Falling Down (1993) I was tired of this film being the only one I hadn’t seen listed in recommendation lists I usually complete. Falling Down is listed often in Reddit forums and such under film list topics like, ‘Films you think about months later’, ‘Incredible Twist’ or ‘Mind blown’.
Ugh. It’s mostly heavy undercurrents of ‘angry old white man not gonna take it anymore’. The film goes some lengths to describe this horrible no good very bad day to garner sympathy for our main character, but it doesn’t play well in our era. Opening scene our guy is stuck in bumper to bumper traffic in a heatwave who has had enough so just leaves his car and walks away and that is his level of care for the community around him throughout while also being upset no one is concerned about his problems. So eventually suit and tie man waves a stolen gun around because the price of fast food has gone up, aww poor upstanding citizen fighting the corrupt system. We’ve all been there, amiright!?. I suspect the modern audiences that keep recommending this film are missing the not so subtle message anyway and are rooting for what would essentially be a MAGA vigilante only 30 years earlier.
I’d recommend this to older white men without a sense of irony that are going to vote for Trump.
Hate to say it, but if that’s what you got out of “Falling Down”, you missed the point entirely.
D-Fens may be the protagonist, but he ain’t the hero. He’s the villain. He even says it, at the end. It’s like the Sopranos or Breaking Bad or The Godfather.
And yet, so many people who took the time to write reviews on IMDb see him as the hero, or at worst the thoroughly understandable and sympathetic anti-hero.
Oh, I know he is the villain. I hated his guts since the first scene were he walks away from his car fucking over the hundreds behind him stuck in the same traffic in the same heat wave. This character never once garners an ounce of sympathy from me so when the big reveal happens and we find out he is not a nice guy and even his ex is afraid he will show up uninvited to the kids birthday party I am not in the least bit surprised.
It grosses me out the film attempts to garner sympathy for this guy. Though perhaps my ‘review’ was an unnecessary political cheap shot it was also an honest attempt to understand who would be the type of person to recommend this over and over and over. Cause that is what lead me to watching it in the first place.
Joker:Folie à Deux I was looking forward to this and saw it yesterday. Without reading any reviews, I’m certain there’s at least one titled "Folie au Don’t. The title practically begs to be mocked in that way and unfortunately so does the film.
To start with, did everyone but me know it’s a musical? I love musicals, and Lady GaGa for that matter, but this was, to quote our favorite Governor, “weird”, and not in the good way as the first. I’m not even sure what they were going for. Did they land LGG and then build the movie around her? She can act without busting into song, you know. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to mention that she plays Harleen Quinzel - the future Harley Quinn, and she does quite well. I don’t know if that means we’re going to get another film in this series but if so, Producers, please take everything from this one and do the exact opposite. On the other hand Joker dies so maybe this is the end.
I’ll wait until / if anyone else has an opinion before saying too much more. I will say that Joaquin Phoenix appears to have put his heart and soul into his performance. That’s the thing that makes me say “Folie a Deux give it a shot - when it’s streaming for free”.
The Dark Tower
Does this movie exist for any reason other than a cash grab? It’s not good enough for fans and non-fans may ask what the hell is going on. I’d love to hear from someone who doesn’t know the books what their reaction is.
Lucy
A little too much chop-socky for my taste but not quite enough serious SF. You heard it here: Morgan Freeman is wasted and that’s a complete shame. Someone should try again, the concept was solid.
Killer Heat
The kid from Third Rock From The Sun stars, as a private eye, in a murder mystery for people who have never, EVER seen a private eye murder mystery and would like to try one on for size. The locations are beautiful, the acting is competent, photography is AOK, but the movie tips its hand three minutes in and never recovers. Every. Single. Trope. is played like a card in a hand of clock solitaire. The “twist” ain’t.
They had a good vision to make the Dark Tower into a combination of movies and shows.
Problem is, they absolutely went crazy with the first book and messed up the movie version. I believe we were watching a different iteration of Roland’s journey to the Dark Tower, but they absolutely screwed up the whole thing.
When I saw that Stephen King still promoted the movie and claimed it was a great version, I knew for sure not to trust any promotion from him at all.
I think a major character dies at the end of the book and this does not even occur in the movie.
You know how it is: you’re nodding off in your recliner waiting for a new episode of The Repair Shop to come on (wrong night), when the TV — and by extension, you — have been hijacked by YOUR BETTER HALF. What to do, what to do?
I probably would have rated that slightly higher than 15%, but the spoiled fruit have spoken.
I was house-hunting a while ago, and I saw a listing for a house I liked that said it was used in the filming of the newest Salem’s Lot. If you like, when you’re ready to watch it I can send you a Google Maps link to see the house, and you can tell me if you recognize it in the movie.
Frank Miller ( I think) did The Mist, which I just rewatched. I loved he ending he gave it. Was one of my favorite novellas from King. I remembered actually chuckling and clapping at the ending in the theater years ago.
Just saw “Terrifier 3”. Holy shit. In ways, it’s more brutal than Evil Dead, maybe because everyone could be a victim, not just related to the Book of the Dead in Evil Dead. “Terrifier 1” was a classic, with the worst dialogue aside. Two was great in story, but looked terrible in low-budget SFX. Number 3 had a $2 million budget, so much more brutal than expected. Although I loved it, not recommended for anyone who already isn’t a HUGE slasher film fan.
Last night I watched The Fly, from 1958. I had already seen it, of course, but it’s been awhile. In fact, I didn’t even recall that Vincent Price was in it. Great flick!