Topic: The Movie Thread

Watched Once Upon Time a Time in Hollywood last night, and whilst it is beautifully shot and finely acted, it felt I was watching an extended version of the film with all the deleted scenes edited in. There are large chunks (and a certain character) of the film which could have been left on the editing floor as they serve no purpose to the overall narrative of the film. I've enjoyed QT's previous films, but felt this was too self indulgent.

@LN78 I get all that but personally I need a bit more meat on films. It's strange cos I heard similar complaints about The Hateful Eight but I really enjoyed that film, same with The Big Lebowski. I may like it on repeated viewings, as I wasn't fussed on Intolerable Bastards initially. I can remember falling asleep during the cafe scene, but I was very hungover! I'm in no rush to watch Once Upon Time a Time in Hollywood again though.

@LN78 Now I’m not sure whether to watch OUATIH when it releases on Sky Movies next week or wait for the Netflix miniseries version!

Just watched The Elephant Man again. It’s one of those movies I swore I would never watch again but it was on BBC One and I got sucked in. Yeah I cried like a baby and it’s one of a very few movies that have that effect on me. It’s honestly so heartbreaking and Lynch handles the subject matter incredibly well. Lord, I shouldn’t do this to myself, I’m just not good with movies like this and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

@nessisonett Elephant Man is tough to watch, but really excellent. Definitely not for everyone though given the subject matter.

After digging around their catalog, I decided to start a 30 day free trial of Amazon Prime Video, to check out the anime films & cheesy 80's B-Movie fantasy & horror films they have (mostly stuff I wouldn't have bought anyways, in fact some of it isn't even available in HD, but who knows, maybe I'll uncover some gems). Naturally, I've already made use of it this morning.

Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer (Amazon Prime Video) - Mid 80's anime film based on the slapstick shonen comedy manga, Urusei Yatsura, which was mangaka Rumiko Takahashi's breakout hit (she'd later go on to produce other popular series such as Ranma 1/2 & InuYasha).

I was quite impressed by the film. While it expectedly had it's fair share of comedy, it was surprisingly deep too. While getting ready for a school festival, some members of the cast come to the realization that they're living the same day over and over again, and the further they get to the truth, the more people vanish (to the point it's just the core cast left) & the more dilapidated their town becomes. The effect of the mystery is heightened by the seriousness they handle it with, and the fact that the film has absolutely stunning animation & detail, resulting in some impressive imagery, particularly the almost haunting lighting effects during nighttime scenes (it's in HD too, which is a plus). The biggest barrier to entry would probably be the fact that you'd need some pre-existing knowledge of the series to fully appreciate it (luckily, being a big fan of Ms. Takahashi's later works, I had read some of a fan translation of the manga a number of years ago, so I was already somewhat acquainted with the core players), but overall it was a pleasant surprise.

@nessisonett @LN78 I watched Ready or Not over the weekend, it was good - felt kind of like I was watching the Purge initially (which I hated) but the film got into a groove and the comedy/horror balance worked out nicely. The goat pit was particularly grim. My girlfriend really enjoyed it.

Also watched Unforgiven, not a film I’d ever really paid any attention to frankly. Wasn’t sure what to make of it but it’s grown on me a lot in the past couple of days.

Thanks for the recommendations!

@LN78 Only One Cut of the Dead 😂 seriously it is a lot of fun. But no don’t sweat it, you know your movies so I will be asking for some more recommendations before long.

Oh, I also watched Stripes - I’m not sure I loved it but Bill Murray was good. John Candy left no impression unfortunately. Anyone reckon I should try Caddyshack?

@kyleforrester87 Glad Unforgiven’s growing on you, it’s quite an understated movie so I wasn’t sure if you’d like it! I’m a big fan of revisionist Westerns and neo-Westerns so it was right up my alley but I’m sure it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

@kyleforrester87, I watched Stripes myself not too long ago. I think it's pretty good, but not one of my favorite comedies from the era.

I remembered liking Caddyshack too, but it's been awhile since I've last seen it.

Deathstalker (Amazon Prime Video) - An early 80's budget "sword & sandal" film that's obviously trying to cash in on the success of Conan the Barbarian. It stars a muscular blond swordsman named "Deathstalker" (because why not), whom after running across a man who claims to be an evicted king & an old witch, is sent off to collect a magical sword and use it to rid the kingdom of the immortal sorcerer Munkar, who rules with an iron fist.

It's all very by the numbers stuff, including all the low budget gore, and barely dressed women (it makes sense with Munkar's personal harem, but most hilarious is a warrior woman who is first believed to be a man until her cloak opens up and it's revealed she's wearing absolutely nothing except a loincloth underneath. It's almost hilarious how straight it's played when she has further sword fights and it's seemingly no big deal that she's bouncing around topless). Despite all the cheesiness though, I found the experience as a whole quite dull however. It certainly isn't helped by it's picture quality which looks like it was ripped from a VHS release (it wouldn't surprise me to learn if it was a straight to video release back in the day), compounded by the fact that it was blurrier in some parts than in others (maybe due to inconsistent quality in it's original production, maybe due to a cheaply done digital conversion, or maybe due to some picture buffering on the part of the streaming service, though that last one would be kind of sad). Quality mostly dipped during action scenes, so I'm going to guess it's a cheap digital conversion though (there were a few times I rewound a bit and the quality fluctuated in the exact same spots, so that probably backs that theory up). It wasn't a huge commitment at just over an hour, and it does have a sequel that was made a few years later so I'll probably try it out eventually to see if they improved it at all.

@LN78 I was watching a film on Netflix and it was like when your local news comes one and it's in 460p or something. The info text said it was in 1080p but that was clearly a lie as 1) I could see with my eyes it wasn't and 2) and the stream rate was something really low like 0.75 Mbps, which is way too low for 1080p. I've watched other stuff and it seems to be fine. 🤷‍♂️

Oh and Krull was one of my all time faves to watch as a kid. Not watched it in yonks so not sure if it hold up well. Is that the one wehn the main guy has a metal boomerang thing with blades?

@LN78, I'm not really sure how much (if anything) was cut. According to IMDB the film's runtime is 120 minutes, while the version on Amazon Prime was 116 minutes (so it may be true something was cut, but there may also be some other reason it's slightly shorter).

And yeah, I can definitely see a lot of the film's content featuring women not gelling well with more modern sensibilities, but the film is just so stupid all around I couldn't take it seriously.

Watched three more horror films recently.

The first was Dario Argento's acclaimed giallo Deep Red. The film's cinematography and use of color is superb, but the mystery itself, along with the story's pacing, made it a real bore for much of the running time. Not a fan of the score, either: hated how this tacky prog rock music would start blasting whenever somebody was about to be murdered. Speaking of which, the audio balancing was terrible: I had to turn the volume up to hear the voices and then frantically dive for the remote when that Goblins music started blasting. Very pretty film to look at, but that's about it. I'm starting to think I just don't like these old Italian thrillers/horror movies.

Then I saw Black Christmas, a 1974 proto-slasher about a mysterious psychopath who terrorizes a group of sorority girls. I saw this mainly with its historical significance in mind, but expected something gaudy and exploitative. Surprisingly, it was actually quite excellent: strong characterization all around, patient direction that builds up a sense of tension and paranoia, some genuinely creepy moments, and a twist near the end that was co-opted more famously by another thriller a few years later, but which is still effective here. This is far, far closer to something like Halloween than it is Friday the Thirteenth. Highly recommended!

Finally, I watched Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a low-budget thriller that helped contribute to the creation of an NC-17 rating due to its inability to receive a proper theatrical rating. It's obviously not as shocking now as it was when it first released, but there are still some utterly appalling sequences here. The main character, a drifter and serial killer named Henry (shocker, I know), played by a young(er) Michael Rooker of GotG fame, falls in with a creepy redneck named Otis and his unfortunate younger sister, Becky. The film opts for a quiet, almost docudrama feel, which makes the alarmingly casual treatment of violence and murder by Henry all the more alarming. What makes it so scary is how detached from any sense of empathy or morality he is: when he kills, it's not because he seems to gain a transgressive thrill from the act, or for any depraved sexual reasons, but simply because it's what he knows and what he does, which makes him feel more like a shark than some sort of moral reprobate. Michael Rooker has a natural talent for creepiness, and it works really well with this character. This provides an interesting contrast for his redneck buddy: Otis falls into murder as well, but, for him, the pleasure comes from the perversity of his actions, which eventually brings him into conflict with Henry. I can't really say this movie was a "good time," but it's excellent for what it is, and any fan of dark cinema should see it at least once.

To complement my Amazon Prime subscription I decided to order Amazon's 10 inch tablet, which should make it easier for me to get through TV series (I only get the main tv for a few hours weekday mornings, and lately not at all on weekends, and streaming is very hit and miss on my bedroom TV because the Wi-Fi signal is very weak up there). I got the stand to go with it, so I'll set it up on the dining table, which is right next to the room with the router, and hopefully that'll give me a good experience (Netflix supports HD quality streaming on it, so I imagine Amazon's own stuff will as well).

@RR529 Actually right now Netflix isn't doing HD due to the heavy traffic happening now because of the lockdowns

@Genrou, I remember hearing about that for Europe, but I don't think they've limited HD in the US yet (my parents regularly watch it through the PS3 & smart TV and I haven't noticed any decrease in quality from usual).

Project A-Ko (Amazon Prime Video) - 80's anime film that sees two high school girls (the cheerful A-Ko, whom has inhuman super strength, & C-Ko, who has a childlike cuteness & demeanor) transferring to a new school, and acclimating isn't easy, largely due to the schemes of B-Ko, spoiled rich & a genius, she's quickly enamored with C-Ko & devises many plans to defeat A-Ko & take C-Ko for herself. All this while an alien invasion is brewing on the horizon, seemingly linked to a mysterious object that crashed to Earth 16 years prior, of which our cast's city is built on top of.

It's largely a parody of anime of the time (with A-Ko, B-Ko, & C-Ko being named for their personality stereotypes, rather than having actual names, I believe), with nods to franchises such as Macross, Captain Harlock, & Fist of the North Star (I'm sure someone more well versed in anime culture of the time could find more). I actually first watched it a number of years ago after I randomly ran across it on YouTube (there was a channel long since taken down that had posted a bunch of the old Central Park Media stuff, and maybe some stuff from some other defunct localization outfits), and I remember liking it at the time so I decided to check it out again (and in more official capacity) since it's on Amazon. It's not a must watch classic, but I enjoyed it for what it was. Just keep in mind it's from an early era in dubbing, and it's in need of a remaster (quality was consistent, but SD).

https://www.avforums.com/news/odeon-cinemas-ban-universal-s-m...

Only just seen this. After Universal indicated that it would be releasing future films simultaneously in movie theatres and via home distribution, Odeon and Cineworld have announced that they will no longer show Universal Studios’ movie releases.

Interesting times. I wonder if other stuidios will take the same stance as Universal?