thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Jun 15, 2020 22:34:19 GMT -5
I watched Short Term 12 tonight. Review up probably Wednesday.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Jun 15, 2020 22:47:59 GMT -5
Wait. You didn’t like the movie? Is that the joke? I hated it. It's been a while but I had a hard time getting through it. Torture Porn?
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jun 15, 2020 22:59:16 GMT -5
I hated it. It's been a while but I had a hard time getting through it. Torture Porn? Mostly I remember it being annoying and obnoxious.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Jun 15, 2020 23:15:26 GMT -5
Mostly I remember it being annoying and obnoxious. Video essay on Torture Porn
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jun 15, 2020 23:21:45 GMT -5
The Wolf’s Call (2019) We’re really used to seeing highbrow arthouse movies out of France, but the truth of the matter is that the general population of that country is about as interested in stupid Hollywood stuff as anybody. You look at the top ten of their box office any given year and it has all the same Disney produced stuff you’d expect on the domestic box office and among their own native cinema you quickly learn that they make quite a lot of not so artistic domestic product that we just don’t see over here (and this is true of most countries BTW). The highest grossing French movie last year, for example was not Portrait of a Lady on Fire (which was number 128 at the French box office between the movies Ma and Vice) but a Meet the Parents looking comedy called Serial (Bad) Weddings 2. The number 33 movie on that same list (inbetween It: Chapter 2 and Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy) was this submarine movie that has likely only been distributed here at all because Netflix acquired the worldwide rights to it, likely mainly for the purposes of serving their French customers.
Now, I don’t describe the film in this way in order to denigrate it, but more to classify it as the movies isn’t exactly “stupid” or anything but it does hue closer to Hollywood than what we’re usually exposed to in French cinema and it has some tonal issues. The film opens with a French sub being used to exfiltrate a SEAL (or whatever their SEAL equivalent is) team out of Syria when they’re attacked by a mysterious Helicopter that they shoot down with a rocket launcher. From there they spend some time back in France before embarking on another mission. It’s not the easiest movie to summarize in a single logline without spoiling, for much of the movie it’s not even clear who the “bad guys” are. Much of it centers on this Hollywood style hero played by François Civil who is basically a “Jack Ryan in Hunt For Red October” figure who is technically low rank but tends to be right about everything and needs to convince the upper brass of his correctness. So this is all pretty mediocre for the first half but things do start to get a bit more serious in the second half, but I’m not sure the film had really built the foundation it needed to really sustain it. Along the way there are some exciting moments but I’m not sure it ever really congeals. If “French Submarine movie” sounds fun to you I wouldn’t push you away, it’s certainly passable, but it’s no Das Boot. *** out of Five
Compulsion (2016) I’m not really sure how to review this thing as it’s very much the kind of “movie” that people don't really expect to be “good.” This described as an “erotic thriller” but it’s basically just softcore porn of the kind they used to play late at night on Cinemax. Well, maybe it’s not quite as plotless as those were. There’s kind of a weird psychological horror thing going on in it which takes up enough screen time for Netflix to call it a regular movie with a bit more of a straight face and its generally less tongue in cheek than the “skinimax” movies used to be but make no mistake this very much an excuse to get this Analeigh Tipton lady naked and occasionally watch her have lesbian sex, and I won’t deny that some of those scenes are somewhat… effective… at what they’re trying to do, but we live in a world where people no longer have to sit through bullshit movies in their entirety if that’s what they’re looking for. Occasionally some slightly (and I do mean slightly) interesting visuals pop in from the film’s horror side and the mansion they found to film in certainly looks swank, but that’s about as complimentary as I’m going to get. The plot to this thing does not make a lick of sense, and I don’t think that’s even in a “we aren’t even going to try” kind of way, it really just seems like they tried to add these “psychological” elements in but handled them all wrong and just made a total mess. The film does not have a single review filed on RottenTomatoes (though likely has several on Mr. Skin) and is frankly the kind of thing that could easily not exist at all for all I care, it is quite the waste of time. * out of Five
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Nilade
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Post by Nilade on Jun 16, 2020 0:41:06 GMT -5
Mostly I remember it being annoying and obnoxious. It's not as bad as you remember.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Jun 17, 2020 12:08:34 GMT -5
Ichi the Killer
Wow, this movie. The main reasons I selected it were 1) I've been meaning to see it for a long time and 2) I've enjoyed the Takashi Miike movies that I've seen thus far. I've watched 13 Assassins several times as it's a very entertaining samurai film, he directed a solid and faithful remake to Harakiri which is one of my favorite Japanese films, and Audition, while not a movie that's much to my taste, was still an interesting watch to say the least. Blade of the Immortal was alright, while entertaining it was very bloated and overlong. Looking at his filmography he covers a pretty wide range of genres so I was hoping that Ichi the Killer might be another venture into a different direction.
From what I gathered, Ichi the Killer is about yakuza gangs at war with each other but they're being sliced and diced by Ichi, a man bred to kill based on memories that I think were implanted where he witness a woman being raped so he wants to hunt down the bullies, or anyone resembling bullies, and kill them with his Street Fighter skills and his bladed shoe. One of the yakuza underbosses, Kakihara, takes control of his gang after his boss disappears thanks to Ichi. Kakihara is a sadomasochist and several of his scenes involve graphic, prolonged torture from men being burned with cooking oil to cutting off his own tongue. This is juxtaposed with Ichi who hunts the yakuza but also gets off on violence as evidenced by his ejaculating when watching women get beaten and raped or when he cuts someone's head off. In fact the graphic of the movie title is created out of his semen.
I'm sure bigger fans of the movie would write a more detailed, poetic synopsis but aside from the graphic nature of just about everything there are still some pretty glaring issues with it. While it moves along at a very quick speed, this is a very oddly paced, oddly constructed movie and a lot of the time it doesn't really work. There are a couple main characters amongst a sea of paper-thin secondary characters and it's very easy to get their motivations and interactions confused. Many events and characteristics are quickly established then put to the side, even those revolving around the main characters, and it makes Ichi the Killer a movie that warrants repeat viewings but not in a good way. You wouldn't go back to find some nugget that you missed, you would go back to straighten out any of the confusion that you found yourself tangled in on the first go. One of the opening scenes features a yakuza hitman who vows to find his missing boss but the movie quickly pivots to other happenings. We find our way back to him every so often to discover he has a son, was fired from the police department for losing his gun Stray Dog-style and was even an Olympic shooter but none of this amounts to anything. Kakihara, always the sadomasochist, also goes on the hunt for Ichi thinking that he might be able to deliver the amount of pain he craves but again this is lost in a swamp of seeming non-sequiturs and roadblocks. Ultimately a movie like Ichi the Killer is more frustrating than anything because I can see the point it was trying to make but there's just so much that didn't work but could have. I don't fault it for its extreme grossness, if there's a higher purpose I would be able to wrap my head around it. It was the way it was structured that could have used some work and maybe the filmmakers and writers should have taken a beat or two during production to ask themselves 'okay, what are we doing with this scene and how does it flow with the rest of the film?' It might have made a big difference.
What I'm saying is everyone reading this should go rent Ichi the Killer to watch with their mom.
C- so says Doomsday
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jun 17, 2020 20:28:52 GMT -5
I watched Killing Them Softly this afternoon and will get my review up soon. But, uh...that was...a movie.
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Jun 17, 2020 21:15:14 GMT -5
Short Term 12 (2013)
Short Term 12 centers around Grace Howard (Brie Larson), working in a group facility for troubled teenagers named for the period of time it is meant to house them before they are fostered or moved around elsewhere in the system. The kids' issues range from parental abuse and vagrancy to a kid with his entire family dead to self-mutilation. Grace is dating her co-worker Mason (John Gallagher Jr.), but despite her relative ease at supervising the teens, Grace is closed around her boyfriend. The movie lays out their differing views early on--when new intern Nate (Rami Malek) is being relayed a story of Mason tracking down an escaped teen and shitting himself, Mason chooses to focus on self-deprecation and the gallow's humor of the everyday job, whereas Grace cannot help but interject with the harsh story ending which Mason conveniently left out. Still, throughout the movie you see the true care both Grace and Mason share for the children, whether it be in their one on one room checks or the group activities they schedule to keep the kids occupied.
Based around his experiences in a similar job, director Destin Daniel Cretton tries his best to let the actors' breathe in the movie. Through much of the movie, nothing is forced. Grace's and Mason's interactions all seem genuine, but mostly as vignettes. You spend most of the time in-facility with two kids (Lakeith Stanfield's Marcus and Kaitlyn Dever's Jayden), but the other kids are given moments showing their smart-ass or stunted ways. The camerawork is mostly handheld, and even when the plot follow Grace and Mason to their relationship issues at home, you feel like you are sitting in a documentary.
When looking up the critical reaction to this movie, I saw it hailed as one of the best movies of that year. My visceral reaction to that was that the praise was overstated on a touching, if not flawed film. The film's detractors seem to view Grace's history drawing her to the job as unrealistic, but knowing a few professionals in the field I can personally vouch that their childhoods are often messed up as well. I view Grace's actions in the third act as necessary to have some sort of plot to an otherwise plotless film. This is a movie you watch for the performances; 3 of the 4 leads are excellent, and Dever's otherwise predictable performance is made whole by one stunning monologue which left me in shambles. Watch this movie for the acting and if you want to feel sad.
B
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Jun 18, 2020 18:15:41 GMT -5
The Circus
There are two universal languages: math and physical comedy. I don't know how good Chaplin is at the former, but he's a freaking genius when it comes to the latter. The Circus is a great showcase of his slapstick bits, while using this idea of the circus to tie them together in a way that doesn't make it just seem like a talent show.
Its hard not to laugh at something like monkeys biting his nose while he is trying to tightrope walk, or acting like a mechanical automaton on a fun house. And that damn donkey... I think I laughed every time.
I feel like I'm short-changing PG Cooper with such a short review, but I honestly don't have a whole lot to say other than its funny. The bits are hilarious, and the main concept of him being a draw for the audience without knowing it is funny as well. Its a short movie at just over an hour; probably just right.
9/10
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Jun 18, 2020 18:19:15 GMT -5
So so so good.
I need to dig out the Criterion and give it a watch.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Jun 18, 2020 19:44:35 GMT -5
The Circus There are two universal languages: math and physical comedy. I don't know how good Chaplin is at the former, but he's a freaking genius when it comes to the latter. The Circus is a great showcase of his slapstick bits, while using this idea of the circus to tie them together in a way that doesn't make it just seem like a talent show. Its hard not to laugh at something like monkeys biting his nose while he is trying to tightrope walk, or acting like a mechanical automaton on a fun house. And that damn donkey... I think I laughed every time. I feel like I'm short-changing PG Cooper with such a short review, but I honestly don't have a whole lot to say other than its funny. The bits are hilarious, and the main concept of him being a draw for the audience without knowing it is funny as well. Its a short movie at just over an hour; probably just right. 9/10 Hell yeah!
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jun 18, 2020 20:24:51 GMT -5
I feel like I'm short-changing PG Cooper with such a short review, but I honestly don't have a whole lot to say other than its funny. The bits are hilarious, and the main concept of him being a draw for the audience without knowing it is funny as well. Its a short movie at just over an hour; probably just right. 9/10 Totally fair. Hard to say much other than "it's hilarious". I'm really glad you liked this. The film is often overlooked in Chaplin's features given it lacks the depth or political bravery as his other features, but it's so darn funny.
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Jun 18, 2020 20:33:14 GMT -5
I love Chaplin. Modern Times has been my jam since college.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jun 24, 2020 9:52:45 GMT -5
Killing Them Softly (2012)
There's no use in beating around the bush here: Killing Them Softly is a pretty big disappointment. On paper, it has all the makings for at least a solid crime film. From the cast to its director (it's been a while but I remember thinking The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford was pretty great), the talent is certainly in place, however I think it's Andrew Dominik who's the biggest problem here. First off, I can't fault him at all for lazy direction, because a sense of tone, pacing and atmosphere is always maintained throughout the film. What I CAN fault him for, though, is the writing. Killing Them Softly starts out with some real promise, but after the first major setpiece, which is the robbery of a mob poker game that plays out without gunfire but is still incredibly tense, the movie just dropping more and more in level of interest. Nearly all of the characters in the film reveal themselves to be the typical sort of archetypes we come to expect from movies like this -- certainly well-played by the cast, but flat, cliched and rather uninteresting. Brad Pitt's Jackie Cogan is the one who's potentially the most promising character, but it feels like the film shortchanges him in favor of the others, who I couldn't care less about. Apart from the characterization, though, this movie weaves in a political statement into its narrative by way of the financial crisis from the late 2000's, and does so with about as much subtlety as a fist to the face. We constantly hear news reports about it in the background of scenes. It's easy to see that Dominik is trying to draw comparisons here between that real-life crisis and the one faced by these fictional characters. but the comparison never worked for me. It felt like the movie -- and characters -- were constantly going out of their way to acknowledge and offer their two cents on it, often to the detriment of the film and the story. If the fundamentals here worked better, maybe I wouldn't have minded that so much, but they don't and I do. At the very least, Killing Them Softly is well-acted and slickly-directed, but I found nothing on display here to really make me feel like it was anything terribly interesting.
**/****
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Jun 24, 2020 10:04:12 GMT -5
I know guys that grew up with that rapper Slaine from the movie.
They constantly shit on him and only refer to him as George whenever he drops by the bar.
Lol. Slaine.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jun 24, 2020 10:18:04 GMT -5
I only previously knew him as "that one guy from Gone Baby Gone."
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Jun 24, 2020 17:49:20 GMT -5
You guys are crushing it again. I'll get a new round early next week but let me know who wants in.
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Jun 24, 2020 17:56:10 GMT -5
I'm in
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Jun 24, 2020 17:58:01 GMT -5
In again.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Jun 24, 2020 18:19:09 GMT -5
I’m in
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jun 24, 2020 19:37:12 GMT -5
In. Also watched my movie and will have a review up soon.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jun 24, 2020 19:42:20 GMT -5
in
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Jun 24, 2020 21:58:39 GMT -5
sure
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jun 25, 2020 21:26:02 GMT -5
The Agony and the Ecstasy
Not the movie I said I was gonna watch, but I forgot that I had recorded it on my Dad's PVR so I decided to sneak it in while I was visiting for Father's Day.
The Agony and the Ecstasy comes at an interesting time in the Roadshow Epic, where the Bible movies were starting to lose their luster and Hollywood looked to new stories like formula 1 racing in Grand Prix. The Agony and the Ecstasy is perhaps bolder, focusing on Michelangelo and the creation of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The closest comparison I can think of is Amadeus in terms of Hollywood movies about classic art history, but that film, despite excellent production value, was really a character drama, whereas this is something of a blockbuster spectacle. In truth, I'm not sure The Agony and the Ecstasy really needed to be an "Epic". It's quite long and the many subplots distract from the main drama between Michelangelo and Pope Julius II. But that core drama is quite compelling, with Charlton Harrison and Rex Harrison both delivering really solid performances. The film also renders the painting of the Chapel in exquisite detail and the opening which contextualizes Michelangelo's art is also really dignified and gripping.
Overall, I wouldn't call The Agony and the Ecstasy a classic, but it's a solid Hollywood movie that I enjoyed my time with.
B
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