What are we watching now?

[la szum]

Got some script writers up in here.

I never blame bad cinema on not sticking to the source material. Hell, Lord knows
there is a lot of craptastic material that had no source material and turned to shit
without needing to reference anything outside of itself. And vice versa.

Bad can be bad of its own accord. Same for the good stuff.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I don't think this is the case here.

I see it entirely as a script issue, since the film looks gorgeous, and the main characters' performances are solid.

That is likely the case. Film company execs don't think the script is good enough, so bring in others for rewrites or to "punch up the dialog." Film company execs too involved in the editing remove parts of film that make the film more complete because it's "too slow/boring."

 

[FuzzyAce]

As another example, I have to wonder how Alien Romulus could have 3 writers credited and the script is just so bad and full of plotholes that could have been easily avoided. Are they just too far up each other's asses to realize this? Did half of the script end up on the editing room floor to fit the movie into 2 hours? Did they take all their time thinking up homages to the previous films that they forgot to tell a good story? It's a real shame because there's some good stuff in it, foiled by paper thin characters doing things that aren't logical, squeezed into a timeframe that retcons lore from previous films and defies physics.

That sounds like a lot of modern productions.

 

[State of Epicicity]

We recently rewatched Rosemary's Baby from 1968. This film is so sophisticated, especially for its time. I really love so much about it. Mia Farrow's acting is shockingly good, even though I think she has an accent even the most pretentious person could only hope to attain. When I first saw it I didn't know anything about John Cassavetes, and it's a real joy seeing him now that I've seen a ton of what he's directed. He's a king of independent film, really one of the coolest people to have made films. He said that he only acted to fund his ability to make his own movies. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend seeing his film The Killing of a Chinese Bookie from 1976.

 

[State of Epicicity]

We just recently saw the original Total Recall from 1990. Man, that film is the best in so many ways. We had to watch it in full Mystery Science Theater 3000 mode. I've seen it god knows how many times since it first came out, and it's always a ridiculous and hilarious ride. When the midget hooker grabs an Uzi, stands up a table, and starts mowing people down, I lose it every time. What a fantastic piece of work.

 

[State of Epicicity]

Last night we watch The Last Picture Show from 1971. I had always wanted to see this because I knew it had a really unusual cast, and I wanted to see how those actors ineracted with one another. This film could've been called "Vingette of a Dying Town," and it was about as worth it to watch as that title would imply. I just felt like this goes in the basket with Ironweed, Fat City, and Wise Blood as portraits of places I would never ever ever want to focus on. It's like the film making of the damned, where every character is living like they died a long time ago. I can't stand this stuff other than to see good acting performances when they show up. In this case, I agreed wholeheartedly with my wife that Ellen Burstyn was really the only person to watch in this film, and she had little screen time. Apparently the dude who was acting like he was in a cowboy cigarette commercial, Ben Johnson, won an Oscar for wistfully staring in the distance. And it's interesting to see that a teenage Cybill Shepherd thought enough of herself not to think she ever had to move any facial muscles to emote anything at all. It was the most paradoxical pairing that Ellen Burstyn was cast as her mother, when she has the most character and Shepherd has none.

The film was just under two hours, but it felt like thirty-five hours. I was just more curious to see what the director's and writer's point was more than anything else. It felt like a half-ass student piece of writing, not some deep social commentary.

 

[State of Epicicity]

We just recently saw the original Total Recall from 1990. Man, that film is the best in so many ways. We had to watch it in full Mystery Science Theater 3000 mode. I've seen it god knows how many times since it first came out, and it's always a ridiculous and hilarious ride. When the midget hooker grabs an Uzi, stands up a table, and starts mowing people down, I lose it every time. What a fantastic piece of work.

And special notice to Michael Ironside for being even more ridiculous than everyone else in this completely ridiculous movie. I love that guy, because he has no inhibition to go balls out in whatever he's doing, even if it's terrible. I feel like a viewing of Total Recall should always be followed by Scanners from 1981 (co-starring Stephen Lack (of emotion)) and his awesome performance in the one episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater he ever appeared in, that was totally insane. Sometimes my wife and I ask each other if something in a film is good or terrible, and the answer always is, if you have to ask... Well, with Michael Ironside, I often have asked that question, but it's with complete love. We have a signed photo of him from Scanners that we hung in our old apartment. That reminds me of all the movie related stuff we need to get out of our moving boxes and hang up again.

 

[laxu]

We just recently saw the original Total Recall from 1990. Man, that film is the best in so many ways. We had to watch it in full Mystery Science Theater 3000 mode. I've seen it god knows how many times since it first came out, and it's always a ridiculous and hilarious ride. When the midget hooker grabs an Uzi, stands up a table, and starts mowing people down, I lose it every time. What a fantastic piece of work.

It's such a fun ride, with some really cool special fx too. The people who made the Colin Farrell remake didn't understand the first thing about the original.

The 1980s/1990s era Arnie movies are just the best. I should watch Conan The Barbarian again not only for James Earl Jones's Thulsa Doom, but the scene where Arnold falls into a cave and lets out a hilarious grunt that goes something like "AUEGUEGUGH!"

One of the best movie experiences I've had was seeing Commando shown at a local theater with the audience making comments every time Bennett (Vernon Wells) comes on screen. I laughed my ass off. It's also funny to realize most of the movie is basically Bennett telling a scary story about John Matrix to the other bad guys, how Matrix is so tough that nobody but Bennett - Freddie Mercury in knit chainmail - can stop him.

 

[State of Epicicity]

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

The last Grand Tour...not going to lie.....may have something in my eyes......

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

Rewatching, The Old Man preparing for the new season ... forgot how well produced this was. So good.

 

[Byrdman]

 

[spawnofthesith]

Attempted to watch Tires, I like shane gillis standup but watched 2 episodes and I was like a 5:1 cringe/smirk ratio

 

[State of Epicicity]

I hadn't heard of this, and I have a Paramount Plus subscription, so I'm definitely interested. I don't want to watch the trailer, so I'll just see how the quality shakes out.

 

[Rock Chalk]

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1..........streamed this on Max the other day. Not too shabby.......bring on Chapter 2....

 

[Byrdman]

I hadn't heard of this, and I have a Paramount Plus subscription, so I'm definitely interested. I don't want to watch the trailer, so I'll just see how the quality shakes out.

This is the full episode playing on YT too.

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

Seriously, this Old Man show is a master class in how to properly execute a realistic, multi layer action/suspense thriller.

The production team thought of every little detail....so many examples, too many to point out. Genius.

If you haven't watched this, you are missing out. Absolutely stellar.

 

[Byrdman]

Seriously, this Old Man show is a master class in how to properly execute a realistic, multi layer action/suspense thriller.

The production team thought of every little detail....so many examples, too many to point out. Genius.

If you haven't watched this, you are missing out. Absolutely stellar.

Looked it up and will try to watch it soon. Looks good!

 

[State of Epicicity]

We watched The Last Detail from 1973, and we both thought it was great. You have to watch it with closed captioning, because the dialogue is mixed so low you'll miss half of it. Otherwise, it's a very cool film with a lot of personality and feel, and the acting is great all the way around. This is my favorite of Jack Nicholson's performances that I've seen. Here he was actually acting, rather than just being himself; it was great to see. I love seeing actors work hard. As a bonus Michael Moriarty, one of the most underrated and underutilized actors ever, shows up for five minutes toward the end. Man, I always love that guy in his younger roles.

The big surprise is that you see a very young Randy Quaid as one of the main characters, and it's a serious role. We inadvertently saw a couple of his films in a string, because he was also in The Last Picture show, even younger. He was great in The Last Detail; I can't believe it. Reading about his personal life, I'm blown away that he was once a struggling actor, working to churn out quality work. Man, you never know where someone's career or life will go.

 

[laxu]

Finished True Detective: Night Country. Pretty good, but god damn the music choices for this show were horrible! The "breathy, slow female vocals crooning in a depressed manner" thing got old real quick.