I had a movie marathon over the weekend. There's a theme among these somewhere...




Age of Consent (1969) - A past-his-prime artist on an off-shore island rediscovers his muse in the form of a young girl.

A light, sunny breeze of a movie for sure, but Helen Mirren, oh my. 3.5/5




Malèna (Uncut) (2000) - Amidst the war climate, a teenage boy discovering himself becomes love-stricken by Malèna, a sensual woman living in a small, narrow-minded Italian town.

It's sexy eye candy comedy (even more so in the uncut version) for the first half before the war setting gives the film a dark turn. 3.5/5




Under the Skin (2013) - A mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.

This is one of my top five favorite sci-fi films. 5/5

Shadow (2018)

To finally achieve victory over a rival kingdom, a brilliant general devises an intricate plan involving his wife, a look-alike and two kings.

Zhang Yimou doesn't disappoint with an inventive film with a Tarantino-esque climax.

.75

It's Memorial Day Weekend - the Hangover! Which also means it's the official start of The Summer of Movies, which should be way better than The Summer of George.





I wanted to go see "BrightBurn" this weekend. Mainly because the star of the movie is the son of a good friend of my brother. I know the guy too, but it'd be a stretch to call him a good friend.

And I've never met the son, Jackson A. Dunn. I guess there was a fear of multiple Jackson Dunns out there, hence the "A."? Who knows? All I do know is that every time my brother goes to LA to see his buddy, he tries to fix up his youngest daughter with the boy. And now I know why! From IMDB:

"Jackson will be appearing in a leading role opposite Elizabeth Banks and David Denman in BrightBurn premiering May 24, 2019. His latest role was in Avengers: Endgame as Scott Lang (12 years old)."

Dang, kid has game!

But I've gone on too long about a movie I haven't seen yet. Let's talk about what I did see this weekend.

HINT: Neither of the movies from this weekend were at the theater. We watched both on the TV. Theoretically, unlimited Booze, and maybe some chow! But in reality, no booze or chow.

Movie #1 could have used some booze. We watched "Isn't It Romantic?"

No, it really isn't.

And it probably wouldn't have been even with a lot of booze.

I was a little excited to see this after reading the description that Rebel Wilson conks her head and wakes up in an alternate universe where everything is from a rom-com. Alternate universe? That's the premise of my most anticipated movie, "Yesterday"! This could be the perfect precursor to that!

Would that it were.

To summarize, Rebel Wilson is a semi-cool chick but not getting what she wants out of life. Allegedly it's because her mother told her when she was young that for girls like her and mom, there is no happy ending. I think we're supposed to believe that Wilson's troubles are because she doesn't like herself; I mean, the big reveal at the end is that her time in the alternate rom-com universe makes her realize that she should like herself. Then she conks her head again, wakes up in reality, but now that she knows she should like herself she goes after everything she wants and gets it.

However, when told by her mother in the movie's beginning that there are no happy endings for girls like them, Lil Rebel Wilson says "Yes there are. There ARE happy endings for us!" And honestly, this is what shatters the movie's premise.

Because as you can plainly see, Lil Rebel Wilson is shown at the start that she likes herself; she believes that she will have a life lived happily ever after.

The big reveal at the end is that Big Rebel Wilson realizes that liking oneself is the key to happiness - which, apparently, is something that she already knew when she was Lil Rebel Wilson.

I'm not sure how much booze would have been required to skip over that gigantic plot hole, but it was almost surely more booze than we had in the house.

The movie itself has a few funny moments. In Rom-Com Universe, every time Wilson says a curse word there is some outside noise that bleeps it out. I don't know about you, but I always laugh at bleeped-out words. It's funny! One of the late-night comedians has a bit where they bleep out regular words in a politician or movie star's speech, and I laugh every time. I think it's a great illustration that the best friend an artist has is their audience's imagination.

Liam Hemsworth is pretty cool, although they don't make him unlikable enough in the Rom-Com Universe. Hey, you know what? We now have Hemsworths in two universes! Chris is in the Marvel Universe; Liam is in the Rom-Com Universe. And presumably both are also in our universe although what with Liam's marriage to Miley Cyrus, you can't be too sure about that.

There are absolutely no surprises in this movie. In fact, when Rebel Wilson tells her friend why she hates rom-coms, she is also telling the audience exactly what is going to happen in the entire movie.

As much as I wanted to like "Isn't It Romantic", I really can't. Much like every movie/TV show/commercial in the last 10 years, this movie has Adam Devine in it. Is there a dude who's been in more stuff than him? I can't think of anyone. But I did think of THIS awesome idea!

Devine is in the Captain Morgan Spiced Rum commercials. SIDE NOTE: I once saw a dude dressed up like Captain Morgan, and he had some side-wenches. This was at an outdoor event where there were about 75,000 people. Women were actually fighting with each other to get a chance to take a picture with this guy! Even though he had some side-wenches! Or maybe it was because he was giving out samples of rum. I don't know; all I do know is that I'm dressing up as Captain Morgan at least once before I die.

Back to my idea. You've probably seen the Captain Morgan commercial where Captain Morgan is throwing a party and everyone who knocks on the door is a different kind of captain. Boat captain; band captain; whatever. And they all address each other this way: "Captain". "Captain".

But they're missing a couple captains. And one is "obvious".

Yes - Captain Obvious should show up! They could look at each other in a comedic way, and then "Captain" each other. It'd be awesome!

But even more awesome than that is if William Shatner/Captain Kirk was the next guy at the door. That would go down as the greatest commercial in television history. Trust me on this.

I'd watch that instead of "Isn't It Romantic?" And you should too, because "Isn't It Romantic?" gets only 2 Happy Endings out of a possible 5 Happy Endings. Get your mind out of the gutter.

The next movie we watched was "The Martian". I don't know what I waited so long to watch this. Wait - yes I do.

It was because Matt Damon already played an astronaut in "Interstellar". While Damon himself wasn't that bad (heck, I didn't even recognize him and called him the poor man's Matt Damon when I reviewed the movie), that movie was so hilariously bad and unscientific. The only thing that could have saved it would have been if Matthew McConaughey had busted out with an "Alright, alright, alright!" when he was trapped in that bookcase.

As you may know, I lived 3 miles from the Johnson Space Center for the last 35 years, only moving away under protest 3 months ago. As a result, I know lots of people at JSC, from engineers to flight directors to astronauts. I'm no scientist but I do know lots of rocket scientists, which allows me to play a rocket scientist on the internet.

All my scientist friends booed lustily at "Interstellar" so I never asked them about "The Martian". I wish I'd had, because it's not half-bad!

Matt Damon and his crew are on Mars, doing some exploring. A giant storm appears much earlier than predicted, and there's a race back to their spaceship. They have to blast off immediately, as the storm is also stronger than they thought; in fact, it's strong enough to blow their return craft over. Therefore, they have to leave now, or they will never leave.

As they are making their way to the craft, Damon gets hit by some flying debris and since it's now completely dark on account of the storm, they can't find him. They're certain he's dead, so they leave just in the nick of time.

But Matt Damon ain't so easy to kill.

He wakes up, makes his way back to the habitat (the "HAB" - everything at NASA is an acronym or shortened nickname), and realizes that he's going to run out of food and water sooner or later, and which will kill him. However...

...he's a botanist. And a dang good one! Of course - he wouldn't be an astronaut if he wasn't an expert in his field.

So he figures out that water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. All you have to do is mix those elements up like that, and then light a fire underneath it. He blows himself up on the first try, but succeeds on the second.

Then he gets some Martian dirt and some of his poop bags, and plants some potatoes. It works! He now has a sustainable food and water system. It's really cool. i liked this part of the movie a LOT. Meeting challenges and figuring out solutions always interests me. Or, as Matt Damon puts it, "Sciencing the sh** out of this".

He solves many more problems, including how to communicate back the Earth. He really does science the sh** out of this!

Everything goes great until he makes one little boo-boo and blows up the HAB. All his exposed food and water are gone, so he only has enough to last a short period of time.

Meanwhile back on Earth, all kinds of awesome American heroic scientists are trying to figure out how to save Damon. Their first idea is to send him a supply capsule, which under the best of circumstances will take 3 months to build and 6 months to make it to Mars. And that's only if they skip the testing of the capsule, which they do on account of how much food Matt Damon has left after HAB's explosion.

But it turns out testing a space capsule is pretty important, as we learn when it blows up after launch. Major bummer.

While this is happening, Donald Glover is working on an idea. Here is my only real complaint about this film: Donald Glover is the hero, yet after he figures out how to save everyone, he's still just a lurking background character at NASA. In real life, he'd have been given a throne in Mission Control; heck, they'd probably name a building after him. I could have used more glorification here.

Also, I had a problem with Jeff Daniels firing the flight director. It turns out he was right in the stuff Daniels criticized him over, and it was Daniels who said he'd take the heat if the supply capsule blew up (which it did), but the flight director gets fired? Nah, in real life Daniels would have been fired after the supply capsule blew up.

Glover has the same idea I had about 30 minutes before he did - that is, turn around the space ship that left Mars and go get Damon.

Lots of science stuff takes place, including an unneccesary Chinese subplot, but in the end they rescue Matt Damon. He has to go Iron Man to get rescued, which I am not sure is possible in space.

In fact, this would have been an even better movie if Damon had not left Mars at all, figuring out cool science ways to overcome various obstacles until the next scheduled space ship can get there. Because honestly, watching Damon science the sh** out of stuff was the most interesting thing about "The Martian".

Still, the movie gives a great depiction of NASA and in particular, the Johnson Space Center. I highly urge all Americans to support our space program, and honor those who participate in it. It really is something to be proud of.

You know, you can ask anyone in the world, "What is the most amazing thing the human race has ever accomplished?" and 99.9999% of the people you ask will respond, "Putting a man on the moon".

I agree, and point out that the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing is coming up. Apollo 11 launched on July 16, 1969; we landed on the moon July 20, 1969; and Apollo 11 was recovered here on Earth on July 24, 1969. That entire timframe is going to be celebrated greatly here at the Johnson Space Center, and I hope you celebrate this achievement where ever you are, too.

"The Martian" gets 4 Nobel Prizes in Science out of a possible 5 Nobel Prizes in Science (Sheldon and Amy won the other one). Enjoy, and celebrate Apollo 11!


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[Edited 5/28/19 9:30am]

fyi to all who enjoyed bone tomahawk & brawl in cell block 99 & haven't had a chance to catch up with the new s craig zahler film: dragged across concrete was just added to hoopla, so if your library participates in that service you can now stream it for free.

i might watch it tonight, though its far far far too long running time might force me to leave it until the weekend.


https://www.hoopladigital...e/12379543

[Edited 5/28/19 11:32am]

RodeoSchro said:

"The Martian" gets 4 Nobel Prizes in Science out of a possible 5 Nobel Prizes in Science (Sheldon and Amy won the other one). Enjoy, and celebrate Apollo 11!


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[Edited 5/28/19 9:30am]

the book is very much worth reading as well imo. the film is pretty faithful to the book as i recall, but it's still worth a look. it's really well written & its creation is quite an interesting story in how elements of the science research were crowd-sourced, & how it became a fairly genuine bottom up publishing sensation.

[Edited 5/28/19 11:33am]

booksmart (2019) 2 i didn't find this clever or funny or even energetic. all seemed awkward & stilted. even the drug trip didn't have any drive or weirdness to it. it did seem terribly self-satisfied to me, pandering really. it reminded me of that south park episode where all the hybrid drivers in san francisco loved the smell of their own farts.

i know booksmart wasn't made for me, but ladybird and eighth grade weren't made for me either i suppose, and i sure loved those films.


pusher (1996) 3.5 ugly gritty crime story that captures the same sort of naturalistic & propulsive energy as the safdie's did in their recent film 'good time,' though it doesn't have much of that film's humor.

pusher II: with blood on my hands (2004) 4 there's a moment in this film where the 'hero' tries to hold a baby by grabbing him by his legs that is 10 billion times funnier than anything in booksmart.


this film doesn't quite hum with the same energy as the first pusher, but it has a great mads mikkelsen performance & it really builds to a surprising & almost upsetting climax in a way that made me enjoy it a bit more than the original recipe.

[Edited 5/28/19 11:32am]

damosuzuki said:

fyi to all who enjoyed bone tomahawk & brawl in cell block 99 & haven't had a chance to catch up with the new s craig zahler film: dragged across concrete was just added to hoopla, so if your library participates in that service you can now stream it for free.

i might watch it tonight, though its far far far too long running time might force me to leave it until the weekend.


https://www.hoopladigital...e/12379543

[Edited 5/28/19 11:32am]

I need to see those two movies. And read "The Martian"!

Secret Ceremony 1968

Elizabeth Taylor, Mia Farrow, Robert Mitchum...

After Ms. Taylor passed, I revisted her later works only to discover, Ms. Taylor took on some risky subject matters. If Kennedy & King assassination's, anti-War movement hadn't been going on Puritan America would have had a hissy fit. :lol

I like weird psychological thrillers, this movie is fits the bill and then-some! There's been a debate if Ms. Taylor could act: Taylor could act and a lot of folks demised her acting because she was so beautiful. The major premise of the story deals with deceit, guilt, greed, manipulation, wealth, and two women who needed each other for different reasons. Farrow sees Taylor on a bus, and attaches herself to Taylor because Farrow tells Taylor looks like her deceased mother. The plot thickens and takes twist and turns one could ever imagine.

Death Wish (2018) -

Bruce Willis taking on the Charles Bronson role. It was entertaining up to a point. Pretty predictable with some brutal torture scenes but overall Bruce made a modest effort. The other actors were all excellent.

2.5 out of 5

damosuzuki said:

fyi to all who enjoyed bone tomahawk & brawl in cell block 99 & haven't had a chance to catch up with the new s craig zahler film: dragged across concrete was just added to hoopla, so if your library participates in that service you can now stream it for free.

i might watch it tonight, though its far far far too long running time might force me to leave it until the weekend.


https://www.hoopladigital...e/12379543

[Edited 5/28/19 11:32am]

it is a bit of a slog. it's good, but definitely a slog.

peedub said:

damosuzuki said:

fyi to all who enjoyed bone tomahawk & brawl in cell block 99 & haven't had a chance to catch up with the new s craig zahler film: dragged across concrete was just added to hoopla, so if your library participates in that service you can now stream it for free.

i might watch it tonight, though its far far far too long running time might force me to leave it until the weekend.


https://www.hoopladigital...e/12379543

[Edited 5/28/19 11:32am]

it is a bit of a slog. it's good, but definitely a slog.

i ended up watching it last night. i really liked it a lot, thought it was terrific. 4/5.

i've genuinely liked everything zahler's done so far. i love the adolescent metal fantasy of his first two, & while this new one maybe is a slight stab at a higher level of maturity, it has the same reactionary vibe, & i really dig that as well. i hope this guy gets to make many, many more films, & i'm interested to see where he'll go from here.

but please, s craig zahler, on the off chance you'll read this, please try to keep your running times down to a reasonable level. concision is a great quality.

great otherwise though.


& i really should take a second to say thank you, peedub, cuz i think you were the person who recommended bone tomahawk on this very site some time back, & i may well have never given it a chance if not for you doing so.
so thank you!

[Edited 5/29/19 13:04pm]

damosuzuki said:

peedub said:

it is a bit of a slog. it's good, but definitely a slog.

i ended up watching it last night. i really liked it a lot, thought it was terrific. 4/5.

i've genuinely liked everything zahler's done so far. i love the adolescent metal fantasy of his first two, & while this new one maybe is a slight stab at a higher level of maturity, it has the same reactionary vibe, & i really dig that as well. i hope this guy gets to make many, many more films, & i'm interested to see where he'll go from here.

but please, s craig zahler, on the off chance you'll read this, please try to keep your running times down to a reasonable level. concision is a great quality.

great otherwise though.


& i really should take a second to say thank you, peedub, cuz i think you were the person who recommended bone tomahawk on this very site some time back, & i may well have never given it a chance if not for you doing so.
so thank you!

[Edited 5/29/19 13:04pm]

'twas i. i'm glad i got to turn you on to something you like a lot.

i like the 'adolescent metal fantasy' description. an apt assessment. i agree about the run time. i see what he's doing, but maybe with more experience he'll be able to refine his toolbox to achieve the same ends differently. i mean, 'dragged...' has half the edits that a rom-com half it's length would have...i was on the verge of scene fatigue at a couple of points. and, honestly, i hated the egg sandwich scene. it totally interrupted who i thought that character was. that dude, as already established in my mind, ain't gonna be storing or pouring salt in his effing cadillac. otherwise, great movie, another great soundtrack and an excellent cast. i really look forward to more from this guy.

I watched Glass. Even though it wasn't what it was supposed to be (documentary on the actor who played Detective Ron Harris) I still liked it and would give it two snaps and a backfield in motion.

The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974). I recently bought them still wrapped in plastic, at a book fair. Alot of fun and it has a great cast, with Faye Dunaway at her icy best as the villainous Milday DeWinter. I give both films a 4.5 out of 5

EmmaMcG said:

Deadwood: The Movie. I've posted a full review over in the TV series thread but seeing as it's technically a movie, I'll just leave my basic impressions here too. Basically, it's fucking brilliant. 5/5

Can i watch it if i never heard about the serial? Or is ti something i couldn't possibly follow or understand?

TheFman said:

Technically, the last movie I watched was Tim Burton's "Batman", as we showed it at a Prince party Saturday night, whose theme was honoring the 30th anniversary of Prince's "Batman" soundtrack. Coolest thing was the Prince tribute band The Breakdown playing the entire "Batman" soundtrack, front to back, and throwing in B-side "I Love U in Me" for good measure. Incredible!

As was the "Batman" movie. I hadn't seen it in a long time but I really enjoyed it. The movie has held up very well, due in no small part to great performances from Jack Nicholson, Micheal Keaton, and Jack Palance.

This is the only "Batman" movie I've seen. I think I have the 2nd and 3rd Batman movies somewhere. I want to watch the second one, because I thought Michael Keaton was excellent. I do not want to watch anything with Christian Bale in it, as the snippets of those movies that I have watched are not to my liking.

There are no songs that would go with a Christian Bale Batman movie, except maybe "Others Here With Us".

Prince has never recorded a wooden, laconic song so therefore no Prince songs would go with a Bruce Affleck Batman movie, and I won't be watching any. There's only one Ben Affleck Batman movie any way and it's based on the absurd premises that: (1) Superman is the bad guy; and (2) Batman could beat Superman in a fight. Pass.

Back to "Batman".

It was kind of weird hearing all the dialogue Prince used in "Batdance" just being spoken without music. I'm sure I' wasn't the only one in the audience playing the music in my head.

Speaking of music, there were some things about Prince's album that I just learned. For instance, the soundtrack was supposed to be songs by Prince and Michael Jackson. Prince was to do the Joker stuff; Michael Jackson to do the Batman/Bruce Wayne stuff. But Jackson was busy and couldn't do it so Prince did it all.

Also, the vocal lines Prince used in "Batdance" were directly from filming and did not have Foley. Do you know what Foley is? I didn't, until the magic of wikipedia. Foley artists recreate the ambient sounds you'd normally hear in the background. I guess this gives it texture. This process is named after Jack Foley, who must have been pretty good at this.

My opinion seems to be in the minority (for once) but I think "Batdance" is one of the most imaginative songs Prince ever did. I think it's incredible, especially when you realize Prince had only seen a small part of a working copy of the movie when he wrote and recorded "Batdance".

Some people say "Batdance" is nothing more than samples and to those people I say, "Hey, how about a margarita!" because obviously discussing music with them isn't going to end well.

I end up buying a lot of margaritas.

But one opinion that is NOT in the minority is that the little snippet of Prince playing bass to "Partyman" is perhaps the coolest 30-second Prince snippet ever seen by humanity. You'll have to find Prince recording Partyman bass yourself, as video posting has crashed here.

So we have an entertaining movie and a cool Prince soundtrack. What else could we rate this except as 5 kpowers out of 5 kpowers?






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[Edited 6/3/19 8:15am]

My wife and Favorite Mother-In-Law vamoosed down to the Island this weekend, but I stayed behind to attend a Prince party, and to walk the dog. OK - I had to let the dog out to do her business, and then pick up her solid business. My life isn't always as glamorous as you probably think it is.

But before I started picking up dog poop Friday night, I decided to head over to the Booze and Chow and watch a movie. Of course, I picked something that I really wanted to see, but probably none of the sensitive Hallmark-Movie-Channel fans in my family would want to see. In my defense, I did see a movie about empowering women.

I saw "Ma".

I got off to a rocky start, though. Technically, I was not at the Booze and Chow but rather, at the Booze. The Booze is in a big mall so there is chow available, but you have to go to the Food Court to get it. Which I did, consuming a very healthy Big Mac. Big Macs are great for setting your palette up for cleansing with some movie theatre popcorn and candy.

And wine. LOTS of wine. Because, you see, the Booze only has beer and wine. Now that I think about it, I have realized that not only does it not have Chow, it really doesn't have Booze either. But I suspect you would not respect me if I called it the Mall Movie Palace. You'd say, "What are you - thirteen? Did you go to Hot Tropics or Spencers Gifts first? Grow up, man! Get some proper booze with your horrid movies!"

I did my best. I ordered the requisite palette cleansers and then got two glasses of Tall Pour Pinot Noir. I stuffed the good junk in my pockets and, one glass of wine in each hand, made my way to the theater.

Problem.

Movie theater wine is poured into those plastic glasses that are widest at the mouth. There's no way to hold two of them in one hand. But there's no way to open a movie theater door with no hands. I stood in front of that door for thirty seconds, shifting stuff around, trying not to spill precious movie theater wine, yet failing in all attempts to free up a hand. Finally someone walked up and took pity on me, and opened the door.

I found my row as I noticed to my surprise that the movie had already started. Dang, how long was I in the wine line? Does this movie have the shortest previews ever? Huh.

Sitting in the only open seat on my row - had to be mine, right? - I started drinking wine and settling in. But, wait a minute. The plot looks pretty developed already. The teenage heroine already doesn't like Ma. And WTF?!?!? Ma just ran over a jogger! I turned to the guy next to me and said, "What time did this movie start?"

"6:45, my man".

Aha! I'm in the wrong theater! My movie starts at 8:05!

As cooly as I could, I gathered up my glasses of wine and my palette cleansers and left. I went to the correct theater next door and, since my movie had not begun, there was no shortage of patrons available to help an old man with a drinking problem open the door.

Now we can finally get to the movie.

"Ma" is really good. It's suspenseful, gross, funny and just plain fun. I'm not going to spoil everything for you, but I am going to recap the plot.

Juliette Lewis - who I always think of as 14 because I thought that's how old she was when she made "Cape Fear" (actually she was 18) - has gotten divorced and returned from San Diego with her high school daughter to her old Ohio hometown. Lewis gets a job at a casino, while daughter Maggie immediately makes friends with the Cool Kids.

The Cool Kids have a van and want to get drunk, but need someone to buy the booze. Enter Ma. She buys them lots of booze. They drink it at the quarry but get busted by the fuzz because Ma secretly ratted them out. This doesn't stop teenagers though. They need more booze the next day, which Ma buys for them. And they need a new place to drink. Ma says, "Hey I don't want y'all out on the road after drinking, so come drink at my house". The Cool Kids think this is cool, so they do.

Ma's basement is pretty run down, but the Cool Kids have booze so really, what else do you need? More booze, which Ma gets the next day - AND somehow invites all the other kids from high school over. Plus, she's re-decorated the basement with party lights and a couch. It's a scene, man.

A pre-meditated scene too, because Ma is setting all this up. I'm not going to tell you the reason why Ma hates the parents of the Cool Kids but she does kind of have a good reason.

One thing leads to another and at the end, Ma has drugged all the Cool Kids and chained them in what is now not a party basement, but a dungeon. She has also killed the father of one of the Cool Kids. That guy was the main perpetrator of the really horrible thing done to Ma back in high school.

Ma does some intense things to some of the Cool Kids SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT but thanks to the help of Maggie's mom, her funny co-worker, and Ma's daughter, the Cool Kids escape as the house burns down. Ma could have tried to get out too but figures she was going to die anyway, so she goes upstairs and lays down next to the dead body of the dad she had killed.

"Ma" is an excellent summer movie. I probably would have liked it even if I'd stayed in the wrong theater and only got to watch the last 30 minutes.

Therefore, "Ma" gets 3.89 Party Dungeons out of 5 Party Dungeons. Great way to start the summer!


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[Edited 6/3/19 9:12am]

RodeoSchro said:

Therefore, "Ma" gets 3.89 Party Dungeons out of 5 Party Dungeons. Great way to start the summer!


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[Edited 6/3/19 9:12am]

it's rainy & alltogether too unpleasant to go for one of my long bike rides today, so i'm likely going to catch something in the theatre tonight.
i was leaning towards brightburn (doesn't excite me, but nothing playing right now really excites me) but since you only give good reviews about twice a year, i'll go see ma instead, even though i don't particularly like the looks of that one.

the night comes for us (2018) 4

my 2nd viewing, & i truly still have no idea what this movie was about.
it also features some things i don't like that i won't bother droning on about here (gets into p&r-ish territory) & a bit too much talking & plot.

but i'm happy to leave all that aside, because this has some of the most gleefully brutal action i've seen in a film. they do not hold anything back here, & the actors really can perform the moves - none of the action is implied by shaking cameras & a billion fast cuts. you can clearly see everything that's going on.

the night comes for us isn't quite as great as the raid overall, but when it takes off it is as exciting & raw & primal.





starred up (2013) 4 troubled, violent 19 year old is transferred to the same adult prison as his father. it dabbles in some prison film cliches i suppose, as genre pictures inevitably will, but this is a tough, unflinching film that also surprised me in how it moved me a bit in the end. brought to mind two tom hardy films: bronson, obviously, but also warriors - jack o'connell's broken animal of a man feels a bit like hardy's character from that film as well. if you find heavy uk accents as impenetrable as i do, you'll need the subtitles.

damosuzuki said:

RodeoSchro said:

Therefore, "Ma" gets 3.89 Party Dungeons out of 5 Party Dungeons. Great way to start the summer!


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[Edited 6/3/19 9:12am]

it's rainy & alltogether too unpleasant to go for one of my long bike rides today, so i'm likely going to catch something in the theatre tonight.
i was leaning towards brightburn (doesn't excite me, but nothing playing right now really excites me) but since you only give good reviews about twice a year, i'll go see ma instead, even though i don't particularly like the looks of that one.

I'll try to see more good movies this summer!

The Hummingbird Project

Good! Jesse Eisenberg plays his usual character, but this needed it. The big applause is for Alexander Skarsgard though. And there's Salma Hayek, but I found her a little miscast.

phantom thread (2017) 5/5 my favourite pt anderson film, potentially. i support reynolds woodcock's campaign against noisy breakfasts.


cemetery of splendor (2015) 5/5

like weerasethakul's earlier film uncle boonmee, this puts me in the awkward position of trying to explain why i like a film that i didn't understand.

while this one doesn't seem to be quite so steeped in thai folklore & buddhism, it is every bit as spacey & languid, and i honestly can't say i knew what was going on at any given moment. certainly if someone was to ask me what this was about, i wouldn't know what to say.

& if i can't say what a movie was about, does it mean much to say that i loved it? this may be nothing more than the film adaptation of a meditation app, but i loved zoning out to it, loved the weird amoeba thing, loved the weird subtly changing lighting.

best movie i've seen this year. maybe. but don't ask me why.

[Edited 6/12/19 19:48pm]

Meeting Gorbachev (2019)

One of the most important films I've seen in a long time. The documentary of Mikhail Gorbachev's life and career, featuring not only himself, but Cold Warriors such as George Schultz and James Baker, is living history.

Blue Valentine (2010)

The range of the performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams is astounding. The ending was a heartbreaker.

.75

Nappily Ever After (2019)

Pretty good rom-com about the politics and psychology of black women's hair. Sanaa Lathan was really good. From Love and Basketball, Brown Sugar and Something New to this, maybe she is the queen of 21st century rom-coms.

[Edited 6/13/19 11:07am]

EmmaMcG said:

TheFman said:

Can i watch it if i never heard about the serial? Or is ti something i couldn't possibly follow or understand?

You don't need to have seen the series to understand what's going on. They actually have a few flashbacks to the show to explain certain things. But you definitely won't have the same feeling about the characters without having seen the series. Besides, it's one of the best TV shows in history so you really should watch it anyway.

I tried it, but give up in half of it. Without any background (the serial), you're just asking yourself what the point of this movie is. It's neither funny or exciting imo, sorry

TheFman said: