easy rider - 4/5 i would probably be happier if i could live my life as a dirty, smelly hippie. it's a wobbly film in some ways, i agree, but as a film that captured an era & a moment, it has few peers.
war of the worlds 4/5 underrated, i think. that tim robbins scene never quite worked for me, and it has a slightly too happy ending, but otherwise this is a model blockbuster action film in my books.
my week:
i tonya (2017) 4 honestly, just about everything about this is a delight, except when it's genuinely sad. i truly feel bad for harding.
my only objection is that perhaps the film-makers take just a bit too much glee in beating up on the characters, particularly dimwitted bodyguard.
war of the worlds (1957) 3.5 i reliably have a good time whenever i revisit this.
bite (2015) 3 girl gets one hell of an infection from an insect bite while on a bachelorette weekend. not a great deal of sense-making to be found here, but the effects area absolutely disgusting - would make cronenberg proud, i bet! - and the lead actress goes all in on her performance. truly disgusting!
the eyes of my mother (2016) 4 genuinely arresting at times - occasionally almost poetically beautiful, but also filled with truly nightmarish images. some may feel like it's a bit long on atmosphere & short on narrative, but i thought it played perfectly, & i think it's becoming one of my favourites of all recent horror films.
pieces (1982) 4 my favourite 80s slasher. i wish i could marry this movie.
the forest of love (2019) 3.5 new sion sono. like a lot of his films, there's a lot to take in with sono's latest, and i feel like he may have stretched the boundaries just a bit too far. i definitely was left feeling a little wrung out & exhausted rather than feeling satisfied. but i still had lots & lots of fun at times, & it's definitely worth the watch if you're at all a fan of what this guy does.
absentia (2011) 4 mike flanagan has a true gift for taking material that would be cliched & tired in almost anyone else's hands & making it fresh & creepy & atmospheric. i've said in the past that oculus was his best, but after giving this another go for about the 15th time, i'm now leaning towards this one. everything in this works aside from some slightly soap opera-ish acting.
loving vincent (2017) 2.5 it's very pretty to look at, but i found this to be a very uninteresting story. it was endlessly dreary & tiresome & i couldn't wait for it to end.
king kelly (2012) 4 cam girl spends the night trying to find the drugs hidden in the trunk of her car. fun, energetic, sleazy, drug fueled romp.
sinister (2012) 3.5 a bit too long & a bit too loose in its story-telling i'd say, but the found footage scenes are genuinely creepy.
macabre (1980) 3.5 murder, necrophelia, creepy children. this takes a little while to get interesting, but when it gets interesting it gets really interesting!
wonderfully twisted, & absolutely worth a look.
gwen (2019) 3.5 period horror-ish film that absolutely earns comparisons to the witch. not nearly as good imo, but if you liked the earlier film, you'll probably find things to enjoy here.
scream (1996) 3.5 surprisingly little sheen has worn off, i'd say.
still plays like a snappy, fun good time to me.
scream 2 (1997) 2.5 a bit too busy & cluttered, i'd say. still has its pleasures, but not on the level of the original model.
(rec) 2007 5 i feel a bit silly giving this a perfect score, because it's not a perfect movie. the first 65 minutes or so is fairly standard found footage/monster/outbreak scares. it's all very well done, but it's not appreciably superior to other reasonably well made films of this sort.
but the last 15 minutes are truly terrifying. i actually yelled in fright at one point, not to sound like too much of a god-damned sissy.
this is the only film i honestly feel has genuinely frightened the adult me. and to me, being the only film to get that out of me makes this worthy of a perfect score.
35 shots of rum (2008) 4 nothing special in subject matter - widowed father navigates his life as his daughter gets ready to move on - but it worked its way into my head & i ended up loving it & really being quite moved by its ending.
scream 3 (2000) 2 uninspired blandness seems to have firmly established itself as the dominant tone in this one. still some fun to be had, particularly in the opening, but it tails off into numbing boredom.
a few bonus points for featuring parker posey, but any goodwill is dissipated by the presence of jenny mccarthy ffs.
the conspiracy (2012) 3 ound footage conspiracy (duh) thriller that imagines what it would be like if alex jones was right about the world. quite good & fun, but left me feeling that there was a better film hidden in the clutter here. if it had been tightened up a little, particularly in the last third, it could have achieved something close to greatness.
absolutely worth a watch, regardless.
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[deleted]
5 years ago
penance (2009) 2.5 like a lot of found footage affairs, this is dull for a spell, but my gosh it has some absolutely brutal stuff in it. if you like seeing reasonably foxy strippers subjected to quite miserable torments, and if you enjoy a bit of torture porn, you'll find things to enjoy here.
hatchetman (2003) 3 stripper/aspiring lawyer & her policeman boyfriend try to catch a serial killer targeting strippers.
at the 43 minute mark, the building manager, who presumably should know a little bit about tenant privacy & so on, is shocked to learn that it's illegal to put a camera in a stripper's apartment so he can watch her undress.
clearly i knew this wasn't a serious movie, but that was a level of non-seriousness that took me aback.
it's fun though. soap opera level acting, cute girls, lots of nudity, silly murder mystery.
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Mrmojo4700 (21074)
5 years ago
I’m glad you got to enjoy Pieces again. Did you get to see those pro tennis skills? That’s a damn awesome movie.
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[deleted]
5 years ago
feder/nadal wimbledon 2008 has nothing on pieces incredible exhibition of tennis skill!
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