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Started by SmallBlueThing, 04 February, 2011, 12:40:44 PM

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The Legendary Shark

#14925

Quote from: pictsy on 07 January, 2021, 08:59:56 AM

I'm looking forward to A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge...


Casablanca. In the name of God, please, CASAfreakin'BLANCA!
[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




pictsy

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 07 January, 2021, 07:25:52 PM
Casablanca. In the name of God, please, CASAfreakin'BLANCA!

Sorry, Shark.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

Wasn't Freddy's Revenge the first film?  That's the plot, right?  Well that's my original hot take out of the way.

I actually enjoyed this.  It wasn't as clumsy as I thought it was going to be, but when it did get clumsy with its theme at the end it kinda undermined the whole thing and stank a little of pro-conversion therapy bullshit.  This film could easily be read as anti-homosexual propaganda and it's really the ending that creates that context.  I didn't read it like that, but that's because I did know some of the context of the production going in.  Regardless of how much it fails, it certainly succeeds at being a very interesting film.

The opening scene is very good.  I was worried the film shot it's load at the start, but it carried on being interesting.  I liked the constant references to the house being hot and the fires.  Something the first amazingly missed.  The possession angle was something a bit different and the allegorical link between it and an internalised conflict of our protagonists sexuality was nicely done.  It's not subtle, but not overt.  I really good mix.  It is a shame it gets undermined, however, copying the bad ending idea from the first film might suggest that the apparent resolution at the end wasn't a resolution at all.  Kinda reaching with that one, though.

I really enjoyed the film, more so than the first one.

Next up Cassablanca.

Sorry, I meant to type (and consequently did not go back to edit my mistake as I am perfectly capable of doing) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3:  Dream Warriors.

Professor Bear

#14927
Imagine your dad did something really bad like killing someone, and then you have to live with that hanging over your family name forever.  Well, if you're Max Landis, you don't think of that as a badge of shame so much as the start of a competition with your old man to see who can be the biggest piece of shit, which I guess is an understandable yardstick for Max Landis to choose, because the guy who made BRIGHT sure ain't gonna make better movies than the guy who made AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.
Anyway, Max Landis is a piece of shit.  He's garbage in human form, and when I recommend a movie he wrote, I don't want you to buy it, I want you to download it, illegally, and I give you permission to do this.  If you absolutely must buy it, please do so via Ebay or other second-hand sales outlets so that no-one involved in this film is rewarded, because they don't deserve it.

The movie is Shadow In The Cloud, a film whose objective best parts - mainly the premise - are lifted entirely from elsewhere, in particular "The Mission" from Amazing Stories, but then it goes some really dumb places, and I was genuinely impressed by how bad it became.  Not just like regular bad where it fails to capitalise on its potential or the execution is notably poor, no I mean it gets so incredibly stupid you can't see anything else.  There's a bit where [spoiler]a character is trapped in a gun turret on the belly of a WW2 bomber plane, and they escape by climbing out of it, mid-flight, and then crawling along the underside of the wing using bullet holes as handholds, then rescues a baby from a gremlin monster - oh yeah I probably should have mentioned there is a gremlin monster in the film now, and it has kidnapped a baby, because there is a baby on a WW2 bomber plane you know what, don't worry about it - then crawls along the outside of the plane - with the baby - until they can crawl through a hole in the side of the plane, [/spoiler]and then it actually gets stupider.
It's amazingly bad to the point it becomes entertaining, and I hate myself for enjoying it* because it is clearly Landis deliberately trying to be outrageous and I hate to see him succeeding at it because, as mentioned, Max Landis is a piece of shit.
Don't get me wrong, though, there's certainly plenty of objectively poor parts of the movie to complain about, like the pretty forced "casual misogyny" of the airmen, some really bad dialogue and acting, and there's an extended sequence where a character is trapped in a confined space and we only have voices on a radio to tell us what's happening elsewhere and it feels like they either should have found a way to do a whole movie like this, or they should have done this bit a lot better, because as it is, it just feels like the film can't pick a lane, as all through this sequence the movie still has a pretty straight face and it's only after this sequence falls apart pretty spectacularly that the really dumb/fun stuff starts happening - kind of like From Dusk Till Dawn if, instead of being a deliberate choice of two different kinds of movie in one, Dusk Till Dawn's first half kinda sucked and then they decided they had to do a vampire movie because what they'd already shot wasn't working and they had to pull something out of their ass.
Also, you know those guys who complain when a female character is super-competent 'without explanation' in a movie?  Get ready to be one of those guys whether you like it or not, because there are some baffling shifts in the portrayal of the main character to the point that when she's chasing down a monster and then beating it to death with its own arm, you're just thinking "this is awesome - but isn't her whole character motivation that she's terrified of a drunken husband?  She just beat a monster to death with her - and also his own - bare hands and right before that she shot down some enemy fighters while crash-landing a plane with a broken arm and several broken fingers, so why is this super-hard queen so afraid of some old misogynist guy?"
The misogyny is something I have mentioned a couple times now, and if you are aware of why Max Landis is a piece of shit - and he is - then you can probably guess why he's clumsily crowbarred this stuff in so that the main character can have her girl power moments, but knowing how contrived it is just so the writer can desperately try to rehabilitate his image just makes it more entertaining than it otherwise would be.
Anyway, I am pretty sure this sucks by any objective measure and I would not reccomend it for those of a serious temperament, but I really enjoyed it even though Max Landis is a piece of shit.



* I am a fan of Star Trek and 2000ad, so this is not a new experience for me.

Colin YNWA

I'd never heard of Max Landis by name but Jez from a very quick, ill informed read how the f**k is he still working. Hollywood really isn't making progress yet is it!

pictsy

Despite recommending that film, I find that thorough explanation just put Shadow in the Cloud on my do-not-watch list.  Admittedly, it was pretty much there with "from the guy who made BRIGHT".  The only good thing in Bright was the villains outfit.  That was some really snazzy costume work.

pictsy

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3:  Dream Warriors

More like A Nightmare on Shit Street 3:  Shit Warriors.

This film was a serious downgrade in quality.  So utterly dumb.  For everything Freddy's Revenge does right in terms of gay representation, Dream Warriors does wrong for mental health.  The actual Dream Warrior part is a total let down as well.  I was expecting something dumb, but not quite this dumb.  I was also hoping it'd be a lot more fun than it is.  The acting took a hit again with Patricia Arquette's endless squealing being notably grating.  I've enjoyed her in other things, but she isn't good in this.  Seeing Nancy return was not enjoyable.  Heather Langenkamp is just unconvincing.

There were some OK things in the film.  Set design and special effects were mostly impressive. I liked the Taryn character, but she was largely under utilised.

So, the series completely nosedived.  The question is, will I survive A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master?

Funt Solo

Quote from: Funt Solo on 06 January, 2021, 05:09:47 PM
Close Encounters - can I say it's a poor cousin to E.T.? Don't get me wrong: I love this movie and am entranced especially by the difficulties portrayed in the protagonist's marriage. Arguably a twee ending. Great homage in The Goodies.  Everyone gets to play those notes on the piano.

So, my interest in the protagonist's marriage made me start thinking about the end of the movie again, and I need to shift away from twee. Uhm ... given that I know some people haven't seen it yet I should move into spoiler mode.

[spoiler]Our hero has been sort of hypnotized by the approach of the aliens - and his obsession with his visions makes his wife think he's insane, and she takes the kids and leaves him. He, still obsessed, makes his way to the aliens and boards their ship and ascends to the stars. What about his responsibility to his kids? Spielberg was focused on the positive message of hope - that aliens who visit us are nice. But the disgorging of prior visitors (or abductees) from decades gone by suggests that Roy will be gone for some time, thus missing perhaps his children's entire lives. Is this not morally bankrupt?[/spoiler]
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

repoman

I watched Overlord yesterday and was very impressed.  I'm really into modern horror films as there are lots of good ideas, lots of a fun b-movies and some decently produced surprises to be found.  The genre lost me in the '90s and '00s due to all the rubbish CGI but this is a good era.


Quote from: pictsy on 08 January, 2021, 11:12:09 PM
So, the series completely nosedived.  The question is, will I survive A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master?

Dream Warriors was my favourite but mainly because I was the right age for it (kind of like how Terminator 2 is for a lot of people despite it not being nearly as good as the original).

I can tell you this, having recently watched all of them, it doesn't get much better from that point on.  The last film is alright because it is quite different.  Freddy vs. Jason is fun though.

pictsy

Quote from: repoman on 09 January, 2021, 11:55:55 AM
I watched Overlord yesterday and was very impressed.  I'm really into modern horror films as there are lots of good ideas, lots of a fun b-movies and some decently produced surprises to be found.  The genre lost me in the '90s and '00s due to all the rubbish CGI but this is a good era.

I remember enjoying Overlord.  It was a couple of years ago I saw it, but I remember it being shlocky fun.

Quote from: repoman on 09 January, 2021, 11:55:55 AM
Dream Warriors was my favourite but mainly because I was the right age for it (kind of like how Terminator 2 is for a lot of people despite it not being nearly as good as the original).

I can tell you this, having recently watched all of them, it doesn't get much better from that point on.  The last film is alright because it is quite different.  Freddy vs. Jason is fun though.

I'm not going to be watching New Nightmare.  It was the only one I'd seen previously and I didn't enjoy it.  I will be watching Freddy vs. Jason regardless of whether I continue with the rest of the Nightmare movies.  After that, who knows, maybe I'll watch Casablanca.

TordelBack

Quote from: Funt Solo on 09 January, 2021, 12:43:27 AM
So, my interest in the protagonist's marriage made me start thinking about the end of the movie again, and I need to shift away from twee.

Completely agree with your conclusions there Funt, and have since I saw the Special Edition in the cinema in 1980, which seemed to foreground the impact (of his obsession) on Neary's family more than than the original. It doesn't take away from my love of the film, but the realisation of what his wide-eyed decision means puts a different spin on the character and the ending. If anything the theme of [spoiler]desertion of family by men in pursuit of their own personal fulfillment (or more charitably, 'duty') gives the film a more realistic grounding. [/spoiler]

pictsy

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4:  The Dream Master

Actually surprised at this one.  It's proper dumb 80s slasher at this point and does some crappy things, but I don't think it's a bad as 3.  I actually liked Alice as a character and this film being about a young woman finding her confidence in herself was done pretty well.  I think the acting was an improvement over 3 but it did lack some of visual zest in places.  Still pretty interesting effects work going on.

I also like that the love interested serving only as a facile trophy/reward for the protagonist was a guy.  I wasn't expecting something that subversive from this film, but there it is.

3 set the bar pretty damn low, but I think regardless of that 4 is the better movie of the two.  The real question I find I'm asking myself now, is 4 more enjoyable than 1?  Also, why am I enjoying sequels more than the original?

My expectations are thrown out the window as it seems anything can go now as to whether I'll enjoy A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.

von Boom

Quote from: pictsy on 08 January, 2021, 11:12:09 PM
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3:  Dream Warriors

More like A Nightmare on Shit Street 3:  Shit Warriors.

The best thing about this film was the song by Dokken.

Tiplodocus

ZODIAC from 2007 and directed by David Fincher. Which is very good if twenty minutes too long. Genuinely didn't know what to expect on going in... thought it would be more like MINDHUNTER than it was. It actually ended up quite like Close Encounters, coincidentally..

Mostly understated turns from all the leads (and at one point you aren't sure who the leads are) but the decades long nature of the story means you don't get too long to settle on the consequences of one sequence before jumping two years on. This also means some of the callbacks can't be exactly subtle.

I know the nature of the beast makes this a predominantly all male, all white cast but you'd think you could composite some characters to add a bit of diversity.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

pictsy

Zodiac didn't leave the best impression on me.  I don't remember disliking or thinking it was bad.  I think it was the sprawling nature of the film you describe that ended up not leaving much of an impression on me or a desire to return to the film.

It's just one of those films.  Good, but you could get away with only ever watching it once.

broodblik

Watch Missing Link and it is just plain good fun. This is one of those movies that the whole family can watch and enjoy. Missing Link is a stop-motion animated in the trend of Wallace and Gromit.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.