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What Non-New Films Have You Seen? (2018 Edition)

Started by zomgmouse, January 07, 2018, 12:20:15 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Sin Agog

Quote from: Sin Agog on December 02, 2018, 01:09:47 PM
Anyway, gonna throw on Rock n Roll High School.  Despite of course liking The Ramones and Corman, I've never even come close to seeing this before, but I woke up with a yen and that yen will be satisfied.

Ye Gods, that was more fun than I could possibly have imagined.  Like a Troma remake of If..., and so, so quotable.  "The Ramones are...peculiar." "They're ugly, ugly, ugly people."  Particularly loved how they timed the school exploding exactly on the beat.

Mister Six

Watched that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as Mrs Six is a Potter fan and fancies watching the sequel soon. Fair play to Rowling - the temptation to do The Adventures of Dumbledore or Harry Potter: The Shitting His Nappy Years must have been high, so the fact that she decided to do a flick set in postwar New York starring nobody from the original books shows some effort on her part.

Sadly it feels like it's two rewrites away from being a really good film... SPOILERS I CAN'T BE BOTHERED DOING THE SPOILER TEXT
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Basically the actual story of the film - as in what actually matters, narratively and in terms of franchise-building is: Johnny Depp wants to turn an angry, repressed poltergeist wizard into a weapon for his ill-explained terrorist plans. He convinces her brother to help him in that quest, but discards him when he's no longer needed, only to discover it was the brother who was the wizard all along. Brother becomes furious and threatens New York, Magic Feds turn up and kill the kid and take Johnny Depp into custody.

Newt appears right at the end and ineffectually tries to calm the kid down, and helps restrain Johnny Depp. That's it. The rest of the time he's too distracted trying to recapture the monsters that he himself previously unleashed on New York, in what really ought to have been either a subplot or restricted to the first half hour of the film.

What they ought to have done, I think, is have the arresting business happen earlier, and made the Feds think that one of Newt's creatures is causing the chaos (they sort of broach that, but towards the end and it doesn't seem to impact the plot much). He then has to escape, evade them and figure out what's going on, making him an active participant in the story. Instead, he's just a bystander who keeps fucking up and then helps out a tiny bit at the end.
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SPOILERS OVER

Still, the cast are mostly ace, except for the uncharismatic, baby-faced bird from Alien: Covenant, who just looks a bit pouty and put out, whatever's happening, and Eddie Redmayne who's just doing a shy version of Matt Smith's Doctor, but with none of Smith's magnetism or charm. Fat bloke was great, as was the Fly-style mashup of Cameron Diaz and Idina Menzel who played his love interest. I wonder if Farrell will be back for any of the sequels? Don't you have to keep people alive if you're going to copy their physical form, cf. Brendan Gleeson in the Harry Potter films?

Ferris

Instead of being brave, I saw that movie as a cynical ploy to reassure the North American fan base that yes, magic and wizards and gnomes are in North America too!

I'm a right cynical fucker anyway.

Mister Six

In that case why not set it in 2016, with an American kid with, I dunno, a fidgit spinner that makes him fly?

Were the American kids of today screaming out for a film about a bloke in his 30s and fortysomething mate running around postwar New York?

garbed_attic

Another Year

I just fundamentally can't trust Broadbent and Sheen with their softly-softly yeasty faces.

zomgmouse

Basket Case. Admittedly I was drifting in and out of sleep due to this being a late-night cinema session, but it felt like it wore out its goofy B-movie charm fairly quickly. Loved it at the start but there wasn't much to it beyond that.

hedgehog90

That Film with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (aka A Star Is Born).

Here's my review:


St_Eddie

Quote from: zomgmouse on December 04, 2018, 04:02:17 AM
Basket Case. Admittedly I was drifting in and out of sleep due to this being a late-night cinema session, but it felt like it wore out its goofy B-movie charm fairly quickly. Loved it at the start but there wasn't much to it beyond that.

The sequels are better, as they go the outright absurdist comedy route.  They also feature Annie Ross!  Forget Robert Altman's Short Cuts, Ross' finest hour on film is in Basket Case 3.  It's scenes like this that the medium of cinema was created for.  Robbed of an Oscar that year.

Small Man Big Horse

Megamind (2010) - Was in the mood for some cheap dumb fun and this fit the bill. It's another superhero thing but this time told from the perspective of the villain as after he finally beats his nemesis he finds himself a bit lost. Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and David Cross provide some great voice work but Jonah Hill is annoying, though I guess that is intentional for once. It's sometimes a bit predictable and not of Pixar quality, but it passed the time well enough. 6.7/10

Glebe

Saw Star Wars with a live orchestra the other night, with my Sister (birthday prezzie), top stuff.

Small Man Big Horse

Three And Out - A bizarre old thing, it's not as bad as the reviews it received upon release suggested but tonally it's all over the place, it's part black comedy, part odd couple hijinks and part melancholic reflections on a dead marriage. All of the cast are great, with Imelda Staunton particularly impressing, but for once I felt a sex scene was unneeded and that we didn't need to see Gemma Arterton naked (and trust me, I never thought I'd type those words), nor Crook orgasming. Still, there is a lot to like about it, and it's worth watching if you're bored one day.

Small Man Big Horse

Snowflake (2017) - A German film set in the near future in Berlin where two guys discover a script in a stolen car which tells of their lives, and echoes the events we've seen so far word for word. They track the writer down and discover he's just a dentist who's imagined their antics, and that there's a woman who wants them dead as they killed her parents. It features an Angel called Snowflake (hence the title, and thankfully it's not anything about too sensitive types), a man who wants to be the new Hitler, two Polish serial killers and other bizarre things. It's not without it's flaws and at times feels a little Tarantino-esque, but they have fun with the concept and it amused a fair deal. 7.4/10

hedgehog90

You forgot to rate Three and Out.
Sounds like it's somewhere in the region of 5/10, but I'd prefer it from the horse's mouth.

Ferris

Rewatched The Producers.

When it's good, it's really good. Some bits could use a trim.

8.8/10

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: hedgehog90 on December 09, 2018, 12:51:44 AM
You forgot to rate Three and Out.
Sounds like it's somewhere in the region of 5/10, but I'd prefer it from the horse's mouth.

6.1 somewhat surprisingly. But then after Detectorists I do have a real soft spot for Mackenzie Crook.

hedgehog90

I just spent part of my Sunday afternoon editing together a new audio version of the 14 minute experimental film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), sampling a far superior quality recording of the 1959 soundtrack by Teiji Ito (which is great).
The new version sounds excellent and has better synchronization with visual cues, and I've even included some extra audio segments that were recorded but weren't in the 1959 version.
I didn't intend to upload it but it turned out so well it seemed a shame not to, so if anyone's interested:

YouTube link or Google Drive download link (better quality)

My thanks to NoSleep (I think) for introducing it to me in another thread.
Although I've watched all of it in pieces while editing, I still haven't properly watched it from start to finish yet. Think I'll leave it a bit so I can come back to it with fresh eyes.

Sin Agog

There's a comp of Teiji Ito's various scores for Deren called Music for Maya which I can't recommend enough.

greenman

Watched To Live and Die in LA for the first time in years, does give the feeling that its taking the piss out of a few 80's cliché's even as it helps popularise them, a bit uneven perhaps but still I think a lot of scenes beyond your bog standard 80's cop films. I would say in retrospect their does seem to be pretty dam strong influence from Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva as well.

hedgehog90

Quote from: Sin Agog on December 10, 2018, 01:34:09 AM
There's a comp of Teiji Ito's various scores for Deren called Music for Maya which I can't recommend enough.

That's where I got the new audio from.

chveik

Quote from: hedgehog90 on December 09, 2018, 09:17:30 PM
I just spent part of my Sunday afternoon editing together a new audio version of the 14 minute experimental film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), sampling a far superior quality recording of the 1959 soundtrack by Teiji Ito (which is great).
The new version sounds excellent and has better synchronization with visual cues, and I've even included some extra audio segments that were recorded but weren't in the 1959 version.
I didn't intend to upload it but it turned out so well it seemed a shame not to, so if anyone's interested:

YouTube link or Google Drive download link (better quality)

Great work !

A friend of a friend has composed soundtracks for a dozen of avant-garde short films (including Witch's Cradle). I rather like them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iErVrOQH5U&list=PLHCAXi6kjnMFgQFOWxxI6UtrdGJlHOZuR&index=2

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: greenman on December 10, 2018, 08:22:37 AM
Watched To Live and Die in LA for the first time in years, does give the feeling that its taking the piss out of a few 80's cliché's even as it helps popularise them, a bit uneven perhaps but still I think a lot of scenes beyond your bog standard 80's cop films. I would say in retrospect their does seem to be pretty dam strong influence from Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva as well.

Dreadful opening and too literal ending aside, I LOVE To Live and Die In LA.  So many good scenes.



A Quiet Place - liked it a fair deal.  I think people have, perhaps, been overly harsh about the numerous "plotholes" and the "why don't they just do that?" moments.  I think the problem with it is you really need to watch it with a standard horror film suspension of disbelief/allow it dramatic licence, which is difficult to do because it's not framed or presented as a standard horror film.

Thor Ragnarok - whatever.  Bored now.

Meet Wally Sparks - for the first time since it came out.  One of those "it wouldn't get made these days" films, and coming surprisingly late in that cycle.  Hard going - an hour forty-five that seem to last forever.

Mandy - I know it's still new, but not much to say other than I liked it a lot.  Cage is great in it.  Linus Roache looking more and more like his dad with each passing year, to the point where I saw Ken Barlow wanking over Andrea Riseborough.

The Meg - it's no Shark Attack 3.

Solo - second viewing.  Still not bad and I still think it has more right belonging with the original trilogy than The Last Jedi.

You Were Never Really Here - I wanted to like it more than I did.  It's not bad by any stretch, and Joaquin Phoenix is aces in it, but...I dunno, some of it just felt a little bit flat.  Having said that, it's one that feels like it will age well, so maybe future viewings will bring greater rewards.

The Old Man and The Gun - another new one, but I couldn't find a separate thread for it.  Another one I wanted to like more than I did.  Everyone's great in it, but it needs to be brighter and breezier than it is.  Not necessarily loads of LOLrandom moments, but for a story involving characters which are nearly always so positive and a true story which makes you smile when you read about it, the film overall is a little bit dour and glum, but not dramatically so.

Warcraft - amazing practical effects.

Triangle - sussed it out in about 20 minutes.  Don't understand how it got such good reviews - except for Melissa George (who is great in it) the acting is appalling, the CGI is laughable, the script is full of awful dialogue.  People liked this and not A Quiet Place?  Bewildering.

Cloud Atlas - meh.  Wasn't really sure what the point of it all was (I haven't read the book).  And, completely ignoring the moral wrongs of the "yellowing up" vs. the logical reasons for doing it, that makeup is absolutely dreadful.  Like watching One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing again.

Blumf

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Meant to see it at the time, but never got around. It's okaaay... the obvious parallels with gaming save points kinda took me out of it a bit. The wife said it reminded her of The Matrix, with all the squid-like aliens, which I pooh-poohed until the bit towards the end that was almost a direct recreation of The Matrix Revolutions hovership being attacked sequence.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on December 11, 2018, 01:17:13 PM
Dreadful opening and too literal ending aside, I LOVE To Live and Die In LA.

A nugget of pure gold, bookended by two steamin' lumps o' stinky ol' poo.  Two thumbs up my bumhole.

Sin Agog

#1583
Watched In Search of Fellini because I vaguely remembered Nancy Cartwright promoting it last year (she wrote it).  It's about a sheltered girl heading out to Italy on an impulsive whim to find Fellini.  It really is the most American take on Europe I've ever seen, with magical cake shop owners, doe-eyed artists, rapey bearded men, and the constant threat of backing into an orgy peopled by statuesque beauties.  Really bad movie made much worse by the fact that it clearly thinks it's a Picaresque Fellini adventure of its very own, when it's actually just a meaningless goose egg of a movie.  Eat my shorts etc.

Saw Warcraft, too.  What are the odds that the nerdiest, uncoolest, most nebbishy sperm that ever spent time in David Bowie's testicles happened to make it to the egg to produce Duncan Jones? Still, had a sort of warmth to it that made it kind of watchable.

greenman

#1584
Quote from: Shit Good Nose on December 11, 2018, 01:17:13 PM
Dreadful opening and too literal ending aside, I LOVE To Live and Die In LA.  So many good scenes.

Beyond the terrorist feeling very tacked on I felt it took awhile to really take off after that but I'd agree otherwise enjoyed it alot, didn't have a problem with the ending that seemed a natural enough climax to Peterson being a risk taking asshole for most of the film. Didn't realise it before by the Arrow release actually has an alternative ending made to keep producers happy but never intended for use...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6B7UiTcRvM

Its influence directly afterwards and more recently on stuff like Drive is pretty obvious but again I do get the sense Frankenheimer in turn had been watching his share of cinema de look, quite a lot(including the poster) felt familiar from Diva with artist criminals in studio flats, unconventional chases(both of which would be near the top of the best ever filmed for me) and neon clubs in green and orange, this shot from Boy meets Girl crops up in the chase scene as well when the rear widow is shot out...


Shit Good Nose

Quote from: greenman on December 13, 2018, 07:20:50 AM
didn't have a problem with the ending that seemed a natural enough climax to Peterson being a risk taking asshole for most of the film.

No, I mean the at-the-end ending, where John Pankow has literally turned into Petersen's character.  Totally lame.  Petersen's send-off (which comes about ten minutes plus before the end) is fine and, as you say, a natural end.

zomgmouse

Superstar. Oddball funny possibly overlooked little gem. Some choice lines and moments.

Labyrinth. Finally got around to watching this. It's very good.

Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator. Sex and death writhe together and becomes simultaneously frivolous and shocking. Only my second film I've seen by Makavejev but he's a provocateur for sure.

Embrace of the Serpent. Wow. Dark and spiritual, tells the story of two nearly identical Amazonian expeditions at two disparate points in time, one ostensibly on the trail of the other. Pretty amazing stuff.

St_Eddie

Quote from: zomgmouse on December 13, 2018, 10:56:11 PM
Labyrinth. Finally got around to watching this. It's very good.

It is rather good.  In fact, it's rather great.  The fire dance compositing (with Red Dwarf's Danny John-Jules, no less) looks rather crappy though, no?

...Sorry, I'd manage to find a fault within a perfect diamond, I would.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: zomgmouse on December 13, 2018, 10:56:11 PM
Superstar. Oddball funny possibly overlooked little gem. Some choice lines and moments.

This has been on my hard drive for a couple of months now, I really must get round to watching it soon.

Blumf

Quote from: zomgmouse on December 13, 2018, 10:56:11 PM
Labyrinth. Finally got around to watching this. It's very good.

You are now ready to join:
http://id34111.securedata.net/areaology/area.html

BTW, Speaking of 80s children's films with a creepy bent, how many here have seen Return to Oz (1985)? If you haven't, and liked Labyrinth (or any of the other similar films e.g. The Dark Crystal) should track it down.