Recently watched movies!

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

watched IT (2017) tonight. It wasn't bad. I was prepared to hate it but I actually thought it did a good job of being a decent horror movie.

It's funny right when I was thinking that this movie really reminds me of some of the early Nightmare on Elm Street movies, only with Pennywise instead of Freddy,..you see a movie marquee advertising A Nightmare on Elm Street 5.

The music, the pacing, the 'each kid having a nightmare based on his/her fear',...all very much felt like A Nightmare on Elm Street to me. It even mentioned him feeding on fear and not having power over you if you're not scared of him.

The CGI in the movie ranged from pretty decent to not very good, almost cartoonish. There's a scene in Bills garage where I thought Pennywise looked very cartoony and far too bright and well lite for being in a dark garage.

But then later there was another scene where Pennywises mouth keeps opening and opening revealing row after row of teeth and way down in his throat were lights (the Deadlights, if you've read the book),..and they hypnotized his victim,..I thought that was handled pretty well. Though there was absolutely no explanation of the deadlights or IT's origins, or The Turtle from the book. (though you do see a turtle made out of Lego earlier in the movie which I felt was a nod to the book. A bit of fan service to King fans I suppose.)

I did think the final showdown fight was slightly anti-climatic. And if you've read the book, there is no giant alien arachnid, it's just the clown shapeshifting between their fears. Though for a second there it did move around with giant spider/crab like legs which I guess is a nod to the book as well. But it happened very quickly as he shifted between forms during the attack.

It really felt like A Nightmare on Elm Street movie,..a good one. It held my interest through the entire 2 hours and 12 minutes, and the movie didn't feel overlong or drawn out, it moved quickly.

Sadly even at that run time there wasn't much time for any real characterization of the group. With that many kids (plus the bad kids, Henry Bowers, Patrick, the other two), there just wasn't time. I think if I hadn't read the book I might not have enjoyed the movie as much because I might've been more confused over who was who and what was going on.

But it felt pretty true to the book for the most part. And I can see that part 2 will be them as adults coming back to Derry to fight Pennywise again. Whereas the book bounces back and forth between the group as kids and the group as adults, they split the movies up so pt 1 is them as kids and pt 2 will be them as adults. Which I supposed is a pretty good idea.

Everyone said that this Pennywise wasn't as good as Tim Curry and that they relied too much on jump scares and horror movie cliches, but I'm not sure that's a fair comparison. Tim Curry had more screen time because it was a mini-series and not a movie. And while this 2017 Pennywise was definitely more of a movie monster,..that kind of is what he's supposed to be.

He had enough moments of banter and where you heard him talk that I thought the character was well represented. And there was odd contortionist type moments where I felt his body language, (or the CGI body language) was really something interesting that the original mini-series wasn't capable of doing at the time. One scene where he kind of twists and breaks and uncurls out of a refrigerator I thought was particularly interesting visually.

All in all I'd say if you liked the first 3 A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, and the general vibe of those movies, you'll probably like the 2017 version of IT as well. It's very similar in a lot of ways. From the 'nightmares' to the sink that gushes blood like Glens bed does in ANoES pt1, to the music and some of the sound effects and I guess even the 1980's setting, or the old creepy house in IT that's like Freddys house in the pt 3 dream world. There were a lot of similarities in my mind between this movie and the first 3 Nightmare movies, but in a good way. It got right what those early ANoES also got right in terms of mood and 'feel'.

[klen7]

^ i keep hearing good stuff about IT. I guess I'll check it out on the small screen

Tunnel - another Korean flick. It was labeled adventure on Netflix, but its more of a harrowing drama. a tunnel collapses while a man is driving through it and he has to survive while the rescue team has to figure out where he is and get him out. I tend to think some of the best drama is coming out of Korea for the past decade and this further cements that in my mind

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

[canofhumdingers]

Matango - pretty cool old horror movie. The pace is a little slow in parts, but overall I think it’s just about right to build the tension and atmosphere to the climax where it lets loose with the trippiness. Overall I liked it and I’m glad I was finally able to add the media blasters dvd to my collection at a normal price (got a used, but perfect condition copy for $12). I can’t say that I really feel like it lived up to the hype, but this is one of those movies I’ve heard praised by fans for decades, so it was probably never going to. But it was solid and the third act was very cool.

Oh, and the dvd transfer, while serviceable enough, really shows it’s age. Lots of compression artifacting and other video quality issues that really stand out after you’ve gotten used to high quality blu rays and such.

[O.Supreme]

Well since last month when I went to a Wrath of Khan fathom events screening with a group of friends, and my son came along, I've been going through some of the Star Trek movies with him. He's never been interested before, always walks out bored when I start watching anything Trek related. I'd say he's not Really that interested, but as an ongoing story, he does want to see what's next. We've watched III. IV, VI, Generations, and First Contact. I wanted to skip Insurrection and go straight to Nemesis before getting into JJ's films, but they are currently not available for free on Amazon prime. Hopefully by the end of next month we'll be moved in our new place and I can get my Blu Rays out of storage.

My son who's 11, I'm surprised he actually prefers Kirk to Picard, but then again, I think he's just seen more of him. I am unbiased as I like them both equally and don't want to start and nerd rage arguments.

My personal Ranking of the first 10 films (I keep JJ's films completely separate...)

1. II
2. VI
3. First Contact
4. Nemesis
5. IV
6 .III
7. Generations
8. Insurrection
9. The Motion Picture
10. V

[eabaker]

Just figured I'd reply to O.Supreme's post with my own ranking of the first 10 Trek flicks:

1. The Motion Picture
2. III
3. II
4. IV
5. VI
6. First Contact
7. V
8. Generations
9. Insurrection
10. Nemesis

To be fair, the one time I tried to watch Nemesis, I passed out before the end, so I do owe it another shot.

[O.Supreme]

Nemesis was very poorly received by both fans and critics. While I agree with most fans who think V is among the worst, with Nemesis as a close second, I actually like many aspects of it. The ships and battles are amazing. I thought Tom Hardy as Shinzon really played a younger embittered Picard clone quite well. I was not a fan of what ultimately happened with Data, Riker & Deanna's marriage, and the return of Will Wheaton as Wesley, though it was a non-speaking cameo, didn't make much sense since it was pretty obvious based on his last appearance in TNG, he would never be seen again. Basically in short, I get why people didn't like it, But (again keeping the JJ films separate) I actually liked Into Darkness, whereas it is mostly universally hated as well.

I will admit, I am not a die-hard Trekky/Trekker I've probably seen most of the Original Series, Animated Series, and TNG (though not in many years). about 20% of DS9, maybe 70% of Voyager, almost none of Enterprise, and I am not going out of my way to watch Discovery. But...

Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan...for some reason, resonated with me so much as a kid, it has always been my favorite, and made me inclined to keep up with the movie series, and even collect all the movies in various media forms, while I have no compelling reason to collect the various shows on DVD or BRD etc....

[Dr Kain]

The SHining - 9/10.

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

the Kubrick/Nicholson version?

or the mini-series with that guy from 'Wings'?

[lhb412]

Spending Halloween Eve with my good friends the Universal Monsters: first with The Creature From the Black Lagoon, then James Whale's original Frankenstein, and capped off with poor old Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man.

(apparently Claude Rains actually gave Chaney Jr. a black eye whacking him upside the head with the wolf head cane)

[Dr Kain]

[klen7]

Split - tbh the final two words of this movie shifted this from a C to a B in my book. If I had been aware of this prior to watching the movie I would have probably been more invested from the beginning.

[lhb412]

Stayed up Halloween night watching movies.

Audition (1999)

Although it was impossible for me to be surprised by the shift in tone of this Miike movie (I've known about this movie for, oh, 15 years or so but am just now watching it) I did end up being surprised anyway:



The Old Dark Horse (1932)

While Bride of Frankenstein takes the cake in terms of James Whale's being totally eccentric in his movie's content this must at least be second. More a comedy melodrama wrapped in gothic trappings than anything like a horror film, this movie is filled with great character actors, great dialog, and really bizarre moments. Ernest Thesiger plays a cowardly wretch, much different from his bold Dr. Pretorious, and while Karloff's role is on the small side he's also probably at his most menacing.

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

[eabaker]

[lhb412]

[eabaker]

Saw Happy Death Day last night. It was fun, basically delivered what it promised.

I do wish that it had either (a.) gone a little deeper, dealing more with the main character's backstory and her relationship with her parents, and made that more fundamental to the narrative; or (b.) been a little shorter, and gone broader and bloodier with its death scenes. As it stands, I don't think it quite found the right balance. But that's a minor quibble with what was overall a fun flick.

My bigger problem is with the movie's color palette. There were a lot of great colors in the production design (it looked very 90s to me), but the photography - or, more to the point, the final color grading - just didn't do it justice. A little more saturation and brightness would have produced a look much, much better suited to the tone of the movie's comedy.

Random side note: The diner the lead characters visit at one point is just a couple of blocks from my apartment, on Van Nuys Blvd. When the establishing shot came up, Jenn was like, "It's Corky's!" And I was like, "And there's our Burger King!"

[klen7]

The Only Living Boy in New York - My favorite actress, my third favorite Simon and Garfunkel song and my fourth favorite Bond actor all in one coming of age movie. Ultimately not my kind of movie, partially because of the sexual politics, partially because elements struck a little close to home

Wolf Warrior - I probably wouldn't have watched this if I had known it was a Chinese production, (the propaganda is inescapably awkward in many of the Chinese films I have seen, this one included) that said there are some truly interesting action sequences and cinematography in the first act. After that it seems like they ran out of money and someone else took over the movie and not for the better. The low point being a scene where 4 soldiers battle a pack of very rough computer generated wolves. The first act makes me curious what could have been, because it is fresh and stylish

[Dr Kain]

Thor 3 - 9/10.

[lhb412]

Hellbound: Hellraiser II

Like the first one, but more! Not as tight or satisfying, but it maintains a similar quality and tone. There are some neat visuals and neat practical effects. Despite more cenobite action in this one I think they were more effective in the first one: each of their appearances there felt more creative, all of Pinhead's lines were gold...

Also, I like this sequel naming style: new title with the original/series title and number as a subtitle. Anything else do this besides Rambo: First Blood Pt. 2?

[eabaker]

[Dr Kain]

V for Vendetta - 10/10

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

[lhb412]

I really liked Thor: Ragnarok! It was funny, colorful, exciting, and despite the galaxy-trotting high fantasy aspects the storytelling felt very simple and direct and all the more satisfying because of it. I used to complain that the Marvel movies looked dull visually, but it seems with the last few they've finally got them all to look visually appealing - and finally someone (I suppose director Taika Waititi) steered Marvel into making a movie that tries to look as much like a Jack Kirby comic as possible.

Despite all the jokes I admire that this film was actually about something with the anti-colonialism and anti-slavery themes running, often playfully, through the entire story.