Amph What was the last movie you saw?

I watched It Follows again after more than a year of lending the disc to a friend.

It's so good I find it difficult to talk about without rambling too much. The fellows on the audio commentary pointed out a neat thing about the perceived references to so many good movies and their directors being so intuitive that it would have been impossible to have consciously constructed a film for that purpose AND have such a compelling story, look and feel of of its own.

 

Accidental DP due to ?????????????? with the server.(?)

Might as well make the most of it. Here's a shot from Halloween (which you will want to rewatch after It Follows)

 

Transformers the Last Knight
It's a pile of hot mess.

 

"The Case of the Curious Bride" on TCM. It's one of the Perry Mason movies made by WB in the 1930's, with Warren William as Mason. It's a good movie, but if you're only familiar with the Raymond Burr series, it's a real change of pace. And it has Errol Flynn, but only for a few moments.

 

We're the Millers (2013)

Painfully unfunny in every possible way, although Will Poulter steals every scene he's in. I hope he goes places because Son of Rambow is one of the best absurdist comedies of the 2000's.

Catch a Fire (2006)

Overlooked political thriller that sports two great performances from Derek Luke and Tim Robbins. Very well made.

The Change-Up (2011)

Gross out comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman that flopped pretty badly (Green Lantern also came out that year) is actually not completely painful. The first half is excruciatingly awful, but the second half is...okay?

Changing Lanes (2002)

A really well made thriller sporting the talents of SLJ and Affleck (who's really good here) is not bang bang shoot em up but very talky. I quite enjoyed it.

Children of the Corn (1984)

Unintentionally hilarious and not scary one bit. All of the kid performances are awful.

 

I haven't seen Son of Rambow, but I also hope Poulter is bound for big things. With both DiCaprio & Hardy giving Oscar worthy performances, I thought he still gave a really great and memorable performance in The Revenant. That he was even able to register as a presence with those two leads acting their brains out is pretty incredible.

 

The Visit


In a word: Okay

The Visit was a campfire story to me. Nothing really scary or all that compelling, but it was worth watching as the performances by everyone involved were well done, as well as the weirdness. But I think the film undercuts itself by explaining the weirdness with simple explanations and thus losing some suspense and tension.

 

A-Team (2010). On a technical standpoint the movie is garbage, but damn is it some fun garbage.

 

'22 Jump Street'

It had been a good while since I saw the first film but I thoughtit was fun. This one seems to think it's really clever by being self aware about it being a sequel that doesn't cover new ground. I suppose that being self aware about it is kind of funny but it's still a little lazy. It's essentially the same movie and the cast has enough good will to make it not a total waste of time

 

Yoga Hosers. I heard that it was awful, so I wanted to see for myself. It's a shame because Kevin Smith used to make decent, watchable movies, but this film and Tusk were just plain terrible.

 

Edgar Wright's Baby Driver.

Oozes style and energy, even if the narrative is a bit more conventional than the robust filmmaking.

 

The Banger Sisters (2002)

Notable for being Goldie Hawn's last film for at least 15 years. Even if this were to be her last film (Snatched is ****ing dreadful) it's a pretty decent flick to go out on.

 

Fargo

 

Cars 3: I liked it better than Cars 2.

 

My Neighbor Totoro (1988) – Hayao Miyazaki

This is the third Miyazaki film I’ve seen and I just fall more and more under his whimsical, wonderful worldview with each one. This movie shares a lot with the other movies I’ve seen. There’s almost nothing in the way of serious plot; instead the movie chooses to meander through everyday life with the magic underneath it all revealed. A father and his two daughters move into the countryside in order to be closer to the mother of the family who is recovering from a basically unspecified ailment at a local hospital. Once there, the youngest child discovers that the nearby woods contain a host of magical, wondrous creatures, that, in essence, the entire world that surrounds her is filled with magic and mystery. Miyazaki captures something really wonderful with his films. There’s just a whimsy and a childlike wonder to his movies that I really just haven’t managed to find anywhere else. The animation is, of course, wonderful and often extremely funny. The performances, particularly of the two young girls, are great. Noriko Hidaka is the older girl. Chika Sakamoto is the younger and between Sakamoto’s performance and the animation and the script I’m seriously wondering if this is maybe the best representation of real childhood on film. This movie has little in the way of plot momentum, but the energy is high and the good-natured vibe just pervades everything about it. The creatures are imaginative, beautiful and so much fun. Totoro is a blast but Catbus is some kind of astounding marvel. Next on the agenda, Dogbus? Because the world would be basically perfect if there were Catbuses & Dogbuses. This movie just really sent me out on a total high. Nothing like a Miyazaki masterpiece to feel your heart with joy and happiness and the wonderful, all too rare feeling that magic exists and maybe the doorway to that magical world of fun, adventure and love is hiding just around the next corner. 4 stars.

tl;dr – animated film from Miyazaki is filled with wonder & magic and will leave you feeling exuberant and joyful; brilliant in every way and I want a Catbus. 4 stars.

 

Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio

 

Transformers: the Last Knight
Was the worst movie I have seen this year. Unbearable.

 

Baby Driver. Edgar Wright is one of the greatest directors working today. He doesn't just make uproariously fun films infused with his total love of movies -- he's a complete technical master of his craft. Baby Driver is a showcase for Wright's masterful editing and incredible use of sound. The sonic landscape of the movie is just as important and just as rich and overwhelming as the visuals. It's just a wildly entertaining love letter to movies. It doesn't let up from beginning to end, cycling through incredible action -- fluid and creative, this is just as good an action movie as this year's John Wick 2, if less bloody -- comedy, and quiet moments of brilliant little cinematic digressions. It's not just a technical showcase, either, as it features great performances. Ansel Elgort should get a much higher profile after this -- his reserved protagonist is totally charming and compelling without a lot of dialogue or showy scenes, just fantastic use of his body. Lily James plays off him really well and you buy their instant chemistry totally. The film has great fun with Kevin Spacey as a fount of old-fashioned patter, a subdued, self-amused showman. It also does a great job of exploiting the typical crime-boss mix of menace and paternalism in unexpected ways. And Jon Hamm is outstanding as a hardened criminal who seems much more affable and human than Jamie Foxx's robber, who likes to brag about being an unstable, violent psycho, but maybe just as dangerous underneath. There's also a lot to be said for Eliza Gonzalez as Hamm's wife, who seems the most normal of them all except when her inner thrill killer comes through. It's just outstanding from beginning to end, another masterwork from Wright, and the best movie I've seen this year.

 

^A JCC Movie Night classic.

 

Gold (2016)

Besides Mathew's committed performance (and he is really good), there's nothing else here.

 

An American Werewolf in London (1981) - Plot; Two young Americans backpacking across Europe are attacked by a creature, leaving one of them dead and the other irrevocably changed.

Despite its lofty status (and the fact it ran on a loop on TV in the 80s), I'd somehow managed to never watch An American Werewolf in London. For sure horror isn't my favorite genre, but I knew of its comedic counterweight and that's a combination that would seemingly appeal to me. 36 years later, on a recommendation from the great 80s All Over podcast, I finally gave it a go. I'm glad I did.

Deftly balancing the horror with the comedy, Landis uses one to enhance the other. It's a very fine line, and he and his cast walk it expertly. The script is snappy and there's no wasted motion in its tight hour and a half runtime. The cast all acquit themselves well, with David Naughton making for a likeable and sympathetic lead, the impossibly beautiful Jenny Agutter breathing life into what could've been a thankless role, and Griffin Dunne stealing every scene he's in as Naughton's undead best friend.

The end feels a bit too sudden, but I was both surprised and impressed by the direction Landis went and it gives the film a weight and poignancy.

I love it when I'm rewarded for going back and watching an older film that I'd previously ignored or otherwise missed. This may have been the first time, but it won't be the last, that I watch An American Werewolf in London. - 7/10

 

I first saw American Werewolf a couple of years ago now at a local theater that was doing a month of horror classics in celebration of Halloween. Absolutely loved it and agree with you completely, though I think that shocking ending is one of the best things about it. That final shot is just so bleak and then the credits just kick off with that high-energy Blue Moon number and I was just left reeling. That moment is just amazing and, I think, makes the ending somehow all the darker. But, yeah, it's quite a movie. Special effects are great, that scene down in the London Tube is terrifying . . . it's just a great flick.

 

I'm surprised the ending caught me off guard. It's foreshadowed pretty clearly. There's no scientist or witchdoctor running around w/a cure. We're told time and again what his only way out is. I suppose like Naughton's character, I was just reluctant to believe it.

Agree %100 about the scene in the tube. The slightly fish-eyed look gives it a real hunter/hunted feel. But in the spirit of the movie, it's followed shortly afterward by a scene w/his victims gathered in an adult cinema .