What movie have you seen recently?

What other 1080p Yul Brynner is there??


The King and I 1956

Independence Day: Resurgence 2016
Ā½

Independence Day is one of my all time favourite science fiction movies.

So much so, that when I was a teenager, a project I made in an animation program on my Amiga 500 featured the Earth with a big spaceship above it, a laser shooting down into it, and it blowing up. The idea was that when the aliens return to Earth, theyā€™ll have a planet-scale space ship, not just city/moon sized space ships.

Then a few years ago, when I heard about this sequel, I was quite excited. So much so that when the trailer came on in the cinema, I closed my eyes not to be spoiled, which I only do if Iā€™m pretty sure Iā€™m going to watch the movie anyway.

Then I heard bad things about the movie, so didnā€™t get round to watching it.

But then on Saturday I mentioned I wanted to see a fun movie, and my mother-in-law mentioned she was half way through Independence Day: Resurgence. So sure, Iā€™ll give it a go.

And it goes straight into the coveted ā€œworst movie Iā€™ve seen so far this yearā€ slot.

Itā€™s so bad it was making angry.

Everything about it was bad, except for the setup of ā€œweā€™ve used alien technology to rebuild our worldā€ and thereā€™s now a mix of tech. But then THAT is bad, because instead of featuring the world I know being destroyed, and that providing me an emotional connection point, an alternative world is being destroyed, and I didnā€™t even care that much.

But then they fuck THAT up, because some of the real-world buildings that do get destroyed have been built in OUR world since the events of the first movie. If you suspect that aliens might return and blow up major cities again, why would yo build the TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD in YOUR CITY knowing that tall buildings are figurative/literal lightning rods for the attacking space ships?

And this complaint is a very minor one compared to all the other world building/physics/etc issues. Like, they are on the moon, then in Singapore, then in London, all within minutes? The space ship is 3,000 miles across, but picks things up in Singapore and drops them in London? But those cities are more than 3,000 miles apart, right? Probably twice that far. So in a few minutes a 3,000 mile diameter spaceship travels 3,000 miles?

And then, after it happens, the characters joke about shitting themselves instead of, you know, mourning the loss of entire nations. The original movie spent so long setting up the world and characters that when the world is devastated 40 minutes in, the characters are also devastated, and so are we as viewers.

After about an hour of me getting angrier and angrier at the movie, my girlfriend made sure to turn it off for the benefit of my mental health. Also it had taken her about an hour to remember she had seen it, and knew it wouldnā€™t get better.

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Half star seems generous. You might want to extend the scale to negative stars.

At least you stopped before the part where Goldblum is driving a school bus through the desert withā€¦ a good alien? Trying to escape from the giant alien queen chasing after them specifically.

just finished Stuart Gordonā€™s Reanimator, fun horror film. Does a surprisingly good job of adapting Lovecraftā€™s short story into a film, manages to tell itā€™s own story while maintaining the same theme beats. Jeffrey Combs is an amazing ham, him and David Gale have great antagonistic chemistry. Barbara Crampton is a real champ for everything they put her through in the movie, she commands such a presence, especially in that scene.

If youā€™re a horror fan this one is worth checking out, best episode of Rick and Morty ever.

Sitting here on Friday night, nothing to do. I browse the streaming services I currently subscribe to for something to watch. I see that Hellraiser is on Prime video. Thatā€™s a movie that it feels like Iā€™ve always known about. Pinhead is super recognizable and famous. Yet, I have never actually watched it, and had no idea what the actual plot was.

Soā€¦ itā€™s interesting. You basically have a messed up family story intersecting with some supernatural biz. They donā€™t do much to explain the details of the supernatural stuff, or how it works, but it doesnā€™t matter. Thereā€™s a puzzle box that can be used to summon the most powerful sadists in the universe. That box ends up fucking up a family thatā€™s already not doing so hot. The end.

The movie also has the trope of moving into a scary old busted house at the start. Most, but not all, of the action happens in the house. From that perspective you could consider it a haunted house story. The thing is, the house itself is not the source of any supernatural anything. Itā€™s simply the place where events happened, and therefore continue to happen.

I think the only real major flaw with the film is that the characters and acting styles are so ā€˜80s it hurts. When the humans are doing human stuff, the acting feels like a typical old made for TV movie. When the horror shit is going down, the movie feels like Hollywood. The story is an ok story, but it is very well told for what it is. Good pacing, structure, editing, etc.

The gory effects, of which there are many, are not dated at all. Definitely not a situation where you can see the zipper on the back of the Godzilla costume. Perhaps the effects, and also the designs of the horrific characters (pinhead isnā€™t the only one), are the main reason to watch the film. Of course, you have to be able to stomach a lot of fake gore, and buckets of fake blood.

I give it a solid meh+. Maybe meh++. No need to seek it out, but definitely not a waste of time. Though it is probably a must-see for any horror fans.

Skip to Hellraiser: Bloodline, hellraiser in spaaace

Also the reason many horror films take place in spooky houses is abandoned houses already look spooky and are an easy rental for a set

I didnā€™t know there was more than one.

There are ten of them. We have such sights to show you.

Actually no - none of them are anything like the first one and arenā€™t worth the time unless you want more of the gore and crazy hellcreatures, and their backstory. Not worth valuable Scott-time.

They go off the rails so fast! I enjoy the idea of hellraiser, but the way theyā€™ve done them just isnā€™t that good. They could use a good modern treatment thatā€™s just gets forgets the rest of them and really runs with the idea of it.

Oooh, or like a Hellraiser/Saw crossover. The Cenobytes take notice of the Jigsaw killers methods and recruit him into their ranks.

Thanks for exactly the info I needed. Please point me towards a text summary of the backstory of the hell creatures in case I fail to google it. I donā€™t remember what they were called or how to spell it. Sevarins?

I feel the same way about Poltergeist.

Havenā€™t seen that one either.

Easy enough - the hell creatures are called Cenobites. (Hellraiser Wiki)

This link covers the general backstory of what they are, and at the bottom is a much more detailed link for each individual one in order of appearance (I think the first 4? are from the original movie). The info comes from both the movies and from the Clive Barker written works.

Green Room 2015
ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…Ā½

I heard good things about this movie when it came out, but itā€™s not the kind of movie Iā€™d go watch at the cinema, nor a movie I could enjoy with Juliane. I finally got round to it when Netflix both recommended it to me and let me download to watch on a work trip.

Itā€™s a crazy movie, with a super interesting setup, and a payoff that just keeps going.

What makes the violence so impactful is that it is sudden, hits hard, an is over quick. The tension and drama isnā€™t within the action, itā€™s in the buildup to the action and the fallout from that action.

To contrast, most movies with a fight or a chase, thereā€™s lots of time for things to happen once the action starts. A dog begins chasing a person, and you see shot after shot of the person running and running, always mysteriously just out of reach of the dog, snapping at their heels. Or a fight begins, and thereā€™s punch after punch thrown and blocked and thrown and etc etc.

But in real life, if a wild animal is chasing you, from a standing start, youā€™ll make it two steps before itā€™s on you. In a fight, if someone is better than you, they knock you down with a single blow. In a gun fight, if the other person is a good shot, itā€™s over after a single bullet strikes.

And this movie capitalises on that over and over. Iā€™ve seen this same approach taken as one-offs in other movies before, but never seen an entire movie structured around this use of sudden and suddenly over violence.

Also: very good acting, direction, cinematography and editing. All round very, very good.

Rewatched Dreamworksā€™ Prince of Egypt for Passover, what a great film. Itā€™s kind of shocking how amazing this film looks when it had barely a higher budget than Antz and was created by the studio that made Bee Movie. Itā€™s a film that uses the medium of animation to create stunning artwork. The architecture and environments feel mythic in proportion and really elevate the story. Iā€™m no cinemaphile but the staging/blocking is amazing. The script is as concise as it needs to be, condensing Exodus into an hour and forty minutes. Songs are incredible, probably the best animated musical to date. There is an irritating overuse of CGI in the first third of the movie, lots of action and cartoony writing. You get the feel that they might have been aiming for a more child friendly movie earlier in production. Would highly recommend it to anyone, even for people not interested in a religious story itā€™s still a powerful tale of two brothers who turn against each other.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tVTEyuCKn4

I like the scale where negative stars are for things that are unintentionally good. Like most of Nicolas Cageā€™s films.

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watched Mandy last night, that was a trip. 80s revival has been going pretty strong for a while now, but this move felt 80s. Itā€™s a drug fueled grindhouse revenge/horror experience, definitely not for everyone. But if youā€™re a fan of those types of movies, this will knock your socks off. Thereā€™s are demon bikers with cocaine from hell. Nic Cage forges his own axe. There are psychedelic animated dream sequences straight out of Heavy Metal. There is a chainsaw duel. There is a telekinetic, tiger-owning acid making man. They donā€™t make movies like this anymore.

Just got back from Detective Pikachu, oh boy. Dumpster fire feels too mean, but despite it being a pretty below average movie it was entertaining.I donā€™t think anything I say will convince people to see or not see this movie, if you were excited for it youā€™ll enjoy it.

Snowpiercer sucks.

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