@BearsEatBeets Never did get around to watch Tron: Legacy... I barely remember the original, so I guess I should schedule them both for an evening soon. As for Tron: Ares, that movie has a Jared Leto sized hurdle I may not be able to clear, but we'll see. He couldn't manage to ruin Villeneuve's Blade Runner sequel, so maybe this one can survive him as well?
@FuriousMachine I know they are not great films but I have a soft spot for them. I'm old enough that the original was a memorable spectacle much like Star Wars for a young me. I'm a sucker for a visually impressive film so l probably enjoyed Legacy more than most. Plus that Daft Punk soundtrack is something special.
I know what you mean about Jared, fingers crossed it ends up being his best work. Having only just found out about it I had to look up who is making it. I've seen nothing from the director and the only thing of note from the writers is one of them wrote that well received Adolescence show so not much to go on.
@FuriousMachine douchey character, douchey haircut, got it 😅 yeah, it looked like he was just walking through a lobby and blasting sh** for the sake of it, tbf. (I'm not going to re-watch the trailer to check of my memory is working, but I feel like that was the clip)
Weird DC cross over, the haircut sporting fellow from the game pic (The Dry Devil, KCD2) is played by Douglas Russell who was in The Batman movie, for a short moment, where he was confronting Bruce Wayne (or Batman) apparently.
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
⚔️🛡🐎
@BearsEatBeets Yeah, I think we're probably in the same age range (I passed the half-century mark last year), give or take a few years, so I was also completely absorbed by the original "Tron" when it came out. It fell off my radar as I grew older, for some reason, but my love for sci-fi of its ilk has remained. I will absolutely check out Legacy, after I've re-watched the original with my finest rose-tinted glasses on
I've also heard a lot of positive buzz around "Adolescence", but I've yet to look into what it's about and if it's anything I need to watch.
Just looked up the director of Tron: Ares, and it's a fellow Norwegian! He has two very good Norwegian films on his CV, "Max Manus" (WWII film about a Norwegian resistance fighter) and "Kon Tiki" (about the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl), but his other credits feels... underwhelming. Maybe he should stick to making movies about historical Norwegians? Time will tell, I guess. His involvement didn't move the needle in any meaningful way for me.
@Ravix Yeah, that gels with my memory of the trailer as well. Fun "crossover"
Bit late to say this but Val Kilmer's performance in Batman Forever was one of the defining moments of my childhood. Also loved him in Tombstone. RIP, Val.
I'll have to check out Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang as some people have recommended it, on here.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
Hulu dropped a first-look trailer for Predator: Killer of Killers, the upcoming animated anthology movie from Dan Trachtenberg (director of Prey) and I think it looks really good! Excited for this now
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" is a classic, but your enjoyment may depend on how well you tolerate Shane Black, as it is a very Shane Black movie.
@FuriousMachine Thanks for the cautionary words. I was also thinking of watching The Doors, where Val plays Jim Morrison, do you know if that's any good? They lauded his performance in it during a recent BBC Radio retrospective.
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I never saw it. I've never been a big fan of biopics, as I never feel comfortable that they aren't just telling lies and varnished truths. Also, having never been a big fan of The Doors and, add to that, not a fan of Oliver Stone (though I love his weird sci-fi soap opera "Wild Palms), I never bothered with it. Though, consensus seems to be that it a very good movie and that Kilmer is particularly good in it, so it is probably worth seeing (and I will see it myself at one point, but for the reasons stated above, I haven't gotten around to it yet )
@GirlVersusGame Yeah, Edgar Wright is making it, so it's been on my radar a while
Also, if there are any "Happy Death Day" fans on here, there is excellent news: The third movie is finally moving forward, confirmed by both Landon and Rothe.
Speaking of Landon, his latest, Drop, is getting great buzz and I secured a ticket for a Sunday screening just hours ago. Really looking forward to it!
@MightyDemon82 Right, I'd forgotten all about that one. Slept on season 2 and then it just fell by the wayside. Must try to remember picking it back up when I re-sub to Netflix later this year.
A few films I’ve watched...
The Shallows (on Tubi). Surfer stranded and at the mercy of a shark. Pretty good, the shark was the star. Definitely worth a watch.
The arrival (on Freevee/Prime). Charlie Sheen not quite winning as an astronomer working for SETI and discovering little green men (and women). Again, a good film and Charlie was well cast.
Total Recall remake (on PS Plus Premium). Not bad but you do wonder why they bother when the original is so good, thankfully they chose a different dark direction (no humour, no mars).
@GirlVersusGame
Thanks for your detailed response and now you come to mention it I have heard something similar before.
They certainly put this effort in and it was a well made film with good actors, as I say they did change the story enough to warrant a watch. Plus you can never have enough sci fi.
@GirlVersusGame Thank you so much for this! A very interesting read with lots of confirmation of things I've suspected and a quite a few interesting new angles for me to consider as well. I love it when that happens
And there is such a rich conversation to be had regarding the state of the industry, the downsides of streaming/gamepass, chasing maximised profits in entertainment/art, piracy, etc.
In my opinion, our profit mad society is on a downward slide, where the unattainable goal of unlimited growth seems to drive almost everything and rampant wealth inequality is a root problem nobody is talking about. It is impacting everything and not for the better.
I guess the moral here is to try to support original IP by going to the theatres, renting them online or buying physical. Effectively voting with your money. Creating / contributing to the buzz on social media seems to be something the studios pay attention to, so if you're a person with a SoMe presence, that might be a good idea as well.
I'm happy to say that 7 of the 10 movies I've seen at the cinema this year have been original IP, and I'm seeing The Amateur today and Ryan Coogler's Sinners later in the week.
I also buy (too many) 4k discs, though that tends to skew towards releases of old classics from companies like Arrow, Criterion and Kino Lorber
Salem's Lot (2024) - Totally naff, avoid at all costs.
Smile 2 - not half as good as the original, which felt a more personal tale. Not awful though and worth a watch.
The Hunt for the Red October - brilliantly tense in places and probably my fave Jack Ryan movie, if you can past a Scottish sounding Russian naval captain lol.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
@GirlVersusGame It's clearly something that gives you joy, so I would hesitate to call it a problem (it's only if something you enjoy is also somehow hurting you or others it may become problem, in my opinion). Life is short and we should fill it with things we enjoy, especially these days when there is so much evil and hurt everywhere.
And, funny coincidence, I just watched "John Carpenter's Vampires" the other day! I didn't hold up too well in my opinion, but I think that is mostly because I've come to dislike James Woods in recent years.
I was also not aware that they ever adapted "Rawhead Rex"! It wasn't among my favourite stories from "Books of Blood", but it was decent enough. I don't expect it to be readily available on streaming here, but if it is, I will give it a look
I've been to the cinema a couple of times in the last few weeks and just the other day I saw The Amateur with Rami Malek and Laurence Fishburne. I'd say it was an above-average Bourne-like, where Malek plays a CIA analyst who blackmails his superiors to train him to be able to exact revenge on shady characters who did him wrong (keeping it purposefully vague here). It was fine and worth seeing if you like these types of movies.
A few weeks back I saw two Norwegian movies back-to-back, the first being Spermageddon, an adult animated comedy in the vein of "Sausage Party", about a teenager's first sexual experiences and the sperm that lives in his junk. It has, naturally, caused a lot of pearl clutching and "won't anyone think of the children?" outcries in the media and people want to ban it because it ism animated and children might see it. That someone wants to prevent it from being seen is, of course, reason alone to see it. It was, predictably, filled to the brim with infantile humour, puns and wordplay, not all of which landed, but overall I had fun with it.
The second film of the evening, Don't Hang Up, was a horror film I didn't even know was a Norwegian production until after. It's a kind of found footage movie, where everything shown is through a FaceTime type video call between a girl and her boyfriend while she stays in an AirBnB in Tulsa with two friends following a wedding. They f**k around and find out that the place may be haunted. I had zero expectations for this one, but it it wasn't half-bad. Excepting a couple of references to Norway (which never happens in American movies; they love their Swedes too much ), I never would have guessed it was directed by a dude from Drøbak, a small town on the Norwegian coast. Turns out one of the actresses was Norwegian too, and while she had a slight accent, it was no way near the exaggerated Scandinavian accents that always makes me cringe when I hear it.
The best of this recent batch of movie-going experiences was easily The Drop by Christopher Landon, who made the absolutely brilliant "Happy Death Day" films. A really tight thriller about a woman who goes on her first date after having become a widow some time ago. While on the date, she gets increasingly disturbing drops on her phone, turning the date into a nightmare. I really enjoyed this one. While, in hindsight, it contains no real surprises, it still avoided being obvious about things and it managed to keep me guessing as to who the tormentor was. This is one of those small, contained movies that manages to keep me engaged and feels earnest rather than cynical. Will be getting this on physical
@GirlVersusGame I saw Day Shift a while back and while I can't remember a single thing from it, I do remember being pleasantly surprised. Movies produced by streamers tend to be mediocre at best, so I didn't expect much going in. Haven't seen Renfield yet, as consensus seems to be that it is pretty bad, but it's one of those where I feel I need to see it for myself, if you know what I mean?
That does not apply to The Crow remake, though. Like you, I love the original (and, yes, that soundtrack is fantastic!!) and the new one looks like a massive dumpster fire, so I'll avoid that one. I've never been a huge fan of Eggers, I have a blind spot there. I simply cannot see what everyone is so excited about. I've seen The VVitch, The Northman and Nosferatu, and they were fine, but they all left me cold. Having just seen Murnau's original (along with Shadow of the Vampire as a companion piece) and Herzog's version just prior to seeing Eggers' version, I would say the latter was the weakest of them all. Murnau's is still untouchable, IMO (though I love Herzog's bleak ending)
Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula is, along with Bigelow's Near Dark and Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, one of my absolute favourite vampire movies, and I re-watch it probably once a year. Beautiful in all respects and the soundtrack from Wojchiech Kilar is so incredibly good and is probably the vinyl in my collection that gets the most love on my turntable.
I haven't seen Rovdyr, but Dead Snow was fun (Wirkola is a friend of a friend. Haven't met him or anything, but I keep an eye out for his projects). Norwegian movies are a bit hit and miss and for the longest time the Norwegian movie scene seemed to consist mostly of a bunch of film students trying to impress each other rather than making movies, but that changed around the turn of the century when a few more commercially minded filmmakers started making movies for entertainment purposes. 2003's Villmark (aka "Dark Woods") was the turning point for me, when I realised that Norwegian horror movies didn't necessarily mean boring claptrap.
If you haven't seen Happy Death Day 2 U, Landon's sequel, you absolutely should if you enjoyed the first one. Going a bit more sci-fi than slasher, it is a blast! I also liked Harlin's version of The Strangers, so will check out the sequel when it arrives. Was not aware they were working on a sequel to Talk to Me, but I'm definitely going to see their next movie, Bring Her Back when it drops this summer.
Hope you'll enjoy Heretic, Hugh Grant is phenomenal in that one! Really liked it
Saw Ryan Coogler's Sinners on the big screen yesterday. Highly anticipated, I went in with dangerously high expectations, but Coogler delivered! Fantastic movie!
Michael B. Jordan is the MVP, playing twins returning to their childhood town in Mississippi to open a Juke Joint with likely ill-gotten means and he is supported by an excellent cast headed up by newcomer Miles Caton and an excellent Wunmi Mosaku, with Hailee Steinfeld and Delroy Lindo along for the ride.
The 21st century hasn't exactly been awash in excellent vampire movies, but this one is easily one of the best. If you're going in mainly for the vampire mayhem, be aware that they show up very late in the proceedings, but their absence in the first half is by no means a detriment to the flow of the movie.
Music is a very central theme here and Ludwig Göransson's soundtrack, along with some fantastic music numbers, is a joy for music lovers and Miles Caton's got a seriously good voice! There is one music number in there that beggars belief in its inventive fusion of different styles; I had goosepimples throughout the sequence.
Definitely my favourite movie of 2025 so far!
EDIT: I realised that saying that "Hailee Steinfeld and Delroy Lindo [were] along for the ride" may seem like they didn't contribute all that much, but they absolutely did. Lindo is never anything but awesome and Steinfeld plays very against type her and does a very good job of it. Just to clear that up
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