Can we add movies that are underrated, but not ‘under’ enough? A hot day in the garden, too many beers afterwards, and I wound up watching “Hercules” with Dwayne…Johnson? (The Rock). Awful, just completely awful in almost every way.
As for 2001, I’ve loved it since first sight, but I’ll be damned if I understand anything in it, other than the sequel which swung way too far away from the artistic and into The Explained. Sometimes it’s good to have no clue as to what’s going on.
Wow that was quite fun. Totally umm yes lets just make up crazy computer capabilities but it works for the movie.
Well that’s the core of Alien 3 hate. It pulled such an utterly brutal emotional move on people invested in the characters of the previous movie.
Too, too cruel. And perhaps that’s the key to whether you like it or not. Whether you can handle that kick to the crotch.
I like each of the four main Alien movies for very distinctly different reasons. The third (SE) was the last one I saw, and I enjoyed it. I liked that the human/social elements of it better than the others. But that’s the problem with a franchise - they encourage prejudice. I had no expectations going into it, and don’t have the first two on a pedestal.
FWIW I don’t think “supposed to care about” works. I like knowing that I will feel differently watching a good movie, but not being spoon-fed what to feel.
Alien 3’s m’fav… so far.
I liked Alien 3 but I couldn’t have cared less that Newt and Hicks were dead. Maybe I was just too young when it came out but Ripley was the hero and that universe was harsh so yeah, it didn’t bother me.
What DID bother me is that although there was great talent among the actors, that movie had no personality. The sets, the costumes even the Alien were just backdrops. Yeah, it took place in a space-prison and everybody had a uniform (and lice) but there was no uniqueness of character. Prison inmates are some pretty colorful people too.
And the prison set itself was so repetitive and dull. No fantastic shots like the sulaco, even the giant mold seemed fake. In my opinion it really lost it there. I think there was even an article on boingboing awhile ago about how, in a good sci-if, the setting itself is a character. That’s what Ridley Scott and Cameron got that other directors don’t seem to get. Look at Prometheus, take all the actors out and it’s still as good (
) because it’s mysterious and watching it brings on a sense of wonder.
That’s what alien three was lacking. It had great writing and acting, moral conundrums and a message but it didn’t have a presence. It didn’t have a setting.
So yeah after a gif from @anon61221983 and also recently listened to a specific episode of The Greatest Movie Ever Podcast I watched the Speed Racer movie. It was great fun. It is NOT a live action film. It is a cartoon that uses live action actors for the characters and very much a Speed Racer standard story with better dialog and the race sequences are amazing.
The 8-bit computer teen nerd sex comedy genre.
Along with Weird Science.
I saw Speed Racer last year after reading positive comments from people whose opinion I value - like FILMCRITHULK, after initially not being very interested when it was released. I’m not au fait with the original (manga/TV series?).
http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/03/27/film-crit-hulk-smash-speed-racer-as-artist
http://io9.com/5954595/10-reasons-why-speed-racer-is-an-unsung-masterpiece
I thought it was a bit of a mess when I watched it, but…I dunno. Maybe I should try it again. I want to like it.
Having watched the original series helps a lot with the enjoyment. The the few manga translations I have read are pretty close to the actual tv show episode that was based on manga story.
I thought it was quite imaginative, and in some ways, the fact that no one really had much idea of how computers worked or might in the future gave them a lot of freedom to create a character of the computer with just the most minimal trappings of realism.
@gregmcph Such a great genre!
All I know is that after I watched that utterly ridiculous (but thoroughly entertaining) movie, I started saying “Cool beans!” unironically.
Also, should John Goodman be in more stuff? My answer is yes.
Recently I’ve been working my way through Kubrick films I hadn’t seen.
Which ended up being:
The Killing
Spartacus
Lolita
Barry Lyndon
Much as I love Strangelove, 2001 (mostly) and Full Metal Jacket, I can’t claim to have loved any of them. Lolita always just seemed icky, so I’d shied away from it. @Donald_Petersen - you’ll have to accept my apologies to Trumbo for my opinion of Spartacus. Just didn’t do anything for me. Barry Lyndon I could appreciate Kubrick’s work, and it was a beautiful film, but the story just bored me. I don’t think picaresque stories are really my thing.
Oh well, tonight’s movie is Re-Animator.
That’s okay. Spartacus didn’t win him an Oscar anyway… just helped him get paid better again. Funny story: much as Kirk Douglas loves to claim credit for breaking the blacklist by crediting Trumbo, at first he wasn’t at all sure he should do it. While meeting with Kubrick and producer Eddie Lewis, they tried to figure out what to do. Douglas suggested Lewis take full or partial credit, but Lewis wouldn’t hear of it. Then Kubrick suggested he himself could take credit for the screenplay. That kinda creeped out Douglas and Lewis so they said “Fuck it” (in a spiritual sense) and decided to credit Trumbo publicly rather than credit Kubrick.
I have to watch it again. It’s been way too long.
Still haven’t seen Lolita, and I’ll get around to it sooner or later. Saw Barry Lyndon in college, and it bored me to tears. The most glacial pace I can remember ever sitting through.
You know, Jupiter Rising wasn’t awful. It didn’t make sense, and the heroine was annoyingly passive, but it was a gorgeous film. And wasn’t a sequel, remake, reboot or adaptation.
So stupid movie class time…
The first offering this quarter was actually quite good, These Are The Damned. An American tourist and a Brit cycle gang led by a young Oliver Reed cross paths and they end up in a top secret military base where strange cold to the touch children are being kept in isolation on a ‘space journey’ and are strangely cold-to-the-touch. Our intrepid heroes want to rescue the children but seem to be suffering from some kind of strange illness after meeting them. The ending is very dark and not happy but one of those how else can you deal with this situation things.
And fun fact this is where the band The Damned got their name.
Was it? I always assumed it was Visconti’s ‘The Damned’.
IMBD says the Hammer film in the trivia section which could be wrong. I can’t find anything anywhere else.
This belongs in the…film…thread(?), but last night I watched “Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in)” and it BLEW ME AWAY. I’m guessing it’s most likely underrated, but damn it was good.
may I prevail upon you to hyphenate “cold-to-the-touch” in the future?
also, The Damned are awesome (!)
