Whether it's old or new, what have you all been watching?




Just came home from the drive-in theater with the kids. We saw Lego Ninjago and It.

Ninjago: Great family movie. Funny and a cute story. My favorite character was Zane. Lots of laughs. I'd pay to see it again.

It: Wow. Everything you have read about it, is true. Very well done. Love the new Penny wise. Can't wait until Chapter Two.

First off, I'm confused. I thought Entertainment and The Nerdery were merging to become the Pop Culture page?

And second, I saw IT yesterday. It was tense, scary, engaging, and just a overall great movie. Totally better than the 1990 version.

Chapter Two will be quite interesting.

Oct 1, 2017 5:22:44 GMT CM Punk'd said:

First off, I'm confused. I thought Entertainment and The Nerdery were merging to become the Pop Culture page?

And second, I saw IT yesterday. It was tense, scary, engaging, and just a overall great movie. Totally better than the 1990 version.

Chapter Two will be quite interesting.

I'm still waiting for an Entertainment forum simply because all the fall shows I'm watching have nothing to do with comics or anime...
So until then, I'm sitting here. But I saw It tonight and it was really good.

I read somewhere that Netflix was taking The Shining off along with a bunch of other movies on October 1st so I watched it on my 4K earlier tonight. Honestly didn't enjoy it as much as I have in the past. Story is really not all that great, Jack Nicholson makes the whole movie, some great visual effects also. It's a smart psychological thriller but I don't know, I just wasn't feeling it this time. 

Saw a few...

Baby Driver: Really an enjoyable film, Edgar Wright just knows how to make a damn good film. Fun, fantastic cast, great soundtrack, amazing chase sequences, can't say I was bored for a single second of it.

Swiss Army Man: This was a crazy ass movie, in a good way, just completely out there. Fun, whimsical, heartwarming, heart breaking, some catchy ass musical moments, really nothing else like it. Not so great that I'd watch it on a regular basis, but something I wouldn't mind revisiting every several years. Dano and Radcliffe do great together.

The Neon Demon: Holy. Fucking. Hell. This movie was TERRIBLE. From an actual film standpoint, it was beautifully shot and had a fantastic score, but the entire thing was just one giant pretentious circle jerk (granted, that is kind of Refn's thing, but I did enjoy the hell out of Drive). Stilted unnatural acting pretty much across the board, meandering/uninteresting narrative, such an obvious attempt to be metaphorical it's just sad. Watching the trailer is completely misleading, makes it seem like a suspense thriller, pretty much all the suspense thriller portions from the trailer happen within 5 minutes of the last half our, and they were neither suspenseful or thrilling. Not even a movie so bad that it must be seen. JUST. DON'T.

I saw It a week ago. I thought it was really good. Not too scary, but very eerie and suspenseful. Really good.


I also saw Kingsman: The Golden Circle. I enjoyed it. It had flaws, but it was still good. Not as good as the first one though.

Watched a couple of 2007 movies on Netflix last week that I remember liking back when they came out but haven't seen them in a decade. First off is Death Sentence starring Kevin Bacon. This was a damn good action movie, over the top and gritty look and feel. I enjoyed watching it again, though I must have seen an unrated version back in the day because this version on Netflix wasn't as gory as I remember.

The other movie was Gone Baby Gone directed by Ben Affleck starring his little brother along with Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and even Omar from The Wire. This was a damn good movie all the way up to the very end, which was a great swerve that I had completely forgotten about and just took me completely by surprise since I hadn't seen this in so long. I just don't know what to think about it though, seems like it could have been a little better executed, it was kind of weird the way it ended. I don't know. Not a bad movie at all though, I ended up staying with it all the way through.

I watched the original Point Break from 1991 on my 4K curve recently and the movie just did not hold up for me this time. This was the first time I've seen it in probably 5 or 6 years, it has been one of my favorite movies for a long time but it's really amazing how a big huge 4K tv and a high quality sound bar will put a classic movie in a new perspective. Keanu Reeves bad acting was always a charm of the movie for me but it was just so cringeworthy to me this time, especially when he says "Definitely" the way he does. The surfing shots did not look as good on my 4K as I thought they would, all of the surfing footage in this movie was actually really poorly shot. Patrick Swayze though is the best thing about the film and still probably one of my favorite characters in an action movie or any movie period brah, back off warchild, seriously. The movie has all of the 80's-90's action movie cliches and is certainly a good time but I'd probably drop it out of my top 5 favorite action movies after this viewing, down around the top 10-15 range.

Also watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 yesterday, Amazon Prime is so much better than Netflix for me, they added a bunch of great horror movies this month including this and both Pet Semetary movies which I will eventually get around to sometime this month. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 for me brings back memories of my grandma's husband back when I was a kid, he was not my grandpa but he was a cool guy that my grandma was with during my early childhood, probably 1989 to 1992 or so. He had an entire room in his trailer converted into a video tape library, he had a HUGE satellite dish in his yard and he would record movies onto Polaroid VHS tapes. He literally had hundreds upon hundreds of blank tapes filled with 3 movies each. They filled up this entire room and he had a catalog system where each tape had a number on it, he had a notebook where you could look up the number and see what all movies were on it. So if you wanted to see a movie you would find it in the notebook and find the number and then find that tape with the number on it. This is where I can trace my love for movies back to. He had everything you can think of, every fucking action and horror movie from the 80's and we would dig through that room and watch those movies all fucking day long sometimes, Running Man, Return of the Living Dead 1/2, Ghostbusters, Snake Eater, The Stuff, Total Recall, Friday the 13th part 5 and 6, Childs Play, we would burn those tapes out, every time I see or hear about those movies I can't help but think about those Polaroid blank tapes. 

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was another one of those movies we would watch. This movie is so crazy it's ridiculous. I laughed my ass off watching this, this was a fucking romp of a horror movie, dark comedy at it's best, 1980's over the top excess with Dennis Hopper in prime form: Wild shit.

Watched Live by Night, as a fan of gangster films, it was entirely acceptable, but not remarkable in any way. Nothing you haven't seen before, neither timeless, nor classic. But it was okay. 2.5/5

Blade Runner 2049.

Really liked it. But I can understand why it hasn't done so well. It's long and complicated. But it's great.

Oct 9, 2017 10:20:47 GMT NATH45 said:

Blade Runner 2049.

Really liked it. But I can understand why it hasn't done so well. It's long and complicated. But it's great.

The first one is an incredibly tough act to follow.

Baby Driver: Hated it. The last act was somewhat enjoyable, but I found the first two cringey and embarrassing. The first 20 minutes was like a Lip Sync Battle/Car Karaoke hybrid nightmare starring this hateable asshole. Then Spacey, Foxx and Hamm eventually come in, all acting in like three different movies. As far as this decade goes, Baby Driver is certainly the Silverchair to Drive's Nirvana.

Wind River: Loved it. The Sicario writer is a bit on autopilot (female lead in over her head in foreign environment, and some serious shit is about to go down), but it still worked really well. Like Sicario meets Thunderheart. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

VHS Revolution: Liked it. Has shinobimusashi seen this yet? A bit of a dry doc about the history of VHS that was an okay film, but I was beaming the entire time anyway in VHS nostalgia.

Just saw the first and second Purge films. Wow, I loved that shit.

Last movie I saw in theatres was Lego Ninjago. Was good, but a step down from the other Lego movies.

Oct 9, 2017 21:11:05 GMT Kilgore said:

Baby Driver: Hated it. The last act was somewhat enjoyable, but I found the first two cringey and embarrassing. The first 20 minutes was like a Lip Sync Battle/Car Karaoke hybrid nightmare starring this hateable asshole. Then Spacey, Foxx and Hamm eventually come in, all acting in like three different movies. As far as this decade goes, Baby Driver is certainly the Silverchair to Drive's Nirvana.

Wind River: Loved it. The Sicario writer is a bit on autopilot (female lead in over her head in foreign environment, and some serious shit is about to go down), but it still worked really well. Like Sicario meets Thunderheart. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

VHS Revolution: Liked it. Has shinobimusashi seen this yet? A bit of a dry doc about the history of VHS that was an okay film, but I was beaming the entire time anyway in VHS nostalgia.

I'm not sure if I've seen that one or not, there are a couple of good VHS documentaries out there, I liked Rewind This a lot. I seen that VHS Revolution was on Amazon Prime so I'll check it out. 

Amazon has a few excellent horror movies for rent for just $1.99 right now. I watched American Psycho yesterday starring Christian Bale. I had never seen this before and absolutely loved it, hilarious and bat shit crazy movie.

Also watched The Gate over the weekend another $1.99 rental on Amazon. This is a great old 80's horror movie that I remember watching a lot back in the day, it used to come on TV fairly regularly(I remember it was one of those movies they would play on TNT Monstervision). Very cute movie with such a great 80's vibe about it, good Halloween watch.

And I also watched Pet Semetary 2 on Amazon Prime over the weekend. I remember really liking this back in the day but I didn't think it was so hot on this viewing, definitely nowhere near as good as the first one. I do like how they referenced the story from the first movie here and there, also some great settings and a great tone with some great special effects too. Overall though the story gets a little too stupid there in the end. I'm tempted to say this was outright bad but there were a few things I liked about it, at best I'd say it's ok. 

A Ghost Story:
I think most will HATE this movie. It's very much experimental, pacing can be slow but it's got something to it that just hit me right. Not saying I loved it but it had a beauty to it and was something truly original.

It Comes At Night:
I remember hearing a lot of people saying this movie sucked and I think part of that was the trailers set up the film like it was going to be a totally different film than what was actually made so the viewers got the ol bait and switch. With that said, I think it was ok but just ok. Nothing worth watching a second time. They made some errors I felt in the film and the main one I had was to many damn dream sequences. You knew anytime something bad was happening that the guy was having a dream and it really let the steam and tension out of those scenes because of it. Not that it takes away from anything to drastically. All in all just kind of a mediocre movie.

Oct 10, 2017 0:31:02 GMT @ness said:

Just saw the first and second Purge films. Wow, I loved that shit.

Last movie I saw in theatres was Lego Ninjago. Was good, but a step down from the other Lego movies.
The first Purge I thought they fucked up huge and just at the end of the day kind of made it a home invasion movie.  The second one was awesome though.  They expanded the world which made it work so much better.  I enjoyed the hell out of the third installment also. 

Oct 10, 2017 21:36:19 GMT vendrell said:

Oct 10, 2017 0:31:02 GMT @ness said:

Just saw the first and second Purge films. Wow, I loved that shit.

Last movie I saw in theatres was Lego Ninjago. Was good, but a step down from the other Lego movies.
The first Purge I thought they fucked up huge and just at the end of the day kind of made it a home invasion movie.  The second one was awesome though.  They expanded the world which made it work so much better.  I enjoyed the hell out of the third installment also. 

I just watched the third one and yeah I agree. Gonna go ahead and admit I got a man crush on Frank Grillo.

Me to Ness. Grillo is pretty hot to trott. He's number 4 of my man crush list...Jason Momoa, Marty Scurll, Adam Cole, and Tom Hardy round out the top 5. lol

That leaves the true green arrow, Justin Hartley, to me.

Samurai Cop. The single most hilarious piece of shit movie I've ever had the pleasure to watch. Couldn't stop laughing. HIGHLY recommended.

I watched Snatch this afternoon - lot of fun, would recommend.

Brad Pitt's Irish accent though. :ugh:

Oct 11, 2017 6:26:49 GMT @admin said:

I watched Snatch this afternoon - lot of fun, would recommend.

Brad Pitt's Irish accent though.

He's a pikey. Being unable to understand him is the joke. 

Oct 11, 2017 7:27:19 GMT NATH45 said:

Oct 11, 2017 6:26:49 GMT @admin said:

I watched Snatch this afternoon - lot of fun, would recommend.

Brad Pitt's Irish accent though.

He's a pikey. Being unable to understand him is the joke. 

Ah, I must have missed that the ten times they said it.

The Mummy (2017): people are being unfairly harsh. I liked this a lot. spooky and suspenseful. Much better than expected with the reviews I had read

47 Meters Down: decent suspense but nothing earth shattering....

Wish Upon: I love a good horror film but this wasn't it. I liked it but not sone thing I would've been happy paying theater prices on.

The problem with the Mummy is that it got completely sidetracked and bit off more than it could chew. Why would anyone care about seeing more movies like this when we're barely a third through the movie and hardly know any of the characters? Before the movie could even answer that question, it's off to the final confrontation and a hook to a sequel that most likely won't ever happen.

It's sort of like Eragon. I can think of far worse movies, but not many that fall so flat on their face.

Election
I believe this is one of those iconic American high school movies. Matthew Broderick, formerly the delinquent Ferris Bueller, is now the teacher, a seemingly content man who has to deal with a little-miss-perfect student played by Reese Witherspoon. The film immediately grabbed my attention with its storytelling by multiple narrators and flashbacks. It's almost a cliched technique, but it always works for me. While the acting was good, as the film went on I became less and less interested and I'm not really sure why. The story is pretty good, there were some great scenes (the presidency speeches scene being a noteworthy one), but by the last third I just didn't care about any of the characters and their fates. It ticks most of the boxes, but as a whole it didn't click with me.

Pintu terlarang
That title is Indonesian for "The Forbidden Door". It's a psychological horror film, and a very good one, but not without its flaws. Its homages to other films are so obvious as to come across as blatant ripoffs. The first 30 minutes is not only confusing, but has no apparent connection with the main story told by the remainder. I can't see any purpose for it existing other than to pad out the film and get in some disturbing shots of a man putting aborted fetuses into sculptures of pregnant women. That said, the main story is told with care, suspense, and mystery. It all builds up to a fantastically-executed murder scene, which brings to mind the horrifying finale of Miike's Audition (without being a blatant ripoff). As a bonus, it also asks some philosophical questions about life. The final twist might be considered a cop out, but the film drops enough hints (many of which I'm sure I missed) that the hyper-alert viewer could work it out before it is revealed. Fans of psychological horror should give this one a shot.

It's been years, but one of the reasons I enjoyed Election is how it compared to it's contemporaries. Election came out around the same time as movies like American Pie, Bring It On, 10 Things I Hate About You, American Beauty etc. which were all fine movies but Election had a cynical bent to it that made it more relatable. And those were the more celebrated movies of the day, you still had stuff like Loser or Never Been Kissed and all the other schlock that came out around the same time. From that perspective, it really stood out, but on it's own I'm not sure how well it holds up.

Psycho - I voted for Alfred Hitchcock as my favourite director, yet I've never sat down and watched his most famous film. For years I held out, largely because I felt I had seen it discussed so often and parodied that there wasn't much point to it. It's a shame really because despite the infamous Shower scene and the big reveal at the end, Psycho still has a lot going for it. I like the character of Marion Crane. She's a classic flawed Hitchcock character whose driven to commit a foul act and is clearly struggling with the consequences of her action. As we follow her to the Bates Motel, there's a great scene where Hitchcock does a close up of Marion as she imagines what her boss, her co-workers, the police and the car dealer are all saying. Her expression tells a wonderful story as she struggles with the guilt initially but accepts it, almost like how Bates accepts his fate at the end of the movie.

As much as the shower music is lauded (and rightfully so), my favourite theme of the movie is Temptation.



The track plays through out the movie and adds a weightiness to everything that is happening on-screen. From Marion stealing the $40,000 to Norman dealing with Marion and his obvious lust for her.

Also despite being 57 years old, anytime the 'Mother' appears is still effective. There is something nightmarish the way mother is shot and the way 'she' appears as a silohette during the shower scene to the way 'she' kills Aboghast are both equally great. While the actual shot of Aboghast dying is really hokey, the initial shock is great because it feels like you're watching security footage as everything goes quiet and the camera lingers on the staircase when the only movement you detect is the mother.

The ending was a little long-winded and felt sort of lazy as the psychiatrist explained exactly what went down. However I can give it a pass since these psychological horrors would have been new for mainstream audiences and he's so over-the-top I can't help but like him.

Spiderman: Homecoming - I wasn't a fan of the hook of this movie. I don't care about Spiderman joining the Avengers, I want to learn more about Peter Parker and his adversaries first. Instead they all have to share screen time with the Avengers and everything just feels shallow despite being over two hours long. It was a strange experience because I enjoyed myself as I watched it, Holland did a great job in the lead role but by the time Peter asked out Liz, the movie was up to the final act and most of the characters were still cardboard cut-outs.

The Devotion of Suspect X
Today I was on a cross-country flight on Delta Airlines. They have a surprisingly large film library, about a third of those being foreign movies. They piqued curiosity over more established films I've yet to see such as John Wick 2 and Logan. I picked one at random, a Chinese crime thriller released earlier this year. My expectations weren't especially high, but this film took those expectations, smushed them into a ball and hit that ball out of the park. Maybe not a great analogy. My point is that the arbitrary film I chose turned out to be one of the best movies I've ever seen.

The focus of the film is on two genius mathematicians who befriended each other at school but became separated in later life. One is a reclusive junior school teacher who lives for mathematics and spends his free time buried in books and equations. The other is an assistant professor who works in a crime laboratory, primarily doing research but also helping out his detective friend with a Sherlock Holmes-lite approach. The contrast between these characters is not only in their employment, but how they dress, how they walk, how they interact with others, a nice piece of filmmaking. Yet they get along so well because of their mutual love for maths. At school they would set each other mathematical problems in an attempt to prove who is smarter. That contest was unresolved, but resumes when a violent murder reconnects both men. One is helping solve the case, while the other is a prime suspect. There are various other plotlines and characters thrown into the mix, all wonderfully tied together.

It has all the ingredients for a great murder mystery film: phenomenal acting, great characters, great detective work, a fantastic dramatic plot that barrages the viewer with a bunch of shocking yet logical twists in the final act, and a satisfying conclusion. One of the things that made this film stand out from films of its kind is the conciseness of the storytelling. Not a single scene or line of dialogue is wasted. The characters speak efficiently and intelligently, which is to be expected since three of the main characters are detective, geniuses, or both, but I suspect this might be a commonality in Chinese cinema. I honestly can't find any fault in this film. It's a masterpiece.

Oct 13, 2017 14:53:29 GMT Big Pete said:

It's been years, but one of the reasons I enjoyed Election is how it compared to it's contemporaries. Election came out around the same time as movies like American Pie, Bring It On, 10 Things I Hate About You, American Beauty etc. which were all fine movies but Election had a cynical bent to it that made it more relatable. And those were the more celebrated movies of the day, you still had stuff like Loser or Never Been Kissed and all the other schlock that came out around the same time. From that perspective, it really stood out, but on it's own I'm not sure how well it holds up.

Very good point. Election is indeed like no other high school film of its time, and that's undoubtedly why it was received so well.

Happy Death Day - I liked it. It was fun.

I want to see Happy Death Day , but it'll probably be awhile.

Seen Baby Driver over the weekend and I really enjoyed it. I was pessimistic at first and it took a little while for it to pick up for me but once it did I was completely hooked. I'm not even necessarily a fan of "something different" for certain genre's but I think they did a great job with the soundtrack and visuals that it all felt different while checking the same boxes as other movies of it's ilk. I'd understand people not enjoying it as well but a new take on a favorite genre of mine actually felt refreshing as opposed to forced.

Jon Hamm was probably my favorite character and performance of the movie , though Spacey was great as well as the young dude who I don't really know. Hamm was great though.