Topic: The Movie Thread

@JohnnyShoulder Also the most ethically questionable way of getting out of a traffic jam.

@Ralizah There's a very funny 'Every Wes Anderson Movie' trailer going around. Check it out. Hell never do better that The Life Aquatic for me.

Went to see A Quiet Place tonight. I would recommend it. Plenty of genre plot holes if you want to find them, but it is a very enjoyable watch.
It's alsobthe quietest audience I've been amongst at a regular cinema in a good long while!

@KALofKRYPTON Oh, nice! I'm going to see A Quiet Place this weekend. It has been way too long since we got a really decent theatrical horror movie. Hopefully it's not another case of mass overhyping like with The Conjuring (a serviceable film that received a lot of rave reviews for whatever reason) or It Follows (amazing synthwave soundtrack, good central metaphor, but far too much of the film was spent watching these uninteresting teenage hipster characters lounge about).

@Ralizah I generally don't bother with horror any more. Nothing will ever inspire genuine fear in me like Hellraiser, The Entity and Poltergeist did when I always a kid - coupled with the usually awful representations of chatacter and behaviour I'm always left disappointed.

Was curious about A Quiet Place though. As I say - a couple of genre standard plot holes, but - it's a beautifully shot film in places, the sound design and presentation is excellent and brilliant performances all round. What a lot of modern horror lacks I think is the fear of the characters you're on the journey with. They really nail it here.

If you're of the disposition, there are a couple of 'jump scares' that aren't completely telegraphed too.

@KratosMD The lack of imagination really burns sometimes...

Thankfully, Ghostbusters was enough of a cautionary tale that the expected 'all female remake of...' wave didnt really happen.

Let them make it and watch it bomb.

@KratosMD when you're in the territory of remakes of remakes produced solely to jump on an expected genre cash cow, there's very little good to come of it.

When you're remaking a decent film, that itself was a remake of an iconic film... you should expect no-one to care.

@KALofKRYPTON I don't mind jump scares either way, but I crave atmosphere, great direction, interesting themes, and, when possible, an emotional connection to the characters. I would hold up the original Halloween as an example of effective horror direction, Kairo as a brilliant mood piece and meditation on themes of loneliness and alienation in an increasingly technological landscape, and The Babadook as a wonderful look at the crippling effects of grief and depression on the human psyche and also as a film where it's easy to empathize with the leads.

Horror is my favorite genre when it's done right.

@Ralizah I love horror too! Looking forward to "A quiet place" and "Ghost stories".

@Feena I haven't heard of Ghost Stories, actually. Looked it up on imdb and only found a movie from 2017. Can you tell me more about it?

Yeah most horror films these days rely too much on quiet quiet BANG BANG moments and not enough on building tension correctly. Can't think of anything recently that has beaten my faves of Alien, The Thing and The Shining.

What did you guys think of IT last year? And not strictly a horror imo, Get Out? The latter is certainly a marmite type of film.

@Ralizah It's a critically acclaimed horror anthology. A man specialised in debunking "paranormal" hoaxes receives an invitation to investigate three cases: a night watchman haunted by the spirit of a young girl, a teenager whose obsession with the occult apparently backfired and a financier who started being plagued by a poltergeist during his wife's pregnancy.
It should come out on April 20th in the USA. Out now in UK. The always very good Martin Freeman is in it.

@JohnnyShoulder I liked both of them but didn't love either for different reasons. What about you?

@JohnnyShoulder IT was a bit of a shame. Nicely produced mostly, but the very cg 'monster' moments really spoiled the film I thought. It lacked tension throughout, but the cast all did a great job.

The Thing is a masterpiece! If you like a nice bit of body horror, check out Zygote from Oat Studios (indie set up by Neill Blomkamp - who really should have been given his shot at an Alien film rather than Ridley Scott being given shot after shot at making really disappointing Alien films). Should still be free on YouTube.

@JohnnyShoulder When you mention The Thing, I take it you're talking about the John Carpenter version in the '80's? As a gory body horror flick, it's arguably unparalleled (practical effects are queen), but as a film? I was surprised by how poorly paced it was. And a lot of the acting is iffy.

The recent IT adaptation is a great spiritual successor to The Goonies. But, seriously now, it wasn't bad, but divorcing the child and adult storylines alters the tone of the narrative. Also, the film simply isn't scary, and the special effects scare moments were really disappointing. tl;dr it's a decent coming-of-age film, but mediocre as horror.

Get Out... I didn't care much for it. I think you really need to appreciate the racial satire to get the movie, though. It's not a bad movie, but I wouldn't watch it again.

@Feena That actually sounds fantastic! I'll do some digging and see if it's premiering anywhere near me.

Any opinion on Kairo, The Babadook, or Alien?

@KALofKRYPTON @Ralizah Thanks for your comments!

Yeah its the John Carpenter The Thing. That scared the beejus outta me when watching it as a teeneager!

I enjoyed IT. I think they got lucky in a way coming off the back of Stanger Things. I always thought the adult story line was the weakest in the tv series so didn't mind the split. The actor that played IT, what a performance and certainly more menacing than Tim Curry.

@JohnnyShoulder I do disagree with the Tim Curry comment. His portrayal of Pennywise was a lot creepier I thought.
His genuinely spiteful delivery of his lines sold it completely, juxtaposing the standard clown look. The newer version, while looking pretty good, largely relied on looking creepy and effects work.

On Get Out, still not seen it. Trailers looked OK but I wasn't about to race (Boom, Boom) to see it.

@Feena "The always very good Martin Freeman is in it." Is that a joke?

@KALofKRYPTON No way, I think he's brilliant and has a very wide range.

@KALofKRYPTON @Feena Still hard not to see Bilbo Baggins every time I see him. Lol.

@Th3solution LOL I can understand. I had the same problem with him...but with his character from "The Office". Sherlock and The Hobbit and Fargo and Richard III (stage production) took care of the issue and then some. I just love the guy. He's going to be on Graham Norton's tonight btw, probably promoting "Ghost Stories."

@Feena Being in NA, my first exposure to him was The Hobbit and now in the Marvel movies. I guess in The Office he plays the counterpart to Jim Halert in the U.S. version, which is portrayed by none other than... (*drumroll) John Krasinski, who stars in ... A Quiet Place! So now we’ve brought this whole discussion back around again! It’s like playing the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon! It all connects.

@Feena He has no range.

He is just Martin Freeman, as Martin Freeman, much to the detriment of almost every role he's had since the office as Tim - the actually quite dislikeable loser.
I'd like to see him as Richard III as I have heard good things - but he is absolutely 4th wall breaking otherwise.

@Th3solution The Marvel movies is a prime example of Freeman being miscast!