What Films Are We Watching?

[WorldForgot]

Gonna use this a lot, lol.

[jenkins]

The Innkeepers -- I can't remember how I remembered this movie and after I ordered it I then forgot I had ordered it so when I checked my mail table and saw a package I thought oh what's this until I opened it and was like oh right. but anyway I know it's the normalcy of this movie that attracts me to it. I think Ti West achieves Ermanno Olmi-levels of normalcy, and in fact that's why this movie in particular stands out for me. the premise itself is normal. the end of the movie is normal. it's so normal and yet it's cinematic from the first to last shot. I can't think of another movie that so accurately depicts the experience of throwing away a large trash bag with liquid at its bottom. poetry to normalcy is one thing, but it's widely agreed that normalcy to poetry is even harder

Shaun of the Dead -- because certain people find the Sparks documentary downright awful, it's also being revealed to me that certain people find this director awful in general. which made me want to rewatch Shaun of the Dead, to see if I still don't like it much, because I've never liked it much. and, well there are some great shots at the beginning, a crisp cinematic grammar, but this movie is, in fact, even worse over time. that generic rock music during transitions: way ughck! normal fine, but generic gross. and, just, Ed shouldn't have used the n word. he shouldn't have. and the meta references to British tv shows were vaguely interesting at the time but they don't hold up worth a damn. it possesses appreciable qualities but it's not an impressive movie

[jenkins]

I watched Ilo Ilo because I had to, because I wanted to watch a Singaporean movie, and it's the first Singaporean movie to win a Cannes award, back in 2013, the Caméra d'Or, which has also been won by over a handful of celebrated filmmakers. props to wilder for having started a replyless xixax topic for this movie. it's a flawless movie and the best Caméra d'Or discovery I've experienced since Or (My Treasure). it was my first time watching a movie on tubi and the commercial experience wasn't so bad, I just fucking opened another browser window meanwhile. it took me about six hours to watch this 1 1/2 hr movie in my bedroom, which is shorter than average for me. they say that tubi makes more money off the commercials than streaming subscriptions, which can explain tubi's massive library. anyway this movie was so good I don't even deserve it

[jenkins]

tonight will be my fourth night in a series of nights dedicated to rewatching Gods and Monsters. because my current primary friends are the same age difference as Brendan Fraser and Ian McKellen i'm basically imagining i'm Brendan Fraser this time. i'm going to follow this rewatching with a rewatching of another favorite from 98, this Les Misérables

[jenkins]

three nights into my rewatching of Pulp Fiction. how many times I've seen it before I can't remember. last watched it, oh, eight years ago, I think. I could see it in qt's movie theater but I want it spaced out like this (the next qt movie I want to see in his theater is kill bill, preferably the whole affair but that's really so uncommon). what last happened was the adrenaline shot to the heart, then the goodbye outside her house, with the tv pilot joke finally told

it feels both highly cinematic and fully authentic. not sure I've ever so specifically appreciated Travolta's performance, plus his rather flawless hairstyle. it dawns on me that this is the birth of hipster culture, and all its primary characteristics are achieving their boldest form. it's confusing to me to watch Pulp Fiction and think about how diner culture is dying. this is a pretty moment-by-moment great movie. how Travolta crashes the car in the side of the house: everyone remembers that. how Travolta shittalks the piercings of his dealer's wife by accident. any normal person should have this whole movie memorized. to provide criticism about anything, I'll say that Monroe having her dress blow up in Jack Rabbit Slim's is like overkill, too much. chill movie so why try so hard right then. Monroe is later commented upon and seen in a natural moment rather that tacky like this, too easy to be impressive

[jenkins]

what's the intersection of this moment in Pulp Fiction, when Butch hits Marsellus

[jenkins]

Fletcher and Atwater

[wilberfan]

Beat me by 5 minutes... 

[jenkins]

<3. There's a PTA tidbit in the Pulp Fiction locations

Wasco says the house, written to be in Toluca Lake, was actually found in nearby Studio City on a tip from filmmaker, Paul Thomas Anderson. As Wasco and Craft remember it, a friend of Anderson's father, radio and television personality Ernie Anderson, owned the house.

Jimmie's House

[jenkins]

as previously mentioned it's been eight years since I watched Pulp Fiction, and still I somehow had the scene with Raquel and Wolf (call me Winston) outside the car dump memorized, beat by beat. tbh I was a little startled by this, because I have that scene memorized more than others, and it's not a particularly favorite scene of mine. I must confess that I multiple-times rewound, and laughed out loud, at "Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face," although I remember that part as well as my mother's maiden name. Travolta really kills it, I think because Sam L is so impressive I've never paid attention to John so much. the lowest point in this movie is QT himself saying Dead N storage. it doesn't kill the movie but it is its lowest point. and although I truly think the movie feels authentic and alive in so many ways, I don't believe when Sam L references "Guns of Navarone," just saying. I should finish it tonight and it's been a delightful rewatch

[WorldForgot]

So I just watched The Anniversary Party - as far as I know this iz the only film attributed to Ghoulardi Film Company that isn't Paul's?

Great cast! It's like early wave mumblecore. And although Baumbach has his whole formal things, here Cumming and Jason Leigh play it looser, clearly vibing off the emotional chaos of their script and ensemble. A fun experiment that may not stick its landing for everyone, but if you wanna see John C Reilly trip with Parker Posey and Kevin Kline, well, I don't really know where else you can go.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Black Widow is a pretty standard action movie. The first act is great, but the third act is absolute cookie cutter. Definitely not as essential as Wandavision or Loki. But it's pretty fun and probably worth seeing for Florence Pugh and David Harbour. Those two humans are composed entirely of charisma.

There is not a single good Russian accent in this movie. Pugh's might be the least bad, counter to expectations set by the trailer. Rachel Weisz definitely has worst accent. She's pretty severely miscast, too. (Or I don't understand the character, which is possible.)

I saw F9 last week, and it's definitely the superior action film.

[Jeremy Blackman]

I suddenly remembered what Scarlett Johansson was able to accomplish in Lucy. She is absolutely bursting with intensity and emotion in that film, all while playing a terminator sorceress. That honestly might be one of my favorite performances ever. Hard to believe it's the same actor in this movie. You'd think she'd be tapping a similar vein of badassery in Black Widow, but no such luck. The actor who plays the young version of her makes a stronger impression in, what, 5 minutes of screen time? Sadly, ScarJo is kind of forgettable and lifeless in her own movie. In fact I didn't even mention her in my previous post.

I should also reiterate how much the third act does not hold up. I wouldn't be surprised if they brought in a different writer to craft an action movie climax, and they spun a wheel to select and assemble various recycled elements. Or it was some kind of madlibs situation. Mainly they needed to determine which things explode and when, and how to position characters during the various explosions.

[WorldForgot]

The actor who plays the young version of her makes a stronger impression in, what, 5 minutes of screen time?

Milla Jovovich & Paul WS Anderson's daughter.

I keep telling myself I'll stop watching these Disney Marvel flicks but then it feels like I can't whinge if I don't watch it. This one was as rote as you said, and ultimately this character wasn't given any true depth throughout a decade of franchising.

[Robyn]

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx

The first one was okay - an origin film that never takes off due to a whole lot of exposition - but this one is a genuinely great film. Beautifully shot blood splattered mayhem (and the blood in this one is very blood as in it's the reddest of red squirting like fountains) with one amazing action set piece after another, and the iconic and tender father/son relationship at it¨¨'s core. The use of music, camera moments and the Sergio Leone-esque closeups and cuts makes this an awesome and thrilling genre film. Just skip the first one and go straight for this one. It's super worth it.