What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

The Long Riders is one of my favorite westerns; highly recommended.

Wife and I watched Equilibrium the other day, which I hadn't seen in many years. I remembered it being dumb but whoa man. The NYT review from the time had a pretty good quote, saying the movie could only be stupider if it were longer. As far as I can tell the brief was rip off as much dystopian stuff from every possible source without understanding any of it, and filter it through The Matrix. And then add insanely stupid gun-fu. It's definitely worth watching for a laugh.

Ah_Pook wrote: Wife and I watched Equilibrium the other day, which I hadn't seen in many years. I remembered it being dumb but whoa man. The NYT review from the time had a pretty good quote, saying the movie could only be stupider if it were longer. As far as I can tell the brief was rip off as much dystopian stuff from every possible source without understanding any of it, and filter it through The Matrix. And then add insanely stupid gun-fu. It's definitely worth watching for a laugh.

Saw it at my brother's a few months ago. Really good actors in a really bad movie.

Watched a couple of "Lovecraft" movies recently.

The Color Out of Space (2010) is an okay horror movie that is closely based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story "The Colour Out of Space." Aside from a brief early scene at Miskatonic University in Arkham, the entire movie takes place in Germany. However, the lead character is an American, so the movie is mostly in English with some subtitles for scenes where German is spoken. Like a proper Lovecraft story, the pace is slow but the tension builds. Everything is filmed in black-and-white, except the Color manifests in a lurid purple.

Cast A Deadly Spell (1991) is also an okay movie, though more of a mixture of elements that are really good or really bad. Though originally a made-for-HBO movie, I watched it via Amazon Prime. The cast is a bunch of veteran character actors and nobodies, except for a youngish Julianne Moore. Fred Ward is a decent lead, and Alexandra Powers is charming. The setting is 1948 Los Angeles, except that magic is common and anybody can learn to use it. The story revolves around a wealthy sorcerer hiring a hardboiled detective to recover a stolen copy of the Necronomicon. There is fair amount of name-dropping of the major entities of the Cthulhu Mythos. Overall, the tone is closer to Arkham Horror than Lovecraft's writing, though the main character's last name is Lovecraft. The cinematography is decent, the effects are mostly good aside from one disappointing rubber suit, and the acting is sufficient. Cast A Deadly Spell actually looks incredible for its $6 million dollar budget. The story is riddled with noir cliches, but the magic keeps things from being 100% familiar.

Man cast a deadly still was a childhood staple for my brothers and I. We taped it off HBO and watched it so many times. Haven't seen it in a long time. I wonder how it would hold up.

A few years ago I went through a Buster Keaton, watching his shorts while bottle feeding my newborn. So, when my mom asked me to pick a movie to watch this weekend, I decided to dive into one of his films and picked The General. As you might expect, it was hilarious. My mom and dad liked it so much they put it on again the next night when my sister and all of their grandchildren were over. My five-year-old niece protested at length and called it dumb and a commercial, but my eldest really got into it as my mom narrated.

So, yeah, watch more Buster Keaton. Neighbors is on YouTube in its twenty-minute entirety and has some top comedy, if you just want to dip a toe.

I love THE GENERAL. It was on my list . The train thing still boggles my mind. It takes me out of the picture, if only because I am watching an actual train fall into a fucking river, but it's worth it.

Agreed, The General is amazing. I also recommend Steamboat Bill, Jr. (although it starts a little slow) and Sherlock, Jr. (which is much more interesting than its premise suggests).

Jackwraith wrote: Finally got around to seeing Knives Out: dichotomouspurity.blogspot.com/2020/02/right-out.html

Um... no.

The family rented this tonight on Amazon. I tuned it out after roughly an hour, when it switched to full third person omniscient, recapping testimony no one had even seen & then lapsing into “meanwhile what really happened” mode. Interesting cast, I guess? Tedious & obvious film. My son rented it for us, having already seen it in the theater, and I consider it a testament to the quality of the writing and characters that he got bored during the rewatch and wandered off to play League of Legends or whatever-the-fuck MOBA du jour. I walked away to read something interesting.

Exactly. I mean, maybe the excuse is that this is a new generation that's never seen this routine but... really? Is that all we can do is ape what's come before? One of the worst parts about it is that it was supposed to be a "dark" comedy, which wasn't that dark and really wasn't funny, either, so it kind of failed on all fronts and, yet, was hailed by critics.

I get when people don't get actually dark, and actually funny, and really brilliant subtextual movies like Parasite. I get it. It's entertainment that basically demands a more textured sense of humor and a severe dose of cynicism. If all you want is to turn your brain off and sit in the theater and eat popcorn, more power to you and Parasite is not a film for you. But Knives Out wasn't even really that entertaining for people to turn their brains off so, what was the appeal? I'm lost.

Knives Out was mildly amusing comedy. I don't think it works as any other kind of movie.

I thought Knives Out was fun. Don't need to see it again, but if there's a sequel I'll go see it.

The Gentleman was entertaining, though it is your standard Guy Ritchie movie about gangsters double/triple-crossing each other.

Counterpoint: Knives Out was a lot of fun. The world’s worst car chase was a treat, a more than solid ensemble went all in on their roles, and the message (such as it was) of the power of goodness over cunning and greed was unexpected. If you came in for a murder mystery or modern-successor to Clue, I can understand the disappointment, but I think it succeeds at being what it aims to be: a stylish morality play.

Hating KNIVES OUT is overkill, yeah? I thought it was just a well-put-together little film. I feel like Ebert in a room of Siskels. It wasn't high art, but jeez, did it have to be?

All of Rian Johnson's films are clever, and I endorse them wholeheartedly, especially in a world where every movie is either obvious awards-bait or a gigadollar investment vehicle for tycoons (or both).

BRICK
THE BROTHERS BLOOM
LOOPER
THE LAST JEDI (!!!)
KNIVES OUT