General Movies Thread

[Skull]

Been a looooong time since I've watched a Jackie Chan film so I thought I'd fix that with one of his more recent films, "Police Story: Lockdown" - the second dark and gritty reboot of the Police Story franchise though this one diverges even more from the old forumala by being set in mainland China and not even being a martial arts movie, presumably because Chan is getting on in years so that whilst there's still some cool fight scenes it's all very modest MMA moves that a trained cop might realistically be able to pull off.

Anyways, if I had to quickly sum up the plot, it'd be that police captain Zhong (Chan) is lured to a bar where he is taken hostage by a mysterious man. Zhong quickly realises this is no ordinary kidnapping as he starts to recognise the other hostages from a murder case he investigated five years ago. Time is running out as neck bombs will explode if the true killer from back then isn't exposed and stuff.

I mentioned yesterday during my comments about a anime film of the Rashomon effect, but this film is an even more apt comparison as you have faded memories from different perspectives all clashing and vying for what is the true reality and whatnot.

Anyways, a really good film. I often forget that Jackie Chan isn't just some comedic stuntman but a genuinely good actor who gets to strut his stuff in this more subdued film. Definitely a recommend from me.

[KingCapone]

Today, I watched Forever My Girl; it was terrific, I mean it. One of the most love aspired movies I've seen in a long time. Well, it also might be, that I haven't been able to explore many good love movies, and this was like the top of it. I was wondering what are some other movies like Forever My Girl? I came across A Star is Born two years ago, it was also nice. Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper), a seasoned guitarist, meets and falls in love with-struggling artist Ally (Gaga). She’s almost given up on her dream of becoming a famous artist – until Jack propels her into the spotlight. This was a nice plot to be honest lol, but rest assured, I'm looking fore more movies like Forever My Girl, I have failed miserably finding good ones. I came across one movies list, but not sure if any of those are highlighted rated on IMDB or RottenTomatoes. Suggestions for movies like Forever My Girl or A Star Is Born?

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I planned on going out, but then the government made me an offer I couldn't refuse...

So yeah, spent the weekend watched The Godfather trilogy. Eh, I've seen too many homages and parodies of it that I think I went in with too high expectations that it would be some great masterpiece.

Oh well, back to watching horror movies I guess.

Godfather is like the GOAT of all Gangster Movies, did you like Vito's character played by the legendary Marlon Brando? Also, you must watch Godfather Part 2, which is Prime Al-Pacino. I cant stress how good these movie are, goddam, Part 1 where Micheal goes to Italy and meets Apolonia, it's like a dream.

[Skull]

Godfather is like the GOAT of all Gangster Movies, did you like Vito's character played by the legendary Marlon Brando?

I was indifferent to the character.

Also, you must watch Godfather Part 2, which is Prime Al-Pacino. I cant stress how good these movie are, goddam, Part 1 where Micheal goes to Italy and meets Apolonia, it's like a dream.

As I mentioned, I watched the whole trilogy and didn't care for any of them. Though I did think 3 was the best while 2 was easily the worst.

[SpoonyViking]

Ironically, the consensus seems to be the other way around.

[aldeayeah]

I personally found Godfather II too relentlessly bleak. The first one is the only one I've rewatched.

Couple of months until Dune film is released. Apparently it will adapt roughly the first half of the book until the timeskip.



I'm slightly worried the Fremen will be whitewashed into good guys (instead of kinda terrifying space Taliban) but eh, should be a fun flick anyway

[Herod]

That is fucking Villeneuve, I expect an absurdly good movie.

[aldeayeah]

I expect an absurdly good-looking mixed bag.

[Mattias]

I expect an absurdly good-looking mixed bag.

Yeah, I'm with you there. Bladerunner 2030 was visually gorgeous, but a slog in some places. In fact, a storm knocked out the audio in the theatre and it took everyone there like five minutes to realize that it wasn't just some stylistic thing he did during the cybersex scene.

[Skull]

"Groovy~"

I am back this time with another horror series to review and last night I watched "Dance of the Devil" - err, I mean "The Cursed Song" no wait it's "Ghost Play"^[1]... just kidding, it was The Evil Dead of course.

I feel very lied to. The BD case was very misleading as the woman on the front cover^[2] wasn't even in the film and the synopsis on the back talked about stuff like the Boomstick which didn't turn up. From what I've gathered, this is another "Zeta Gundam" situation whereby the first entry is a pretty standard fare but the second film/show is what really defines the franchise's unique zeitgeist in the cultural sphere. I'll have to talk about that more after having watched the other two films in the trilogy.

But anyways, as for the movie in a vacuum...I really enjoyed it. Like I said earlier it was a pretty straight-laced horror flick and was filmed on a shoestring budget which does unfortunately show in places but it had a lot of heart regardless. Five young'uns go for a vacation in a mountain cabin only to accidentally raise the forces of evil after finding the Book of the Dead^[3]. I enjoyed the bait 'n switch by having it seem like Scott was the protagonist only for his tragic death leaving Ash left alone who has to pull himself together and become the hero. That said, the film really did like abusing Ash, I lost count of how many times he got splattered with the Deadite blood and guts. I do wonder if there is a reason why Ash never got possessed unlike say Linda who succumbed after a single wound from the Deadites. Regardless, the climax with the Deadites collapsing in stop motion after Ash burns the Book was really cool.

I give the film two severed thumbs up. Looking forward to the others.

[1] - If you didn't get the joke, this movie has a billion different names in other languages. The three I used were just the German, Greek and Taiwanese respectively.
[2] - Funnily enough that is in fact Bridget Hoffman in the promotional materials who is nowadays more famous as a voice actress for various anime dubs such as Jeri in Digimon, Lain in Serial Experiments Lain and Irisviel in Fate/Zero.
[3] - Apparently it's also called the "Necronomicon" in later instalments which is cool, I do love me some Lovecraft.

[aldeayeah]

Ah, Infernal Possession.

[SpoonyViking]

I'm slightly worried the Fremen will be whitewashed into good guys (instead of kinda terrifying space Taliban) [...]

While Dune has no unambiguously "good" guys - at least none that play any significant role in the story -, and the Fremen are basically always presented as terrifying and merciless to their enemies, in the first novel they're still pretty much the "good" guys when compared to the likes of the Harkonnen and the Sardaukar. It's only from Messiah of Dune forward that Paul "unleashes" them on the universe, to use the novel's wording.

[Mattias]

"Groovy~"

I am back this time with another horror series to review and last night I watched "Dance of the Devil" - err, I mean "The Cursed Song" no wait it's "Ghost Play"^[1]... just kidding, it was The Evil Dead of course.

Be prepared, from what I've heard 2 is just a remake of 1 that leans harder into all the things which would become the series trademarks.

[aldeayeah]

While Dune has no unambiguously "good" guys - at least none that play any significant role in the story -, and the Fremen are basically always presented as terrifying and merciless to their enemies, in the first novel they're still pretty much the "good" guys when compared to the likes of the Harkonnen and the Sardaukar. It's only from Messiah of Dune forward that Paul "unleashes" them on the universe, to use the novel's wording.

Nah man that stuff was there since the beginning. They murder without remorse those who aren't trained to live in the desert. It's acceptable to duel to death to take another's wife and she has no say on the matter. Etc.

I'd say Leto (father), Gurney and Thufir qualify as good.

[Skull]

"Le Groovy Part Deux" (He actually says it this time!)

I wasn't sure what to expect but I braced myself anyways and yet I still ended up surprised. Apparently Sam Raimi was denied the use of footage of the first film by the previous studio so the first five or so minutes of ED2 is literally Ash speedrunning through the events of the first movie again to catch the audience up before the film carries on from the cliffhanger. The fact that there's discrepancies between the two versions of events leads to some questions of canonicity which are muddled by the fact that I'm told "Ash vs Evil Dead" references both films as having happened.

But enough of the preamble, what actually happened in this film. I'm glad they sorta answered the question I had from the first film as to why Ash didn't get possessed - hubris as the Deadites finally have enough of Ash and manage to possess him but it's too late now as the sun came up to save Ash. Unexpected but good that they acknowledged more about the Professor and how his daughter came to the cabin to look for him and ends up being vital to saving Ash. I see what people mean about the later franchise leaning more into Horror Comedy as there were a lot more wacky moments to try and balance out the gorn and whatnot - my favourite was when the Deadites are doing Poltergeist stuff during Ash's mental breakdown to mess with him only for Ash to completely lose it and start dancing with the moving objects while laughing hysterically. Despite the delivery of the Groovy line not being anything special, I see why it became so iconic as it encapsulates the moment when Ashley Williams the plaything of Deadites pulls his shit together and becomes Ash the man who fights the Evil Dead, complete with his signature chainsaw, Boomstick and slicked back hair. I won't spoil the ending for those who haven't seen the film but I will say I called it as soon as I saw the picture.

That's two down, one to go. I enjoyed this movie as well but the difference in tone despite being a direct continuation to the first film makes it hard to judge the two together as they're slightly different genres. Hopefully Army of Darkness does not disappoint!

[aldeayeah]

Man I loved Army of Darkness as a kid. Don't want to rewatch it so as not to spoil the memories lol

[SpoonyViking]

Nah man that stuff was there since the beginning. They murder without remorse those who aren't trained to live in the desert. It's acceptable to duel to death to take another's wife and she has no say on the matter. Etc.

There's an argument to be made the first part is just pragmatism, but I did forget about Harah.

I'd say Leto (father), Gurney and Thufir qualify as good.

Yes, but do they qualify as *unambiguously* good? I'd say all three are debatable... But I think I lean in favour of agreeing with you regarding Leto I.

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Army of Darkness is pretty good, but I'd say it does veer a lot more toward action and comedy than horror. Personally, I think that works for the movie, but your mileage may vary.

[Deathhappens]

The Fremen in the original Dune are pretty unambiguously portrayed as noble savages; their customs (even the more unsavory ones) are pretty much glossed over as 'cultural divide'. It's not a bad take by any means, in my opinion, and I sincerely hope the adaptation sticks to it rather than turn it into social commentary.

But who am I kidding, Chani's character practically screams exploitable feminism tract.

In other news, after being entirely unaware it even existed for most of the year I got to watch the new Marvel movie Black Widow. It's... a decent way to pass the time, I suppose, but as a spy movie it lacks even the basic intrigue of Winter Soldier and as an action movie it falls pretty flat as Black Widow's frame-filler material isn't really improved from previous movies and there's very little other spectacle to distract from it.

spoilers for the plot below

I feel sorry for any potential fans of the comics' Taskmaster, as the take they took for him (now her) here is pretty goofy and entirely one-dimensional; there's a few nice 'gotcha' moments when she obviously imitates Captain America, Clint Barton or T'Challa, but they're sadly the only highlights of the action parts of the movie and they last a scant few moments. The whole "spies building a family out of their shared lack of family" angle, which I appreciate as a fresh take on the typical 'family issues' hook, isn't really developed properly in-between the needed action scenes to avoid boring the audience and besides generating a few laughs, generally by playing on tired sitcom cliches, falls flat.

In conclusion, it's not a bad movie, but as the movie that would've benefited the most out of breaking the typical MCU movie mold it plays it way too safe to be anything but 'decent'. Doesn't seem to be tying to or from anything else either, given the timeframe*, so it's a safe pass for those not interested.

*though note I haven't followed anything Marvel since Endgame, so I could be woefully mistaken

[Mattias]

In conclusion, it's not a bad movie, but as the movie that would've benefited the most out of breaking the typical MCU movie mold it plays it way too safe to be anything but 'decent'. Doesn't seem to be tying to or from anything else either, given the timeframe*, so it's a safe pass for those not interested.

*though note I haven't followed anything Marvel since Endgame, so I could be woefully mistaken

Yeah, given that it's set between Civil War and Infinity War, there isn't really much larger story to include since we already knew how it would turn out. It basically exists to introduce replacement ScarJo who won't cost as much, and explain why BW was blonde when Thanos showed up.

[aldeayeah]

The Fremen in the original Dune are pretty unambiguously portrayed as noble savages; their customs (even the more unsavory ones) are pretty much glossed over as 'cultural divide'.

That's the impression I got on the first read, but on every reread I find them (and Paul) shadier and shadier

[Skull]

You know, I really think Sam Raimi should have stuck with the working title of "The Medieval Dead" as to me "Captain Supermarket" just isn't as cool. (I decided to finish as I began, with a joke about foreign titles for movies because I shit you not, Army of Darkness is called Captain Supermarket in Japan.)

Where do I even start with this movie? Uhh...I guess I see where a lot of the franchise's more memeable moments and quotes came from, a lot that even I recognised from pop culture osmosis. I swear Linda is cursed, well *aside* from being a Deadite that is as for the third movie in a row she's played by a different actress despite Raimi being allowed to use footage from ED2 this time. Also despite being another direct continuation there's once again continuity discrepancies between how ED2 ended and this movie started but it's relatively minor this time.

I see what people mean about this not really being a horror flick anymore, despite the credit's insistence of it being "Medieval Horror". Don't get me wrong though, I was thoroughly entertained with the action and (most of) the Three Stooges-esque comedy. I swear some of those scenes were stuff straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean, especially when Ash is dual wielding swords and fighting both his evil half and some random Deadite behind him taking swipes. Speaking of other movies, I am rather bemused that the arc magic words in the movie, "Klaatu barada nikto" were lifted straight from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" rather randomly, I guess Raimi is a fan? I ended up watching the Theatrical Cut with the Supermarket ending and am so much glad I did as I felt it fits the tone way better.

Overall this movie is great too, but once again it's hard to compare it to the rest of the trilogy as its just so different. I can't say I'm sad that this movie caused the franchise to go dormant as I feel like this would have been the perfect place to end it as Ash completed the hero's journey and achieved his final form as the action hero the world needed. I am tempted to go watch "Ash vs Evil Dead" as I've heard good things but I don't have the time or money to invest in a tv show right now.

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And now, I too must go back to my ancient slumber until I find another horror movie to review...zzz