What movie did you watch recently?

[windfisch]

The Minion

Featuring Dolph Lundgren as a Templar-priest having a fistfight with a demon-possesed foe, while wearing radiation suits. There's just so much wrong about this movie that I cannot help but like it.

[Woody Alien]

Aug 29, 2020 16:51:59 GMT -5 kaoru said:

Back when I watched through all Pixar movies, Brave was the newest. Back then I came to the conclusion that Pixar and Disney were kind of on an oposing relationship. When Disney animation was mediocre at best, Pixar was doing one great movie after another. When Disney animation got back to getting good, Pixar went into a slump xD

Same thing I was thinking honestly.

Since I want to see bizarre 80s/90s fantasy comedies, I watched yesterday Coneheads. It seems that everyone hated that movie back in the day, but watching it now it's not so bad, at least it's funny, weird and it works as a satire on the USA and its treatment of illegal aliens, maybe even more now than in the 90s. Plus it has the final part set on the Coneheads' planet which is really cheesy in that old-style sci-fi way, complete with stop-motion Star Wars-esque giant monster.

I don't know if it was considered badly because of its relationship with Saturday Night Live, here SNL is basically unknown (they tried to make an Italian version but it flopped miserably) so I could judge the film for what it is and it's a goofy, enjoyable sci-fi comedy which never takes itself too seriously. Then again how many SNL movies have been considered "good"? Maybe just The Blues Brothers and possibly Wayne's World. I remember seeing somehow on an Italian pay-TV channel while on vacation the obscure The Ladies Man and it was quite crappy.

[eatersthemanfool]

Coneheads is one of those movies i rewatch regularly.

[dsparil]

Sept 9, 2020 12:41:24 GMT -5 Woody Alien said:

Then again how many SNL movies have been considered "good"?

Original movies written or starring current cast members (and usually produced by Lorne Michaels) tend to be better, but they're not necessarily thought of as SNL movies e.g. Mean Girls. It's really just the movies based directly on sketches that tend to be bad. Unsurprisingly, Michaels's production company has had better luck with TV shows.

[🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀]

MacGruber was good, I thought, but I found Wayne's World completely unwatchable in the year of our lord 2020. But then, comedy tends not to age too well oftentimes.

I was intersted in checking out Blues Brothers, but that movie stars John Belushi and was directed by John Landis, just like the abysmal Animal House, a movie I found so painfully boring that I almost turned it off (something I never do and have only contemplated two or three other times). So that's not going to happen anytime soon.

[dsparil]

I don't really like The Blues Brothers, and it's as much an SNL movie as Christopher Guest's A Mighty Wind which is much better. Guest was a cast member during the weird 10th season and the movie's central folk music group originated from a sketch during his time there. The big difference is the time gap at about 20 years from sketch to movie.

I kinda like Animal House, but it does have more influence than substance. It's basically permanently engrained into US college culture, but Bender's plot in the Mars University episode of Futurama is a good enough substitute.

[lurker]

Still can’t believe Animal House got a network sitcom spinoff.

[Woody Alien]

I'm curious about hearing that, here The Blues Brothers has attained cult status, and in minor measure Animal House is quite popular too, so I'm a bit surprised to see how many people dislike it. In any case the sequel, Blues Brothers 2000, is absolute crap and pretty much a clumsily made rehash of the first film with nothing interesting about it (maybe just that random scene with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse). The music is good though.

I don't think Animal House is still so ingrained in popular culture, those kind of hijinks are in part frowned upon nowadays; for example they tried to remake the similar movie Revenge of the Nerds, but they didn't find any college to support it (Misoginy, etc.) so it was just canned in the end.

[lurker]

A trailer for Raya and the Last Dragon...

[🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀]

Anyone watch anything spooky this October? I went through some classics myself.

-House/Hausu: Loved it. It's even crazier than I had expected.
-Last House of the Left (1972): It's very poorly made (acting, editing, writing, continuity errors), but kind of entertaining anyway. It's one of those that's more influential than good. It's also not really a horror movie despite some disturbing shit happening.
-Halloween (1978): Kind of boring, and not that scary or suspenseful. I guess you had to be there or something. It was okay I guess, but it just felt very uneventful
-The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974): This one I really liked. The killers in this have much more going on than Halloween's and the set design is really great. I like that both this one and Halloween don't really show a lot of gore because that's much more effective and scary.
-The Blob (1958): This one's not really a classic, but it's pretty well-known. It has some campy charms, but it's mostly just bad. The plot and the characters are completely nonsensical and 28-year old Steve McQueen is supposed to be a 17-year old. He looks like he's in his 30's. That's a stretch, even for Hollywood standards.
-Host: Okay this one's really not a classic since it came out this year, but this year's Halloween's as good a time as any. It's about a seance that takes place over Zoom, and it was made and released during this pandemic. It's got some cheap jumpscares and effects (the movie is best when it doesn't show things too much/clearly), but it has some suspenseful moments when it restrains itself, and it uses the format in a pretty clever way. I think a format like this just works best for me when it comes to scares, The Blair Witch Project is probably my favorite horror movie after all. Needless to say it was the one I found the scariest this year.

[toei]

Nov 1, 2020 15:14:56 GMT -5 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 said:

Anyone watch anything spooky this October? I went through some classics myself.

-House/Hausu: Loved it. It's even crazier than I had expected.
-The Blob (1958): This one's not really a classic, but it's pretty well-known. It has some campy charms, but it's mostly just bad. The plot and the characters are completely nonsensical and 28-year old Steve McQueen is supposed to be a 17-year old. He looks like he's in his 30's. That's a stretch, even for Hollywood standards.

Yeah, House is a masterpiece of creativity. It's great. As for The Blob, well, judging by every old picture I've seen, young people often looked old as fuck in the old days, so 28-year old Steve McQueen probably didn't look 35 at the time, just, like, 28.
...Ok, I can't really justify it. He looks literally twice as old as the character he portrays.

To answer your question, though, I guess I technically did, but it's mostly a coincidence, as I never really thought of Halloween this month. I watched just two that could fit this theme:

Ghostwatch, a BBC-produced movie from 1992 that pauses as a special program on a haunted house, with real BBC reporters playing themselves. Initially no one takes the situation seriously aside from the vaguely charlatanish "experts" they interview, but eventually things go wrong. Supposedly, some viewers thought it was a real program. Possibly the first faux-documentary horror movie, or at least a pioneer of the genre. Anyway, I thought it was decent, but more interesting for what it was doing than actually scary. 

Also, I guess Thinner counts? Based on one of the lesser stories Stephen King must have written while drunk and coked out of his mind, it's a pretty bad movie that doesn't seem to know what tone it's going for and doesn't seem to care about it own dumbass story. The part where the New England mafia boss played by Joe Mantegna shows up to wage a one-man war on the curse-throwing gypsies is the only thing that's kind of entertaining, even if the portrayal of said gypsies relies on stereotypes that probably would have seemed like a stretch a hundred years ago, let alone the '90s.

[jackcaeylin]

I haven't watched a movie for a while. I changed it.

-Labyrinth of Cinema (2019)

This is the last movie of the director. I think he is mostly known for Magoriyuki (2002) and Hausu (1977). Kinda sad to see that this movie is his last movie, not regarding the quality, he is a great director, thats why. This picture is not for everyone. It is kinda a love letter to japanese cinema. You see lots of technics and style that were used in the industry of Japan. From the old white/black hyperspeed shots to the decline of budget towards japanese cinema and the rise of japanese series during the time when everyone could afford TV. It breaks the 4th wall regularly and they even comment about their change of shot composite. It has tons of interesting shots. To be honest, I am not really good at picking japanese movies, thus I tend to watch movies from directors that I like. (regarding in japanese cinema). That is why I mostly watch about movies from the same 5-7 directors.

One thing that I want to mention is the cinematography, it is astounding. The movie shows his trademarks. It is a strong anti war movie like many movies that he directed.  I can't really recommend this movie, because the story is not really important. The focus are the shots, technique, style, thus it is not really meant as a storydriven movie. If you want a brief movies (3 hours) about japanese cinema, then I would recommend it. Just keep in mind that the movie is sometimes intentionally quirky in a good way.

-Red Post on Escher Street (2020)

This is the latest movie of Sion Sono. It is a strong movie about various things. A director wants to make a movie and at the same time you see the life about the people that do application or end up as extras. At the same time the crew struggles, because of the producer wishes. It is about artistic integrity, the price of being an artist, application anxiety, frustration as an artist, existential crisis and other things, but as a cute comedy drama or should I say dramedy? I really like the chapters and he or the crew made it multi layered. For example, the second part is about hardcore fans of the director, but at the same time, it feels like that he makes fun about his actual fans, which was funny. You see, the director in the movie looks like a young version of the actual director, which made it really obvious.  It has tons of chapters, they are named after the characters. Everyone is interesting with the exception of the scriptwriter. I don't have a problem with the actress, but it was kinda lacking. I think, they could do more about it. The scriptwriter chapter wasn't well filmed like the other scenes. I think, I need to rewatch it one day. I think, I missed something. I do understand the the role of thescriptwriter. It is an self insert about artistic intergrity and thats why the person is running away or an actual ghost, but some scenes felt really too different. I really like the chapters about the 3 elderly extras. They were in 1000 movies as extras and his biggest achievement was kinda depressing. You could see him for 15 seconds in a movie. He is an old guy in his 70's and he lives with his children. They seem to be really frustrated about him. The last third is about the acutal movie in the movie. They do not focus on the main actors, but at the extra and their problems, which was kinda cute.  The extra turned into main actors and all the side characters have their revelation moments. It is hilarious in a good way. If you watch the movie without analyzing it, then you have a weird movie, but it can be analyzed in many ways and it makes so much sense. I would even say that the movie is autobiographical and the struggle of Sono in his years. Although, it kinda ended like a shounen, which was a weird choice, but it still works. I would recommend it, but it has a long runtime.

-All night long (1992)

The last movie that I have seen. I want to watch more movies that could be categorized as extreme cinema. I have already seen a few things like "tsumetainettaigyo" or the German movie "The angels melancholia" or another movie where a cult does suicide in a graphical way. This movie didn't have much gore, but it has a brutal story. three guys saw the death of a person, thus they started to see each other regularly. These 3 guys are outcasts, but they do not mention it. In a weird way, they want to introduce their girlfriends, but not even one person has a girlfriend, thus you see 3 chapters and how they try to get a girlfriend. They do it in a such weird and awkward way. It was kinda clear that this movie has a low budget, but at the same time I am surprised about the passion of the director. I mean, this movie is not a masterpiece, but it has a few interesting shots. Not even one actor can act, but the crew made it work somehow. In a weird way it made the movie unique, because you can see that these people are really awkward and outcasts, thus the twist really works and the weird shots at the end makes sense. You can interpret them logically. I believe, it could be unintentional, but it is still interesting. The story has kinda the same meaning like "tsumetainettaigyo", but not as good as the mentioned movie.

[toei]

jackcaeylin There was a documentary that followed Obayashi as he shot Labyrinth of Cinema on NHK World's website earlier this year. It's probably gone now, unfortunately, as they don't keep programs on the site for long, but it might be possible to find it somewhere. He's a great director for sure. 

Actually, for anyone who has an interest in Japan, I recommend checking out their On Demand page now and then. You can watch documentaries in English there for free. NHK is more or less Japan's PBS or BBC. In general their full-length programs (49 minutes) are solid.

So aside from Nobuhiko Obayashi and Sion Sono, who are the other Japanese directors you like?

[jackcaeylin]

Dec 1, 2020 0:45:34 GMT -5 toei said:

jackcaeylin There was a documentary that followed Obayashi as he shot Labyrinth of Cinema on NHK World's website earlier this year. It's probably gone now, unfortunately, as they don't keep programs on the site for long, but it might be possible to find it somewhere. He's a great director for sure. 

Actually, for anyone who has an interest in Japan, I recommend checking out their On Demand page now and then. You can watch documentaries in English there for free. NHK is more or less Japan's PBS or BBC. In general their full-length programs (49 minutes) are solid.

So aside from Nobuhiko Obayashi and Sion Sono, who are the other Japanese directors you like?

Thank you very much for the information.That documentary sounds like my cup of tea. I will try to find the documentary through wayback machine. Otherwise, I will hope that Criterion Collection can use it as a special feature one day.

That NHK stuff is also awesome. They even make chinese subtitles. I bookmark it, when I find time again to improve my chinese skills, so I can combine two awesome things at once.

The directors are quite famous. I put my thought into the brackets.

-Akira Kurosawa ( I mostly like his "urban" stuff like like "Ikiru" "Yume", "Dersu Uzala" but I also like his historical stuff like "Kagemusha", I found him through Dersu Uzala, because it was on free TV when I way really young)

- Teruo Ishii (I mostly like his "coming of age" movies as well as some of the unique stuff like "japanese hell", I still need to see lots of stuff from him, for example Narzumono)

-Shin'ya Tsukamoto (I think, he is mostly known as an actor, but he does interesting unique movies like Kotoko or Nobi)

-Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (kinda an enfant terrible, he made infamous stuff like "Sora no Ana" as well as "Kichiku dai Enkai", to me, he is kinda miss and hit, the quality can never be calculated, I guess, that is the appeal)

-Takeshi Kitano (I am a big lover of "Hana Bi", I still remember the zoom out shot at the paintings, great shot composition with a strong message, but I also like his other stuff like "Autoreiji. Biyondo" or "Brother", the door scene is still iconic)

-Tetsuya Nakashima (I am not the biggest fun, but I have to admit that "Beautiful Sunday" as well as "Kawaki" was interesting and well made. His recent movie "Kuru" could not really convince me completey, despite the idea. I need to rewatch it again in a better position)

There are other two directors, but I think I will drop them in the near future:

-Takashi Miike (I adore his past stuff, for example, "Gyori [despite its issues]", "Imprint", but I could not enjoy his recent movies ["Hatsukoi", "Mugen no junin" and "Rapruasu no majo"], especially "Hatsukoi".

-Koji Shiraishi (I love Nori and Occult, but similar to Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, the quality is sometimes faltering (Jigoku shoujo movie from 2019 was quite bad), thus I have mixed experience about him, I guess I just want a japanese take on the chinese movie "boxer curse" (known as Mo from 1983, had quite interesting actors like Bolo Yeung, which was a friend of Bruce Lee)

--

I kinda tried to find movies about different topics and recent directors. There were movies like "Tailwind" from Anraku Ryo, which was quite interesting, but he mostly relied too much at the script. The lack of creative shot compositions was surprising and wasn't big fan of the ending. The funny thing: It was kinda almost really awesome. It was quite fascinating to me, but this is kinda the reason why I also like movies. It has many interesting decisions.

[toei]

jackcaeylin Interesting list. I have mixed feelings about Kitano, but Hana-Bi is also one of his best to me. I liked Kids Return the most, overall. I thought Outrage was awful, though, and I love yakuza movies. I'm a big fan of '70s Toei (and some '60s stuff), so I'm familiar with Teruo Ishii, but I kind of hate most of his stuff. His late '50s Shintoho stuff and early Toei stuff (ie the Line and Gang series) is ok, but I'm not into ero-guro at all. There's a great interview with him in the Outlaw Masters of Japanese Cinema, though, which you can probably find online. He's very candid. I'm also planning to watch more then-modern Kurosawa, like I Live In Fear and The Bad Sleep Well, but of course Rashomon is also on my list. So far I've seen The Seven Samurai (I liked the first half a lot more than the second), plus Ame Agaru, a movie made in 1999 from an unfilmed script he wrote by a former assistant director of his. It's good. I do like Takashi Miike, though he was best in the '90s and early '00s V-Cinema era, and I've only seen two Sion Sono movies so far, one I disliked overall despite some nice ideas (Why Don't You Play in Hell) and one I loved (Tokyo Tribes 2). I have a bunch of his movies on my to-watch list. For Tsukamoto, I saw Tokyo Fist. It has some great moments visually, but I found the story too muddled.

My favorite director is Kinji Fukasaku, though. Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Yakuza Graveyard, Battle Royale... he made dozens of great movies.