Topic: The Movie Thread

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, Bradley Cooper is solid! I remember him just being "that guy in 'Alias"'"... been on quite the trajectory since then I'm also down for some solid noir, so this will be a priority!

I've recently been trying to fill the gaps in classic movies of yesteryear with old noir classics like "Sunset Boulevard" and Otto Preminger's lauded entries in the genre ("Laura" and "Fallen Angels"), unseen Hitchcock movies (saw "39 Steps" yesterday) and other "old-timey" movies, as well as "auditioning" 80s "classics" (which may or not be as much "classics" as heavily trading on "nostalgia") for potential 4K purchase (been a deluge of these lately and I almost bought both "Tron" and "The Last Starfighter", but decided to re-watch first and realised that they were no longer for me).

And there is of course plenty of interesting cinema coming up. I still haven't gotten around to "One Battle After Another", which was planned last weekend but had to be canceled, but I've scheduled a new attempt on Sunday, when I also will catch "The Long Walk".

So many movies to watch, so little time... and then "Ghost of Yotei" unlocks today and I'm not even a third way through "Far Cry 5"... lament, lament, life is cruel

@Pizzamorg That's the recent Soderbergh one, right? Heard wildly differing opinions on that and the secret to loving it is not expecting a horror movie, but a slow drama. That's the way I will approach it when the time comes, anyway.

@FuriousMachine That is the one. I dunno if you have to officially call it a horror movie cause it does technically have a ghost in it, but like there are two types of non scary horror movies. Ones where I recognise for the average audience this probably is scary, I'm just a desensitised and jaded horror fan and then horror movies like this where if you are older than like four years old and think this is scary you need to have a word with yourself. Even the family in the movie, when they realise their house is haunted they are scared for like one scene and then it is back to plodding mundanity.

@Pizzamorg I've seen it classified as horror and that may be its biggest problem. Ghost stories in particular can be very effective narrative devices outside horror movies and a horror label can then be a huge liability for the movie.

@FuriousMachine I mean obviously it is subjective, but to me the problem is how boring the film is. Like I guess horror labelling is part of the problem, as without that I would have probably never watched this. But even beyond that, if I sold this to you as to what it really was, it wouldn't change how stiff and artificial it all is. At least to me anyway.

@Pizzamorg Yeah, I can see that. I'm curious to see for myself if I can decipher what Soderbergh was going for here (as there are quite a few supporters of this film) or if I will simply find it boring as well (which is what I fear will happen and probably the main reason I've been sleeping on a new Soderbergh film).
Did you see "Ghost Story"? A non-horror with the ghost literally being "a guy with a sheet over his head" style ghost. I thought "my, how interesting! Must have something profound going on as the hip crowd loves it". Whatever it had going on went right past me, however, as I found it interminably dull. So, yeah, I get that non-horror ghost stories run a high risk of simply not working, even when going in with the right expectations. I'm hoping that Soderbergh's will somehow "click" with me, though, as I love the guy

@FuriousMachine That film has been on my radar / list for ages if it is the one I am thinking of, I really need to get around to it one day. Although after your description maybe not 😂

@Pizzamorg 😁I will be the first to admit that it may very well be a cinematic masterpiece that I just didn't "get", gods knows there are plenty of those out there

@Pizzamorg @FuriousMachine Count me as another one that did not understand the praise that Ghost Story got. This is one of the reasons I try not to pay so much attention to what critics say, and much prefer to go on what like minded folks think.

@JohnnyShoulder @FuriousMachine I don't intentionally try to be contrarian, but usually when a movie has 5 stars on Letterboxd it is the easiest way for me to gauge I won't like a film at all 😂

This struck a note for me, as I have often seen in here and elsewhere praise for old “classic” movies. I’m not sure if I’m doing it wrong but when I watch “old” movies (like from the early 00’s and before), I have trouble enjoying them, especially if the movie relies on any sort of special visual effects. So Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror tend to age less gracefully than films that are strictly character drama, comedy, or mystery/thriller.

As some examples, I’ve recently watched and enjoyed Shawshank Redemption, Goodfellas, Silence of the Lambs. They seem to hold up well. But I was really disappointed going back and trying to watch Avatar, The Terminator, Tron, and even [cowering in shame before I say this] The Wizard of Oz. And it’s not always just the dodgy visual effects and costuming, it’s often just the hammy acting and writing of some of these “classics”. They were enjoyable at the time, but man, some things about them age like old milk. 😅

@FuriousMachine I loved Sunset Boulevard when I saw it a few years ago. Apparently it was one of your boy Lynch's favourites too, dunno if you knew that. Also, with regards to Hitchcock, Shadow of a Doubt is fantastic and an often highly-regarded fan favourite. Highly recommend.

@Th3solution I love that you put Avatar, Trom, Terminator and The Wizard of Oz in the same category 😅 tbf, it is more T2 that is considered the real classic of the Terminator movies though, isn't it? And Avatar is in no way a classic, it is more just a box office sensation with the age group it was aimed at.

Get 2001: A Space Odyssey on your box if you want classic Sci-Fi. Or Alien. Or Blade Runner. Are they the Holy-trinity of classic genre-ranging sci-fi? Probably.

I believe the consensus is Tron wasn't necessarily good as much as it was creative and futuristic, too. Its a good idea, but a few on here don't really hold it in high regard in terms of movies. But you have to imagine it was made when people played Pong! (i'm wildly assuming with little to no thought, maybe more pac-man, space invaders and arcade games) but, I mean, it isn't far off haha. So in those terms, it is rather impressive, really. I would also assume people that grew up with arcade games like it more than people that grew up with PlayStation X's and more life-like graphics.

@Ravix I am due a rewatch of 2001 but I think it’s been within the last 5 years or so and I do remember it holding up decently. Same for Blade Runner. Alien has been a while for me, and I only have seen it once, gosh… like 15 years ago. I can’t even remember.

But yeah, there’s no doubt that today’s movies are not any different in the sense they are topical to the era they’re being made, limited by current technology, and flavored with a style that is popular in 2025, and so by the year 2050 most of today’s movies will look like trash and be corny as all get out. It’s mind blowing to think, but movies like A Minecraft Movie, Wicked, Top Gun Maverick, Barbie, and Superman will be scorned and our kids and grandkids will wonder why we would have ever enjoyed them. 😂 I wonder even if films like Dune or Oppenheimer or Parasite will hit the same in 20-30 years. Who knows? Nostalgia certainly blurs the line of relevance.

@Th3solution I think it largely comes down to how the CGI is implemented and finding the right balance between practical effects and CGI (and probably preference too). Funnily enough, I think a lot of older films actually look better than modern ones. Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, The Matrix…Starship Troopers is absolutely remarkable from an effects standpoint and looks so much better than the wall of CGI we are so often bombarded with these days.

@Metonymy That’s a good point. There’s certainly films nowadays that are over-CGI’d to the point of being artistically stale. I should do a rewatch of the movies you mention like Jurassic Park too. I do remember being in awe of it back in the day.

I do however think that most current CGI is looking a lot better than the stuff done in the late nineties and early oughts (such as The Phantom Menace) and is fitting in seamlessly into films better and not just done for the sake of needless visual spectacle. Like you say, it all depends on the use case and implementation.

And I think those may be the types of things that viewers will look back on and criticize about a lot of the movies made now. There’s also a possibility that CGI becomes even more ubiquitous in the next 30 years and practical effects die out.

@Th3solution Yeah, it’s definitely the over-use of CGI that I’m speaking to. It’s quite fascinating to me how well some films hold up (or don’t) depending on the techniques used. Like, I truly believe that The Matrix Reloaded looks less believable than the first. Ditto for the Hobbit trilogy versus The Lord of the Rings. This is while having more money, more resources and more computers at the filmmaker’s disposal. Practical effects and sets are so beneficial for the actors too!

@Th3solution @Metonymy Idk if either of you are fans of Dr. Who ,as it's typically more commonly associated with Britain, but I'd like to get your takes on the special effects of the older episodes vs. the "Nu Who" stuff.

Today's movie was Red Rooms. And its weird, cause I feel like I am one of Letterboxd's preeminent haters of the slow burn. And this commits all the cardinal sins.

An impenetrable narrative held arms length from the audience which only gets muddier as it goes along? CHECK.

A story with violence at its core, which we never see and are forced to experience through others? CHECK.

A slow, meandering, pace as the film lazily shifts from one story, to a very different one by the end? CHECK.

But I guess by the grace of God and the sheer force of will of exceptional filmic craftsmanship, all of this stuff here is a strength, not a negative.

My head is still swimming with the implications of that last half an hour or so. The violence haunts me in a way violence so rarely does in films, because I was only able to hear it, see other people's reactions (and my God the acting from the central duo, never has watching the faces of two people watching a video being so utterly stomach twisting), to be described what the videos contain, allowing my horror trained mind to tangle at the vile depictions it then creates from the prompts.

I rarely give out 5 stars on the Boxd, saving it for films I deem truly special (I think to date, I have given out 120 5 stars in some 1200 films logged) and I was so close to giving one out here. I held at 4, because it does commit all the tropes I have been moaning about on the Boxd for about 15 years but man, what a movie.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Yeah, that’s actually another good example of what I was talking about. I didn’t grow up watching Dr. Who and it really wasn’t popular here in the States until recent years. At least, I personally didn’t have any real knowledge of it until reading about the show on here about 8 years ago. Until then it was a very niche curiosity in the U.S. With the advent of streaming, the series has become more mainstream and now you can find the toys and references to the IP more commonplace.

It’s available now to us on a couple common streaming services (HBO Max and Disney+, I believe). So several years ago I gave the series a try and just couldn’t get into it. And although the lack of knowledge about the lore and history was part of what made it impenetrable to me, the dated visuals and older style of storytelling and production were also a major turn-off. I don’t even know year the season was from, over here it is called “Season 1” but I know it wasn’t from the 1960’s when the show started, so it must be Season 1 of the series reboot. And looking at it, I think maybe they means it’s from 2005? I don’t know. In my memory it seemed even older than that based on my recall of the visual effects.

But yeah, I just absolutely couldn’t get into it. And again, some of it is just trying to jump in the middle/early reboot and being overwhelmed seeing many, many seasons that come after and the large investment of time and effort to even start to get to the modern stuff. So I don’t know when the “Nu Who” really starts, but I whatever I watched was too outdated to allow me to really enjoy it. The corny looking visuals were a big reason. So it’s a good example of what I mentioned — definitely a “me” problem though, where I have a mental block to enjoy retro media sometimes.