What's the latest movie you've seen?

[grindy]

I took in Neil Breen's Fateful Findings yesterday. Perhaps an exceptional specimen of outsider art or just the Citizen Kane of bad movies, right up there with Manos: The Hands of Fate.

I discovered Breen through Red Letter Media's Best of the Worst series on YouTube. Evidently, all of Breen's movies are identical - he always stars as the world's greatest hacker, who, (in his own words), "has hacked all of the secrets of government and corporate secrets." There is usually a supernatural element to the plot which is inevitably never explained.

Here's the climactic ending scene of the film.

I probably couldn't watch a full movie of his but I really enjoy people reviewing and breaking them down.
He is so pathetic and oblivious, it's funny and fascinating and sometimes hard to believe.

[SGR]

Has anyone seen this yet?



As a Bigfoot fanatic, I'd think this would be up my alley - but it seems like one of those films that might be polarizing. The last polarizing film I watched (Skinamarink), I hated. Debating on whether I want to drive a total of 2 hours to see it in theatres or wait until it's streaming.

[Trollheart]

Just watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I mean, it was all right, but I was brought up on Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka and, honestly, it's the original and best. I don't know if it's just me, but in recent movies Depp has always come across as, I don't know, slightly weird and even scary in a way? Like I think he would make a perfect Joker; he just has that sort of madness in his eyes, the tight smile that looks like he would be as happy carving you up as reading a book, like he's one twitching muscle away from just going crazy with a sub machine gun or something, giggling maniacally all the way. Is it the actor or the characters he plays? Well, Wonka was meant to be eccentric, but not the equivalent of a Chocolate Serial Killer, as it were, and the pleasure he takes in - or rather, almost disinterest in the fate of the four kids (deserved though they all were) is somewhat unsettling.

Not mad about the songs either, and the ending was a bit lacklustre I felt. Overall, I'm not sorry I watched it but I'm not particularly glad either. I think this may have been an occasion where if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Lexi Darling]

Just watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I mean, it was all right, but I was brought up on Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka and, honestly, it's the original and best. I don't know if it's just me, but in recent movies Depp has always come across as, I don't know, slightly weird and even scary in a way? Like I think he would make a perfect Joker; he just has that sort of madness in his eyes, the tight smile that looks like he would be as happy carving you up as reading a book, like he's one twitching muscle away from just going crazy with a sub machine gun or something, giggling maniacally all the way. Is it the actor or the characters he plays? Well, Wonka was meant to be eccentric, but not the equivalent of a Chocolate Serial Killer, as it were, and the pleasure he takes in - or rather, almost disinterest in the fate of the four kids (deserved though they all were) is somewhat unsettling.

Not mad about the songs either, and the ending was a bit lacklustre I felt. Overall, I'm not sorry I watched it but I'm not particularly glad either. I think this may have been an occasion where if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I haven't seen it since, but when that movie came out I was at the peak of my Tim Burton fandom and even then I didn't enjoy it much at all. Only part I really liked that wasn't done better in the 1971 version was having Christopher Lee as his dad.

[Trollheart]

That's true. Well, adding Christopher Lee to any movie immediately raises its pedigree of course. However, clever and insightful as the origin story was, I see there's also another movie out called just Wonka, which explores his rise to fame, so I hope they keep that story constant or it's going to have been a waste.

Definitely did not like Depp in this though; he looked really as if he didn't want to do it, and was there under protest. A manic, and at the same time sort of boring/restrained performance that made me feel like his heart was not in it at all. As you say, and as I did, they did nothing better than the original. Even the "punishments" for the kids were the same, and while of course you can't exactly change the novel, everything from rolling Violet away as a giant blueberry to Augustus going up the pipe were all the same, with tiny little variances that made me wonder why I bothered.

"Fry and the Slurm Factory" was much better than this.

[Guybrush]

We saw Infested yesterday.



It's a bit like Rec, only with Spiders. There isn't too much plot besides a group of friends trying to escape a quarantined building filling up with very dangerous and aggressive spiders.

These simple premise creature features are usually poorly made, but I saw this get some good reviews and decided to check it out. For what it is, it actually is well made. The characters feel mostly believable. The dilapidated building is a good setting. The buildup through the movie is effective. I can see how the spiders would creep some peeps out.

For myself, a reason I don't love creature features is I don't think creatures are particularly scary. I don't have the right level of arachnophobia for this either. Also I prefer movies that are more layered and less predictable/formulaic overall.

Still a decent watch and I expect some will really like this. Recommended to arachnophobes!

[Trollheart]

This was on last night so gave it another go. I can't say I hated it, but being a big fan of Holmes I dislike the way he's being portrayed here as some sort of suave, wisecracking action hero. I know these days cinema audiences can't be expected to sit through a movie that doesn't whizz, bang, flash and explode all over the place, but I feel Holmes' legacy is being cheapened by this sort of treatment. I guess the days of Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett are long gone, but it irks me to see Holmes "Hollywoodised" this way. As I noted of Johnny Depp in my last post, RDJ kind of has that manic, dangerous attitude to Holmes that is, to me anyway, totally opposite to how Doyle wrote the character. Holmes was a quiet, severe, coldly logical man utterly devoted to his art, that of tackling crime. He seldom used humour, and if he did it was tight, acerbic humour. He could defend himself, but was no superman (here, RDJ takes out four assassins with the practiced ease of Jacky Chan or Van Damme!) and in fact a number of times gets quite badly beaten up.

The flashy "Matrix"-style direction of Ritchie - fast, changing angles, zooms, complete freezes, 180 or 360 camera angles, go again - annoyed me and made this seem more like an example of style over substance, giving the folks what they want and pandering to the exigencies of the Hollywood blockbuster. To be fair, the story did loosely follow mostly the plot of "The Final Problem" (though the Reichenbach Falls were moved to right beside the hotel, which I found odd) and tied in with the coming horror of the Great War, but while I would have to say I enjoyed it, it did seem almost like it could have starred any detective character, or any private eye. Didn't seem like Holmes to me, and I certainly did not like Jude Law's Watson: far too sarcastic and self-assured.

It can't be denied it's a rollercoaster of a movie, but for something more approaching the kind of Holmes you may be more used to seeing if you're a fan, try Sir Ian McKellen in Mr. Holmes, which features a far more sedate Holmes in retirement, and is, for my money, a more realistic and faithful portrayal of the great detective, and a better movie.

[degrassi.knoll]

I've watched a couple films in the past week that I adored - dying to talk about them.

Spaceman (2024)

Six months into a solo mission, a lonely astronaut confronts the cracks in his marriage with help from a mysterious creature he discovers on his ship.

Dream Scenario (2023)
A family man finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams.
However, when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, he's forced to navigate the consequences of his newfound stardom.

[Trollheart]

We tried Dream Scenario, which looked good, but my sister and her husband both started looking at me about a half-hour in, when nothing seemed to be happening, and as they often do (and it's their house after all) they shrugged and we gave it up, trying something else. I must say, for one of my recs, though I hadn't seen it, just the trailer, I was quite disappointed. Then again, we didn't finish it, so maybe it got better? Wouldn't be inclined to go back and try it again though.

[Trollheart]

Has anyone seen Moonfall? It's on the telly on Monday, and I've never heard of it, but it looks pretty strange. Aliens built the moon? Is it meant to be a comedy, dark comedy, or to be taken seriously? Worth a watch?

[Saulaac]

"The Moon is in synchronous rotation, meaning that it keeps the same face toward Earth at all times."
"The Moon keeps one hemisphere of itself facing the Earth, due to tidal locking."
Both these quotes are from Wiki, and I find everything about the moon's orbit fascinating.

I'll try to lock into Moonfall, in the meantime, Brian Bennett's "Air Quake" seemed to set the tone for this one

[Trollheart]

Can I assume you've checked out Trollheart's Guide to the Galaxy (and Beyond) then, where I do a very in-depth article on the Moon, including all the probes sent and the Apollo missions? If not, why are you still here? It's thatway! ------>