Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Screen203
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Buscemi2 wrote:
August 26th, 2022, 7:57 pm
If MGM does a Cinemascore poll, I could easily see the film in the D range. Though the lady in the seat in front of me liked it.
After seeing it, I have to agree. I would be very surprised with a CinemaScore above a C+.

I was not a fan of the movie myself (in fact, I would say it is easily the most disappointing film of the year for me personally.) I actually really liked the first hour, but after he is thrown into the sea for the second time the movie completely flatlines. It almost felt like they stopped writing the script after that scene.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Been a while, but was waiting for something I truly enjoyed. And now I've found a few

Nope: 7/10
I think we're all just going to have to assume that Peele's films are going to have as much bad stuff as great stuff. Even Get Out, in retrospect is a flawed film. Here, Peele learns from the mistakes of Us (a film which over-explains a rather underwhelming backstory) by doing the opposite and giving us barely any information about what's going on, and why some characters do what they do. Yet, it's a fun, novel take on the alien genre, that starts off mimicking one classic film but becomes another. There's plenty of tension and some interesting flashbacks, which make up for the gaping plot holes and overly understated lead performance.

Decision to Leave: 7/10
And speaking of understated, Park Chan Wook follows up the ridiculous yet fun The Handmaiden with his take on Vertigo. Here, a focused Korean detective encounters a seemingly accidental death, only to fixate on the man's Chinese wife. It falls into a tale of obsession, and passion, or is it just manipulation and a need for closure. While it's the director's quietest film, it still wows in its direction and depiction of unspoken, untouched desire.

Triangle of Sadness: 7/10
And from the subtle to the brazenly obvious. Ruben Ostland's latest picked up the Palm D'Or to much surprise, but perhaps deservedly so. It's his brashest, clunkiest film and yet its cynicism is at times spot on and at others quite hilarious. Broken into 3 parts, its essentially follows a vapid model couple who embark on a luxury cruise, only for things to go very wrong. Satirising the rich is like shooting fish in a barrell, but Ostland isn't afraid to look at the other side, and show that we're all capable of selfishness and corruption. And puking and shitting ourselves too.

Resurrection: 6/10
Rebecca Hall elevates the solid but forgettable thriller, about a workaholic single mum who starts to fall apart when a man from her past comes to visit. Hall is intense, and Tim Roth is appropriately creepy as the man who changed her life forever, and the film is a decent struggle for her to break free of her psychological trappings.

Prey: 5/10
I can see how this was received well. It's a well-shot, well-made film that doesn't ruin the PRedator franchise. However, it merely recreates the third act of the original film, all in order to explain a detail from the sequel. We get nothing new in this story of a Native American woman who craves to be a warrior, only to be faced with the hulking hunter alien we all know. So yes, it's a worthy sequel, but it didn't need to exist.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The usually over-priced Cineplex is so desperate right now they offered discount Tuesday pricing all week long leading up to the $3 tickets on National Cinema Day tomorrow, so I took advantage and saw a couple of flicks that no one else apparently wanted to see.

Emily The Criminal – 8/10

Aubrey Plaza is shockingly effective in this taut, character-driven thriller about a desperate woman with a checkered past who gets slowly drawn into a life of crime. The movie feels very prescient because it does a nice job of showing how overwhelming it feels to be crippled with debt you have no hope of paying off, which is something a lot of us can relate to right now, myself included. Her forays into petty crime feel authentic, but the movie perhaps goes a little overboard in the third act. The deeper she sinks into the criminal underworld of L.A., the stranger it seems that none of the allegedly dangerous crooks she tangles with ever carries a gun.

Three Thousand Years Of Longing – 6/10

You have to respect George Miller for taking such a wild swing with this movie, even if there were times when I was left scratching my head and wondering what he was thinking. For all the visual splendour on display, the film feels far too literary, as if Miller was excessively beholden to the source material, which I haven't read. For all the eye-candy on display, the movie never overcomes the fact that the bulk of the runtime is just two excellent actors sitting around telling each other stories without ever developing much chemistry, so there's never any sense of conflict, danger, or forward momentum. The end result is like listening to an audiobook accompanied by the world's most expensive screen-saver.

And since I'm here I might as well do an end of summer ratings dump:

7/10
The Aristocrats (2005)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Paris, Texas (7/10)

6/10
Phantasm II (1988)
3 Women (1977)
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
The Sign Of The Cross (1932)
Extreme Prejudice (1987)
The Full Treatment (1960)

5/10
Phantasm (1979)
Things To Come (1936)
Nope (2022)
Memory (2022)

4/10
The War Of The Worlds (1953)

3/10
The Batman (2022)
The Devil's Rain (1975)
The Osterman Weekend (1983)
The Guardian (1990)

2/10
Halloween Kills (2011)

I also re-watched the original Night Of The Living Dead, which was way better than I'd remembered. Maybe the Criterion restoration made the film pop much more than whatever cheap release I'd originally seen after the film fell into public domain.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. 3/10

Dull mockumentary that feels less like a movie and more like one of these hybrid sitcoms the networks tried to make a thing some years back. Filled with unlikable characters you don't care for and a confusing structure when you can't really tell what's part of the documentary and what isn't (yes, the film is shot in multiple aspect ratios to convey this but you're more likely to wonder if those scenes should be in the documentary segments), this is a film that really makes you appreciate the best of Christopher Guest and not what we are watching more. In addition to the failures I mentioned above, the dialogue feels way too scripted, featuring pauses when the audience is expected to laugh, and worst of all, it's too safe. It wants to be a satire of prosperity gospel and American Evangelicalism but it's far too scared to really criticize anything about these two things. It wants to be hard-hitting but is just toothless.

In the end, we are left with a forgettable festival movie that if not for Jordan Peele's involvement, would have just been a minor streaming title instead of a wide release that you can watch on streaming at the same time. And you'll still be disappointed if you didn't pay to watch it.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Memoria 4/10

This might have been an okay short but as a film, it's way too long and has little to say. The sound design is solid but if the director wanted to make it a sound experience, why did it need to be a film? The plot is too thin to sustain two hours and fifteen minutes. However, I would rather watch this one again than a bunch of other acclaimed 2021 films.

In the end, not worth the whole gimmick Neon set up with it but at least I didn't pay $30 to import a copy.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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CatVideoFest 2022 7/10

This one wasn't as fun as the two previous installments but if you enjoy watching cat videos on a big screen, this will satisfy that once-a-year need to do so. Highlights this year include a segment on stray cats caught in the conflict in Ukraine being taken in by good samaritans also stuck in an uncertain situation, a segment on a cat sanctuary in Hawaii, and another Simon's Cat segment. This installment felt a little padded but it's possible that the committee were short on time for this one, especially since DogVideoFest is supposed to be ready before Christmas. But as long as you know what to expect, you should find enough positives to keep coming back.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The Woman King 8/10

Exciting action film that brings to mind the historical adventure epics studios used to make when it wasn't about only adapting the same few characters every year. Viola Davis is solid in the lead, a warrior who leads her army to battle against rival villages and slavers to protect her land and people, while Lashana Lynch does well as her second-in-command. Some might view the film as being too talky but when the action sequences occur, that's when it's at its best. There's an energy here that's lacking in a lot of today's action films and that alone makes it worth watching.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Moonage Daydream 9/10

This was quite the ride. This documentary on David Bowie covers pretty much all aspects on his life and career, the man, the myth, and the legend, and must be seen on the biggest possible screen with the best sound system possible. The documentary envelops you and takes you into a world few of us have ever really seen. Bowie was more than a musician or even an artist. He transcended us and when he died, a void was left on our culture and our world. This documentary does as much as it possibly can to fill that void and the end result is a near-perfect odyssey of the beyond human David Bowie. Despite running two hours and fifteen minutes, it feels short and could have been much, much longer. I would have watched a five or six hour version of this, even if my eardrums wouldn't have survived and I might have gone insane. It's that entertaining.

If you are near an IMAX showing this this week, go. And if you can't, it expands wide next weekend. You will not be disappointed.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The Silent Twins 8/10

Solid psychological drama about identical twins, cut off from all reality but their own, as they dream of fame and love but only get into trouble as their world is not the world they expected to discover. A lot of the interest comes from this being based on a true story and that it uses a lot of the writings of the real-life Silent Twins as much of the film's core. It's also a film that gets you to understand why they were the kind of people they were, even if a lot of their actions didn't make a lot of sense to anyone but themselves. It's not going to be a film for everyone but I feel that it does style better than a lot of more hyped films recently have for the main reason being that the story is that fascinating. It might not be well-known outside the UK but it's interesting because it's so unique.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Mad God 7/10

Missed this one in the theatre but I was able to see it with a free AMC+ trial on Prime (the actual AMC+ site refused to recognize my debit card for some reason so I couldn't use that free trial). Anyway, this post-apocalyptic variation of Frankenstein though lacking in plot, succeeds in atmosphere and showing off its stunning animation. The film has more cult potential than a generic A24 teen film and Phil Tippett shows that he's more than just "there were raptors all up in the kitchen". I might have liked it more had the script gotten some polish but it's an intriguing throwback to late 80's/early 90's sci-fi.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Blonde: 7/10

Very much worth watching. Much of the criticism involves one or two moments, and a lack of understanding of what the film is trying to do. Perhaps Dominik shouldn't have called the character Marilyn Monroe, because it's an interpretation of her, rather than a hard biography. It is, however, far more interesting than the dull My Week With Marilyn. Instead, it's an indictment of fame culture, accusing us all of being responsible for her rise AND fall. It's expolitative because her image has always been exploitative. And yet there are tender moments, and scenes where her intelligence is shown (and demeanded by men), giving us a more rounded character than some journalists would like to admit. It's an exciting and very disturbing film. It may not justify its 165 minutes or certain nudity scenes, but it's been a while where I've seen a film as challenging and tricky and formally ambitious (well, in the English-speaking world) as this. Essential viewing.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Something In The Dirt (5/10)

A disappointing effort from Moorhead and Benson, the stubbornly independent filmmakers who now seem like they could use some outside collaborators. They're guilty of repeating themselves here, both on a grand scale and within the confines of the story, hitting the same beats and having variations of the same conversations over and over again. I didn't realize they were now getting assignments directing for MCU shows like Moon Knight and Loki, so it'll be interesting to see how their careers progress, but after this lacklustre effort I can't see them being the next Russo Brothers.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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At least The Russo Brothers don't act in their own films. The biggest problem with Moorhead and Benson is that they think they are appealing actors. They have no charisma whatsoever and their films feel like long ego trips as a result.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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They/Them 3/10

While Sosie Bacon is starring in the top movie at the box office, her father's recent foray into horror is a forgettable, cliched Blumhouse film that wants to be Gay Get Out but is played far too straight and seems to be more interested in not offending the homophobic crowd that permeates the horror community than being an all-out criticism towards the ridiculousness that is gay conservation therapy. I can understand why Kevin Bacon and Anna Chlumsky agreed to make the film but they could have used a better script with more satire and being less like The Purge. Also, the characters are one-dimensional and not interesting.

This could have really been something but it's not a surprise why Universal dumped it onto Peacock with little fanfare. It should have been the horror version of But I'm a Cheerleader instead of what we got.
Last edited by Buscemi2 on October 5th, 2022, 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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JohnErle wrote:
October 1st, 2022, 12:21 pm
Something In The Dirt (5/10)

A disappointing effort from Moorhead and Benson, the stubbornly independent filmmakers who now seem like they could use some outside collaborators. They're guilty of repeating themselves here, both on a grand scale and within the confines of the story, hitting the same beats and having variations of the same conversations over and over again. I didn't realize they were now getting assignments directing for MCU shows like Moon Knight and Loki, so it'll be interesting to see how their careers progress, but after this lacklustre effort I can't see them being the next Russo Brothers.
I have the same issues with all of their films - they all start very strong only to collapse about halfway through.
It's not destroying. It's making something new.

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