“Night Of The Hunter” - 2.5/4

This is described as a neo-noir thriller but if it was made today you would call it a black comedy. It is very, very funny in ways that Charles Laughton could not have intended. I think it was supposed to have an almost fairytale feel to it - the perspective of good and evil is incredibly childish and the performances can only be excused if the director is creating his own morality tale seen through the eyes of the children.
I have this on blu-ray but never got to see it before my player died, so I stuck it on last night when I was in the Mitchum mood.
Robert Mitchum is fantastic in this, totally unhinged and yet completely buttoned up. The only comparison I have is James McAvoy in “Filth”, truly an incredible performance in an otherwise ridiculous film. Mitchum let’s it all hang out and it is a performance that I was not expecting at all.

Lots of genre films sneak a hefty amount of comedy in between the 40’s and mid 60’s… it can take me out of a picture or it can give me time to breathe. I prefer when John Wayne films would throw a few yuks in, it is more suited to a broader genre. Thrillers don’t need laughs in them.

Footloose 7/10 (I add a point for the soundtrack)

80s cheddar with an obligatory montage moment. I found my attention wandering by the time it reached the third act, but I stayed for the music.

Arizona

my tv has the dumb Google UI and one of the apps loaded on it is this shitty Tubi app that has just buttloads of really shitty movies. this one caught my eye while I was scrolling through and I saw Danny McBride and it was late and I was doing a puzzle so I said sure. it's really boring. the opening scene made it look like it was going to be a less clever The Big Short (talking about mortgages etc etc in 2008) but then Seth Rogen gets pushed out of a window and I guess it's like a thriller/"dark comedy" movie but it never really caught my attention in any meaningful way. idk, 3/10 i guess

A rare good movie weekend for me.

Unstoppable (2010):

I'm intrigued by Tony Scott. I don't envision myself ever watching Top Gun because while I'll watch the odd Tom Cruise movie, something about that whole setup rubs me the wrong way.

BUT Tony Scott directed True Romance, and that's one of my all-time faves. Plus, it never dawned on me until recently that he was Ridley's brother (I'm not a film buff, so sue me).

Anyways, Unstoppable is an easy 8/10. Scott doesn't try to win any Oscars. Still, he somehow adds a lot of subtext and buy-in to an absolutely preposterous premise (a runaway train with toxic/nuclear/biohazardous material threatening to destroy a whole town).

It's all about how Scott frames the movie. You have separate subplots relating to the train, with each player dedicated in their own way and their own motivations to stop the train. Each character possesses enough beats and nuances that you're invested in each story.

A straightforward, taut thriller made by a guy who knew what he was doing. Denzel and Chris Pine also have tremendous chemistry, and Rosario Dawson shines.

Crimson Tide (1995):

Also a Tony Scott joint. 8.5/10. Exceptional. Denzel again. Crimson Tide is far more the Denzel show than Unstoppable, though. And he's going head-to-head with Gene Hackman.

It's a similar formula to Unstoppable but with the wrinkle of nuclear war with Russia, and they're all on a submarine with a muddled message to fire a nuclear missile (or maybe NOT fire that missile), leading to the primary tension with Hackman and Denzel.

There's a collection of awesome character actors (a young Viggo Mortensen, too, who honestly kicks ass) and pre-Sopranos Gandolfini. And similar to Unstoppable, it's almost a sports movie because you have all these different characters with unique wrinkles who are stuck in the shit, and their emotions go up and down with the ebbs and flows of the movie.

The dialogue is also wicked. They punched up this script like a motherfucker with a band of writers, including Tarantino.

An absolute genre masterclass from Scott. The man was really good at what he did.

Escape From New York (1981):

Another 8/10. Really cool, atmospheric movie. Kurt Russel is the man. I love the character work put forth by Harry Dean Stanton. The premise of "New York is a giant prison" is absolutely awesome. Post apocalyptic schlock with lots of subtext and hidden depth. The ending slaps like a motherfucker, too, with Snake getting the better of everyone. Shout out to Lee Van Clief as well. He steals most of his scenes and is a total asshole.

Also, the detail of everyone in New York knowing Snake and thinking he's dead with no outright explanation is a beautiful touch. Adds to the mystique splendidly.

I watched “Crimson Tide” for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Gene Hackman was the best at playing angry old bastards. I should watch “The Hunt For Red October” and “Das Boot” too. I watched “Run Silent, Run Deep” last night but it was pretty shit for a Burt Lancaster movie. He was good though, they just gave all of the best lines to Clarke Gable who was on his last legs and looked hellish. Bad teeth.

“Glengarry Glen Ross” - 3.5/4

I watched this the other night and it was so profane and energetic that it took me completely by surprise. I’m trying to watch only classics right now and I though David Mamet should get a look in. I struggle with long winded speeches and line repetition so I’m surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did, Jack Lemmon stole the show fairly easily but that Baldwin scene is tits. I’ll probably watch that again just to feel macho when I’m drunk.

A couple of weeks ago I watched “The Iceman Cometh”.

Four hours of alcoholics talking utter shite.

3/4

I "soft" watched The Conversation from 1974 (I was busy doing shit and had it on in the background...intended to actually watch but just got distracted with busy work). What I saw was awesome (John Cazale and Gene Hackman in the same movie directed by a prime Coppola is a winning combo). But even in 1974, Hackman looked about 65. He was an angry old bastard over 20 years before he was likely the appropriate age to play one.

“Sunset Boulevard” - 3.5/4

This is one creepy, hilarious gothic thriller. It’s almost as creepy as “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?” and it’s more believable even if the mania doesn’t reach half the height. Every film I see William Holden in is elevated by the ease of his performance. What a glorious bloke, died like Bob Saget but drunker.

I’ll have to bite the bullet and continue the Billy Wilder education.

That’s why it’s called part 1 bud

Lock Jaw's critical reviews never fail to drive me up the wall.

You can still try to structure a movie... I guess LotR is a bad example... The Hobbit maybe more apt... first two movies definitely have an arc and a good stopping point.... not just "the credits suddenly appear here"

Licorice Pizza 7.7/10

Using “The Hobbit” as an example is pretty funny considering the book is about two hundred pages and they somehow expanded it into three completely unnecessary films.

Dune in a oner doesn’t work. They have tried and failed before.

Not claiming The Hobbit movies were good or that Dune should have been one movie.... just saying there is a definite way to structure a multi-part movie where the movie doesn't just end suddenly.

Dream Scenario 7.8/10

Oppenheimer 7.5/10

For a three-hour film, it keeps you reasonably engrossed, though post-trinity test (I found the scenes for that section oddly flat) I found my attention starting to wander.

Cillian Murphy does a fantastic job and should get an Oscar for his performance.

Thankfully, the dialogue was not mixed low in the audio mix. Hopefully, Nolan will continue not to bury the dialogue in his future films.

Saw Oppy as well. I'd give it an 8 and would say the Trinity scenes are really great and got me pumped.

I'm not a HUGE Nolan fan (I've enjoyed some of the classics but his shit isn't rewatchable), but man, that was a well-cast movie. Cillian Murphy was note-perfect. Obviously, there's a long list of heavyweights in the supporting cast (who all were great--Downy, Damon, and Casey Affleck especially), but dear god, David Krumholtz kicks absolute ass. That guy is one of the best character actors of our generation.

Reason I can't go higher than 8 is I'm never watching it again.

i've rewatched Dark Knight like 10 times

I meant for me. Used to be able to rewatch Dark Knight because Ledger is just something else. But I can’t anymore. It’s a slog like I find the rest of his movies to be.

that sux

Slog Dogs

I watched TDKR way too many times in a row when I first got it on DVD. I don’t rewatch films immediately like a child but that one stuck me in a loop for a whole 24 hour period at least.
I also watched “The Sum Of All Fears” at least three times in a row just because it has audio commentary that made me laugh a lot. There’s a Jap film I watched for about six hours just trying to understand it but I honestly can’t remember the name of plot so clearly that was just time frittered away.

I raked through my DVD’s there and the Jap film is called “Casshern” and the synopsis is just word salad. I remember a guy in a bike helmet who has mum issues or dad issues or something like that.

Why are they always in bike helmets anyway

I gave it a 3.5/4 in this thread…

I should stop smoking weed.

Said the word “vibe” in that review.

Now I have to flagellate my own ass

Well you reap what you sow

At the end of the day, I could probably have Godfather Pt I and II on all day, every day, but I can't do the same for Dark Knight.

Rewatching is bizarre. I was the same as Seanny in that I def had to rewatch Dark Knight when it came out because I'd never seen anything like it. Then, the world got oversaturated with those "gritty" stories and superhero movies, and every time I've tried to watch Dark Knight in the past ten years has resulted in me switching to a different movie.

That said, it's still an easy 8.5 out of 10 at worst for Ledger's performance alone (just because I can't rewatch it now doesn't mean the movie doesn't/didn't absolutely fuck). Really detested the sequel with Bane, though. And I'm a fan of Tom Hardy.

Dune 2 visually stunning but all of the interesting stuff seems to have been thrown out in favour of more talking.

At least let me get a good look at a guild navigator ffs.

It was on track to be another beauty too, even the Lynch version kept the Baron Harkonnen gay murder stuff and the guild navigators, you even get more sand worm for your buck in the Lynch one.

Without all of the cool and weird stuff it’s just another space opera.

The Critical Drinker referred to Feyd Rautha as Fayed in his review. He makes a lot of mistakes like that. Tried to claim Das Boot was originally a miniseries once…

Nobody milked any cats either.

It’s like Denis Villeneuve does even like science fiction.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Hadn't seen this one yet and was itching for something kind of fun/mindless while doing a puzzle. The movie definitely gets most of the nostalgia hits right, seeing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield do their thing was a ton of fun. "Hello Peter" by Doctor Octopus was fantastic. Willem Dafoe was in vintage form. The plot was kind of a mess and had holes all over the place, and the whole Holland/Zendaya/fat Hawaiian dynamic leans way too into the whole MCU dumbshit humour, but the movie was a fun spectacle. When Andrew Garfield's Spiderman saves MJ from that fall near the end that was a nice touch.

I guess it's fair to compare it to a movie like Across the Spiderverse. Overall the multiverse "stuff" wasn't as wacky as the Spiderverse movies but you can kind of get away with a lot more in an animated film vs live action so I get it. Across the Spiderverse was a much better movie but I had a lot of fun watching this one. Spiderverse had a great soundtrack. I should re-watch that one, it was great. But I loved seeing old wisened Tobey Maguire Spiderman complain about his back pain.

8/10 I guess (idk I hate numbers). It wasn't a perfect movie by any means and relied far too much on "'member dese guys?" but it was a lot of fun so I give it a pass on that

Dune 8/10

I enjoyed the film. Chalamet takes it up a notch, especially when Paul confronts the southern tribes. Zendaya also does a good job.

They made the right choice with the Alia character.

I can't really go higher than an 8, as a couple of 2-2.5 films will never be able to do the book justice; the world building is far too dense. Plus, the Harkonnens and other aspects have been somewhat sanitised to make it palatable for general audiences, and in doing so, removed some of the character from the IP; something Seanny touched on.

Apparently guild navigators don’t show up until Messiah anyway so it looks like they will turn up in another few years. Also the cat milking thing was a completely Lynchian invention, which actually makes sense.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent 7.8/10

Wonka - 8/10

Entertaining little movie for kids.... lots of heart..... reminded me a lot of the Paddington movies... which later made sense when I found out it was literally the same writer/director/producer.

Galaxy Quest - 9/10

I seen it before but not for a long time and I was flipping through Netflix and thought I needed some more Alan Rickman in my day so I watched it. Still great

“Galaxy Quest” is far and away the best thing that Tim Allen ever got involved with, absolutely fantastic film with a great cast. I must have seen it five times, it’s an easy going sci-fi like “Evolution”.

I love Galaxy Quest. Far and away bis best work.. i dunno.Toy Story is a classic that will be absolutely timeless and the Santa Clause is pretty iconic too. Galaxy Quest might be his best but far away? Thats a bridge too far for me.