Starve Martin losing it at the rental agency is too good. The whole movie is great, but that scene makes me lose it.
Speaking of John Candy, we watched Home Alone again this year and I just had a hunch that the funeral story was improved. I looked it up and it was, indeed, made up on the spot by Candy. I know they are professionals but I don’t know how they don’t all completely lose it when he tells the story.
We watched Home Alone with my 8 year-old for his first time this year (and he loved it of course), and I was also wondering about that scene. I hadn’t watched the movie in many years and had forgotten how much John Candy is in the movie–I remembered him as having a cameo. So that was a pleasant surprise : )
Home Alone is arguably my 11-year old’s favorite movie. Has been since we introduced it a couple years ago.
Well made behind the scenes for “The Substance”. 30 minutes of the director (Coralie Fargeat) talking about the making of the film, with significant detail into how the many practical effects were achieved. Released today presumably off the back of Demi Moore winning her first ever golden globe for this film.
Nosferatu. Eggers definitely has the sort of vision that most directors lack, this is a good thing in most respects, but I do wonder how well it all works. The lighting and cinematography is beyond perfect, use of shadow incredible, but there’s also a lot of actors doing their stuff straight to camera, which is a bold choice. The fact they’re all up to the task (Simon McBurney gets to grizzle some scenery, among other things, which is great) is surprising and fortunate; the style of the acting and the script means this could easily not have worked, certainly whether it works for you will be a matter of taste. Hoult has never really sold me on much, but he’s very adept here, and Depp is honestly quite impressive.
I can’t make up my mind whether I want to see this or not. I am a big fan of the silent film original, which I am under the impression this barely gives a nod to. Which I guess is potentially a good thing? Also, is it scary? Or is it just weird and eerie? Like on a 1-10 scale, where is it in terms of a terrifying horror movie?
It’s surprisingly faithful, actually. I think you can see Eggers loves the original. It has a very foreboding feel and an ominous, doom-laden tone. It definitely has its moments, and it goes for atmosphere over jump scares. But the use of light and shadow, the way certain things are revealed and hidden, is masterful, and the scares are competent. The overall ambience of the film is incredible. In terms of how terrifying it is, I’m not a fair judge, as I’m fairly desensitized at this point.
I had some time to waste so I watched Alien Romulus (strangely streaming on Disney+, which really seems out of place). When I was done, I felt like I had, indeed, wasted my time.
I’m a fan of the original Alien movie and its sequel. I don’t know if I am no longer the target audience or if I’ve changed my tastes as I’ve aged (or likely a combination of both), but Romulus kind of bored me. I’m not great with review language and I’ll try to avoid spoilers but here are a couple of notes:
First, the most horrifying thing about this movie was Rook. That could not have been more unnecessary and couldn’t have looked worse, especially when the rest of the movie looked pretty good.
I get that Geiger’s art was highly phallic, but this movie leaned into the phallic and yonic (had to look that one up) imagery a little too hard, in my opinion. I get it; they are creepy. I probably don’t need to spend what felt like 10 minutes looking at a very vagina-like cocoon only to have the xeno head very slowly rise out of it like a scene from PornHub. Something about the way the imagery was portrayed in this movie made it seem juvenile.
Everyone is always a redshirt. Yeah, yeah the Alien movies are about body horror and the terrible things an apex predator can do to its prey. And I understand that in order for there to be tension, we need to know the stakes. But how can there be tension when you are watching yet another Alien movie where you know going into it exactly who is going to come out of it alive?
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I don’t need Alien lore. I know this is not the first movie to make the Alien story a deeper and more far-reaching thing, but I’ve always been fine with the idea that we don’t know what the xeno is, or where it came from, and frankly it doesn’t matter because it’s out to kill us. Tying this one in to the Prometheus lore dump was lame to me.
Finally, this movie - and this series - suffers from the Henry Wu syndrome. In the Jurassic Park movies, they continually reinvent the threat by essentially creating new hybrids that are more deadly than the last. I get how from a storytelling perspective it may help to have bigger/better threats, but it makes my eyes roll every time I see it as explicitly as in Jurassic World and here in Romulus. To go further would probably put me in spoiler territory, but again, I’m happy with Xenos.
That’s a lot to say about a movie I’m completely ambivalent about, but I know the series in general has a huge following and the foundations of this cinematic universe are masterpieces. This one is not.
Now I want Jurassic Dollhouse, where they decide they’ll clone dinosaurs, but make them, like, puppy-sized. They could still get loose, and a bunch of little sharp guys could be a pain in the ass, but I’d like them to try lowering the stakes.
Plus, then you get the Jurassic Skate Park sequel, where they get trained to do sick tricks on little skateboards, and one of them could recreate the skateboarding and smoking dog with a martini sign. Really go for that Westminster Dog Show vibe, but with dinosaurs.
The best part is, the merchandising can be life-size!
Elevation.
The Falcon and Deadpools girlfriend (and some other chick) go on a fetch quest through monster infested territory.
If mid had a mid, it would be less than that.
This is as far as I got with the review before giving up and watching something else. I wanted to like it, I just couldn’t. I watched the second half of requiem for a dream instead.
Finally got to Conclave and The Substance, not both in one night, both watched with the wife.
I enjoyed Conclave a lot - big name actors doing big name things. Enjoyed the acting and the movie, although admittedly two Jews had to pause a lot to google things.
The Substance. I know, I know, we were forewarned, but still, what the actual fuck. I mean… it was good? I thought the actress that wasn’t Demi Moore and who I also just found out is Andie McDowell’s daughter but with a different last name did a great job, but the visual horror got to be a bit over the top, especially towards the end…
https://old.reddit.com/r/shittymoviedetails/comments/1ig0qdv/in_planet_of_the_apes_1968_the_statue_of_liberty/
Worth it for the comments alone.
I just saw the trailer for the new Jurassic World movie and my brain about melted. My expectations weren’t high to begin with but really? The acting looks bad. Scarlett Johansson looks horribly miscast and unbelievable in her supposed role. The weapons look ridiculous. Hey, look, there’s a kid there, again, somehow. For a second there I thought I was watching an Indiana Jones movie when they were in some hidden temple. And finally, even though they jumped the shark alway back when they unleashed a T-Rex in San Francisco, I think they are going way, way, way overboard and possibly introducing some Dino/human hybrid here? I think I mentioned this trend in my Alien: Romulus review. It’s tiring. Sigh.
The first Jurassic World movie was the best in the series since the original film. The second was one of the three worst Hollywood movies I have ever seen. The third was just meh. At this point there’s not a lot of reason to bank on the series, but some part of me still is interested nonetheless because, you know, dinosaurs.
