Oct 17, 2022 1:10:10 GMT Lony said:

Oct 16, 2022 23:20:02 GMT 🤯 said:

Sad reality is, Bond blows.

This, very much this.

Oct 17, 2022 0:45:21 GMT 🤯 said:

Sad reality is, Star Wars is just a wholesale ripoff of Dune

OK, you've gone to far with this madness.

I both love and hate this post.

Smile (Parker Finn, 2022)

Guess what? Spoilers below. Spoilers I say!

Smile is exactly my type of horror film, executed to near perfection. Its influences are pretty clear - primarily The Ring - but it certainly distances itself enough to stand on its own two feet, and in particular I love the incorporation of mental health and trauma into the storyline. I thought it was really well done.

Another thing that Smile does really well is put the audience in the horrific and traumatising shoes of the main character Dr. Rose Cotter. We see her trials and tribulations, not just the supernatural but witnessing her loved ones abandon her, one by one. It's all done very well. At several moments I found myself contemplating what I would do in her shoes. Thinking in retrospect, I suppose that's why Smile included several quieter, calmer sequences, exactly at those points where they wanted the audience to think. Rose is hardly a saint, although it's hard to criticise her in her position. When her claims are sadly met by disbelief, she lashes out defensively, which tragically puts her in a worse position. Actor Sosie Bacon nails the performance. In general Smile had very strong acting.

The narrative is great. There isn't a moment wasted. Events that happen early in the film come back in surprising ways. The supernatural and the more human psychological arcs are finely balanced. I didn't really guess any of the twists, not for lack of trying. The final scenes are a barrage of twists, all extremely well done, escalating to an incredible climax with the freakiest scene in the entire movie.

Which brings me to the scares. Smile isn't really that scary. There are a couple of really cheap jump scares. I don't despite jump scares as much as most people, and the jumps didn't hurt the film but they did feel kinda cheap and unnecessary. Fortunately the more subtle scares are generally pretty effective, and there's always an undercurrent of dread which is exactly what you want. Around two thirds through the film there are a couple of really silly special effects. I was worried that Smile was heading to a bad place, but the second one was kinda meant to be intentionally silly, and the film got right back on track. The effects and visuals weren't that special, apart from the freaky scene I mentioned earlier. That's going to stick in my mind for a while. Although to me the most horrifying scene was the one with the cat. You see it coming a mile away, which is not a criticism, it's exactly the point, and that makes it so much worse.

Absolutely fantastic. I don't think it's quite as good as It Follows, but secures a clear second place in my favourite horror movie from 2010 onwards list. Which is a weird list, I know, and one I just made up now, but I feel horror has been far more miss than hit in these past couple of decades. It Follows is the standard bearer, but Smile is right behind. Well done. And for those keeping score at home, Midsommar is third. Probably. Like I said, I just made it up now.

I started watching On Her Majesty's Secret Service earlier and I'm enjoying it so far!

I'll post more thoughts when I've finished it (it's two and a half hours - who can watch that in one go?!) but George Lazenby has been a massive improvement on Sean Connery for me. George seems much more charming and likeable - he's more believable in the fight scenes too. It's kinda a shame Connery is back for the next one.

Of course, there's a lot of time left so I guess it could all go wrong, but this one seems to be quite highly thought of, so I'm feeling positive about it!

Oct 17, 2022 22:04:26 GMT @aaron said:

I started watching On Her Majesty's Secret Service earlier and I'm enjoying it so far!

I'll post more thoughts when I've finished it (it's two and a half hours - who can watch that in one go?!) but George Lazenby has been a massive improvement on Sean Connery for me. George seems much more charming and likeable - he's more believable in the fight scenes too. It's kinda a shame Connery is back for the next one.

Of course, there's a lot of time left so I guess it could all go wrong, but this one seems to be quite highly thought of, so I'm feeling positive about it!

That's a good one.  I think it's my moms favorite.  It fleshes out the Bond character a little more than the others I find until License to Kill and Skyfall. 

Oct 17, 2022 22:07:44 GMT iron maiden said:

It fleshes out the Bond character a little more than the others I find until License to Kill and Skyfall. 

I've been pleasantly surprised by it so far - he actually seems like a human rather than a hairy robot designed for killing and sex.

Even the part where he gets annoyed and tries to resign gives him a lot more depth than I think he'd had before!

As much as I love Sean Connery I'm not very impressed with him as a Bond. Apparently he's charming, but maybe he's charming in a 1960s way because I don't understand why the ladies gravitate to him. Connery does seem bored a lot of the time. The fight scene with Oddjob was god awful. That said I don't have any point of comparison apart from Daniel Craig, who is even more robotic than Connery. Maybe they're all the time.

Might have to skip ahead to see what Lazenby is like.

Oct 18, 2022 7:15:40 GMT Emperor said:

As much as I love Sean Connery I'm not very impressed with him as a Bond. Apparently he's charming, but maybe he's charming in a 1960s way because I don't understand why the ladies gravitate to him. Connery does seem bored a lot of the time. The fight scene with Oddjob was god awful. That said I don't have any point of comparison apart from Daniel Craig, who is even more robotic than Connery. Maybe they're all the time.

Might have to skip ahead to see what Lazenby is like.

Well I think as a do or die spy you have to be a little robotic/cold, no? If the job bothered you too much you couldn't do it.  Bond was 'macho' in a suave, sophisticated, I-don't give-a-fuck way. Maybe that's not cool to you/society anymore (which isn't a bad thing) and what's turning you off the character.  I actually thought Daniel Craig showed a lot more depth to the character. 

It's sounding more and more to me like iron maiden has a schoolgirl crush on 007.

Oct 18, 2022 13:56:14 GMT iron maiden said:

I guess I just have a soft spot for these films as they are classics and I was raised on them.

I thought I was pretty clear.  :ugh:

Rock Han Solo and Bond enter the building...

Oct 18, 2022 13:57:35 GMT iron maiden said:

Oct 18, 2022 13:56:14 GMT iron maiden said:

I guess I just have a soft spot for these films as they are classics and I was raised on them.

I thought I was pretty clear.  :ugh:

Didn't realize upon first read that All34LOL you were referring to as soft was also the G.

Case 39 (Christian Alvart, 2009)

The late 2000s was when I started watching films frequently, but at that time I only watched horror films. Hey, I was a teenage metalhead, what can I say? Consequently, it was many years later that I started to learn about movies as a whole and the famous actors. I rewatched Orphan recently. Case 39 is another evil child horror movie that was released in the same year, some months after Orphan. Probably a coincidence.

The reason I bring up my film viewing history is that, when watching Case 39 for the first time, I would have assumed that the leading actors are random no-names, as you see in most horror movies. So consider my shock when I see Renee Zellweger's face in the opening scene, and Bradley Cooper's not long after that. Even in 2009 they were bigger names than Orphan star Vera Farmiga has ever been. But Vera Farmiga is a much better horror actress. Zellweger generally fails to impress in Case 39. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

One of the first scenes in the movie sees social worker Emily Jenkins (Zellweger) get asked by her boss how many cases she's working. Thirty-eight, she replies. Her boss dumps a new file on her pile. Zellweger initially ignores it, understandably given her heavy workload, but upon realising Case 39 is the title of the film she's starring in, she gives it a look. Thus all her other 38 cases (well, except technically for one) are put to the side for the story's duration. As much as I mock this cheesy introduction, I can't deny it was a little intriguing. The rest of the opening act is the most compelling part of the movie. You don't yet know it's an evil child film, and you're not told, although it becomes pretty obvious as the prologue comes to a close. The behaviour of the characters, combined with the fact it's a horror film, leads exactly in that direction.

Which isn't a bad thing. So far it's an interesting twist on a well-trodden horror trope. Unfortunately the rest of the film fails to deliver and retreads the same old tired footsteps. The child in question is a little girl, cute as a button, named Lillith. A suspiciously evil name, but I thought it was "Lily" the whole time until I read up on it after the film concluded. It took a while of decent tense slow burn for Lillith to show her true colours. The first turning point is when Lillith goes all Good Will Hunting on child psychologist Bradley Cooper, in a brilliant display of psychological domination. The high point.

From there it's a pretty generic tale of Emily trying and failing to solve her problems, none of her associates believe her crazy story, combined with freaky deaky deaths and scare scenes. While visually very impressive, from a narrative perspetive these scenes destroy the story because they show us that Lillith is literally omnipotent and omniscient, but only when she feels like it. She could literally wipe out the whole cast in minutes if she wanted. The only reason she doesn't is to save the plot, instead of giving it the mercy kill it deserves. To give a couple of examples: she phones a kid (off screen), an otherwise good kid who then proceeds to immediately murder his parents in brutal fashion. She phones Bradley Cooper's character (on screen), whispers some demonic gobbledygook, which somehow causes hornets to fly out of his every orifice in suitably slow and dramatic fashion until Cooper goes insane and kills himself. By breaking his own neck with his hands, which I'm pretty sure is physically impossible. For all her omnipotence, Lillith's greatest strength may be her natural flair for dramatic tension.

The film whimpers to an unsatisfying conclusion. Lillith is killed in surprisingly easy fashion for an all-powerful devil child. There's also no whiff of an explanation given. Which I suppose isn't too bad conceptually. Less is more, leave it to the imagination, these are common horror motifs. But I still want something more substantial than mysterious-evil-child-who-can-do-anything-she-likes-except-for-when-she-can't.

Like I mentioned, Zellweger's acting fails to impress. To be honest I don't rate her very highly as an actress, but she hardly had the best material to work with. Still, Vera Farmiga would have done a much better job. Not that it would have helped this pile of garbage. Besides that, everyone else is great. Including Jodelle Ferland who plays Lillith in admirably sociopathic fashion.

Kid was killed easy because there was a different ending where both of them sink in the car but are rescued. Emily comes out of the water raving and is put in a mental hospital while Lilith is adopted out. One of those too dark to release endings that studios made them change.

Oct 18, 2022 21:57:26 GMT c said:

Kid was killed easy because there was a different ending where both of them sink in the car but are rescued. Emily comes out of the water raving and is put in a mental hospital while Lilith is adopted out. One of those too dark to release endings that studios made them change.

That ending is a huge improvement. Minutes before she was drowned, Lilith teleported outside of a burning house, one in which she was supposedly asleep. So it makes sense that she can teleport outside of the water too, and Emily suffers the same fate as the couple at the start of the film, coming full circle. I like it. Strange that such a conclusion to a horror movie got canned, doesn't seem excessively dark to me.

I'm being overly harsh, Case 39 isn't really that bad. There are some definite high points but all the ridiculous deaths and effects were so dumb that it turned me against the movie. But even before all that happened, it was a lesser version of Orphan. 4/10.

I think your review is dead on. The film leaves you with a feeling of disappointment. Like there was a good film in there, but it never got to come out and a whole lot of the film felt like we seen it before. It was much worse at release, as there was a year wait to for it to release in the US and it just feel flat.

Do Revenge

I liked it. It was kinda a combination of Gossip Girl and Mean Girls, but possibly even bitchier than both of them. It's just people being horrible to each other for two hours.

Camila Mendes was in it. Some other people were also in it. Some things happened. But most importantly, Camila Mendes was in it.

The Bad Seed (Mervyn LeRoy, 1956)

Following the theme of watching horror films with evil children, I went back in time and watched what is possibly the first ever "evil child" film. Let's start from the end, because that's the best place to start.

After the film's conclusion the following message appears:

You have just seen a motion picture whose theme dares to be startingly different. May we ask that you do not divulge the unusual climax of this story. Thank you.

It's safe to say we're past the statute of limitations so I'm not only going to divulge the climax, but also the entire plot. I'll be more entertained describing the story and its implications than I did watching the movie as, despite it largely being a chore to get through, it raises some very interesting philosophical questions.

The blurb is correct about the theme. As mentioned, it's likely this is the first ever "evil child" film. The script is original indeed, and does cover some very dark themes, especially considering the year. Hitchcock never went this dark until Psycho four years later. But there's no supernatural content. The scientific theory offered by one of the side characters, largely ignored by the rest of the cast, is that a child does not need to be raised in a bad environment to become a bad person. It could be in their nature. They could be...a bad seed. The story lends credence to this theory with a mid-film twist that reveals that the child's mother, protagonist Christine Penmark, is adopted, and that one of her biological parents was a serial killer.

Lovely sweet Rhoda - is she evil? It does question the definition of evil. Simply put, she has no morals whatsoever, despite being raised in a loving environment. The death of another human being is inconsequential to her. She killed a boy because he refused to give her a precious medal he owned. If she doesn't know that killing is bad, does killing make her a bad person? She shrugs it off - she states it's the boy's fault because he didn't give her the medal. She doesn't see what all the fuss is about. But we learn that she understands on some level that what she did is wrong, because she tries very hard to keep it a secret, lying, trying to hide evidence, manipulating people effortlessly. She flips on her cutie pie "I'm adorable do you love me?" charm like a switch.

She's a cunning child but still only 8 years old - she can't think of everything. When the shrewd but naive housekeeper (the only character who doesn't have some form of unconditional love for Rhoda) reveals that he's going to rat her out, she kills him by setting fire to the basement he sleeps in and locking the door shut. He is rescued, but not in time. None of this is shown on screen but there's no doubt. Her mother knows she did it.

While the child Rhoda is a central character, mother Christine is the protagonist. Her psychological journey is explored comprehensively. At the start she's a normal mother to a loving daughter. Everything is peachy. She finds out about the death of the boy. She is heartbroken by the news, and shocked at her daughter's indifference. She learns more details of the murder and starts to become suspicious of Rhoda. She finds out she is the adopted daughter of a serial killer. Through repeated badgering and questioning she is able to make her daughter confess to the murder. She starts to lose her mind. Part of her wants to protect her child, who she knows is evil. Part of her wants to share her overwhelming burden with anyone. Part of her blames herself for having the genes of a serial killer.

She confides in her father but he can't conceive of the idea that his granddaughter is a sociopathic killer, dismissing the notion without a further thought. She then keeps it to herself, with great difficulty, as she's constantly bursting into tears in front of her nosey companions. The housekeeper is burned alive, a horrific death not shown on camera, which leads to the climax. Christine gives Rhoda an overdose of sleeping pills and shoots herself (again off screen, we hear the shot). A tragic but somehow reasonable course of action given the circumstances. Unfortunately for her the gunshot alerts people, who are able to pump Rhoda's stomach before the pills take effect. Somehow Christine survives, unaware that Rhoda lives, but then Rhoda wanders out into the rainy night alone, gets struck by lightning, and presumably dies, undermining what just happened. An unusual climax for sure, but unusually bad. I can think of three better endings without even trying.

It all sounds riveting on paper, but the film itself is tough to get through. It's very dialogue heavy: these characters talk a lot, saying in 500 words what a 21st century character would say in 50 words. I've given you the cliff notes version, the whole experience is spread out over 2 hours. The first hour is mostly Christine talking to various other characters as she starts to grow suspicious of her daughter. The second hour is mostly Christine understandably having a mental breakdown and trying to hold it together. For 40-50 minutes the script constantly teases us with the idea that Christine is going to reveal her suspicions to anyone else in the cast. She never does. It's 95% talking, 5% plot development. A couple of side characters get a lot of screen time, scenes that could have been cut completely without changing anything. It's a slow burn that's so slow that the fire dies out and is never rekindled. The pacing is all off, just like this review, too many goddamn words.

In conclusion, a fascinating premise and some clever writing that I'm willing to write paragraphs about, but the script is way too talky and long-winded to make such a concept work effectively. To be fair, I am watching through the lens of 2022 with my millenial short attention span. These type of chatterbox characters were the norm in the 50s so I imagine the unique plot was something of a revelation to a 50s audience. Despite my criticism I have to praise the acting. Lead actress Nancy Kelly is fantastic: although her character is frustrating to watch, I can't question the performance. Patty McCormack, who plays the child, is equally good. Don't know how you ask a child actress to play a sociopath, but it worked.

This is the kind of film that needs to be remade - a great suspense-horror story, hidden under the shadow of Alfred Hitcock movies, that desperately needs a modern reimagining. Stop remaking the classics that everyone loves and pick out a diamond in the rough like The Bad Seed.

EDIT: Wowzers trousers, it has been remade! Literally! By the wonderful Rob Lowe! I'm also learning it's based on a novel/play, which could explain all the talky-talky. I'm going to watch this remake.

Oct 20, 2022 19:03:38 GMT @aaron said:

Do Revenge

I liked it. It was kinda a combination of Gossip Girl and Mean Girls, but possibly even bitchier than both of them. It's just people being horrible to each other for two hours.

Camila Mendes was in it. Some other people were also in it. Some things happened. But most importantly, Camila Mendes was in it.

Is this important or is she one of your kpop gurls?

Oct 20, 2022 20:40:02 GMT Emperor said:

The Bad Seed (Mervyn LeRoy, 1956)

Following the theme of watching horror films with evil children, I went back in time and watched what is possibly the first ever "evil child" film. Let's start from the end, because that's the best place to start.

Fantastic film that had several remakes of sorts including The Good Son and the play Ruthless!  Dozens of lifetime style knockoffs as well for TV.   But none helmed by a giant like Mervyn LeRoy, who is best known perhaps for producing Wizard of Oz.  

What is wild about this film IMO, is this was originally a stage play adapted to a book, then adapted to film.  

Oct 20, 2022 20:56:47 GMT @ness said:

Is this important or is she one of your kpop gurls?

She's Veronica from Riverdale!

Oct 17, 2022 22:04:26 GMT @aaron said:

I started watching On Her Majesty's Secret Service earlier and I'm enjoying it so far!

I'll post more thoughts when I've finished it (it's two and a half hours - who can watch that in one go?!) but George Lazenby has been a massive improvement on Sean Connery for me. George seems much more charming and likeable - he's more believable in the fight scenes too. It's kinda a shame Connery is back for the next one.

Of course, there's a lot of time left so I guess it could all go wrong, but this one seems to be quite highly thought of, so I'm feeling positive about it!

I finished it and it didn't disappoint at all! It was fun without ever really getting silly. Lazenby did a great job and it's a shame he didn't get to continue - especially after that ending! 

Telly Savalas is a really good Blofeld too. 

iron maiden 's mom has good taste in movies!

I'm in a Bond mood. Was going to work myself through the Craig films, but might start with this one for nostalgia.

Oct 20, 2022 19:03:38 GMT @aaron said:

Do Revenge

I liked it. It was kinda a combination of Gossip Girl and Mean Girls, but possibly even bitchier than both of them. It's just people being horrible to each other for two hours.

Camila Mendes was in it. Some other people were also in it. Some things happened. But most importantly, Camila Mendes was in it.

I kinda want to watch this.

Camila being in it is alright, but the real selling point is Sarah Michelle Gellar being in it (assuming she gets decent screen time in the movie). Now if we're talking movies featuring Riverdale Girls, I want to see Look Both Ways simply because Lili Reinhart is in it.

Sept 29, 2017 17:19:14 GMT Lony said:

Camila being in it is alright, but the real selling point is Sarah Michelle Gellar being in it (assuming she gets decent screen time in the movie). Now if we're talking movies featuring Riverdale Girls, I want to see Look Both Ways simply because Lili Reinhart is in it.

You'll be disappointed if you watch it hoping for a lot of SMG! She's only in it for about five minutes altogether and she doesn't really do much (she's the school principal). I didn't know she was in it and I was kinda surprised by how little screen time she got!

I've got Look Both Ways on my Netflix list too, so I'll probably watch that sometime soon.

Here Comes The Boom

I expected: Kevin James being silly and falling over a lot. Maybe some fart jokes.

I got: MMA Rocky 

I was really impressed with this. I was in the mood for a stupid Sandler-type comedy and I think Kevin James is very likeable so I thought I'd check this one out. 

There are a few funny moments (mostly involving Bas Rutten), but I really wouldn't call it a comedy. It's kinda inspirational and a little sentimental - it's mostly a pretty wholesome story. It's easy to get behind Kevin's character - the worst thing about him is that he's a little lazy. But he stands up for friends in need, supports his students and flirts with Salma Hayek. He's a good guy.

I know very little about MMA (I saw a Rich Franklin fight once and I know Jeff Jarrett was an MMA GUY), so I've got no idea how realistic (or not) this story is. Obviously the Paul Blart man doesn't look like most UFC guys (which is where I imagined most of the comedy would come from), but his character has college wrestling experience, so maybe that counts for something? I don't know or really care TBH!

It's all very Rocky-esque. A nobody makes his way to the top level of the sport - the last fight is pretty similar to the one from Rocky, with Kev taking a lot of hard shots and getting a swollen eye. His brother is even in the movie as a Paulie type character. No robot though!

I didn't get the comedy I was looking for, but I absolutely loved it anyway!

Kevin James was legit.. sort of. He wrestled in High School, and only lost the top string spot due to injury. Mick Foley replaced him. Yes, that Mick Foley.

Now I can't stop thinking about the potential of @james in ECW doing his own Cane Dewey.

Well that's pretty wild! I would have guessed he's about a decade younger than Mick, but obviously not!

See How They Run - Excellent who done it movie. I love Sam Rockwell and will happily watch any movie with him in it. I think he is easily one of the best actors out there and he is so incredibly underrated. So perhaps I loved it more than the film deserved because of him, but I really enjoyed it the entire time. One of the best 'who done it' movies I've seen in a long long time.

Amsterdam - Fantastic cast, and pretty enjoyable movie. I enjoyed the storytelling of the film, but I don't think it's one I would rush out to watch again. There is a lot of movies similar, and if you enjoyed them eg. American Hustle this is something you will likely enjoy too.

Don't Worry Darling - Florence and Chris are way too good for this movie - they are incredible and I could watch them on screen forever, but oh boy did this movie shit the bed. It could have been really good, and honestly it started out somewhat decent - the concept and the way it played out was good but then they start to over explain it and I definitely got over it pretty quick. Olivia Wilde was terrible as an actress and director where the film was concerned, and while I didn't think Harry Styles was that bad, the PR drama surrounding the film definitely made him come across as the weakest link.

Fall - Saw this movie twice. The first time was incredibly stressful and I couldn't enjoy it fully (I hate hate hate heights) and got way into the WHO IS GOING TO DIE, and so was just anxious.
The second time I knew everything that was going to happen and could just enjoy it, and I really enjoyed it the second time around - even looking at little hints that I would've missed the first time was super fun. I highly recommend checking this one out.

Bodies Bodies Bodies - Wasn't too bad, very satire type horror film similar to Scream but not as much as a movie. Felt more like kids playing a game and we were just witnessing it for no reason. Pretty forgettable after all the other films I've seen lately.

Tickets to Paradise - Super fun rom-com with Julia Roberts and George Clooney. Was just a really fun film. Very very different from every other film here hahaha

Smile - Super creepy, pretty interesting storyline WAY darker than I thought it was going to be. Really surprised it wasn't R18+ in Australia cause those themes got very dark. Can't wait to buy it for my mum and show it to her, she's going to love all the creepy shit in it haha

Halloween Ends - How to disappoint the majority of fans as a franchise 101. Honestly I did enjoy the movie as a horror movie, not as a Halloween movie. The lack of Michael Myers was disappointing but I did really enjoy Corey as his progression as this nobody to the new Michael. There is a lot of plot holes here, but most of it could have easily been fixed. My biggest problem was the never ending narration - holy shit woman shut up for 5 minutes. It was painful. It's a love it or hate it movie for most, but I just found it VERY ok. 

Barbarian - I knew nothing about this film before seeing it, and I highly recommend everyone watches the film the same way. It does a brilliant job building up suspense and while there is a few parts in it that ruin the suspense and I would love to change, the foreshadowing was brilliantly done. Deserves the praise it's getting for sure.

Think I've caught up on the movies I've seen but didn't post about - may have repeated myself who knows.
Plan to watch a lot of horror movies soon as I went overboard buying them for my mum haha Also bought The Black Phone for myself and I'm very excited to watch it again.

I agree with you sandylea, Sam Rockwell is a great actor and highly underrated.