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Post by Hurdy Gurdy Man on Mar 25, 2024 3:46:41 GMT
Hello, good folks of FG. The weekly film discussion thread is back. The topic under discussion is made clear in the title. Made-for-TV, direct-to-video, streaming, TV series/episodes, documentaries, short films can also be listed. The minimum requirement is that a numerical rating out of 5 or 10 be provided - whichever the poster wishes to choose - and it'll be even more helpful if he/she also writes a few thoughts regarding his/her experience with the feature/documentary/short/TV series' season. This will help in starting discussions, which is one of the main intentions of this thread. I also request all those who reply here to go through the whole thread once and see if you can see some common topic to discuss with other posters. All first viewings for me in the last week :
I was somewhat disappointed by Bradbury's novel as I thought it was too sentimental to be an effective dystopian novel. I liked Truffaut's adaptation more. I liked that the firefighters' activities were increased to Gestapo levels in this. I liked the enhanced satire. I liked the end.
7/10
Trailer :
This one's a classic carsploitation film of the 70s.
H.B. Halicki, who directed and starred in it, was primarily a stunt driver. As a consequence, he had little to no conception of crucial things about filmmaking such as plot structure, direction, editing, sound recording and other technical stuff.
Not that it mattered to him or his target audience. The second half of this film is nothing but one continuous car chase which spans several Californian cities and where hundreds of cars are damaged and a lot of them totalled. that part of the film is reasonably entertaining if you are in the mood for it. It's a pity that the first half which is a buildup for this is largely boring not only because of the technical ineptitude (shoddy editing and ADR) but also because of the nature of the story and the characters' motivations.
5/10
Trailer :
I liked it slightly more than the original because the emphasis is more on plot and characters this time and it is a more technically efficient film overall. The cast is solid with Cage, Ribisi, Eccleston, Duvall and others doing a fine job. Angelina Jolie is miscast, though and has nothing to do other than providing glamour as the token love interest.
6/10
Trailer :
A pretty average thriller about a murder in the Oval Office that leads to a high-level political conspiracy among the White House staff. It's superficially entertaining but falls apart on scrutiny. You may check it out if you're a Wesley Snipes fan and want to see him in a role different than his usual action hero stuff.
5/10
Trailer :
This film is largely corny and ridiculous. However, the visuals are fine and Ennio Morricone's score is nothing short of magnificent.
5/10
Trailer :
This film had great first two acts but shat the bed in the last act. I wonder why the screenwriter thought he had to alter the novel's resolution. There were two major impersonations going on and they made the whole setup ludicrous - it hinged too much on the protagonist being as stupid and clueless as a brick. Among the performances, I found Chloë Sevigny to be great and it was a pity she wasn't in more scenes. Elizabeth Shue was badly miscast as the femme fatale.
5/10
Trailer :
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Post by James on Mar 25, 2024 4:14:58 GMT
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) - 7/10
First Time Viewings:
Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998, Boyd Kirkland) – 7/10
Repeat Viewings:
Leprechaun 3 (1995, Brian Trenchard-Smith) – 7/10
Leprechaun 4: In Space (1997, Brian Trenchard-Smith) – 5.5/10
Leprechaun 5: In the Hood (2000, Rob Spera) – 5/10
Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood (2003, Steven Ayromlooi) – 4/10
Leprechaun: Origins (2014, Zach Lipovsky) – 3/10
Leprechaun Returns (2018, Steven Kostanski) – 5.5/10
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Post by jcush on Mar 25, 2024 6:01:54 GMT
Mission to Mars - There was a section in the middle I thought was quite good, but before and after that it wasn't as good. I thought it was decent overall. 6.5/10
First Time Viewings:
A Bucket of Blood (1959, Roger Corman) - 7/10
101 Dalmatians 2: Patch's London Adventure (2002, Jim Kammerud & Brian Smith) - 5.5/10
King Kong Lives (1986, John Guillerman) - 4.5/10
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011, Lynne Ramsay) - 7/10
The Devil's (1971, Ken Russell) - 7/10
Smallfoot (2018, Karey Kirkpatrick) - 6/10
One Way Passage (1932, Tay Garnett) - 7/10
Repeat Viewings:
King Kong (1976, John Guillerman) - 7/10
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Gore Verbinski) - 9.5/10
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006, Gore Verbinski) - 9/10
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007, Gore Verbinski) - 8.5/10
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011, Rob Marshall) - 6.5/10
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017, Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg) - 6/10
Ghost (1990, Jerry Zucker) - 8.5/10
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Mar 25, 2024 7:47:59 GMT
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) - 5/10
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) - 5/10
Murder at 1600 (1997) - 5/10
Mine:
Reservoir Dogs (1992) - 10/10
Excellent crime thriller from Quentin Tarantino.
The Barn (2016) - 4/10
OK Halloween set horror film.
The Barn part II (2022) - 6/10
Part 2 is better than the first. A flawed but fun, freaky and gory romp.
Saw 7: The Final Chapter aka Saw 3D (2010) - 8/10
Fun and nasty Saw flick.
This Means War (2012) - 1/10
Absolutely dreadful romantic action comedy with Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy. I was cringing the entire film.
Disturbia (2007) - 3/10
Rear Window like thriller. Didnt work for me.
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Post by moviemouth on Mar 25, 2024 21:13:18 GMT
Ranked from favorite to least favorite. Love Lies Bleeding (2024 Rose Glass) - 7.5/10Gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart) falls for Jackie (Katy O'Brian), a bodybuilder who is passing through town en route to a competition in Las Vegas. Meanwhile Lou's sister (Jena Malone) is badly beaten by her husband (Dave Franco) and when Jackie takes things into her own hands things go from bad to worse. Also starring Anna Baryshnikov and Ed Harris.  Inshallah a Boy (2023 Amjad Al Rasheed) - 7/10A widow (Mouna Hawa) pretends to be pregnant with a son in order to save her daughter and home from a relative exploiting Jordan's patriarchal inheritance laws.  Cast a Dark Shadow (1955 Lewis Gilbert) - 7/10Edward "Teddy" Bare (Dirk Bogarde) is a delusional psychotic with a lust for wealth, older women and murder. Having committed what he thinks is the perfect murder of his elderly wife (Mona Washbourne); Teddy sets his sights on new targets when her fortune goes elsewhere. Also starring Margaret Lockwood, Kathleen Harrison, Robert Flemyng and Kay Walsh.  The Fixer (1968 John Frankenheimer) - 7/10In Czarist Russia, around 1911, a Russian-Jewish handyman, Yakov Bok (Alan Bates), is wrongly imprisoned for a most unlikely crime. Also starring Dirk Bogarde, Ian Holm, Elizabeth Hartman, Hugh Griffith and David Warner.  The Railway Children (1970 Lionel Jeffries) - 6.5/10After the enforced absence of their father, three children move with their mother to Yorkshire, where they endure poverty and make unlikely friendships. Starring Jenny Agutter, Dinah Sheridan, Bernard Cribbins, Iain Cuthbertson and William Mervyn.  Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016 Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone) - 6/10When it becomes clear that his solo album is a failure, a former boy band member (Andy Samberg) does everything in his power to maintain his celebrity status. Also starring Jorma Taccone, Tim Meadows, Akiva Schaffer, Imogen Poots, Maya Rudolph and Sarah Silverman.  Moonfleet (1955 Fritz Lang) - 5.5/10A young orphan (Jon Whiteley) is sent to the village of Moonfleet in Dorset, England to stay with his mother's former lover (Stewart Granger), who has the facade of a gentleman but leads a gang of swashbuckling bootleggers. Also starring Joan Greenwood and George Sanders.  Road House (2024 Doug Liman) - 5/10Ex-UFC fighter Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems. Also starring Conor McGregor, Billy Magnussen, Daniela Melchior, Jessica Williams and Joaquim de Almeida.  Eddie (1996 Steve Rash) - 4.5/10Coincidences lead to the owner of the New York Knicks (Frank Langella) hiring the loudest fan, Edwina "Eddie" Franklin (Whoopi Goldberg), to coach the team. Also starring Richard Jenkins and Dennis Farina.  |
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Post by Roberto on Mar 26, 2024 1:09:55 GMT
Yours:
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) - 7/10
Mine:
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)
Starts out promising but becomes worse and worse as it goes on, and the final act is just weird. The pacing and structure of the movie is just a mess and doesn't work as one cohesive movie, which is why I'm guessing they decided to split it into "Parts". The characters badly lack depth and development. I could not understand the motivations of the main character, especially in the final "Part". The stakes don't really feel high at any point in the movie. The actual hunger games section of the movie was pretty generic and forgettable, and we don't get to know the "bad guys" there at all or why they're behaving the way they are. Movie gets some points for some nice cinematography, costumes and sets. There were also some funny moments like the kamikaze water drones. I wanted to like it but this just did not work for me.
3/10
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
Easily the best of the sequels so far, as I didn't care much for the previous two. It's pretty much more of the same, just done bigger, better and with more of it. It's beautifully shot and contains some of the best choreography ever put to screen. There are some scenes that just look so real I don't know how they could have possibly achieved it. I was so impressed by Donnie Yen's character, and the dog tracker character as well. They were so cool they kind of stole the show from Keanu, not gonna lie. I would love to see more of these characters in the future. It gets so crazy at points that I couldn't help but laugh. Harder than I do for most comedies. It's just so ridiculously good. A huge change from me being disgusted by the violence in Chapter 2. The main issue I have with the movie is the ending. I don't understand why they chose to end it the way they did, as it neither works as a satisfying ending or a cliffhanger. It's just weird.
7/10
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
A very bland and forgettable movie, and a chore to get through. Can't really think of much good to say about it. Decent performance by Leonardo DiCaprio I guess, but he's usually always good. Even the cinematography is pretty weak, as it's a very bland and ugly looking movie. It feels like the movie was made just for the sake of making a movie, and seems to lack any creative thought at all. Except for maybe one scene where there was this cool one take tracking shot throughought a house, but I saw no reason for it, as it was just a random throwaway scene. At the end of the movie there is a really bizarre and out of place cameo that really takes you out of the film... or at least would have if everyone hadn't already checked out by that point. I watched this for the huge talent involved and it's amazing to me how they managed to make a movie this bad. One of Scorsese's worst movies yet.
2/10
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Post by moviemouth on Mar 26, 2024 1:19:13 GMT
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Post by Hurdy Gurdy Man on Mar 30, 2024 15:59:10 GMT
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) - 7/10 First Time Viewings:Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998, Boyd Kirkland) – 7/10Repeat Viewings:Leprechaun 3 (1995, Brian Trenchard-Smith) – 7/10Leprechaun 4: In Space (1997, Brian Trenchard-Smith) – 5.5/10Leprechaun 5: In the Hood (2000, Rob Spera) – 5/10Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood (2003, Steven Ayromlooi) – 4/10Leprechaun: Origins (2014, Zach Lipovsky) – 3/10Leprechaun Returns (2018, Steven Kostanski) – 5.5/10I am not interested in those Leprechaun films but I suspect I will end up watching some of them anyway.
I recommend that you read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and watch Truffaut's film, too. If you have seen Minority Report, I will let you know that the jet pack cops are inspired by a famous image in Fahrenheit 451. |
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Post by Hurdy Gurdy Man on Mar 30, 2024 16:07:37 GMT
Mission to Mars - There was a section in the middle I thought was quite good, but before and after that it wasn't as good. I thought it was decent overall. 6.5/10 First Time Viewings:A Bucket of Blood (1959, Roger Corman) - 7/10101 Dalmatians 2: Patch's London Adventure (2002, Jim Kammerud & Brian Smith) - 5.5/10King Kong Lives (1986, John Guillerman) - 4.5/10We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011, Lynne Ramsay) - 7/10The Devil's (1971, Ken Russell) - 7/10Smallfoot (2018, Karey Kirkpatrick) - 6/10One Way Passage (1932, Tay Garnett) - 7/10Repeat Viewings:King Kong (1976, John Guillerman) - 7/10Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Gore Verbinski) - 9.5/10Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006, Gore Verbinski) - 9/10Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007, Gore Verbinski) - 8.5/10Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011, Rob Marshall) - 6.5/10Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017, Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg) - 6/10Ghost (1990, Jerry Zucker) - 8.5/10I have seen all four Dalmatians films but I only remember the original and the remake with any clarity. The two sequels have entirely escaped my memory.
Both the Dino De Laurentiis-produced King Kong films are dreck. The first one is one of the least entertaining monster rampage films ever made - and I have seen Son of Kong.
Been over a decade since I watched the three PoTC films but I have rated them 8, 5 and 7 respectively. The cannibal island sequence is the only entertaining section of Dead Man's Chest and paradoxically, it does not have much of a bearing on the main plot.
Ghost had two good things, Whoopi Goldberg's performance and the subway sequence with Vincent Schiavelli. The romance did not work for me as I could not be concerned about those two wet blankets.
I do want to watch The Devils though I am not sure how much I will understand since I am not a Christian.
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Post by Hurdy Gurdy Man on Mar 30, 2024 16:17:54 GMT
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) - 5/10 Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) - 5/10 Murder at 1600 (1997) - 5/10 Mine: Reservoir Dogs (1992) - 10/10
Excellent crime thriller from Quentin Tarantino. The Barn (2016) - 4/10
OK Halloween set horror film. The Barn part II (2022) - 6/10
Part 2 is better than the first. A flawed but fun, freaky and gory romp. Saw 7: The Final Chapter aka Saw 3D (2010) - 8/10
Fun and nasty Saw flick. This Means War (2012) - 1/10
Absolutely dreadful romantic action comedy with Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy. I was cringing the entire film. Disturbia (2007) - 3/10Rear Window like thriller. Didnt work for me. didn't work for me either. Needed a less annoying lead than Shia. |
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Post by Hurdy Gurdy Man on Mar 30, 2024 16:32:04 GMT
Ranked from favorite to least favorite. Love Lies Bleeding (2024 Rose Glass) - 7.5/10Gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart) falls for Jackie (Katy O'Brian), a bodybuilder who is passing through town en route to a competition in Las Vegas. Meanwhile Lou's sister (Jena Malone) is badly beaten by her husband (Dave Franco) and when Jackie takes things into her own hands things go from bad to worse. Also starring Anna Baryshnikov and Ed Harris. Inshallah a Boy (2023 Amjad Al Rasheed) - 7/10A widow (Mouna Hawa) pretends to be pregnant with a son in order to save her daughter and home from a relative exploiting Jordan's patriarchal inheritance laws. Cast a Dark Shadow (1955 Lewis Gilbert) - 7/10Edward "Teddy" Bare (Dirk Bogarde) is a delusional psychotic with a lust for wealth, older women and murder. Having committed what he thinks is the perfect murder of his elderly wife (Mona Washbourne); Teddy sets his sights on new targets when her fortune goes elsewhere. Also starring Margaret Lockwood, Kathleen Harrison, Robert Flemyng and Kay Walsh. The Fixer (1968 John Frankenheimer) - 7/10In Czarist Russia, around 1911, a Russian-Jewish handyman, Yakov Bok (Alan Bates), is wrongly imprisoned for a most unlikely crime. Also starring Dirk Bogarde, Ian Holm, Elizabeth Hartman, Hugh Griffith and David Warner. The Railway Children (1970 Lionel Jeffries) - 6.5/10After the enforced absence of their father, three children move with their mother to Yorkshire, where they endure poverty and make unlikely friendships. Starring Jenny Agutter, Dinah Sheridan, Bernard Cribbins, Iain Cuthbertson and William Mervyn. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016 Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone) - 6/10When it becomes clear that his solo album is a failure, a former boy band member (Andy Samberg) does everything in his power to maintain his celebrity status. Also starring Jorma Taccone, Tim Meadows, Akiva Schaffer, Imogen Poots, Maya Rudolph and Sarah Silverman. Moonfleet (1955 Fritz Lang) - 5.5/10A young orphan (Jon Whiteley) is sent to the village of Moonfleet in Dorset, England to stay with his mother's former lover (Stewart Granger), who has the facade of a gentleman but leads a gang of swashbuckling bootleggers. Also starring Joan Greenwood and George Sanders. Road House (2024 Doug Liman) - 5/10Ex-UFC fighter Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems. Also starring Conor McGregor, Billy Magnussen, Daniela Melchior, Jessica Williams and Joaquim de Almeida. Eddie (1996 Steve Rash) - 4.5/10Coincidences lead to the owner of the New York Knicks (Frank Langella) hiring the loudest fan, Edwina "Eddie" Franklin (Whoopi Goldberg), to coach the team. Also starring Richard Jenkins and Dennis Farina. I have only seen Eddie and yes, it wasn't enjoyable for me either.
Want to watch Cast a Dark Shadow and The Fixer.
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Post by Hurdy Gurdy Man on Mar 30, 2024 16:32:43 GMT
Yours: Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) - 7/10 Mine: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)Starts out promising but becomes worse and worse as it goes on, and the final act is just weird. The pacing and structure of the movie is just a mess and doesn't work as one cohesive movie, which is why I'm guessing they decided to split it into "Parts". The characters badly lack depth and development. I could not understand the motivations of the main character, especially in the final "Part". The stakes don't really feel high at any point in the movie. The actual hunger games section of the movie was pretty generic and forgettable, and we don't get to know the "bad guys" there at all or why they're behaving the way they are. Movie gets some points for some nice cinematography, costumes and sets. There were also some funny moments like the kamikaze water drones. I wanted to like it but this just did not work for me. 3/10 John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)Easily the best of the sequels so far, as I didn't care much for the previous two. It's pretty much more of the same, just done bigger, better and with more of it. It's beautifully shot and contains some of the best choreography ever put to screen. There are some scenes that just look so real I don't know how they could have possibly achieved it. I was so impressed by Donnie Yen's character, and the dog tracker character as well. They were so cool they kind of stole the show from Keanu, not gonna lie. I would love to see more of these characters in the future. It gets so crazy at points that I couldn't help but laugh. Harder than I do for most comedies. It's just so ridiculously good. A huge change from me being disgusted by the violence in Chapter 2. The main issue I have with the movie is the ending. I don't understand why they chose to end it the way they did, as it neither works as a satisfying ending or a cliffhanger. It's just weird. 7/10 Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)A very bland and forgettable movie, and a chore to get through. Can't really think of much good to say about it. Decent performance by Leonardo DiCaprio I guess, but he's usually always good. Even the cinematography is pretty weak, as it's a very bland and ugly looking movie. It feels like the movie was made just for the sake of making a movie, and seems to lack any creative thought at all. Except for maybe one scene where there was this cool one take tracking shot throughought a house, but I saw no reason for it, as it was just a random throwaway scene. At the end of the movie there is a really bizarre and out of place cameo that really takes you out of the film... or at least would have if everyone hadn't already checked out by that point. I watched this for the huge talent involved and it's amazing to me how they managed to make a movie this bad. One of Scorsese's worst movies yet. 2/10 I haven't seen those yet. Maybe I will watch the Scorsese film but in far future. |
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