Movies you've recently watched
- Thread starter IncantatioN
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Ivan's Childhood (1962) - 4/5 - My second Tarkovosky film and what should have been my first but my god for a first feature-length film and directed at 30 years old, he made a fantastic anti-war flick that didn't need to focus on the battle side of war to be interesting and captivating. Fantastic performance by Nikolai Burlayayev and some of the shots in this flick, the trench-kiss scene and the final few minutes on the beach are going to stick with me for a while. Great film.
That's great to hear! I was hoping they'd pull it off and not retroactively ruin the whole thing.
Watched the new Mulan. I wouldn't call it a disappointment because the animated film was not a part of my childhood. Prior to last week, I'd maybe watched it once at a friends place aeons ago and that's it. Knowing we were going to see the live action movie this weekend, I thought it'd be a good idea to brush up on the animated Mulan. So I watched animated Mulan and thought it was pretty decent - songs were memorable and the story held up. Fast forward to seeing the live action and even as a stand alone film, it isn't good. Comparing it to the animated original, it falls deeper. Spoiler below -
I wish we could watch Tenet in the same capacity - rented online - given that theaters are closed in the US at the moment. I wonder what the studio will do when it's time for Dune to release (sometime in December). And that's a separate discussion for what I think the future of the movie watching experience to be via VR headsets for an amazing immersive experience.
The animated Mulan was a normal girl who trained hard to get to the skill level she got to. The stakes for her were higher with her cutting her hair to disguise her appearance in an army where only boys/ men were allowed to be part of. Scratch all of that for the live action Mulan where she's born with a gift of a fighting 'chi' that she's been told to suppress. She never cut her hair to disguise her appearance in a group of boys/ men while training at the army. So the stakes were a LOT different and it never hits home.
The main fight was underwhelming and quick. In fact most/ all the fights were underwhelming, choppy and most of Mulan's choices are questionable. They took out the mythical creature from the animated movie (voiced by Eddie Murphy) and instead included an animated phoenix that appears from time to time in a pretty unconvincing manner. The actress playing Mulan was the weakest actor in the film and extremely wooden. It's kinda ironic because in the beginning, while she was getting matched with the match-maker, she had a lot of make-up caked on her face and she jokes about how because of the make-up, her expressions are the same for a happy face or a sad face or some other face (whichever face she said).
The main fight was underwhelming and quick. In fact most/ all the fights were underwhelming, choppy and most of Mulan's choices are questionable. They took out the mythical creature from the animated movie (voiced by Eddie Murphy) and instead included an animated phoenix that appears from time to time in a pretty unconvincing manner. The actress playing Mulan was the weakest actor in the film and extremely wooden. It's kinda ironic because in the beginning, while she was getting matched with the match-maker, she had a lot of make-up caked on her face and she jokes about how because of the make-up, her expressions are the same for a happy face or a sad face or some other face (whichever face she said).
I wish we could watch Tenet in the same capacity - rented online - given that theaters are closed in the US at the moment. I wonder what the studio will do when it's time for Dune to release (sometime in December). And that's a separate discussion for what I think the future of the movie watching experience to be via VR headsets for an amazing immersive experience.
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Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Well, in honor of Rambo (and Stallone) coming to MK11, the missus and I watched or rewatched each of the Rambo movies, which are uneven to say the least but generally go down in quality as they proceed until the final movie is a mean-spirited cross between a Taken ripoff and a grindhouse exploitation picture, "Rambo with a Shotgun." Here we go.
First Blood - This is actually a very good early 80s action-thriller with enough 70's cynicism to give it some real dramatic weight, and the meltdown at the end is one of Stallone's best performances. The flipside is it also perpetuates right-wing myths about public support for Vietnam while largely sparing the government that too often abandons those that have served once they're no longer of use to them, though Rambo does subtly call out Colonel Trautman for not being around when he needed him. This relationship is an odd one going forward because it feels largely one-sided, with Rambo genuinely trusting Trautman, who until midway through the second movie only seems to be manipulating Rambo. Still, these questions are merely food for thought in an otherwise effective film that would become Stallone's second most iconic role.
Rambo: First Blood Part II - This ain't Godfather Part II, though it has that sort of reputation among action fans since it was co-written by Stallone and James Cameron in their primes. Actually, this might be as close to Metal Gear the movie, beat by beat, as exists: Rambo gets bailed out of prison for a top secret sneaking mission to find POWs in a Russian-run jungle compound, skydives in, finds the men, is betrayed by the powers that be, is captured, tortured with electricity, escapes, finds love on the battlefield, loses it, takes out the entire enemy base and their ultimate weapon, and gives the bureaucrats back home their comeuppance. He even gets the unlimited ammo bandana! Action and budget aside, this movie is sloppily put together and has almost none of the pathos of the original. They try to give Rambo another big emotional moment at the end but now it plays as comedy instead of tragedy. Politically it's even more dull with Rambo getting to "win" Vietnam this time. I'm not even sure what he won in the movie other than cementing himself as an 80s action icon.
Rambo III - You'll notice we've now completely departed from even the title of the original, which is fitting as it's gone far astray. This one is actually better made than the last and a little more thoughtful, though even that backfires because the big message about the gallant Afghan people is sure awkward knowing we'll take the place of the Russians a little over a decade later. Even at the time this real-life conflict ended right as the movie was released, rendering it immediately moot long before it would become incredibly ironic. This one is otherwise a pretty forgettable, middling 80s action flick and maybe best remembered now for the references in Hot Shots 2 and the phrase, "(they're) in your ass."
Rambo - This 20 years later series reset finds Rambo getting involved in an even realer conflict saving missionaries in war-torn Burma. The gimmick here is this one is deathly grim, overserious, and graphically violent to overcompensate for the lack of big budget action. It has the goofy "live for nothing, or die for something" line that's recently come back for die hard Trumpers casually advocating for the end of U.S. democracy, so, that's not a great legacy. But still, this one's actually less reductive and stupid than the last two, and more serious, if not exploitative, about its subject matter. I just don't know if that's ultimately better than watching a live-action cartoon Rambo G.I. Joe his way through fake Vietnam. At least it has a nice little ending for Rambo coming home again for some much deserved peace and tranquility...
Rambo: Last Blood - Just kidding! This one starts out surprisingly nice and congruent with the last film's conclusion, but that's only to make its nasty plot more cruel. Rambo has basically finally found true peace and contentment only to have it horribly, and pretty arbitrarily, destroyed so he can get revenge, which has never actually been a theme of these movies before. Though Rambo coming "full circle" has been a stated theme of the last three; that's going in circles at this point. In the end, it's just Rambo taking out a bunch of Mexican gangsters in a hard R Home Alone. Notably, Rambo actually performs a straight up Fatality at the end that somehow didn't make the MK game. During the credits we're then given a retrospective of Rambo's life through the series culminating in him riding off bloody into the sunset (and more thankfully riding away from this movie). Rather than being triumphant this is depressing though because his life is ruined and completely devolved into the bloodshed he was trying to escape, and for no good reason. Stallone is a little too effective, but not enough, for his own good because this movie would have been better if we didn't care at all about Rambo or his surrogate family since it basically sucks to see this happen to them and for it to end like this for him. Stallone had Rambo spared in the first film for all it put him through, but the last two films are merciless and knowing where it all goes death would have been a dignified kindness. This is an issue throughout the series, Stallone is smart enough to pose more thoughtful questions than most action movies, but with the exception of the first film the answers leave a lot to be desired. It actually made my wife mad and me kinda sad, though Stallone is at least still an imposing screen presence. I hope he lets Rambo go free into the wild now so we don't have to watch him slaughter underqualfied bad guys in a nursing home after they viciously murder some sick kids' grandmas or whatever sadistic shit Stallone would feel he needed to do to live up to the worst tendencies of the series. Actually, Rambo's ending in MK11 is better than this.
So, that's all for my Rambo retrospective, in which the first one is actually a straight up good movie even more than a good action movie, the second is a mindless 80s action staple, the third is underwhelmingly mediocre, the fourth is overwhelmingly mediocre, and the fifth ends up being downright depressing. In conclusion, don't watch any Rambo movie that doesn't have the phrase "First Blood" in the title.
First Blood - This is actually a very good early 80s action-thriller with enough 70's cynicism to give it some real dramatic weight, and the meltdown at the end is one of Stallone's best performances. The flipside is it also perpetuates right-wing myths about public support for Vietnam while largely sparing the government that too often abandons those that have served once they're no longer of use to them, though Rambo does subtly call out Colonel Trautman for not being around when he needed him. This relationship is an odd one going forward because it feels largely one-sided, with Rambo genuinely trusting Trautman, who until midway through the second movie only seems to be manipulating Rambo. Still, these questions are merely food for thought in an otherwise effective film that would become Stallone's second most iconic role.
Rambo: First Blood Part II - This ain't Godfather Part II, though it has that sort of reputation among action fans since it was co-written by Stallone and James Cameron in their primes. Actually, this might be as close to Metal Gear the movie, beat by beat, as exists: Rambo gets bailed out of prison for a top secret sneaking mission to find POWs in a Russian-run jungle compound, skydives in, finds the men, is betrayed by the powers that be, is captured, tortured with electricity, escapes, finds love on the battlefield, loses it, takes out the entire enemy base and their ultimate weapon, and gives the bureaucrats back home their comeuppance. He even gets the unlimited ammo bandana! Action and budget aside, this movie is sloppily put together and has almost none of the pathos of the original. They try to give Rambo another big emotional moment at the end but now it plays as comedy instead of tragedy. Politically it's even more dull with Rambo getting to "win" Vietnam this time. I'm not even sure what he won in the movie other than cementing himself as an 80s action icon.
Rambo III - You'll notice we've now completely departed from even the title of the original, which is fitting as it's gone far astray. This one is actually better made than the last and a little more thoughtful, though even that backfires because the big message about the gallant Afghan people is sure awkward knowing we'll take the place of the Russians a little over a decade later. Even at the time this real-life conflict ended right as the movie was released, rendering it immediately moot long before it would become incredibly ironic. This one is otherwise a pretty forgettable, middling 80s action flick and maybe best remembered now for the references in Hot Shots 2 and the phrase, "(they're) in your ass."
Rambo - This 20 years later series reset finds Rambo getting involved in an even realer conflict saving missionaries in war-torn Burma. The gimmick here is this one is deathly grim, overserious, and graphically violent to overcompensate for the lack of big budget action. It has the goofy "live for nothing, or die for something" line that's recently come back for die hard Trumpers casually advocating for the end of U.S. democracy, so, that's not a great legacy. But still, this one's actually less reductive and stupid than the last two, and more serious, if not exploitative, about its subject matter. I just don't know if that's ultimately better than watching a live-action cartoon Rambo G.I. Joe his way through fake Vietnam. At least it has a nice little ending for Rambo coming home again for some much deserved peace and tranquility...
Rambo: Last Blood - Just kidding! This one starts out surprisingly nice and congruent with the last film's conclusion, but that's only to make its nasty plot more cruel. Rambo has basically finally found true peace and contentment only to have it horribly, and pretty arbitrarily, destroyed so he can get revenge, which has never actually been a theme of these movies before. Though Rambo coming "full circle" has been a stated theme of the last three; that's going in circles at this point. In the end, it's just Rambo taking out a bunch of Mexican gangsters in a hard R Home Alone. Notably, Rambo actually performs a straight up Fatality at the end that somehow didn't make the MK game. During the credits we're then given a retrospective of Rambo's life through the series culminating in him riding off bloody into the sunset (and more thankfully riding away from this movie). Rather than being triumphant this is depressing though because his life is ruined and completely devolved into the bloodshed he was trying to escape, and for no good reason. Stallone is a little too effective, but not enough, for his own good because this movie would have been better if we didn't care at all about Rambo or his surrogate family since it basically sucks to see this happen to them and for it to end like this for him. Stallone had Rambo spared in the first film for all it put him through, but the last two films are merciless and knowing where it all goes death would have been a dignified kindness. This is an issue throughout the series, Stallone is smart enough to pose more thoughtful questions than most action movies, but with the exception of the first film the answers leave a lot to be desired. It actually made my wife mad and me kinda sad, though Stallone is at least still an imposing screen presence. I hope he lets Rambo go free into the wild now so we don't have to watch him slaughter underqualfied bad guys in a nursing home after they viciously murder some sick kids' grandmas or whatever sadistic shit Stallone would feel he needed to do to live up to the worst tendencies of the series. Actually, Rambo's ending in MK11 is better than this.
So, that's all for my Rambo retrospective, in which the first one is actually a straight up good movie even more than a good action movie, the second is a mindless 80s action staple, the third is underwhelmingly mediocre, the fourth is overwhelmingly mediocre, and the fifth ends up being downright depressing. In conclusion, don't watch any Rambo movie that doesn't have the phrase "First Blood" in the title.
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So, I'm gonna start this one with a little story.
About a year ago, a friend of mine showed me a South Park episode, in which everyone is after Tom Bradys turds, which they call "the spice melange".
I had no idea it was a reference but I had a laugh and I went on with my life.
Fast forward some months to me stumbling upon a post in the "Movies to look forward to" thread about the 2020 Dune adaptation.
I googled Dune and I realised it was what the spice melange referred to.
About 2 weeks ago I had the chance to buy the first book of the series, which I did, and I absolutely loved it.
Yesterday I ordered the second book, and due to my dune withdrawals, I figured I could maybe watch Dune 1984 while I'm waiting for the book to arrive.
And so I did.
So here goes my review:
What
A
Shit
Movie.
About a year ago, a friend of mine showed me a South Park episode, in which everyone is after Tom Bradys turds, which they call "the spice melange".
I had no idea it was a reference but I had a laugh and I went on with my life.
Fast forward some months to me stumbling upon a post in the "Movies to look forward to" thread about the 2020 Dune adaptation.
I googled Dune and I realised it was what the spice melange referred to.
About 2 weeks ago I had the chance to buy the first book of the series, which I did, and I absolutely loved it.
Yesterday I ordered the second book, and due to my dune withdrawals, I figured I could maybe watch Dune 1984 while I'm waiting for the book to arrive.
And so I did.
So here goes my review:
What
A
Shit
Movie.
Oburi
All praise Grail
I mentioned it not too long ago but the fanedit known as the Spicediver Edit is by the best version of David Lynch's Dune, since he disowned it himself and no officially released cut by the studio is worth a damn. That South Park episode is really good though, despite Matt and Trey yet again shitting on my Patriots and Brady.
I've read about spacediver somewhere.
Might have been here.
I think I'll just wait for Dune 2021 though
Fervent Enigma
Loveless
I recently re-watched Eraserhead. Quite simply one of the best films I’ve ever seen and is a beautiful depiction of how humanity views parenthood. Ten out of ten.
Matteo Metallo
Veritas Non Verba Magistri
Just re-watched Time Bandits which brought back some nice memories, but also reminded me about how much I love Terry Gilliam's films.
Also re-watched Crippled Avengers. If you're a fan of old school martial arts flicks then you won't be disappointed.
Also re-watched Crippled Avengers. If you're a fan of old school martial arts flicks then you won't be disappointed.
Vampire_Hunter_Bob
Cats are great
Great movie that left me lost and confused. I do want to rewatch Blue Velvet sometime soon.
I'm watching many of Arnold's classic films, just rewatched Jingle All the Way for Christmas. My favorite so far, Commando. Least favorite, currently, End of Days.
Vampire_Hunter_Bob
Cats are great
Hey!
That apartment wasn't too bad. For me the end of the movie was just boring. It didn't look like Arnold wanted to be in the movie.
Matteo Metallo
Veritas Non Verba Magistri
Mind you I haven't seen End of Days since it was in the theater, but didn't Arnold convey the sacrificial lamb at the conclusion in a way that may be comparable to his T2 days? imho that was worth the price of admission.
Oburi
All praise Grail
Yup. End of Days was desperately trying to be the ultimate Schwarzenegger movie by shoehorning in every Arnie cliché possible, including the badass final movie line before wiping out the main villain (in this case, SATAN). "Im sending you back to hell" . . . *trigger pull*
or *sword swing*
or *detonate bomb*
Whatever it was.
Matteo Metallo
Veritas Non Verba Magistri
All this Arnold talk got me to rewatch Predator, which is my favorite of his flicks. I felt like his performance was at it's peak.
I think Predator is probably the best action movie of the 80s. But it's a success because of the great cast. In terms of pure Arnie, Commando is still probably my favorite of his, just slightly ahead of T2. Of course, I don't think I could ever really enjoy Commando completely sober, so that is a knock against it. But with a few drinks in, it's I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
This is probably him at his most iconically Arnold, like when people think they're parodying his persona from Conan, Terminator or Predator, it's actually just his baseline in Commando. I still think T2 was his apex though, "I know now why you cry, but it's something I can never do."
His best acting might have been True Lies though, combining his action and comedy chops in a little more polished way than Commando. Anybody see Eraser back in the day? Felt kind of like the beginning of the end after seemingly every action movie he'd done the previous decade was a classic.Christmas break movies:
IT Chapter II: Sucked! This movie thought it was some really important three hour shit but was worse than the TV movie and NOT scary at all. "I wonder if the kids are going to die in this childhood flashback?" said nobody. Pennywise is a lame, self-defeating villain we never get to see the true form of, and the really scary part is they thought this was a good idea to release as is. Cut an hour and fucking focus on some story tension instead of bloodless CGI vignettes.
American Graffiti: Hadn't seen it in a while and didn't appreciate how influential it was when I did. I guess Lucas really did somehow inspire everything from teen movies and summer blockbusters to franchise IP and even Tarantino.
Us: Pretty evocative, but I guessed the twist in the opening scene and it wasn't very scary. Tonally there was little too much comedy and not enough there there for the scary parts (unlike Get Out for example, it doesn't REALLY make sense).
War for the Planet of the Apes: More like Escape for the Planet of the Apes. This is the same movie as the last movie, which still doesn't show the apes conquering the earth but trying to fruitlessly get along, so I guess the "war" isn't ever going to happen on screen.
Matteo Metallo
Veritas Non Verba Magistri
I did... It was one of those movies that when it was over it felt like I had been watching it for a month.