The Invite. Made it less than ten minutes before remembering why I FUCKING LOATHE Seth Rogen.
3 Likes
Only made the film better for me.
1 Like
Couldn’t agree more.
1 Like
Resident Evil. Very much enjoyed this, nothing at all to do with the games, just some nods to the lore. The rest of it is pure Cregger; some impeccable lighting and use of shadow, a selection of unlikely events throughout the action, and a lot of solid laughs. Good, consistent pace, competent acting, most of the script is good.
Die Hard 4.
This is pretty bad, eh? I didn’t even know 4 existed, I thought 5 was 4, until recently. I wish I had stayed that blissfully ignorant. It’s not the huge turd 5 is, but the paranoia around technology, helpless agencies, nonsensical use of technology unless it’s nefarious, etc. Olyphant and the generic foreign terrorists are particularly bad.
4 Likes
I cannot wait.
2 Likes
Unabomber. Seven minutes in and I turned this off. Inventing an investigation into Uncle Ted and then having a character state how they will catch him is just the sort of on-the-nose shit I despise. Utter waste of time.
House of Dynamite. It’s cool that you made 30-50% of a film, but I would like to see the rest. The scenario is so unusual (one missile, from an unknown source) that it undercuts the actual depiction of the flaws in the response to a nuclear attack; Idris Elba as a sort of Temu Obama was nice, but most of the cast are either drones or condemned to silly bits (poor Jared Harris, again). The entire system is insane and we’ve known that for decades. We’re more complacent about it now than ever before. If you want to move the needle, make something like Threads again to make people wake up.
1 Like
Agreed on House of Dynamite. I enjoyed it but it felt unfinished. I get why they ended it the way they did but nonetheless…
And good lord, Threads. Not a movie I need to watch again and nuclear war aftermath is my jam. Give me By Dawn’s Early Light please and thanks, childhood me loves Rebecca DeMornay.
2 Likes
Oh, thank goodness. I thought you were talking about Meta’s Twitter alternative.
3 Likes
1 Like
Rosebush Pruning. It’s not often I say this, given my admittedly weird tastes, but this is an odd film. An utterly mental family and their increasingly bizarre relationships get even worse. You can definitely see the hand of Filippou (The Lobster, Dogtooth, Killing of a Sacred Deer, Kinds of Kindness) here, but this film takes it even further. Amusing and baffling.
War on Everyone. Pena and Alexander Skarsgard as buddy cops who don’t care about the law. Relentlessly funny and absolutely odd, with a surprisingly solid cast (Tessa Thompson, Caleb Landry Jones, David Wilmot, Malcolm Barrett) that all manage their parts with aplomb. Very off-beat.
CHIPS. Carried by Dax Shepard and Pena’s buddy comedy (which is good, in fairness), there is otherwise a lot of lowbrow gags and motorbike action. I laughed more than I thought I would.
Knox Goes Away. I’ll watch Keaton in anything. Here, as a hitman with CJD, he’s great. I liked the solid, simple nature of it all, and a man making a scheme work in the face of inevitability.
The Outfit. Mark Rylance can probably do this in his sleep, but there’s little other reason to watch this other than his commanding central performance. Small scale, could easily be a play, just a few people and a couple of rooms and a twisty plot.
Onslaught. A 90 minute film that seems to abruptly run out of steam. Some cringe, but what’s really baffling is the drop in pace when the unstoppable super soldiers reach the main character’s trailer park. Meh overall.
2 Likes