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rexxz
Where's your band?

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 12:11 pm 
 

Saw Joker last night, one of the best movies I've ever seen. Looking forward to catching it again soon!
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acid_bukkake
SAD!

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 12:36 pm 
 

Empyreal wrote:
It's hard to say which is worse between Truth or Dare and The Bye Bye Man, but safe to say it'd be better if all copies of both were burned up in a random mysterious fire.

I'll say Truth or Dare is worse by the simple fact that the other one gave us The Pee-Pee Poo-Poo Man joke.
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Kerrick
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 1:32 pm 
 

^I'm curious why any of y'all watched those in the first place? ;)

I watched the French-Canadian Netflix "Ravenous" (not the classic Guy Pearce one) the other night. Overall I liked it, though there were a few things keeping me from loving it. I thought the acting was very good and characters likable. But the ending was pretty derivative/cliche IMO.
Spoiler: show
The only survivor is the little kid, somewhat reminiscent of Train To Busan.

There were also some decisions made in the movie that were quite illogical but seemed only to further the story. Likewise, there were some inconsistencies that conveniently fit into making certain scenes more dramatic, etc. (Sometimes a zombie bite to the neck turns the person almost instantly, sometimes not, etc.) Nonetheless, for an indie/hipster zombie flick, it was pretty good.

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Jonpo
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Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:05 am
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 2:47 pm 
 

Kerrick wrote:
^I'm curious why any of y'all watched those in the first place? ;)


Hah, I genuinely thought Truth or Dare looked solid based on the previews. I'm a bit of a Blumhouse stan anyways, I usually enjoy their brand of schlocky modern horror but this one was a mess. It reminded me of a worse version of Unfriended in every single way.
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Kerrick
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:36 pm 
 

Fair enough! :) I'll admit, that one didn't *completely* terrible though the trailer didn't exactly sell me either.

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:48 pm 
 

Kerrick wrote:
^I'm curious why any of y'all watched those in the first place? ;)


Sadistic curiosity.
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acid_bukkake
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 5:32 pm 
 

After finding so many fun indies and underappreciated flicks from the past? Sometimes you just need to hurt yourself. Just to remember where the standard actually is.
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ChineseDownhill
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Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:19 am
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 7:23 pm 
 

If a movie is supposed to be bad, but it's well under 2 hours and at least in a genre I like, it might make my "only if it's free" watchlist. The Bye Bye Man ended up on Showtime back when I had that channel so I figured, Why not?

On a related note, Critters Attack! is supposed to be on the SyFy Channel this weekend. That and Polaroid (more PG-13 horror about haunted photographs from the new Child's Play director) are the main things on my free-only list these days.
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Disembodied
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Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 4:29 am
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 1:51 am 
 

Empyreal wrote:
Joker - On the one hand this was well made, with excellent performances, particularly from Joaquin Phoenix, and some eerie scenes. On the other it's kind of bullshit. I thought the "social commentary" aspects were poor and like a really shallow, dumb version of Taxi Driver. They try to make all these points about society and whatnot but it's all surface-level, and the movie is way more in love with its violent psychotic lead character than it wants you to believe. It should've either gone all the way as a comic book film or been more serious and well-written than it is - as is, it exists in a weird uncomfortable middle ground that doesn't work for its higher aspirations.


I knew this would be the case before even seeing it (still haven't seen it and probably won't btw). It should be disheartening to movie lovers that the most attention and praise of the year is heaped on a retread of a 70s classic, but not all that surprising. We can still give it credit for many creative aspects and admit the message is bullshit, but people can't seem to separate their love of violence from an objective viewing of it all.

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Trashy_Rambo
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 4:36 am 
 

Boy, The Death and Rebirth of Superman really nailed -that- scene. Teared up a bit.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 7:38 am 
 

Disembodied wrote:
Empyreal wrote:
Joker - On the one hand this was well made, with excellent performances, particularly from Joaquin Phoenix, and some eerie scenes. On the other it's kind of bullshit. I thought the "social commentary" aspects were poor and like a really shallow, dumb version of Taxi Driver. They try to make all these points about society and whatnot but it's all surface-level, and the movie is way more in love with its violent psychotic lead character than it wants you to believe. It should've either gone all the way as a comic book film or been more serious and well-written than it is - as is, it exists in a weird uncomfortable middle ground that doesn't work for its higher aspirations.


I knew this would be the case before even seeing it (still haven't seen it and probably won't btw). It should be disheartening to movie lovers that the most attention and praise of the year is heaped on a retread of a 70s classic, but not all that surprising. We can still give it credit for many creative aspects and admit the message is bullshit, but people can't seem to separate their love of violence from an objective viewing of it all.


To me it all came off as a lot of jerking off about society without really making any good points. I guess people could've enjoyed it purely as a demented, fun ride, but I didn't even like it too much as that.
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rexxz
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 12:39 pm 
 

I came away with the exact opposite feeling; felt like it had a lot to say and in fact I am going through*a lot* of the same things the titular character is such as caring for an ailing mother, living in poverty with no help or health insurance, also dealing with mental health issues of my own. Not quite on such an extravagant scale but all the same, the themes resonated very strongly with me and I understood it very well. It made *excellent* points as far as I am concerned. Disregarding vulnerable members of society is not only inhuman and wrong but it can potentially be devastating to the society itself. I hope none of you ever have to go through even a sliver of any of that, it's one of the worst things in the world to sit by and watch a loved one suffer without a single shred of hope for helping them, on top of dealing with your own issues which you can't afford a therapist to even see.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 3:13 pm 
 

It had a lot of well-acted scenes and set up how his life sucked, but I didn't think it had a realistic or interesting portrayal of how he became the Joker or started killing people or whatever else, and it just seemed so surface-level and shallow, "he can't go to therapy anymore so now he's killing people" and all.

Spoiler: show
Like it started to lose me when they brought in all of the stuff about Thomas Wayne and how Arthur thought he was related to him and all that other bullshit - that stuff took away from what would've been a fairly grounded portrait of a guy who's been left behind by society.

Plus a lot of it seemed to be going into the territory of "well, he kills because he's mentally ill and was abused." I don't think that was their intention, but the Joker is such an iconic and fantastical character that they had to go to extreme lengths, and so the message somewhat inadvertently became this.

And he didn't seem very different before his therapy got canceled as opposed to after - he seemed out of his mind the entire time and frankly the world didn't have much work to do on making him crazy, it seemed. That could've been fixed if we got a sense of who he was as a person. I didn't think we did.


I dunno, for me other movies much better articulated the struggles of society than this did. Just another taste thing I suppose.
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darkeningday
xXdArKenIngDayXx

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 1:20 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 6:35 pm 
 

rexxz wrote:
I came away with the exact opposite feeling; felt like it had a lot to say and in fact I am going through*a lot* of the same things the titular character is such as caring for an ailing mother, living in poverty with no help or health insurance, also dealing with mental health issues of my own. Not quite on such an extravagant scale but all the same, the themes resonated very strongly with me and I understood it very well. It made *excellent* points as far as I am concerned. Disregarding vulnerable members of society is not only inhuman and wrong but it can potentially be devastating to the society itself. I hope none of you ever have to go through even a sliver of any of that, it's one of the worst things in the world to sit by and watch a loved one suffer without a single shred of hope for helping them, on top of dealing with your own issues which you can't afford a therapist to even see.

I haven't seen the film yet but I thought Matt Christman's take on it was incredibly thought-provoking and that you'd appreciate it too:

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Resident_Hazard
Possessed by Starscream's Ghost

Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:33 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:24 am 
 

Let's see if I can remember where my Halloween movies have been lately. A lot of re-watches while I was working.


Amityville Horror (original, seen it before). Still a solid horror movie, great setting and development, solid music and atmosphere. Not a whole lot to say about it. I think every time I watch this, I'm surprised it still holds up.

Amityville 2: The Possession (first time seeing this one). Apparently considered the peak of the absurdly packed Amityville franchise. Heavy on effects and prosthetics. Apparently supposed to be a prequel to the first movie, but anachronistic as hell. The Walkman is definitely not from the mid-70's for instance. So that was confusing. Overall, though, pretty decent, even if it completely disregards the history laid out in the first film.

Silence of the Lambs (seen before). Still an amazing movie, haven't seen it in years. Holy crap is everyone sexist towards Clarice. I noticed some of this before, but this time, it was pretty much all I noticed. It's so pervasive, the movie seems to be about sexism against women in law enforcement, with a subplot about hunting a serial killer with the help of another serial killer.

Slugs (first time seeing it). Largely typical "nature gone bad monster movie" with mutant carnivorous slugs created by toxic waste dumping. They have mouths with sharp teeth. They consume people rather quickly, and multiply at an absurd pace. The slugs actually look pretty good, to be fair. You know a bunch of them are rubber puppets, but they still look realistic. The blood, however, does not. It looks as much like paint as you'll ever witness--it's too bright, strangely thick, and obviously not karo syrup. Acting is frequently rigid a la softcore Cinemax crap. One humorous scene features a cheating wife and her lover attacked by the slugs, hilariously, as the man is bit, the woman freaks out, and then she basically falls onto the floor--which is completely covered in the antagonists.

Evil Dead (original, seen it a thousand times). This is one of my favorite films, ever, all time, forever. It is perfect.

Neon Demon (first time seeing it). Ehhhhhhhhhhhh.... A stylish movie, visually. Some interesting elements and cool shots, but felt like a lot of style over very little substance. The idea of consuming someone to obtain their beauty was... sort of original I guess. Elle Fanning's transition from "nice girl" to "self-absorbed asshole" didn't seem to flow very well. I'd heard mixed things and I came away mixed. I'm not sure it was a good horror movie. It was a movie. That's all. A pretty movie, but that's about it.
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GTog
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 3:55 pm 
 

The late great Heath Ledger is the only person who (so far) has portrayed the Joker correctly, in my opinion. He's not a crime boss, or a sad sack. He doesn't crave wealth or power. He's not trying to compensate for a hard life or acting out revenge fantasies. And he's not crazy. He doesn't have any reasons at all for doing the things he does. Michael Caine had probably the best line in The Dark Knight when describing the Joker - "Some men just want to watch the world burn."
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:58 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 4:03 pm 
 

Resident_Hazard wrote:
Silence of the Lambs (seen before). Still an amazing movie, haven't seen it in years. Holy crap is everyone sexist towards Clarice. I noticed some of this before, but this time, it was pretty much all I noticed. It's so pervasive, the movie seems to be about sexism against women in law enforcement, with a subplot about hunting a serial killer with the help of another serial killer.


It's really a movie about sexism and all of that underneath the plot about the killer. It's a fascinating and much deeper film than I thought when I first saw it at 15 or so. Her interactions with Lector are so interesting to watch in contrast with how everyone else treats her.

Re: Ledger - yeah he's my favorite Joker I think. That performance is so striking and unique and such a great adaptation of the character for the world it was in.

I'm not opposed to the idea behind Phoenix's Joker and I actually would've liked to see him in a more traditional Batman movie if they ever got the inkling to do that, which they probably won't. It was just the writing that didn't do anything for me.
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iamntbatman
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:52 pm 
 

I really like Joaquin Phoenix, but the whole time I was watching Joker I couldn't help but think of how much Ledger would've made it truly golden.
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GTog
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Joined: Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:35 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:34 am 
 

Resident_Hazard wrote:
Silence of the Lambs (seen before). Still an amazing movie, haven't seen it in years. Holy crap is everyone sexist towards Clarice. I noticed some of this before, but this time, it was pretty much all I noticed. It's so pervasive, the movie seems to be about sexism against women in law enforcement, with a subplot about hunting a serial killer with the help of another serial killer.


That's a big deal in the novel, and besides Anthony Hopkins is the major reason the movie was such a great adaptation. The FBI is, or was, incredibly misogynistic. The point is further hammered home in the sequel Hannibal, which was a terrible adaptation because it didn't much explore Starling's situation as an agent years later. She becomes very marginalized, very excluded from the Boys Club, despite being an extremely capable agent who took down a serial killer while still in training. The men don't respect her for that; they actually resent it.
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at the gaytes
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 8:31 pm 
 

GTog wrote:
Resident_Hazard wrote:
Silence of the Lambs (seen before). Still an amazing movie, haven't seen it in years. Holy crap is everyone sexist towards Clarice. I noticed some of this before, but this time, it was pretty much all I noticed. It's so pervasive, the movie seems to be about sexism against women in law enforcement, with a subplot about hunting a serial killer with the help of another serial killer.


That's a big deal in the novel, and besides Anthony Hopkins is the major reason the movie was such a great adaptation. The FBI is, or was, incredibly misogynistic. The point is further hammered home in the sequel Hannibal, which was a terrible adaptation because it didn't much explore Starling's situation as an agent years later. She becomes very marginalized, very excluded from the Boys Club, despite being an extremely capable agent who took down a serial killer while still in training. The men don't respect her for that; they actually resent it.


The book is terrible too, there wasn't any hope for this movie since the beginning

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darkeningday
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 11:03 pm 
 

If not even David fucking Mamet could fix it, the source must be pure dogshit.

Though I don't remember hating Hannibal is much as most people because Mamet's dialog still was top.
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Resident_Hazard
Possessed by Starscream's Ghost

Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:33 pm
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 8:49 am 
 

GTog wrote:
Resident_Hazard wrote:
Silence of the Lambs (seen before). Still an amazing movie, haven't seen it in years. Holy crap is everyone sexist towards Clarice. I noticed some of this before, but this time, it was pretty much all I noticed. It's so pervasive, the movie seems to be about sexism against women in law enforcement, with a subplot about hunting a serial killer with the help of another serial killer.


That's a big deal in the novel, and besides Anthony Hopkins is the major reason the movie was such a great adaptation. The FBI is, or was, incredibly misogynistic. The point is further hammered home in the sequel Hannibal, which was a terrible adaptation because it didn't much explore Starling's situation as an agent years later. She becomes very marginalized, very excluded from the Boys Club, despite being an extremely capable agent who took down a serial killer while still in training. The men don't respect her for that; they actually resent it.



The FBI and all of those law enforcement/military institutions have a long history of being boys clubs rife with sexism. I can see why Silence of the Lambs went on to score Academy Awards (despite what a ramshackle sham those things tend to be anyway) after watching it now, much older. Like Empyreal, I found it to be far deeper than I had remembered. Only one man in the entire movie hits on her where she isn't clearly uncomfortable, and it was the one science nerd who was non-threatening, and came off as an actual nice person, just clumsy.

I didn't realize any of that other depth had been written into Hannibal. I do recall enjoying the movie at the time, but have little drive to rewatch it.
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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 9:59 am 
 

The sexism against her and her reactions inform Clarice's character, and makes it more compelling than a story just about a serial killer and nothing else. Buffalo Bill's crimes against women also play into it - it's a lot of societal undertones and whatnot.

The Thing (1982) - A basically perfect movie. Love how intense it is and how it is so laser-focused on its story and the isolation of these guys. Watching them get more desperate and sweat more as the paranoia increases is so damn good. The practical effects for the alien are unmatched even now - when shit starts to go down it's genuinely surprising and disturbing.

Demons 2 - A very poor, weak sequel to the pulpy mayhem of the original. This was cut from the same cloth, but lacked any of the cool scenery/lighting, the fun characters or the gory kills - it was essentially a distilled, watered down and dull as fuck version of the first.

All Hallow's Eve - I bought this blind a few years back and it holds up as one of the more disturbing things I've ever seen. It's a collection of classic-style horror tales, a la Trick 'R Treat or something, but there's a genuine rawness and unhinged quality that makes this feel like it was created by a legitimate serial killer. There's almost like a childlike glee to its violence and depravity that makes it so weird and singular. There's a lot of suspense to it and all the stories are just so minimalist and raw that it becomes compelling. It's about as un-PC as you can get I suppose, with a lot of violence towards women in particular that comes off rather nasty - but I can't say the whole thing hasn't had some kind of an effect on me.
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Smoking_Gnu
Chicago Favorite

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:03 am 
 

Empyreal wrote:
The Thing (1982) - A basically perfect movie. Love how intense it is and how it is so laser-focused on its story and the isolation of these guys. Watching them get more desperate and sweat more as the paranoia increases is so damn good. The practical effects for the alien are unmatched even now - when shit starts to go down it's genuinely surprising and disturbing.


Watching this again recently - I really like how Carpenter plays with light and color to make the atmosphere even more unsettling. The super-bright, washed out fluorescent lights inside the base combined with the clinical metal walls of the building gives things a kind of sterile, claustrophobic atmosphere that couldn't have been achieved with say, a warmly-lit cabin or something.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:47 am 
 

Yeah it's a great looking film, for sure. Some later movies with those settings would come off too dark and grimy, but this one had the perfect eerie light and shadows to work.
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Smoking_Gnu
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:48 am 
 

Empyreal wrote:
Some later movies with those settings would come off too dark and grimy, but this one had the perfect eerie light and shadows to work.


Like The Thing prequel from 2011. :lol:
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:52 am 
 

Any good prequel should just be the exact same movie but with a different nationality for the characters - it's a foolproof plan. Also make sure to remove any tension or good dialogue or good effects.
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GTog
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:23 am 
 

Something must be going around. I too just watched The Thing two days ago. Hadn't seen it in probably a decade, and I just had the urge. Having only a basic recollection of the plot, it was really fun to try and pick out exactly when Doc got infected. And the creature effects are startling in how well they hold up. Fucking 37 years ago.

And it put to rest, in my mind at least, the old question of the ending - Are Childs and/or Mac infected? No. It doesn't make any logical sense. Even more, it doesn't make any storytelling sense. The bleakness of the ending works best if it's just two guys that don't even like each other slowly freezing to death without really knowing if they destroyed the creature.
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Resident_Hazard
Possessed by Starscream's Ghost

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:48 am 
 

Smoking_Gnu wrote:
Empyreal wrote:
The Thing (1982) - A basically perfect movie. Love how intense it is and how it is so laser-focused on its story and the isolation of these guys. Watching them get more desperate and sweat more as the paranoia increases is so damn good. The practical effects for the alien are unmatched even now - when shit starts to go down it's genuinely surprising and disturbing.


Watching this again recently - I really like how Carpenter plays with light and color to make the atmosphere even more unsettling. The super-bright, washed out fluorescent lights inside the base combined with the clinical metal walls of the building gives things a kind of sterile, claustrophobic atmosphere that couldn't have been achieved with say, a warmly-lit cabin or something.


I watch it pretty much every October. It's a favorite. I didn't learn until just over the past couple years that John Carpenter attempted to film a subtle "tell" in the movie as to who was the alien. If there's a glint in their eye, still human. If not, it's the thing.
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Kerrick
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 4:03 pm 
 

^Interesting! I didn't know that. Now I'm going to have to re-watch it and look for that...

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acid_bukkake
SAD!

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 5:11 pm 
 

While it wouldn't surprise me if true, I also know that Carpenter really loves messing with people over that movie.
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Sepulchrave
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 7:06 pm 
 

I had a funny response to Joker. I was quite blown away throughout watching it but the more I think about it the more I hate it. I thought the director was wayyyy too involved in trying to shock the audience. I can see why Scorsese pulled away from producing it because unlike this movie, Taxi Driver is a lot more humane and objective towards its characters allowing for complex emotional responses. This movie just felt like it was directed by some angry, nihilistic psycho from Left Twitter who wants to stifle audiences with ugliness. Phoenix was awesome but Nicholson and Ledger were more interesting and mysteriously evil than just outright ugly and fucked up. It's a feel-bad movie, but it doesn't have any other aspirations other than to make you feel bad. It's a poor character study when the character you're supposed respond to ambiguously is in a movie that wallows in its misanthropy, thereby making it decidedly unambiguous. Also there are funny bits that are ridiculous in their jarring tone changes.
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BastardHead
Worse than Stalin

Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:53 pm
Posts: 10857
Location: Oswego, Illinois
PostPosted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 7:43 am 
 

GTog wrote:
And it put to rest, in my mind at least, the old question of the ending - Are Childs and/or Mac infected? No. It doesn't make any logical sense. Even more, it doesn't make any storytelling sense. The bleakness of the ending works best if it's just two guys that don't even like each other slowly freezing to death without really knowing if they destroyed the creature.


Yeah I think a lot of people seem to struggle with the very idea of an ambiguous ending. You saw this a lot with Inception too, where people would pick apart every frame of the movie to see if Cobb was dreaming or not, completely missing the point that the ending explicitly tells you that he doesn't care. People can obsess over who (if anybody) is infected at the end of The Thing without really realizing that it isn't really important. There isn't any missing reel of film that shows five extra minutes that makes it clear, that's it, that is the ending. And just like you said, what makes it work so much is that the entire movie is tense because of the creeping paranoia that anybody could be infected and you're have no idea until it was too late, and then the last shot is of two people who don't really trust each other sharing a drink in their final moments hoping against hope that they were able to save humanity.

Though if you consider the videogame from the mid 2000s to be canon, the answer is that at the very least Childs was clean. You find his frozen corpse in the opening minutes of the game, and then MacReady swoops in during the climax to rescue the player character, though again you've got to ask yourself how he survived that long and leaves it open whether or not he's infected. Either way it gives you at least half an answer.
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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
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Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 2:15 pm 
 

Personally I loved how Life of Brian-ish the "social commentary" in Joker was, it all happened without any input, interest or care from him and he just went along without any involvement, just because it was there, and it didn't really matter to him if it was or not.
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Skillet
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Wed Oct 09, 2019 7:43 am
Posts: 5
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:52 am 
 

My favorite movie is the Dark Knight with Heath Ledger. It's the best comic book movie I've ever seen

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Resident_Hazard
Possessed by Starscream's Ghost

Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:33 pm
Posts: 2905
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:17 pm 
 

I mostly watched stuff I'd already seen this weekend:


Maximum Overdrive - Stephen King's absurd "the machines are attacking" film continues to age poorly. I showed it to my son before we left for a Pumpkin Spectacular, which was a display at the Zoo with several thousand carved pumpkins. It dons on me that Maximum Overdrive now falls into the same category as the movies my mom grew up with in the 50's. When she showed us those movies, frequently, my brother and I tore them apart, noting every issue within. My son did the same to Maximum Overdrive, questioning every character action, tearing apart the flawed logic of the film, mocking characters, etc. "Why didn't that explode when everything else did?" "Why aren't regular cars affected?" "Well that's stupid." I don't think he liked the film.

The Fly (80's) - Still an absolute classic. I love this movie a bit more all the time. The flow of the story, the heartbreaking way the transformation is handled. The powerful music and way the characters struggle. It's so brilliant. Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis are perfect in it.

The Fly II (80's) - I have always loved this movie. It loses some of the heart of the original film. You aren't watching a character gradually lose humanity and become a monster, you are seeing someone embrace the monster to take revenge on those that wronged him and his family. A great overall atmosphere and some outstanding gore punctuate the film. The head security guard is Garry Chalk, who voiced Optimus Primal in Transformers: Beast Wars.

Event Horizon - A little silly at times (includes two characters who just happen to know Latin), but one of those rare horror films that delivers an original story and unique concept, and mixes it with good characters, atmosphere, and shocks. Was a surprise when it first released. Back then, I basically dragged my friends to it, one of whom didn't know anything about it, another thought it was just an Alien rip-off, and we all walked out amazed. Laurence Fishburne, Sean Pertwee, and Sam Neill are three of my favorite actors. The CG hasn't all aged really well, but the film still works.

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wastland - These movies are assembled in the most flimsy and haphazard manner of any of the classic slashers, but are still so oddly watchable. Angela's motivations are even less clear this time around, a character obviously written as a hero is easily killed off, most of the kids are caricatures, and I'm pretty sure it's noted that the characters are around 16 or 17, yet there is ample nudity. Angela is regularly told she "looks much older" despite looking visibly about the same age as any other "teenager." No one bothers to check on these disappearances, they just take Angela at her word, despite the fact that this same campground has been fraught with horrors committed by a woman before, and no one knows where she is. Just silly as hell, but the soundtrack can be enjoyable at times.

30 Days of Night - Gave it to my son for his birthday. He fucking loved it. I told him it was probably one of the best vampire movies out there and, thus far, he seems to be in agreement. "No god..."

Tucker and Dale vs Evil - Handily one of the most wholesome films ever made. Tucker and Dale are excellent characters, and the overwhelming genuineness of their innocence and friendship give this movie more heart than it deserves. A movie rich with excellent timing, dialog, and sharp direction. Plays off every trope it can to full effect.
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Jonpo
Hyperc6l6mb6wler

Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:05 am
Posts: 7735
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:53 pm 
 

Even Horizon is mad underrated! Respect.

I also love 30 Days of Night. I like their take on the "old world vampires". It was a beautiful punch in the mouth when every other movie was doing sexy leather clad ninja-vampires.
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Smoking_Gnu
Chicago Favorite

Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:22 pm
Posts: 4797
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 1:09 pm 
 

Resident_Hazard wrote:
Event Horizon - A little silly at times (includes two characters who just happen to know Latin), but one of those rare horror films that delivers an original story and unique concept, and mixes it with good characters, atmosphere, and shocks. Was a surprise when it first released. Back then, I basically dragged my friends to it, one of whom didn't know anything about it, another thought it was just an Alien rip-off, and we all walked out amazed. Laurence Fishburne, Sean Pertwee, and Sam Neill are three of my favorite actors. The CG hasn't all aged really well, but the film still works.


Man, does this one ever take me back. A local tv station showed a lightly censored version when I was in 5th grade, and somehow my parents (who weren't super-strict per se, but otherwise barely let me watch PG13 stuff until I was actually 13) let me watch it. Scared the shit out of me and I couldn't sleep that night, but at the same time I absolutely loved it and tried to watch it again as soon as I had the chance.

Apparently the gore and prosthetics during the "hell" vision scenes at the end were supposed to be even more graphic, but the studio cut them at the last minute. Would have loved to see those.
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~Guest 282118
Argentinian Asado Supremacy

Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2011 2:16 pm
Posts: 8300
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 1:21 pm 
 

Resident_Hazard wrote:
The Fly (80's) - Still an absolute classic. I love this movie a bit more all the time. The flow of the story, the heartbreaking way the transformation is handled. The powerful music and way the characters struggle. It's so brilliant. Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis are perfect in it.

I think what really makes this one work is how it's really more sad and disgusting than actually scary. Now, don't get me wrong, this movie is maaaaad fucking disturbing, but at the end of the day, it's the story of a well-intentioned man succumbing to horrific physical and mental deterioration. And if I know my Cronenberg, I'm 100% certain those uncomfortable real life parallels are fully intended for maximum horror.

And yeah, so glad to see someone else likes the sequel! Sure, it's not a classic like its predecessor, but I like how it takes the classic horror narrative of "man turns into horrific monster, kills lots of people" and flips it on its head. It's like one of those hokey 50's B-movies except... really pretty good and professionally put together. And it's got one of the most satisfying cases of just desserts for a villain in the history of horror cinema.

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That final scene of the corrupt executive guy reduced to a tortured blob living in a pit like the poor dog they mutated at the beginning... Jesus fuck. But super deserved. Bastard.

Jonpo wrote:
Even Horizon is mad underrated! Respect.

I also love 30 Days of Night. I like their take on the "old world vampires". It was a beautiful punch in the mouth when every other movie was doing sexy leather clad ninja-vampires.

Duuuuuuuuuuuuude, those vampires are awesome! They're like fucking sharks wearing human skins, what with the black eyes and the rows of teeth and everything. They give me the fucking creeps to this day.

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severzhavnost
Something Stupid

Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:16 pm
Posts: 2952
Location: Ottawa
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:35 pm 
 

Henry Thomas, best known as Elliot from E.T., arrested for DUI in Oregon:
https://heavy.com/news/2019/10/henry-th ... t-dui/amp/
ET phone Uber! :lol:
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