PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Mar 2, 2020 14:29:30 GMT -5
Mother (2009)Mother (not to be confused with Darren Aronofsky's mother!) is one of Bong Joon-ho's earlier films about an unnamed mother (Kim Hye-ja) in a small South Korean town whose son (Won Bin) finds himself accused of the murder of a teenage girl, and her subsequent search for the truth to clear her son's name. This marks the third of Bong Joon-ho's films I've seen after Snowpiercer and Parasite, and it's oh so obvious that this dude has long been a master of his craft, cause like those other two films, I loved Mother as well. He knows how to balance genre elements with deep and interesting stories and character work, and Mother is no different. It's framed as a murder mystery, but uses those trappings to really dig in deep with these characters, especially the title one. And Kim Hye-ja is more than up to the task, cause she gives an often devastating performance that really gets across her character's desperation and her love for her son. Once the plot kicks in, I'm pretty sure Hye-ja is in every scene and fortunately, she's more than up to the task of anchoring this thing and she does so in what can be described as a masterclass of acting. But on top of that, the story unfolds in a very compelling way. As all good mysteries should, it presents the evidence and then doles out information in such a way where you can oftentimes go back and forth with what you believe and what actually happened. The script comes up with a good way in presenting that kind of storytelling device, too, by giving the son a mental disability that often affects his memory. Plus, the presentation of that disability never comes off as too maudlin but is instead mined for drama just the right amount and in just the right ways. From a directorial standpoint, too, this is great. Bong again shows just how well he can grasp tone because even in a story like this that can often get fairly heavy, he still finds moments of natural humor that don't feel forced -- plus, he gets some pretty striking imagery more than once. So, yeah, Mother is another win for me where Bong Joon-ho is concerned and he's officially become a director who I'll see whatever he puts out.
****/****
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Mar 5, 2020 13:39:19 GMT -5
The Informer (1935)
The Informer was actually the first film John Ford won a Best Director Oscar for (he still holds the record with four wins) but it doesn't have the same legacy as his more famous films. To be sure, the film hasn't aged as gracefully as Stagecoach or The Grapes of Wrath in terms of cinematic technique and generally feels a lot more dated, particularly in the over-the-top quality of the performances. Taken on its own terms though, The Informer is quite good. The film tells the story of a desperate IRA member who sells out a friend for some cash and the resulting guilt that tears him apart. Ford bathes the set in a deep, atmospheric fog, and much of the film relies on some very sharp visual storytelling. I was also surprised by just how action heavy the film was willing to get, from an early attempted escape and murder to the film's bullet-fueled climax. All of this is as excitingly rendered as you'd expect from the man who made Stagecoach.
If The Informer has any weakness, it's clear that the film is based on a short story and I do think it pads out its runtime just a bit. Still, I was honestly surprised by just how good The Informer ended up being. There's some clear influence from Fritz Lang's M in both the thriller elements and cinematography and while Ford's film never rises to those heights, it's still an undeniably strong work made with great skill.
A-
In for next round.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 5, 2020 14:01:40 GMT -5
Glad you dug it! It's one of those movies that I'm hoping will get a worthy blu-ray upgrade sooner rather than later.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 5, 2020 17:17:00 GMT -5
I just feel like saying if you guys think you loved the movies you got, it's nothing compared to how much I loved the movie I got.
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Mar 6, 2020 10:01:44 GMT -5
I'm in for next round whenever that is.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Mar 6, 2020 10:27:49 GMT -5
Same goes for me.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 6, 2020 10:38:58 GMT -5
Cool, anyone else in for next round? I think we only have Nilade (and does IanTheCool still have a review from rounds past?), I'll try to get a new one up early next week.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Mar 6, 2020 10:42:23 GMT -5
Cool, anyone else in for next round? I think we only have Nilade (and does IanTheCool still have a review from rounds past?), I'll try to get a new one up early next week. I’m in, sir.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 6, 2020 10:52:40 GMT -5
I can join next round.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 6, 2020 12:43:31 GMT -5
I'm in
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Nilade
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Post by Nilade on Mar 6, 2020 18:17:57 GMT -5
Cool, anyone else in for next round? I think we only have Nilade (and does IanTheCool still have a review from rounds past?), I'll try to get a new one up early next week. I’m in, sir. Try to have mine in this weekend. Starting a new job next week, so my be sitting out a round.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 6, 2020 20:07:47 GMT -5
Mine will be up tonight or tomorrow. That movie gave me a lot to digest and regurgitate.
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Deexan
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Post by Deexan on Mar 6, 2020 20:24:22 GMT -5
Ian is dead.
I murdered him.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 6, 2020 20:54:34 GMT -5
I wouldn't be surprised if it was this thread. It killed Jibbs too.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 7, 2020 15:42:18 GMT -5
Hell Comes to FrogtownAs much as I wanted to do Neverending's favorite movie of all time, 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain, as soon as I saw this movie on his list of chicken shit Playing with Fire wannabes, I knew this had to be the one. It is post nuclear apocalypse, and most of mankind is now infertile. Rowdy Roddy Piper plays Sam Hell (lol) who impregnates every woman he screws. His genitalia is now deemed property of the government and he gets fancy locked underwear that says just that, also designed to give him a shock to the shamies if he misbehaves and just plain blow his junk off if they feel like it. He then accompanies a sexy nurse and a sexy marine into a town of mutant frog men to save a group of sex slaves so they can take them back to the government and impregnate them. This is very much a premise made up by people who clearly wanted to make a softcore porno, but they accidentally raised a couple of grand extra for the budget, so they tried to make a real movie instead. Hell Comes to Frogtown is like watching a triple feature of Planet of the Apes, the Super Mario Bros. movie, and Wild Women of Wongo on acid and having all three blur together into one glorious whole. This is the greatest movie I've ever seen. I don't care what garbage PG Cooper and Dracula are listing in their "Worse than Death to Smoochy" top 100 lists, this movie makes them all eat shit and tells them to get fucked. If you're tired of pussy assed movies with impotent main characters like Joker and Mad Max: Fury Road making you flaccid ( Doomsday), here's a real movie to make you hard without the magic of a blue pill. Roddy Piper is our main character, and I've never thought I'd see a movie with so many references to his wedding tackle. Every other sentence is about how important his nuts are to the future of mankind, and every second scene is a woman trying to use it to their advantage (including frog women), and him going "Aw shucks. I guess if I have to." There is even one scene where a woman is heavily drugged and his nurse escort forces him to date rape her because it's his job. When the woman snaps out of it, she thanks him enthusiastically and gives him a hug. I think I speak for Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby when I say it's a bout time. Fairness to people who fuck unconscious people in media has been a long time coming, and those who slip their dick inside those too doped to stand should really be appreciated for their efforts. The makers of that Promising Young Woman movie coming out should really have viewed this film so they can portray their subject in a more honest and fair manner. The things that made me absolutely fall in love with this movie were the frog costumes, though. They're not surprisingly lacking expression, but they're more detailed than I expected them to be and they both look good and amusing at the same time. Kudos to Steve Wang for these glorious creatures, if only because in a movie with this many penis jokes it's fun to see the surname "Wang" in the credits. Two intentional comedy bits that made me lol: 1. There's a point when Piper makes his dominatrix nurse caretaker mad by tearing up his contract. They cut to the van stopping and him being thrown out as the van drives off. At this point his C4 underwear starts beeping and he realizes if his proximity alarm gets too far away from the nurse his cock explosives will go boom. In a desperate attempt to save his batch, he runs after the van. 2. In the afore mentioned non-SJW friendly date rape scene, the nurse is the one who pushes him into banging the sleeping cave woman. Her first attempt to relay this message to him is by whipping out a stop watch and saying "And...go." In conclusion, this movie was far more impactful on me than anything nominated for an Oscar in the last thirty years. What a movie!
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 8, 2020 14:10:33 GMT -5
We've got 7 for the next round, anyone else want to throw their hat in the ring?
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 9, 2020 12:29:14 GMT -5
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 9, 2020 12:53:01 GMT -5
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Mar 9, 2020 13:04:41 GMT -5
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Mar 9, 2020 13:06:33 GMT -5
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 9, 2020 13:14:19 GMT -5
I don't think I've seen any of those, so I can work with that. I'll try to have a list by tomorrow. I have a full afternoon.
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Nilade
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Post by Nilade on Mar 9, 2020 15:04:33 GMT -5
Nilade , get yours in when you can. It's a coming, sorry for the lateness. All I can say is, clean your Keurig machines at least once every three months, unless you want to end up like how I was the past 3 days.
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Mar 9, 2020 15:56:20 GMT -5
Nilade , get yours in when you can. It's a coming, sorry for the lateness. All I can say is, clean your Keurig machines at least once every three months, unless you want to end up like how I was the past 3 days. You cant just leave us hanging. Kidney infection? Dry cough? Second degree groin burns?
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 9, 2020 15:59:50 GMT -5
What did the Keurig do to you?
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 9, 2020 17:32:40 GMT -5
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