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Just watched Giorgio Moroder's 1986 version of Metropolis.

Wow. Music's different. There are some color tints, and it's a little longer and cleaner looking than the original.

I keep forgetting what an accomplishment this film was. It's hard to believe that the film is almost 100 years old.

If you haven't seen it. Go watch it.

I love Metropolis. I forget which version I’ve seen, but it’s different from the one on YouTube. I’m not sure if it included all the rediscovered footage…. I’d better see it again, if I can find the most complete version available.

 ZergSmasher wrote:

 aku-chan wrote:
The Princess Bride falls into the same category, unfortunately the rewatch didn't meet with the same success, I still think it's a pretty stupid movie.

You take that back right now! I will tolerate no slander about one of the greatest movies ever made! Apparently you need your bumps felt with one of Mad Dok Grotsnik's Bump Feelerers...

I am joking of course! But The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies and I have fond memories of seeing it for the first time when I was maybe 8 years old (the movie itself is as old as me!). If it just didn't click for you, that's perfectly okay.

That's why I gave it a rewatch, it's remembered so fondly by so many people, that I obviously must've missed something the first time around, but no, it's simply not my cup of tea.


Captain America:- Brave New World

Can the new Captain America stop an insidious plot to bring down the president?

Not as bad as the Internet says it is (They rarely are, but I understand I'm also biased, just in the opposite direction).
While not as great as The Winter Soldier, which it is very definitely trying to imitate, I'd say it's a solid, above average entry in the Marvel catalogue with everyone settling into their new roles nicely (Though I did have a hard time wrapping my head around that teeny tiny lady being a badass Black Widow), and it's nice to see certain long standing plot points finally addressed.
But couldn't they have left the Serpent Society as people in wacky snake costumes instead of being a boring old group of mercenaries?

Just gotta see The Marvels and then I'm all caught up on the movie side (I wanna watch Ms. Marvel first, I just never get round to it!).

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I love Metropolis. I forget which version I’ve seen, but it’s different from the one on YouTube. I’m not sure if it included all the rediscovered footage…. I’d better see it again, if I can find the most complete version available.

In 2010 they came.out with a restored edition which included the 16mm Argentinian cuts. It's as close to the original theatrical release, but you can see the quality dip on these additions.

The version I just watched was from the 80s and had some additions, a few color tints, and a new score. I am floored by what they accomplished in 1927.

I still like the fact that the restored cut rocks a R rating.

Mountain Top Hotel Massacre

A perfectly passable but fairly standard mystery slasher. The kills are well done, and fairly realistic. It does get a decently creepy atmosphere going.

Not an instant classic, but one worth watching if it pops up on streaming.

Return to Horror High

Look! It’s a 1987 Young George Clooney! And well before Pulp Fiction, it’s presented in a non-linear way, opening on the Police starting to investigate a massacre, and slowly revealing what happened. It’s also having a crack at the self-aware tone that Scream would make famous well over a decade later.

And so, this would’ve been something pretty fresh and interesting when released in 1987. Even today, it’s genuinely enjoyable.

You want a self-aware horror comedy starring young George Clooney? Check out Return of the Killer Tomatoes.

Deadpool And Wolverine

Not a big fan of the Deadpool movies, they're very comedic and that's not always my thing, I did enjoy this one though.
It may not be a particularly good movie on its own, but as a big, crazy love letter to the Fox era of superhero movies there was a lot to like.

 aku-chan wrote:
Deadpool And Wolverine

Not a big fan of the Deadpool movies, they're very comedic and that's not always my thing, I did enjoy this one though.
It may not be a particularly good movie on its own, but as a big, crazy love letter to the Fox era of superhero movies there was a lot to like.

I just hope they release an extended edition of the film, I'd love to see Fox Nick Fury: David Hasselhoff.

Hide And Go Shriek

It’s Graduation! Yay! Let’s go hang out, overnight, in a, erm, Furniture Store. Sure. Why not, had to make your own fun in them days. Spesh when you’re too young to drink in pubs.

Only there is of course a loony offing our 20-something teens. A Cross Dressing Loony, because this is the 80’s.

Main issue with this film is 80’s Zak Morris Douche isn’t the first person offed. Otherwise, it’s genuinely pretty good. We get some Chekhov’s gun moments early on, such as a seemingly throw away comment about the Windows being shatterproof. Though not all follow through, such as the kids keeping the lights off so nobody realises they’re inside, but not attempt being made to turn them on when they now want to be noticed inside.

Watched two thirds of Irma La Douce today, was not disappointed. Last time I'd seen it must be decades ago. Looking forward to watching the rest. It's a long film, but rather lovely.

I am taking a break from watching the animated scifi.... uhhh... film? Experience? Reason to not watch free movies anymore?

(The graphics remind me of an Xbox 360 cutscene.)

Trump vs the Illuminati
(2020)

It's a future clone of Trump against Alastair Crowley and Satan.

Uhhh... I just checked and I've only watched 17 minutes of it... I thought it had been a lot longer than that.

Night of the Living Dead, 1986 version, starting Tony Todd.

This is THE movie that made Tony Todd one of my favorite non A-Tier actors. For a horror movie remake, the man acted his butt off. You could feel the despair in his voice as he screams at God for what he's being forced to do.

 aku-chan wrote:

The Princess Bride falls into the same category, unfortunately the rewatch didn't meet with the same success, I still think it's a pretty stupid movie.

I mean, it is a pretty silly movie, but that's what Mel Brooks does. I also didn't like it as a teenager (really disliked Spaceballs as well) but warmed to his style of humour more as an adult.




On the watching front - just rewatched the first Bay Transformers. Have to say, the problems with these movies become more apparent on each watch, and revisiting this one was a nice reminder of how much better Bumblebee was than the movies that came before it. So many questionable choices made in the making of this movie.

It's still a fun bit of action movie if you completely switch off your brain, but I find myself wondering if there's a director's cut somewhere that feels less like something cobbled together from the best bits without much regard for how cohesive it feels as a whole.

I’d imagine the Directors Cut would just be a blur of “so close up the audience can’t tell the combatants apart” fight scenes. And maybe inserted racist ice cream truck Autobots for good measure.

 insaniak wrote:

It's still a fun bit of action movie if you completely switch off your brain, but I find myself wondering if there's a director's cut somewhere that feels less like something cobbled together from the best bits without much regard for how cohesive it feels as a whole.

I feel like these days that's a huge problem with a large number of hollywood films. I really felt it in the first new Dune film. No scene itself was bad, but the connective parts scene to scene were just missing. It didn't feel like the story and film flowed from event to event and more just did a whistle stop past major events in the book and jumped between them.

Bay's films also have other issues, such as the utter daftness of the plot; insane plotholes; the fact that its not actually about the Transformers at all and the desire to make them as cute and charmingly stupid as possible for as much of the film. It also suffers from hero-worship where they don't show us Optimus being charismatic and cool and amazing as a leader; the film tells us all these things and then holds him up.

The new Dune films are very much style over substance.

For its flaws, the Lynch version tells the story with minimal waffling, and just works better.

It also helps that Kyle McLachlan didn’t come across as a whiny spoiled brat.

 insaniak wrote:

 aku-chan wrote:

The Princess Bride falls into the same category, unfortunately the rewatch didn't meet with the same success, I still think it's a pretty stupid movie.

I mean, it is a pretty silly movie, but that's what Mel Brooks does. I also didn't like it as a teenager (really disliked Spaceballs as well) but warmed to his style of humour more as an adult.

Surely you aren't implying that The Princess Bride was a Mel Brooks film?

Really, really like the Princess Bride, because it's endlessly charming. Silly? Sure, but there isn't one annoying bit about it (MAYBE Billy Crystal. Also, incidently, possibly the most Mel-Brooks-seeming scene I think, even though he's got nothing to do with that film as far as I know). It is a comedy, but still very much a fairy tale, and I dig fairy tale films. Come to think of it, most of my favourites are basically fairytale films (or Rock&Roll Fables. ). Streets of Fire, Drive, The Apartment, Princess Bride, Night of the Hunter, etc.

Princess Bride also seems to very much keep its focus on the story rather than falling for the trappings of succumbing to contemporary popcultural references or ahistorical bits (like the Mel Brooks film Men in Tights does, much to its detriment. But that's a whole different kind of film. I'm quite suspicious of Mel Brooks comedies. Don't enjoy Spaceballs a lot either.). Not to say that there are no scenes which don't move the story along, but most of the serve a purpose, if only for a great swordfight scene.




@cuda1179: Ha, I think that was the first version of Night of the Living Dead I watched. It was on tv back then. Do they still show films on TV? ,


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Irma La Douce (1963)

Billy Wilder film, starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley McLaine, among others. Based on a musical, I think. Last time I'd seen it was decades ago, and I kinda forgot about the second half of that film. It gets pretty wild. But stays fun throughout. I like The Apartment better, but I'll admit that Irma La Douce has a bit more of a bite to it, even though it also gets a bit broader.

Watch It. Classic, very un-annoying.



Asteroid City (2023)

Wes Anderson's film about Wes Anderson making films. To be honest, I haven't seen many of his films. Always found the very neatly organized, pastel pictures and quirky characters a bit too saccharine. And I was very close to turning it off because of all that "pretty picture wankery", combined with that particular brand of 'americana'. Stuck to it thought, because I'm just a weak human after all, and these pictures look cool. And it's got this just stupendous amount of famous hollywood faces. I'm not a huge Scarlet Johanson fan, but in this I liked her quite a lot. And all the others.

Despite all of this stuff, this film is un-annoying as well. It feels like somebody watched ALL the Tim Burton films a billion times and a David Lynch film and likes post cards and the america from before their own youth a lot and then made a film about they like making a film and then made a film about that and about how they like making a film about that film that was the result of the above and the way they made it. It is wankery of a pretty high order, but it's also a captivating film of a pretty high order.

I'm worried about how much all the hollywood stars are part of the formula though. Because I'm not sure if it would have been as sit-throughable if regular actors played the parts. It certainly would feel less home-y. Because that it does. And I think that this is what Wes Anderson does a lot. There's always this element of coziness to it, especially so with this film, especially due to the meta layers. But it never breaks that highly artificial look. It's always a stage (like in Irma La Douce, incidently. But Asteroid City has no pigs heads.).

It's entertaining though. And charming. Also extremely wankery, but - depending on how susceptible you are to film wankery - you don't mind from a certain point on and just shake your head and say "oh, you...".



Take it or leave it. Probably an individual question.



Now, for me to calm down again, an all-time classic which I very much like - In the Heat of the Night (Watch It).

 Sigur wrote:

Surely you aren't implying that The Princess Bride was a Mel Brooks film?
.

Apparently I am, for some reason. Put it down to encroaching senility, I guess...

Wasn’t it directed by Rob Reiner? So…close enough?

I love that the script is by the same author as the book, but is completely opposite in tone.

 insaniak wrote:

 Sigur wrote:

Surely you aren't implying that The Princess Bride was a Mel Brooks film?
.

Apparently I am, for some reason. Put it down to encroaching senility, I guess...

Funny thing is that I looked it up just to be sure and one of the first hits was a Reddit thread about somebody imagining that the princess bride was a Mel Brooks film. So I assume it's not uncommon.

 Quixote wrote:
I am taking a break from watching the animated scifi.... uhhh... film? Experience? Reason to not watch free movies anymore?

(The graphics remind me of an Xbox 360 cutscene.)

Trump vs the Illuminati
(2020)

It's a future clone of Trump against Alastair Crowley and Satan.

Uhhh... I just checked and I've only watched 17 minutes of it... I thought it had been a lot longer than that.

Yeah, that ones pretty terrible.

ccs wrote:

 Quixote wrote:
I am taking a break from watching the animated scifi.... uhhh... film? Experience? Reason to not watch free movies anymore?

(The graphics remind me of an Xbox 360 cutscene.)

Trump vs the Illuminati
(2020)

It's a future clone of Trump against Alastair Crowley and Satan.

Uhhh... I just checked and I've only watched 17 minutes of it... I thought it had been a lot longer than that.

Yeah, that ones pretty terrible.

Did you finish it?

Just Before Dawn

Quick, everyone back in the woods for this next entry on my Slasher journey.

Again, a superior example of a not exactly high art. Bonus points for an unpleasant scene setting early offing, and for the use of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass”. Also I really want our protagonists camper van. It looks ace. GMC Motorhome if anyone’s fussed.

Tusk

WTF did I just watch? I have seen some odd stuff, and this is not the oddest; but it was odd.

Kevin Smith must have gotten this made after losing a bet. Can someone point me to the podcast where he explains how this happened in a funny and entertaining way?

 Quixote wrote:

ccs wrote:

 Quixote wrote:
I am taking a break from watching the animated scifi.... uhhh... film? Experience? Reason to not watch free movies anymore?

(The graphics remind me of an Xbox 360 cutscene.)

Trump vs the Illuminati
(2020)

It's a future clone of Trump against Alastair Crowley and Satan.

Uhhh... I just checked and I've only watched 17 minutes of it... I thought it had been a lot longer than that.

Yeah, that ones pretty terrible.

Did you finish it?

Unfortunately.
Seriously though I only finished it because I was engrossed in painting some Deathguard & didn't want to interrupt my flow.
If you haven't finished it you're not missing anything but more crap.

Joshua Tree aka One Man Army

In which a not very good, distinctly middle of the road and quite staggeringly overrated light rock band irritate everyone with bland, forgettable music and frankly staggering hypocrisy, and the lead singer refuses to sing on a new version of a scene setting charity single unless he can sing the same line he did first time around because some egos just don’t know control

OF COURSE NOT! The power, of suggestion!

This is a Dolph Lundgren flick. And unlike He-Man, and…erm…umm…Rocky IV, maybe?

Well it’s crap. Dolph is meant to be our unjustly imprisoned ne’er do well on a one man quest for justice against those wot done him dirty. But instead, he’s just a bit of a Richard, smashing up people’s property, forcibly kidnapping the dolly bird and generally not being at all sympathetic.

Granted this isn’t Steven Seagull crap. But crap it remains.

The Electric State

In a world where robots are outlawed, a young woman and a robot head off on a quest to find her brother.

I absolutely love the visual design of the weird mascot/animatronic robots in this, definitely a look that needs to show up more often.
The movie itself is pretty lousy though, it's basically a heavy-handed condemnation of social media and it's addicting properties tied to a plot that makes almost zero sense.

Stargate Origins: Catherine (2018)

Remember how in Stargate they needed Daniel Jackson to figure out that whole seventh sign issue?

Remember, it was a major plot point... remember?

Good news, that was totally irrelevant because a Nazi already figured it out and Catherine (the older lady from the film and Season 1 of SG-1) had to use the gate to save her dad who was transported to Abydos by the Nazi and there is a demigod who is rebelling against Ra.

Does this make any sense to anyone? Does it matter?

Nope. It all fits in continuity. "How" you ask. Easy:

I just found out they were originally released as 10×10 minute episodes on Amazon. You get an extra 4 minutes with the movie edition.

Also Conner Traneer (Stargate Atlantis) returns, but in a different role.

Even the gate is cheap and tacky looking.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Even the gate is cheap and tacky looking.

I asked myself, how did I miss this being released? What I should've asked is why did no one warn me?

Well next up on a watch list is Star Trek Section 31... it's gotta be better than Stargate Origins.