What's the latest movie you've seen?

[Lexi Darling]

How could this be bad?

I mean.. look at that cast!

You wouldn't think, right? But there's actually some pretty deep lore as to why it sucks so bad, pretty fascinating story.

But I feel you, you see a cast list that includes Judi Dench and Ian McKellen and you would never expect the onslaught of bad puns, pop culture references and fart jokes that the movie ends up being.

[DJChameleon]

I wish I could lie and say it wasn't this, but it was this.

I haven't seen it but I love the voice actor roster. I might have to check it out.

[robhr]

The Whale.

Loved it.

[Guybrush]

You wouldn't think, right? But there's actually some pretty deep lore as to why it sucks so bad, pretty fascinating story.

But I feel you, you see a cast list that includes Judi Dench and Ian McKellen and you would never expect the onslaught of bad puns, pop culture references and fart jokes that the movie ends up being.

Not gonna lie.. This does make me curious

The Whale.

Loved it.

Yes! We also recently watched The Whale. If anyone's unfamiliar, it's this movie:



The movie is about a recluse teacher named Charlie who's had a rough time the last 8 years, a time when he's become severly obese and also estranged from his own daughter.

Brendan Fraser really was so good in this. I didn't know he had those kind of acting chops, associating him more with Bicentennial man, Jungle George and The Mummy. Hong Chau is also really good and Sadie Sink, while kinda typecasted into the same sort of character she plays in Stranger Things, does a decent job.

It was based on a play and while I was a little worried it might be slow, it kept me engaged and entertained with every minute. Towards the end, I may have felled a tear or two. Great stuff.




I'm also behind on my movie reviews and watch more than I have time to write about. Some of the movies I've found hard to review because I watched them while exercising and I'm just not giving them my full attention. For this reason, I wouldn't watch The Whale while working out, but I might watch some trash.

Some of the movies I've seen lately but haven't commented on:

Demon City Shinjuku



I think it's an anime from 1987 and I also believe @DJChameleon mentioned it. As far as I could tell, this was pretty decent. There are some interesting ideas and visuals here and of course demon fighting. Thankfully, there was less sexual violence here than in my previous recent anime explorations. I'm not sure it ever got to that, actually. Or if it did, I missed it.

On the surface, it's very reminiscent of Wicked City, being about a guy and a gal facing down demons in a sort of urban environment. This movie has a little more heart and is preferable, although my final rating may not quite reflect that.




The Poughkeepsie Tapes



This was recommended to me by someone here when I asked for more horror recommendations. It's a horror movie presented as a documentary about a serial killer. This killer films his tortures and murders and scenes from those tapes feature in the documentary.

Unfortunately, I find the documentary format interspersed with found footage to be extremely boring. It's a special kind of realism that's hard to recreate in an authentic manner and so there are little telltale signs you're watching actors pretending to be police detectives, parents and whatnot. Even if everyone played their roles convincingly, it takes a lot for me to forget I'm watching a movie and this format seems to forgo entertainment value in an attempt to increase realism. It doesn't work for me. I'd prefer entertainment value.

As such, I found it to be torture porn without many redeeming qualities.




Class of Nuke 'Em High



I've seen this like twice before, but it stands out as one of my favorite Troma movies. It's a non-stop schlockfest of dumb gags, so it's the perfect exercise movie for me. Whenever you look up from your benching or crunching, there's something to laugh at on screen.

If you haven't seen it, it is a Troma highschool movie.. but of course this school is right next to the Troma Nuclear facility that seems to just mass produce nuclear waste that might mutate a poor teenager or turn the honor society into a band of violent, dope selling thugs.

The bad guy punkers called The Cretins (former members of the honor society) is my favorite thing about this. One guy rocks this cannibal tribe style with rings in his nose and uses a huge bone as his weapon. Another is a guy (trans?) with dark lipstick, pink sweater and boobs. Then there's a chick with a scar on her face and a small Hitler mustache. Then there's a guy with a face full of moles where every mole has like its own long hairdo. Etc. etc.

It's politically incorrect, stupid and fun.

[Guybrush]

Saw this one:



John Wick must have the thickest plot armor in the history of movies. Nothing seems to hurt him, including getting hit by three cars in the span of minutes and falling from several stories, etc.

Keanu Reeves couldn't deliver a line to save his own life. Why is this guy a renowned actor? Okay, he looks good, but he's more wooden than our bookshelves and a sorry comparison to other actors in the movie. He also moves wooden which kinda worked in Matrix, but seems very stiff compared to others here, like Donnie Yen.

Donnie Yen was the star of this movie, playing the incredibly implausible blind hitman Caine. He's fun to watch onscreen.

Bill Skarsgard plays the bad guy with an annoying accent. Nothing special here. Ian McShane and Laurence Fishburne also return.

It's very male juvenile, but also well made and quite entertaining..  even if I don't get the styles, themes and baffling Keanu Reeves worship.

[Lexi Darling]

Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

I never had any desire to watch this. Naturally it's come up in conversation with some of my friends and acquaintances when I've brought up the subject of my relationship and I never really could comment on it since I'd never seen it. But it popped into my head recently after a coworker and I had a conversation about Twilight that eventually turned to the 50 Shades series. I thought it might finally be time to watch it, so I brought it up as an option for a weekend movie. This was how we spent our Saturday afternoon.

Mr. Waffles had never seen the movie either; we were both going in with fresh eyes and ears. And as I expected, it's pretty woeful as far as being an accurate portrayal of a relationship like this that would actually work in real life. I would think that's part of the point, that this guy is not actually a good dominant, but if this was supposed to be romantically titillating, it certainly wasn't for us. Yeah we're not the target audience, but it's frustrating that people who are in the target audience might see this portrayal of a twisted, frankly abusive version of a BDSM relationship and think that's just how those relationships work.

I think the movie affected Mr. Waffles a bit more than me, he made some pretty existential comments like wondering if this was what the general public thinks doms are really like. It's a very real thought, we have a few acquaintances who are only vaguely wise to our ways. If their only exposure to BDSM is this movie series, maybe they assume that Mr. Waffles is a Christian Grey kind of person and he does all this sussy stuff, and that I'm his manipulated submissive who got roped into this world where the ideas of consent and negotiation are hazy at best. Kind of a worrying thought.

Dunno if we're going to watch the second and third movies. I've heard it gets even worse.

[DJChameleon]

Yes @Mrs. Waffles .

Vanilla people think the worse of BDSM because of 50 Shades and how other movies have handled the dynamic. The only movie that sort of handled it well but still has some minor flaws is The Secretary.

So your partner is right to question it and think about how others interpretation of Doms are. Now it's just up to him if he chooses to educate those when asked about it or just ignore their naive questions/judgements over it.

[robhr]

Alien 3.

It was passable. I expected more from David Fincher, but apparently he's really distanced himself from that movie.

Honestly none of the Alien movies lived up to how much I hyped them in my head. I mean they're good but not as good as I expected going in.

[Guybrush]

Alien is like Hellraiser. Only the first two are really worth your time (and for the record, I love the first two of either franchise).

Alien 3 is famous for being a production from hell. Lots of rewrites. Sigourney made lots of demands. I can't remember all the details, but maybe Fincher also wasn't the first director attached to it.

[DJChameleon]

Yeah @Guybrush I recommended Poughkeepsie tapes because I live close to Poughkeepsie NY. Where the fictional story takes place even though they didn't film a lick of it in Poughkeepsie.

It has been awhile since I seen it so don't remember if it was good good or bad good since I watch a lot of bad horror movies and laugh at them.

I don't think it was supposed to be taken seriously.

[robhr]

The French Connection.

I liked it.

[Guybrush]

We finally saw Beau is Afraid.



It's Ari Aster's third studio production and being a huge fan of Hereditary, I was really looking forward to it.

In it, Joaquin Phoenix plays the titular Beau who is afraid of most things, including stuff like having sex and homeless people. I don't wanna spoil too much, but he travels on a short adventure of sort.

The movie is seen through the lens of Beau's anxieties, so if he's afraid of someone, their characters are super menacing in the film. My favorite scenes were actually early in the film where we witness this hyper violent, nightmarish New York where naked serial killers prowl the street and the police are as likely to shoot you. It's brilliant dark comedy.

As the movie goes on, it does drag a bit in places, though it never gets boring. Some of the things that went on I didn't quite understand and the movie is packed with symbolism, foreshadowing, layers etc. If you enjoy a movie you can analyze, this is for you.

I'd rate it

But the first 20 minutes of its 3 hour runtime might be more like 5 stars.

[Guybrush]

One of the movies I forgot to mention after I saw it some days ago was Brainstorm from 1983.



I thought it would be some sci-fi goofball horror, maybe like Lifeforce meets Altered States. What I got wasn't like that at all.

In this movie, Christopher Walken and Natalie Woods plays a recently separated married couple that work together on a machine that can relay other beings' sensory input. You put on a helmet, you can see what they see, taste what they taste and so on. Moreover, experiences and thoughts can be recorded to magnetic tapes and played / experienced by someone else at a later time.

While there are occasional goofs, the movie takes itself and its story seriously. It takes its concept to some interesting places, like exploring what might happen after we die, and is delightfully non-formulaic.

The actors do a fine job. Walken's weirdness works better here than in movies like The Dead Zone.

All in all, a little 80s gem and it's weird it took so long to show up on my radar. Why don't people mention this more often?



Also, those lab sets look great.

[DJChameleon]

Funny that you mention The Dead Zone I came in this thread to post about it. I'm currently watching it but it's almost over.

[Guybrush]

Funny that you mention The Dead Zone I came in this thread to post about it. I'm currently watching it but it's almost over.

I think The Dead Zone is okay, but a little uneven maybe as the political assassination plot towards the end feels a little tacked on. But maybe it's like that in Stephen King's book too.

I actually prefer Brainstorm to The Dead Zone.