Locked Rate and Discuss the Last Movie You Saw v.15

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Ghost In The Shell

Nothing terribly offensive, but a rather lifeless live action remake. Performances were fine across the board. Yes, even that evil white witch ScarJo. Special effects were great, and it really did capture the anime's look and feel. I didn't really have a problem with any of it, it just didn't do a damn thing for me.

6/10
 
The Ritual

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4 guys go hiking, take a shortcut thru woods, chaos ensues.


For a horror film it's not half bad. There’s really nothing new or inventive, but the cast can act and the monster is really well done—both cgi and design wise. Don’t want to say much else for spoiler reasons. I’d say give it a go if you enjoy cheesy horror films.


3/5
 
Blade Runner 2049 - 8/10

very enjoyable movie, it drags at times because of the 2 hour 40 minute run-time but I thought it was great!
 
Baby Driver

I'll keep this short. The movie was alright up until the last third, where it completely overstays it's welcome.

Nice little crime movie, with some good car chase action, fun characters, and decent enough story, that shits the bed in the final act, as it never really builds up to anything, and just leaves you wanting it to just fucking end already. Seriously, I was enjoying what I thought was it's climax, only for the movie go on...and on...and on. Wouldn't be so bad, if it didn't feel like they just threw the whole thing together at the end, because they just couldn't decide what note to end on, and not knowing when to roll the damn credits.

6.5/10

Final act was awesome :)

I really like that Edgar Wright tends to go big on the final act of his films, and Baby Driver definitely didn't disappoint.
 
Final act was awesome :)

I really like that Edgar Wright tends to go big on the final act of his films, and Baby Driver definitely didn't disappoint.

They chose the wrong antagonist, and stuff like Spacey all of sudden giving a shit about what happens to Baby, didn't make any sense.

It was an attempt at going all out, but I don't think it was executed particularly well, and felt more like padding to me.

Ah' well, agree to disagree.
 
Watched Michael Clayton last night. Hadn't seen it since it came out. Good flick. Well shot.
 
Winchester. 5/10.

Not what I wanted and relied too much on loud music and jump-scare. Ending sucked and was really not scary at all.

5/10 is being generous.
 
RAW 5/10

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Synopsis is straight forward. Young freshmen vegetarian goes to veterinarian school and her initiation is that of eating rabbit kidneys. Once she does, she loves meat...of all kinds.

This is a French movie, so you gotta read.

Now, this is NOT a zombie movie, but fuck, I wish it was. Lots of imagery in this that people that love the overrated Suspiria will enjoy, but I am afraid it ends there. In the trailer, you see our lead eating raw chicken and that, to me, was the most yuck moment. When it comes to being a cannibal, I dont know. Is she? Is her sister?

This movie felt like an unfinished idea.
 
Brawl in Cell Block 99

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I can't recall if this was reviewed in here, but here's mine anyway:

Like this if you've seen S. Craig Zahler's debut Bone Tomahawk.

This is his follow-up, and yes, it's a worthy successor.

The film is anchored by a brilliant and surprising turn from comedy Lurch Vince Vaughn. His shaven head, along with his 6"5 frame, lend itself well to the intimidating hard ass with a conscience character, that could well set him on a great new direction in his career.

Like Zahler's previous film, the dialogue is very pleasing to the ear, the pace is deliberate and is, of course, brutally violent. The action choreography is surprisingly stylized - blending boxing with Wing-chun, with the x-rated violence you got from Bone Tomahawk.

It's a really good film, but for my taste, it was a little too bleak - for me it was an exercise in degradation and cruelty.

I also felt at times that the director was a poor man's Tarantino; with his snappy dialogue from pretty much every character, brutal violence, pulp theme and use of soundtrack.

But there is always room for directors that can evoke Tarantino films.

I eagerly await Zahler's next film

4 'funny sounds' out of 5


Please listen


Man, I saw this movie last night. It is pretty damn good. Vince Vaughn shows he can be a good/great actor. I wish I hadnt seen shot caller so close to this since they are similar films. Loved the twist and the way the movie played out. Anyone that likes cool action scenes, there is some straight american history x type executions in this. I recommend to anyone who likes gangster type films.
 
Killing Ground 6.5/10
(making this better than The Last Jedi)

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Australian Deliverance starring Australian Josh Brolin.

That above line is basically the synopsis. This movie does not hold back, much like Eden Lake, which I adore. A real horror. NO fucking comedy fucking up the genre. Anyway, a couple go to a lake for a getaway and are terrorized by locals. Almost precisely like Eden Lake, but these monsters are more realistic.

When I say this movie doesnt hold back, I mean it. Children are not off limits.

Does the kid die? Dog eats him? Thought the ending was holding back. Husband to be is proven to be the biggest bitch ever and, yeah, we dont know about the kid. I assume its like Under the Skin.
 
headshot 9/10

fans of the raid will love this
 
February 13, 2018

Dragonlord’s Review of BLACK PANTHER
(No Spoilers)

Bottom Line: Black Panther is a superhero film rooted with social and geopolitical themes, that’s part James Bond actioner, part Shakespearean family pathos, and filled with multi-faceted characters and superb performances by an amazing cast.

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At this point in time it’s undeniable that Marvel Studios is the premier superhero studio among its peers. What is sometimes underappreciated by others is the different sub-genres Marvel Studios instills into their films. Winter Soldier was a gritty espionage thriller. Ant-Man was a heist film. Doctor Strange delved into the mystical arts. Guardians of the Galaxy was space comedy adventure. Homecoming was a high school, coming-of-age flick. BvS and JL were a hot mess… sorry, wrong studio.

Black Panther is the eighteenth feature film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and it’s as different as what Marvel Studios has ever done. Black Panther is a superhero film grounded with social and geopolitical themes, that’s part James Bond actioner, part Shakespearean family pathos, part Game of Thrones clan representation and part Lord of the Rings grand battle, and filled with multi-faceted, fleshed-out characters and superb performances by an amazing cast.

The titular character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in July 1966 (before the Black Panther Party was even created) and is considered as the first black superhero in American mainstream comic books. Introduced first and following the events of Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) continues his journey as the new king of Wakanda but his reign is tested as he faces an old foe and a mysterious figure from his country’s past.

The supporting cast is simply outstanding. Letitia Wright was adorable as the scene-stealing Shuri, T’Challa’s younger sister and Wakanda’s tech genius. Her close sibling relationship with T’Challa grants Shuri as the only character allowed to constantly take cheeky jabs at the king and provides some lighthearted humor. Andy Serkis was great as the exuberant villain, Ulysses Klaue, complete with sonic arm-cannon. Danai Gurira was exceptional as the bad-ass Okoye, head of the Dora Milaje (Wakanda’s version of secret service). Angela Bassett was the perfection of regality as T’Challa’s queen mother. Rounding up the remaining terrific supporting characters, Lupita Nyong’o, Daniel Kaluuya, Martin Freeman and Winston Duke were terrific as elite spy and T’Challa’s love interest Nakia, T’Challa’s best friend W’Kabi, amiable CIA agent Everett Ross, and proud tribal leader M’Baku, respectively.

It is generally known that the MCU does not have a lot of memorable bad guys on its resume. But they seem to be turning it around starting with last year’s batch of villains with Michael Keaton’s blue collar Vulture and Cate Blanchett’s sultry and maniacal Hela. Going for 3 for 3, Michael B. Jordan’s Erik “Killmonger” Stevens joins the shortlist of one of MCU’s best villains. Jordan was magnificent as the ruthless antagonist who displays savage efficiency, a forceful authority, pent-up fury and whose radical ideology is not totally unrelatable.

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Black Panther holds the distinction of being the first MCU movie that features a character’s first solo outing that feels like a sequel rather than an origin movie (Homecoming arguably qualifies but it felt like an origin movie). And this is one of the reasons why I felt an emotional disconnection to T’Challa early on. Chadwick Boseman is physically splendid as Black Panther and his acting performance is superb. It’s just the way the movie was written allowed little time to fully explore T’Challa’s character and personality. I also think T’Challa lacks a certain amount of charm that made other MCU heroes so likable. Fortunately, the movie was fast-paced, the story was engaging and the other characters were captivating to offset my minor qualms.

Wakanda is like a character unto itself with its gorgeous landscapes and technologically-advanced city. Its isolationist policy hides the true nature of Wakanda and disguises itself as a Third World country whose national export products are textile and clothes. This is where the film’s moral dilemma is presented: Share its wealth, medicine and science with the world but risk inviting strife and conflict and also putting a target on their back.

The scope of the film is not limited to the fictional African country; its purview stretches from the U.S. to London, England to Busan, South Korea. The Busan action scenes were the best among the rest as the casino sequence was like a slick James Bond homage highlighted by an impressive one-take fight scene and then capped off with a fun, furious car chase in the streets of South Korea.

Black Panther’s suit looks fantastic but the fact that it’s coated with Vibranium lessens the tension or the specialness of the action scenes when the wearer is impervious to harm. Bullets bounce off the suit without any impact or recoil. The wearer can survive a fall from hundred feet without a scratch. Not also fond of the new nanotech suit that just appears and disappears on a whim and conveniently stored in a necklace. Call me old school but I like the “realism” of it all when Tony Stark had to have a robotic assembly line just to put on and take off his Iron Man suit.

Writer/director Ryan Coogler not only made a highly entertaining comic book movie with a good story and wonderful characters, Marvel’s Black Panther is also an inspiration to a large section of the population that is not always well represented in this genre and giving kids new role models they can relate and look up to.

Rating: 8.5/10

The first post-credits scene shows T’Challa addressing the United Nations. He opens the doors to Wakanda to the world and sharing its resources to the other countries. A member of the U.N. questions, with all due respect, what can a country of farmers contribute to the world. Everett Ross smiles in the background. T’Challa smiles wryly. End of scene. With Vibranium and Wakanda’s science and technology being shared with the world, this will drastically change the landscape of the MCU.

The second post-credits scene shows Bucky waking up from a tent near the river. The Wakandan kids are calling him “White Wolf.” Shuri greets Bucky and tells him he has much to learn. End of scene. This scene implies that Bucky has been cured of his brainwash and is safe enough to be let out of the cryogenic chamber.

“Delete that footage!” lol

If they really wanted to hide Wakanda’s true nature from Ross, they could have had him placed in a normal clinic when he was still unconscious and recuperating.

I'll add more when I get back.
 
Nightmare (2015) 10/10

This is a documentary style film where they interview people suffering from sleep paralysis and then reenact their experiences with actors. It is genuinely disturbing as hell, All these people seeing a hag or these shadowy figures in a old fashioned hat whilst they are experiencing paralysis opens up all kind of questions about the possible explanations.


Assault on precinct 13 9/10

I'm a bit ashamed to say it took me this long to see the original. I really love how Carpenter gave the gang a supernatural/zombie like quality with out actually making it a horror film. Really creative for its time.
 
The Shape of Water 6/10

I was waiting in line for the bathroom (it had those single unisex bathrooms) and heard this old couple saying shit like "it was beautifully shot" and "it had that ET feeling, of connecting with the monster". Didn't get that.

Lol, yeah it had the ET feeling, I totally remember the part where Elliott bangs ET in the bathroom.

I've been working my way through the Oscar nominated movies, nothing has stood out so far. I saw Three Billboards a while back and that is by far my favorite of the bunch that I've seen.

Shape of Water - 3/5 - Decent, not mind blowing. Michael Shannon was the best part of this movie, he was such a massive dick head that I was rooting for him by the end of it.

Darkest Hour - 2.5/5 - Very well acted, but I was bored throughout the whole thing. I never intend on watching this ever again. Gary Oldman held this movie together.

The Post - 3/5 - Very meh. Not as boring as Darkest Hour at least. I can't believe Meryl Streep landed an Oscar nod for this performance. Frances McDormand's performance in Three Billboards blows this out of the water.

Some other recent viewings were

Den of Thieves - 4/5 - I'm always up for a good heist movie, and this one delivered. Surprisingly good performances from the cast and overall very entertaining.

Hostiles - 4.25/5 - Loved this movie. Fantastic performances and story line. Very well executed. I'm surprised a movie like this came out in January, which is usually reserved for shit fests.
 
Of the three Yorgos Lanthimos films I've seen THE LOBSTER is the best. At one point, "best" would have meant little more than "the one in English" but SACRIFICIAL DEER came along and fucked that up for everyone. Be that as it may.

Lanthimos' brand of black comedy is much different from what you might see from a Wayans, that much is for sure, and it's not as successful in DOGTOOTH or THE KILLING OF A SACRIFICIAL DEER because the former is a dysfunctional family melodrama and the latter is magic realism. With the absurdist setting of THE LOBSTER I was adequately primed for lols, and there were a few; there are definitely more "drollzors" than lols. It's about a guy who must find another mate after his wife leaves him, and the deal is he's got 45 days or else he'll be turned into an animal of his choosing. The comedy of the writing is it's all on-the-nose; there is zero subtext, and even when characters are lying it's still very apparent what they're really after.

If you're into films set in European getaway hotels, I suggest Paolo Sorrentino's YOUTH, which also features Rachel Weisz, but that's not the reason I recommend it.

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The reason I recommend it is what these two codgers are looking at. But YOUTH is a film about old people getting old, and that doesn't always work for you guys. And of course there's also THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, which is Wes Anderson doing an impression of a Warner Bros cartoon.
 
The Belko Experiment

*sigh*

One big disappointment. Although, perhaps I should've expected a style clash. It's a movie written by James Gunn(GOTG), and directed by Greg McLean(Wolf Creek), and the results are a movie that couldn't decide on a tone. The premise is pretty basic, but a fun one. It's about a bunch of office workers working for this Belko company, and one day a voice comes over the PA, and tells them to start killing a certain amount of people within a time limit, or face worse consequences. The building is locked down with steel shutters, and there is no escape. Essentially, they have to play the game, or they all die. One big SAW trap, I suppose.

The problem with the movie, is that it doesn't do anything interesting with the premise. There are no surprises, and the characters all act like you would expect. The dickheads act like dickheads, and the good folks act like good folks. You don't feel any tension in the movie, because the outcomes are so predictable. Even the effects, and the gore money shots, are pretty basic and bland. On top of that, the movie can't decide if it wants to be serious, darkly comedic, or just plain comedic in tone. A big problem is the casting, which is oddly made up of folks with comedy backgrounds, which makes it feel like a spoof of some kind. You'll also have these super serious moments, followed up by a forced joke, and it doesn't ever flow naturally. It really does feel like script that's fighting itself, and doesn't know what it is.

All in all, pretty lame and forgettable.

5/10
 
Den of Thieves - 7.5/10

Really good film. Thought everybody filled their roles well.
 
Alien (1979) - 6.5/10

Liked it. Didn't love it. Watched it with too much expectation of greatness.

It's vastly overrated, same with Halloween. And that's sacrilege to some, it's like saying Jesus and Mohammad aren't real. They want to kill you for saying it.

They are not great movies though. And some other people say 'well you have to judge them for the time they were in', which is also bullshit. A great movie is a great movie. Taxi Driver is still amazing, if a teenager watches it today. 12 Angry Men holds up against any film. Alien and Halloween are both simply okay movies, that run mostly on the fumes of nostalgia.

in b4 pitchforks
 
Brooklyns Finest (2009)
8/10
I forgot how great this movie is. its from the director of training day and definitely has a similar tone but a little more low budget. Great performances by ethan hawke and don chedal. Great shots and intersecting/transitional shots from character to character are seemless. Great drama with good action and enough to keep your attention all the way through. One of the best crime/cop movies around. I might be a tad biased since I love these types of films.
 
The Belko Experiment

*sigh*

One big disappointment. Although, perhaps I should've expected a style clash. It's a movie written by James Gunn(GOTG), and directed by Greg McLean(Wolf Creek), and the results are a movie that couldn't decide on a tone. The premise is pretty basic, but a fun one. It's about a bunch of office workers working for this Belko company, and one day a voice comes over the PA, and tells them to start killing a certain amount of people within a time limit, or face worse consequences. The building is locked down with steel shutters, and there is no escape. Essentially, they have to play the game, or they all die. One big SAW trap, I suppose.

The problem with the movie, is that it doesn't do anything interesting with the premise. There are no surprises, and the characters all act like you would expect. The dickheads act like dickheads, and the good folks act like good folks. You don't feel any tension in the movie, because the outcomes are so predictable. Even the effects, and the gore money shots, are pretty basic and bland. On top of that, the movie can't decide if it wants to be serious, darkly comedic, or just plain comedic in tone. A big problem is the casting, which is oddly made up of folks with comedy backgrounds, which makes it feel like a spoof of some kind. You'll also have these super serious moments, followed up by a forced joke, and it doesn't ever flow naturally. It really does feel like script that's fighting itself, and doesn't know what it is.

All in all, pretty lame and forgettable.

5/10

I actually kinda dug this movie and I feel like I was one of the only ones who did. It's just a senseless violent horror movie, but we don't really get a whole lot of those types of movies with decent budgets anymore, so I enjoyed it.
 
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