Indeed. An excellent zombie film.
I binge watched all of the Final Destination movies over the last few days, ending with Bloodlines. Each movie starts with a disaster of some sort, from which a few (photogenic) people escape death. The fun is the setups to those that are all the same but all different, each of which makes you look suspiciously at that logging truck or race car track or roller-coaster (aha, so that’s why the girls chose that song track in the tanning bed). The start of Bloodlines was indeed spectacular, but the end scene tied up the movies nicely. Pay attention to the images in the credits!
More than the previous ones, I found Bloodlines to be straight in the horror-comedy genre. They progressively got a little bit funnier, but Bloodlines was mostly funny and hardly at all scary.
What is the Fortnite tie-in? I don’t know anything about that other than it’s a video game, so nothing stood out to me in the film. I agree with @Mahaloth that the film is excellent, one of the best of the year so far. I went in knowing nothing other than the basic premise of “this group of kids all ran away at 2:17am for reasons unknown” so I had no clue whatsoever what to expect or what type of film this was going to be.
The AK47 with the time 2:14 on it from the dream. That weapon is available in foetnite.
One of the best movies of the year? Please describe something about the movie that makes you think so. It wasn’t the acting. The story was nothing groundbreaking, really. I’m at a loss for what makes this movie so good.
That’s why you think it’s connected to a video game? An image of a common rifle? Wtf? What am I missing here.
Weapons is currently 95% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, so you are definitely in the minority. I thought the story was new and intriguing, I had no idea what was coming next, I really liked the filmmaking techniques and narrative chapters. I did think the acting was very good, not sure what you had a problem with there.
I was just drawn in and really captivated and felt very satisfied with the whole experience.
It’s cool if you weren’t, though.
Well, you could just google it, there are articles out there talking about the tie-in and special events on Fortnite. Instead of looking silly by suggesting I am making shit up out of whole cloth.
I didn’t have a problem with the acting, Julia Garner, BD Wong, and Brolin all did “fine” but there was nothing that stood out about their performances. The story went in a predictable direction:
Something really weird and unexplainable happened and SURPRISE it was supernatural, some strange witch whose powers are never really explained. I don’t see what’s so groundbreaking about it. However, looking through 2025’s movie list so far, I can’t say that I’ve seen anything stupendous, so it’s not surprising this could be considered one of the best movies of the year.
Pig, Nicholas Cage, on Netflix.
This was a good movie, one of his better ones. A reflection of death and letting the dead (and dying) go, this was thoughtful, caring, and I was glad to make it through movie that didn’t have an action sequence at the end (which I feared). Recommended.
Casino, Robert Deniro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci. (HBOMax)
Of all the people who played Jews in movies, Robert Deniro is the least Jewish of all. This overly long (by at least 30 minutes, if not more), bloated, Las Vegas gangster epic is hobbled by Scorcese’s decision to have 3 main characters, with Stone’s character, Ginger, receiving an unnecessary amount of screen time. This one does have its fans, though, and if you like that Goodfellas look ‘n feel, you’ll probably like this one as well.
The Departed, Leo D, Matt D, Jack Nicholson, and Vera Farmiga (Netflix).
Allegedly a film about cops and robbers, this one is more enjoyable if you view it as a study of the worst psychiatrist ever. From sleeping with her patients to giving depressed people ‘enough drugs to kill’ them to not even understanding how she’s getting played by not just the men she’s sleeping with, but by all the cops that come to her for PTSD treatment, Madolyn Madden is just the worst.
I also like how the movie ends with an actual rat running across a window. Get it? GET IT???
Did you catch Gretchen Corbett - Jim Rockford’s lawyer/girlfriend?
Am I the only one who preferred the original Hong Kong version Infernal Affairs?
Well, I did Google it, and what it says is that the video game will have references to the movie, not that anything in the film itself will reference the game. In fact the director himself says that the rifle has no specific meaning:
I have a few different ideas of what it might be there for, but I don’t have the right answer. I like the idea that everyone is probably going to have their own kind of interaction or their own relationship with that scene
I’m really looking forward to seeing Weapons before it gets spoiled for me. Any chance someone could open a separate “seen it” thread?
Nightmare Alley (2021). No, I’m not repeating myself – I just recently reviewed the original 1947 version and thought it would be cool to see Guillermo del Toro’s recent remake. Wow! I was blown away. Contrary to some critics’ comments, I thought it was way better than the original. Del Toro assembled a stellar cast including Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, and other notables. Cooper and Blanchett put in fantastic performances. It has the same basic plot elements as the 1947 version with a few changes and new material, but in my view, it’s just a lot more intense than the original.
The original appeared to be set in a contemporaneous time period, and I love the fact that this one was intentionally set in the 1940s – at one point I think the year was said to be 1941. The settings included some beautiful art deco interiors, a couple of which are pictured in the article below which recounts the making of the picture.
I was curious to see how the remake stacked up against the original, and discovered a great film that stands up in its own right as a fantastic piece of neo-noir. Highly recommended, and as much as I love old movies from the golden age of Hollywood, I honestly have to say that if you only watch one version of Nightmare Alley, watch this one.
I like both versions of Nightmare Alley, although the way the ending is foreshadowed is ham-fisted in both. There is no doubt what the protagonist’s ultimate fate will be.
I enjoyed the 2021 version too (haven’t seen the original), but must be a bit dense because I didn’t see the ending coming! I’ll blame covid, or something.
I much preferred the 1947 version, but I will give the remake credit for upgraded geek action.
I’m curious, in a completely open-minded way, about why you thought the 1947 version was better. Some critics thought so, too, but I think that older movies tend to be heavily influenced by judgments that are relative to their times rather than objective ones.
Let me start with a few points about why I thought Guillermo del Toro’s remake was better. Del Toro had been interested in making this movie for decades before he finally had a chance to do it, and his attention to detail was meticulous. He even suggested that Bradley Cooper take boxing lessons because it would improve his stance and posture, which Cooper did, and it worked.
Cooper’s character was a more convincing grifter than Tyrone Power, IMHO. The traveling carnival scene was more sordid than in the original. Cate Blanchett was magnificent as the duplicitous psychologist. The art deco sets were fabulous. The whole thing was just much more immersive and intense than the 1947 original, IMHO.
I saw the new version of Nightmare Alley and agree about the interior sets. Really nice looking.
First off, both versions only cover (at most) about 2/3 of the book while omitting the actual alcohol-fueled “nightmare alley” sequence. So, for me, book better than either movie adaptation.
The 1947 version has the novelty of matinee idol Ty Power playing an homme fatale and geek, certainly unique among classic Hollywood stars. It has a stronger supporting cast, imo, with Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray (who specialized in “girlfriend of the loser” roles), Mike Mazurki and especially Helen Walker as Lilith. Being shot in b&w is more in keeping with the tone of the story than the color used in the remake. Admittedly, the tacked-on, not-even-all-that-happy ending is annoying, though not enough to taint the rest of the film.
As for the remake, I found it to be far more heavy-handed (e.g., the repeatedly shown malformed baby in a jar), with less clear character motivations, too many scenes shot in the rain (such that it became noticeable and distracting), a gratuitously inserted murder-suicide and Cate Blanchett’s relentless hamming. It may sound harsh, but I would say Mr. del Toro soiled the project while adding nothing – beyond the upgraded geek action – that wasn’t in the earlier version.