Highly recommend Barbarian as well. One of the best horror films of the year easily.

Every time I finish a movie I browse the wiki. Sometimes scenes are vague and I like to get confirmation of what actually happened, maybe see the actors list to figure where I remember that guy from, etc. Whenever I go to critical reception to a movie I liked it's always like 3/10 lmao.

Barbarian

You could just about Double Feature this with Promising Young Woman, although Nope would be more suitable given the sketch comedy --> horror director routes.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
I found it was just solid enough until Justin Long appeared and sent the movie over the edge. It has one of the best 'reboots' in a second act I've seen in awhile and his character is by far the best douchebag in cinematic history. I loved the contrast between Long's character finding out about the secret basement and Georgina Campbell's.

What makes the second act work is how deliberate they were with the first act. It was classic horror story telling where everything is foreboding and you're just waiting for the jump scare and when it finally hits it's really satisfying. The movie does a great job of putting you in Georgina's shoes as you suspect Bill being behind it.

I liked how they developed the main antagonist as well. There isn't this huge piece of exposition, just a flashback that feels unrelated and you put the pieces together yourself.

I thought the final act was a little schlocky. Like they were running out on their small budget and just had to do the best they could to wrap it up, but it was fine. It just paled in comparison, especially to that second act that was worth the price of admission.

Still, I'm glad I watched it.

Big Pete

Assume you mean promising young woman? If so great film

See horror thread we have very similar views on Barbarian so I agree completely.

Dick Tracy

I absolutely LOVED it!

I'd wanted to see this ever since I was a kid and I saw a poster for it at the video store, but I just...never did. I thought it might have been on Disney+ but it isn't, so I ended up paying £5 for a shiny disc of plastic with the movie on it. Retro!

Anyway, the film is fantastic. The story is pretty straightforward mobster/cop kinda stuff - it's fun, exciting and looks absolutely AMAZING. Seriously - the visual style is so so good.

Warren Beatty is perfect as Tracy (even though he looks exactly like JBL at points), Madonna is a great femme fatale and the cast of bad guys (with incredible makeup) led by Al Pacino is hilarious.

It took me years and years to finally watch it, but I'll definitely be watching it a lot more!

RRR:

Someone mentioned this was their favourite 2022 film and I had other good things about it, scrolling through Netflix and popped up.

It’s over 3hr runtime did put me off initially but man am I glad I watch it, this was an epic (reminded me of War & Peace) meets anime but life action. There’s a lot of impossible stuff that happens in this film that’s cool as hell but if you are after realism, you’d probably hate this.

I don’t know why I didn’t think this film would have singing/dancing but that’s great albeit jarring if you’ve never watched a film like this before.

Just an incredible epic story with some absolutely brilliant scenes and action sequences that managed to keep me intrigued all the way though.

Watched Barbarian and oh my god who needs sleep anyway

Seriously fucked up movie. Everyone that said to just see it and not know what it’s actually about was right. Nothing prepares you for it and if you know going in it’s probably way less scary.

Finally saw Black Widow. Guess 🤯 can finally do that episode with pduh now.

Why was this hated? Because it didn't "matter"? Too "late"? Not enough action? That last part makes sense as it seemed like a long stretch from that weird opening until stuff finally happened... a lot of chatter and backstory. Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. Nice solid B+. The Avengers score still gets me and well it has stupid sexy Yelena in it, so there's that. She's no Babs of course, but who is? WHO IS? I guess Alicia Silverstone.

Onto Hawkeye going in order and I know stupid sexy Yelena is in it... sometime. AND she's gonna be in Thunderbolts? Which came first that or the SQUAD?

Will I finally watch Moonknight or skip over it entirely since 🤯 didn't invite me to the wedding? I UNNO!

Morbius
I can't say anything particularly good about this movie, nor can I saw anything particularly bad. If it were a quietly produced creature-feature and called anything else, it probably wouldn't get the hate. And.. I'm not sure who thinks it's OK to book Jared Leto in anything as the lead. 

And I'm not sure on the Spider-verse's booking - constant Heel v Heel. And now there's a MCU Heel walking through the Forbidden Door. 

So what was the incentive in watching it? Morbius curiosity to see if it's worst ever? Or to see of Smith hams it up beyond the dance?

Oct 29, 2022 21:57:31 GMT @ness said:

So what was the incentive in watching it? Morbius curiosity to see if it's worst ever? Or to see of Smith hams it up beyond the dance?

I've seen every MCU/SMU/DCEU movie and thought it can't be that bad - like, it can't be " DCEU Bad "  and I always intended to see it, but waited until it was available here on cable before getting excited about it. 

I think you've got to see them all at least once, just to know what the hell is going on with the collective universe. 

As much as I love the MCU, there's very few movies I'd purposely rewatch today outside of recent Spiderman Trilogy, Winter Solider and the big one, Endgame. Most I will tolerate as sufficient background noise while sitting on the laptop. 

Oct 29, 2022 19:58:27 GMT @ness said:

Finally saw Black Widow. Guess 🤯 can finally do that episode with pduh now.

Why was this hated? Because it didn't "matter"? Too "late"? Not enough action? That last part makes sense as it seemed like a long stretch from that weird opening until stuff finally happened... a lot of chatter and backstory. Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. Nice solid B+. The Avengers score still gets me and well it has stupid sexy Yelena in it, so there's that. She's no Babs of course, but who is? WHO IS? I guess Alicia Silverstone.

Onto Hawkeye going in order and I know stupid sexy Yelena is in it... sometime. AND she's gonna be in Thunderbolts? Which came first that or the SQUAD?

Will I finally watch Moonknight or skip over it entirely since 🤯 didn't invite me to the wedding? I UNNO!

So fucking PUMPED for you to finally make it to Moon Knight.

Oct 22, 2022 22:53:59 GMT @aaron said:

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!

I feel like this is the GOAT MMA movie so far. 

Never Back Down, is a damn good throw-a-way sort of MMA movie.

I watched Hocus Pocus for the first time in years.

It's...OK. A lot of people seem to be really really obsessed with it, but I'm not sure why. It's fun, but it just feels like there's something missing for it to be a real classic. 

It's not awful, but it's not amazing either. Definite 3/5 stuff.

Nostalgia @aaron

It's the same reason why I think The Mighty Ducks is an amazing movie.

I think you're right nath45.47 - I only saw it once or twice as a kid, so it never really made much of an imprint on me! I just remember having confusing feelings about Sarah Jessica Parker.

I've never seen The Mighty Ducks (only the cartoon where they were literally ducks)! Maybe I'll watch that soon.

Casper is one of my big nostalgia movies. I haven't seen it for ages though - maybe it's best left in the past, in case I realise it's not that good after all!

My 3 year old and I watched Casper a few nights ago, as I think we've seen Minions and the Madagascar movies more times than I'd like to admit. It wasn't awful.

On a side note, he thought the old Simpsons Halloween Episodes were hilarious.

Terrifier 2:

Goriest film I’ve ever seen on the big screen, perfect film for Halloween night.

Werewolf by night:
Black & white throwback to old school monster films, it’s not even an hour long so worth checking out on Disney+.

Every childhood movie I loved as a kid just makes me feel emotional as an adult.

The Land Before Time
The Sandlot Kids
Jumanji

etc.

To add to the nostalgia list...

Small Soldiers, Homeward Bound, Beethoven, Little Giants, Babe, Major Payne, Lost In Space, Free Willy, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Movie, The Pagemaster, Angels In The Outfield, Inspector Gadget, Doctor Doolittle, TMNT 3 (first ever movie I saw in cinemas), The Indian In The Cupboard, Balto, Muppets In Treasure Island, Neverending Story II, My Favourite Martian, We're Back A Dinosaurs Story, Flipper, Once Upon A Forest, Cats Don't Dance, Ed.

I saw a clip from Terrifier 2 where one of the victims gets scalped and brutally murdered afterwards - not for me!

Oct 31, 2022 13:21:09 GMT System said:

Terrifier 2:

Goriest film I’ve ever seen on the big screen, perfect film for Halloween night.

Werewolf by night:
Black & white throwback to old school monster films, it’s not even an hour long so worth checking out on Disney+.

Didn't know it was finally out. Terrifier 2 is my next.

Hocus Pocus 2

I LOVED it!

I thought it was better than the first movie in absolutely every way and I'll probably watch it again someday!

Oct 31, 2022 20:16:19 GMT @aaron said:

Hocus Pocus 2

I LOVED it!

I thought it was better than the first movie in absolutely every way and I'll probably watch it again someday!

We did too. 

That doesn't happen often.

Diamonds Are Forever

What a comedown after OHMSS. This was absolutely awful. It's made me want to never watch another movie ever again.

The opening scene was cool, then it all just spiralled out of control. After that, it was 50% stupid and 50% absolute nonsense. Awful!

Weird was absolutely hilarious. Radcliffe killed as Al. Half a biography on Al, half traditional rock biopic, and half a sequel to UHF. It is hilarious in the same way UHF was hilarious and it is overly dramatic. Radcliffe brings the edge of the musical Al to the character and it is great.

Goldeneye

After the pain of Diamonds Are Forever, I decided to jump years ahead to watch a Bond I'd already seen (and liked).

Did I still like it?

I did!

This was the second Bond movie I ever saw as a kid and I think I liked it even better this time around. The story is exciting - it makes sense and isn't too ridiculous. It's got the best chase scene of any Bond movie I've seen so far (the tank!) and Brosnan is a good 007. He's kind of a middle point between Connery and Craig - not too stupid, but not overly serious and miserable either.

The contrast between Natalya (a relatively "normal" person as Bond girls go) and Xenia (literally the horniest person on the planet) was funny too.

The only things that let it down a little were some shots that were obviously miniatures (they looked like something out of Thunderbirds) and some tacky sex jokes that would have made Austin Powers cringe.

But those are very minor complaints. It's an excellent movie! 

I enjoyed the Weird Al movie as well.

It originated as a Funny or Die skit from 2010 and featured a few young actors of that era like Aaron Paul (the long lost brother of Jake and Logan) and Olivia Wilde. The whole joke was doing a rise and fall movie based on one of the most non-controversial figures in music, Weird Al following all the usual plot beats. It's an idea that may have originated from a 1999 episode of Behind The Music where Al joked about all the outrageous rockstar stories and how lame he comes across in comparison.

Anyways, Roku decided to get into the movie streaming game and this is one of those ideas that's been floating so they pulled the trigger. It's one of those movies that's easy to make because you can call in so many favours and get so many celebrities to pop up as well as get the right actors on board.

The decision to cast Radcliffe was one of the big talking points heading into the movie. He makes a terrible Al because he's nothing alike, but it works for the movie because it comes off like Dan Radcliffe is playing himself playing Weird Al in the deluded hopes he's going to win an Oscar. Meanwhile Rachel Evan Wood actually plays a believable Madonna and really elevates the movie when she's on screen, which is important because that's where the movie diverges from the original skit.

One thing I was worried about going into the movie was their capacity to take a 3 minute sketch and turn it into a 90 minute feature. I just thought they'd bloat the sketch out but the movie does have some interesting developments. Firstly, Weird Al decides mid-way through he no longer wants to be a satirist and wants to write his own original music. So after an acid trip, he writes Eat It, which in universe pre-dates MJ's song. However MJ ends up parodying Al and that's what sends his life into a tailspin as he can't handle the bantz meanwhile Madonna is trying desperately for Al to parody her song so she can double her record songs.

Madonna's desire is actually somewhat based on reality where a mutual friend wanted Al to write Like A Surgeon based on Like A Virgin. Al usually doesn't take requests, but this one was too good to ignore and it ended up charting.

What works about the movie is that it feels true to an Al movie. It's not a cutting edge movie nor does it take itself too seriously. Instead it feels like a movie that could have been written during the time of Naked Gun which was the peak of his career. It's dad joke after dad joke and right when you think the movie won't get you, it'll eventually wear you down. For me, the best joke was right at the end which I won't spoil but it was good.

Not a must see movie, but it feels like one of those movies you could put on during an afternoon and be entertained by. It moves at a brisk pace, everyone seems to be having fun and it's largely an upbeat crowd pleaser of a movie.

As far as Weird Al in general goes, I haven't actually had that much exposure to him. I first came across him back in 1999 for The Saga Begins song. Then little by little, I'd see him pop up on Space Ghost or randomly come across one of his music videos. When I got my iPod mini, Weird Al was one of the few artists who made the initial cut (Amish Paradise and Smells Like Nirvana). My brother was more of a fan than me and actually convinced my Old Man to take the entire family to see him in concert down the Gold Coast for the Straight Outta Lynwood concert. However it turned out it was smack dab in middle of exams and after cramming for back to back exams with an exam the next day I was running on fumes. Supposedly it was one of the best concerts the family ever saw and that stayed true to this day, all I have is a Weird Al shirt to remind me.

After that I came to really respect Al as a musician and just how diverse he is. He's covered multiple genres over multiple years and he just comes across as a relatable level-headed guy.

Also love the art-work for his debut album.

I thought it was a Robert Crumb comission at first, which would have been a fun cross-over.

My take was Radcliffe was playing the Weird Al from his music, not the real Weird Al. And in the parodies, Al has a harder edge to him that he lacks in reality. Also he mixes in some of that UHF overacting that Al himself did. I thought it worked and was hilarious.

I grew up on Al and he was my first favorite music thing, so may have a different perspective.

Also if not familiar with Guns Akimbo, Radcliffe loves these intense crazy characters.  He brought some of the insanity from that film, into this one.

Is it all kayfabe? None of it really happened?

Nov 7, 2022 17:41:21 GMT c said:

My take was Radcliffe was playing the Weird Al from his music, not the real Weird Al. And in the parodies, Al has a harder edge to him that he lacks in reality. Also he mixes in some of that UHF overacting that Al himself did. I thought it worked and was hilarious.

I grew up on Al and he was my first favorite music thing, so may have a different perspective.

Also if not familiar with Guns Akimbo, Radcliffe loves these intense crazy characters.  He brought some of the insanity from that film, into this one.

Radcliffe goes for it, and you can hear some of Al's inflections when he's pushed but you never get lost in the performance. That's why it worked for me, the overly pushed Hollywood guy who's all jacked playing this part he's not suited for, but the fact he puts his all into it and is having fun makes it work.

I'd like to think Al saw Swiss Army Man and decided he needed to be played by the guy who played a flatulent corpse.

Is it all kayfabe? None of it really happened?

A lot of the events are based on things that actually happened, but the movie runs away and exaggerates thing.

The biggest lie in the movie is that his parents forbade him from playing the piano accordian. It was actually his mother insisted he played the piano accordian instead of the guitar, because Al was a loner as a kid so it'd make him self sufficient. Talk about satellite parenting, they lived next door to the school, so his mum would spy on him with binoculars.