@nessisonett Oddly enough, it's about a cop going undercover to catch a serial killer in the New York S&M gay scene in the early 1980's. Extremely controversial back when it was made. Look it up.
@LN78 Genuinely didn’t realise this movie existed. Tempted to watch out of curiosity but also incredibly wary considering that there’s about a 99% chance that the subject material was chosen for shock value just like the millions of trans serial killers in these sorts of faux-giallo movies.
Incredible that it got made at all - I'm watching it because of Friedkin and Pacino but I'm fairly confident that the reports that it's a complete mess (something like forty minutes were supposedly cut to avoid an X rating) will turn out to be accurate. There's a commentary track with Friedkin and Mark Kermode on the disc so that should be interesting, too.
"The Mummy" from 1999 makes sense - Universal saw an "Indiana Jones" shaped hole in the market, bought a competent action-comedy script then dropped in some decent actors (two future Oscar winners,no less) and state of the art SFX - it's no "Raiders" (or even "Last Crusade") but it's not bad and it was a big hit.
"The Mummy" from 2017 also makes sense - it exists solely because Universal wanted its own horror tinged version of the MCU ("The Dark Universe" ) but they hired Alex "Failing Upwards" Kurtzman and Tom Cruise's ego to make it happen. Predictably, what they ended up with was an absolute train wreck and a huge flop - the wholesale rip-off of the 'talking to the recently deceased best friend' concept from "An American Werewolf in London" is so shameless that it's actually pretty impressive. Needless to say that my opinion of Tom Cruise (is him running an "I'll be back" style in-joke at this point?) has not improved.
"Godzilla" (the Emmerich version) and "Godzilla" (the Gareth Edwards version) later but I might watch a Friedkin double feature - "Sorcerer" and "Cruising" - first.
Don't really know anything about the series but I watched the first film. Really quite enjoyable. Hermione and Snape in particular are real treats. Looking forward to the second one.
Oppenheimer
Hadn't been to the cinema in over 10 years but was looking forward to this and got treated. Everything I hoped it would be and then some. I'll be watching this multiple times.
The Secret of NIMH
A classic I'd never seen from my birth year. Really heartwarming and even scary in parts. Easy to see why it's close to many people's hearts. Jeremy the crow was a constant source of amusement though every time he caught up in thread, all I could think of was shibari. Pleasant.
P.S. I Love You
I mean, it's cheesy, but it works and it's really kind of beautiful, too. The moment they were walking up the hill together in Ireland prior to the encounter with the dog was really nicely done. Not ashamed to say I cried through literally half of the film. Which was fun.
@LN78@JohnnyShoulde I went through a phase of mentioning celebs who’d immediately die. Killed Ken Dodd and Barry Chuckle that way. Had to stay away from 80s light entertainment for a while.
@nessisonett@JohnnyShoulder I don't think I need to worry - I also mentioned Cruise and Kurtzman in that post and they are (insofar as I know) still alive. That's nice.
@LN78 Not entirely sure that the CruiseBot 9000 can actually die, think he’s running on sheer Thetan energy or whatever the hell Scientologists believe in.
At least it gives me the excuse to talk about that insane jazz album L Ron Hubbard made, with the most hilarious synth solo I’ve ever heard.
Some movies I've watched recently, including but not limited to...
Mary Poppins
Still holds up better than you'd expect, but does drag in a few places, and some of that timeless Disney magic has started to fray around the edges. It hasn't been remastered beyond HD, but you get the impression that it's a deliberate choice, for obvious reasons.
Singin' In the Rain
Had never seen this classic before, so was pleasantly surprised by its satire of the Hollywood machine and the effectiveness of its timeless message. Some of its humour was genuinely laugh-out-loud hilarious. And good grief, both Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor could dance. Its most iconic, rain-soaked scene wasn't the most impressive, not in terms of raw talent. A nice change of pace.
Toy Story 4
Worked for me. It'll never be as fondly remembered as the first, nor were its emotional beats as hard-hitting as the third, but I still found it a heart-warming delight from start to finish.
Jurassic Park 3
Stuck indoors on a rainy Sunday? Wanna watch a bunch of half-decent actors run and scream whilst being chased by some cool-lookin' dinosaurs? You could do a lot worse. Respects its audience by keeping itself short and sweet whilst achieving what it sets out to achieve, which is pure fluff and nonsense.
The Lost City
Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum do well with what they're given, but ultimately can't save a movie which stubbornly refuses to pick a freakin' lane. The comedy falls flat because it's constantly competing with an attempt to go on a serious historical mystery, but then the serious stuff feels rushed, and isn't presented with any conviction, either. About the only bits that work are the character beats between Ms. Bullock and Mr. Tatum, which are weirdly great (once you've recovered from the tonal whiplash) and Daniel Radcliffe's got the potential to make an effective Bond villain someday.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Nicholas Cage cashes in on his "walking meme" status, with mixed results. His scenes with Pedro Pascal are adorably earnest, but the project needed 10% more ridiculousness (and 20% more budget for its finale) in order to stick the landing. Full respect to Mr. Cage for poking such fun at himself, though.
...and finally...
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The best superhero blockbuster ever made, the best-looking movie of all time, and the best piece of Spidey media to date.
Over to you, Insomniac.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
This wonderful discussion between the late William Friedkin and "Drive" director Nicolas Winding Refn was the sole special feature on the blu-ray for the excellent "Sorcerer" - a late 70's high concept (mercenaries transport trucks full of highly volatlie explosives across extremely rugged terrain) action thriller which comes highly recommended.
"Cruising" (made in the immediate aftermath of the commercial and critical failure of "Sorcerer") is an undeniably brave, unforgettable film but one that I never want to see again. The serial killer plot is muddled to the point of being incoherent and the climactic suggestion that Pacino's undercover cop character was himself responsible for at least one of the killings is ludicrous to say the least.
@RogerRoger That’s quite a variety there! Well done!
It’s been ages since I watched the first three on the list and it’s been just a few weeks since the final one. Agree with all your impressions on those four (although I’m fuzzy about Singin’ in the Rain. My memories of it are quite vague, but I do recall some impressive dancing). I also think I’ve seen Jurassic 3, but it left very few impressions on me and I hate to say it but that franchise has just burned out for me.
The other two are movies I only have a passing interest in but am glad to see I probably won’t be missing out on anything grand if I skip them.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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@RogerRoger
I just remembered about that Spider-Man film earlier in and was wondering whether or not to watch it soon, I think your enthusiasm may have decided it for me. Glad to know you rate it so highly.
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
Neither of the "Godzilla" films I watched were much good but the more recent one had some decent performances (from Brian Cranston and Ken Wattanabe), a couple of passable gags and some effective CGI, I suppose. It's difficult to think of anything nice to say about the Emmerich version - the acting is lousy, the script is beyond lame (how does an army battalion LOSE a monster the size of a skyscraper on an island as small as Manhatten?) and the film is set predominantly on rainy nights to hide the obvious defects in the digital effects which were clearly intended to be the star of the show. If "JP3" was a tech demo in search of a script then "Godzilla" was an ad campaign ("Size Does Matter") in search of a movie. Worse than the Cruise "The Mummy" (hard to believe) and so the worst I've seen up to now (all the way through, at least) in my Summer Blockbuster marathon. The Raimi "Spider-Man" trilogy next. Interested to see how they've held up - I remember being a big fan of the first two in particular.
@RogerRoger Singin in the Rain isn’t thought of as much as it should be in terms of Hollywood satire, it’s brilliant. It’s just brilliant, even if poor Debbie Reynolds was terrorised on set. The 4K remaster’s great too, the Technicolour really lends itself to 4K with how much certain colours pop. I’d struggle to pick my favourite movie of that musical era, I totally grew up on all those movies.
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