Amazingly, a pre-#metoo Harvey Weinstein is still the villain in this story. After Christopher's original gritty tale of a morally gray man caught in a bisexual love triangle got test screened at a Long Island mall, Weinstein reacted to unfavorable audience reports by cutting 40 minutes and then adding 30 minutes of reshoots (with actors whose appearance was no longer in continuity). Now it was a story about a good guy in love with a woman, and so on, with the filmmaker no longer having any control over his film. The movie tanked financially and critically, and so did Christopher's career.
I feel like this is going to be a thing for the next 20 years or so, as far as movies he/his studio worked on.
This was always a thing, it was simply under the radar for a lot of people. Weinstein's notorious for being a dick behind the scenes. It's a miracle Tarantino made his films intact there.
I wasn't altogether happy with U - 22 July, the Norwegian film by Erik Poppe about the Utøya massacre, but I respect that film a hell of a lot more than Paul Greengrass' 22 July, a bland, generic film that, even though differently from Poppe's fictionalised account it depicts the actual people, feels altogether less real and convincing. For fuck's sake, the film has a training montage! Sure, it's a training montage that's grim and set to sombre music, but still, it's indicative of how much Greengrass' take on the same material is informed by genre cinema and not by him actually having anything relevant to bring to the table.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
In this day and age I feel like every director should get to have their cut. Obviously that doesn't work with cgi/set piece production problems, but like...give them access to everything they've filmed and then a couple years after the movie is released they can put it out into the world. It does not cost money in the grand scheme of movie making.
"Oh, I won't bother spending any money on this movie until the director's cut comes out a couple years from now," says honestly probably not many people, but that's going to be the fear.
Still waiting on the BR 2049 4-hour long director's cut.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
In this day and age I feel like every director should get to have their cut. Obviously that doesn't work with cgi/set piece production problems, but like...give them access to everything they've filmed and then a couple years after the movie is released they can put it out into the world. It does not cost money in the grand scheme of movie making.
"Oh, I won't bother spending any money on this movie until the director's cut comes out a couple years from now," says honestly probably not many people, but that's going to be the fear.
Still waiting on the BR 2049 4-hour long director's cut.
Considering the director doesn't even want to release it...
Greengrass is a skilled craftsman, but I don’t think he does himself any favours with this or with United 93, mainly because what he has to say about his material is banal to begin with and made utterly trite by the genre-cinema format.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Captain Phillips was actually legit very good, and really surprisingly empathetic to all of its characters, including the pirates. Its a much much better movie than the trailers sell it as.
And as much as the ending tends to get singled out for praise to the exclusion of the rest of the movie, it is very good, and a much appreciated antidote to the idea that like, surviving violence makes you feel manly or good in any way.
Kana on
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
+10
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HedgethornAssociate Professor of Historical Hobby HorsesIn the Lions' DenRegistered Userregular
The only thing I remember about United 93 is that I was mildly impressed that it got the air traffic control scenes (largely) accurate to reality. That and Close Encounters of the Third Kind are the only two movies I can say that about, since most movies get ATC dreadfully wrong, say, by treating radar as if it were instantaneous and constantly updating in real time, as opposed to it being a line-of-sight technology that updates at a set periodic rate.
At work a few months ago one of our quality engineers was brought into an issue I was working on and asked me in an email to fill them in, starting at the beginning. My response was:
First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes.
+22
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KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
I had a cinema weekend.
I went to see Halloween on Saturday and boy was it not good. It was entirely too funny and campy, like on the nose, *elbow nudge* "It's Michael Meyers! Isn't he scary?". I honestly think Halloween 2, the original sequel is way better and fits with the original more. Not that this movie is bad, it's fairly entertaining, a bit slow to start, but it has a decent plot setup and I was into it... But Laurie is dumb as bricks for prepping for 40 years, and Jamie is waaaaaaaaaay over the top with her character. Like it's intentionally slap-sticky to a point where I was just laughing at the screen instead of getting scared, which doesn't make for a good horror movie. Plus the ending is some non-ending "Did he die? WHO KNOWS!?" BS that is pretty typical of B-horror movies. It's worth watching once, but gosh dang I did not like it.
Then I went to see Venom yesterday. For all the bad press it was getting, I honestly expected this to be super super bad. Like fucking awful... and yet I don't think it was bad. Like at all. It had inconsistencies (like a lot), and I think the origin was weaker sans-Spiderman, but it is a fun action film. Tom and Venom pretty much carry the film by themselves, and I loved the interactions between them. Those buddy-cop character moments essentially make what is a pretty meh and forgettable film into an above average super hero feature. On top of that teaser (which is all over the internet by now), I'm actually excited for a sequel now that we don't need spend half of the movie time making an origin story. So yeah, not bad, not bad at all.
Yeah, I'm having trouble coming to terms with my feelings around Halloween 2018. On one hand it was definitely the most well made Halloween they've done to date in that the writing was decent, acting was excellent, and the overall plot was super compelling.
The problem is that somewhere along the way they seem to have forgotten it's supposed to be a horror movie. It just wasn't even remotely scary at all - save for maybe the bathroom scene spoiled in the trailer. There was a lot to like for sure but without the movie being really anchored with the horror you expect it really did end up feeling like a let down. Also why was an R-rated film so afraid of letting the murderer actually murder people on screen?
I will say that, even though I thought Venom was pretty bad, the interactions between Brock and Venom were good enough that I'm actually kind of interested in a sequel.
There's definitely a kernel of something fun there.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I will say that, even though I thought Venom was pretty bad, the interactions between Brock and Venom were good enough that I'm actually kind of interested in a sequel.
There's definitely a kernel of something fun there.
They should lean heavily on the horror/comedy vibe. That's a unique and relatively unexplored space in the superhero genre.
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AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
The original Halloween is also not very good in part because it is mostly campy and ironic rather than scary! Join me, join me on this island...
The original Halloween is also not very good in part because it is mostly campy and ironic rather than scary! Join me, join me on this island...
It's going to be a lonely island. The original Halloween is unnerving because it is a sparse, weirdly paced movie backed by an incredibly effective synth soundtrack.
I will say that, even though I thought Venom was pretty bad, the interactions between Brock and Venom were good enough that I'm actually kind of interested in a sequel.
There's definitely a kernel of something fun there.
They should lean heavily on the horror/comedy vibe. That's a unique and relatively unexplored space in the superhero genre.
You mean like that wig in the stinger? That was funny and scary.
I will say that, even though I thought Venom was pretty bad, the interactions between Brock and Venom were good enough that I'm actually kind of interested in a sequel.
There's definitely a kernel of something fun there.
I just want a gay buddy comedy movie starring them.
The original Halloween is also not very good in part because it is mostly campy and ironic rather than scary! Join me, join me on this island...
I liked it more than most slasher movies.
I do not really like slasher movies.
(Not counting parodies or deconstructions, like Scream or Cabin in the Woods or Final Girls.)
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
The original Halloween is also not very good in part because it is mostly campy and ironic rather than scary! Join me, join me on this island...
I liked it more than most slasher movies.
I do not really like slasher movies.
(Not counting parodies or deconstructions, like Scream or Cabin in the Woods or Final Girls.)
It's kind of the ur-slasher movie. The genre didn't exist before it (there are a few earlier films that could be included in the genre, but it was the financial success of Halloween that made it a template) and most of the genre conventions are built around Michael Myer's creepy frame.
I watched Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street for the first time last October, and Halloween was easily my favorite of the bunch, though the others are not without their charms.
The original Halloween is also not very good in part because it is mostly campy and ironic rather than scary! Join me, join me on this island...
I liked it more than most slasher movies.
I do not really like slasher movies.
(Not counting parodies or deconstructions, like Scream or Cabin in the Woods or Final Girls.)
It's kind of the ur-slasher movie. The genre didn't exist before it (there are a few earlier films that could be included in the genre, but it was the financial success of Halloween that made it a template) and most of the genre conventions are built around Michael Myer's creepy frame.
I get that, and I respect Halloween for kind of inventing the modern slasher flick, but unfortunately the fact it was first doesn't make me enjoy it more. I have similar issues with, say, Citizen Kane or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where I can respect what it's accomplished but can't unsee the fifty thousand movies that have built on their achievements and done it better.
Like, props to the guy who invented drawing, but I don't want to hang a cave etching of a mammoth in my living room.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Yeah, I'm having trouble coming to terms with my feelings around Halloween 2018. On one hand it was definitely the most well made Halloween they've done to date in that the writing was decent, acting was excellent, and the overall plot was super compelling.
The problem is that somewhere along the way they seem to have forgotten it's supposed to be a horror movie. It just wasn't even remotely scary at all - save for maybe the bathroom scene spoiled in the trailer. There was a lot to like for sure but without the movie being really anchored with the horror you expect it really did end up feeling like a let down. Also why was an R-rated film so afraid of letting the murderer actually murder people on screen?
This is kind of where I've landed on it as well. I really enjoyed the movie but at no point was I scared. I was able to immediately discern who was going to make it out alive and who was going to die. I was only really surprised by one thing, and I disliked that same one thing. I dug the winks and nudge nudges to the franchise and felt that most of them were probably subtle enough that most people wouldn't notice them unless they're fans of the franchise or they watch one of those "20 things you missed in the new Halloween movie" youtube videos that I'm sure exists by now. I think part of what may have made it not scary was that while it was pretty faithful to the original in a lot of ways, horror has changed quite a bit in the intervening 40 years.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Speaking of horror remakes, that Omen remake from a decade ago, classy or not? I thought it was a cable series but it was actually a remake (released 6-6-06 lol I get it so clever)
Speaking of horror remakes, that Omen remake from a decade ago, classy or not? I thought it was a cable series but it was actually a remake (released 6-6-06 lol I get it so clever)
I think they also made a cable series called Damien. I have seen neither.
Speaking of horror remakes, that Omen remake from a decade ago, classy or not? I thought it was a cable series but it was actually a remake (released 6-6-06 lol I get it so clever)
I think they also made a cable series called Damien. I have seen neither.
Yeah I want to say it was on USA? The dumping ground of shitty movies to tv adaptations.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Summer of '84 was fantastic, like damn yo, they hella pulled it off. Fellow posters here were spot on and this is the thriller movie you want for Halloween that is more than anything believable in both the story and the characters. I believe someone wrote it was like Stand By Me meets The 'Burbs, and it has that sincerity and genuine classy 80's feel that, along with Mandy, have been a nice bulwark to the shitty 80's nostalgia cashgrabs that have popped up since Stranger Things.
A small Connecticut town in the summer of '84, we follow four fifteen year olds who begin to believe their cop neighbor, Harry Crane from Mad Men, is actually a serial killer who has killed kids in their area for the past year or so. And a lot of things seem to make sense to them, since one of them is heavily into National Enquirer stuff, which only fuels their desire to find out if this upstanding guy has a dark side. And their desire to be right fuels them to do reckless things.
The tension is spot on from the beginning, the movie knowing how to make you constantly doubt yourself and the kids into what is real. And what makes it work is the music; since it's always on, in classy 80's synth power, when it changes up you don't why and if it's to mess with you and your assumptions, it's very clever by being constant. The fact that these teens are also believable in how they speak and act as 15 year old boys (ie always trying to freak each other out and always dropping sex jokes), it allows for jump scares that are believable. And the kids actually do smart things that these kinds of movies don't do, which again, respek. And in all of this, you have brief moments of characterization to the the five leads that are more background than anything but work perfectly in setting who they are and how they are, you really actually care for them.
And the ending works. It's set up perfectly, no gotchas.
Legit spoilers below
I love how you can hear the VW Beetle when the kid is kidnapped off the street 20 minutes into the movie, because they want you to hear the sound offscreen. And then when you hear Mackey's Beetle drive off at the storage lot you can put it together from there (well, earlier from the family photos if you look but again it's such a smart way of letting it be there in the open). And that ending, damn man, it actually worked.
But poor Woody. And Woody's mom, man, I legit cared for movie characters for the first time since what, Paddington 2?
Super recommend, second best movie of the year. Even if you aren't a fan of thriller movies or tired of the 80's stuff, you gotta watch it. 10/10 megabang.
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
I have the vaguest recollection of watching a movie back in the mid-80s that featured a villain with Freddy Krueger-like claws, but it wouldn’t have been horror because my parents didn’t let us watch that stuff and we didn’t really have any interest in it anyways.
I think it may have been a cop movie? Sort of an urban action film in the vein of Lethal Weapon.
The only other thing I can remember is one of the protagonists yells “Russians cheat at basketball!” to get the of one of the baddies. And the baddies may have been Russian.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
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KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
edited October 2018
Thanks to this OP, I can't stop thinking about the 'HELLO, HANDSOME!' scene from Young Frankenstein.
"...get me out, let me out, get me the hell out of here! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE I WAS JOKING! DON'T YOU KNOW A JOKE WHEN YOU HEAR ONE HAHAHAHA!"
Gene Wilder is an incredibly charismatic person, I love all of his movies.
At work a few months ago one of our quality engineers was brought into an issue I was working on and asked me in an email to fill them in, starting at the beginning. My response was:
First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes.
For reference, because I never delete any emails:
QE: I am working on NCR 179020258. It is for _____________. Per the NCR, OD DIA. 11.248 +.002 / -.001 ON THE PART WAS DAMAGED , NICKS, DINGS, AND GOUGE MARK ON THE FACE.
Can one of you tell me the history on this part? And can you advise if we can re-work or do we scrap. Let me know. Thank you.
Me: First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes.
QE: Wow. What a wonderful history lesson. Does that mean I can scrap the cover plate? Since it is not a Mercedes Benz?
+7
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Element BrianPeanut Butter ShillRegistered Userregular
i saw the new Halloween
it was my first time fully watching a halloween movie all the way through
Posts
This was always a thing, it was simply under the radar for a lot of people. Weinstein's notorious for being a dick behind the scenes. It's a miracle Tarantino made his films intact there.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Still waiting on the BR 2049 4-hour long director's cut.
Considering the director doesn't even want to release it...
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Although Bourne Identity is the best one by far. I fucking love that movie. Absolutely cracking car chase.
Captain Phillips was also quite good, although man did they milk that ending. But the tension is just beautifully executed.
Also, Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi were fucking top shelf in that film too.
But I use that "look at me, I am the captain now" line that featured in the trailer all the time.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
And as much as the ending tends to get singled out for praise to the exclusion of the rest of the movie, it is very good, and a much appreciated antidote to the idea that like, surviving violence makes you feel manly or good in any way.
Some of the computers were being used to play Pong. Others were actually ovens and washing machines.
I went to see Halloween on Saturday and boy was it not good. It was entirely too funny and campy, like on the nose, *elbow nudge* "It's Michael Meyers! Isn't he scary?". I honestly think Halloween 2, the original sequel is way better and fits with the original more. Not that this movie is bad, it's fairly entertaining, a bit slow to start, but it has a decent plot setup and I was into it... But Laurie is dumb as bricks for prepping for 40 years, and Jamie is waaaaaaaaaay over the top with her character. Like it's intentionally slap-sticky to a point where I was just laughing at the screen instead of getting scared, which doesn't make for a good horror movie. Plus the ending is some non-ending "Did he die? WHO KNOWS!?" BS that is pretty typical of B-horror movies. It's worth watching once, but gosh dang I did not like it.
Then I went to see Venom yesterday. For all the bad press it was getting, I honestly expected this to be super super bad. Like fucking awful... and yet I don't think it was bad. Like at all. It had inconsistencies (like a lot), and I think the origin was weaker sans-Spiderman, but it is a fun action film. Tom and Venom pretty much carry the film by themselves, and I loved the interactions between them. Those buddy-cop character moments essentially make what is a pretty meh and forgettable film into an above average super hero feature. On top of that teaser (which is all over the internet by now), I'm actually excited for a sequel now that we don't need spend half of the movie time making an origin story. So yeah, not bad, not bad at all.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
The problem is that somewhere along the way they seem to have forgotten it's supposed to be a horror movie. It just wasn't even remotely scary at all - save for maybe the bathroom scene spoiled in the trailer. There was a lot to like for sure but without the movie being really anchored with the horror you expect it really did end up feeling like a let down. Also why was an R-rated film so afraid of letting the murderer actually murder people on screen?
There's definitely a kernel of something fun there.
They should lean heavily on the horror/comedy vibe. That's a unique and relatively unexplored space in the superhero genre.
It's going to be a lonely island. The original Halloween is unnerving because it is a sparse, weirdly paced movie backed by an incredibly effective synth soundtrack.
You mean like that wig in the stinger? That was funny and scary.
I just want a gay buddy comedy movie starring them.
I liked it more than most slasher movies.
I do not really like slasher movies.
(Not counting parodies or deconstructions, like Scream or Cabin in the Woods or Final Girls.)
It's kind of the ur-slasher movie. The genre didn't exist before it (there are a few earlier films that could be included in the genre, but it was the financial success of Halloween that made it a template) and most of the genre conventions are built around Michael Myer's creepy frame.
I get that, and I respect Halloween for kind of inventing the modern slasher flick, but unfortunately the fact it was first doesn't make me enjoy it more. I have similar issues with, say, Citizen Kane or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where I can respect what it's accomplished but can't unsee the fifty thousand movies that have built on their achievements and done it better.
Like, props to the guy who invented drawing, but I don't want to hang a cave etching of a mammoth in my living room.
This is kind of where I've landed on it as well. I really enjoyed the movie but at no point was I scared. I was able to immediately discern who was going to make it out alive and who was going to die. I was only really surprised by one thing, and I disliked that same one thing. I dug the winks and nudge nudges to the franchise and felt that most of them were probably subtle enough that most people wouldn't notice them unless they're fans of the franchise or they watch one of those "20 things you missed in the new Halloween movie" youtube videos that I'm sure exists by now. I think part of what may have made it not scary was that while it was pretty faithful to the original in a lot of ways, horror has changed quite a bit in the intervening 40 years.
PSN : Bolthorn
I think they also made a cable series called Damien. I have seen neither.
Yeah I want to say it was on USA? The dumping ground of shitty movies to tv adaptations.
pleasepaypreacher.net
A small Connecticut town in the summer of '84, we follow four fifteen year olds who begin to believe their cop neighbor, Harry Crane from Mad Men, is actually a serial killer who has killed kids in their area for the past year or so. And a lot of things seem to make sense to them, since one of them is heavily into National Enquirer stuff, which only fuels their desire to find out if this upstanding guy has a dark side. And their desire to be right fuels them to do reckless things.
The tension is spot on from the beginning, the movie knowing how to make you constantly doubt yourself and the kids into what is real. And what makes it work is the music; since it's always on, in classy 80's synth power, when it changes up you don't why and if it's to mess with you and your assumptions, it's very clever by being constant. The fact that these teens are also believable in how they speak and act as 15 year old boys (ie always trying to freak each other out and always dropping sex jokes), it allows for jump scares that are believable. And the kids actually do smart things that these kinds of movies don't do, which again, respek. And in all of this, you have brief moments of characterization to the the five leads that are more background than anything but work perfectly in setting who they are and how they are, you really actually care for them.
And the ending works. It's set up perfectly, no gotchas.
Legit spoilers below
But poor Woody. And Woody's mom, man, I legit cared for movie characters for the first time since what, Paddington 2?
Super recommend, second best movie of the year. Even if you aren't a fan of thriller movies or tired of the 80's stuff, you gotta watch it. 10/10 megabang.
I think it may have been a cop movie? Sort of an urban action film in the vein of Lethal Weapon.
The only other thing I can remember is one of the protagonists yells “Russians cheat at basketball!” to get the of one of the baddies. And the baddies may have been Russian.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
"...get me out, let me out, get me the hell out of here! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE I WAS JOKING! DON'T YOU KNOW A JOKE WHEN YOU HEAR ONE HAHAHAHA!"
Gene Wilder is an incredibly charismatic person, I love all of his movies.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
"You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons."
For reference, because I never delete any emails:
it was my first time fully watching a halloween movie all the way through
i want to now watch the other halloween movies
so there's that
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
Apart from the original, they are all hot garbage.