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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






The Selling

Cropped up on Amazon Prime, a 2011 horror comedy about two inept Realtors saddled with a haunted house they need to sell.

Went in expecting a low budget horror, and that’s what I got. But with a decent cast. Barry Bostwick and Howard out of Big Bang Theory have small roles. And it doesn’t feel cheap, outside of some budget CGI - which is however used sparingly.

I’ve seen utter drivel. I’ve seen brilliance. This is comfortably toward, but not quite at, the latter. In terms of “what sort of comedy”? I’d put it somewhere around Ghostbusters. No overreactions, instead the slightly daft premise is played relatively straight, with humour mined and not imported.

Got so say this is most definitely worth a watch.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Lords of Misrule

British Folk Horror flick, in the mould and tradition of The Wicker Man.

Definitely worth a look if the sub-genre is your thing, particularly as it’s not just The Wicked Man in fancy dress.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/09 12:05:20


   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka




NE Ohio, USA

I watched Damsel last night on Netflix.
Milli Bobbi Brown as a princess who's sacrificed to a dragon & fights back.
Spoiler: she wins.
While entertaining enough, it was pretty predictable.
Mostly decent + cgi on the dragon & it's cavern.

The actual highlight of the show though is the countryside that serves as the backdrop to the action.
Apparently it was filmed in parts of Portugal. Makes me want to update my passport & go hike about Portugal for a bit.
I'm not sure that was the intent/message of the film...
   
Made in gb
Using Inks and Washes





Project Wolf Hunting

A violent prison break onboard a transport ship has unforeseen consequences as it awakens the unstoppable, bio-engineered killing machine a dodgy corporation were also secretly transporting on the ship.
This was a gory, low budget Korean action movie, with little in the way of plot or characters (They're all either scared and useless or psychopaths, and are pretty much just there to die horribly), it was entertaining though and I would watch the potential sequel the ending sets up.
   
Made in au
[MOD]
Making Stuff






Under the couch

Just watched Moana again for some weekend family time. The girls and I had seen it before, but my wife hadn't.

Still a delight to watch.

 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

Dune 2

Really very impressive. However, there are some parts I prefer the Lynch version for.

That said, this is not an action movie so be prepared. A guy a couple seats away from me fell asleep.

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Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

Well, I can't compete with that, but I watched an episode of Renegade, most likely for the first time ever. What a silly show that was. It was rather silly to begin with, then I learned that Renegade's friend (and client) was a wise-cracking ghost. Branscombe Richmond is a highlight (and I liked his interplay with their lady colleague). Lorenzo Lamas is no actor, I'm afraid. How did this get 4 seasons and Invisible Man just 2?

   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

I don't recall a ghost in Renegade at all!

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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






I recall rather enjoying Renegade when it first aired in the UK.

It’s on Prime, so guess I should reacquaint,

   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

I like the idea of Renegade.


I was more of a Highlander The Series guy. And there is only room for one ponytailed tough guy at a time in life.


Friday the 13th part 5

Does anyone care about the subtitle?

This is the one where every character is a bizarre caricature. There’s the over-the-top hillbillies, the sex-crazed teens, the jaded ambulance driver, the impotent police, the Madonna lookalike, the stuttering virgin, the oblivious girl, the chocoholic fat guy, the angry crazy guy, the crazy angry guy, and, of course, the two leather-clad lovebirds who sing a duet in the outhouse while one takes a dump. It’s bizarre.

   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

Poor Things

Did I hear this film won a lot of awards?

A mad, man of science in a "Steampunk/Magical Realism" world finds a pregnant cadaver, and removes the babies brain and implants it into the woman's body.

Therefore, we see a grown, beautiful woman evolve through the stages of feminine maturity over the course of the running time. This leads to a variety of misadventures.

A great performance from Emily Blunt, fun character designs, artwork, costuming, and set design. Some interesting cinematography and good dialogue.

All in the service of a very basic plot and simplistic themes. A bit disappointing that this thing didn't have more to say, and the ending to wrap up the "mystery" of the cadaver feels tacked on.


Edit: Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the premise this movie has a lot of sex scenes.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/12 18:19:48


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Made in us
[DCM]
Savage Minotaur




Baltimore, Maryland

 Easy E wrote:
Poor Things


A great performance from Emily Blunt


Emma Stone, isn't it?

"Sometimes the only victory possible is to keep your opponent from winning." - The Emperor, from The Outcast Dead.
"Tell your gods we are coming for them, and that their realms will burn as ours did." -Thostos Bladestorm
 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

 nels1031 wrote:
 Easy E wrote:
Poor Things


A great performance from Emily Blunt


Emma Stone, isn't it?


Yes, you are right. A mind slip there. Getting old sucks, don't do it kids!

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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






It’s an excellent bit of film making.

The overall feel is just slightly off-kilter, but it never disappears up its own arse in a puff of pretentiousness. And it’s never weird for the sake of being weird.

The costumes and set design kind of remind me of Tim Burton’s Batman that, whilst period, it’s difficult to say exactly which period.

Definitely give it a watch.

   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

Yeah, I plan to watch that too. Not a huge Emma Stone fan, but I hear good things about the film.

The episodes of Renegade was a bit of fun, but I really found the main character of all people to be a bit of a let-down. Which is a crucial detail.




The Hangover 3

Zach Galifianakis' father dies and they get kidnapped by John Goodman (who is a big gangster) and they have to find Ken Jeong to get a ton of gold back for John Goodman, and then they have to break into a house and then they have to catch Ken Jeong and then it ends.

I never saw Hangover, I watched Hangover 2 in the cinema and was rather surprised how people found the predecessor a film that was pretty much the same to be "the best comedy in many years and a gamechanger". That was a dark and not extremely fun film.

The third film strays from the same story as the first two. Instead it does a pretty admirable job at tieing together a string of consequences of the first two films and the three guys who do the things in the films do things again. Pretty action-thrillery things actually. It's almost as if this film drops the pretense of being a comedy at all. It's more sequences of "grim stuff happens... oh, the camera cuts to Galifianakis or Jeong! Let's see what sort of OUTRAGEOUS thing he will say now!". Both their characters I find annoying and ridiculous.

Galifianakis I can usually avoid, but with Jeong I always wonder if there is a cut of the last 2 seasons of Community (which is a lovely show) with Jeong's bits edited out. Do not care for Ed Helms. Bradley Cooper is wasted in this (but he doesn't do much in this anyway), so is Melissa McCarthy, being put in a role which is one of those roles she gets put into and which she doesn't seem to be able to get out of even though she could do better. At least I think so. I know, it's silly to go so much into detail about wether or not I like an actor or the roles they play. However, this film is basically just these actors doing either OUTRAGEOUS and INAPPROPRIATE things (Galifianakis/Jeong) or react to it (all the others).

It is interesting though in that it does things differently and there's some sort of an intrigue to see what happens next. Even though it's usually silly (and not in the good way), random stuff.

Do not watch.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2024/03/13 23:52:54


   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

I’m sorry, but I am confused. Are you saying you knew people who said the Hangover 2 was a great comedy and a game changer?

   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

ha, forgot to add "the predecessor" there. Must have looked at something different in between writing that mini review. Sorry. Added the words now.

No, I'm fairly certain that nobody views Hangover 2 as a seminal comedy film.

   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





Oxfordshire

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m sorry, but I am confused. Are you saying you knew people who said the Hangover 2 was a great comedy and a game changer?

I got dragged to the cinema to watch Hangover 2. I laughed exactly once at a (admittedly very funny) sight joke - when the stupid guy dropped an anchor out of an already beached boat. I was stunned to find people laughing at any other point in that desperately unfunny film.
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

 Sigur wrote:
ha, forgot to add "the predecessor" there. Must have looked at something different in between writing that mini review. Sorry. Added the words now.

No, I'm fairly certain that nobody views Hangover 2 as a seminal comedy film.


Thanks for clearing that up. This eases my mind.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Hangover 2 has all the comedic energy as a late night host whose dinner has been interrupted by an obnoxious stranger demanding he tell a joke right now.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/14 00:40:24


   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

Yeah, it was weird. Somewhere I read that the guy who made the films likes to take chances and zig where people expect him to zag. Which is laudable, but with a comedy it's a big risk to take. I like people playing with conventions of humour and subvert them, but it's really hard to pull off, and I think that with Hangover 2 and 3 it just falls flat.

I'm sure I laughed once or even twice as well in Hangover 2, and I also had to snort during the 3rd film when Jeong sings "Hurt" at a karaoke bar, the other three sit at a table and Bradley Cooper very dryly asks "Why are we watching this?" or something like that. That got me for some reason.


To get to something slightly more positive: Watched the latter half of Hard Target last night. What a weird film. But it must have had some impact back then. Since then a LOT of the visual style has been incorporated into even the lowest of western action films several times over.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/14 13:22:22


   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Hard Target was if memory serves John Woo’s first play with western cinema?

   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Hard Target was if memory serves John Woo’s first play with western cinema?


yup, i think so



yet another new topic: I just saw that they're doing a remake of The Crow. I even watched the trailer, with an open mind too. I mean how hard making a Crow film be? You need a dude who looks cool in facepaint (I'm not even too offended over him not having long hair), a basic revenge story with supernatural overtones. Ernie Hudson optional, electric guitar playing is NOT.

The trailer looks alright, right? As I said, the hair and the facepaint look all wrong, but that doesn't really matter. The trailer already shows what looks like an exhausting amount of story and characters and of course features terrible, terrible music. As do all trailers.

Everything aside - it might be alright?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/14 16:17:54


   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






You just referred to Ernie Hudson as optional.

Get. Out.

Bad Sigur! Dirty Sigur! In your bed, on your rug! Dirty Boy!

   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
You just referred to Ernie Hudson as optional.

Get. Out.

Bad Sigur! Dirty Sigur! In your bed, on your rug! Dirty Boy!


Hey, i love Mr.Hudson as much as the next guy (I vividly remember writing how much i missed ernie hudson in my mini review of the crow in this very thread), but I can do well without a 2024 film dragging a 78-year old Mr.Hudson in front of the camera just for some fanservice reason. I wanna remember him how he's in the original film, and fanservice is a thing Hollywood films should be rid of sooner rather than later. It's a scourge. It's cheap. It's calculable. It turns film more stupid and it turns people who like something into 'fan cattle'.

   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Terminator 2, Judgement Day

Bit of lovely retro viewing, which somehow still feels fresh and modern.

Made with bleeding edge technology, and not a little simple trickery (the old false mirror identical twin routine!)

Like most if not all Terminator sequels, at least mildly ruined at the time by its own trailer, which revealed Arnie was the hero.

About the only issue I have with this film? How in the flip did the T-1000 do time travel? Only organic can go back. And there’s bugger all organic about it. Not even a meat suit.

Everything else is pretty much perfect though.

   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

Okay, I never thought about that bit about time travel in Terminator.

Anyway, absolutely perfectly fine film. More perfect than fine really. Works on every level every time I'd say.

   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Terminator 3, Rise of the Machines

A film of wasted talent and opporunity.

The tale it’s telling is interesting, refreshing and updating the central premise to reflect the dawn of the digital age. And I like they’ve gone from stopping Judgement Day, to ensuring John Connor survives it. Like wise, the T-X being sent back to bump off John’s top lieutenants is interesting, and reflects that John had successfully stayed off-grid.

But then…it gets a bit silly. Arnie’s arrival is funny, but jarringly so. Like a SNL skit just pasted into the movie for lols. Skynet acting as a virus is a cool idea. But “and now it can autonomously drive cars and fire engines and ambulances, even though they mechanically can’t do that” just takes it too far.

The crane chase is pretty cool though, as is Skynet’s awakening. And as ever respect for using practical effects.

Overall, disappointing due to its flaws, but there’s still merit going on. Probably a very comfortable 6.5 out of 10, and could make it to a 7.5 out of 10 if you can push past its worse flaws.

   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

Only terminator film i watched at the cinema, and it was alright-ish.

   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






It’s just another frustratingly uneven film. Its good moments are really good. There’s clearly been some thought put into the plot and how it might add to the wider story. But then we get silliness and daftness. Which only serve to drag it into utter mediocrity, because those seem to be the bits best remembered.

   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Sherlock Holmes, The Masks of Death

A 1984 movie, starring Peter Cushing, and is an original tale with a semi-retired Holmes, set in 1913.

It’s not too bad. Low budget for sure, and the version I’m watching has an unrestored print.

However the costumes and scenery are oddly offputting. At least when our heroes are out and about. It feels kinda 50’s and too modern for the intended period,

But it is perfectly enjoyable viewing for a Saturday afternoon. And it makes me realise I don’t think I’ve not enjoyed a film starring Cushing.

   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

I think that Terminator 3 falls in a category many more modern sequels fall into - made 10+ years after a legendary 2nd part which since turned into a "franchise" with a "lore" (what loathsome a word) and "fans" and comicbooks and all of that. Having to overthink stuff, having to add in fan service moments, having to recreate a nostalgially tinted feeling but also giving it a modern lick, and so on. It pretty much sets ye up for failure.

All of that baggage, compared to the mission statement of T2: "Same thing really, but with more money and Schwarzenegger's role reversed to be a good guy.". This sounds like a concept which is much easier to achieve, so the people who make the film can focus on actually making a cool film.

Maybe that's just my overly simplistic take on the whole thing. Of course the studios' grasp on things had tightened considerably between 1991 and 2003.


Mr.Cushing's wargaming collection was sold off over the past years, and the Perry twins acquired a ton of his hand-painted flags and loads of his campaign maps and notes. Many of which are written on the backs of film scripts he was working on at the time, which helps dating the notes. Very cool stuff, they put a bunch of it on facebook.

I'm on season 3 of Farscape now. Still enjoying the show, possibly more than before even. I wish that more films had characters who all like/want/use food and sex on a reguar basis without making it a defining trait.

Right now I'm watching bloody Cinderella'80. I've seen it before, but can't really remember anything about it except for the snippets from the "Stay" music video. Insane how humanity conserves weird pop culture and re-runs it on TV.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/16 19:59:29


   
 
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