The Happy Mutant's Filmgoer's and Video Viewer's Companion

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As it’s the same studio that put out the recent film about trafficking (whose story has proven to be all kinds of problematic), I wonder what direction this will end up going? I also wonder how much of it is based on the works of right winger Eric Metaxas, who has some problematic views…

The first review that pops up is a one star review that goes over some of the major issues with the book. Several over reviews there go over other issues with the book… I’m guessing that there will be a great deal of overlap with his interpretation and that of the film, though I have no idea if the film was informed by this book… But they both came out of the same political/theological eco-system, so…

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I normally post positive suggestions that I hope will serve to help people. This one though. This one is a stinker. Do. Not. Watch.

I believe it was up for a bunch of Oscars and won the fairly reliable measure of shit that is the TIFF people’s choice awards but we turned this steaming turd off after 20 minutes with a bad taste in our mouths.

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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28309395/

BAD CGI GATOR

If you have one hour to spare, please waste it on this.
The clue is in the title, but, honestly, it’s so much better and worse than that.
For me, it’s the evening, and I nearly spat beer at the screen more than once.
Hilarious in all the wrong (and sometimes right) ways.

One shakespeare-level quote from the movie:
(There’s mist on the lake) “So, babe, you think this stuff on the lake is the frogs gettin’ high?”

As for the CGI itself? When the 'gator gets around to chomping one hapless victim, I swear it’s wearing lipstick.

Teens in a shack, big-ass rubbish 'gator, one hour well spent.

(One-box seems to be knackered).

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Okay, but would you mind elaborating some? Why do you think it’s a stinker?

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It would bê funny If It was a comedy skit…

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It knida is…

eta: WTF is a knida?

It kinda is…

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But It is too long…

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I saw the trailer for that, and I need to see it…

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Agreed, @robertmckenna - what did you dislike specifically of what you saw…

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Fair ask. What we saw was a small set, shot in black and white I think in order to emulate Roma, which would have been great for a musical where the choreography of the mise en scene would not have jarred. Then there were the meaningful poignant closeups of the child, the filmic equivalent of being bludgeoned over the head while someone shouts “this is the fucking point!”

Branagh left Belfast in the early 70s because if you had a viable option why the fuck wouldn’t you and this is his truth but the cheeeeeeeeeeese is unbearable.

Wonderful cast so I’m sure they made something of it but life is short and we all must die and we don’t need that shit when at the very least a banging tune is a click away.

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Now I’ve discovered that there is a whole subgenre of horror films featuring animals rendered on a Pentium III.

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I see.

Sounds like some White Muricans I know who pine for their irish roots and all might like it, given how cheesy their notions of the olde country can be. :person_shrugging:

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That was clearly their audience, I’d agree. That’s how you get oscars, after all! But not just Irish Americans, people in England whose families left Northern Ireland specifically, probably.

When I saw it, I took it as being from the perspective of kids, so that explains some of the “cheesiness” that @robertmckenna indicated… I would say it probably heavily sanitized the conflict, too, because of the angle he was going for - from the perspective of the children. Also, probably explains the B&W, too? Also, his family was Protestant, so it’s from that perspective as well. He certainly presented his street as being mixed religiously and therefore as being somewhat outside the tensions, until the tensions arrive there…

I liked it well enough. I can see the problems indicated by robert, though for sure.

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Honestly, I’ve seen a few of them.
I usually keep my finger poised over the FF button, because most of these films really are that awful.

I don’t know what to tell you about this one except that my trusty FF finger never got used once.
I genuinely sat through an hour of this and I could barely keep the chuckles in.

To be fair, it’s a film I’d only watch once, but I’m glad I did.

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Godzilla Minus One shows that we’re really in an era of balancing scenes of kaiju destruction with actual worthwhile human stories. While Shin Godzilla’s human drama was about the failures of bureaucracy in the face of a natural disaster, Minus One’s is about living with the scars of war. After watching, we couldn’t help but reflect on the fact that we’re so far removed from what happened to Japan in WW2, and this movie was such a painful look at how people tried to get by afterward. In the end it’s a movie about the enduring Japanese spirit, but it beats you around on the way there.

It’s also yet another reboot for the Godzilla franchise. Aside from there being a prehistoric reptile mutated by the radiation American nuclear testing, they approached it all in a much more grounded manner than I’ve seen in other films. The plan for killing Godzilla – using tanks of freon to rapidly sink the creature in an effort to crush it before it can acclimate, and then to use a series of emergency rafts to lift and rapidly decompress it – was all sorts of clever, even if a wild swing.

I recommend catching it if you can.

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Follow-up:

From Joaquin Phoenix to Rowan Atkinson, we enjoyed your Musk movie casting calls

The votes are in, the poll is closed:

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Good watch, this one (on Netflix):

Luther’s ‘Frybread Face and Me’ explores intertribal relations

https://ictnews.org/news/luthers-frybread-face-and-me-explores-intertribal-relations

Billy Luther’s first foray into narrative feature length film territory, “Frybread Face and Me”, is a highly successful endeavor. Luther displays a talent for navigating queerness in such a delicate and artful manner that he reminds us that just because a story has queer elements, it does not necessarily mean it’s the whole story.

Not only this, Luther (Navajo/Hopi/Laguna) explores intertribal relations with a deft manner and humorous eye. It takes a very specific and talented writer/director combination to be able to pull these things off and Luther has all the qualities required in a director.

Expertly cast with the most current and trending Indigenous actors working today, the cast of mostly Navajo actors shine: Morningstar Angeline (Diné) is luminescent as Benny’s mom Ann and Kahara Hodges (Navajo) as Aunt Lucy is dreamy as Benny’s rowdy aunt who drives an old beat up ford around the rez and sells jewelry to make ends meet.

Jeremiah Bitsui (Diné) and Tik Tok Navajo celebrity Nasheen Slueth (Diné) join the party as comic relief as Uncle Roger and Aunt Sharon. Keir Tallman (Navajo) and Charley Hogan (Navajo) have great chemistry as the child leads, Benny and Frybread Face.

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My BFF watched this recently and she said it was great…

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Saw it tonight.

Easily my favorite movie of the year, and the best Godzilla film, by a long shot, since '54. It’s one of the very few kaiju movies where I’ve been more invested in the human story than the monster action, even when that action sets a new bar, as this did. The attack on Ginza in particular is bone-chillingly visceral, evoking Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Can’t wait to see it again (and to buy the score). Drop everything and go see it on as big a screen as you can. Hope Hollywood is taking notes.

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