Amph At The Movies (film discussion thread)

Apple can cash it...and then some. They need some kind of big release to get people onboard with Apple TV+. (They just extended everyone’s free trial year until this Summer. That is the second extension recently. I am not on board.) Most folks I know have no desire to even start the free trial. So Apple needs something major to make their Hollywood arm legit.

I understand your point though.

 

Good. Hopefully by summer most people have a vaccine and can go back. I miss movie theatres.

 

They will be open this summer just with limit on capacity which equals most likely no tentpole movies.

 

Here’s some news I’ve personally been waiting for.

 

At the moment, I'm listening to Yojimbo in Japanese which I don't speak except for a few words..
Not watching as I'm multi tasking.
It's beautiful!

Looking forward to watching it soon.

I wonder how much Yojimbo made at the box office? Wasn't it more successful than Seven Samurai?

Edit: The soundtrack to Yojimbo is gangbusters I can say that. Especially the percussion parts. Still haven't been watching it or reading the subtitles. Just listening to it.
Figure it gives me a leg up when I finally watch it, probably tonight.

 

It's a great movie.

 

I'm looking forward to finally seeing it.

And I'm grateful to everyone here who recommended the CC blu ray boxset with Sanjuro.

I have so many great films to watch in my future it's almost overwhelming.

 

Yeah I was wondering about that @The2ndQuest as Bond will be in the can for over two years. Sooner or later they need to update the thing LOL!

Hollywood is betting that the Biden's administration goal of going back to normalcy by late summer can be achieved as they for now not pushing any films back:



I don't see how Black Widow (May) or even Top Gun 2 (July) are not pushed back. Theaters should be up and running by then but with limit capacity therefore it wont be worth it for studios to push their big tentpole franchises movies out yet. So my guess is those two get pushed back unless "normalcy" comes faster then we expect.

And HBO Max double it's subscribers last quarter and now have nearly 18 million:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/hbo...le-to-17point2-million-in-fourth-quarter.html

So for now the gamble by WB is paying off. Just will they be able to keep subscribers post pandemic remains to be seen. $15 a month with movies premiering on it is a bargain but without it? Not so much.

 

A little more about binge-watching the movies of Benson and Moorhead, ranked as followed:

Spring (2015)
A phenomenally good supernatural romantic comedy This movie is so well made on such a tiny budget. The effects are flawless. The actors are talented and charming, the story is well-written. Indie comic sci fi horror fantasy rarely gets this good. Benson and Moorhead are arguably too good for their chosen subgenres.

The Endless (2017)
The second of two movies built around the creepiness of obsolete visual media. It's not exactly an original horror trope, but the boys take it in a new direction here

Synchronic (2019)
A time-travel crime drama? All their films get labeled sci fi/horror, but the reality is that they're all comedies, and this is a great time-travel comedy. Synchronic seems like a pandemic victim, but every genre buff should watch it on whatever streaming service. The Benson/Moorhead attention to detail and lightly comic dialogue just makes everything work in all their movies. They are masters of this technique, whatever it is, exactly. That's what separates a movie like "The Endless" from a much cheesier low budget genre piece like "Time Trap." Both of those 2017 indie sci fi flicks build around similar conceits, but the detailed execution and phenomenal talent behind "The Endless" really stand out.

Resolution (2012)
Another indie comedy masquerading as sci fi/horror.

To me, the talents of Benson and Moorhead outshine the likes of Denis Villeneuve and Alex Garland, but they have not yet had the popular breakthrough they deserve. Synchronic might have come closer in a different year. Whatchagonnado? It's inconceivable to me that so few people seem to have seen "The Endless" and "Spring," or that I'd never even heard of "Spring" a week ago. I feel bad about it. Nadia Hilker should be an international superstar.

 

Well, I am 100% down for a James Wan Giallo-style horror film!

As soon as I can rent -or buy- Malignant, I’ll do that.

This image is very Dario Argento and giallo-like (The glove looks like it was swiped from the set of Deep Red. Add a touch of vengeful religiousness in that golden winged dagger and the ragged sleeve could also be a nod to the angel of death.)

 

WB Theatrical movies that get HBOMax release in the States are VOD in Canada (and in theatres, assuming someone out east provinces bubble can go to the movies cuz those are the only ones open in the country) so far with on Christmas Wonder Woman 1984 and The Witches and just today I rented The Little Things. Interesting quirk, WW84 and The Witches were 30 dollar rentals. I expected the same for WB's The Little Things. But it was in line with Universal's recent VOD rentals, 25 dollars. 5 dollars less than WW8 and The Witches.

Y'know what that means? Officially blockbuster movie tier pricing has arrived! It was going to happen eventually! I mean, they were sort of getting away with it by having blockbusters be on premium bigger screens and 3D and moving chairs which could tick up the price a few extra bucks. But Little Things and WW84 are the exact same visual quality rental for UHD4k, no extra bells and whistles. So they're kinda just admitting that "Yes, this movie which cost more to make is going to cost you more to watch." (Disney's Premiere Access charge for Mulan and the upcoming animated films are sorta that too but you need to be a D+ sub and extra $ for the "early" month long access).

Ah well, at least I won't have to pay extra to see Zack Synder's Justice League, that is a HBOMax original which is getting released on Crave on the same date. Probably because it isn't WB theatrical like the recently announced slate was. Different pockets for AT&T, I guess.

 

Time to invest in that $150,000 110-inch micro LED tv.

 

I'm seeing an oxymoron in there somewhere......

 

The MATRIX: Resurrections

 

Matrix: Sorry for bumping off Neo and Trinity, it's all good now.

 

I saw David Lynch The Art Life last night.

Just stopping by to say I highly recommend it if you like documentaries about artists and filmmakers. Even if Lynch isn't one of your favorite directors, you still might enjoy this film. He's a very fascinating, brilliant person.

 

I believe somewhere on this forum I literally posted an image where the joke was “Matrix IV: Neo undied” so I think I’m supposed to be at least ironically happy about this.

 

I haven't watched all of the animated DC films, but this upcoming one involving WWII seems interesting. I remember reading about how comics didn't really want to get involved in real world events like wars because having those superheroes getting involved betrays the soldiers who actually served. But it looks like this movie won't just be about the Allied vs. Axis powers; it's got some monsters involved to throw some kind of wrench in the grand scheme of the Nazis I guess.

 

Unless it's just a massive three page wall of text by Roy Thomas explaining how the JSA was not able to directly participate in the conflict because Hitler, using the Spear of Destiny, created a magical field of protection for the Axis powers, is it really a JSA story about WWII?

Seriously they used to just ****ing drone on and on about that.

 

I never read Flashpoint but I know the bullet points and I did just watch Flashpoint Paradox which felt like a good highlight reel version of what happens there and the ending worked emotionally. Also recommended relevant viewing for the forthcoming Flashpoint movie although I'm thinking they'll change Flashpoint Batman to Burton-verse/Earth 89/Keaton Batman because if you cast Michael Keaton in a multiverse romp he better be playing that Batman, as good as the emotional depth potential is for Flashpoint Batman but Keaton better be the OG guy. Not sure how the final scene would work if it's just a message from one Bruce Wayne multiverse Batman to another though.

 

Apparently you didn't see any of the Transformers movies.