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Post by Woody Alien on Oct 9, 2022 12:31:48 GMT -5
Everybody is talking about the upcoming animated Super Mario movie, so I went and watched the 1993 live action one, that I had never seen up until now because I didn't really care. Besides the fact that the one I found on Prime Video lacks the ending for some reason, it's really as bad as most people say and I don't understand why some people are so obsessed with it (but people can get obsessed with anything, so whatever). I feel sorry for all the work that went into sets, costuming, special FX, makeup, computer graphics and animatronics (Yoshi is seriously impressive for something made 30 years ago) for such a dumb, nonsensical and unfunny movie. Even if I tried to detach it from the source -and I never was a huge Mario fan to begin with- it just doesn't work as a comedy or action movie, and as sci-fi is derivative of much better films. I know about its production issues and I think it ended up having the same problem as Cool World, another weird film of these years full of SFX: it wants to be all grim and gritty but still goofy and comical, so it feels too disjointed.
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Post by dsparil on Oct 10, 2022 9:37:36 GMT -5
The production of that movie was such mess. One thing is that the script got changed a lot at the last minute because of interference from Disney, the distributor. The original version probably won't have been better, but it would have been more consistent.
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Post by windfisch on Oct 28, 2022 10:08:41 GMT -5
Zardoz (1974)
Basically the above image is all you need to know. (edit: Okay, that's not entirely true...)
It's weird and campy but also filled with heavy themes, featuring some mesmerizing caladeiscopic imagery. Our "hero", a mass murderer and rapist, enters the secluded world of the self-proclaimed "elite", who are completely detached from actual life and what makes it worth living. The movie's title is actually a reference to Wi zard of Oz. And "the gun is good, the penis is evil".
It's a trip I urge everyone to take. I can't guarantee you'll enjoy it: It's bleak and none of the characters are likeable. It's also highly uneven in terms of quality. But on the other hand you're unlikely to forget it anytime soon.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Nov 2, 2022 10:45:57 GMT -5
Anybody watch anything scary for halloween this year? I tried to go through some classics as per usual, all movies I've never seen.
-Jaws. Yep, I'd never seen Jaws. This one was much better than I was expecting. It's not necessarily very scary (the first kill was unsettling though), it's more of an adventure movie with horror elements. Not that they really go on an adventure, but you know what I mean hopefully. I really liked the dynamic between the three guys on the boat, and it feels a lot more modern than 1975. This could've easily come out in the 80's or 90's if it wasn't for the 70's fashion. As I said, it was better than I was expecting. I think that's in large part due to the fact that it's more a movie with horror elements, than truly a horror movie. Which is good because a diabolical shark is a bit silly of an idea.
-Nosferatu. This was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. And yes, I'm talking about the 1922 one. I've always found Count Orlock to look creepy as hell in images, but he's a bit goofy, and there's just too many unintentionally funny parts here. Like how he comments on Hutter's wife having a beautiful neck, or how Hutter throws the book about Nosferatu on the ground. Overall, I enjoyed it, but story-wise it feels a bit sloppy.
-Shadow of the Vampire. This was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. This is fictional retelling of the filming of Nosferatu, with Willem Defoe playing a vampire who pretends to be an actor playing a vampire. The finale is mildly unsettling, but it's mostly funny. Everyone talks in bad german accents and Willem Defoe is very over the top (but great). It's not always described as a comedy, sometimes just as horror or drama, but it's definitely a comedy. Pretty unique, and worth watching if you've seen Nosferatu.
-Alien. Another one I'd never seen, believe it or not. Very suspenseful with great characters and effects. I thought the ending was a bit dissapointing (and I could do without the obnoxious flashing lights), but other than that, very suspenseful and atmospheric movie. The chestburster scene is probably the most disturbing thing I've seen this halloween, but then they had to ruin it by having him run away looking like a little muppet. Glad I can finally cross this one off the watchlist.
-The Phantom of the Opera (1925/1929). Last one, on Halloween itself. I watched a silent version that also contains some footage from the 1929 version's reshoots apparently, but I was a bit confused reading about the specifics. This a very striking movie, with great sets and even some technicolor footage. The soundtrack was also really fitting, unlike with Nosferatu. The third act was a bit silly at times, but the part with the scorpion and the grasshopper was cool. In the end, Christine agrees to pledge her love to the phantom to save two other characters, and while it could be interpreted simply as her becoming his wife, it came across a bit creepier/sexual to me. That made the villian a bit more menacing I think. Ultimately, a memorable experience, and something that should be enjoyable even to people not all to interested in silent films. My favorite bit was how the ballerinas did the occasional twirl even when they're not on stage, and just talking to someone.
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Post by excelsior on Nov 2, 2022 13:52:10 GMT -5
Alien is one of my absolute favourites. Aliens is equally good imo but essentially in a different genre which will be the deciding point in which you favour.
This Halloween we only watched one movie. It was called 1408 and starred John Cusack. Samuel L. Jackson is also given equal billing as to being in a starring role but has minimal presence in the film. It's about a writer who checks out hotel rooms that are claimed to be haunted (as tourist traps) and doesn't have any spiritual belief so of course the story involves him coming across a hotel room that actually has an 'evil' presence. We see him go through experiences and it all gets sillier as it goes. It seems to get middling reviews and I think that seems fair.
We started watching a show on Netflix called Archive 81 which is a horror, but I'm not far enough in to have much of an opinion outside of it seeming different from the norm and so interesting enough for me to keep going.
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Post by spanky on Nov 4, 2022 7:28:08 GMT -5
My wife hates horror movies so I really don't catch many of them during October...or ever, really.
I did watch Bone Tomahawk which is a horror western with one extremely disgusting scene. It has good characterization and dialogue. It's one of those movies where the slow pace benefits the it. Suspenseful buildup and all that.
Not a movie, but I started watching X-Files and I'm really enjoying it. Still in the first season though.
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Post by windfisch on Nov 5, 2022 20:01:43 GMT -5
On the topic of scary movies:
I watched Gremlins with a couple of friends last weekend. It's still great fun, I love the many different ways those nasty puppets get to play "humans".
If you're looking for more vampire comedy, "What We do in the Shadows" (the movie) is hilarious. It's about vampires from different generations sharing a house, the oldest of them fittingly being modeled after Nosferatu's Orlok.
And I probably don't have to tell you to watch Aliens. But I'd like to encourage you to give its more divisive sequels, 3 and Resurrection, a chance, too.
Carpenter's The Thing probably doesn't need to be mentioned either, but I'll do it jut in case, because it is just as good as Alien. Taking inspiration from both is the lesser-known Leviathan (1989). Not quite as great , but still very solid. And since it was the year of The Abyss, it got to have a cool undersea setting.
Last year I made it through most of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Though I got a bit burned out by the time I had reached 5, so I only watched New Nightmare in addition - so no Final Nightmare, Freddy vs Jason or the 2010 remake for me - probably not a huge loss. The first and the third are the ones I'd recommend without hesitation, I actually might prefer Dream Warriors. And continuity-wise one would miss nothing by skipping the second, which is basically a stand-alone chapter. That said, all of the others were at least watchable. 2 and New Nightmare are conceptually interesting (though New Nightmare gets a bit too meta for my tastes) and rather well-made. And 4 and 5 are entertainingly campy, saved from mediocrity by creative and fun dream sequences. (ranking: 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, New).
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Nov 7, 2022 18:42:13 GMT -5
Yeah don't worry guys, I'll watch Aliens eventually. I got the impression it's not horror-y enough for October, but I'll probably get to it soon. My wife hates horror movies so I really don't catch many of them during October...or ever, really. I'm not the biggest horror fan either, but that's mostly because a lot of them tend to be gory, and I just don't like very graphic gore (one reason I've never seen The Thing). I think there's a lot of good horror movies for non-horror fans, and there's always spooky movies that aren't really horror-ish, but still have the appropriate atmosphere for halloween. The vast majority doesn't really interest me, but recent years I've always taken the time to watch a couple horror movies and it's now something I look forward to in October. Even though this year was a bit flaccid, scare-wise. |
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Post by Woody Alien on Nov 21, 2022 17:37:08 GMT -5
windfisch I've meant to watch Zardoz for some time, it's on my list of "weird movies" that I'd like to watch. Back in my 20s I watched my fair share of bizarre and little-known stuff, nowadays not so much, but I would like to see this one sooner or later among other stuff. I could point it out to my friends with whom I do some online movie watches through discord, since every now and then we pick some strange stuff (but it's mostly trashy B-movies like Iron Sky 2), but I don't know if they would appreciate something like this...
Speaking of horror/strange/weird movies, recently I also watched Tetsuo the Iron Man after finding it on Youtube. I heard about it several times and finally after many years managed to watch it. It's a cyberpunk classic shot in black-and-white with a very small budget, nonetheless some scenes still look quite cool, interesting and inventive today, and I always liked stop-motion effects (others look just silly, but hey, it was Japan in the late 80s). The story of a salaryman who slowly gets covered in metallic growths after accidentally killing (?) an unnamed "metal fetishist" with his car, who will come back and have his revenge... or maybe not, it's quite cryptic and possibly metaphorical but still, it's one of these films you watch for the visual and aural shock more than for the plot or anything else. It also has two sequels (that are apparently inferior) but I have yet to watch them. The director Shinya Tsukamoto always dabbled in strange stuff like that, but the only other film of his I've seen (back in my 20s as I said) was "Hiruko the Goblin", that however despite being based on Japanese spirits was more directly homaging Western/American horror including The Thing and The Abyss.
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Post by windfisch on Nov 21, 2022 18:32:38 GMT -5
windfisch I've meant to watch Zardoz for some time, it's on my list of "weird movies" that I'd like to watch. Back in my 20s I watched my fair share of bizarre and little-known stuff, nowadays not so much, but I would like to see this one sooner or later among other stuff. I could point it out to my friends with whom I do some online movie watches through discord, since every now and then we pick some strange stuff (but it's mostly trashy B-movies like Iron Sky 2), but I don't know if they would appreciate something like this...
Speaking of horror/strange/weird movies, recently I also watched Tetsuo the Iron Man after finding it on Youtube. I heard about it several times and finally after many years managed to watch it. It's a cyberpunk classic shot in black-and-white with a very small budget, nonetheless some scenes still look quite cool, interesting and inventive today, and I always liked stop-motion effects (others look just silly, but hey, it was Japan in the late 80s). The story of a salaryman who slowly gets covered in metallic growths after accidentally killing (?) an unnamed "metal fetishist" with his car, who will come back and have his revenge... or maybe not, it's quite cryptic and possibly metaphorical but still, it's one of these films you watch for the visual and aural shock more than for the plot or anything else. It also has two sequels (that are apparently inferior) but I have yet to watch them. The director Shinya Tsukamoto always dabbled in strange stuff like that, but the only other film of his I've seen (back in my 20s as I said) was "Hiruko the Goblin", that however despite being based on Japanese spirits was more directly homaging Western/American horror including The Thing and The Abyss.
Zardoz might be a tough sell for some. It goes against many modern viewing sensibilities and even for a movie made in the 70s it is rather slow and oddly paced. There were moments that I found unintentionally funny, but it's far from a a "laugh out loud", "so bad it's good" kinda movie. It rather put me in a state of unease and uncertainty, somewhere between fever dream and nightmare. I can see some embracing its weirdness, while others might hate it with a passion. So it'll be a good conversation piece at least. 
I've heard of Tetsuo before, it does have a reputaion, it's doesn't seem to be your Marvel's Iron Man (thankfully). I was not aware of Hiruko the Goblin, however. Especially after going on about The Thing and Leviathan earlier, I might give it a try.
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Post by windfisch on Dec 5, 2022 18:39:47 GMT -5
The Little Prince (2015)
This reimagining/pseudo-sequel of the classic book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is less than the sum of its parts. The main story is about a girl whose mother expects her to be the perfect student in order to get accepted to an elite school. She becomes friends with the crazy, imaginative old man from next door who tells her the story of him meeting the little prince. These story-within-a-story segments, retelling parts of the original book, are presented in beautiful stop motion, brimming with warmth and colour. But those are few and far between. They contrast the rest of the movie which is done via cg, showing a world that, purposely, is largely made of gray, rectangular concrete. But even when the cg is supposed to look pretty, it still pales in comparison to the stop motion parts. The third act, a de facto dream-sequence, contains lots of big scale-action, yelling and slapstick. There's even an over-the-top villain. This is were the movie fell apart for me. On its own, this would've been a decent film for children, deserving praise for tackling some heavier themes. But as a story based on The Little Prince it misses the mark, sadly, often lacking the book's subtlety and thoughtfulness.
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Post by Woody Alien on Jan 7, 2023 12:55:49 GMT -5
I saw plenty of animated films between the end of last year and the beginning of this one. Here's some short comments about them.
Pinocchio (Del Toro)
Very good, cool-looking and it still works as a moral fable even with the slight change of setting (1930s Fascist Italy). I enjoyed it very much, the new characters introduced are fine, but I don't see it as an absolute masterpiece as many say. For one, the songs are quite forgettable and, despite the famed Alexandre Desplat, the soundtrack is not that great either. And the (in)famous Mussolini scene is fairly basic and doesn't really add much to the plot. For the rest however I like seeing Del Toro's horror sensibilities in what always has been a fairly depressing and gruesome fable!
Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers
Can't believe that this is a Disney movie... In the sense that it is a post-modern film that sees animated characters as actors (kind of like Roger Rabbit, who makes a cameo) but mocks the studio system, bad CG cartoons, bootleggers, police procedurals, fan conventions, with jokes at the expense of Disney and other animation studios. An example of a gag: Dale got "CG surgery" to become a 3D character instead of a 2D one. Funnily enough it is "Ugly Sonic" who comes across as one of the better characters in the end! Several clever and unexpected moments, and if you're an animation fan there's a huge number of styles on display from rubberhose animation to claymation, cel shaded CG, anime-esque and even muppets and sock puppets!
Beavis and Butt-head Do The Universe
Never was a huge fan of Mike Judge's characters but this movie is nice and works fairly well as a satire, provided that you enjoy that kind of humor. The two moronic imbeciles have an accident with a black hole and get transported from 1998 to 2022, so there's some gentle mockery of smartphones, "white privilege" and the current obsession with multiverses too, since their adventure could cause the disruption of the space-time continuum and versions of them from another dimension, "Smart Beavis" and "Smart Butt-head", are trying to help them fix the problem. Meanwhile government agencies are trying to catch B&B believing them to be criminals or alien invaders... If you watched the cartoon or the previous movie you know what to expect, some laughs to be had and a couple cute moments like Beavis revealed as somewhat gentle under all the idiocy. Meanwhile Butt-head is just the usual obnoxious asshole. Huh huh. Uhh yeah. Dumbass.
The House
Netflix stop-motion animated horror movie, it's listed as a "black comedy" but of the three segments only the second one can somewhat fit the description, the first one has no funny moments whatsoever and the third one isn't as dark despite the apparently post-apocalyptic scenery. The three segments are linked by the titular house, one in the past with the monstrous architect who built it and the poor family who is going to inhabit it, one in the present (where everyone is humanoid mice) with a contractor who wants to sell it and one in the probable flooded future (where everyone is humanoid cats) with the tenant who is renting its rooms. Really well-made, with some creepy and uncomfortable moments, but with a small ray of hope in the end. Plus the weirdest dance number with bugs and maggots you'll probably ever see.
I also saw Avatar 2 because a friend asked me to, I don't know if it counts as animated or live-action, but what can I say, just like the first one is gorgeous-looking but ultimately forgettable and 3 hours+ are just too much.
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