Directed by Roland Emmerich, aka Michael Bay the Elder.
Yeah, I found myself laughing at the first 45 minutes. It wore out its welcome, but I admire the fact they made such an odd film.
If you thought ID was bad, you should watch the sequel.
I feel like The American President declaring Earth Independence Day from an alien race they never meet is so god damn on point.
Eh. Loved Beetlejuice, was lukewarm on Death Becomes Her. Great acting from the stars, but the writing isn’t consistently good.
I thought there were rules about wishing ill on posters…
Black Bear
Not recommended.
Audrey Plaza? Cool. However, this movie is boring and I see no real deeper meaning to the things that happened in it. I didn’t like it, don’t recommend it, and only suffered to the end to see if something brings everything together. Nope.
Avoid.
The Lighthouse (2019)
Wonderful performances by Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson. Striking cinematography in black and white 5:4 (I think) ratio.
But extremely light on plot. I respect the film but I don’t need to see it again.
Conditionally recommended for the art.
I think you summed up my feelings about that film perfectly.
I watched Stop Motion on Shudder. Loved it and would give it 5 out of 5 stars but for the body horror element. I wouldn’t classify the film itself under bh category - there’s a lot more going on - but there are a few scenes that are pretty intense. I get the same vibe as I did watching 2021’s “Censor”.Troubled female in the film industry fighting yet to be determined inner demons. Visuals are good and the two lead actresses are outstanding.
I think I’ve said a lot of what you said here, including mentioning Censor. I think it might be either the best movie of the year, or close…so far.
Furiosa was probably a bit better, to be honest. But Stopmotion.
Everyone needs to see it. I’ve seen it twice.
I’m…still not entirely sure I followed it.
Apologies if I repeated things you’ve already said. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve searched to see if something’s been mentioned and come up with bupkis. I agree it’s not a simple film to follow or explain. I think I mostly get everything but the ending. At the time of viewing, I thought she vanquished her effed up inner child (as represented by the young girl) and then died as a result of her injuries, which is represented by her climbing into the casket like box. I will defiitely be watching it again soon.
I have been trying to get more au courant with Studio Ghibli films, because, y’know, s’posed to be good? (That’s as close as I get to having an informed opinion about film as an art form, sorry.)
Princess Mononoke is the first one I’ve seen on the big screen (likewise, dubbed in English), and while I can’t claim to really understand what it was all about, I definitely found it riveting to watch. (In fact, that was pretty much my small-screen experience with Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, too.)
(Oh, and From up on Poppy Hill is one of theirs, too. I’m embarrassed to admit that I still have some of the same not-quite-getting-it feeling about that one, despite the total dearth of magical monsters and inexplicable spells.)
There was a joke in Hundreds of Beavers that I’m curious if anyone else spotted. After our hero, Jean, meets up with the trapper, there’s a scene where they make camp for the night and the trapper’s five dogs are playing poker. That’s the obvious part. There are screams in the night, and the next evening there are four dogs playing bridge. More screams, and then there are two dogs playing war. On the last night, there’s one dog playing solitaire. That’s about as subtle as the movie got.
Absolutely agree. It was so lame.
Ham-to-ham-to-ham! I agree it’s a pretty funny movie. Good turn by Isabella Rossellini, too.
Sleepwalk (1986)
A nifty little indie film. A woman who works at some kind of small business whose purpose is never made clear is hired to translate a Chinese manuscript. Weird things start happening. From that setup, you just have to go with it. Very dreamlike, maybe a bit unsettling. Recommended if you’re in the mood for something like that. Notable names involved: Sara Driver (director), Kathleen Brennan (cowriter), Jim Jarmusch (cinematrographer), Steve Buscemi (one of the main character’s coworkers).
I need to watch Stopmotion again. My original viewing of it was ruined by a family who decided to take their young 6 to 8-year old girl (perfect film for a child!), then give her an iPad to watch movies on during the film with the sound on, who then spent the film crying, yelling for mommy, or watching her iPad.
I just got a free month of Shudder so I’ll check it out again when I can actually concentrate on what is happening.
Face/Off
Not recommended.
I missed this one all these years and now I know for sure. It’s quite bad. I don’t know how good this seemed in 1997, but I can’t see it being much better than I see it now. It’s really silly and not just because of its premise. It’s just goofy and I kind of found the whole thing boring, like they were going through the motions.
Really bad.
Midnight Run 1988 Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin
It popped up in my Prime movie feed. Free. I had time to kill and watched.
It was pretty good. I never particularly liked Charles Grodin’s work. De Niro is better at drama then comedy. He’s pretty good in this film.
De Niro is a bounty hunter hired to bring in Grodin. He jumped bail. Naturally there are complications. Other people want Grodin.
Grade C, it’s ok. I wish someone else played Grodin’s part. Albert Brooks for example is good at comedy-drama roles.
I concur. A lot of people completely adore this movie, but I think they grew up with it. If you come at it cold nowadays it doesn’t hold up quite as well, and isn’t that special anymore. The same can be said of a lot of ‘classic’ 80s buddy-cop* movies, though.
*Midnight Run is not technically a buddy-cop movie, but it has the same dynamic