Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

What are you watching?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Vibes - This is as bad as you've heard. I couldn't resist an adventure comedy starring Cyndi Lauper (top billing), Jeff Goldblum and Peter Falk. Lauper actually gives the best performance. Goldblum is not good without decent direction and Falk just embarrasses himself. Lots of stupid hats as well (I think Goldblum was trying to look like Indiana Jones). It's hard to believe this was released in the summer of '88 - I can't imagine being in the theater watching this unfold.
    Why would anybody watch a scum show like Videodrome? Why did you watch it, Max?

    Comment


    • Originally posted by Dom D View Post

      If we're talking about the George Miller run at it I think there was a bit more to it than that. The script was finished. I believe its floating about as Justice League: Mortal.

      Apart from the wirters strike though there were funding issues. the film was to be shot in Australia a) because of George and b) because Australia offered tax rebates for local productions. It's always a bit tenuous for these foriegn films but this was to be directed by an Aussie and star Megan Gale (local girl) as Wonderwoman and Armie Hammer (close enough) as Supes. Usually this cuts the mustard. I think even movies like the Matrix fit into that because of the involvement of Village Roadshow (don't quote me on that. I'm just assuming). The Powers That Be though decided at the 11th hour that it couldn't be classified as Australian and so a bunch of the funding fell out at the same time as the writers strike happened. No doubt there's a lot more to it but thems the broad strokes as I heard it.

      Its hard to understand what happened at DC/Warners more recently. Snyder gives them a Superman movie that was too bleak, a critical bust and a box office loser. They give him more money to make Batman versus Superman and he delivers a film that's even bleaker, was received even worse by the critics (justifiably, by my count it's one of the half dozen worst movies ever made) and just barely made a profit despite featuring both the biggest character in the biz. So they fund him for another go! This time making him have producers on set to try to make him make it enjoyable. Why not just get a director off the bat who makes enjoyable movies if they were that concerned?

      Can't get my head round it. As big an arsehole as Snyder is though I can't believe he thought it would be acceptable to deliver a 4 hour popcorn movie. Just reading up on it now. It seems warners were demanding a two hour cut (I noticed while watching it that Whedons version runs 1 hour, 59 minutes and 59 seconds) and that was a sticking point. I'm sure Snyder was looking at 2 hours 40 or 50. His cut of Justice League could easily be cut down to that and I'm sure that was the plan.
      I hadn't heard the tax credit part of the story. Makes a bit more sense now, but they still flushed millions down the shitter.

      The Snyder situation was mostly the results of green lighting movies based on the opening weekend of the movie before, and WB not respecting comics enough to make sure that they don't hire people who will make movies comic fans don't want to see. Man of Steel was polarizing, but did well enough for BvS to be greenlit on opening weekend of MoS. Snyder was kept in check during pre-production of MoS because Christopher Nolan was in charge of overseeing the efforts to build a cinematic DC universe in the mold of what Marvel had done, but his heart wasn't really in it after Heath Ledger's suicide, which was part of why The Dark Knight Rises was such a drop off from The Dark Knight. The other part was down to WB declaring that the movie had to be under 3 hours, which led to massive cuts that would have fixed a lot of the plot holes and made the progression of time clearer. The fights with the studio over DKR were enough that Nolan got out of the contract to produce the DC movies, which killed a Nightwing movie with Joseph Gordon-Levitt among other things, and altered the plans for a Justice League movie.

      Since MoS did well, and nobody connected to the Nolan Batman series was going to come back, DC went with Snyder's idea of doing a Superman/Batman crossover and using it to start actively building toward a Justice league film. BvS was a mess in pre-production, but WB had a set release plan for it, so it go pushed through in spite of the issues, and Snyder no longer had Nolan to keep him reined in on his worse ideas, like replacing Bryan Cranston as a more traditional Lex Luthor with Jesse Eisenberg as a Silicon Valley enfant terrible, which cost WB $10 million due to Cranston having a pay-or-play contract. Snyder barely managed to turn in a theatrical cut that met the studio's length requirement, apparently due to unfinished special effects meaning some scenes couldn't be put in for the theatrical release and ended up only on the home video Unrated Edition.

      BvS opened big and dropped like a rock, but did ok in China, so they greenlit the plan to build to a trilogy of Justice league movies with other ancillary DC films connecting to various degrees, like the Marvel Studios phases. Suicide Squad was to be the prelude to Justice League and basically depict the advance scouts of the Apokalyptian invasion landing and starting things. David Ayre had problems with the studio right from the jump, with the script being rewritten constantly and negative buzz over the style of the film and things like the godawful Joker design making things look like shit. That made WB panic MORE and decide to remove all connective tissue for JL from the film and tinker with the tone in rewrites and reshoots. Ayre said in an interview that they made one half of one movie from the first four scripts and then made the other half from three other scripts, and then editing made even more of a mess of it.

      SS ended up having a big opening weekend, but abysmal reviews, which led WB to start interfering with JL, which led to Snyder's eventual departure and the mess that was made of that film.

      WB needs to find someone to run the DC film arm the way Marvel Studios is run if they want similar results, but WB has never seen the comics as being worth taking any care of in the movie adaptations. As much as Tim Burton's Batman was a smash hit, and the best comic movie made in the states since Superman, Burton DESPISED comics and saw making a comic book movie as beneath him, so it's a miracle that came out as well as it did.

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Matt H. View Post
        Vibes - This is as bad as you've heard. I couldn't resist an adventure comedy starring Cyndi Lauper (top billing), Jeff Goldblum and Peter Falk. Lauper actually gives the best performance. Goldblum is not good without decent direction and Falk just embarrasses himself. Lots of stupid hats as well (I think Goldblum was trying to look like Indiana Jones). It's hard to believe this was released in the summer of '88 - I can't imagine being in the theater watching this unfold.
        I should probably keep this to myself, but I actually was in a theater watching this when it came out. I can't remember much about it, which might be a good thing.

        Comment


        • Carlito's Way for the thousandth time.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Darcy Parker View Post
            WB needs to find someone to run the DC film arm the way Marvel Studios is run if they want similar results...
            nah, it has been proven they suck big time in creating a working franchise universe. they should concentrate to churn out stand alone movies like joker and suicide squad (the second one) from now on.

            Comment


            • Originally posted by killer must kill again View Post

              nah, it has been proven they suck big time in creating a working franchise universe. they should concentrate to churn out stand alone movies like joker and suicide squad (the second one) from now on.
              I reckon if you were to walk into Warners and tell them that they wouldn’t know what language you were speaking. Marvel has so clearly shown the road to the rivers of gold how could you not try to follow it? I think there’s something in what you say though. I think what happened at Marvel may have been a non repeatable phenomenon. More than that Marvel may be about to run up against the limitations of their own strategy. Movie series aren’t like comic book series. You have actors who want to move on. Marvels already run their best characters which leaves them digging deeper for the second run. Who cares about the Eternals or Shang Chi? Well they could say who cared about Iron Man and they’d have a point but I think the audience feels they are now being served leftovers and there’s not a lot of interest. I think it’s a very safe bet the next Avengers movies will not be the phenoms that came before.

              Although maybe that is the direction DC is headed after all. The new Batman looks unwatchable. 3hours long. Monotonal. The worst. But it doesn’t appear to be tied to anything, and it’s not an origin story. Just a Batman adventure. That’s kind of refreshing.
              "Never let the fact that they are doing it wrong stop you from doing it right." Hyman Mandell.

              Comment


              • Originally posted by Dom D View Post

                I reckon if you were to walk into Warners and tell them that they wouldn’t know what language you were speaking. Marvel has so clearly shown the road to the rivers of gold how could you not try to follow it? I think there’s something in what you say though. I think what happened at Marvel may have been a non repeatable phenomenon. More than that Marvel may be about to run up against the limitations of their own strategy. Movie series aren’t like comic book series. You have actors who want to move on. Marvels already run their best characters which leaves them digging deeper for the second run. Who cares about the Eternals or Shang Chi? Well they could say who cared about Iron Man and they’d have a point but I think the audience feels they are now being served leftovers and there’s not a lot of interest. I think it’s a very safe bet the next Avengers movies will not be the phenoms that came before.

                Although maybe that is the direction DC is headed after all. The new Batman looks unwatchable. 3hours long. Monotonal. The worst. But it doesn’t appear to be tied to anything, and it’s not an origin story. Just a Batman adventure. That’s kind of refreshing.
                DC could do what Marvel does, but only if the top brass at WB would just accept that the comics themselves are beloved and should be treated with respect, rather than looked down on to the point of things like Catwoman with Halle Berry being made. Marvel Studios is run by someone in Kevin Fiege who loves the source material and understands that you can't piss all over the source if you want people to love the movies based on it.

                It is really just that simple.

                Comment


                • Blood Simple (1984)

                  Every time I return to one of the Coens' films as an older viewer with (I hope) wider knowledge of cinema & culture, I find myself fixating on the ingenius ways in which they mix n' match elements of what came before them. Like here for instance, it's as if they set up a basic 'Postman Always Rings Twice' scenario in the noir laboratory, then throw that guy from Jim Thompson's 'Pop 1280' into the cage, stand back and watch the fur fly.

                  Unsurprisingly perhaps, the result is still one of the very bleakest neo-noirs I've ever seen (which is saying something). Despite the quirky/likeable charactersations and conventionally action-packed/supenseful finale, there's something just sickeningly nasty about the fact that the cruelest/most abhorrent acts in the film result not from greed, or anger, or jealosy, but just from plain cowardise on the part of the male characters. Soul withering stuff.


                  The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970)

                  When I first saw this one years ago, I remember writing it off as a pretty mediocre giallo, but my tastes must have become more refined in the interim, because I enjoyed the hell out of it this time around.

                  Presumably my younger self just failed to properly grok the fact that it sits squarely within the pre-Argento, "sexy thriller" era of the genre - meaning that there is no on-screen violence whatsoever until the finale (and even then it's extremely mild) - whilst it also seemingly pre-empts the gaslighting / "woman on the verge of hysteria" cycle which screenwriter Gastaldi would go on to instigate shortly thereafter with Martino & co.

                  The plotting does get rather stodgy in the final half hour (real "yes, we get it, they're driving her crazy for the life insurance or whatever, just bloody get on with it" territory), but that aside, the cast are all fantastic, the photography is exquisite, the sexy stuff is genuinely sexy despite featuring no actual nudity, and the costumes, production design and gratuitous displays of conspicuous consumption are mind-bogglingly garish and OTT in the best possible way. Best of all though, Morricone's soundtrack is the fucking BOMB - so much so that I immediately hit Discogs after viewing and bought a copy of the LP located overseas for an eye-watering quantity of dough.

                  Anyway, point is, this took me to my giallo Happy Place and kept me there solidly for 90-odd minutes. Which is just what the doctor ordered this week.
                  https://breakfastintheruins.blogspot.com/
                  http://stereosanctity.blogspot.com/

                  Comment


                  • Shanghai Express (1932) Warner Oland is a Chinese Rebel Warlord. When his right hand man is arrested by the Chinese Government, He hijacks a train looking for someone to important enough to exchange for his man. The passengers aboard the train make for a fantastic cast. For the price of admission, ya get Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Eugene Pallette, Clive Brook, not to mention Louise Closser Hale and Her dog Waffles. For my money, this is the most fun of Dietrich's films. 8/10

                    Comment


                    • Knock Off - What the fuck happened here?! This is a stupefyingly awful film that's almost unwatchable. The editor must've been a madman. I can't believe it was directed by Tsui Hark, it's more like a Godfrey Ho movie. It's incomprehensible and headache-inducing, but I still recommend it as a fascinating trainwreck. This must've been the one that ended Van Damme's theatrical career. There's a horrible-looking print streaming on Netflix. Prepare yourself, this one is not of this earth.
                      Why would anybody watch a scum show like Videodrome? Why did you watch it, Max?

                      Comment


                      • The Empty Man, 2020. Much better than most the simplistic mystery/horror stuff that is popular these days. Some of the elements and plotting will be recognized by veteran film watchers as the film moves along but it's worth the watch.
                        Out here on the perimeter we is stoned...immaculate

                        Comment


                        • Batman and Batman Returns. I saw both these at the cinema when Batmania ruled the world (sidenote, my home city was originally called Batmania. I've always thought we should change it back to that if just for scoring Batman premieres). I've seen the first a few times but I don't think I've seen the sequel since those cinema viewings.

                          Time has been unkind to these films in a way it has been to very few others. At the time these felt impossibly lavish. Now I'm just super aware of the size of the sets. Everything is very constrained to fit within their boundaries. You can really watch Burton struggle to stage action sequences across these small stages. The miniature work also is often super obvious. Bladerunners miniatures still look great. These ones are stylish but janky.

                          I think the first is by far the better flick. There's that weird bit where Wayne liquors Basinger up and then bangs her on the first date while sober himself that will really jump out at modern audiences but otherwise it's mostly fine.

                          The second is strange though. No wonder Keaton didn't want to return. Bruce Wayne doesn't get a scene till over half an hour into the film and Batman is reduced to a side character while the villains run amok. It makes for uncomfortable viewing though. Its a kids movie where every other line is a double entendre or a come on.

                          Penguin: "Id like to fill her void."

                          Huh?

                          Batman: "Its just hard for me.'
                          Catwoman: 'I'd say it's semi hard."

                          No! Exactly how flaccid Bruce's penis is should not be a topic of conversation in a kiddie flick.

                          Its a trying film with that baggy pacing that is a Burton hallmark. It has a reputation as being the better film but I don't see it.
                          "Never let the fact that they are doing it wrong stop you from doing it right." Hyman Mandell.

                          Comment


                          • Double Team - Now this is more like it. The first collaboration between Tsui Hark and Van Damme is certainly more successful than their subsequent turkey KNOCK OFF. It's not really good, but it's entertaining, unpredictable and pretty wild. I loved the early, unexpected detour into sci-fi territory - with Van Damme attempting to escape "The Colony" - and villain Mickey Rourke's affinity for explosives makes for some fun and tense set-pieces (the sequence in the maternity ward is fucking crazy). Of course, this is the film where Dennis Rodman appears as Van Damme's eventual sidekick and, holy crap, he's as bad as you'd expect, but he fits into the madness quite well. I think this is an underrated '90s outing for JCVD.
                            Why would anybody watch a scum show like Videodrome? Why did you watch it, Max?

                            Comment


                            • The Florida Project (Sean Baker, 2017). Fantastic. Going to spend the whole summer running free in an Orlando motel and grownups can eat shit, except for Willem Dafoe. No heartbreak will crush my own private Disneyworld.

                              Should probably get around to Tangerine now.

                              Comment


                              • Nightmare Alley (2021). Somehow I've never seen the original of this or read the story So this was all new to me.

                                How incredibly gorgeous is this film? The sets on this are unbelievable. Must have cost a fortune. I'm kind of surprised they're releasing a black and white version as who would want to lose those colours? Though I imagine the carnival scenes, with all those misty bokeh lights, would look amazing in black and white.

                                It almost looks too good. Once a film looks this good then it feels artificial and it's distancing, like a Tim Burton film.


                                So I didn't know the story going in but- doing my best to avoid spoilers- about 40 minutes in it clicked in my head how it was going to end. It was the only logical way to tie the story up. I'm not giving myself any props here, it must be very obvious because just a few minutes later my girl says " Is this going to end with-" and said exactly what was in my head.

                                We still had two hours to go to get to an ending that felt simultaneously inevitable and a bit hacky and pat.

                                So that's no fun....

                                It's a long movie and its kind of frustrating because characters don't act believably. Molly for instance gets all freaked out because of the 'spook' stuff. It's never established why she'd have that reaction. Our main man was warned off that. Molly wasn't. Here's how you fix it. Combine Toni Collettes character with Molly. Then rather than Molly having to have these extreme reactions when there's no justification for it you could have Collette, who's character has been there and done it before, and so sees a tragedy repeating itself. Instantly way better film. Shorter too.

                                I'll have to check out the original now. I see it's on Google play for a fiver.
                                "Never let the fact that they are doing it wrong stop you from doing it right." Hyman Mandell.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X