gah, i'm late too this week. i've had a busy week as well. i'm working more than i'd like to. harrumph.
re-animator - definitely one of my teen faves. i kinda agree that it does feel a bit slight when i go back to it now, but i still have lots of nostalgic love for it. so keep that in mind when i give it a generous 4.5
weirdly enough, i don't think i've ever seen bride, though...probably tomorrow, since you've planted the idea.
my week:
instructions for a light and sound machine (2005) 5 i don't have the film vocab to explain why this is so satisfying, but this is exactly what i want things to be like. it reminds me of the first time i heard the fall or the first time i saw a guy maddin film and knew right at that moment i was watching something that aligns with the way my own synapses fire.
avengers infinity war (2018) 5 i understand the criticisms people make of this movie. it's a bit cluttered for sure.
but as a guy who inhaled marvel comics during my teens, this is pretty much everything i imagined a cbm could be, & i love it.
nasty baby (2015) 3.5 gay coupled tried to impregnate their friend. didn't go where i expected it to. it's generally nice to be surprised, & i was surprised.
apocalypse (2012) 5 bill callahan concert film. i am in no way an impartial viewer here. i love bill callahan's music and i think he's a fascinating figure. i loved every second of this film.
harmony and me (2010) 3.5 low key mumblecore comedy. very fun.
clean, shaven (1993) 4 schizophrenic man tries to find his daughter. one of the most unique & unforgettable indie films of the 90s.
rat film (2016) 4 i love a lot of things about this doc. it's one of my favourites of recent years. i am a bit uncomfortable with some of the points it tries to make, but overall i really dig its style and tone.
rat pfink a boo boo (1966) 3 carolyn brandt was way too hot for ray dennis steckler. not to speak ill of the dead or anything, but come on!
very pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed this mostly. the only other steckler i've seen is incredibly strange creatures, & i've always found that to be mostly a bit boring. but the first 40 minutes or so of this is actually quite good. perfectly watchable, certainly. when it 'changes' it goes a little too heavy on long chases and boring fights & such stuff. but all told, this is a fun, silly film and i'm glad i finally watched it 30 years after reading about it in re/search's incredibly strange films book.
the incredibles (2004) 4 i don't think this is quite as great as the greatest pixar films, but i approve of its individualistic randian message. yes it does have that. don't tell me it doesn't. it really does.
coherence (2013) 3.5 i've watched coherence a bunch of times, and i still don't understand most of it. when they start talking about ping pong paddles, rings, numbers, i get totally lost.
maybe people who are brighter and more mentally spry can sort all that stuff out. i'm not capable of that.
but that's fine. it's complete fun. and i'm fine being confused as long as i'm having fun
manhattan baby (1982) 2 if you can tell what's going on in this movie, you have it together in a way i clearly don't.
has its moments, but i mostly found it terribly dull & a bit of a chore to get through. really lacking in the great gore/gross out moments that make fulci fun.
hunted (2020) 3 i went through a few phases with this. i found it a bit offputting in the early going, mostly due to the performance of the bad guy. i dunno if it was his voice, vocal timbre, something just annoyed me in the way he spoke & carried himself.
but it kinda surprised me a bit in the mid and last third of the film, and i actually found myself getting on its wavelength. it got a little conventional towards the end, went the way you expect films like this to go.
so a mixed bag ultimately, but one that's worth a look.
keane (2004) 4 shares a lot of genetic material with clean, shaven.
unpleasant and unnerving, but it's undeniably effective. like clean, shaven, you may not feel good for having seen it, but it might help you try to understand something that's really hard to understand.
the rabbit hunter (2020) 2.5 guy maddin short. i definitely would not put this anywhere near the top of the maddin filmography. a few clever visual flourishes, but the rest of it is pretty forgettable.
stump the guesser (2020) 4 another maddin short. this is more like it. weird and funny and mystifying, all in the most pleasant way. lots of cool little edits and visual flourishes.
i actually think this might be one of the best things you could point a person new to maddin to as an entry point. it has all his best qualities presented in a short.
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[deleted]
4 years ago
red white and blue (2010) 3.5 unusually brutal revenge movie. i'd caught this fairly close to the time it was released, and i recalled that it got quite dark, but i was still surprised at how dark it got. not perfect, but this is a movie that has a pretty tough bite.
i found the final shot confusing though. when did that happen?
carmilla (2019) 2 eh, it's very glossy and nice looking, i guess, and the costumes & period details are cool if you care about such matters.
but there's not much too this. honestly, it all began to feel like a super-extended commercial after a while, with it's endless still shots and girls talking about their feelings and so on.
(it also didn't make me horny).
has a cool score.
devoured (2012) 3 poor woman is tormented by ghosts. pretty good. you'll probably guess where it's going - i did, and i'm always the last to know - but it's reasonably well made & moves along at a reasonable pace.
meanwhile on earth (2020) 2 bizarre film that's been compared to roy anderson. and it will indeed remind you of roy anderson.
but roy anderson makes me laugh and sometimes entertains me. sometimes he bores me, but mostly i like what he does.
i didn't like this much. it just bored me. i'll be happy watching anything. whatever you've got. i just want to be engaged by what's on the screen, & this didn't do that. maybe it will for you. it didn't for me.
for a good time, call... (2012) 3.5 roommates in need of cash start a phone sex line. actually really good natured a fun and occasionally very funny. i'm a little ashamed of how much i loved this.
buffalo juggalos (2014) 3 An experimental exploration and celebration of the Juggalo subculture in Buffalo, New York.
i don't know what i expected to get out of this, but i definitely did not think it was going to make me a bit horny. weirdness.
the strange color of your body's tears (2013) 3.5 absolutely incomprehensible, even by the loose standards of giallo. it's like someone shot a complete movie, then took out about 80% of the moments that would tell you what was going on.
but i wasn't bored. i expected to be bored. i actually had a reasonably good time looking at it. it's always very visually engaging, and there's some foxy ladies and a bit of nudity. i wouldn't recommend this to anyone who doesn't have a bit of a giallo fetish, and even then you might find it a bit of a chore. but i had a good time.
massacre in dinosaur valley (1985) 3.5 with a title like that, i was half expecting some sort of silly tammy and the t-rex-style comedy.
but instead it's a wonderfully trashy italian exploitation. savage cannibals, lots of nudity, fantastically sleazy. if that sounds like something you like then you'll find things to enjoy here.
avengers endgame (2019) 5 i'd avoided watching this since seeing it in the theatre. seeing it opening night was such a great, one of a kind experience that i was almost afraid of tarnishing the memory, maybe. daft of me probably, but that's the way it is.
i had nothing to worry about! it's still great!
mutual appreciation (2005) 4 hipsters aimlessly drifting through life is my favourite movie genre.
i wish i was like these people. i'm deeply jealous of them.
i really liked the music. i'd never heard of this singer or his band, but it sounds like the kind of brit influenced twee pop i love.
the final destination (2009) 3 all of these films are the same, and they're all good fun.
that said, this one is just a little too paint by numbers and a little short on imaginative deaths.
but i still had a good time more or less.
ape (2012) 3 is this the neil hamburger origin story? nah. but this director definitely has a talent for making me uncomfortable in a way i find oddly enjoyable.
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sslssg (35194)
4 years ago
I remember Red, White, and Blue and yeah, it got pretty dark. I liked how all of the characters are flawed.
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StoneKeeper (28399)
4 years ago
Your contribution of 27 entries might be a moviechat record... not sure.
I rated Infinity War 7.5/10 but had Age of Ultron at the same rating but increased it after watching it this week so maybe the same could happen if I rewatch infinity war.
Endgame I saw twice and will stay at 7.5/10
I’ve been trying to find Clean, shaven for a while now.
The final destination: 7/10
I haven’t been able to find apocalypse and red white and blue on IMDb.
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[deleted]
4 years ago
clean shaven is on criterion. you could sign up for their 2 wk free trial to see it there. i also see that there's a copy posted on youtube right now. i assume it's of dubious legitimacy, so i won't link to it (i assume that's against site rules?), but if you search clean, shaven movie on yt it should be the first thing that comes up.
this is probably embarrassing but i actually watched more than 27 movies last week. i always leave a few off my list if they're really forgettable, not worth mentioning, or if it's a rewatch of something else i'd posted about fairly recently.
but that includes a lot of shorts. i've gotten into the habit of watching a short film or two first thing in the morning, and perhaps another one before i go to bed.
red white & blue: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1465505/
apocalypse: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2244719/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_3
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Mrmojo4700 (21718)
4 years ago
Manhattan Baby really is a strange Fulci Film with, as you said, the absence of gore. I will say though, that the constant focus on eyes does fall in line with his style, but it’s used so much here that it’s almost annoying.
Hey, at least we got to see the annoying as ever child actor Giovanni Frezza. 😀
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