What Movie Are You Watching?

[danielmann861]

Scream 6 - 1.5/5 -- Thought it was terrible...it feels like this whole franchise has become the very thing it was once mocking. Worse than that, it felt like a rehash of Scream 2. It's a shame, because the opening teased something kind of interesting. If only it had the strength of its convictions to follow through and do something interesting instead of just adhering to the same old Scooby Doo routine.

Scream 4 - 3.5/5 -- I went back and revisited Scream 4 after IV and was reminded just how slightly ahead of its time it was. Arguably the strongest social commentary in any of the Scream films. It washed the bad taste of VI right out of my mouth.

The Whale - 4 / 5 -- Revisited it a second time. Still very moved by it. One of the most accurate depictions of deep depression I've ever seen on screen.

Blast from the Past - 3.5 / 5 -- Always quite liked it. Fraser and Silverstone had good chemistry. Walken is great as the unhinged Commie fearing father. Just a nice sweet simple romantic comedy that always charmed me. Always felt it was a bit overlooked.

Cocaine Bear - 2.5 / 5 -- I wanted it to be more Roger Corman. Instead it was more 80's Amblin. Not terrible. Kind of reminded me of Snakes on a Plane. Fun while watching but fairly forgettable.

Creed III - 3.5 / 5 -- Follows the Rocky formula to a tee, but if it ain't broke then don't fix it, I guess.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods - 1.5 / 5 -- Once you remove the one gimmick that the original film had (that being the Big meets superhero gimmick) it exposes just how weak it actually is. The first movie had its charms and was a fun little film. The sequel felt like manufactured shit devoid of all charm and just left me checking my watch over and over again.

 

[bcdcdude]

Hi all! Here's another list for you. I reckon as time goes on my film watching might wind down a bit which is fine except the 4 gigantic pile of films yet to watch says otherwise!

New films
1) Lady In Cement / Gordon Douglas / 1968 / 2/5
2) La Pointe Courte / Agnés Varda / 1955 / 3/5
3) My Little Chickadee / Edward F. Cline / 1940 / 2/5
4) The Scarlet Letter / Wim Wenders / 1973 / 2/5
5) Friday / F. Gary Gray / 1995 / 4/5
6) Mae West / Lee Philips / 1982 / 3/5
7) Next Friday / Steve Carr / 2000 / 2/5
8) The Heat’s On / Gregory Ratoff / 1943 / 3/5
9) Heroes of the East / Liu Chia-Liang / 1978 / 4/5
10) The Whale / Darren Aronofsky / 2022 / 4/5
11) Friday After Next / Marcus Raboy / 2002 / 2/5
12) Barking Dogs Never Bite / Bong Joon Ho / 2000 / 3/5
13) Broker / Hirokazu Kore-eda / 2022 / 4/5
14) Marked for Death / Dwight H. Little / 1990 / 3/5
15) Accattone / Pier Paolo Pasolini / 1961 / 4/5
16) You Don’t Nomi / Jeffrey McHale / 2019 / 3/5 [Documentary]
17) Oedipus Rex / Pier Paolo Pasolini / 1967 / 3/5
18) Magic Mike’s Last Dance / Steven Soderbergh / 2023 / 3/5
19) Solaris / Steven Soderbergh / 2002 / 3/5
20) The Doll of Satan / Ferruccio Casapinta / 1969 / 3/5
21) Cocaine Bear / Elizabeth Banks / 2023 / 3/5
22) The Dark Power / Phil Smoot / 1985 / 1/5
23) Knock Off / Tsui Hark / 1998 / 3/5
24) The Host / Bong Joon Ho / 2006 / 3/5
25) Creed III / Michael B. Jordan / 2023 / 3/5
26) Eastwood on Eastwood / Richard Schickel / 1997 [Documentary]
27) Minority Report / Steven Spielberg / 2002 / 2/5
28) All Quiet on the Western Front / Edward Berger / 2022 / 4/5
29) Pearl / Ti West / 2022 / 4/5
30) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania / Peyton Reed / 2023 / 1.5/5
31) Mother / Bong Joon Ho / 2009 / 3/5
32) Dirty Ho / Liu Chia-Liang / 1979 / 3/5
33) Blood and Black Lace / Mario Bava / 1964 / 4/5
34) Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming / Morgan Neville / 2023 / 4/5 [Documentary]
35) The 36th Chamber of Shaolin / Liu Chia-Liang / 1978 / 4/5
36) The Nun and the Devil / Domenico Paolella / 1973 / 2/5
37) Snowpiercer / Bong Joon Ho / 2013 / 4/5
38) Daguerréotypes / Agnés Varda / 1975 / 4/5 [Documentary]
39) Scream VI / Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett / 2023 / 3/5
40) A Swedish Love Story / Roy Andersson / 1970 / 3/5
41) Dead Reckoning / John Cromwell / 1947 / 3/5
42) The Wrong Move / Wim Wenders / 1975 / 3/5
43) Katalin Varga / Peter Strickland / 2009 / 3/5
44) John Wick: Chapter 4 / Chad Stahelski / 2023 / 5/5
45) Betwitched / Kuei Chih-Hung / 1981 / 3/5
46) Tokyo Joe / Stuart Heisler / 1949 / 3/5

Rewatched films
1) Along The Coast / Agnés Varda / 1958 / 5/5 [Short]
2) White Hunter, Black Heart / Clint Eastwood / 1990 / 4/5
3) Man With A Movie Camera / Dziga Vertov / 1929 / 5/5
4) Cléo From 5 to 7 / Agnés Varda / 1962 / 4/5
5) The Fiancés of the Bridge Mac Donald / Agnés Varda / 1961 / 4/5 [short]
6) You’ve Got Beautiful Stairs You Know / Agnés Varda / 1986 / 4/5 [short]
7) Alice in the Cities / Wim Wenders / 1974 / 3/5
8) Memories of Murder / Bong Joon Ho / 2003 / 5/5
9) Unforgiven / Clint Eastwood / 1992 / 4/5
10) Planet of the Apes / Tim Burton / 2001 / 2/5
11) Spring Night, Summer Night / Joseph L. Anderson / 1967 / 3/5
12) The Reckless Moment / Max Ophuls / 1949 / 3/5
13) In The Realm of the Senses / Nagisa Oshima / 1976 / 4/5
14) The Vanishing Lion / Agnés Varda / 2003 / 4/5 [short]
15) Knock on Any Door / Nicholas Ray / 1949 / 3.5/5
16) Shinjuku Triad Society / Takashi Miike / 1995 / 4/5
17) A Perfect World / Clint Eastwood / 1993 / 3/5
18) Rainy Dog / Takashi Miike / 1997 / 3/5
19) Superman / Richard Donner / 1978 / 5/5

Short films
1) O Saisons, O Chateaux / Agnés Varda / 1957 / 3/5
2) Hollywood Bowl / Elmer Perkins / 1934 / 3/5
3) Diary of A Pregnant Woman / Agnés Varda / 1958 / 3/5
4) The So-Called Caryatids / Agnés Varda / 1984 / 3/5
5) Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies / Katsuya Kondo / 2022 / 4/5
6) Football as it is Played Today / Joseph L. Anderson / 1961 / 4/5
7) How Swived / Joseph L. Anderson / 1962 / 2/5
8) Cheers / Joseph L. Anderson / 1963 / 2/5
9) Watchtower over Tomorrow / John Cromwell et al / 1945 / 3/5
10) Silver City / Wim Wenders / 1969 / 1/5
11) Tuesday in November / John Berry / 1945 / 3/5
12) The Negro Soldier / Stuart Heisler / 1944 / 3/5

TV Shows etc
1) MPD Psycho / Takashi Miile / 2000 / 3/5
2) A House For Us [2 episodes] / Wim Wenders / 1974 / 2.5/5
3) Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card / Morio Asaka / 2018 / 4/5
4) The Mandalorian [S1 & S2] / Various / 2019 – 2021 / 4/5
5) The Beatles: Get Back / Peter Jackson / 2021 / 4/5

So i've been watching loads, but unusally i've been rewatching old stuff too (mostly because of giant boxsets I got!) Anything in bold is something that is rather special in my opinion.

I'm a massive fan of Hirokazu Kore-eda and Broker (his first Korean film) retains that greatness. His films have a very human element and when I despair at the world, his films help me find the goodness in people. Marked for Death is not a great film, but I do appreciate a grotty old school action film and this was surprisingly grotty! Steven Seagal is my least favourite of the 80's action greats, but this might be one of his stronger films. X was one of my favourite films of last year, so I was very excited to see Pearl. Thankfully it didn't disappoint and can't wait for the new one. It's quite a novel idea to have a trilogy of films in different timelines and slightly different genres; Mia Goth is amazing here!

As far as John Wick goes, I only caught up with the first 3 a year ago. Never would I imagine that the 4th film in the series would be by far the best. This was probably the best action film since Mad Max Fury Road or The Raid 2; it felt like ballet at times. Absolutely stunning. Along the Coast was a short I seen before, but it was just magical to watch again. Essentially it was a promo film for the French coast in the 1950's, but done with a playful and joyful manner. Man With A Movie Camera was a film I didn't appreciate first time around many years ago, but watching it now older and wiser, it's just truly astonishing; it still feels like the future almost 100 years later.

Parasite introduced me to the work of Bong Joon Ho, but Memories of Murder might be his hidden masterpiece. I've watched all his films (bar Okja) and they're all briliant, but MoM is still a high mark of Korean cinema. In The Realm of the Senses is just a tough watch as it was 8 years ago, but what brave moviemaking. I wanted to watch it again before my Japanese girlfriend moves in with me (I don't want to give her any inspiration haha!)

Shinjuku Triad Society is an early Miike film, but good lord is it brutal. It's almost comical, but 2nd time round still incredibly shocking. A bit hard to follow at times, but what a tour de force. I watched Superman on the big screen just now and possibly the first time i've seen it in well over a decade, but it was just as wonderful as I remember. There was a real sincerity to it that is missing in everyday cinema. There was a trailer for a DC film called Blue Beetle before this and that looked utter gash compared to this masterpiece.

Finally, I got round to watching all 8 1/2 hours of The Beatles Get Back. I was lucky enough to watch the rooftop concert in IMAX a while back, but this was my furst chance to see the whole thing. I probably don't need to hear 'Don't Let Me Down' again for a while, but as a massive Beatles fan, it was like nirvana to see them work their magic. May they reign evermore.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Accattone! Pasolini's first film and one where I wrote a B+ essay on (it was about his triumvirate of first films: Accattone, La Ricotta {which is a short, starring Orson Welles! } and Mamma Roma).

It's a harsh-ish Neorealist film at a time when Neorealism was ending in Italian Cinema (as such, it isn't quite in the same category as a Roma; Citta Aperta {Rome: Open City}, Paisa, Umberto D or Ladri di Biciclette {Bicycle Theives}, but it is still a branch), but the non-professional actors are brilliant: Citti, of course, became a professional actor after this triumvirate and was in Godfathers I and III (as the Sicilian bodyguard who DOESN'T betray Michael). I believe he is also in Oedipus that you watched, but I've never seen it, so I'm not sure.

You gave The Dark Power a 1, but you like it; would it be possible to explain? lol

I did take in a film myself, this weekend.

Night School (2018):

Kevin Hart plays Teddy, a guy with a clear mental issue (meaning more of a learning disability issue, not that he's a sociopath or anything), who is struggling while studying for the SATs. His twin sister is a braniac and has already completely aced the practice test, so the family is wondering why he has so many issues. Come test day, his issues crop up again, he makes a scene (ala Kevin Hart's shtick, which hasn't been funny for a decade now) and drops out of HS. Fast forward 17 years, and he is an incredible salesman for BBQs (which shows he has intelligence, charisma and understanding of human nature) and when the owner says he's retiring and leaving everything to Teddy, Teddy gets ahead of himself, proposes to his G/F at the store, after hours and accidentally opens a propane tank, causing the store to explode. Teddy must now get a new job, but anything lucrative requires a HS education, so he goes back to his old HS (where the Principal is his old HS nemesis) and enrolls in Night School, to get his GED.

Honestly, it isn't unenjoyable, but Hart's shtick has CLEARLY run its course and he just isn't that funny anymore. Tiffany Haddish too, but she at least has changed things up a bit as time has gone on and she's a much better actress than Hart is an actor, comedy, drama or otherwise. I laughed out loud maybe 5 times and my wife 4 (only because she didn't understand the one I did laugh at). The supporting characters are good (save for one, who is INCREDIBLY over the top and hammy), but there is little development with all of them (just that they all had grown from the beginning of the film, but one never sees this growth) and at under 2 hours, it makes sense as there isn't enough time to flesh out the characters.

It's also an incredibly formulaic film and it has pacing issues to boot and when it is revealed for good that Teddy has a learning disability, they spend so little time with it and don't do a deep dive into the real seriousness that is learning disabilities: they even make light of it at first, in a way. A wasted opportunity.

So what you get is a competent, but not-great film.

Fat Joe is awesome, btw.

6/10

 

[bcdcdude]

Accattone! Pasolini's first film and one where I wrote a B+ essay on (it was about his triumvirate of first films: Accattone, La Ricotta {which is a short, starring Orson Welles! } and Mamma Roma).

It's a harsh-ish Neorealist film at a time when Neorealism was ending in Italian Cinema (as such, it isn't quite in the same category as a Roma; Citta Aperta {Rome: Open City}, Paisa, Umberto D or Ladri di Biciclette {Bicycle Theives}, but it is still a branch), but the non-professional actors are brilliant: Citti, of course, became a professional actor after this triumvirate and was in Godfathers I and III (as the Sicilian bodyguard who DOESN'T betray Michael). I believe he is also in Oedipus that you watched, but I've never seen it, so I'm not sure.

You gave The Dark Power a 1, but you like it; would it be possible to explain? lol

I must admit when I think of Pasolini, I think of Saló (I need the courage to watch it again), but I did enjoy Accattone! I really want to watch Pasolini's Arabian Nights trilogy too. I love Italian neo-realism, but they are not the easiest of films to watch (and I do enjoy their more exploitation far), but as far as debut's go, it was great. Big shout out to Umberto D and Bicycle Theives! I think Rocco and His Brothers is another classic too :)

Ah, I apologise! The Dark Power was a GODAWFUL B-movie which put my b-movies to shame. It was amateurishly directed, written, horrifically racist in some places and not scary, but it was one of those "I can't believe what i'm watching" sorts of films. When the main character says "feel my whip" in a way that felt like he was just wishing for his life to end, I knew I was watching something special tragic


I never want to watch it again, but I had to give it its props for even existing haha!

 

[Nathanial Essex]

Saw John Wick 4 in the cinema. First time I went to the cinema by myself and thinking of doing it as much as possible. Used to go with the wife all the time but children have made they near impossible. Also, she's got quite religious since and has little interest in anything mainstream.

30 minutes of adverts and trailers though was a bit much. I haven't been in a long time (saw Black Panther 2 but prior to that it had been years). Has it always been that long?

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

I must admit when I think of Pasolini, I think of Saló (I need the courage to watch it again), but I did enjoy Accattone! I really want to watch Pasolini's Arabian Nights trilogy too. I love Italian neo-realism, but they are not the easiest of films to watch (and I do enjoy their more exploitation far), but as far as debut's go, it was great. Big shout out to Umberto D and Bicycle Theives! I think Rocco and His Brothers is another classic too :)

Ah, I apologise! The Dark Power was a GODAWFUL B-movie which put my b-movies to shame. It was amateurishly directed, written, horrifically racist in some places and not scary, but it was one of those "I can't believe what i'm watching" sorts of films. When the main character says "feel my whip" in a way that felt like he was just wishing for his life to end, I knew I was watching something special tragic


I never want to watch it again, but I had to give it its props for even existing haha!

O.M.G.

That trailer... The stuff of (funny) nightmares!

 

[bcdcdude]

Saw John Wick 4 in the cinema. First time I went to the cinema by myself and thinking of doing it as much as possible. Used to go with the wife all the time but children have made they near impossible. Also, she's got quite religious since and has little interest in anything mainstream.

30 minutes of adverts and trailers though was a bit much. I haven't been in a long time (saw Black Panther 2 but prior to that it had been years). Has it always been that long?

If it's Cineworld, they've been bloody awful lately. Your average wait is 25 minutes. I'm cool with trailers, it's all the bloody ads. Rule of thumb if you do use them; turn up 10-15 minutes after the start time and you should be fine. The only time to ignore this is any event cinema which usually does start on the dot (i'll be seeing the Metallica documentary of their new album tomorrow so will confirm this).

 

[BloodyHeartland]

I’ve been getting so many suggestions I’ve been meaning to watch, but the only one as of late has been Princess Mononoke. Had wanted to watch a few others given their apparent inspiration given to Breath of the Wild and now its sequel, but I don’t think I’ll get a chance til I get back from vacation.

So it’s not as fresh in my mind, but for the most part I really enjoyed it even if the message was more on the nose than I’d thought it would be. Only other Ghibli movie I’ve seen so far was Spirited Away, and I remember feeling it was a bit more open to interpretation. Even so I can enjoy something a bit more grounded and adult oriented, and I figure part of the straightforwardness might be due to it being the dub. Wish I’d have realized before buying it on YouTube.

Also got a feeling to rewatch FLCL. No particular reason, just felt like it. Thing is I was too tired to watch it all and barely made it through episode 3. But I did do some fanarts for these.

 

[red]

i saw afew AAA films. all were good.

Nope, top gun 1 + top gun maverick, uncharted, bullet train, the batman and elvis.

the only film which i thought was a bit meh was top gun 1. seen bits of it before but never the whole movie, it's pretty dated but it is what it is. i wanted to watch it to set my self up for top gun maverick. top gun maverick on the other hand was awesome. i wasnt expecting it to be so good, but i really enjoyed it.

if they make a top gun 3 they should take elements from macross plus. human pilot vs ai in fighter jet trials, then everything goes wrong.. but maybe that's a bit too sci-fi.

 

[danielmann861]

Super Mario Bros Movie - 3.5 out of 5 // It was perfectly fine for what it was. I was actually rather amused that it basically copied the plot of the 1993 movie to a tee. It was fun spotting all the references. Even though I'm more of a SEGA kid at heart, I still had a lot of fun with this. Hard not to be charmed by it. Just a solid fun movie that served the material well and did everything in its power to please its fanbase...so naturally, critics hated it

 

[Your Boy Leroy]

Beau is Afraid - I loved the director’s previous two films, but at three hours for this particular story, I thought it was a little too overindulgent. It’s a pretty good example of when a studio or producer needs to pull the reigns just a tiny bit on a director. I don’t regret seeing it, but I don’t need to add this one to my collection.

 

[Guppy]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Solid all around. It makes the D&D brand proud. Such a fun light-hearted adventure, with that "make itself as we go along" structure of the tabletop games, which is quite ambitious to translate into an actual film. Probably most will forget about it at some point, but it's going to be a personal guilt-pleasure of mine as it was funny, fast-paced and it had great action set-pieces throughout its runtime.

 

[danielmann861]

Evil Dead Rise // 3 out 5 -- I liked it a little better than the 2013 remake, but with that said it has some of the same issues. I feel like both 2013 and Rise focus way more on the gore factor and kind of miss the surrealist/absurdist side that makes Evil Dead so memorable. Sure, the Evil Dead films have always been gory, but there is also an absurdist quality to that gore. One of the most interesting things about the original films is that it's the world surrounding them that is going as equally deranged as the characters that become possessed. And I feel like that quality is somewhat missing in both 2013 and Rise. For instance, in the original Evil Dead, you have that surrealist scene where Ash reaches into the mirror and it turns into a puddle of water. It's stuff like that which I feel the 2013 remake and Rise somewhat lack.

Still, with that said, as a fun gore fest? Did its job perfectly fine and I enjoyed it for what it was. But as an Evil Dead film? Still doesn't quite match the spirit of the original Raimi films.

Drag Me to Hell // 4 out of 5 -- I've seen it before but I wanted to revisit it after seeing Rise. I stand by this. I really like this. It was a great return to horror form for Raimi. I liked it when I first saw it. And I liked it just as much today.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 // 3 out of 5 -- I fell out of the Marvel bandwagon a LONG time ago. So a lot of plot details went completely over my head in this movie. Apparently Gamora died and is now with the Ravagers? As I said, I fell out of line with the Marvel films long ago so a lot of this is over my head.

But I do have a soft spot for GOTG and I have a massive love for James Gunn given his pedigree. As a stand alone film? It mostly keeps itself contained. This is very much Rocket's film as it tells his backstory. A kind of heart-breaking backstory at that. I don't think it has the charm of the original. I actually think both sequels kind of failed to capture what it was I liked about the original film. But still, its heart is in the right place.

The core group still have wonderful chemistry with one another. With every film, I grow to love Dave Bautista's dead pan Drax more and more. He's really fucking good with his wry dead pan delivery. It has the all the whizz and bang of a Saturday morning cartoon. And it serves as a nice enough close to the trilogy as it delivers a satisfying ending. Perfectly fine for what it is if not suffering from diminishing returns.

 

[I Got Sriracha In My DNA]

Spiderman Across the Spiderverse is EXCELLENT. It just does everything great sequels do, expands on key characters, raises the stakes while building upon what came before, and matching the quality of the orginal. I'm seeing it again on Tuesday with my daughter, which I'm looking forward to.

Highly recommended, just know it ends on a cliffhanger, so it's purposefully not resolving its primarily conflict.

 

[red]

i saw guardians of the galaxy 3 at the cinema today.

i thought it was ok but it's not amazing. the second guardians movie is better. without giving out any spoilers, the main baddie is very generic - a constantly shouting man with a god complex.. pretty much like any dictator you have seen depicted in any movie. i would give this film 7.5/10

 

[red]

i watched the covenant, avatar 2 and rewatched avatar 1.

guy ritchie's, the covenant is entertaining. it drifts between realistic, to an 1980s style action movie. it fine no big complaints, the only thing which annoyed me was the lack of reloading during gun fights. (7/10)

i rewatched avatar 1 before watching avatar 2. i think the last time i watched avatar 1 was in the cinema. i remember being very impressed by it first time round but rewatching it recently.. some parts are very cringe worthy.. unfortunately the same goes for avatar 2.. very impressive graphics and the story is good but some parts of the film are really forced... i'm not a fan of the over the top, emotional parts of the film where they try to get the viewer to cry or feel sad.. if they tone that down, it would of been a lot better. sometime i have to stop myself being too critical because i get the feeling these avatar films are aimed at kids. (avatar 2 - 8/10)

 

[bcdcdude]

It might be because of summer or trying to cram other hobbies in, but I haven't watched as much as I would like...

New films
1) Air / Ben Affleck / 2023 / 3/5
2) Mad Monkey Kung Fu / Liu Chia-Liang / 1979 / 3/5
3) Metallica: 72 Seasons / Timothy Saccenti et al / 2023 / 4/5 (Concert)
4) Suzume / Makoto Shinkai / 2022 / 5/5
5) Ashes of Time Redux / Wong Kar Wai / 2008 / 4/5
6) Sirocco / Curtis Bernhardt / 1951 / 2/5
7) Renfield / Chris McKay / 2023 / 3/5
8) Road House / Rowdy Herrington / 1989 / 3/5
9) The Family Secret / Henry Levin / 1951 / 1/5
10) The Walker / Paul Schrader / 2007 / 1/5
11) The Super Mario Bros. Movie / Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc & Fabien Polack / 2023 / 2/5
12) Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki / Kaku Arakawa / 2017 / 3/5 (Documentary)
13) Evil Dead Rise / Lee Cronin / 2023 / 4/5
14) Human Lanterns / Sun Chung / 1982 / 2/5
15) The Protector / James Glickenhaus / 1985 / 3/5
16) Tár / Todd Field / 2022 / 4/5
17) The Killer / John Woo / 1989 / 5/5
18) Triangle of Sadness / Ruben Ostlund / 2022 / 3/5
19) The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes / Tomohisa Taguchi / 2022 / 2/5
20) Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guerre / Gyu Ritchie / 2023 / 3/5
21) Eo / Jerzy Skolimowski / 2022 / 4/5
22) Ennio / Giuseppe Tornatore / 2021 / 4/5 (Documentary)
23) Weird: The Al Yankovic Story / Eric Appel / 2022 / 3/5
24) Today You Die / Don E. Fauntleroy / 2005 / 1/5
25) Hand of Death / John Woo / 1975 / 3/5
26) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 / James Gunn / 2023 / 4/5
27) Fast X / Louis Leterrier / 2023 / 3/5
28) Beau Is Afraid / Ari Aster / 2023 / 4.5/5
29) The Harder They Fall / Mark Robson / 1956 / 3/5
30) Ebola Syndrome / Herman Yau / 1996 / 3.5/5
31) Hypnotic / Robert Rodruiguez / 2023 / 2/5
32) Hitcher in the Dark / Umberto Lenzi / 2989 / 3/5
33) Love Is Colder Than Death / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1969 / 2/5
34) Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse / Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin Thompson / 2023 / 5/5
35) Last Hurrah For Chivalry / John Woo / 1979 / 3/5
36) Cocktail / Roger Donaldson / 1988 / 2/5
37) Katzelmacher / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1969 / 2.5/5
38) In The Line of Fire / Wolfgang Petersen / 1993 / 4/5
39) Neil Young: Heart of Gold / Jonathan Demme / 2006 / 4/5 (Concert)
40) Return to the 36th Chamber / Liu Chia-Liang / 1980 / 3/5
41) Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation / Christopher McQuarrie / 2015 / 3/5

Rewatched
1) Ley Lines / Takeshi Miike / 1999 / 3.5/5
2) Le Bonheur / Agnes Várda / 1965 / 4/5
3) Elsa La Rose / Agnes Várda / 1966 / 2/5 (short)
4) Aliens / James Cameron / 1986 / 5/5
5) Street Fighter / Steven E. De Souza / 1994 / 5/5
6) Koro's Big Day Out / Hayao Miyazaki / 2002 / 5/5 (short)
7) First Love / Takeshi Miike / 2019 / 4/5
8) Kings of the Road / Wim Wenders / 1976 / 4/5
9) Kids Return / Takashi Kitano / 1996 / 3.5/5
10) The Merchant of Four Seaons / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1971 / 3.5/5

Short Films
1) The Big Moment / Nathan Juran / 1954 / 3/5
2) The Negro Sailor / Henry Levin / 1945 / 3/5 (Documentary)
3) That Justice Be Done / George Stevens / 1944 / 3/5 (Documentary)
4) The Little Chaos / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1966 / 3/5
5) The City Tramp / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1966 / 3/5

TV Shows
1) 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki / Kaku Arakawa / 2019 / 4/5
2) The Book of Boba Fett / Robert Rodriguex et al / 2021 / 3/5
3) Mobile Suit Gundam Seed / Mitsuo Fukuda / 2002 / 4/5
4) Connect / Takashi Miike / 2022 / 3.5/5

So Suzume....I worship the ground Makoto Shinkai walks on and whilst I think nothing will ever top Your Name (one of the most treasured movies of my lifetime), I still think that his works are incredibly special. His films speak to my sensitive soul and make me happy to be alive. I would say that Suzume is better than Weathering With You, but not as good as Your Name. It still is one of the best spectacles i've seen this year. To see RADWIMPS a month afterwards was beautiful.

I watched The Killer and Eo on my flight to and from Japan. The former is just one of the best action films i've ever seen (it's almost on par with Woo's Hard Target). I can't believe it's taken me this long to see it. Eo was a very moving film (there's something about films about animals that just gets me). When I lose faith in people, I find it in animals.

I am bored to death of superhero films and for the most part go along because i'm too entrenched in (though it's easy for me to miss a lot of DCEU stuff), so for the new Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man films to be as great as they are has given me a little hope. I'm sick of multi verse stuff, but Spider-Man is really interesting and clever with it. GotG was more moving than I was expecting; warmth in a genre of snark and post-irony.

I thought Hereditary was overrated, but Midsommar was immense...Aster's Beau Is Afraid is in the latter camp; I love how polarising it is and completely understand those that hated it, but in a risk averse industry, this felt like a beautiful slap in the face. Not sure I can watch it again, but i'm glad such films exist.

Ebola Syndrome is worthy of mention because it's so grotesque that I have to applaud it. I'm a paradoxical prude (I still can't bring myself to watch TV shows with too much sex and violence in), but ES reminded me of Brain Dead in that it is so over the top and offensive that it's bizarrely brilliant. It made for an interesting birthday haha.

For rewatched films, there's not much about Aliens I can say that hasn't been said already, but to see it on the big screen was a massive joy. First Love is proof that even with over 100 films under his belt Takeshi Miike is still a mad genius (and the TV show Connect was really cool too!)

Street Fighter is hand on heart one of the greatest films of all time; it helps that i've loved it ever since I was a kid, but even today I find it just so much fun to watch. It's funny as hell (Zangeif's one liners; Bison's megalomania etc), the soundtrack is incredible (hip hop I love and one of the greatest songs of all time) and just makes me happy! For Koro's Big Day Out...I went to the new Studio Ghibli park with my fiancé and like the museum, they show exclusive short films. It showed the same film I saw last time. Rather than be disappointed, it just made me love it more. It made me cry as it reminded my of my precious Polly-dog (who died in 2008) Lucy-dog (who died last year) and Butters-dog (who just turned 15 and is sadly on his way out). To share my emotions with the one I love the most was really rather wonderful...

When I was in Japan, I saw the giant Gundam robot in Yokohama, so i'm still in a massive Gundam mood. I've watched about 7 or 8 Gundam shows now and Gundam Seed is definitely one of the better ones; I love the balance of robot battles, politics and romance. I'm half way through Gundam Seed Destiny and that's going strong too!

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Great list, BC!

The Killer is a great film, but I find it super-overrated: acting is too over the top (even for Woo) and Chow could do so much more...

I still put Hard Boiled, Bullet in the Head and A Better Tomorrow above it.

And how come you didn't like SMB? As I die-hard Ninty hater, I am licking my chops to find out why you weren't a fan

PS: I love SF too; the comedy lines in the script are SO quotable, memorable and hilarious.

Also, the brilliance of this line: "The day Bison graced your village, was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday."

That line has been used/abused/parodied/etc. to death since then and that is a testament as to just how great a line it is.

 

[Seaman]

Street Fighter is hand on heart one of the greatest films of all time; it helps that i've loved it ever since I was a kid, but even today I find it just so much fun to watch. It's funny as hell (Zangeif's one liners; Bison's megalomania etc), the soundtrack is incredible (hip hop I love and one of the greatest songs of all time) and just makes me happy!

Vega looked awesome, I remember all us kids greeting the spanish challenger making entrance. Lets talk about Honda's torture scene. This movie has precious Kylie Minogue exhibing quite hard legs. Van Damme arresting everyone, in the most vandammial state along Inferno and JCVD.

Street Fighter The Movie has another importan view value and that's Julia's Bison imo. He was very sick and practically he was saying goodbye and having fun in this movie.

Ironically it matches another beast of interpretation in another videogame adaptation trashed by critics: Dennis Hopper as the Evil and Cruel King Koopa in Super Mario Bros. I love that movie.

For Koro's Big Day Out...I went to the new Studio Ghibli park with my fiancé and like the museum, they show exclusive short films.

I want to go there but if there's nothing from The Fireflies Graveyard. I can't recall that movie there or I will bend and break, the guides will try to help me but I will only sob "the little girl... The poor little girl".

It showed the same film I saw last time. Rather than be disappointed, it just made me love it more. It made me cry as it reminded my of my precious Polly-dog (who died in 2008) Lucy-dog (who died last year) and Butters-dog (who just turned 15 and is sadly on his way out). To share my emotions with the one I love the most was really rather wonderful...

This is very touching mate. I think its really noble that you grieve for loyal friends, whether they were humans or not. Sharing your emotions its very important, no matter if you get some awkward reaction from people sometimes because that reaction just speak about their limitations for understanding and not your actions. But we are social creatures and our dna is coded to make us hurt from those kind of reactions by default. To make us change and adapt to the majoritary opinion or ways of doing things.

Also, the brilliance of this line: "The day Bison graced your village, was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday."

... Excuse me, Truck. I dont wanna but must to point the copyright from that line to "Rocky" when Adrien tells him that "today its thanksgiving day" and Balboa replies careless "For me its just Thursday". Rocky said it first! Not SF! Hmph! Jejee

 

[bcdcdude]

And how come you didn't like SMB? As I die-hard Ninty hater, I am licking my chops to find out why you weren't a fan

So I hate to play the snob card, but personally for me, i'm bored to death of CGI. It no longer wows me the way it did back in the mid 1990's. CGI animation is so ubiqutous that it just doesn't do anything for me anymore. Whereas I still find beauty in hand drawn animation (Suzume is so beautiful to look at) and something like the new Spider-Man film is amazing in its creativity and carefully controlled chaos!

The other problem with SMB is that it felt like "check the reference: the movie"; it's a film designed to solicit cheap articles about "look what you missed!! No. 22 will SHOCK YOU!!!" haha. It also just feels so empty; don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting an emotional expereince, but when I watched it, the whole thing just gave me a headache; a lot of noice and colour signifying very little. Again, i'm not the target audience here, but ironically with the Sonic movies; there's a human element that gives the films a warmth that SMB lacks.

Finally, it just feels so...corporate; the soundtrack choices were eye rolling in their over saturation and just felt cheap. Don't get me wrong, Sonic was just as guilty in some respects (did we really need Uptown Funk?), but the scene where they used a Pantera song made me laugh and take notice!

There were a couple of jokes that made me laugh and it was inoffensive to the point of blandness (some of the cast really weren't trying at all...), but in the end it kinda made me respect the live action Mario film more. It's still a hot mess, but I have to admire its sheer creativity and sheer balls compared to the focus tested, beige noise we got :)

Sorry if I rambled haha!!

This is very touching mate. I think its really noble that you grieve for loyal friends, whether they were humans or not. Sharing your emotions its very important, no matter if you get some awkward reaction from people sometimes because that reaction just speak about their limitations for understanding and not your actions. But we are social creatures and our dna is coded to make us hurt from those kind of reactions by default. To make us change and adapt to the majoritary opinion or ways of doing things.

Some of the best films are those that elicit an emotion in me; sometimes I respect films that made me feel sick or uncomfortable (whether I enjoyed them is a different matter!), but what I love more than anything is a sincere work. I can't stand films that elecit cheap tricks to garner emotion (I find the film Marley and Me one of the most offensive films i've ever seen for that reason...doesn't help I also saw it not long after Polly-dog died). I find the works of Shinkai, Miyazaki etc wonderful because their films have a warmth and love that I find lacking in this noisy, post-ironic, demoralising age.

Also, it makes me happy to see Street Fighter get the respect it deserves. I love a good one-liner and the writer and director was very good with them; too many films nowadays do really poor one-liners that just make my eyes roll. It's no masterpiece, but as a piece of entertainment, it does everything it needs to do in 102 minutes and that is wonderful in this modern age where you need to watch a dozen films to understand the next one.

I adore cinema and films of all genres and whilst i'm a bit hard on superhero films at the moment, it's only because I have no respect for people who only watch those films and never broaden their horizons. I don't expect everyone to sit down and do a Fassbinder marathon, but what a sad life if all you do is watch the same stuff over and over again.