Recently watched movies!

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

Masque of the Red Death - I love Poe's short story that this film was based on, and it does it justice. In fact, I love pretty much this entire movie with its amazing colors (although they left out a couple of his room colors), costumes, dance choreography, and how much of a despicable man they make Prospero to really make the ending well worth it. And yet, I feel like this movie was given too much of a budget. Something seems to be missing in the gothic atmosphere that was present in Usher, Pendulum, and Palace. I'm not sure what it is. Nevertheless, this movie is fantastic. I'm giving it a 9/10, although I kind of want to give it a 10 despite its flaws because it is THAT good.

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

The Tomb of Legia - You know, I've been highly enjoying the that I have spent the last few weeks watching, but this one is by far the worst of them all. Both my g/f and I found ourselves utterly bored with this one. That isn't to say there weren't cool things about it, but it also felt like Price was hamming in his performance this time around. The whole movie just felt off and there was very little in the way of atmosphere. I'm going to have to give this one a 6/10 because I have no desire to ever give it a second chance.

[jellydonut25]

The Bad Batch has an interesting premise - at some point presumably in the future, the United States decides to mark out a vast expanse of desert wasteland as a lawless territory and throw all non-productive members of society into it to live out their days and seemingly half the residents have decided to live together in a commune called Comfort while half have given themselves over to cannibalism - but that's all it has. There's very little happening over the course of the final 90 minutes of the film to make it feel like a film and not some insanely padded-out short, and the acting leaves much to be desired.
2/5

[eabaker]

[Dr Kain]

It was a joke, but Mother was pretty subpar. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't very good either.

[eabaker]

I know it was a joke (obviously I didn't think you were saying we actually saw the wrong movie), I was just pointing out why it didn't quite land.

Because I feel compelled to do things like that.

Because... I'm not really okay, you guys.

Plus, any excuse to use the word "marmite," right? Clearly. I mean, clearly.

[lhb412]

^I've never had marmite. It goes on toast, right?

[eabaker]

[canofhumdingers]

Is marmite like vegemite? If so, it's FLIPPING DISGUSTING. Aussies are usually pretty cool people, but their near universal love of vegemite keeps me from being able to ever fully trust them...

[lhb412]

^ of 'I Come From the Land Down Under" fame!

[eabaker]

[jellydonut25]

Marmalade?

[Dr Kain]

The Witchfinder General (or for some reason has aka The Conqueror Worm beneath its title on the box) - A much better experience compared to what I sat through last night, although far from perfect. There were a lot of aspects I liked, but I had to let go of expecting it to be masterfully crafted with a gothic atmosphere like Usher and PIt and the Pendulum had. Still, all of the actors did a fantastic job in their roles and I swear that I got some vibes from another movie I saw years ago but I can't remember what. I'm going to give it an 8/10 just because I felt it was weaker than Masque of the Red Death.

Well "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!", that brings an end to the Vincent Price movies that contain the Iowa Gothic Horrors intros/outros I own. I guess that leaves me with the Dr Phibes movies left or The Return of the Fly. Ugh. I hope they are good.

[jellydonut25]

It Comes at Night does a LOT right. It builds tension, it creates atmosphere, it knows what to show and what to not show and how much and when, it is really well paced, it features solid performances, it's got a great score, it makes extremely effective use of limited scenery, and it leaves an impression after the final scene has cut to black.

Unfortunately, it does some things, if not "wrong" then at least miscalculated that undermine what should be a really fantastic little bottle film.

I'm a Twin Peaks fan, and David Lynch in general. I understand that mystery can sometimes be its own reward. Hell, I like The Blair Witch Project; I don't even need to see the menace to enjoy the scares.

BUT

It Comes at Night dangles FAR too many questions that go unanswered and doesn't delve into the psyche of its characters or their relationships enough to make the movie feel like it ever steps very far beyond the basic premise it establishes in the first few minutes. What comes at night? How did the world get this way? What level of effectiveness do Paul's methods have in stopping the spread of the disease? Why do they burn bodies? What's the deal with Will's "brother/brother-in-law"? How is it that they've managed to go undetected despite not really trying to hide themselves? How long after 'the event' is this?
Not only does the film dangle too many questions, it takes too much of a third-person view to be shrugged off as unreliable narration, and grounds these questions in too real a scenario that's too straightforward to be taken as part of the appeal. If things were more surreal, we could ponder whether any of these questions matter, and whether any of them are real, or just paranoia setting in and tearing people apart in the wake of "some event." Sadly, It Comes at Night quite often assures us that what we're seeing we're meant to take at face value and thus when it comes to its inevitable conclusion without providing us answers to the questions it poses over the course of its 90 minutes, it's definitely quite possible to feel cheated, despite the tumultuous ride and excellent use of tension (and gut-wrenching climax).
It's a difficult movie for me to rate, as I think it was a pretty good one-time watch with how much it made my heart race towards the end and all the other things it does right, but I don't think I'd ever be interested in revisiting it.
3/5.

[eabaker]

[Dr Kain]

Kingsman 2 - I'm not sure which is worse, the fact that this movie screams sequel in every scene it tries to outdo from the first, or the fact that all of the characters we grew to love in the first one are killed off, making the first movie completely, utterly pointless. As if that wasn't enough, we never actually get to see how Eggsy has grown up between the two movies. This only thing this movie accomplishes is diminishing every single moment that made the first one so good. Gone is the decomposition of the British spy genre and in is the most generic, cookie cutter, by the book sequel that takes itself way too seriously.

Gone is the charm that made the first one most endearing and in is the most brutal, grim dark moments for the sake of being dark. Had this been like the 5th or 6th movie in the franchise, it could have worked, because then we could have had these characters developed enough that their deaths would feel tragic as opposed to a plot gimmick to make this sequel edgy. Not to mention bringing Colin Firth back completely undermines everything that happened in the last act of the last movie.

Now that is not to say everything is bad, as the soundtrack was quite good and there are some great moments of humor. The problem is that the humor feels out of place with the rest of the movie's tone. Lastly, Julianne Moore is actually really good in this. She plays a villain that doesn't feel like Valentine, but she also isn't as memorable. Then again, most of this movie is pretty forgettable. We were talking about it in the car and my girlfriend mentioned a few scenes I had totally forgotten even happened it's that bad. As such, I'm going to give this home wrecker a 6/10.

[jellydonut25]

The Girl with All the Gifts - How this one managed to slip by me months ago, I don't really know, but I'm glad I circled back around and checked it out. It seems like every time I wind up feeling brow-beaten by the mundanity of the zombie genre, a movie comes along that proves there still can be fresh, original things done with it. Yeah, these aren't "zombies" but they're close enough, and besides which, it's a damn good movie.

The bulk of the plot has a lot of the typical 'try to sneak past zombies' set pieces and moments of uneasy tranquility, but the addition of a (mostly) docile and (extremely) intelligent 'zombie' to the mix of the team spices things up and makes for a lot of fresh inventive takes on the old tropes.

Beyond that, there are good characters here who buck their stereotypes. The brash, pigheaded sergeant isn't just a belligerent dick with blinders on. He IS a bit of a dick, but he never does so at the expense of a human being, and does have a heart and a soul. The kindly, 'maybe the zombies aren't evil' character still keeps her humanity and despairs over the potential loss of human existence; she's not just a zombie-huggin' "our time is over" stereotype. And well, there's nothing stereotypical about Melanie, the intelligent "hungry" (as this film calls them) that can slip by others unnoticed, can keep her hunger in check (as long as she eats periodically), enjoys stories, and can figure out complex riddles and logic puzzles.

Plus it all builds to a really effective finale that maybe could have used just a TAD more foreshadowing, but still hits solidly on the themes the film had been playing with up to that point.

Overall, I was really impressed, and would recommend this one pretty heavily, ESPECIALLY to anyone who enjoyed 28 Days/Weeks Later, as there's a bit of a kindred spirit thing going on here.

[O.Supreme]

I'm currently on vacation and at the end of the day, we usually watch whatever we can on TV in the hotel we are staying in.

movies we've been watching:

POTC (4)- I still actually like this better than #3's overly convoluted plot. I really enjoyed Blackbeard as a villain. though i have not seen Pirates 5 yet (have only read negative reviews). I'm kind of disappointed form what I hear they abandoned the plot of the mermaid with the preacher (guess that wont be going anywhere...) in favor of bringing back Bloom & Knightly (ugh...) . Still Pirates 4 had some good moments, too bad in 6 years they came out with such a dud currently.

Toy Story & Toy Story 2...The kids of course like these, but I never thought Id say this, but TS1 now to me looks dated, while PIXAR animaton never looked bad, for their first time out, I can see a considerable difference looking 20+ years back. TS2 still holds up.

The Goonies...--Man, I cant believe how much my kids love this movie, this makes my heart swell up with pride, they truly don't make movies like this anymore...

[Dr Kain]

The Abominable Dr Phibes - First off I need to say this. Holy crap, Dr Phibes was the original Jigsaw. Like this movie screamed Saw so much that it is undeniable that it influenced the gang behind that franchise. It also made me think of Seven, but with the plagues instead of deadly sins.

Anyway, I thought I had seen the best of the best of Price's movies from these sets, but this film proved me wrong. It was masterfully crafted and so unique that it stands above even the likes of Usher, Last Man, Pit, and Palace. It was so interesting, so well told, and so damn good! The actors all did an excellent although I must admit it was weird to see Joseph Cotten in color and with grey hair no less. I have no idea how the hell there is a sequel considering the finite ending this movie has. On one hand, I don't even want to touch the sequel for fear it may taint this film. On the other, I'm need to know how they managed to crap one out. Well regardless, this is a magnificent movie and I wish I had gone to see it on the big screen last year when my local Alamo Drafthouse had shown it. Oh well. Another spectacular 10/10 masterpiece.

[eabaker]

Yeah, Phibes is pretty great. I've never gotten to see it in theater, but I did get to see the sequel in theater a few years back (on a double feature with Return of Count Yorga). The second one isn't nearly as good as the first, of course, but it's entertaining, and it definitely looked neat on the big screen.

[The Shadow]

I watched the new Dark Universe The Mummy the other day. It's alright I suppose, but I guess not especially memorable on the whole. There's some unusual big inconsistencies -- E.G. when the plane crash earlier in the movie the last shot we see has it heading directly for the ground right on top of an old church and graveyard, and yet we're told later that the plane wreckage is spread over two miles of English countryside when it should have been largely contained in a large hole in the ground.

Another big inconsistency is the whole sacrifice ceremony Ahmanet is trying to perform on Tom Cruise's character to provide Set with a body to inhabit.



In the end, the movie is largely about setting up Tom Cruise's character as a major figure in the Dark Universe movies and that we should expect Ahmanet to return despite how she was defeated. It was interesting to see Russell Crow as Dr. Henry Jekyll (post Hyde experiment) and the way they treated the Hyde transformation (not the usual big transformation seen nowadays). Although I did not expect Dr. Jekyll to be heading up the monster hunting group Prodigium; when I first saw Crow I expected him to be playing a version of Van Helsing (I did not pay much attention to the movie clips, the trailers, or articles) .

[lhb412]

Finally, finally watched The Lost World (1925) for the first time via the new restored Blu-Ray.

[Dr Kain]

Phibes Rises Again - Good bye originality. Good bye creativity. Good bye horror. Good bye everything that made its predecessor so great. Hello retcon. Hello pointless comedy. Hello sleep.

Seriously, good god, I knew it wasn't going to be as good as the first one, but god damn this was bad, like really bad. Did they just decide there was no way they could to live up to the original and decided to just half ass everything including turning the cops from intellectuals into comedic relief? Good god, Trout was just down right stupid as all hell in this thing. Of course, that was the least of this movie's issues. Retconning the ending to the first one was a huge one. Not only did they just make up some lame ass explanation as to why Phibes is alive despite the bottles clearly saying EMBALMING FLUID on them, but they also just brought his assisstant back without any explanation as to how. Additionally, she was played by a new actress, who had no acting ability whatsoever. If you are going to play a character that pretty much silent, you need to have the body language to pull it off and she did not. Speaking of being silent, Phibes was way too talkative this time around and they kept forgetting to make it sound like he was talking through a horn. Sometimes it would sound like he was, sometimes it wasn't. The worst was when he was having a full on conversation with the archeologist dude and it would sometimes sound like it was coming out of the horn, other times as if he were talking naturally.

The biggest tragedy though was this film was just flat out boring. None of the characters were the least bit interesting, the plot was uninspiring, and none of it made any sense. Unless Return of the Fly ends up being worse, this is the worst of the Price movies between the two volumes I have. Ugh. A generous 3/10.