I also watched Free Guy (not copying Jake, I promise - I started it weeks ago!)

It was fun. It's a hybrid of The Lego Movie and Ready Player One. Ryan Reynolds is always reliable and Taika Waititi was very entertaining as the bad guy. Jodie Comer was cool and Steve from Stranger Things was in it because every movie has to have someone from either ST or Game of Thrones.

But most importantly, there were Pokimane cameos - which automatically gives Free Guy the coveted 12/10 score!

Sept 18, 2022 3:24:25 GMT Raven said:

Currently watching Jason Goes to Hell as I work on school work. I always forget about the connection to Youngstown in the movie. As a resident of Ytown, I can see how it is hell itself. I usually prefer the later entries in the Friday franchise, but this one is lower on my list.

Probably the one I flip flop on the most, LOVED it when it first came out when I was a kid, as a young man I grew to dislike it because Jason was rarely even in the movie and had some goofy parts, but when I reviewed through the full series here on PW back in October 2017 I fell back in love with Jason Goes To Hell, Creighton Duke is a sweet character that makes me want to write F13 fan fiction, also love a lot of the other characters like the family that runs the diner that Jason fucks up. I thought it was a fresh original story and I liked how as Jason's spirit hopped from body to body the people walked and moved and had his mannerisms I liked that too. 

Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)

I've dipped into 🤯 's Top 10, now it's time for a Big Pete favourite.

I was shocked at the amount of big names in this film, although not all of them were big at the time, and only two of them have prominent roles in the movie.

Frances "Won More Best Actress Oscars Than Meryl Streep" McDormand
Jason "My Name is Earl" Lee
Zooey "Nothing Snarky To Say But She's Gorgeous" Deschanel
Anna "Weird Lips" Paquin
Philip "PW's favourite actor" Seymour Hoffman
Jimmy "Holy Shit I Didn't Even Recognise Him" Fallon
Rainn "I Knew Who He Was Even Before I Started Watching The Office" Wilson

Yet the three main protagonists in Almost Famous are, funnily enough, almost famous just for being in this film. That is to say, I don't know anything else these actors have done. They are Patrick Fugit, who plays adolescent Rolling Stone journalist William Hill; Kate Hudson, who plays the enigmatic band aid who goes by the alias Penny Lane, and Billy Crudup as Russell Hammond, guitarist of the fictional band Stillwater.

I've seen the film before, but I don't remember it being this long. Perhaps because this time I am watching a "bootleg cut", which sounds dirty, but I assume it's like a director's cut.

The first 30 minutes or so are fantastic. The prologue introduces William as a young overachiever in school, his loving but overprotective mother, and his sister, who moves out as soon as she can to get away from her overbearing mother. She leaves behind her collection of late 60s rock vinyls to her younger brother. Cut to teenage William, fan of rock music, and courageously pursues a career in rock journalism, spurred on by a local rock critic. In the most memorable scene of the movie - and the only one I remember from the first viewing - he sneaks into the backstage area of a Black Sabbath gig, aided by Penny Lane and his fandom for the supporting act Stillwater, and it all spirals from there.

While I found this introduction gripping, the rest was kinda hit and miss. It present itself as a docu-drama where we see the trials and tribulations of the band as well as the love triangle between William, Penny and Russell. There's nothing outright boring here I did find myself reaching for my phone as the plot dragged on. I just found it kinda difficult to care for the characters. I wasn't rooting for anyone or against anyone, I was just absorbing the events. William is a genuinely sweet, honest young man, which is endearing, but something about the acting put me off from truly getting behind him. There were some very dramatic moments, such as Penny overdosing and nearly dying, and the plane ride from hell, perhaps the emotional climax of the film. To be fair the story did end on a really high note, the plane ride and everything following from that was really well done, and it's great we got to see the interesting side characters from the introduction who were missing from the meat of the film. I speak of Zooey Deschanel and Philip Seymour Hoffman first and foremost. They are far more engaging than Stillwater.

The story is mostly serious but there were a few isolated unexpected jokes, all very funny, that just randomly appeared among the serious drama. For example, the phone calls from William's mother that hilariously go wrong, or the declaration of "I'm GAY!" on the plane ride from hell, seconds before the pilot announces that everyone is gonna be OK. I wish there was more of that humour.

I guess my main issue with Almost Famous is that the drama wasn't strong enough. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe the lead actors just weren't strong enough? Well, Kate Hudson is fantastic, the other two not so much. Maybe it's the narrative? Or a combination of both? It just kinda felt like wasted potential, and by the end of the film, I struggled to understand what the point of the story was.

Madea Goes to Jail it was good but I rather have more Madea and her family and less serious story.

I've never caught the bootleg version in full. I have seen clips of it, but I have no idea how it affects the pacing of the movie. All I know is that it adds 40+ minutes, with around 12 being dedicated to Stairway To Heaven where everyone vibes to the song.

Almost Famous to me is a story of an outsider who tries desperately to gain the validation of people who really don't matter. He's internalised this notion that if he becomes the greatest rock critic of all-time, people will think he was cool, a notion that was planted in his head when his older sister cuts him and her mother out of his life. He desperately tries to make it work, even lying about his age to get credentials to hang out with a rock n roll band, only to discover he's hanging with people who are lying to themselves.

Stillwater is merely an average band playing a style of music that is about to go extinct in a year or so. The only member with any future is Russell who the press seems to love but he doesn't seem to have any real career aspirations. He just wants to keep the dream alive and ride the proverbial pirate ship. Being in a rock band is like being on Spring Break, where you have these real relationships but you know they're fleeting. Almost Famous deals with this phenomenon through the Penny-Russell relationship where both characters have separate ideas.

In an alternative version of Almost Famous, Russell could be the Great Gatsby. An idea of the greatest rock-star who ever lived with unbelievable talent, with an unbelievable back-story and in the end William has to help reconnect him with his father, where Russell learns he has to be a real father to all the illegitimate children he's reared. I think that would have made a stronger hook, but I don't think it's what Crowe was going for. I think Russell is a false idol, a guy who is worshiped but he doesn't want the responsibility and the truth is he's just like you and me. He's just a guy who wants to be accepted - he wants William (and you) to think of him as cool.

In another movie, with the right coding experience, he would have made FaceMash and gotten the attention of the Winklevoss twins.

However, it's a Coming of Age story about a young man who learns self respect and to appreciate the qualities he does possess. He also learns to appreciate the qualities of others and the true essence of who they are instead of the idols they wish to be - rockstar or band-aid. Then some 25 years later, make a movie about it with an awesome soundtrack that captures the time period nicely. Serving as an enjoyable road/coming-of-age/period/semi-biographical movie.

Also Billy Wilder really enjoyed the scene where Penny Lane found out Stillwater lost her company for a case of beer.

I didn't see a Stairway To Heaven scene, but there was a scene of everyone in the van singing along to Tiny Dancer. It was quite a long scene but doubt it was 12 minutes.

You got the message of the movie more than I did, it is a coming of age movie first and foremost, and William's journey, and what he learns about humanity from travelling with a rock and roll band.

Love the alternate ending for Almost Famous, where Will ends up with Polexia.  Not sure it made any of these special editions though for deleted scenes, but I do not own the newest UHD thing.  Original script had a lot more of Polexia in it that got cut, along with this ending.  Can still see in the original film though in what survived that she was in love in Will.

Bootleg version just fleshes out things more, but does not really change the film.  A lot of the extra stuff comes in the first 2/3rds of the film.  Just a ton of scenes get extended.  Slows the pacing down, but not a film where you really are rushing to get to the end.

Stairway scene is only in fan edits as it was deleted scene.

Sept 25, 2022 15:37:54 GMT Emperor said:

I didn't see a Stairway To Heaven scene, but there was a scene of everyone in the van singing along to Tiny Dancer. It was quite a long scene but doubt it was 12 minutes.

I've been living a lie this entire time. Curious to see what they do with the 45 minutes, it sounds it drags out the entire movie, albeit I couldn't get enough of it when I was 16. Nothing would quite scratch that itch until I saw Dazed and Confused.

The Tiny Dancer scene is in the theatrical cut and is one of the most important scenes in the movie.

Good intel c. Apparantly there's more scenes of them together in the bootleg scene but there's definitely an inference of Polexia sussing Will out when they're at the hotel with the band and Jay Baruchel.

The 45 minutes extends a lot of scenes. So the flow is pretty much the same, but the scenes are basically longer.

So Will in school has another minute of stuff like kids asking where his pubes are. Lots more stuff with Lester. Still with Will before he takes off to follow Stillwater. Obvious a ton of shit with Stillwater is fleshed out more. Polexia gets a lot more scenes. The groupies appear in more scenes with the rest of the band. Will actually gets his interviews in various scenes. Only real scenes really added to the overall story is a party for Penny before they ditch her by claiming there is no room in the plane and the band talking about the article before they decide to kill it on Will. The rest is kind of just extensions of scenes already in the film.

But yeah Bootleg edition is the edition to watch. It just fleshes out the film more.

Edit:  On a side note, just realized I do not actually own the bootleg edition so grabbed it on bluray.  Holy crap did streaming kill bluray prices.  Was 7 bucks.  Like Apoc Now Redux, I prefer the longer cut on this, and streaming you do not always get to pick what version you get.  Need to grab Empire Records Remix cut ones of these days too.

I just watched Lightyear (giving Disney+ a workout this week)

It looks absolutely fantastic. Probably one of the best looking CGI movies I've ever seen. Seriously - it looks great!

The story is surprisingly depressing overall. There are some exciting parts and a few laughs (mostly from a robot cat and Taika Waititi again), but it's mostly...kinda sad. If I was a kid, I think I would have been bored a lot of the time.

It's not a must-see, but I enjoyed it anyway! It wasn't really what I was expecting, but it still entertained me.

Rob Zombies's the Munsters: Ya know know, from the trailers I imagined this was gonna be pretty bad, but after watching it...I lacked the imagination to perceive the whole new spectrum of suffering that this film would be. Seriously, honestly, sincerely, one of the very worst movies I've watched in my entire life, even worse if you have any actual attachment to the Munsters (but terrible even if your don't). As verbose as I am, I have not the words for how truly awful this film is. I can't imagine a worse Herman Munster, a shrill unbearable miasma of a performance. Sheri Moon doing a terrible impression of Lilian isn't much better. Grandpa was actually okay, hated the mustache, but he at least seemed like he understood his character. Other than that slight "meh," and Richard Brake chewing scenery, there is not even an iota of a redeeming quality in this film. It's not even "so bad, it's good," it's purely awful in every way. DO. NOT. WATCH. THIS. MOVIE. The entire extended Lord of the Rings trilogy felt shorter than sitting through this fetid turd. -Infinity/10

Gotta love a savagely brutal review, but for me the quote of the post is right there at the beginning.

Sept 28, 2022 6:45:48 GMT RagnarokMike said:

I lacked the imagination to perceive the whole new spectrum of suffering that this film would be.

You needn't have written any more, but I'm glad you did!

How does Rob Zombie continue to make movies?

A little sad that Emperor didn’t care for Almost Famous. My wife bought me that extended version a few years ago and I haven’t had the heart to watch it. I already have a complex with movies that are too long, and the original is so good to me I just can’t imagine “add the stuff back that you cut for pacing and story, that’ll make it better” as truth.

Sept 28, 2022 22:08:03 GMT mikec said:

A little sad that Emperor didn’t care for Almost Famous. My wife bought me that extended version a few years ago and I haven’t had the heart to watch it. I already have a complex with movies that are too long, and the original is so good to me I just can’t imagine “add the stuff back that you cut for pacing and story, that’ll make it better” as truth.

I think Almost Famous is a near perfect coming of age film.
It has a real charm to it that lots of movies go after, but fail to achieve.

Zombie’s original films I’ve enjoyed but he seems to go out of his way to piss off fans of other franchises.

I enjoyed his Halloween remake (the sequel to it is beyond awful) but changing the whole idea of Michael Myers and making him talk for absolutely no reason was bound to piss fans of the franchise off.



Woke up early (by my standards) to see Smile with sandylea

Traffic jam, huge line up of families (school holidays), order tickets…finally get into the session.

Made it just in time! Film starts up with a wide shot of a girl rock climbing. It’s the movie Fall, not Smile.

Walk out to double check with the staff what cinema Smile is in, they confirm Cinema 3 and I tell them it’s the wrong movie and inform the other 2 patrons (who may not have known it’s the wrong movie, title doesn’t show for a few minutes).

Girl comes out and says she can’t get Smile started so we can just go and get a refund or watch Fall again & get a refund. Next session time we will both be at work so no Smile today.

So we’re watching Fall again, at least it’s a good movie :lol:

I watched Airplane for the first time ever.

OMG.

I don't think I've ever laughed so hard and so much at a movie. I absolutely LOVED it!

Some of the humour probably made more sense if you're American/in the 1980s (there were a couple of parts that I guess were meant to be funny and just went over my head) - but overall, it's just really really really funny.


I get the feeling I'd notice more stuff on repeat viewings, which is cool because I'll definitely be watching it again someday!

Airplane was amazing. If you not seen it, The Naked Gun is cut from the same cloth.

Oct 1, 2022 22:26:49 GMT c said:

Airplane was amazing. If you not seen it, The Naked Gun is cut from the same cloth.

I'm definitely gonna watch that next - I loved Leslie Nielsen in Airplane, so The Naked Gun is looking pretty great!

I watched a couple of movies recently, not sure if I even mentioned them in this thread or not, but eh I didn’t see anything with a quick search.

Anyways…

Firestarter: I thought it was a pretty decent remake, although I needed more fires to start.

Lightyear: Great movie that the family absolutely loves, thanks to the kids I’ve probably seen it a dozen times by now.

Pinocchio: A decent enough live-action/CGI adaptation of a Disney classic. It’s not bad for a one-time viewing, but I’m hoping this isn’t one the kids always want to watch.

Thor: Love and Thunder: I thought it was better with a second viewing, however, still nowhere near as good as Thor: Ragnarok.

Oct 1, 2022 22:03:16 GMT @aaron said:

I watched Airplane for the first time ever.

OMG.

I don't think I've ever laughed so hard and so much at a movie. I absolutely LOVED it!

Some of the humour probably made more sense if you're American/in the 1980s (there were a couple of parts that I guess were meant to be funny and just went over my head) - but overall, it's just really really really funny.


I get the feeling I'd notice more stuff on repeat viewings, which is cool because I'll definitely be watching it again someday!

One of the most quotable movies of all time, I recommend skipping the Sequel, a few chuckles, but does nothing but detract from the greatness of the first, just look up the dog scene and you’ve seen pretty much everything worth while.

On top of the Naked Guns, throw in the Mel Brooks spoofs if haven’t seen any of them: Young Frankenstein, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and especially Space Balls and Blazing Saddles. Dracula: Dead and Loving it is his weakest, definitely the most hit and miss, but I liked it. Also throw in National Lampoon’s: Loaded Weapon 1. And while the most rough around the edges, Top Secret, starring a YOUNG Val Kilmer can still be funny, some great lines in there. If it’s not clear, I’m a fan of the classic spoof, Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox story is really the only modern I’d recommend.


Watched Blonde, it was pretty, ADA does a mostly great Monroe, but can’t help but slip into her accent at times. Overall though, kind of dull, just wasn’t into it. But It wasn’t actually bad. Worth a once through.

Watching Terminator 3, only recently started watching this series. How you just now getting into Term? Well, it came out the year I was born and I wasn't allowed to watch rated Rs and by time I was in a position to watch things on my own it's been a while...

I preferred T1 to T2 if I'm being honest.

This one seems to be the same formula only with titties @🤯. Is this all they ever are gonna be... the chase/roadtrip vibe? Like do we never get anything different? Anything in the Skynet era or is that too down/depressing and it's meant to be mysterious? Does Sarah Connor show touch on anything besides THIS?

Also is it all just a pardox... is that all time travel is? The very act itself will always put in place what you're trying to prevent? Reverse Flash and all that ish? It sorta proves God exists though. At least in the sense of immortality and how logic and reason of machines only exist because we created it that way, it doesn't exist on it's own. Is that the X-Factor that machines can never have? Our emotions and adversity for being so fragile is what gives us the killer instinct machines can never experience because they can't FEEL.

That's not logical.

No, it's not. But it is what it is.

@ness, you're not supposed to watch anything beyond T2...

Oct 2, 2022 14:48:25 GMT 🤯 said:

@ness , you're not supposed to watch anything beyond T2...

What else do I do? It's not like I can access the Wife episode yet.

EPISODE PWEEASE

Also you shoulda seen the original post I had typed up about the franchise while on gummies. I ended up deleting it and just writing my TGS post instead.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles isn't bad, but yeah, with the movies, you're fine if you stop after the second movie (although I didn't mind the third one or the one that has Khaleesi in it).

Hocus Pocus 2 - had absolutely no right to be as good as it was.
I’m honestly surprised. I like Hocus Pocus but I’ve never been a HUGE huge fan, but I enjoy it and recently rewatched it.
This was actually so well done with the making of a new story, bringing the sisters back, and just fun standout scenes.
It pulled on the heart strings a bit, but it was also funny, and with how many years have past they didn’t seem to age much at all either.

I was expecting a basic money grab by Disney, but it was way better than I imagined.

The little girls who played the young sisters also did an incredible job, and they deserve all the praise they are getting.

Oct 2, 2022 14:04:49 GMT @ness said:

Watching Terminator 3, only recently started watching this series. How you just now getting into Term? Well, it came out the year I was born and I wasn't allowed to watch rated Rs and by time I was in a position to watch things on my own it's been a while...

I preferred T1 to T2 if I'm being honest.

This one seems to be the same formula only with titties @🤯. Is this all they ever are gonna be... the chase/roadtrip vibe? Like do we never get anything different? Anything in the Skynet era or is that too down/depressing and it's meant to be mysterious? Does Sarah Connor show touch on anything besides THIS?

Also is it all just a pardox... is that all time travel is? The very act itself will always put in place what you're trying to prevent? Reverse Flash and all that ish?

That's not logical.

No, it's not. But it is what it is.

Try 'Predestination' starring Ethan Hawk, if you want to lose your marbles around time travel.

@ness, I think you'd really dig Looper.

Went to see Smile Friday. My wife decided it was the first horror film to take the nine year old girl to, which definitely looked weird, but she can do the horror movie stuff I just don’t want her seeing the sexuality or drug stuff and neither of those were present here…

Nor really was the suspense. Couple good jump scares, big giant smiles are definitely creepy, but kinda knew how it was ending from the first 20 minutes.

Kiddo enjoyed it, wife really didn’t, I wound up probably in between as standard fare 5/10

I watched Ron's Gone Wrong on Disney+.

It's a pretty standard CGI kids' movie - not really to the standard of most Pixar movies, but very impressive considering it was the first movie from the studio (Locksmith Animation).

It looks really nice and Ron (a robot that looks like a Tic Tac) is a great character. The story is kinda predictable, but I never found it boring. I guess there's some kind of social commentary about kids using their phones all the time or whatever. 

If I'd paid to go and watch it, I might have been a bit disappointed - but it was still a fun watch!