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Post by sdm3 on Nov 6, 2024 22:10:56 GMT
Caught a bunch of movies over the past few weeks: Oddity (2024): A neat little supernatural horror/thriller from Damian McCarthy who previously directed Caveat in 2020. Caveat has a lot of things working for it and you can see McCarthy is talented when it comes to setting and tone, but that movie didn't quite gel for me. Oddity isn't a 10/10 but it shows that McCarthy is worthy of attention as there are some notable sequences here, and an overall sense of offputting dread in every scene. Cuckoo (2024): I really wanted to like this one as it had a lot of buzz and it has a lot of great stuff going for it, namely a standout performance from star Hunter Schafer and a creepy villain....until everything is revealed. For me, this one suffers from both having the plot be over-explained, yet it still doesn't quite make sense at the end of the day. Some strong sequences but overall, a bit of a letdown. Strange Darling (2023): Everyone's favorite from JT Mollner, I came very close to loving this movie. I won't really say anything about it other than Willa Fitzgerald is fantastic in a starring role and horror veteran Kyle Gallner is also great and good to see him getting his due. This is definitely worth a watch. Woman of the Hour (2024): Anna Kendrick's directorial debut that took Netflix by storm a few weeks ago. Her performance is strong and I'm a fan of hers in general; she's managed to have a great career and managed to avoid the romcom trap that befall so many of her contemporaries. I will say, though, that as a director, she clearly has a vision and she captures the look and feel of the 70s exceptionally well. She creates a sense of isolation for the victims that is palpable, even before bad things happen. There are multiple timelines converging and it doesn't all gel, but I'm pretty impressed with how she fared behind the camera. Plus, the depiction of men just ignoring the plight of women is almost over-the-top here, however, after last night's travesty, I think this message needs to be escalated if anything. Lastly, I watched The Substance (2024): Go watch this, right now. Just do it. Fuck your job, fuck your kids, this is your duty now. This is body horror the way it was meant to be and I just adored this movie. It's weird, gross, poignant...I think the best word is audacious. When people bemoan the state of contemporary moviemaking by bitching that nothing is original, show them this. And yeah, everything you've heard about the performances is true - Demi Moore has never been better, Margaret Qualley is outstanding, and Dennis Quaid plays the most horrid SOB I've ever seen (is he "playing"?). Just go see it. I have a lot more to say about this one so maybe if others join in, I'll regail you. Goon's Crow post is a tough act to follow.... I had a great time with The Substance - and I definitely wasn’t prepared for it to go exactly where it did by the end. Pure insanity in the best way. |
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Post by sdm3 on Nov 6, 2024 22:17:16 GMT
One of those strange full circle movie experiences; as a kid, one of my favorite films was About a Boy (2002) with Hugh Grant, also starring a young Nicholas Hoult with Toni Collette playing his mother. Over the weekend, without knowing much about the movies beforehand, we ended up seeing Heretic (2024) starring Hugh Grant (who was sublime, by the way) followed by Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 (2024) starring… Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Nov 6, 2024 23:13:14 GMT
One of those strange full circle movie experiences; as a kid, one of my favorite films was About a Boy (2002) with Hugh Grant, also starring a young Nicholas Hoult with Toni Collette playing his mother. Over the weekend, without knowing much about the movies beforehand, we ended up seeing Heretic (2024) starring Hugh Grant (who was sublime, by the way) followed by Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 (2024) starring… Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette. About a Boy is a great flick. Heretic looks interesting. I made my classic "I still haven't seen the first one," dad joke in the Juror #2 thread on the FG board the other day, but it didn't get any traction. |
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Nov 7, 2024 4:15:03 GMT
Caught a bunch of movies over the past few weeks: Lastly, I watched The Substance (2024): Go watch this, right now. Just do it. Fuck your job, fuck your kids, this is your duty now. This is body horror the way it was meant to be and I just adored this movie. It's weird, gross, poignant...I think the best word is audacious. When people bemoan the state of contemporary moviemaking by bitching that nothing is original, show them this. And yeah, everything you've heard about the performances is true - Demi Moore has never been better, Margaret Qualley is outstanding, and Dennis Quaid plays the most horrid SOB I've ever seen (is he "playing"?). Just go see it. I have a lot more to say about this one so maybe if others join in, I'll regail you. Goon's Crow post is a tough act to follow.... I can’t imagine that I will ever even entertain the idea of watching ‘The Substance’ again but it’s a brilliant movie. |
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Post by klawrencio79 on Nov 7, 2024 17:06:08 GMT
The Comeback on Netflix was pretty great, although probably not for Yankee fans. Kevin Millar and Curt Schilling were total highlights of the doc, I always love to hear behind-the-scenes stories from players like that and these guys are great interviews.
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Post by Rufus-T on Nov 7, 2024 17:40:18 GMT
The Comeback on Netflix was pretty great, although probably not for Yankee fans. Kevin Millar and Curt Schilling were total highlights of the doc, I always love to hear behind-the-scenes stories from players like that and these guys are great interviews. I watched the first episode. Because it was so long ago and that the Yankees had won so much in my lifetime, the 2004 comeback doesn't bother me any more. It got me depressed though back in 2004. Damn that was painful. As a baseball fan, I love stuff like this. I have no idea that Big Papi was fighting for playing time both at Twins and Red Sox, with the Sox using Jeremy Giambi. I love how they described the game 7 situation when Pedro and the bullpen were expecting a pitching change, but Grady Little didn't make a movie. I almost forgotten about Nomar. Such a shame he became irrelevant when he entered the league in splash. Very good episode one so far. |
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Post by masterofallgoons on Nov 7, 2024 19:39:00 GMT
One of those strange full circle movie experiences; as a kid, one of my favorite films was About a Boy (2002) with Hugh Grant, also starring a young Nicholas Hoult with Toni Collette playing his mother. Over the weekend, without knowing much about the movies beforehand, we ended up seeing Heretic (2024) starring Hugh Grant (who was sublime, by the way) followed by Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 (2024) starring… Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette. About a Boy is one of those very pleasant rewatchable lightweight movies that feels like it should be written by Richard Curtis, but is instead from the similarly minded Nick Hornby. It skirts with real issues, but it's mostly just a nice time with some very charming and good actors. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that Nicholas Hoult would grow up to be a handsome leading man though. He was a pretty odd looking kid, but clearly a pretty good actor from a young age. Looking forward to Heretic. How was Juror #2? I had never heard of it til I aaw the trailer the other day and it seems intriguing. But it sure has been a long time since Clint Eastwood has made something worth watching. |
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Post by masterofallgoons on Nov 7, 2024 19:54:30 GMT
Watched episode 1 of The Penguin on HBO. Holy shit, Colin Farrell was a standout as Penguin in The Batman which I was a huge fan of. I was super excited for this series. I'm not a huge Batman fan as I don't find him interesting, however I do love the city of Gotham and the villains and universe he lives in. Episode 1 has me hooked. Farrell was great...but the star of episode 1 was Cristin Molani? (I forget how you spell her last name) I have only seen her as the eventual mother in How I met Your Mother, so I'm not overly familiar with her work. She was great in that short stint of that show, very charming and charismatic. This show? She owned the screen the second she was on. She plays a character just out of Arkham Sofia Falcone, daughter of Carmine from The Batman. Mind you I know nothing of this character from the comics or even if she exists. I do know I don't want to look it up as I want to be surprised how her story goes. The acting with her eyes just hooked me instantly. She is VERY unnerving and threatening just based on her eyes. She is very unhinged, yet I was oddly incredibly turned on by her at the same time. I can't wait for the second episode next Sunday. I've been watching this and am all caught up with and I'm with you. I think this show is outstanding basically for the 2 main reasons you laid out - Colin Farrell and Christin Milioti. You're spot on with Milioti, we are basically watching an incredible villain be born right before our eyes. She is magnetic in the role but she's not just a one-note monster or anything like that. Her intentions and her plan are clearly laid out and we, as the audience, side with her in a lot of ways. That's a great villain. Farrell, fuck he's good in this. When they announced this show, I had the same reaction I had when they announced Better Call Saul - a great character with a talented actor underneath but is that milking the teet just a little too much? Well, I was dead wrong about Better Call Saul and thus far, I feel the same way here. Farrell is incredible every time he's on screen and the magic of it is that he is a complete shitbag....yet you feel for him every step of the way. Similar to Milioti, his motivations are clear as day and you side with him given what he's gone through to get where he is. This is slated as a limited series and this Sunday is the finale I believe. Curious to see if they try to extend the run here as the show is getting great reviews from critics and audiences alike. Just caught up last night. Other than the typical issues I have with the way all series are structured these days, I don't have much to criticize about this show. Colin Farrell is great, the makeup is astoundingly good, and Milioti is the real discovery. I saw her on Broadway years ago playing pretty much the opposite of this character and she's doing special work here as the scarred and fully corrupted antagonist. And who is gonna complain about getting to watch (and listen to) Clancy Brown. His wife is played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, who has every but the deep gravely magnetic voice he does. I might have liked more scenes of the two of them just talking. Good point on him as an unlikely lead. You get Victor as your audience entry point, because he's not involved in this world and is actually sympathetic, and you see how he systematically gets corrupted and drawn into the life of crime... and how even though Oswald is a 'shitbag' as you accurately called him, there's still somehow something likeable about him. He's insecure and kinda childish, and Victor feels bad for abandoning him, even though he'd be abandoning a murderer and backstabber for a girl he actually cares about. He's physically unpleasant, he does terrible things, he seems to have no morals or real allegiances, he's thin skinned, and yet you kinda understand and like him. It's strange and unlikely, and yet it pulls it off well. |
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Post by masterofallgoons on Nov 7, 2024 19:56:54 GMT
Caught a bunch of movies over the past few weeks: Oddity (2024): A neat little supernatural horror/thriller from Damian McCarthy who previously directed Caveat in 2020. Caveat has a lot of things working for it and you can see McCarthy is talented when it comes to setting and tone, but that movie didn't quite gel for me. Oddity isn't a 10/10 but it shows that McCarthy is worthy of attention as there are some notable sequences here, and an overall sense of offputting dread in every scene. Cuckoo (2024): I really wanted to like this one as it had a lot of buzz and it has a lot of great stuff going for it, namely a standout performance from star Hunter Schafer and a creepy villain....until everything is revealed. For me, this one suffers from both having the plot be over-explained, yet it still doesn't quite make sense at the end of the day. Some strong sequences but overall, a bit of a letdown. Strange Darling (2023): Everyone's favorite from JT Mollner, I came very close to loving this movie. I won't really say anything about it other than Willa Fitzgerald is fantastic in a starring role and horror veteran Kyle Gallner is also great and good to see him getting his due. This is definitely worth a watch. Woman of the Hour (2024): Anna Kendrick's directorial debut that took Netflix by storm a few weeks ago. Her performance is strong and I'm a fan of hers in general; she's managed to have a great career and managed to avoid the romcom trap that befall so many of her contemporaries. I will say, though, that as a director, she clearly has a vision and she captures the look and feel of the 70s exceptionally well. She creates a sense of isolation for the victims that is palpable, even before bad things happen. There are multiple timelines converging and it doesn't all come together with some scenes that are a bit plodding, but I'm pretty impressed with how she fared behind the camera. Plus, the depiction of men just ignoring the plight of women is almost over-the-top here, however, after last night's travesty, I think this message needs to be escalated if anything. Lastly, I watched The Substance (2024): Go watch this, right now. Just do it. Fuck your job, fuck your kids, this is your duty now. This is body horror the way it was meant to be and I just adored this movie. It's weird, gross, poignant...I think the best word is audacious. When people bemoan the state of contemporary moviemaking by bitching that nothing is original, show them this. And yeah, everything you've heard about the performances is true - Demi Moore has never been better, Margaret Qualley is outstanding, and Dennis Quaid plays the most horrid SOB I've ever seen (is he "playing"?). Just go see it. I have a lot more to say about this one so maybe if others join in, I'll regail you. Goon's Crow post is a tough act to follow.... Looking forward to The Substance, but getting to the theater has been tough. Everything I've heard about this makes it sound like a must see though. I've been meaning to watch this director's previous film for a while now. Maybe I'll take that plunge. I've also circled Oddity. I loved Caveat, it hit me in exactly the right way. I don't even know if I could tell you what happened in it, but I remember how it felt. Sounds like this one has a similar air about it. |
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Post by masterofallgoons on Nov 7, 2024 20:20:10 GMT
Just as a follow up on the constant, unearned 'Salem's Lot discussion, I thought the cast was pretty good in this new version. But the 2004 miniseries is probably my least favorite version, but has the best cast. Rob Lowe (in his second Stephen King miniseries after The Stand), Andre Braugher, Donald Sutherland, Samantha Mathis, James Cromwell, and Rutger Hauer. There really isn't a weak link. But it was a basic cable, early 2000s production that moved the action to the contemporary time, and just couldn't measure up to either the novel or the previous Tobe Hooper miniseries. Just when you thought this conversation was over! Like a creature of the night, it just keeps coming back... Another random thought I had watching this movie. I've always wondered about the exact parameters of the whole 'vampire needs an invitation to come in' mythos. (I mean besides that making vampires an oddly polite murderous creature.) First off, what exactly counts as an invitation? I mean if they can just come in as long as your doors (or 2nd floor windows) are open, do they really need an invitation? There are probably some old school, common law interpretations on this somewhere. And does it really matter if you can just boot them out by renouncing your invitation at any time (and do you need the cross to do so)? Perhaps a more complicated aspect is the concept of what counts as 'in?' There's the scene in the movie where the kid runs into his treehouse and quickly closes the trap door and windows, and that keeps them at bay. So I guess the treehouse fits the legal definition of a structure or a domicile in vampire law? What if he left the windows open but specifically told them they couldn't come in? What if I stood on my back deck? No roof, just railings and stairs leading to the yard. Could they snatch me up or would they have to be invited to land on my deck? What about my front porch? Again it has railings, but also a roof; but not an outer wall or a door to close. It's also obviously open to the front walk. Is that an open invitation and could I renounce it verbally? I figure a tent counts, but what if I build a children's fort out of sticks leaning against trees? I made it, I'm inside, it's a crude structure. Does that count? If so, is there a minimum height requirement for the walls of the fort? I can imagine a vampire tapping his toes in annoyance as I throw fours sticks down around me and laugh at him. How about I hide under a tarp? I'm 'inside,' away from the elements. There's no way to get in without forcing your way in (either by lifting it off me or attempting to crawl in with me. I would think you'd need an invitation. Can I stand under an awning or sit in one of those lawn chairs with a canopy? Let's explore this further. Can you go into any structure, even if you don't own it (therefore drawing into question your own right to invite them in) and they can't follow you? What if you're homeless and live in a box? Do you technically own the box, and thus have a level of protection? What about a car? Do you have to live in the car or just own it? What if it's a rental? What if you're on a bus? I want a book explaining this stuff, and I think I'm going to have to write it. That's by far my least favorite wrinkle in the vampire lore. It's so silly and almost impossible to explain away with any logic. Like I said, I always kind of enjoy when they try to take a psuedo scientific approach to excusing the idea of vampires; they develop an allergy garlic, ultra sensitivity to the sun, the need for blood is like a form of anemia, or the new one in this movie; the rabies shot can cure vampirism if caught in time. I watched A Return to 'Salem’s Lot a few weeks back which is an 80s sequel to the 70s miniseries which has almost nothing to do with its predecessor, and is kinda terrible but also kinda fun, and the vampires in that one expressed their concern with people poisoning their blood with fast food and new kinds of drugs and this new AIDs virus that everyone's talking about. That was kind of amusing. But you can't make sense of the invitation into the home or the power of the crucifix. You just have to buy in to something that doesn't even kinda make any sense in the real world, and of course it opens it up to these sorts of discussions where you litigate this kind of stuff. That scene in every vampire or werewolf movie where they discuss the rules is always tricky. I think my favorite one is in From Dusk til Dawn. Tarantino's dialogue is very knowing and self aware without being obnoxious. Clooney gets right to the point and says something like 'I don't wanna hear that you don't believe in vampires, because what we all saw out there were fucking vampires' and 'Has anyone ever read a book about vampires, and I mean a REAL book about vampires?' by which we in the audience all know he means not a paperback trash novel, but a book you'd see in a movie that's leather bound and looks centuries old with no title on the front that can only ever be shown in candlelight. It is surprising that I haven't heard this discussion in a comedic vampire movie at some point. All of these little technicalities could be a funny discussion if the dialgoue was good. I saw a short film on youtube years ago called Welcome Mats where a welcome mat was mysteriously left in front of all of the doors that didn't have one in a neighborhood, then at the end they reveal that it was a bunch of vampires creating a false invitation into the homes. Kind of funny, though I'm not sure if it was supposed to be. Also not sure if that would pass vampiric arbitration. |
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Nov 8, 2024 22:09:48 GMT
It hardly seems possible to make an interesting movie about a Conclave but Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) did it, based on a Robert Harris book. The Pope dies and all the Cardinals of the Catholic Church flock to Rome to chose his successor. Plenty of internecine intrigue follows. Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini are the best-known names in the cast.
Pretty decent intense drama, great production values and some striking visuals are enough for me to recommend it, without going nearly as far as saying that it can't be missed.
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Post by Rufus-T on Nov 11, 2024 17:04:41 GMT
I finished watching The Comeback. 2nd episode ended with Nomar got traded. The third episode was the rest of 2004 season, which I thought was rushed a bit. The series could have been longer, 5 episodes maybe or more, preface about the rivalry in the beginning and slow down a bit in the two postseasons. Those two years were the height of the rivalry, even surpassing that of the late 70s which was quite intense. The players gotten so chummy nowadays and move around teams so much that it'll be difficult to get back that excitement again. Anyway, highly recommended for baseball fans.
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