Udal: Just looked up movie times here and decided to check out any foreign language films that were on, the poster of this looks interesting so I went in blind.

Was fantastic, could understand the perspective of all characters in the film and I didn’t know what to expect as I thought it was going to have supernatural elements.

Apr 15, 2022 8:02:45 GMT c said:

Watching X and it is REALLY good. I seen people were very torn on this, but it is a love level to the exploitation era of films and is Ti's best horror film. Likely his best film but not seen his spaghetti western yet. Everything that made House of the Devil great, without the LONG periods of slow burn. And as an exploitation film, he took the best that grindhouse had to offer, and put it all in one films with dozens of throwback shots.

Absolutely crazy editing given all the times Maxine and Pearl interacted.  

Prequel Pearl still on for a release later this year as since they were all locked down, they shot for a few extra weeks to get a second film done at the same time. I really hope this is also a period piece for the Coney Island era.


Jenna Ortega having a killer year as a scream queen. Between this and Scream she solidified herself as a star, and Wednesday is still to come later this year.

I came here to commend this film but thought I had seen someone else mention it before.

Had no idea it was from Ti West until now. House of the Devil is such a good watch. Loved the cinematography from that film but I thought X told a better story.

I called the first two victims early on but other than that, the film did an excellent job subverting my expectations and building up suspense. Definitely would suggest others reading here to give it a shot if you're into grindhouse/horror/slasher films.

And Ortega is going to nail that role. Anyone who's seen her character in "You" can tell you she's perfect for it.

Yeah was a Ti West film without the Ti West meme worthy horror style really. He normally loves his long drawn out shots and super slow burns. X def was not that sort of film.

Prequel Pearl still is on track for a Halloween release I believe. Not sure that it will be as good since it was a side along shot film, but Ti won me back with this so will check it out.

Top Gun: Maverick
It was fucking sweet. I don't care if it's paint by numbers Jerry Bruckheimer "AMERICA FUCK YEAH" hot trash. It was awesome. I loved it and am glad I saw it on the big screen.

Finally got around to watching Dallas Buyers Club. Put it off when they went sue happy and because I have not liked Leto in a long, long time. And still did not like Leto, but McConaughey was amazing. Was familiar with the Dallas Buyer Club and Woodroof prior so glad to see this story get told even if they took a ton of creative liberties.

Support Your Local Sherriff -  Its been a few years since I last seen it but it was on this morning and I decided to watch it again. Its still fun to watch.

Jun 17, 2022 23:21:47 GMT RT said:

Top Gun: Maverick
It was fucking sweet. I don't care if it's paint by numbers Jerry Bruckheimer "AMERICA FUCK YEAH" hot trash. It was awesome. I loved it and am glad I saw it on the big screen.

Just saw it last night and couldn't agree more.  And honestly there is not a lot of "AMERICA FUCK YEAH" in the film.  Just servicemen and women doing their jobs really well and living it up.

Top Gun: Maverick (Joseph Kosinski, 2022)

Fantastic. I'm not a big fan of the original film, it's a fine enough 80s flick, but I loved this sequel. Hit all the right notes and struck the right balance on everything. Enough nods and homages to the original without being overly 80s or overly campy. Awesome use of modern technology, both within the film and in the cinematogaphy. Great balance between serious and comedy.

Of course the highlight is the flight mission and the flight scenes and these were flawless. Much like the navy and the mission, the film had a laser focus on the mission and Maverick's purpose, explained it well, established key characters, wasted very little motion. The final sequence was absolutely phenomenal, and they really did leave the best flight sequence for last. Sometimes the problem with these scenes is you have no idea what the fuck is going on, and that was certainly true during the first flight drill where Maverick took on everyone two on one. That sequence was literally just "planes flying ?? Maverick wins lol 200 pushups" repeated five times. But the final dogfight between Maverick and anonymous fighter jet was phenomenal, and I'm glad the enemy had just as much skill as Maverick did in evasive manouevres.

Felt like I lost something by being too unfamiliar with the original. This is all I remember from the original Top Gun:
- Highway To The Danger Zone
- Fighter Jets
- Tom Cruise is Maverick, Val Kilmer is Iceman, there's another dude called Goose
- Camp 80s montage
- Fighter Jets
- Goose dies and it's very very sad but I don't remember any details.
- Fighter Jets
- How does it end? I don't fucking know.

So yeah going into this film some things were lost on me. Goose's death is a major plot point, but since I don't remember the specifics of that arc in the original, the scenes with Rooster probably didn't have the emotional impact they should have had.

Didn't really get the point of the Jennifer Connelly scenes either. Very little character development between the two. Every scene involving her felt pretty contrived and the film wouldn't have been any different without her. But there was enough subtext hinted at that I assume she's Maverick's love interest from the original and perhaps a big deal. But without that context, it really did feel like a one dimensional crush/love arc thrown in because every movie has to have love involved.

Pure entertainment from start to finish. I'm glad everything turned out OK for everyone and none of the good guys died. Didn't feel forced or Hollywoody - it felt like how the story should end. I don't remember enjoying the original Top Gun that much so the sequel is an enormous success.

Elvis:

Pretty good film but it REALLY should have been called Elvis & The Snowman, Elvis’ manager played by Tom Hanks is arguably the main character & it isn’t advertised as such. Obviously not many people are going to flock to see a movie about Colonel “The Snowman” Tom Parker & his story isn’t anywhere near as interesting as Elvis’ story is.

Everything else in the film is great, especially performances and I really enjoyed it despite having minimal knowledge about his life.

Finally saw Wolf of Wall Street. Men behaving badly movies aren’t really my thing so there was a lot of drug/sex stuff I became desensitized to pretty quick but I appreciate the craft behind it I guess. Leo’s pretty great in it and I really enjoyed the scene with the first meeting between him and the FBI.

Anyway, the movie really wasn’t for me which I guess is why it took me this long to get around to it. But it had enough to make it worth the watch.

Beavis and Butthead Do the Universe: Pure Beavis and Butthead greatness, as good as Do America, good laughs, the white privilege scene alone was pure gold. Great.

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: Brilliant movie, can drag a bit at the end, everything slows to a crawl right when it feels like it's all culminating (still like 40 minutes left), but ultimately that was needed for the core narrative. The scene where she's learning to use all the powers is one of the best fight scenes of all time for me, maybe top 10. Glad to see Michelle Yeoh still getting to shine, been a lifelong favorite.

Watched Hustle on Netflix this morning when I couldn’t sleep. It was a pretty enjoyable traditional sports movie with enough behind the scenes NBA stuff to give it an extra gear. Sandler and Hernangomez are both really good in it, so knowing the beats of the formula doesn’t matter too much because you like spending time with the guys.

The behind the scenes combine and workout stuff and real NBA players throughout do make it a little harder to understand why they went with the owner’s kid as a villain story because nothing that happened with the ownership stuff made sense from an NBA pov.

Last Night in Soho

Written, directed by Edgar Wright (The Cornetto Trilogy, Baby Driver, Ant Man) a thriller about a young student who travels back to 1960s Soho from present day through vivid dreaming and follows the downward spiral of a young women in Soho's underbelly.

The mirror effects in Last Night in Soho were absolutely amazing.

Lightyear- All that drama about the kiss scene and you can miss it if you blink. There’s 2 ways to look at it. It wasn’t a big deal OR it was so quick that it was unnecessary to put in. The movie was blah though. My kid liked it though but he thinks Buzz’ dad was the bad guy and I can’t change his mind on it.

Jun 25, 2022 22:22:13 GMT KING KID said:

Lightyear- All that drama about the kiss scene and you can miss it if you blink. There’s 2 ways to look at it. It wasn’t a big deal OR it was so quick that it was unnecessary to put in. The movie was blah though. My kid liked it though but he thinks Buzz’ dad was the bad guy and I can’t change his mind on it.

Chris Evans calling anyone opposing the scene an idiot while appearing in cinema commercials for a country that banned said film was ironic af & it wasn’t like it was a global commercial to be shown everywhere either.

Beavis & Butthead do the universe: Too political

They should be an escape.

Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995)

Casino is one of those films that opens with a big event that happens near the ending. That being Robert De Niro's character getting in his car, and the car blows up. It's almost 3 hours until we revisit that event, so what's the point? I never really understood this narrative device and I come across it pretty regularly.

Besides that, I was reminded a lot of Wolf of Wall Street. Scorsese. Narration. Suits. Money. Casion doesn't wallow in the excess of corporate greed and debaucher in quite the same way, but it has a similar tone. It doesn't really glorify the gambling scene or the organised crime that comes with it, but the characters narrating seem to be pretty proud of themselves, or at least unashamed of it.

As a whole the story is really interesting, but those three hours did drag at times. Normally this would prompt me to make a comment that there was too much content, some fluff could have been edited out. But...even though the pacing got pretty dull at times, I think every scene and every line of dialogue offered something important, and the film would lose out in some way if you removed even a single scene. Maybe it wouldn't lose out much, but it would lose out on an important piece of character detail or plot point. The film has a lot of characters and a lot of culture, and it goes a long way to paint that canvas and fill it with every detail. I liked it, and I liked it slightly more than Wolf of Wall Street, but it's not something I'd ever wish to revisit.

De Niro and Joe Pesci do what they do best in Scorsese's worlds, The small Pesci with the goofy New York accent somehow is, yet again, the most intimidating, don't-fuck-with-me character in the movie, completely believable. De Niro is De Niro, a man who sincerely believes he is in control of everything, and he is a lot of the time, but he is also completely oblivious to the times where he is not in control. Naturally the conversations between De Niro and Pesci are gold, the highlights of the movie, and there are a fair few of them. Sharon Stone is incredible as a tragic character who falls into De Niro's world and lives to regret it.

It all ends in the style of a Shakespearean tragedy, with almost all the major and minor characters getting killed in various different ways in a horrific and fast-paced montage. De Niro is the only guy who comes out (relatively) unscathed.

I think the reason I can't fully invest in this film is that, much like Wolf of Wall Street, I am far too distant from the world these characters live in and the personalities. I'm definitely an outsider looking in. Not only have I never been to casino, but I have no desire to visit one, or gamble in any way. Plus all the characters are absolute cunts, which again makes it harder to relate. Still, with all of these things going against it, I can't deny Casino wasn't entertaining or well-crafted or worth watching. It's certainly all of these things, and I don't regret watching it.

I did not like Casino the first time I watched it. Second time I found I enjoyed it a lot more. Just a good solid mob / Vegas film.

Even more than Goodfellas, Scorsese masterfully edited this story too as like Goodfellas, it was based on real events.
Nicholas Pileggi when researching Wiseguys (Goodfellas) started to see the Vegas connections and realized that the story there was even more insane, so as Goodfellas wrapped up he wrote Casino, and then moved to writing a screenplay for Scorsese who obviously wanted it.

Frank Rosenthal was the legit king of games in Vegas running Stardust Resort, Fremont, Marina, and Hacienda. He made modern Vegas, doing things like getting hot girls to deal cards instead of old guys as was the norm before him. He also was the first person to bring in sports bettering.

Unlike the film he ran all four. Then the FBI realized he never got a gaming permit. They let him have his hearing, and they connected him to Tony the Ant (Pesci's character) and the The Hole in the Wall gang, and denied it. One of Tony's crew, Frank Cullotta (renamed Frank Marino in the film, played by Frank Vincent) turned state's evidence during Operation Family Secrets and ratted them all out, which is where Pileggi started to follow it all and was the primary source of information for the book. Fucking Cullotta even appeared in the Casino movie itself as one of the hitmen. Greatest thing he did though, was make fucking youtube video, linked below. Sadly COVID took him just as he started to tell his stories on youtube

But shit like that carbombing from the film was real.  Said he was a top tier FBI informant after the carbombing.  FBI brought him in and let him know the bomb matched the Milwaukee mafia and if he started to talk the legal troubles would just disappear.  He blew them off, but when he was barred from Vegas in 87ish, he used this as his out.  Moved to Florida and ran a small sports bar, started an online betting website and consulted for overseas online betting sites until he died.  

Emp posted a review. Oh for sure gonna read it. But it's for a movie I haven't see, but it on "the list" so I wanna come back here when I finally see it. But I won't remember unless I prioritize watching things the way do in a semi ocd way. Would be awesome if me putting over the want no the NEED to read a dr. emperor pop culture review touched him in a way. So like 2 years from now, PW is barely a thing thanks to the endgame to the c/incy debates but I'm here and I get a rare pm. It's the good doctor. No warning out the fucking blue (/niceguyeddie) asks if I had a chance to read his Casino review. That's what PW means to me. No loose ends when we finally hang up. Every question will have an answer to the pw historians.

Then in the final ever PW post I will review emp's review to finally close the door on PEE DUB.

I like reading them and hate that I can't.

If you not seen Goodfellas plan to do them back to back. They are very much related films.

Jun 26, 2022 20:01:18 GMT @ness said:

Emp posted a review. Oh for sure gonna read it. But it's for a movie I haven't see, but it on "the list" so I wanna come back here when I finally see it. But I won't remember unless I prioritize watching things the way do in a semi ocd way. Would be awesome if me putting over the want no the NEED to read a dr. emperor pop culture review touched him in a way. So like 2 years from now, PW is barely a thing thanks to the endgame to the c/incy debates but I'm here and I get a rare pm. It's the good doctor. No warning out the fucking blue (/niceguyeddie) asks if I had a chance to read his Casino review. That's what PW means to me. No loose ends when we finally hang up. Every question will have an answer to the pw historians.

Then in the final ever PW post I will review emp's review to finally close the door on PEE DUB.

This post definitely touched me, I like that my Pop Culture reviews are thought of so fondly. Thank you!

I do this as well - I get a lot of my film recommendations from PW but it usually goes on my endless mental backlog until I feel like watching it. I remember back around wintertime 🤯 mentioned he'd love to see me review Four Christmases. It's on my list. I haven't forgotten. I planned to do it a lot sooner but it never happened. Our minds work in similar ways like that.

We watched Beavis & Butt-Head Do The Universe on Friday and it was fine. We definitely realized we've outgrown Beavis & Butt-Head. No desire to go back and watch the cartoons or anything like that. Best to just call them fond memories of staying up way too late to watch the episodes and laughing because you're 13 and stupid.

The movie had its moments. Beavis' fantasy of Serena was fucking hilarious, capped off with an amazing line from Butt-Head that comes out of nowhere. I laughed so hard.

Chuckled a few times here and there (I'm still a sucker for a well-placed "BOIOIOIOIIING!" apparently) but otherwise, meh.

EDIT: Oh, and Beavis & Butt-Head completely misunderstanding what white privilege is was also hilarious. Made for an amazing scene.

Didn't really get the point of the Jennifer Connelly scenes either. Very little character development between the two. Every scene involving her felt pretty contrived and the film wouldn't have been any different without her. But there was enough subtext hinted at that I assume she's Maverick's love interest from the original and perhaps a big deal. But without that context, it really did feel like a one dimensional crush/love arc thrown in because every movie has to have love involved.

Penny Benjamin was mentioned in literally only two lines in the first movie. They did an amazing job of building her character from that.

The Black Phone is a pretty good horror movie, though honestly the most gruesome moments come before the kidnapping of the main character and are more traditional homegrown horrors that help introduce some of the voices that come later.

Drag Me To Hell - one of the more revered horror movies to come out in the decade and this is my third time watching it. Still don’t get it. It’s fine - Lohman is great and it has moments but overall I just can’t connect to the movie for some reason. Third time wasn’t a charm.

Nobody - Meh. I don’t have a ton to say … it happened and wasn’t terrible but I couldn’t completely buy in either.

Boo to your Drag Me to Hell take sir. Booooo!

I watched it for the second time about a year ago, I will say it doesn’t show up as good on a tv. The colors just popped better in the theater. It’s still among my faves, but I was a little surprised how much less wonder I felt.

Just watched Quiet Place 2. It was alright. Not great, not bad.

I honestly don’t get it. It’s very much Raimi and certain scenes and moments I think are really good and then it loses me with everything in between. I really want to like it more judging by the fact I’ve given it multiple chances but I just don’t see it happening.

I will say that initial car scenes is great. Best part of the whole movie.

Feel the same about Drag Me To Hell. Had some great stuff but just did not really enjoy it.

UT  if you liked Sinister at all def check out Black Phone.  Really good horror film.  

Know which scene Mike is talking about, and the director said he had to fight the studio hard to keep it in the film, as they demanded it be cut.