Last movie watched...

[Keef Monkey]

The Witch

As it just on Netflix so watch it first time. Wow that was so brilliant. So perfect horror film that I want for long time, so terror by some moments there. But the first part with [spoiler]what happens to the baby would haunting me.[/spoiler]

I know a lot of people who raved about this movie, but it didn't quite click for me. There was a lot to like, but ultimately the eerie creepy mood was constantly being undercut be silly things I just couldn't take seriously. Like[spoiler]a goat named Phillip was really the devil all along and then he started talking.[/spoiler] I liked that it had a happy ending though.

Was the stuff with the goat and the devil not meant to be (possibly) all just puritan paranoia and near-starvation hallucination, though?

That was my take from the movie as well, that [spoiler]it was more about religious hysteria and delusion than anything else. I haven't seen it for a while (and only once) so I may be mis-remembering but the very end of the film rattled around my head for a while after seeing it. As she's levitating with the witches and just as she's in the throes of being all witchy with them there's a cut to her completely alone, and the movie ends on that shot. I found that the most haunting moment of the whole thing and it seemed to confirm that idea.[/spoiler]

On the subject of witchiness I saw another interesting witchy film recently called Pyewacket. It's a bit more of a mainstream/teen horror thing (high school kids messing around with the occult and curses and whatnot) but it's loaded with dread and really sucked me in and has lingered for a while.

[paddykafka]

The Shape of Water.

Looks great, fine performances all around, but I think all the hype around it - and Best Picture Oscar - raised my expectations too much.

Personally I would have given the award to either Blade Runner 2049 or Logan (Patrick Stewart wuz robbed!)

By the film's end, all I could think was that Swampy got more action in a couple of hours than I've had in the last 12 years, lol.

I know what I'm dressing up as this Halloween. 

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

The Witch

As it just on Netflix so watch it first time. Wow that was so brilliant. So perfect horror film that I want for long time, so terror by some moments there. But the first part with [spoiler]what happens to the baby would haunting me.[/spoiler]

I know a lot of people who raved about this movie, but it didn't quite click for me. There was a lot to like, but ultimately the eerie creepy mood was constantly being undercut be silly things I just couldn't take seriously. Like[spoiler]a goat named Phillip was really the devil all along and then he started talking.[/spoiler] I liked that it had a happy ending though.

Was the stuff with the goat and the devil not meant to be (possibly) all just puritan paranoia and near-starvation hallucination, though?

That was my take from the movie as well, that [spoiler]it was more about religious hysteria and delusion than anything else. I haven't seen it for a while (and only once) so I may be mis-remembering but the very end of the film rattled around my head for a while after seeing it. As she's levitating with the witches and just as she's in the throes of being all witchy with them there's a cut to her completely alone, and the movie ends on that shot. I found that the most haunting moment of the whole thing and it seemed to confirm that idea.[/spoiler]

On the subject of witchiness I saw another interesting witchy film recently called Pyewacket. It's a bit more of a mainstream/teen horror thing (high school kids messing around with the occult and curses and whatnot) but it's loaded with dread and really sucked me in and has lingered for a while.

Well if the baby eating witch coven wasn't real, then what was the point of the scene near the start where they show the witch eating the baby in the middle of the forest where the hungry hysterical heathen haters wouldn't see it?

I don't hate this movie, I want to love it but it just won't let me

[DrRocka]

Get Out

I was gonna switch off after 20 minutes, thinking it was becoming very predictable. How wrong can you be? SO glad I didn't. This is wonderful filmmaking, superb acting, just a class act all round. Tense, with elements of social commentary and outright bananas craziness,  I really recommend this. Fab.

[TordelBack]

Justice League.  That was a bit of fun, surprised to say. 

Horrible design, laughably bad CGI (Batman's cape, Superman's upper lip, every single backflip or tumble - jeebus wept, did they reuse assets from Lawnmower Man!?!), re-shoots/pick-ups so glaring that they may as well have had Sunnydale High in the background, a plot that depended entirely on a series of cock-ups, a villain who may as well not have been there at all...

BUT: all the principals were value for money, especially the still-terrific Wonder Woman and engaging Cyborg, and even Superman the Lip of Steel came across as far more of a decent fellow than he did in the last two (he even cared about civilians at one point!).  Whedon's gags and character beats would have worked better if they hadn't stood out like sore thumbs, but at least they did work. It should be noted that I have no real emotional attachment to any of the characters in their comics incarnations, so my opinion may not hold any weight, but they'e an entertaining bunch here, and I'd probably watch another one with this line-up. 

Maybe the conclusion of this protracted journey through selfishness, death and misery means future DC films could continue with the lighter tone that is so welcome here?

[Dandontdare]

Justice League.  That was a bit of fun, surprised to say....Superman's upper lip,   

Yeah,I enjoyed it more than I expected too, but despite being forewarned and looking out for it,I couldn't spot any issues with the superphiltrum at all.

[von Boom]

Hellboy. Haven't seen it in ages, but it's still a great film and a lot of fun. If the sequel hadn't been so bad, I would have said to expect a dozen Hellboy films. What ever happened to Selma Blair? She's just so gorgeous.

[Mardroid]

Superman and the Mole-men

I picked up the blu ray collection of the first 5 Superman films secondhand at CEX today. Unfortunately it wasn't the series I'd hoped for including the Donner cut of Superman 2 (which I've yet to see) but it did come with an impressive bunch of extras nonetheless including a bunch of Superman based cartoons (one beng a 1943 colour cartoon based around Bugs Bunny as 'Super-rabbit' and the 1953 film of Superman and the Mole-men, starring George Reeves in the titular role.

Apparently this is actually the first Superman theatrical film ever produced. It was an interesting curiosity. [spoiler]While the plot was somewhat formulaic and predictable, I was impressed that it didn't fall into the trap of depicting the mole-men as evil, just because they were strange and different. If anything it was a film more interested in promoting understanding and avoidance of ignorance. The main villains were in fact the gun happy townsfolk.[/spoiler]

It wasn't a great film. It was kind of cheesy. George Reeves had this amusing habit of putting his hands on his hips while in his Superman garb. It was interesting to see how differently George Reeves and Christopher Reeve depicted Clark Kent, the former being a 'take charge' type fellow, the latter an amusing clumsy wally.

While I acknowledge that George Reeves came first, I consider Christopher Reeve as my Superman as I grew up with those films and his version was more likeable and humble, but the bulked up George certainly looks the part.

It wasn't a great film,  but I'm glad I watched it. And it strikes me as curious (I'm easily fascinated) that the first Superman film is the last one I've actually seen.

[TordelBack]

Yeah,I enjoyed it more than I expected too, but despite being forewarned and looking out for it,I couldn't spot any issues with the superphiltrum at all.

It's beautifully rendered,  but in about half his scenes it doesn't seem to move at all - just sits there like a horizon across his perfect teeth. -shudder-

[TordelBack]

While I'm here: Annihilation. That was bloody great that was,  truly a 2001 for today. My only reservation - genuinely my only niggle - was that everything seemed too small or detailed to properly see on my mid-size TV screen. I seemed to be constantly squinting at things,  although i accept that may have been intentional.

Such a great cast, so many clever juxtapositions and themes, non-stop atmosphere and tension, enough images and puzzles to toss about in the noggin for days.

But boy I bet the New Mutants movie folk are pissed off with [spoiler]the wonderful bear: there goes the single most interesting thing about that franchise - it may as well have been drawn by Sienkiewicz.[/spoiler]

[JamesC]

I watched Annihilation yesterday. Unfortunately I didnt think much of it. While I can see where comparisons with 2001 come from, I didnt think this film was anywhere near the same league. In 2001, the space mission is completely believable and the suspense is built brilliantly as it becomes increasingky apparent that HAL is a threat.
Annihilation didn't convince at all in terms of the preparation or implementatin of the mission. No breathing apparatus, no one filming the mission, no plan to go beyong the Shimmer and return with samples before trying to go all the way to the lighthouse.  It just didnt convince me. I think similar situations were handled more convincingly in Village of the Damned or even Stargate.
Natalie Portman did a good job, as did Jennifer Jason-Leigh. The other scientists on the mission were pretty forgettable.
As for the story structure, [spoiler]the affair thing served as nothing more than a motivation for Portman's character and her husband before her to go into the Shimmer. I didn't care. I had nothing invested in the characters.[/spoiler]
I had similar feelings about Ex Machina. In both films there are things I like but neither convinces me that the story is taking place in a real place to real people. Neither film envoked any kind of emotional investment - I just watched them with cold detachment and didnt really enjoy them.

[JamesC]

I watched Annihilation yesterday. Unfortunately I didnt think much of it. While I can see where comparisons with 2001 come from, I didnt think this film was anywhere near the same league. In 2001, the space mission is completely believable and the suspense is built brilliantly as it becomes increasingky apparent that HAL is a threat. Dave is completely stuck in a terrifying situation despite his best efforts.
Annihilation didn't convince at all in terms of the preparation or implementatin of the mission. No breathing apparatus, no one filming the mission, no plan to go beyong the Shimmer and return with samples before trying to go all the way to the lighthouse.  It just didnt convince me. I think similar situations were handled more convincingly in Village of the Damned or even Stargate.
Natalie Portman did a good job, as did Jennifer Jason-Leigh but the characters really could've done with more development. I didn't feel empathy for Portman's character (the way I do for Dave in 2001), she's something of an emotionally stunted wreck who somehow found herself on a badly conceived mission, the parameters of which are not particularly clear. The other scientists on the mission were pretty forgettable.
As for the story structure, [spoiler]the affair thing served as nothing more than a motivation for Portman's character and her husband before her to go into the Shimmer. I didn't care. I had nothing invested in the characters.[/spoiler]
I had similar feelings about Ex Machina. In both films there are things I like but neither convinces me that the story is taking place in a real place to real people. Neither film envoked any kind of emotional investment - I just watched them with cold detachment and didnt really enjoy them.

[Radbacker]

just got back from Pacific Rim Uprising, even more Anime than the first, from the plucky teenage pilots to the Evangelion sort of drones [spoiler]when they were deployed and taken over by the Kaju brains they looked very Evangelion to me[/spoiler].  I had fun, the missus enjoyed it wasted a couple of the characters that were in it from the first [spoiler]poor Mako didn't hve much to do before she was knocked off and di't like the reveal about Dr geiizler but it was fairly predictable[/spoiler]and no Ron Pearlman was a bit dissapointing but overall a decent blockbuster watch.   The new Jagers a quite a bit more nimble than the old lot but I suppose that could be put down to 10 years of advancements, oh and the actress that played the head of the Chinese corporation that was working on the drone program was absolutley geogeous.
Fun 3 1/2 out of 5 stompy robots from me.

Cu Radbacker

[Professor Bear]

I somehow managed to miss Too Many Cooks when it first appeared, and now I can't get the damn theme out of my head.  If you are unaware, it is a fantastic Adult Swim short that bears repeat viewing to unpack its meta narrative, but going in cold is recommended, as a big part of the charm is the misdirection.

Somehow, I also managed to not only never read Fahrenheit 451 but also to never see the 1966 film.  I gather this is well thought of but it's hard to see why as its world is full of logical inconsistencies and I couldn't understand why the firemen didn't just move everyone into those brutalist architecture houses as everyone hoarding books seemed to live in normal homes.  Was writing illegal?  And reading?  How did people know what the tv schedules were if there were no magazines and no-one was allowed to read?  Like most Bradbury, it works best as a parable than it does as a story (I just this morning read The Happiness Machine and my only takeaway was that the main character's wife was a hateful shrew who caused the destruction of a potential treatment for depression because she couldn't not be a stroppy bitch for five bloody minutes), though there are hints of modern dystopian tropes in there, particularly the use of reality tv.
Not great, but interesting.

[JOE SOAP]

Was writing illegal?  And reading?  How did people know what the tv schedules were if there were no magazines and no-one was allowed to read?

They read the opiate of the masses, comics.