I find this post to be very triggering. It's a clear violation of my boundaries and quite frankly, the level of microaggression being displayed towards the LGBTQ+ community is reminiscent of a bygone era. Wake up people! The future is gay! It's cute that straight people think they're still in control.

I don't know when my post morphed from Hill's therapy speech to Billy on the Street.

Bottoms was a strange strange movie. Really out there stuff.

The Creator - 3.75/5

Typical plot. But very well done here.

Watching a silly movie called "Theater Camp"

That’s one guy who will be abused by his female partners and two guys who will probably dissect and wear any woman crazy enough to endure them for any length of time.

Passengers - 6.5/10

Started off alright, but then feel like I would have done things a lot differently in the end.

Watching a movie called Jules. It stars Ben Kingsley and it has to do with aliens

So far so good

Saw Across the Spiderverse…exceeded my expectations

Watching Pearl. Thanks for the recommendation, slik :y:

Like half way through the new pet sematary prequel. not bad.

Passage to India 6/10

A historical epic, based on a novel by E.M. Forster and directed by David Lean (Dr. Zhivago; Lawrence of Arabia, etc), set in India during the British Raj of the 1920s. The film mainly focuses on the relationships between Aziz Ahmad, an Indian doctor, with a number of colonials, including a teacher at a local college and two women newly arrived from Britain, one of whom accuses Aziz of rape after experiencing some kind of episode in a mystical cave. The film also studies the prejudices and political tensions of the period.

At 2 hours 45 minutes long or so, I found my attention wandering at around the 90-minute mark, though I almost switched off in the early stages as I found the Aziz character so obsequious and child-like that it irked me. However, Judy Davis, playing the woman that accuses Aziz of rape, and Peggy Ashcroft, as her older friend, both do well in their roles.

Everyone watch V/H/S/85 and try to connect the dots. Report back

The Equalizer 3 6/10

They didn't even pretend to create any sort of adversity for Denzel's character.

Even though its weak, I did like the Italian setting, and I liked the darker tone (they weren't light films to begin with), which is why I give it a higher rating than it probably deserves.

Watched "Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make Believe" documentary..... very emotional.... def shed a few tears....

Watching “The Mill” now, good opening. Like a Squid Game type set up but with L’il Rel in it. I watch a lot of films with subtitles on nowadays just because I hate missing dialogue but sometimes it turns up some odd mistakes… right now the caption claims a guard is whistling “Yankee Doodle” when in fact it is clearly Beethoven’s 9th Symphony “Ode To Joy”.

Annoying.

L’il Rel is so watchable, even when he’s playing a dumbass.

I’m coming to terms with how quickly I’d buckle and embrace the situation in the film rather than fight it. I’d have a better game plan though.

This film is a lot better than the reviews suggest, it’s almost a horror version of “Office Space” and the psychology is spot on. It’s not hard to watch a film that focuses the camera on L’il Rel for the duration, he’s great.

One of the few times this sort of ending actually makes sense. Black Mirror has played around with it a few times.

I watched The Last American Virgin because of a WatchMojo video. I'm assuming it was a popular movie back in the day. That damn jezebel, Diane Franklin!

Brotherhood of the Wolf (Les Pactes des Loups): Director's Cut 7/10

A monster-hunting horror/martial arts action film set in 1760s France.

A film so ridiculous that only the French could make it work.

Cristophe Gans can suck my balls.

just saw SAW 10..perdy good.

Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special was fun

Elemental - 8.5/10

All Disney/Pixar movies lately seem to be about family expectations....

It's probably my favorite movie of the year.

I still really enjoyed it, yeah... just saying, between Encanto/Turning Red/Elemental... definitely a theme going on. Probably some others that I forgot.

I enjoyed “Nandor Fodor And The Talking Mongoose” last night, it’s another one of Pegg’s oddities but it was fine to fritter away an hour and a half.

Watching a highly rated horror that sucks and makes me hate teenagers called “Talk To Me”. It’s not scary, it just keeps setting up situations where I think “kids are dicks” with a side of “I cannot sympathise with this level of stupidity”.

I know all kids aren’t this stupid or dickheaded because we don’t celebrate school shootings.

Watching "The Burial" on Prime. Jamie Foxx is underrated.

I’m waiting for Good Burger 2 to see how those guys are doing these days. It’s just a shame that Abe Vigoda died.

Killers of the Flower Moon - 7/10

Screen play has numerous fundamental issues. Its more of a court stenographer than a narrative structure. Lacks any adversarial element until the 3rd act, 2.5 hours into the picture. Jesse Plemons should have been cast in DiCaprio's role. Both the script and the editing could have used some oversight.

Loved the 3rd act though. Definitely saved the film from being a 6.

Saw "No One Will Save You" :sigh:

I liked it. Very tense in some moments. Usually grey aliens just feel like weird looking humans, but they made them feel truly alien and unnerving with their strange mannerisms and sounds.

Watching The Birdcage for the first time. Nathan Lane is an absolute delight.

I don't think it was a bad movie. Even the ending was an interesting choice. I thought Kaitlyn Dever was fine except for the parts where she'd breathe heavily and make noises from her mouth to compensate for the lack of dialogues.

Calista Flockhart looks a lot like Debbie Downer.

Hank Azaria is too much <3

White Mischief 6.5/10

Romantic drama set in Kenya during the early 1940s, starring Charles Dance, Joss Ackland, and Greta Scacchi. Scacchi's character marries a much older member of the landed gentry (Ackland), and they relocate to Kenya. There, she starts an affair with Dance's character, who is a captain in the army and is part of some social circle who seem to be bonking one another. Dance's character is subsequently murdered, and the husband is put on trial for the killing.

I don't know what to make of the film, other than Scacchi's boobs are divine; I didn't know she had such a nice rack.

Seen any good movies lately?

I watched speed yesterday and asteroid city today.id say yes

Watching WarGames. It's surprisingly great for its time.

Watching Fiddler on the Roof atm because I saw it was "leaving" Amazon Prime at the end of the week...

Everyone leaves Lock Jaw eventually 🥹

Watching Benedict Cumbersomebatch's The Courier.

The Painted Veil 7.5/10

Film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel, starring Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber and Toby Jones. I haven't read the book, though I'm generally a fan of Maugham's work, so I can't say whether the deviations from the original source material (which there are) are for good or ill. A great story, however. Norton and Watts, especially the latter, give fine performances, and Jones is as dependable as ever.

There is some serious scenery porn; I would love to visit the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China.

I watched that film about ten years ago and it bummed me out big time, it is a pretty good performance piece but man alive is it bleak.

Apparently, the book is even bleaker.

The Fabelmans - 8/10

Was pretty good, didn't want it to end so suddenly. Also, the whole movie I thought that Paul Dano was John Hodgeman and was like "I didn't know he could play serious"

The Fabelmans was an amazing movie. Such stellar performances.

Soylent Green 7/10

Another bleak film to while away the evening. Charlton Heston gives one of his better performances, playing an uncouth cop; a product of his environment, who seems to teeter on the edge when confronted with finery, juxtaposed with the degradation and poverty that he and the vast majority of people are forced to endure.

Watching "All About My Mother"

Didn't know Penelope Cruz was a part of this

Nightmare on Elm Street 6/10

Comically bad. The acting is terrible, especially from the woman who plays Nancy's mother. It's inventiveness is its saving grace.

Halloween Ends. 0/10


What a waste of a fucking movie. I predicted the entire movie's plot within the first 15 minutes. I fell asleep within 35 minutes. Had no interest in finishing it. My wife told me the rest of the movie. Instead, I told her what I thought it'd be and was correct.

Biggest waste of time.

Which one? '84 or 2014?

It’ll be the original. That being said I think I’m the only person that liked the remake but that’s mostly down to loving Jackie Earl Haley

Killers of the Flower Moon - 3/5

Probably could have been chopped a bit. I know Leo loves working with his "Dad" Scorsese. But he didn't fit the role.

I got too excited about that film before I remembered how dreadful Scorsese can be at times. Now it feels like an albatross.

The Cement Garden - 2.5/4

It’s like “Flowers In The Attic” turned up to eleven. The only reason I watched it was the style of cinematography, it felt like I was having a dream where I watched somebody else’s dream. Very strange but wonderfully put together, much like a Philip Ridley film without the beauty of the terror. It could conceivably be called a masterpiece by a Frenchman.

I should watch “The Reflecting Skin” and “The Passion Of Darkly Noon” again.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On - 9/10

Weird movie but oddly compelling....

I got a Mubi subscription. You know what that means...

Mysterious Skin was incredibly heart wrenching

I watched that film when I was about twenty and I still think about it from time to time. The bath attack is pretty grim stuff, it exists in a category with “Happiness” and “L.I.E.”.

If you want to turn the anxiety up to 11 you could always watch an Austrian film called “Michael”.

The Marvels - 2 and 3/4 stars out of 4.

It's certainly better than the original and it manages to get by on the character interactions and some cool action scenes via the swapping gimmick. It's nice to also see consequences from the choices Carol has made and see how it's dealt with. It's not really a compelling story, in fact it's as standard as it gets for the MCU. It'll be rough for it to grab your attention outside a few highlights, notably the hilarious way the Flerkens "help" before the climax. Nothing really special overall. I'm just glad it checked off some of my boxes, even if some of the interactions could have been longer.

Stick around for a MAJOR mid-credit scene that tackles the fate of one of the characters and raising questions about the future of the MCU. It's the only post film scene so no need to wait.

The Marvels - 4/10

It wasnt as bad as the eternals. The script is just occurrences happening for the sake of happening. They nearly never build off each other its just "and then this happens." Many times its perfectly clear youre seeing a scene left over from a different version of the film.

For instance there's a big battle on a water world and after the team lands in a weat field. They get out and resolve an argument. Problem is the conflict didnt occur. The previous scene they were laughing and dancing with Kahn mere seconds prior gushing about Danvers only to need them to reconcile literal seconds later.

The entire film runs like this. The b plot has no stakes and in fact most of the film doesnt. Photon and the villain i wouldnt even describe as developed poorly they arent developed at all. The jokes dont land. The resolution is a joke.



Its indefensible.

And dont get me started on the contrivances

Wasn't the conflict Carol overcompensating, you know, the fact that she felt like a failure for so many years? I agree that things needed some more time, but I think that was the point they were trying to get across.

No, it wasnt. All 3 apologize. Kahn apologizes for over idolizong Danvers. Spmething that had never came up once as a point of contention.

At some point there was clearly a scene where they all had a falling out this scene, where theyre randomly in a wheat field btw, is clearly from another edit. Btw after this random out of place scene theyre back on earth. For the audience this is seconds later after being in another galaxy.

The entire film is as spastic as s8 of game of thrones

Sounds like Superman IV: The Quest for Peace where suddenly they are in different locations because of cut scenes....

Absolutely. I think theres an easy 45 min cut out with much smaller scenes slotted in to fill the gaps

Went back to the early 90s and watched In The Line Of Fire. 8/10. I wasn't blown away or anything but, goddamn, Malkovich at his bombastic, creepy best, and Clint doing his thing is always a pleasure.

Rene Russo is in it too. She holds her own with Clint and some of their earlier scenes in particular definitely wouldn't sit well today, but are absolutely fucking hilarious. And it made me sad that Rene's "type" doesn't really exist anymore. I guess you could argue the likes of Charlize Theron fill that void but she's almost too big of a name.

Maybe a bit long but it moves briskly enough. I love the idea that while the Malkovich and Eastwood characters have plenty in common, Clint never buys into it. Any time Malkovich tries to find a middle ground between the two, Clint is like, "Nah fuck off you greezy creep," and pays it little mind after that. While the character has his doubts, he never has that overwrought crisis of confidence where he's like "MAYBE I'M THE BAD GUY."

Dylan McDermott is in In The Line Of Fire too, and he is an utter doofus. One of the funniest deaths I've ever seen in a serious film.

You didn’t even mention the plastic handmade gun…

That’s the best thing about that movie. I love that bit. I think Frank Drebin likes it too because there was some news story not so long ago that reminded us of it.
It’s the top reason to carry a lucky rabbits foot.

My mum used to have a dummy bullet in her purse for some reason. It was just a casing really but the stupid bitch brought it on a flight by mistake once and it rolled out onto the walkway. Somebody picked it up and a stewardess took it away but nothing happened when we landed. This was in the early 90’s when you could do shit like that without getting in trouble.

I watched “Assault On Precinct 13” last night which I have seen before and kind of forgotten about. John Carpenter was not great with stock character dialogue but damn was he great at letting proper actors take the stage before, and after the major set pieces. Carpenter’s corn is good quality corn.

Was the gun plastic or wood?

Frankly, my favourite part of the movie was Marty Crane (John Mahoney) getting to be Clint Eastwood's incredibly inept boss.

It’s some sort of plastic or composite, it’s definitely not wooden.

It was resin, per my Google search. Woulda been cooler if it was made of weed resin.

I saw Zero Fucks Given (Rien à foutre)

felt very raw at times

I'm watching Decision to Leave. Enjoying Mubi's offerings thus far.

The Holdovers- 4.5/5

Summer School + The Breakfast Club + less comedy. Very good movie.

“Old Henry” - 4/4

A story this predictable should hold no surprises for the viewer, but by some small miracle the pacing and the scene development combine with the deadpan acting to create what I can only call a masterpiece. It should be a stupid film to be honest, it could have gone totally wrong but it was made with reverence and great talent. It’s how the story is told, not how good the story is that pulls this up to instant classic status.

Tim Blake Nelson is never bad in anything, but this might be the best thing he ever did. He’s a sight to behold.

The Creator - 6.5/10

I appreciate someone trying to make original sci-fi that isn't part of a franchise or a reboot/revival of something.... but it was just "ok".

That dude is a bad mother. You talk about a loan shark. I borrowed a nickel from him last week. He said if I didn't give him a dime by Friday, he'd break my arm.

The Marvels - 5/10

Everything felt terribly rushed, especially the start of the movie and setting up the whole switching places thing (which they would then establish how it works, only to consistently and frequently ignore when convenient)

Forgettable villain and plot, just rushing from scene to scene.

Napoleon - 3/5

Nothing fancy or great here. Starting to wish Ridley Scott would get away from the historical films and get back to something original.

The Verdict from 1982. What a fucking movie. 9.5 or 10/10. Paul Newman... my god. I prefer him as a drunk, down-on-his-luck ambulance-chasing lawyer than I've enjoyed him in anything else. And Charlotte Rampling was amazing as this sort of femme fatale type.

Need to watch more Mammet and Lumet beyond Glengarry (Mammet) and Dog Day (Lumet).

*Mamet

Watch “The Edge” from 1997. It’s a ludicrous but enjoyable survival romp led by Baldwin and Hopkins. Quality shit.

He doesn’t do original anymore, he’s so devoid of originality that his “new” shit is just sequels to his old shit.

That just makes me want to pronounce it David Mammay.

Gonna make myself read American Buffalo after I'm done Heat 2.

Agreed. It's either something from the Alien franchise or a historical story that comes across his desk.

Enjoyed A Good Year. That was different.

“Butcher’s Crossing” - 2.5/4

This is an adaptation of a novel listed alongside “Blood Meridian” as Western genre classics, and if it is anything to go by, “Blood Meridian” must excel in the areas of storytelling where your imagination does the hard work for you. Bleak but beautiful, fancy but old-hat cinematography combines with bleak, tiring and deeply insincere dialogue to create a vast expanse of wasted opportunity for actors to act. In fact there is only one entirely solid performance, it is not Nicolas Cage, and that character arc is actually sensible up to a point… but it’s culmination is disgracefully reimagined for the screen in a way that almost ruins the character build. I had to look the novel up to make sure it was a deliberate change and not an actual adaptation because it was so incredibly deflating when it happened on screen.

After that all bets are off and Nic Cage goes all Nic Cage again. Thankfully it is a short ride to the credits by then.

This could have been an intelligent wee film from the plot itself, but the way it is handled is a great shame. It may just have taken itself too seriously, but I defy any viewer to hear some of the extraneous dialogue and not want to punch the TV.

Clint Eastwood was treading a unique level of brilliance when he made “High Plains Drifter” and “Pale Rider”… pure, bare, all story and performance cut down to essentials. Then he made “Unforgiven” which is so obviously the greatest anti-western ever made that I shudder to compare it to anything.

However…

It’s as close to John Wayne doing “Rio Bravo”, “El Dorado” and “The Shootist” as it gets without being remotely similar in terms of style. One actor embraces the insider, one embraces the outsider but both play one man armies that help towns overcome themselves and their enemies.

I love this genre.