's performance and the set design, is the movies strongest aspect. It takes some inspiration from a couple of existing stories which I don't want to cite because it would give certain key elements away. imdb reviews aren't particularly good but I really enjoyed it, though its critique of the patriarchy was a bit on the nose at times. I hope whatever happened behind the scenes didn't torpedo Olivia Wilde's directing career, because between this and Booksmart I really like what she has done so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I watched The Host (2006) from my Bong boxset. It wasn't what I was expecting. It's a monster film but it's also a sort of Contagian style film cause there's a viral outbreak cause of the monster*. It's a bit hard to explain, but basically they chuck a bunch of formaldehyde down the drain cause the bottles were too dusty (yes, really) and that causes a fish to turn into a weird walking fish monster thing. The whole film has such an offbeat rhythm where it bounces between a kinda mildly comic family drama into some really dark horror and they go directions with it that surprised me a lot. I started off the film thinking it was a bit bad tbh and the effects didn't look good but the second half kept me locked in. I'd say I prefer Parasite and Memories of Murder over this but it's a very weird genre experiment which does lean into some monster horror film tropes but also has enough surprising twists to keep it feeling unusual. There seems to be a bit of social subtext in there about the American military as well as treatment of the poor/homeless as less-thans but I couldn't really get what it was going for cause I don't have the context for it. They mention SARS when the viral outbreak stuff is happening, cause that was recent history then. Hits different now of course. * Spoiler except of course, you learn that it was all a lie by the US. Why? They leave this ambiguous and have characters talk about food over a press conference at the end that's supposed to be answering this question, which made me lol a bit. ending spoilers Spoiler My favorite scene is probably the girl getting away, you're like fuck yeah then you're like wait why isn't she climbing, then you see the monster grabbed her. Shit gets really mean towards the end, you don't expect them to just kill the little girl after all she goes through. Hollywood would never 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmark Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Companion is fantastic. Go in as blind as possible but it’s no bad thing if you’ve already watched the trailer. 9/10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 The Substance For the first 3/4+ I was properly enjoying this. So fucking stylish, interesting and entertaining even though it did confuse me a but at times. Dennis Quaid is so good in it. But at the end it went off the rails completely. To the point it’s just about ruined the entire film for me. Good knows what they were thinking? Maybe they just didnt know how to end it? It seemed to have a natural end point where they could have just killed the main character(s). But chose insanity instead. It felt like it was from a completely different film & didn’t fit at all. So disappointing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmark Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 But but but the ending is sublime and underscores the whole theme and message of Hollywood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 On a disgusting-scale of 1 (Bambi) to 10 (The Fly), how 11 is it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 I thought The Substance was good but its runtime got to me given how obvious its themes were. It turns it from playing it broad into playing it shallow. That said, I don't really have a problem with its ending, I think it fits the absurd parable that the whole thing is going for. I think just killing the main characters would have been poor. A film I watched a short while back with a very similar thing is Seconds, it's a 60s film but has the whole body replacement thing as well. In terms of being disgusting, the most disgusting scene is one you see early on (and in a trailer) of Denis Quaid eating shrimp up close so you see all the masticating action in glorious 4K HDR. The Fly is more disgusting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 1 hour ago, one-armed dwarf said: Denis Quaid eating shrimp up close so you see all the masticating action in glorious 4K HDR. Yea that’s far worse. Havent got a problem with the gore & stuff btw. If anything it was funny. Just didn’t think anything they did at the end fit with the rest of the film at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 I agree with Mark on it tbh, it is just a big sort of bloody metaphor for the relationship between starlets and producers/audiences. It's a really angry film and it needs that kind of angry scene in it. But I don't know, I don't think The Substance is that good. It's really cool and stylish and I'm glad it got nominated for stuff, I'd love if Demi Moore won the Oscar for it. But I was still disappointed with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now