Free Fire was great. Sharlto Copley is always entertaining, and even Brie Larson puts in a good performance. An endless series of twists, mishaps, double crosses, confused incompetence, and a LOT of shooting.
Second movie made of the first Left Behind movie and strangely, both movies have a director named Vic.
Agreed. I watched Saltburn a few days ago myself, but had to go back and check the title to make sure I wasn’t confused. Because no part of Saltburn is what I would describe as “body horror.”
I thought the first third of the film was pretty dull (a bit of a slow burn, if you will) but things picked up once they got to the Chocolate Factory Mansion and I found it quite engaging. Maybe it helps that I knew where it was going right away?
Angus (Prime, Rental, 1995) Blurb: Shy, obese teen Angus Bethune (Charlie Talbert) lives with his 18-wheeler-driving mom (Kathy Bates) and oddball grandfather (George C. Scott). Having loved popular girl Melissa (Ariana Richards) for nearly as long as he’s been getting tormented by her jock boyfriend, Rick (James Van Der Beek), he hatches a plan to win her heart. With the help of his cocky nerd pal, Troy (Chris Owen), and a supportive teacher (Rita Moreno), Angus makes a bid to turn the tables on his rival.
A classic from my youth I wanted my tweens to seen. It still holds up and still hits you right in the feels. A fantastic supporting cast makes this cute film shine. Recommended for the classic ‘high school dork trying to get the girl’ flick only this time in the mid 90’s! A-
Quiz Lady (Hulu, 2023) A comic version of Slumdog Millionaire only Asian in South-Cali with Will Farrell playing Alex Trebek yet again. It was cute and funny with some genuine charm. Awkwafina usually bugs me, but here she was ok and her thing worked in a lighter date movie, so in that vein I feel comfortable saying it earned a B+.
This made my top 10 of the year for 2023. I thought the movie was hilarious. Just hilarious.
Ok guys, I submit to the Pedantry Lords. Dude whipping his face over used bathwater spunk and the graphic prolonged eating out of a woman on menses is standard film fare.
Let’s call it Arthouse and go on our merry.
“Elvis.” Now available for streaming.
I’m not interested in bio-pics about famous entertainers, and this was no exception. Having a greater-than-average interest in the music business and its history, I find too many bothersome inaccuracies. I know everything I need to know about Mr. Presley. I was a little too young to be in the Elvis generation, though I did like a few of his songs and saw a few of his movies. (He actually did make some good ones, like “Jailhouse Rock” and “Flaming Star.”) But once the Beatles hit, he was history as far as I was concerned.
Expecting quite a few things that I knew were not historically accurate, I decided to approach it as fiction. From that standpoint, it was a pretty good story. Having it told by the infamous Colonel Tom Parker was an interesting twist. Tom Hanks’ performance has been criticized, but I think he captured the sleaze factor needed for the role.
Austin Butler was excellent, especially in the latter part of the story, capturing the on-stage performances of Elvis perfectly, as I remember them. The presence of modern-day music in some parts was a bit odd, but that was the director’s choice, and I didn’t find it too distracting.
“Elvis” runs 2:39, and I was never bored. It is quite a spectacle, with good performances all around, including the minor characters. Interesting, entertaining story, especially if you know nothing about Elvis to begin with and treat it as fiction.
Bob Marley is up next, btw.
I don’t watch biopics to learn history and anyone is does is doing it wrong. None of them are accurate.
The reason I watch biopics is because of the challenge to the actors and seeing how they create a character that everyone already knows.
Elton John claimed his bio pic (Rocketman) was more accurate than Queen’s (Bohemian Rhapsody), even though it had the obviously fantastic (as in unrealistic) scene of Elton as a child dancing through the streets singing “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”.
Yeah, I read a lot of the IMDB “factual errors” like “They played Fat Bottomed Girls during a montage of concerts prior to the recording of Bohemian Rhapsody”. I absolutely chalk that up to artistic license, and had no problems with it whatsoever. This isn’t a “History of Rock 'n Roll” class, it’s mass entertainment and should be treated as such.
Speaking of music biopics, I saw Maestro over the weekend. Pretty good and I thought Bradley Cooper got the look right.
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I don’t watch biopics to learn history and anyone is does is doing it wrong. None of them are accurate.
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Inaccuracies aside, the main reason I don’t watch bio-pics is that while I may enjoy someone’s music, I have no particular interest in their personal lives.
Would like to give Elvis a shout-out for referencing Sister Rosetta Tharpe, one of the forgotten giants of rock and roll guitar and, arguably, the inventor of the style.
Killers of the Flower Moon. Now, I read the book and it was quite a story of our sordid history with the Osage. But seriously, folks: 3-1/2 fucking hours? A few words for Mr. Scorsese: I’ve enjoyed a lot of your films. This wasn’t one of them. Hire an editor, for god’s sake, and listen to him/her. Listen to what the source material is saying to you, not what you want to say to us. A good cast isn’t enough, especially when you seem to like them to ad lib their lines.
I thought it was OK, but wow…this did not deserves its acclaim. I believe Silence is Scorsese’s greatest movie and one of the great Christian films of all time. So much better than this and it was relatively overlooked. Heck, even Kundun was better than this.
No one has said it’s standard film fare. But that’s not what “body horror” means.
I agree with the eyebrows guy. Body horror arises from deep disquiet or fear that one’s (or the protagonist’s) own body is betraying/transforming in some way. The remake of The Fly is a classic.
Contact, a science fiction drama with Jodie Foster (1997) rented on Amazon. I don’t know how I never saw this movie or never had its ending spoiled. It was a fine film, raising all sorts of existential questions while being super compelling on a basic storytelling level. My one complaint is revealing the 18 hours of static footage at the end. Now we’re no longer grappling with an existential question, but a coverup of something that for-sure happened..
I know how I feel about the movie - it was great! I’m still trying to figure out what I think about the movie. Apparently this is based on a book by Carl Sagan.
My friends got a kick out of me and Spouse Weasel whispering among ourselves trying to figure out who that guy who looks like Matthew McConaughey was. It turned out to be Matthew McConaughey. I didn’t know he was that old.
Contact is one of the few movies (Patriot Games and Limitless are the others) that, for me, are significantly better than the books on which they were based.
Shawshank Redemption. Godfather.