Recent Movies You Saw

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Alucard1191
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby Alucard1191 » May 13th, 2021, 7:13 pm

First post in this thread!

This one has been going awhile!

Anyway, relatively quick review of 'Downton Abbey, the Motion Picture.' (Spoiler Free)

If I could describe this in 1 word: boring.

My wife and I are fans of the series, and watched it in it's entirety before watching the film.

Now it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't good. Nothing really happens. There are also very important characters who get an extremely small amount of camera time, just enough to say 'they're in the film.'

The shows episodes often have a LOT happen in each one. Sometimes a single episode will cover a months worth of time and you'll have people die, thefts, ridiculous class issues, and servant dramas.

The film advances Thomas Barrow's character a small amount, hints at some stuff for the other Tom, (Branson) and that's it. Lord and Lady Grantham are BARELY in it, when they're 2 of the primary characters in the series! So yeah, to summarize, not up to the caliber of the show. This is strange to me because it actually has pretty good reviews and was received well enough to prompt another movie to be made. (Which is currently being filmed.)

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby BlasteroidAli » May 13th, 2021, 8:44 pm

Downton Abbey. Being a Brit, I always wondered what it was like. Managed a couple of episodes but it reminded me too much of the 70s show Upstairs Downstairs. I did not fancy the movie at all. It looked well shot but not my cup of tea. To read it was boring means that I made a wise choice not watching it at the movies.

Though think you could have watched Cats the musical which by all accounts is like being forced to Watch the insufferable Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals 24/7. A scary thought.

Alucard1191
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby Alucard1191 » May 16th, 2021, 3:07 pm

BlasteroidAli wrote:Downton Abbey. Being a Brit, I always wondered what it was like. Managed a couple of episodes but it reminded me too much of the 70s show Upstairs Downstairs. I did not fancy the movie at all. It looked well shot but not my cup of tea. To read it was boring means that I made a wise choice not watching it at the movies.

Though think you could have watched Cats the musical which by all accounts is like being forced to Watch the insufferable Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals 24/7. A scary thought.


My wife and I actually like watching terrible films. I proposed a 'bottle of wine and horrible movie night' for cats, and she would not go for it. A film has to be the right kind of bad... and I don't think we're going to take our chances on that.

But yeah, if you aren't overly into period dramas, I wouldn't recommend Downton Abbey overall. It is a good show with great acting that highlights a lot of historical things that our media often doesn't make shows about. (It covers the lead up to WWI and carries through into the roaring 20's and touches on the rise of the Nazi's as well a few times, without ever getting up to WWII)

But if you aren't into that kind of thing, you'll be bored to tears. (Other than the occasional really intense death.)

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velcrozombie
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby velcrozombie » May 17th, 2021, 8:06 pm

Watched Maniac (1934) last night. It was made by Dwain Esper, a building contractor who supposedly came across a cache of filmmaking equipment in a foreclosed property. A mad scientist experiments on bringing the dead back to life before he himself is murdered by his lab assistant, who impersonates him and proceeds to go insane in the process. It's basically an exploitation movie that uses the shield of educating the public about mental illness (which it does in the most ham-fisted way possible by periodically interrupting the movie with scrawls of text accompanied by their own jarring soundtrack) in order to get around the Hays Code and cram in scenes of sleaze and violence (including a scene where a character strangles a cat, pops out one of its eyes and eats it). There are allusions to a couple of Edgar Allan Poe stories and stock footage of demonic forces lifted from several other films to portray the main character's breakdown. It's ineptly made on just about every level but it's short (only 50 minutes) and genuinely bizarre. It's considered one of the pillars of "so bad it's good" moviemaking. Being in the public domain, it's easy to watch for free and there's also a Rifftrax version.

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby BlasteroidAli » May 22nd, 2021, 7:13 am

Alucard1191 wrote:
BlasteroidAli wrote:Downton Abbey. Being a Brit, I always wondered what it was like. Managed a couple of episodes but it reminded me too much of the 70s show Upstairs Downstairs. I did not fancy the movie at all. It looked well shot but not my cup of tea. To read it was boring means that I made a wise choice not watching it at the movies.

Though think you could have watched Cats the musical which by all accounts is like being forced to Watch the insufferable Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals 24/7. A scary thought.


My wife and I actually like watching terrible films. I proposed a 'bottle of wine and horrible movie night' for cats, and she would not go for it. A film has to be the right kind of bad... and I don't think we're going to take our chances on that.

But yeah, if you aren't overly into period dramas, I wouldn't recommend Downton Abbey overall. It is a good show with great acting that highlights a lot of historical things that our media often doesn't make shows about. (It covers the lead up to WWI and carries through into the roaring 20's and touches on the rise of the Nazi's as well a few times, without ever getting up to WWII)

But if you aren't into that kind of thing, you'll be bored to tears. (Other than the occasional really intense death.)


I was watching it on prime and then the series ended on prime. I think it is on britbox now, which I will not be subscribing to. I will see if i can get it cheap on blu ray and go through it that way.

Zack Burner
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby Zack Burner » June 2nd, 2021, 6:17 pm

The Breakfast Club (1985) - A bonafide 80's classic and rightfully so. A great teen movie to boot, everyone can relate to at least one of the characters as they sit around in detention on a Saturday, relating to one another trying to get inside each other's heads, figure out their worlds. Starring Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and pre-Mighty Ducky Emilio Estevez. And who could ever "forget" the immortal theme of Simple Minds "Don't You (Forget about me)"?

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby VideoGameCritic » June 3rd, 2021, 6:04 pm

I finally (?) saw Battleship the other night, largely known as Rihanna's acting debut (hurrah). This has got to be one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen. It makes no sense and the characters do the opposite of common sense.

But most remarkable is how much money they sunk into the visual effects. I have to admit they are pretty astonishing at times. I'm still trying to figure out who convinced a studio to sink millions into this one.

Alucard1191
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby Alucard1191 » June 3rd, 2021, 7:55 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:I finally (?) saw Battleship the other night, largely known as Rihanna's acting debut (hurrah). This has got to be one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen. It makes no sense and the characters do the opposite of common sense.

But most remarkable is how much money they sunk into the visual effects. I have to admit they are pretty astonishing at times. I'm still trying to figure out who convinced a studio to sink millions into this one.


I remember how much they advertised Liam Neeson as the lead for the film, (first billed, prominently featured on the cover.) so I went into it thinking 'Silly Action movie with Liam Neeson."

Oh how wrong I was. Liam is BARELY in it. The film also has the flaw of 'the Aliens are way too powerful until they aren't. The initial invasion/fight scenes the Aliens are literally bulletproof, then later on the war vet guy on the crutches beats one in hand to hand combat? Like... you establish that these Aliens and their armor stand up to all our weapons and are beating our special forces guys and the like... but a dude with some metal bars can kick the crap out of one? It was honestly too stupid to even be a good 'bad watch' for me, but maybe I'm being too harsh on it. Haven't thought about that movie in a long time!

Breaker
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby Breaker » June 3rd, 2021, 8:29 pm

I've been toying with the idea of watching a bunch of 80s & 90s action flicks. All the Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Gibson, JCVD, Dolph, Willis, Seagall, etc. movies. Not really sure why, but something has me craving lots of machine gun, one-liner mayhem, where the ending is never in doubt and the one man army walks away bloody and ready for a sequel.

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velcrozombie
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Re: Recent Movies You Saw

Postby velcrozombie » June 3rd, 2021, 10:03 pm

Watched a bunch of stuff recently:

The Most Dangerous Game (1932) - B+ (Filmed on some of the same sets and with some of the cast of King Kong; old-fashioned adventure film with a grisly premise)

Eyes without a Face (1959) - A (one of the best horror films I've seen in a long time, maybe ever)

Godzilla vs Hedorah (1971) - B- (bizarre Godzilla film based around the idea of environmental collapse; contains numerous animated/psychedelic sequences and a heavier emphasis on collateral damage than most other kaiju films I've seen)

Vampyr (1932) - A- (feels like a hybrid of silent and sound horror cinema; a little slow and confusing in the beginning but it comes together as it progresses. Some of the most impressive camerawork and camera effects of the era)

Multiple Maniacs (1970) - B (Early, raw John Waters film made as a tribute to the pioneering gore films of HG Lewis. Ultra low-budget, willfully trashy, sometimes funny and other times obnoxious, still surprisingly shocking (especially regarding an extended sacrilegious joke about the rosary). 70s John Waters is definitely an acquired taste)

The Merry Frolics of Satan (1908) - B- (Silent short by George Melies, best known for A Trip to the Moon (1902). Comic retelling of the Faust legend where a scientist sells his soul for eggs that grant wishes and is hounded at every step by the devil and his minions. Hard to rate a film like this where the narrative seems to be almost beside the point - there's a lot of charm and imagination in the revolutionary effects work, the set design and costumes and the choreography is much more sophisticated than the earlier shorts I've seen but sometimes it just feels overly busy, just a constant barrage of new elements.)


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