Let's All Go to the Movies

Ready or Not: One of the most fun, mindless movies I've seen lately and it was paced well at about 95 mins. Samara Weaving plays Grace, who is about to marry into a super wealthy family. But she has to play a game as a rite of initiation, then shit hits the fan. Very easy to see strong inspiration from movies like Kill Bill or Cabin in the Woods as Grace descends into madness as the plot unfolds.

This is definitely more of a dark comedy than thriller packed with Jordan Peele/Sam Raimi type humor, which built up into quite a satisfying conclusion. But don't get me wrong, it is such a flawed movie, perhaps like a bougier You're Next riddled with campy 80's vibes. The ride is so worth it purely for Samara Weaving's performance. She's totally cemented herself as a badass final girl, definitely gotta check this out if you liked Mayhem and The Babysitter!
 
The Peanut Butter Falcon- 6/10
A buddy film with allusions to Twain, the film works in a general way, but misses on a lot of the details. Labeouf does an admirable job, Gottsagen's part is written a bit precociously but overall well, and the late-run addition of Thomas Hayden Church is well-done. I suppose the lower-ish score is due to a few missed opportunities for levity and a touch of lack-of-development. The ending sequence was nice and lends a touch of mystery to the reality of the story, in a kind of Fisher King type of way.
 
I watched a few documentaries recently.

American Factory - 9/10

What starts as an observation of hope a Chinese company brings to Dayton, Ohio by opening a plant in what used to be a GM assembly factory turns into a timely piece on labor-management relations in the global economy. While the doc remains neutral, we get a shocking view of the disdain for American worker and the naked envy management has for how employees are treated in China. Following both American employees making $12.50/hr and the Chinese billionaire owner of the company puts the divide on full display, as the two consistently fail to understand each other. American Factory is a much watch for those interested in context for our current trade war and what late stage capitalism has in store for every day Americans. On Netflix.
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The Inventor: Out For Blood in Silicon Valley - 5/10

HBO's documentary on Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is over-polished and doesn't offer much new insight into the scandal. I think I saw a 60 Minutes piece on the subject that gave much of the same information in a quarter of the run-time. It did seem the filmmakers wanted to really hit Silicon Valley for fostering such an obvious con but they didn't land the haymaker they intended. I'm not looking forward to Adam McKay's loony interpretation next year.
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The Amazing Johnathan Documentary - 6/10

Lines are blurred as a filmmaker follows a dying, meth addicted, comedic magician as he embarks on a comeback tour. The doc takes a strange twist as the filmmaker himself starts to wonder if the illusionist is being truthful with him about the madness surrounding the film. The director seemed all too eager to become the subject and the rules of documentary filmmaking are bent to their limits. Entertaining and frustrating at the same time. The conclusion didn't pay off for me. On Hulu.
 
LurchingBeast said:
The Inventor: Out For Blood in Silicon Valley - 5/10

HBO's documentary on Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is over-polished and doesn't offer much new insight into the scandal. I think I saw a 60 Minutes piece on the subject that gave much of the same information in a quarter of the run-time. It did seem the filmmakers wanted to really hit Silicon Valley for fostering such an obvious con but they didn't land the haymaker they intended. I'm not looking forward to Adam McKay's loony interpretation next year.
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TBH I read the book the doc was based on and it was also sorta a snoozefest. It raised a lot of questions but came to very few actual conclusions.
 
Finally caught the new Halloween (2018) last weekend. Given the relative acclaim, I thought it would be great, but it was just as mediocre as the better sequels. Seriously, it wasn't any better than the other two times JLC "definitively" killed Michael Myers (2 and H20) and still a far cry from the original. It had a few clever touches, but I kinda wish I didn't waste my rare evening to myself movie on it. I also like how Michael escapes from the hospital because, "sure why not?"
 
Thread:


No more old 20th Century Fox movies on the big screen. No more Aliens. No more Christmas showings of Die Hard. Heat. Planet of the Apes. No Halloween season screenings of The Omen or Poltergeist. No midnight showings of Rocky Horror. Repertory and 2nd run theaters will close.

Further fallout of getting the X-Men on screen with Hulk for three hours.
 
LurchingBeast said:
Thread:


No more old 20th Century Fox movies on the big screen. No more Aliens. No more Christmas showings of Die Hard. Heat. Planet of the Apes. No Halloween season screenings of The Omen or Poltergeist. No midnight showings of Rocky Horror. Repertory and 2nd run theaters will close.

Further fallout of getting the X-Men on screen with Hulk for three hours.
Click to expand...

Well, sure - but just imagine seeing Wolverine fight alongside the Hulk.

Really imagine.

It’s awesome, right?

Totally worth it.
 
matedog said:
Finally caught the new Halloween (2018) last weekend. Given the relative acclaim, I thought it would be great, but it was just as mediocre as the better sequels. Seriously, it wasn't any better than the other two times JLC "definitively" killed Michael Myers (2 and H20) and still a far cry from the original. It had a few clever touches, but I kinda wish I didn't waste my rare evening to myself movie on it. I also like how Michael escapes from the hospital because, "sure why not?"
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Yeah, I pretty much hated it. The twist was stupid and went nowhere, the Dad was a ridiculous clown character, and a lot of the dialogue was laughable. The only things I liked were the shot of Michael in the prison yard from the trailer and the scene where he kills the kids in the bathroom. Oh, and at least the token black kid was funny.
 
Podunkparte said:
Yeah, I pretty much hated it. The twist was stupid and went nowhere, the Dad was a ridiculous clown character, and a lot of the dialogue was laughable. The only things I liked were the shot of Michael in the prison yard from the trailer and the scene where he kills the kids in the bathroom. Oh, and at least the token black kid was funny.
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Agreed. I also liked the fact that he kills a kid because I don't think he's done that before (I guess he's trying to kill a kid in 4 and 5). Also the balcony/disappearing JLC was a nice homage to the first one with a twist.

But other than that, yeah, not any better than the better sequels and still far below the original.
 
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