Returning to Flanagan for a moment, I see his next King adaptation, The Life of Chuck is getting some good buzz out of TIFF. The filmmaker is making a big point of it not being a horror movie to avoid those unfamiliar with the source material going in with wrong expectations.
I wasn't a big fan of the novella on which it was based, but I didn't dislike it either, so maybe that Flanagan/King magic combo can elevate the material somewhat.
@LN78@JohnnyShoulder Yes for sure, UC is an absolute stress-fest of a watch.... I really enjoyed it though, and the 'Good Times' (Robert Pattinson) is also excellent, albeit stressful!
Looking forward to Blue Ruin, thanks for the rec
Hard to believe that anybody ever took "Rambo:First Blood Part 2" seriously (even if the first one is a genuinely good movie with actual things to say). I just finished watching the recent restoration on 4K blu-ray (brilliant picture, lousy sound) having not seen it in decades and needless to say found it hilarious from start to finish - which certainly wasn't the desired effect. Can't wait to watch "Rambo 2: First Blood Part 3" as it wasn't called but probably should've been.
Went to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice yesterday and I enjoyed it. We are so steeped in legacy sequels that simply tries to rehash and remix the original these days that I got a bit confused at first when this one didn't follow the blueprint of the original and sort of went its own way.
Still, they played a few of the hits; that opening with that iconic Elfman score put a huge smile on my face and they also had a "musical possession" bit that was just as entertaining as the "Day-O" scene from the first.
The cast is solid and Catherine O'Hara is a treasure, but I'm not sure the way they handled Jeffrey Jones' character sat entirely well with me. I would have preferred they just mentioned the character's death in passing and be done with it, I think. Shout out to Monica Bellucci, though, who in my mind is the sexiest soul sucking Morticia Addams/Bride of Frankenstein hybrid ever put on screen.
While not perfect, I'd say this was a worthy sequel all in all and without a doubt Burton's best work in many years.
@FuriousMachine I'm giving it a miss. The original is my second favourite Burton movie (after "Ed Wood") but I feel like I should do my best to disincentivise legacy sequels - I'm so sick of them, and Hollywood's reliance on IP in general.
@LN78 Yeah, I get that. Personally I don't mind IP movies so much, but there's no denying that there is a laziness that comes with most of them and the really good ones are few and far between. Luckily, Hollywood's not the only "game in town", as it were, and even Hollywood manages to put out a solid number of "non-IP" movies so there's no shortage.
And "Ed Wood" is easily my favourite Burton movie, as well, it just works so incredibly well.
@FuriousMachine Maybe I'm just in a bad mood because I felt so completely fleeced by "Alien:Romulus" and "Deadpool 3" but I don't think so - I remember talk of a "Beetlejuice" sequel going back years and I was quite enthusiastic about the prospect.
@JohnnyShoulder Not a chance. Have you read about Andy Serkis' plans for the (definitely not a cynical cashgrab) Gollum starring "Lord of the Rings" interquel? He intends to use AI to de-age Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen. Jesus suffering Christ.
@LN78 Oof, that sounds horrible... That franchise lost me with the Hobbit trilogy, so Serkis' Gollum project holds no interest for me. Might see it if the reviews are good, but everything points to a disaster here.
I'm morbidly curious about the inventively titled Gladiator 2, though. Scott says it's probably his best movie, which is interesting and would have me rearing to go if it wasn't for the fact that I suspect Scott is slowly losing his marbles. I'm trying to think of the last great Ridley Scott movie, but all I can come up with is Black Hawk Down... I'm sure he's made movies I've loved after that, so I'll have to check IMDb later on.
@FuriousMachine If "Napoleon" is anything to go by then Sir Ridley needs a good long sit down. That movie was such a bloody slog to get through. As for his last great movie? "Kingdom of Heaven" extended cut - no doubt about it.
@LN78 Of course, "Kingdom of Heaven" is another favourite of mine; wasn't sure if it came before or after "Black Hawk Down".
Looking through his IMDb credits, there's an awful lot of clunkers there. I may have held the man in higher esteem than he deserved Though, when he's on his A game, he's phenomenal, so I'll cut him a bit of slack.
I completely forgot that he made "The Martian", which I also liked, but it's nowhere near his best.
I miss his brother, though. Even the "bad" Tony Scott movies were, for the most part, interesting in some ways
@LN78 If nothing else, it was a nice reminder that Scott is still willing to take on somewhat unconventional material and pull it off, injecting his usual grandiose Hollywood flair without losing the characters and story amongst the spectacle.
How transformative is the Kingdom of Heaven Director’s Cut? I disliked the theatrical cut to the point of writing the film off entirely.
“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” C.S. Lewis
@Jimmer-jammer I'd agree with that - the exact opposite of what happened with "Napoleon" as a matter of fact! The extended version of "Kingdom of Heaven" is like watching an entirely different movie - the consensus is that it's one of the best Director's Cuts of all time.
PS https://collider.com/kingdom-of-heaven-directors-cut-ridley-s...
@Jimmer-jammer this is the movie that Scott went on a tirade about no one going to see in the cinema, isn't it? I remember really quite liking it as historical fiction and human drama interests me in general.
I think his main complaint was that everyone is too stupid, no one has any attention span any more, and people are more interested in gorging on popcorn and watching super hero movies with no depth to them rather than watching something that might make them engage emotionally or intellectually. Which is a very fair assessment.
Arguably there used to be more instances of people being able to like both intelligent things and stupid things concurrently overall though, ams that is quite normal, and I don't think his assessment that it's popcorn movies ruining cinema is fair, as there have always been these types of movies and they serve a purpose. Now though there is just way too much other stupid stuff overall, kids are being raised on stupid sh** from a young age by young parents who were raised on it, and it has given people no time to even try anything else that might make them more rounded humans. And it isn't going to get better with time 😅 Endless scripted reality tv, tik tok trends of idiots with massive followings, adverts where staring at some AI in a phone makes you go "ummmmooohhhhhhkayyyyyyyyyyy", people generally being f***ing idiots in larger propertions of society, and placing way too much value on absolute s*** that has no real meaning or worth.
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