Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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I know guys, I'm scared too...

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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John Wick: Chapter 2 8.5/10
Keanu Reeves frantically mowing through hundreds of enemies with guns, knives, his fists and other miscellaneous items for 2 hours is pure cinematic poetry. If you liked the 1st one, you'll love this. If you didn't, this won't convert you.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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uhhh, for the first time in....perhaps ever? Im stuck in the middle of no-where and cant see a movie i really wanna see in cinema....John Wick 2. It just might(still) be out in Perth when i fly back home...

Watched a few in the past few days:

Hail Caeser!
Its far from bad, but the Coens haven't really delivered with a comedy since...1998?
5.5/10

A Hologram for the King
I liked the chemistry between Tom Hanks and the rest of the cast especially the Taxi Driver guy, but the ending is pretty meh.
6/10

Captain Fantastic
Someone here, was it you Tranny? said you just wanted to kill Viggo's character...I didnt have that feeling at all but i did question his methods, kinda like why? In the end there wasn't any real meaning to his own ways which he gave to his children besides anti government and life skills in the wild.
6/10

Independence Day 2
I did not watch the entire thing, it was on in the background (my dad was watching)...but i did sit down for the final half hour and fuck is this horrendous! Should be the razzie winner by a mile. Im going to give a semi spoiler alert-----
heres tis: nobody with any lines gets even a tiny scratch on them! And theres way too much tough guy talk from the youngest hemsworth and also that comic relief was so forced it was painful.
1.5/10

Patriots Day
After the first 10 minutes i thought i was going to hate this BUT- the 2nd half (which is pretty much the manhunt for the Boston marathon bombers) is very good. I hadn't felt that close to the edge of my seat (still comfortably lying down mind you ;) ) for a long time any new movie.
7/10

and theres a couple more, but forgot what they were, so ill post later
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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I feel the Independence Day hate is overblown. How anyone can call it worse than Yoga Hosers or the Cabin Fever remake is ridiculous to me.

Sure, it's not a masterpiece but it was never meant to be one. It's simply enjoyably tongue-in-cheek stupid fun (something most filmmakers are afraid to do nowadays, either it has to be ultra-serious or be a form of comedy that's unsuitable for the content presented).
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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no way, its just a terrible movie....terrible tongue in cheek, terrible copycat action, terrible characters, just terrible
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Ron Burgundy wrote:Captain Fantastic
Someone here, was it you Tranny? said you just wanted to kill Viggo's character...I didnt have that feeling at all but i did question his methods, kinda like why? In the end there wasn't any real meaning to his own ways which he gave to his children besides anti government and life skills in the wild.
6/10
Yep that was me. I loathed everything about that movie.

As for Independence Day, I think the hatred directed at it is a little bit overblown (there was a handful of movies I saw last year that were way worse), but it was still pretty bad.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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A Dog's Purpose 7/10

It's not the best film involving dogs and reincarnation (that honor goes to 1995's Fluke, where Matthew Modine comes back to life as a golden retriever) but it's a pleasant enough film set over 55 years and five dog lifetimes. Much of the film's plot is focused on the dog's second lifetime, where he's, of course, a golden retriever and his relationship with his owner, a Michigan boy that grows up to become Dennis Quaid (it's not a spoiler as the trailer shows all this). The highlight I found was when he was a Welsh Corgi and him having to deal with being a small dog after his time as a golden retriever and a German shepherd (this segment, where he's a female police dog, has the sequence that caused that Internet shitstorm but in fact, no dogs were harmed and TMZ posted an edited video to make it seem like the filmmakers did).

If the film does have any problems, there is too much focus on the second segment and not enough on the third or fourth segments (the fifth segment ties in with the second while the first is very short as if sets off the reincarnation theme). It also could have been a bit more daring and the trailer didn't have to give away the entire movie. But people with children will love it (the small children at my showing certainly did).
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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John Wick: Chapter 2 8/10

It's really more of the same (though this one feels more like a Westernized samurai film than a quirky New Hollywood-styled action film) but the continued saga of one man's quest for vengeance is still enjoyable (and possibly bloodier this time). The new cast members (especially extended cameos from Laurence Fishburne and Franco Nero) expand the storyline well and director Chad Stahelski (co-director of the first film David Leitch pulled out early in filming to direct The Coldest City, he's still credited as executive producer) lets his years of experience as a stuntman and second unit director show as the action sequences are very well done. Keanu Reeves does what we've come to expect of him but he's very likeable once again as John while Ian McShane gives the best performance reprising his role from the first film.

It will be interesting to see if Chapter 3 gets made (it should, since this one's looking to easily pass the first film's box office take), especially with the possibility of Winston being the villain.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Detour: 5/10
Chris Smith's latest is another attempt at a tricky narrative, this time a young man who hires a criminal to kill his step-father, with the story splitting in two: one in which he decides to go ahead, and the other in which he doesn't. It builds to a twist that, while surprising, ultimately has little to say, with only the strong cast (Tye Sheridan, Emory Cohen, and Bel Powley) and the nice visuals really making you follow it.

Prevenge: 7/10
A hilarious and fucked up psychological thriller about a pregnant woman who listens to the demands of her unborn child. Which tells her to murder a group of people. And so she does, waddling her way into their lives before attempting to do away with them, all the while trying to go through the process of child-rearing alone. As the film progresses, we learn more about who she is and what shes doing, giving the film emotional depth as well as bloody murders. The film is very low-budget and the edges are frayed, but Alice Lowe's film works for those very reasons.

20th Century Women: 6/10
Mike Mills tale of a mother enlisted two younger women to help raise her teen son is affecting and compassionate. The cast are great, particularly Greta Gerwig as a tenant living in the house, having returned home from an exciting 1979 New York life. The musical references are great, and there is a nice balance of humour and drama. The leap between POVs is a little clunky and makes you unsure about who to follow, as is the monologues that tell you what happens to each character throughout the movie. But it's still a very pleasant watch.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Collide 7/10

Enjoyably dumb thriller styled after Danny Boyle and Luc Besson films where Nicholas Hoult plays an American (and not a very believable one) car thief who settles in Cologne, Germany who falls in love with another American (Felicity Jones, who's more believable) and has to make one last heist for his boss (Ben Kingsley) to pay for her kidney transplant but runs afoul of Germany's biggest drug lord (Anthony Hopkins!) and must risk his life to save his girlfriend from getting killed. Yes, it's not going to win any awards but the action scenes are well-done (especially the chase scenes on the Autobahn) and Kingsley is clearly having fun as a Turkish crime lord. Also, it's kind of nice to see an action film set in an area where you usually don't see one take place (Cologne is a much more interesting place here than say, Boston).

It's probably not too big of a surprise that Open Road dumped this one (the theatre I saw the film at had it playing matinees only and it just opened on Friday) but it's a better film than the negative reception (39 on Metacritic, C+ Cinemascore) leads one to think it is.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Get Out 8.5/10
The hype surrounding Get Out is justified. Jordan Peele's directorial debut is a potent horror comedy with huge laughs, great performances and on-the-nose commentary on modern race relations. I can't really disclose anymore without giving anything away, but I will say that watching the bonkers second half of this movie in a theater full of people was the most fun experience I've had in a theater in ages.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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A Cure for Wellness 9/10

It's not often when you see a filmmaker get a $40 million budget and simply not care about what's acceptable to mainstream tastes. That's what makes Gore Verbinski's latest film so enjoyable. A monster mash of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, David Lynch, lots of 1970's horror (primarily the ones made in Europe), and even financial recession drama, Verbinski's vision of terror is very beautifully made as well as detailed thanks to Bojan Bazelli's cinematography (as I said before, this needed an IMAX release) and some excellent production design. And instead of the current boom of micro-budget ghost stories with cheap CGI or using talk to cover up the lack of ideas, Verbinski focuses on atmosphere and makes the real villain man as he zeroes in on the viewer's conscience on if the protagonist is slowly going mad or if the viewer is.

Dane DeHaan isn't much of a lead (though maybe that was the point) but Jason Isaacs makes for a creepy doctor and Mia Goth's performance as a developmentally delayed patient reminded me a lot of a young Sissy Spacek. And fitting in with the 1970's feel, Benjamin Wallfisch's score has that old-fashioned sound that wouldn't be out of place in a studio horror film in that era. Sure, people will complain that it's two and a half hours but Verbinski makes sure things happen in that time. And the film's twist is ridiculous in a good way, tying in with the tone.

In the end, this has the potential to be a cult hit in the future and it's certainly more deserving than It Follows or The Babadook. Too bad Hollywood will likely never give anyone a chance to make something so batshit insane for over $5 million again and open it on a holiday weekend.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The Lego Batman Movie 8/10

I actually liked this one more than The Lego Movie mainly for the fact that the main character isn't a complete moron this time but rather a jackass who needs to learn the ills of his ways. It's also easily the best Batman movie to feature Robin and Alfred's expanded role creates for some funny moments. And you have to give the filmmakers credit for some inventive casting (mainly Jenny Slate as Harley Quinn and perhaps the most unusual voice casting in recent memory, though there's very few lines, Kate Micucci as Clayface) and the references to every single previous Batman movie (it even references the Adam West Batman a few times), though I wish the rumored Kevin Conroy cameo hadn't been just that.

I'm really hoping a lot of this carries over into The Lego Movie 2 and maybe we can get Lego Justice League in the near future (still want Jonah Hill's Green Lantern to be more than a cameo).
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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XX: 5/10
A compilation of 4 short horror films written and directed by women sounds like a great idea. The problem is that 3 out of the 4 are very flawed, whether it's the poor acting of the first, or the music video quality of St. Vincent's short. However, they are redeemed by Karyn Kusama's excellent short, about a woman who takes her son on the run, but realises she can't escape his demonic destiny.

I Don't Feel at Home on the World Anymore: 6/10
A bizarre Sundance winner, considering it's an oddball comedy horror, as opposed to low budget Oscar bait or quirky dramedies. So there is something refreshing about Macon Blair's debut, dealing with a woman whose house is robbed and who decides to track down those responsible. There are plenty of Coen brothers references throughout, and while it doesn't come together like Fargo or The Big Lebowski, it's still thoroughly off-the-wall and mostly enjoyable.

Two Lovers and a Bear: 6/10
Kim Nguyen's next film is another slightly magical realist tale, this time about two young lovers living in desolate, icy Northern Canada. When the woman gets accepted to study in college, a rift is created between these broken individuals, and they take a drastic turn in order to heal themselves. Solid lead performances and decent direction keep the story going, although its downbeat nature prevents it from truly inspiring.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Split 9/10

This might be the best film that M. Night Shyamalan has ever done. After having (deservedly) gotten a reputation as a joke with disasters like The Happening and The Last Airbender, Shyamalan returns to his roots and self-financed the $9 million budget of this thriller that manages to be both intense and fascinating as it really goes into the mind of its villain. In a way, it could be described as what if Brian De Palma had adapted Red Dragon as it resembles both De Palma's Dressed to Kill and Thomas Harris's novel (along with the abduction case in Cleveland that occurred a few years back). And the performances of James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy (as one of the kidnapped teenagers, this one with survivalist tendencies) are fantastic. Shyamalan regular Betty Buckley also does well as McAvoy's psychiatrist and the obligatory Shyamalan cameo is actually pretty funny (he's the guy handling the security cameras that really likes Hooters).

As for the twist ending that Tranny complained about, I thought it was a great twist, especially seeing how long Shyamalan's been talking about doing a sequel to that particular film but has been unable to due to rights and budget issues. The appearance of a certain actor before the credits tells us that we should be expecting a well-worthy sequel to both films. And it's a much better twist than in The Witch (Taylor-Joy's last genre film).
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