@FuriousMachine Yeah, I think it sounds like we’re of a similar mind and experience.
I’m pretty sure we’ve had a Tom Cruise discussion on this thread before so I won’t go into detail, but I find him to be really one-note in his character portrayal. Every now and then he’ll surprise us, but so many of his characters he plays are all interchangeable— action hero with a lot of swagger for which nothing ever goes wrong, or at least wrong enough that he can’t get himself out of it as the rebel with a smile, as you accurately describe. He’s made a living of playing the same basic role over and over. And to give him due credit, he has the Midas touch and his movies almost always seem to be successful and produce.
It’s why I liked Edge of Tomorrow so much. It’s one of the few times he plays a character who comes across as at least a little vulnerable and timid and has to grow into the heroic role. Plus the movie was very ‘video-gamey’ in concept with the respawn angle, so I got a kick out of that.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
I must say that I agree with you both about Tom Cruise.
He seems to have made a career playing the same role over and over again for the last forty years.
Perhaps he cannot even act? Maybe he truly is just an arrogant, cocky *****, that everybody loves for no discernible reason? Am I being unfair?
The Mission Impossible films are truly over-the-top, but something is lost in the making of them. Where is the sense of danger, when you know that no matter what happens to Tom Cruise in the following three hours, he will somehow manage to survive it all, without so much as a scratch? And grinning like an idiot, every thirty seconds.
The only real oddity for me, is Michael Mann’s Collateral. Here, Cruise’s role is certainly the villain, and he is the only person on screen with any charisma. I can respect him for trying something different in that role, and it is a pity that afterwards he went back to, in a sense, playing it safe.
@MightyDemon82 Does your wife watch Horror? I ask because my partner doesn't, Sci-fi yes but never Horror. I've been showing my friend Horror movies for the last few years, she didn't watch them growing up. There's something brilliant about introducing someone to a movie or game that's so memorable to you, the same with bad movies. There are some I would have dropped half way in (Borderlands, The Crow Reboot, Jeepers Creepers 4) had I watched them alone but when there's another person present you can combine your efforts to power through. JC4 was probably one of the worst movies I've ever seen, even the sets were green screen. They shot it in the UK so some of the main talent are from Eastenders and Hollyoaks.
These violent delights have violent ends & in their triumph die, like fire & powder Which, as they kiss, consume.
@Matthewnh I’ve not seen Collateral, and honestly I’ve not seen some of Cruise’s lesser known movies like Vanilla Sky and The Last Samurai. But I’ve seen a lot of Cruise flicks and you’re absolutely right. The Mission Impossibles, Jack Reachers, Minority Report, Jerry Maguire, Days of Thunder, War of the Worlds, Oblivion, Top Guns, etc. all seem to have really similar basic roles. The guy has charisma, no doubt, and people seem to love him. He also looks really good for someone in his early to mid 60’s. Many actors and actresses have not aged nearly as gracefully and either do so much cosmetic surgery attempting to keep themselves looking 20 years younger that they end up looking unnatural and even worse, or they say ‘screw it’ and look completely over-the-hill almost drastically from when they were at their peak. I can respect embracing one’s age and I have no idea if Cruise has had a lot of work done (I suspect he has) but he’s managed to still look much the same as he did 20 years ago. He had a little bit of ‘saggy old man body’ when he went shirtless in TG Maverick, but for 60, not too bad. 😄
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@FuriousMachine I wasn't overly keen on the other movies in the Pitch Black series. I thought the second film was dreadful and don't remember anything from the third film. Didn't even realise the was another being made, but unless the reaction to to it turns out to amazing, I think I will be skipping it unfortunately.
@Th3solution I can't really stand Tom Cruise anymore, I know it's a religion but I've met too many survivors of Scientology to not view him differently. However Collateral is top notch. It's one of Michael Mann's best movies, right up there with Heat and his original L.A. Take-down. Honestly seeing it mentioned makes me want to watch it again. It's an intelligent movie with some great dialogue and cinematography. I'll probably watch it tonight while I play some Rimworld.
These violent delights have violent ends & in their triumph die, like fire & powder Which, as they kiss, consume.
Last two films were both works by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (the director for the OG Pulse). First Cure, which is credited as being one of the early pieces of the J-Horror boom period and Creepy, which was regarded as Kurosawa going back to the well that made him rich, after years of experimenting in other genres and stories and finding little success.
I thought Cure was solid, it has some really cool ideas and is gorgeously constructed, but it does have that fairly typical J-Horror pacing (IE, it is glacially slow) and a lot of the story is fairly abstract, more about vibes and atmosphere than truly coherent storytelling, so these all held me back from loving this, but I absolutely enjoyed it overall.
Creepy on the other hand, I just thought was terrible. Sorta like a rerun of Cure, but with a way worse story, and while it does fix some aspects to Cure, like its slightly better paced and up until the third act where it just completely implodes in on itself, it is a more coherently put together story, but these things either don't go far enough to actually fix things completely or just weirdly end up making the film less interesting and given the third act is so bad, and it has little of Cure's real upside, just really didn't like this at all.
@Th3solution@Matthewnh@GirlVersusGame "Edge of Tomorrow" is a brilliant watch, but Michael Mann's "Collateral" is probably my hands down favourite Tom Cruise movie. He plays so much against type there and the movie is fantastic. An underseen gem, for sure, and definitely worth hunting down. "Vanilla Sky" is okay. I loved it back in the day, but a recent rewatch revealed that I've cooled on it quite a bit. "The Last Samurai" is also a favourite of mine, even if it is a text-book representation of the problematic "white saviour" trope. I just love the samurai angle and it is so beautifully shot. Cruise is also very good in it, but the stars of the show are Ken Watanabe and Hiroyuki Sanada (of recent "Shogun" fame). Easily my favourite Zimmer soundtrack to boot. Love that movie.
As for Cruise as a person, there are no shortage of people extolling his work ethic and kindness to the people around him, so he seems to me to be a decent person with a problematic blind spot when it comes to Scientology. While Scientology is abominable, I don't hold it in much lower regard than I hold other organised religions, so while I won't give him a pass simply because there are Christians out there I find equally problematic (he is too high up in the Scientology food chain for that), I won't let it completely eclipse the reports of his day to day behaviour either, which seems to paint a picture of a nice guy that cares about people. So, like most people, he can be more than one thing.
@Ravix Collateral after it was mentioned here, it had been years since I'd seen it and I think it was even better that I remember. Then I made a huge mistake and decided to 'I wonder what's new on Netflix it's months since I checked, hm a show about Ed Gein fair enough' and that was one of the biggest wastes of 8hrs in my life. The whole thing felt like it was written, directed and produced by someone who runs one of those unhinged social media serial killer fanclubs (which are big on Tiktok apparently) It could of (should have) been maybe 3 episodes long, instead we get so much padding in the form of: a fiance who is also crazy (that never existed in the actual case) multiple time-jumps to serial killers like Bundy and other others who swoon about how Gein was their inspiration. If all of that wasn't bad enough there are scenes with people like Alfred Hitchcock, Tobe Hooper and others who are either making their movies (Psycho, TXCM) and swooning over him too, there are shot for shot reproductions of scenes from their movies along with on-set re-enactments.
If what I said sounds confusing? that's because it is. I have such a high tolerance for bad movies (they can be entertaining) that TV show has no redeeming features. I'd even argue that it shouldn't be on a service like Netflix, I have a high tolerance to violence too and I think they purposefully padded the violence/disturbing necrophilia moments and hallucinations just to be edgy. I know this isn't the TV thread but I don't watch all that much TV. This was more like a PSA, it's absolutely garbage.
Next I'll be watching Black Phone 1 and 2 (I've seen neither) and then taking a leap into bad cinema and beholding the new Toxic Avenger movie that was so bad it couldn't get a distributor until 2025 (it was ready to ship back in 2023) It's by the same director of Murder Party, a low budget horror movie from 2007 which I really liked at the time, it was kind of quirky and funny. This new Toxic Avenger movie stars Peter Dinklage, Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon. It really speaks volumes when you can't find a distributor in the age of streaming and digital media. No one wanted to take it on, they all said it would flop.
@GirlVersusGame I echo everyone else's thoughts on that, then. A good choice! I've seen it a couple of times, but it's been a good while. So I wouldn't dare comment on why I liked it. But I know I did.
As for the 8 hours of necrophilia and such... i'll probably pass on that! 🧐
I did see the Toxic Avenger got a steelbook release and it doesn't surprise me it is the type of movie that had issues with distribution, but also, that is a solid cast, so something must have made them want to make that movie! Right?
It's weird, last week I was feeling like Halloween season was hitting, but now I feel like it has passed, despite it still not having happened yet. But that's put me in a "can't decide what the hell to watch" funk. Themed or not themed, that is the question.
The last movie I watched was Corspe Bride to save myself from the dreck that was "The Amateur", i'm on a bit of a Tim Burton kick at the moment, I think, and I always love practical effects, stop motion etc. And I do have the first Beetlejuice coming soon, but it got delayed until after Halloween (maybe that's what made me feel less Halloweeny 🤷♂️) but I might potentially plump for a double feature of Jacob's Ladder and The Shining tomorrow/this weekend, for a more psychological Halloween affair.
But nothing is calling my name tonight, and I hate when I'm looking at options and feeling "meh" about choosing something for myself. I might just have to pick something regular away from a halloween theme.
I re-subbed to Netflix for god knows what reason, too, and that is just making things worse 🙈 I need to be picking things from a curated collection, not scanning for whatever is on each streamer hidden behind reality tv and fluff.
November will be easier, as I have V for Vendetta lined up, for an obvious Nov 5th(ish) screening, and then it's on to The Northman and Kingdom of Heaven!
At this point I may as well tag in the wise Mr. Machine @FuriousMachine as I owe him a gander at the state of my current selection of 4k's so he can offer sage guidance on what movies to line up next, haha. I still haven't sorted out a permanent shelving solution for these, but this cheap, wobbly as f*** gaming tower stack has proved handy to shove them out of the way in a gap, for now.
4k's to the top, and then some Blu Rays of stuff that is either unavailable or hard to find in 4k, and some I just haven't bothered with getting 4ks for. These are just the standard non steelbook movies. But you know some of the steels I have, and I'm still in the process of organising storage for them, too.
So this will hopefully help you pick out some movies for me to watch sooner than later, for whatever reason, and also suggest things to add so I can expand the 4k collection and create even more storage hassle. (I do have one free bookcase shelf that I'm going to migrate some stuff too, and will actually be putting up some more shelving soon 😅 but that may mostly be to display steels, I haven't worked that part out yet)
Missing from the photo is: Flow, James Bond collection, LotR collection, and a few I can't be bothered to go and look for to remember. I have started a collection on Blu-Ray.com app, but don't know of it is easy to share. So the photo will do, for now.
I can also highly recommend any of the movies I own here, as I have phenomenally good taste, of course! 🧐 So this may be a small collection, but it might make someone else think "ooh, I haven't seen that in a while" and be of use that way.
Tldr: pick some movies for me to add to the docket of 'films to watch when I can't personally decide', people. Nostalgia, opinions and discussing reasons why we like certain movies usually helps get the old mojo back in times like this.
Also, if anyone knows if there's anything of worth on Netflix (they made me make a new account - so no watchlist or history, grr) or Disney at the moment that'd help, as I really am past the point of ever wanting to trawl though those services to find something again. But a quick suggestion of something good to add to a list so I don't have to trawl through myself might be quite handy.
Apologies for the long-a** comments, movie thread!
still chipping away at my horror movies tonight and tomorrow
The Gate
The Kindred
Nightmare on Elm Street 2
Halloween and Halloween II. thinking about rewatching the extended version for Halloween 1 or just the old regular version.
and another episode or two of Freddy's Nightmares over on Tubi land
@Ravix Sometimes it’s nice to break things up with a hidden gem, so to speak. I find they have a way of scratching the movie itch regardless of mood. Some go-to’s for me if it helps:
Tarsem’s The Fall : What I wouldn’t give to track down a 4K of this. Stunningly beautiful and, some pacing issues aside, a wonderful story about storytelling that is also a thoughtful celebration of the filmmaking medium.
Match Point: For my money, Woody Allen’s best film. Brilliantly written, performed, paced and stitched together by a stirring operatic score.
Apocalypto: Entertaining as hell and beautifully shot. A real spectacle.
Mads: One of my favourites from last year. A legitimate one-shot that I still can’t believe they pulled off. A great Halloween watch as well if you’re looking for that. Still waiting for a North American physical release. 🤞
“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” -C.S. Lewis
Watching 28 Weeks Later as 28 Years Later was on sale to rent on Amazon, and I have 30 days to watch it. Not 28 days, which seemed like a missed oppurtuntiy by Amazon. Sort it out Amazon. : P
Also saw Houseful of Dynamite the other day. It was only ok. Very tense in places, but I've never been a fan of when films tell parts of the story multiple times from a different perspective. I get why it is done, and some films I am ok with it, but it did not work for me on this occasion. Plus I kind of felt short changed by the ending. I want a refund, Netflix.
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.
@JohnnyShoulder The non-ending in House of Dynamite worked for me, at least much better than the cinematography did. The camera constantly zooming in and out took me out of the experience far more often than it immersed me. Have you seen Vantage Point?
“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” -C.S. Lewis
We watched The Conjuring: Last Rites last night to get in the mood for Halloween. It wasn’t half as bad as I’d heard… certainly not as good as the first two but decent enough.
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