I think your impression is partially true. I’m pretty sure one of the conditions of him getting to make his version of The Shining was that he had to stop slagging Kubrick’s version in public, which he did every chance he got. So in his commentary he instead kind of slagged Kubrick instead. He’s certainly involved in his adaptations now, but he was also involved in that one as far as I know. Kubrick basically just ignored everything King said and did whatever he wanted. I think Under the Dome was a pure cash grab and he didn’t care what they did to it.
I love Stephen King but he’s just being stubborn here. The movie is incredible, he’s just a hater.
In other news I have not seen this yet but put a pin in it: indie horror, Dastmalchian is always fantastic.
https://x.com/michaelroffman/status/1768827035839807958?s=20
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Finally got around to a second go at this, and it landed way better for me. Not sure why it missed as badly as it did on first try. It didn’t launch its way into being an all-time personal favorite now necessarily, but it’s great.
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Ruffalo should have won. He was amazing in Poor Things.
In the film, set in 1977 and based on a true story, Cage plays Tony Kiritsis, a former real estate developer who put a dead man’s switch on himself and the mortgage banker who did him wrong, demanding $5 million and a personal apology.
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I’ve been wanting to see Cruising for a while, and now Criterion Channel has it. This is a 1980 William Friedkin neo-noir about a serial killer targeting New York City’s gay community, and it drew heavy criticism from the gay community at the time for its similarity to a real-life serial killer, plus the way it uses the gay subculture for shock/exploitation value.
I think there’s probably something to that. But putting politics aside, it’s a solid, very gritty noir procedural in the style of French Connection and Silence of the Lambs. Pacino has become kind of a meme but you see him in 1980 and you remember why he became such a big deal. Final scene has a fantastic ambiguous bit that I keep coming back to.
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Funny you post this, my wife and I also watched an 80’s horror movie that drew criticism from the gay community for being a gay panic film.
The Hitcher is a glorious mess of crazy. I really thought I had the film figured out, but it does not go the way I saw it going.
Also, the Nash kill is unbelievably gnarly, and Rutger Hauer plays a psychopath pitch perfectly. I really thought the ending was going to be that Jim was doing the killings all along and John was his psychotic alter-ego, but nope. Somehow John is just an absurdly supernatural killer that can be anywhere at any time with no rhyme or reason.
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I love The Hitcher
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Its fucking bonkers, but I was 100% enthralled and engaged from the very beginning. Despite the lead’s acting chops (or lack thereof)
I would love to see an alternate universe where Ebert picked it up again later in life and loved it for what it was instead of hating it for what it wasnt. A 0 star review is a travesty
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The initial meeting between Howell and Hauer was one of the scariest scenes I’ve ever watched.
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Yikes new Ghostbusters is getting very mixed reviews
The incredibly hacky Bill Murray “tall, dark, and horny” joke in the trailer was kind of a giveaway that this movie was probably a pass.
A bit more hopeful for Godzilla x Kong next week.
Easiest shocked pikachu ever
Loved Minus One so much that I need to recalibrate for the Monsterverse.
Watch/rewatched all the movies after the tv series came out. Have become a huge Anna Sarai fan, more based on Shogun than Monarch. She expresses so much with minor facial expression changes.
I got to go to a preview showing last night and put me in the firmly “meh” camp. It is cool to see some of the old gang, and there were a few legitimate laugh out loud jokes, but, overall, it felt a bit flat and choppy with a bit too much exposition at the start of the film.
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I’m definitely starting from an assumption of “of course it’s worse than Minus One, but is it maybe still pretty good?” Sounds like the review embargo is lifting on Monday, so I gather they’re not expecting it to get completely savaged or anything at the least.
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