Finally watched EEAAO, what a wild ride. Couldn't look away the whole time.

So I'm probably going to see The Happening this weekend. It will probably suck but I'm a Shyamalan fanboy and my curiosity always gets the best of me...

It's terrible, some shocking scenes and the overall story is interesting enough but the direction just gets ridiculous.

Once you realize it's an unintentional comedy like The Room, it becomes funny as hell. Mark Wahlberg in particular is so miscast and given horrible dialogue to work with.

A lot of Shyamalan's later work in summary. He keeps that up even today with Old.

John Wick 4 was amazing. Needs to be seen on the best sound system out there.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

I'm just heading out to do exactly that! Definitely looks like one of those movies where it's gonna be better to sip your drink than gulp it, I can't belive it's so fuckin long.

You wont even notice it. At least half the movie is action.

Loved it! Some of those action scenes were super cool, like the steps scene, the top view in the house and especially the roundabout. Some really good humor too.

Knock at the Cabin - Wasn't really looking forward to this based on Shyamalan's record over the past 20 years and Old in particular. Do I really need to watch another small group of people in basically one location dealing with a threat so bizarre it seems unbelievable even as the evidence keeps piling up?

Maybe it was better writing, better acting, or both, but I was pleasantly surprised. Knock at the Cabin is now either my favorite or second favorite movie he's directed after 2000. (Only Split possibly beats it.) 7 / 10

Unrelated rant about box office...

I get that major theatrical releases are so expensive that the best way to ensure some kind of built-in audience is to crank out sequels. But I don't understand why some sequels perform so much better than others. This month shows what I mean.

Shazam: Fury of the Gods North American opening = $30 million (44% decline from Shazam's $54 million in 2019)
Scream 6 NA opening = $44 million (47% increase over Scream 5's $30 million in 2022)

Audiences were that much hungrier for more Scream, despite the most recognizable actress from the franchise not being in it? Maybe superhero fatigue explains Shazam's steep drop. Either way I don't envy the people whose job it is to greenlight these massive investments then have to explain themselves when they underperform.

yea I have no real desire to see Knock At The Cabin, since it's from the creative mind of shamalamadingdong.
I didn't care for the first Shazam movie myself and have no real interest in the second one. Found Zac Levi and his friend to be annoying.
Maybe Jenna Ortega helped out Scream 6 at the box office?

Well the film had some funny jokes but the villains were so cookie cutter that hardly left any impact in me. Blame the unicorn skittle scene for the low box office.

I would like to watch an analogue horror movie in the big screen. I thought Walten Files, Gemini Home Entrainment and Mandella Catalogue are scary af. The uncanny faces, the news report format and found footage techniques were good. Skinamarink kind of reminds me of those but I think they only got the old filter in the camera right and it is not an analogue horror movie. I think if done with some more high budget additions, we can get something interesting. Hell, I'd go to the cinema even if they presented a Analogue horror series in the big screen but I guess they would only be played in small movie theaters.

I can't really explain the success of Scream 6 other than I heard positive buzz before its release.

As for Shazam, I loved the first one. I'm more of a Marvel guy when it comes to movies, but Shazam is one of my favorites. It captures something, the magic of a kid getting superpowers. I'm sure I'm not the only nerd with such a fantasy, and seeing it on the big screen was awesome. It also had a lot of heart, some good jokes and a villain that was not just "Same powers as hero, but eeeeevil".

Yet the second one... I don't know, I can't see as many movies as I could due to needing to find a sitter each time for the kid now, but Shazam 2 did not look like it deserved one of my few theatre evenings. It looked more cookie cutter, one of the trailers made it seem like they depowered the whole Shazam family, the villains didn't look super compelling... and then you have the bigger issues at DC. They're rebooting the whole universe right now, so it's likely that many people didn't want to see a movie whose continuity would be thrown away. Black Adam gave Shazam the shaft by skipping him and going straight for Superman, even though he's probably the most famous Shazam antagonist (although it would run into the aforementioned problem). It felt like no one, even at DC, cared about Shazam except for the people in it. Oh, and apparently Zach Levi said some dumb things on Instagram (and we know how people are these days).

In other news... I'm sure some people at Marvel are losing their hair right now. The superstar of the next phase, the next big bad, and the one thing everyone agrees was good in Quantumania, has been accused of domestic violence. Jonathan Majors seem to be in deep trouble. I don't understand how someone who is a rising star like that (not just Marvel-wise, he's supposedly killing it in Creed and has a role as a bodybuilder that generated very early Oscar buzz) can throw it away by being (allegedly, but it looks bad) a fucking abusive dick. So not only are Marvel movies' quality dropping, but their strongest pillar rests on the shoulder of someone whose career is at high risk of being nuked.

Finally I watched RRR. For those who doN't know, it's a bollywood movie. It was my first experience, but it was great. Awesome bromance, great songs and dances, absolutely bonkers fight scenes.

Never saw Shazam due to superhero burnout setting in for me by 2018 or 2019. But I thought a sequel with the same director seemed like a safe bet.

With Scream 6 I was curious how fans would react to the studio not bringing back Neve Campbell because she (or her agent) asked for more money than they were willing to pay. There are the vocal No Sidney? No Scream! types on some message boards but they must not be representative because 6 has outgrossed 5. I'll watch 6 at some point since 5 was enjoyable enough.


I hadn't heard anything about this. I just thought DC had no idea how to handle Ezra Miller's offscreen behavior.

Oh DC knows what to do. Hush-hush Ezra's behaviour, cross their fingers and hope for the best. And probably, once The Flash is out, give him the boot since they're rebooting (no pun intended) their universe.

I think it is most possible that Majors will get fired since allegedly even his lawyer tried to make him look innocent with proof that actually makes him look guilty. Man, I'd hate to see him leave.

The local Drive In movie theater is having a family night for Palm Sunday and viewing The Passion of the Christ.
Not getting into the theology and whatever but that is not a movie I would want any kids watching. It was hard enough as an adult, when I saw it.

Over the last few weeks some classics.

The Godfather 1 & 2

The Omen

The Shining

Heaven's Gate

All are amazing movies, Heaven's Gate was the only movie I had seen for the first time and it was based on a true story about stock growers targeting 125 immigrants to be killed.

Didn't want to open a new thread but based on his contribution to a ton of films I though this might be the right place.

RIP Ryuichi Sakamoto.

I didn't have much hopes for the Dungeons and Dragons movie when it was announced, even less when they said Hugh Grant would be playing the villain (flashbacks from Jeremy Irons...), but the teasers and trailers made it look promising. And it was a lot of fun. First of all, it had a good cast: Chris Pine, Hugh Grant and Michelle Rodriguez need no introduction, but it also includes Regé-Jean Page from Bidgerton (which I didn't know), Justice Smith from Detective Pikachu, Sofia Lillis from It and Daisy Head from Shadow and Bone and one episode of Sandman. They all perform well with what is given them.

I think the best description is "Guardians of the Galaxy" in the Forgotten Realms, but the humor is less about quips, and more about situations - how Speak with Dead go wrong, for instance. Most serious situations aren't suddenly undercut by a quip or a sudden dance move. Special effects are OK, they include a healthy mix of practical and CGI, it helps that the main cast is mostly human or human-ish. The aaracokras, dragonborns, halflings and catfolks seen are decent enough but if they'd been regulars, I feel like the VFX flaws would have been more noticeable. Here, as set dressing and minor characters, they are fine.

I loved how each character had their moment to shine - the Druid showcasing her ability to switch forms, the paladin's fights, and so on. But at the same time, Chris Pine's character is described as a planner, a con man and a thief, not as a fighter, and they surprised me by not making him suddenly super proficient with swords, or something. He's the lead, not an action hero.

Of course the movie comes with a healthy dose of fanservice: even if they're not named, you recognize the classes and races, as well as the spells (chain lightning was especially cool). Some names and places from Forgotten Realms lore, too, as well as other more subtle references to the greater D&D canon.

But my girlfriend who doesn't play liked it too, so it's not just 2 hours of fanservice.

***

Also watched the Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which is a movie with Nicholas Cage where he plays Nic Cage, the version of him as seen through the lens of his fans. Basically, a rich weirdo is willing to pay a million bucks to have Nic Cage show up and stay at his estate for a while, which Nic accepts cause he's strapped for cash. The weirdo is played by the always excellent and ubiquitous Pedro Pascal. He appears genuinely like a huge Nic Cage fan.

The movie was fun and goofy, and plays well on Nic Cage's acquired legend status. But for some reason, I never bought his daughter and his ex-wife. Neither were particularly good nor had a real conenction with Cage. The very briefly seen daughter of the president was more believable, I don't know what went wrong, but the family side of the movie wasn't nearly as good as the budding bromance between Cage and Pascal. There is also plenty of fanservice here, obviously.

Talk about a movie that hits you with a gut shot at the end...

Yeah, that's a one-viewing-and-done movie along with We Need to Talk About Kevin, The House of Sand and Fog, etc. Solid casts, well acted but not films I will revisit b/c the content, or final salvo, is so gut-wrenching. So even though Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father has a rating of 94% on RT there's no way in hell I'm sitting through that one.

Just like it is so hard to get a great third film in a franchise, the third time was the charm for the Stephen King/Frank Darabont collaborations. The first, Shawshank Redemption, was a masterpiece. The second, Green Mile, is an amazing film with outstanding performances but just a shade less than the first. The Mist just absolutely falls off a cliff. Its setup is weak, performances are hammy enough to feed an entire nation and the ending was unbelievably stupid. I really REALLY hate it when stories (book or film) enter into brain bending stupidity just for the sake of emotional manipulation.

Despite my appreciation for Stephen King, all of his best adaptations come from regular sized novels or short stories. I would take Gerald's Game, 1408, The Night Flier, The Shawshank Redemption, Weeds(Lonesome Death of Jordy Verill) or Misery over It, The Shining, The Stand(ugh), Needful Things or The Tommyknockers.

I don't hate the rest of the movie nearly as much as you do - in fact I like a lot about it, but yeah... that ending. The grimness is so stupidly over the top it topples right into comedy. Sometimes I think it was intended, having the rest of the movie serve as a lead-up to that final punch line. The movie kinda works for me through that lense.

The Green Mile and The Shining are about the only Stephen King adaptations I really like. The rest of them were kind of meh. Mixed feelings about IT: the first part was great, the second one not so much.

I think IT is just unfilmable at this point. The first of those new movies was so good, but the whole nature of that story is things happening concurrently between the past and present. So by the time we got to the second one, we'd seen all of the new tricks the movie would throw at us and it wasn't exciting anymore.

The great thing about the new It movies is that the first one, the best one, works as standalone. You can watch the movie, enjoy it, and never watch the second one, and you're not really missing anything. The kids won, Pennywise is gone, perfect. What I like about it is that it's not just a horror movie; it certainly qualifies, but it's also an adventure movie, a growing up movie, a family drama movie.

I kinda like a lot of King's adaptations: The Shining, It (esp. chapter 1), the Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, Misery, Carrie. As a kid I loved the Langoliers, even though it's probably actually terrible.
I don't remember much from Tommyknockers and the other adaptations I saw. Many I just haven't seen, like Salem's Lot and Pet Semetary (saw some scenes on AMC, and it looks terrible tbh).

Yeah, that's true on the It movies. Likely how I'll do it going forward.

Doctor Sleep was really good, maybe better than the book. Really excellent action adventure/supernatural story.

I skipped it initially because the comments form horror fans were disappointment, but it's on my watch list now.

I think a lot of horror fans are full of shit sometimes personal-taste-wise, so who knows, haha. But yeah, that and Misdommar (both 2019 releases), I remember being mildly disappointed by at first but then both tremendously grew on me on second and further viewings. Doctor Sleep, you can tell that movie was a huge work of passion for Flanagan. Everything feels so vital and made with care, and the story comes off much better than I ever figured.

I disagree with the first film being so good. It was very poorly written and the selling point of Pennywise carnage is so terribly weak.

The 1990 miniseries has a total of 192 minutes and Pennywise kills five, all of which are off screen. The two new films has close to double that runtime at a total of 305 minutes and free reign to be ruthless; shackles the miniseries had to contend with. Not only does Pennywise NEVER once come off as intimidating, unnerving or imminent like he should but he only kills 5 people, or possibly only 4 if you do not count Adrian at the beginning of Chapter 2. The novel does reveal he would have died in the water even if Pennywise was never there.

Chapter One's biggest change to the narrative is one of the best parts of the script, the one part I was interested in developing and then they completely fumble it. Disgustingly underwhelming was that otherwise brilliant plot point.

Cocaine Bear. Well, it's about a bear on cocaine. The movie is quite gory and has a good amount of humour in it. The CGI wasn't flawless but was good enough considering the budget. The movie was held back by a few things:


Overall I was entertained and I would welcome sequels. 6.5/10

Death by Metal - this just popped up on Tubi. A cool documentary. I like how they included the Beavis and Butthead appearance. "Hey look, it's Jeremy"

Just saw Evil Dead Rise. Quite simply, it's fuckin awesome and I'll make a rather early call that it will be my movie of the year.

I await its sequel, Rehab Bear.

I went to see Super Mario Bros. last week, and brought with me no expectations. I was well entertained. I thought it was funny, and they did a good job paying tribute to plenty of the small details throughout the years.

The Wicker Man - The one from 1974, this is great.

Dungeons and Dragons was a nice surprise. I took a chance based on wanting to see Chris Pine in a funny role, but the rest of the cast was great as well. I don't play the game but could tell that there were a lot of nods towards the way that people might play the game. Worth a rewatch.

John Wick 4. Another solid entry. Didn't feel too long. Didn't care much for the ending but I was also hungover most of the day so maybe I just wasn't as into it as I normally would be.

I got my wisdom teeth taken out and so I took some days off from work. As a result I watched a lot of movies.

The New World - I watched the longest version. What a beautiful and sad movie. No complaints, even if some scenes went on for a loong time the movie is such a mood.

Alien - Amazing.

Aliens - Pretty good, some cool moments.

Alien 3 - Also not bad but movie felt disjointed and xenomoprh looked goofy with the way it was inserted into the movie. I was interested in the plant and its people.

Prometheus - Amazing.

Alien: Covenant - a lot of great moments and I love the way the two prequels expand on the lore. David is a great villain. Xenomorph felt shoehorned in but there were still some great moments with it such as the shower scene.