I was curious how this was doing and… I found some Scaredy Cat ratings for it on Slate. I didn’t even know this was a thing:
I consider myself a wimp, but I guess because I see Alien and Jurrassi Park movies maybe not as wimpy as I thought.
This surprises me though because it looked scary as hell in the trailers I saw. Also, it looks like maybe I should actually try watching A Quiet Place.
Those spookiness rankings seem all over the shop, but that just be my own psychology talking.
The Last Legion is on TV right now and I’d never seen it. Made in 2007 by Miramax, its really crazy how EVERY SINGLE ACTOR is a familiar face. Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, John Hannah, Kevin Mckidd, Iain Glen, Peter Mullan, Rupert Friend…etc and some not so famous, but familiar faces like Alexander Siddig, James Cosmo, Owen Teale, Thomas Brodie-Sangster. (Many of them showed up on Game of Thrones).
Anyway, the movie itself isn’t actually all that great… A by the numbers approach to blockbuster action movie by Weinstein & the De Laurentiis family (Conan, King Kong, Flash Gordon, Dune) that didn’t quite pay off. The effects are pretty cheap, perhaps they overspent on the casting?
The story is basically a prequel to the King Arthur legend with the origin of Excalibur as Ceasars sword thats carried to Britain by the last emperor in search of the 9th Legion.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) - Holy shit this movie was smoking. I do love my intense lesbian love stories. Best one I’ve seen since 2016’s “Lovesong”.
TBH though I think I could watch two hours of Noémie Merlant just staring into the camera.
High praise!
Looks like us general audiences will get to see it on Valentine’s Day:
I just saw it–cuz KStew–and I liked it more than I expected. It gets down to business. This isn’t really my genre–and I did get a little restless (despite a 95 minute runtime) in the back half–but I thought it was a pretty good little sci-fi horror movie. It takes pretty obvious inspiration from other movies that I won’t reveal because I think it’s worth watching. I think it’s a perfectly fine addition to the canon of the enjoyable movie most folks will forget existed five years from now.
Spoiler: As someone who has the irrational fear of expansive bodies of water–precisely because of my imagination of colossal beings–I thought the “Cthulhu” monster was pretty awesome, in a terrifying way. I’m also a Godzilla (2014) apologist, and I felt this movie was similarly reserved in showing its monsters, at least until the end.
I give it a mild recommendation if you want an underwater thriller/horror movie. Jump scares, yes, but I wouldn’t say excessive.
Just got back from a screening of VHYes, a comedy presented as a VHS tape recorded by a young boy with a camcorder he was given for Christmas in 1987 - a tape previously used to record his parents’ wedding. It’s part the kid screwing around with his new toy (and occasionally catching hints, to which he is oblivious, that his parents’ marriage is not the strongest), and part parodies of late night TV that he’s recorded directly, including infomercials, news broadcasts, heavily edited porn, a very low-fi public-access-style music interview program, a true crime documentary, etc. I cried laughing at many of the TV clips, but found the framing story with the kid pretty inconsequential (thankfully it’s not a huge amount of the movie). Can definitely recommend, with the caveat that I have literally no idea how you would see it unless you can go to the Alamo in Woodbury, MN in the next week or so. (It may be showing at other Alamo locations, too - but I don’t think it’s in wider release.)
I was startled by the appearances of Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, given the relatively lower profile of the rest of the cast (though I think regular viewers of comedy television would know most of them - I just don’t, myself), until I discovered that they’re the director’s parents. So, well, that explains that.
For anyone who was looking to check Greener Grass (see the trailer above) out, it’s now on Hulu (at least in the US).
Trailer makes it look like a Quentin Dupieux product, how similar would you say it is?
The only one of his movies I’ve seen was Rubber, and…huh. Maybe? I really don’t know how I feel about Rubber, but Greener Grass I wholeheartedly enjoyed.
I stumbled across this review of a 2013 black & white mockumentary about a computer chess tournament taking place sometime around 1980:
https://denofcinema.com/the-electric-kool-aid-turing-test-computer-chess-12/
I noticed that it was available on Amazon Prime, so I watched it.
I wouldn’t actually recommend it; but I was drawn in by the first 20 minutes or so, which is actually pretty remarkably engaging for a black & white zero-budget mockumentary about a 1980s computer chess tournament. After that, there’s a lot of hinting, not-so-subtle clues that something is going on, maybe it is related to the military, or artificial intelligence, or maybe drugs? But it’s just a bunch of stuff thrown against the wall, for you to make what you will of it. It descends into farce at times.
But there were also some genuine laughs, and a few wtf moments that made it worth it. And it is quite short, so there’s that.
Low expectations definitely helped, but I really had a fantastic time at The Gentlemen. Breezy and light (with one exception…), and a delightful cast.
That’s Andrew Bujalski! I haven’t actually seen that one yet, but I’ve been a fan of his since I saw Mutual Appreciation–featuring the adorable Justin Rice–at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival. I also really like his first movie Funny Ha Ha. Folks might know him more recently from Support the Girls, another solid flick.
Oh, and he’s also an actor in Hannah Takes the Stairs, a movie I recently rewatched which was also my intro to Greta Gerwig.
I might have to check out Funny Ha Ha.
On thinking about this film more, one thing I do appreciate about it, is that it didn’t do any easy “hey, look at the nerds” jokes. Although several of the characters had some serious flaws, they weren’t related to their being obsessed with computer chess. They were just people.
Parasite. Well, hmmm. It really likes to take your head, shove it down, and rub your nose in its metaphors. I guess I prefer a bit more subtlety in my films. I didn’t like Snowpiercer either, so I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m going to spoiler tag this next bit because, though all of these read like heavily cliche’d metaphors for class struggle, they’re all actually really real plot points in this film.
Hey guess what? Rich people are just fucking on the couch while poor people wait for scraps under the table. Hey guess what? The only thing that “trickles down” is shit, until poor people are drowning in it. Hey guess what? Poor people trying to get the message across is like beating out Morse code with their heads. Hey guess what? Being in debt is like being locked in the basement with no way out.
I mean sure, it’s a well constructed, well made film, but I don’t get all the critical and Oscar love for it.
I’m not sure if this was released in theaters but I checked out The Ballad of Lefty Brown on Netflix. A pretty solid western starring an ancient and grizzled Bill Pullman, a bit of weathered Peter Fonda in the beginning, the always fun Tommy Flannagan, and a few others like Kathy Baker as an angry widow. Pretty good shootouts, pretty straightforward but decent plot, and Bill Pullman is just great in it, I’d say it’s probably his best work and the best acting he’s ever done, getting really into his character.
Watched The Lodge last night. Do not do the same. Avoid this movie. Aside from being well made, it’s completely horrible.
— Alan
I was on a Blake Lively binge. First there is The Age of Adaline, then it is The Shallows. Now I’m not saying she didn’t act well, but both of them would not have worked if an average-looking person played her role.
Well, if you’re all Blake Lively, you should watch A Simple Favor. It has Anna Kendrick too, so that makes it even better.
