Big Christopher Lee energy from my man Nic Cage. I love that Cage is now officially a canonical Universal horror actor alongside Lugosi and Karloff.
https://twitter.com/HorrorHammer1/status/1506984049218240516?s=20&t=JMrftq71-Bzo9ZuJmjEJjQ
1 Like
I collected 70s dracula comics in the 90s when I was a youngin and I always thought Thomas Jane would make a good dracula. Maybe Russel Crowe.
Rewatching Mandy for like the fifth time. Just the most uncompromising film Iāve ever seen. Iām still not entirely sure if itās a real movie or if I just imagined it.
Plus, Mandy kicked off the Nic Cage redemption arc.
Iāve only watched Mandy once and I was pretty drunk when I watched it (amazing), but I donāt totally remember everything, so Iām pretty excited to watch it again.
RIP Taylor Hawkins
I donāt know why but this oneās hitting me a little hard. Heās only a couple years older than me and FF have been a constant staple of my music consumption for over 20 years.
https://twitter.com/CoryLandel/status/1507564348838928386?s=20&t=9avQ_S0rxqUTUUmMwoI5_w
3 Likes
Even after multiple viewings I find myself surprised at what happens in the film. Did I just see Nic Cage forge his own Batāleh?
In related news, Cosmatos is working on a new move with A24, I could not be more hyped for it.
1 Like
X was insanely unique, smart, and creative. It could have been super campy based on the story but they nailed it. As Beetlejuice would sayā¦.5 bags of popcorn.
Iāve also never felt so uncomfortable during 1 scene before.
Nobody
No deep message, no point to the movie except that itās a fun action flick that is every middle-aged guyās fantasy of kicking ass. And lots of fun to see Bob Odenkirk doing it. Thumbs up!
2 Likes
Deep Water
6/10
Hollywood needs to do more erotic thrillers, but this aināt it. De Armas and Affleck both do an OK job, but the story yo-yos so much thatās not really believable.
Spoilers
The yo yo-ing part is that Affleck spends a good portion of the movie looking absolutely miserable. I know thatās part of the story but he doesnāt look uncomfortable or semi ok but not really like someone in his situation would be but looking like heās absolutely 100% divorce ready miserable.
De Armas for her part is the least discrete that someone would be in that situation and for some reason, after openly accusing her husband of killering her lover, and privately admitting that she suspects heās killing them because of her, brings another ex over immediately. It was so odd that I was asking myself, wait is she in on this and tactfully bringing exs over to have them killed because she gets off on it? But no itās revealed she didnāt know at all, until the very end
Mandy 2/4
You are a vicious snowflake!
Nice score and cinematography, final third meh.
Pig 2,5/4
You donāt even see yourself. We donāt get a lot of things to really care about.
I think Cage would still be capable of so much more. Weak sides. The restaurant scene is marvellous.
Boiling Point 3,5/4
Reviewing is like sex: You go by whatās in there, not by whatās not there.
Never thought a movie about a night in a restaurant could be this exhausting. This is the movie Locke tried to be. Stephen Graham is a fucking beast.
Finished watching all of the Best Picture nominees.
Belfast and Nightmare Alley were my two favorites, but it looks like the winner is going to be either CODA or Power of the Dog. I donāt really have any strong opinion either way. Both were good movies, but donāt really seem Best Picture worthy. Either would be better than many of the recent winners though.
The only two Iād say were bad were Licorice Pizza and King Richard. Donāt Look Up comes close, but Iād classify it more as disappointingly average than ābadā.
Definitely a below average year, and far below last yearās amazing lineup.
Will probably at least passively watch the ceremony tonight.
I agree with everyone saying that this was a weak year. I havenāt seen Belfast or Dune yet.
I donāt get the hype for The Power of the Dog. The plot moves like molasses. So much so that at one point during the movie I started to pay attention how long nothing actually happens: slow camera pan over a mountain range, a man strolls across a ranch, he enters a barn, another man lights a cigarette etc. Anyone who has seen The Piano knows what I am talking about when it comes to Campionās pacing. Some might say this is a subtle character study but Kodi Smith-McPheeās characterās motivations arenāt even properly explained because that part of the novel was left out.
Maybe I just donāt have the patience for movies anymore.
Drive My Car is good but did it really have to be 3h. The opening credits donāt even start until 40+ minutes into the movie. By this time they have already told a full story but that was just the setup. I didnāt need an additional 2h 15h of main character understands his own feelings and situation through getting to know another character. This was a short story for godās sake. Itās well done and feels like a play because itās almost exclusively dialogue with very little action. I wonder though if this gets nominated if it isnāt about actors and directors.
West Side Story was unlikely to impress me because I only ever watch musicals when they are nominated for an Oscar (Lalaland is good, Moulin Rouge is okay, Chicago is meh). The songs feel dated, choreographed tickle fights just look ridiculous to me and every scene seems to go on way too long (Exhibit A: struggle for the gun). This is a Spielberg vanity project/exercise in technical film making.
Licorice Pizza is just a series of loosely connected vignettes. Why the main characters are attracted to one another is never made clear. If you remove the setting of 70ās San Fernando Valley nothing is left.
Nightmare Alley is another example of style over substance. Itās not boring but I didnāt care for any of the characters or what happens to them.
King Richard is a decent sports/underdog movie with a good cast. Will Smith does a good job though they probably took some liberties with the Richard Williams character. Of course, itās no mystery if the Williams sisters will become stars but itās still an interesting and entertaining watch.
My favorite is CODA. An interesting premise that does not go overboard and is well executed with a great cast to boot. This is the only nominee that I care to watch again (Maybe āDrive my Carā after enough time has passed).
I think we could see another best movie (CODA) / best director (Power of the Dog) split.
1 Like
West Side Story was enjoyable, but unnecessary, and shouldnāt be getting a nomination for Best Picture.
Thereās already a West Side Story movie, and it won 10 Oscars. Itās one thing to pull a CODA and remake a French film that very few Americans saw. Itās another to redo a classic like that.
Spielbergās is better in every single way imo. Maybe it is a vanity project and sure it doesnāt solve every problem in the source material but I am struggling to think of a better movie musical ever.
@LouisCyphre the music is dated like Mozart is dated ā tās in a style that is no longer contemporary popular music. Doesnāt mean itās less great. If thatās not your thing fine but to say lalaland was good and WSS is dated in the same paragraph seems bonkers to me.
https://twitter.com/AliRogin/status/1508214503435124740
I never saw it but that movie did seem to be massively hyped then die pretty quickly.
It seems like Anderson, a very fine film maker, made one of those āthe setting is the main characterā movies based on where he grew up, but no one actually gives a shit about 1970s San Fernando Valley.
We did when it was Boogie Nights. And some did when it was Magnolia (which I hated).
1 Like
But those movies had more than the setting.
I think they both were set pretty much in the valley. Magnolia is a major street in the valley. But the valley wasnāt a character.