Mandy Gorgeous, nightmarish, super-surreal fever dream is a wonderful concoction of so much 70’s and 80’s b-movie glory you’ll feel like your senses are getting assaulted. Divided between beautiful dream-like romantic first half to its dark, drug and gore-drenched Revenge Film second half it is deliberately paced and should strictly be viewed as an art film. Cage’s more crazy-style acting is used in the best possible way here, he is fucking brilliant in this film. As is Johann Johansson’s final film score, a gorgeous synth that caps off his short life masterfully. That’s what this movie is. A haunting, dizzying masterpiece that is definetly not for all tastes. This movie has, amongst many many MANY things a terrifying scenery-chewing cameo from Richard Brake, a fucking balls-out 80’s-style chainsaw fight and a final kill in it that you won’t forget as long as you live— no matter how how you try. One of the year’s best films, it deserves a wide release. 9.5/10
A Star Is Born (2018) I thought that the original songs in this movie are fantastic, for how they were used in the film. And a couple are genuine hits. Lukas Nelson and his band are a terrific contribution, and I even thought Andrew Dice Clay was good. Good film. First hour is great, second hour rambles a bit, and could've benefited from some montage editing, but overall, good work. Solid performances by Cooper, Gaga and Elliott. I wasn't especially moved one way or the other by Cooper's directing from a visual standpoint. But, whatever responsibility he had for the overall tone and drawing out the cast's work, I thought he did that well.
Jason Isbell wrote the songs for that movie, which explains the quality of songwriting. He actually refused when Cooper first offered it to him because he didn't care for the original movie. He only agreed after he was able to read the entire script first.
Isbell only wrote one, but it's a great one: "Maybe It's Time" that they've used in one of the trailers The rest were written by various combinations of Cooper, Gaga and Nelson. The song that will be the biggest hit, "Shallow" was written by Gaga and Mark Ronson. Ronson has produced or written with Adele and Gaga before (and also wrote Uptown Funk, which is hilarious), and Wiki tells me he is currently producing a new album for Miley Cyrus. The music is just really great in the film - it's like it's own character.
Chappaquiddick Overall, its ok. Jason Clarke is excellent as Ted Kennedy, the rest of the acting is pretty forgettable. I just couldnt take Jim Gaffigan seriously. There could have been more build-up into what led to the accident and more elaboration on how things developed after. The first and third acts felt pretty rushed. Im not sure how much of the back-room dealing to keep him out of jail is true or if its artistic license, but that is in an insane of amount of injustice if it is true. I hated all of the characters by the end, but maybe that was the point? Kennedy was loathsome in real-life because of this event anyway. Its worth checking out on Netflix if theres nothing better to watch. 5/10
I saw it tonight. It isn't great, certainly not up to the standards of some of the recent MCU films, but it was entertaining. Some weak writing, Riz Ahmed's character is terrible, and not really fleshed out properly. I think Michelle Williams was miscast or underused. But I laughed some, and Hardy was good. If you're going simply for entertainment you won't be disappointed, but if you think it's an Oscar contender, you'll leave sad. I saw it free with MoviePass, so I thought it was okay.
Halloween Good fun. Scary, gory, not enough titty. Spoiler Same description as my high school prom night!
If anybody goes to see the new Halloween, tell me the name of the movie that has the trailer with the boy - opens with a psychiatrist and a metronome.
Halloween Wasn’t perfect, but still really enjoyable. Probably the best film in the entire series. I liked that they walked back almost all of the stupid lore from the earlier movies and just made him a deranged psycho again. It was far better than the garbage Rob Zombie movies. It was funny in some spots and pretty tense in others. Some nitpicky shit: Spoiler -No one cared that the husband/dad died on the front lawn? -Laurie had 40 years to prep and the best gun she had was a rusty old Winchester? No semi-auto anything? -How did he find the two podcasters at the gas station? 7/10
I don't think it's a spoiler since it was in the trailer but apparently, according to Jamie Lee Curtis, her weaponry and use of firearms were all determined by her to reflect her stance on gun control. My guess is it's part "Hollywood elite thinks black rifles are icky" and part "a lever action is more aesthetically pleasing in a motion picture that isn't about SWAT teams and bank heist."
I just saw it last night; it was decent. I don't remember a lot about the character from the comics, but the movie definitely puts him on the good end of the anti-hero spectrum. Spoiler From the credit cookie, looks like we're getting Carnage to represent the evil side of the Symbiotes.
I think that's why she Spoiler walked room to room with the rifle instead a hand gun? Which was dumb. But, that doesn't explain why she practice held a pump shotgun in front of her face instead of shoulder or hip. She'd have broken her nose.
Overlord Good stuff. I didn't really know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised at how engaged I was the whole time. Unique film, for sure. The opening war scene(s) was fantastic, and I'd have been satisfied if the whole thing was just a war pic - but, it takes a turn for sure. Also, didn't realize that was Kurt Russell's son - he's good.
The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs and other tales of the American Frontier The Coen brothers deliver another classic via Netflix this time, a Western-themed anthology of half a dozen unrelated movies done in completely different film and storytelling styles, ranging from absurdity to reflection, but the primary focus is sadness and loss— which they deliver both in heaping doses. They get you attached to these great characters and then just rip them from your arms screaming, not giving a damn about the attachment. Wreathed by their trademark humour and irony here is a heart that is as black as gets. Tim Blake Nelson deserves an Oscar as the title character, an joyously murderous singing cowboy done in the style of Tom Mix and Will Rogers-style westerns. From then on it starts getting doomsday dark on a near-Twilight Zone level of “nobody is safe” but you can’t take your eyes off it. Another masterfully detailed flick from the Coens as they continue to rival Scorsese as America’s greatest filmmakers. 9/10
I loved the first one with Tim Blake Nelson, and I've watched up through the Liam Neeson one. Do they get better again after that? I didn't really like that one, mostly because I didn't get it, so that's probably on me.
People’s taste vary widely between the segments. Neeson’s is one of the nastiest ones, and possibly the weakest. Each one is very different from the next. Right now there is a borderline movement happening on social media made up of movie fans wanting Buster to have his own feature-length film. That would be amazing.