Messages

1

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 24 December, 2022, 12:46:40 PM »

For a moment I thought you meant the 2005 film White Noise starring Michael Keaton.  I was slightly confused.  Given it was clearly not the 2019 documentary White Noise or the 2020 documentary White Noise and unlikely to be the 2004 drama starring Rahul Bose I narrowed it down the actual White Noise to the 2022 film White Noise starring Adam Driver.

Apparently White Noise is an obscenely popular title for short films as well.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 21 December, 2022, 09:31:21 AM »

I recently watched a couple more Nick Cage films that I hadn't seen before.

Next is a decent sci-fi action film about a man looking for love and getting caught up in explosive hijinks.  It was better than what I was expecting going in.  The CGI has aged poorly, just like the opening to the other film, Lord of War.  Bleak, but enjoyable.
Rather surprisingly, both films get a 0 on the Cage Scale of Cagery.  He completely reigns in his eccentricities for these two films.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 07 December, 2022, 04:18:32 PM »

The man who killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot 

What a curious piece this is, as the surprisingly literal title suggedts. It has a lot to offer, but let's be honest its carried by a magnificent performance by the magnificent Sam Elliot. Its steady paced and for all its Hitler killing and Bigfoot hunting more a quiet character, very human character piece.

Well worth watching if you fancy something a bit different.

Watched this a few years ago.  It certainly delivers on what it promises, plus is pretty good as well.

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Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 07 December, 2022, 02:03:09 PM »

I have got past the halfway mark with One Piece.  I have carried on into the time-skip and overall, I'm still not impressed.  Thriller Bark and Summit Wars were incredibly tedious with the exception of Impel Down which I actually enjoyed.  I'm nearly done with Fishman Island and... it's pretty bad.  I think I have managed to become numb to how low quality the story telling and how truly dreadful the one note and repetitive jokes are... or do I mean characters?  Hmm, it's hard to tell given that many of character are only jokes.  Speaking of which, Sanji is the worst and I hate him with a passion.

If I carry on at the rate I'm going, I won't be done until the end of next year.  I really need to reconsider what I'm doing with my time.  Watching it has kind of just become a habit at this point.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 28 August, 2022, 06:05:58 PM »

I really enjoyed Dark Fate.  Best Terminator film since the second one, easily and I'd rate it above the first as well.  Loved the character dynamic between the three women.  Could have done without the Arnie cameo, but it's fine.  It didn't do well at the box office iirc so the next film will likely be another soft reboot.

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Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 28 August, 2022, 04:14:28 PM »

I'm still chugging along with One Piece.  Thriller Bark has mostly been boring so far.  The sexual assault "jokes" are very uncomfortable, too, as the obvious rapist Absalom is played entirely for laughs.  Gross.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 27 August, 2022, 07:53:13 PM »

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - it's not perfect (there's an odd fumble in the first act regarding motivation and the third act just begins to drag a little prior to the climax) but it's a superb comedy. Pedro Pascal is a revelation (and I may have fallen in love with him a little), and Cage does a wonderful job of being different aspects of himself turned up to eleven, while also managing to portray a struggling persona. It has loads of laugh out loud moments and set-pieces (one that seems like a blend of 007 and Inspector Clouseau), and a grand meta-plot. There's even a sort of reverse homage to Austin Powers, but I don't want to say more and spoil it.

There's a theory that you'll get more out of it if you understand some of the references - so it may help if you've been along for the ride of his career and been able to witness goofy, thoughtful Cage (Raising Arizona), passionate Cage (Moonstruck or Wild at Heart), action Cage (Con Air) and manic Cage (Face/Off) prior to viewing this.

I also watched this recently.  I enjoyed it.  It's very much the Cage version of My Name is Bruce.  Someone not familiar with Cage or his roles over the years may enjoy the goofiness of this film.  Nevertheless it's not shying away from the fact it's pure fan service. 
That's fine for me, I'm loving the Cage revival.
It's nice to see him do comedy again because he does make a good comedic actor.
I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone unless I knew they were into Nick Cage.  He is not for everyone.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 12 August, 2022, 01:51:55 PM »

I'm sure someone will have done this already but in the parlance of the thread shIT Chapter 2 more like.

I know I have watched this film but I remember absolutely nothing from it.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 11 August, 2022, 12:32:41 AM »

I watched Mad God following your recommendation and - Hell fire - that is one memorable film. I've never seen anything quite like it.

I'm glad you watched it.  It certainly is visually stunning, if repulsive in places.  A strange grotesque beauty, one might say.  I was very impressed by the high frame rate for the stop motion.  It was made by Phil Tippett, the guy who did the stop motion on Robocop and many other films.  He started work on it when he was working on Robocop 2 and shelves it for years before picking it up again years later after a successful Kickstarter.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 10 August, 2022, 11:27:20 PM »

I think it's the only comic book movie released after Venom 2 that I've seen, so it's my favourite since that film too.

It probably isn't the worse film in that recently-watched-list of mine.  Miskatonic U has a lot more flaws and isn't any more entertaining.  Although Miskatonic U does have tentacle head lady in it for about five minutes.  Morbius definitely lacked tentacle head ladies.

Although both those films suck compared to the rest of the list.  If I haven't sold watching Mad God to anyone then I really don't know what I'm doing.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 10 August, 2022, 12:24:41 PM »

There's a bunch of stuff I've watched over the last few weeks.

Rocketman

The Elton John one.  This movie is far better than it has any right to be.  I'm not a fan of Elton John or musicals and I find biopics a very mixed bag.  Nevertheless, this was a story that was well told.  I don't think I've learnt a lot about Elton John.  I don't think the movie makers give a shit about that.  Seems like they just wanted to make an entertaining experience and they certainly got me there.  Loved it.

Midnight Run

Late 80's Robert De Niro buddy/odd couple movie about a bail bondsman.  Surprisingly entertaining film.

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

Don't need to say much about this one.  It's very good.

Mad God

Mostly stop motion passion project.  Bizarre hellish and grotesque depictions strung together without much in the way of coherent narrative.  This film is about the style and it oozes that.  It comes in at under 90 minutes but it leaves a HUGE impression.  Not for the easily nauseous.

Only Lovers Left Alive

Did you know Jim Jarmusch made a Vampire film?  In 2013?  I didn't.  Know I do and I've seen it.  It met my expectations of a Jarmusch Vampire film.

The Resonator Miskatonic U

This is an OK film, I guess.  It has some charm, but I feel it probably needed more.

Morbius

OK, this film.
I wanted to watch this film for the same reason I chose to watch the first Suicide Squad film.  I wanted to see in what particular way they fucked up.  I wanted to rubberneck at this apparent car crash of a film that is so awful it's still the butt of jokes.  Unlike Suicide Squad I was unaware of any major production troubles, so what could possibly make this film so terrible?

The answer is... it isn't terrible.  It's not an awful movie.  At worst, it's an average movie.  It's coherent.  The performances are acceptable.  The story is kind of generic and silly, so standard comic book adaptation fare.  It never really drags.  The CGI is a little hokey but is at least composited well enough.

I'm not sure I have ever been disappoint that a film wasn't bad before.  It's certainly not a good film.  It's just okay.  It's fine.  It even has some sincere entertainment value in things it does right.

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Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 04 August, 2022, 08:50:16 PM »

No love for Skypia? My favourite arc.

Unfortunately that's my real low point.  Skypia and Arabasta were both tedious for me, but Skypia (being the latter arc) is when I really started questioning if I should carry on doing this.

What has saved the show for me is largely Franky.  He's been delightful.  Franky and Chopper are the best.
It also focusing on finding a place for Robin in the crew is nice because I think she's yet to develop a personality at this point in the story and has pretty just been tagging along.
I am getting the impression that this is where the overarching storyline is really starting to get developed and I certainly needed that if I'm going to slog through the rest of this.

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Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 03 August, 2022, 12:55:40 PM »

Still ploughing through One Piece.  Things picked up with Enies Lobby arc, but it looks like it might drag towards the conclusion.

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Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 04 July, 2022, 02:51:04 PM »

Chinatown

Oh dear.

Considering who directed this film it just ended up being really gross and made my skin crawl.

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Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction

« on: 01 July, 2022, 02:51:53 PM »

Still watching One Piece.  I don't know why.  I have got to the point I stopped watching last time I tried getting through it, so I'm around a quarter of the way through the whole thing.  My second viewing has been a detriment to my opinion on the series.  I really don't understand why this series is as popular as it is and I've only carried on watching in the hopes that it would become clear as time goes on.

I don't think the show is entirely without merit.  I actually enjoyed watching the East Blue stuff again.  Nevertheless, it's not funny and just keeps repeating the bad jokes it has.  It can look ugly as sin more often than it should.  It is full of battle manga tropes.  It's not all that inventive.  It drags things out too long... etc. etc.  Frankly, regardless of how things go from here on out and how far I can manage to get through the series, I'm not going to ever think it deserves its popularity.  It's pretty mediocre.