what was the last movie you watched?

[kingsboi]

theres some cool looking movies coming out in the upcoming months. Mortal Kombat II, the Mummy, Street Fighter, miss going to the movies

 

[Löwenherz]

Just watched Bugonia.
Definitely a trip. If you're into Ari Aster type movies, then I would highly recommend it. I don't know if I can say exactly why without giving away too many spoilers, but I enjoyed it.

I don’t typically poke my head around the horror genre, so I’d never seen an Ari Aster film before Bugonia (even as a producer rather than director). And I’ve never seen the South Korean original Save the Green Planet! either, so my criticism is a little uninformed.

Thought it was a brutal but compelling examination of conspiracy theory fanaticism up until the ending that I felt undercut the theme a tad. But overall a worthwhile watch.

Then I saw Midsommar. My God that is an awesome movie that I absolutely fell in love with in spite of its “horror” typing. Stellar festival experience minus the cult murders.

Maybe I’ll try Hereditary next … eek, probably not.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I don’t typically poke my head around the horror genre, so I’d never seen an Ari Aster film before Bugonia (even as a producer rather than director). And I’ve never seen the South Korean original Save the Green Planet! either, so my criticism is a little uninformed.

Thought it was a brutal but compelling examination of conspiracy theory fanaticism up until the ending that I felt undercut the theme a tad. But overall a worthwhile watch.

Then I saw Midsommar. My God that is an awesome movie that I absolutely fell in love with in spite of its “horror” typing. Stellar festival experience minus the cult murders.

Maybe I’ll try Hereditary next … eek, probably not.

I thought the Bugonia ending was inevitable - I would have been really disappointed if it went any other way.

Midsommar is absolute nightmare fuel, just builds the atmosphere of dread really well.

Hereditary didn't grab me for whatever reason, but that one jump scare...holy cow

 

[Löwenherz]

I thought the Bugonia ending was inevitable - I would have been really disappointed if it went any other way.

Midsommar is absolute nightmare fuel, just builds the atmosphere of dread really well.

Hereditary didn't grab me for whatever reason, but that one jump scare...holy cow

From what I’ve seen and read of Save the Green Planet! sounds like the bonkers “twist” ending was more thematically appropriate with the rest of the film. Ex: In one scene the CEO accidentally resuscitates someone by stomping on his chest in anger, and we get a Mortal Kombat-style close-up X-ray view of the heart as he does. The kidnapper’s partner isn’t his special needs cousin, but his circus-performer girlfriend.

Bugonia, while still nutty, seemed to lean more into realism and humanizing the conspiracy theorists. With this shift, I wonder if leaving the ending more ambiguous might have worked to internalize the conspiracy theorist’s mindset of conviction and certainty without definitive evidence for the audience.

 

[Spike]

I don’t typically poke my head around the horror genre, so I’d never seen an Ari Aster film before Bugonia (even as a producer rather than director). And I’ve never seen the South Korean original Save the Green Planet! either, so my criticism is a little uninformed.

Thought it was a brutal but compelling examination of conspiracy theory fanaticism up until the ending that I felt undercut the theme a tad. But overall a worthwhile watch.

Then I saw Midsommar. My God that is an awesome movie that I absolutely fell in love with in spite of its “horror” typing. Stellar festival experience minus the cult murders.

Maybe I’ll try Hereditary next … eek, probably not.

Hereditary is the first time in a while that I was truly horrified. If you're a parent, the first scene is, well, let's just say you knew SOMETHING was going to happen after the maybe-hard-to-notice setup.

And Midsommar, yeah.

I think the attention to detail with several crunches and squelches got me.

I think what I like about his movies are the frenetic pace at which the movies pick up speed. Some horror movies seem to have peaks and valleys, but Aster's seem to have an initial hit, then a methodical pace up until chaos ensues, hit after hit.

For the record, I hate the horror genre overall, but I can't stop watching his films.

 

[Spike]

Bugonia, while still nutty, seemed to lean more into realism and humanizing the conspiracy theorists. With this shift, I wonder if leaving the ending more ambiguous might have worked to internalize the conspiracy theorist’s mindset of theory and certainty without definitive evidence for the audience.

Spoiler

Without giving away too much, I thought it was ending when Teddy detonated.

 

[Löwenherz]

Hereditary is the first time in a while that I was truly horrified. If you're a parent, the first scene is, well, let's just say you knew SOMETHING was going to happen after the maybe-hard-to-notice setup.

I will absolutely not be rushing out to watch Hereditary.

And Midsommar, yeah.

I think the attention to detail with several crunches and squelches got me.

I think what I like about his movies are the frenetic pace at which the movies pick up speed. Some horror movies seem to have peaks and valleys, but Aster's seem to have an initial hit, then a methodical pace up until chaos ensues, hit after hit.

Midsommar is two and a half hours and not a moment of it is filler. Exquisitely paced. Remove any one scene and there would be diminishment.

For the record, I hate the horror genre overall, but I can't stop watching his films.

Hereditary is a hard pass. But would you recommend any of Beau is Afraid, Eddington, or Death of a Unicorn? Reviews seem mixed on all three.

 

[Warhawk]

True Romance. Funny, for some reason I never got around to seeing it earlier and then Carmichael Dave was talking about it on his show - man, the star power in that one was amazing. Just name after name after name of fantastic actors....

 

[whitechocolate]

What happened to this thread? It used to be about nothing but guys wearing spandex, codpieces, and capes.

 

[Löwenherz]

What happened to this thread? It used to be about nothing but guys wearing spandex, codpieces, and capes.

If you wanted us to talk Shakespeare you could just say so directly.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

If you wanted us to talk Shakespeare you could just say so directly.

OK, best modern (say 1980 forward) Shakespeare film adaptation:

I'm going to go with Julie Taymor's Titus (1999) - Anthony Hopkins as the title character, with Jessica Lange, Colm Feore, Laura Fraser and Alan Cumming, just a spot-on and artistic presentation of one of Shakespeare's bloodiest. The art direction is a meld of ancient Rome and fascist Italy and Taymor has a real eye for the palette throughout.

Honorable mention to the Baz Luhrman Romeo+Juliet with DiCaprio and Danes. I was always amused by the "sword" play in this one.

 

[Löwenherz]

OK, best modern (say 1980 forward) Shakespeare film adaptation:

I'm going to go with Julie Taymor's Titus (1999) - Anthony Hopkins as the title character, with Jessica Lange, Colm Feore, Laura Fraser and Alan Cumming, just a spot-on and artistic presentation of one of Shakespeare's bloodiest. The art direction is a meld of ancient Rome and fascist Italy and Taymor has a real eye for the palette throughout.

Honorable mention to the Baz Luhrman Romeo+Juliet with DiCaprio and Danes. I was always amused by the "sword" play in this one.

Gonna second Cap’s honorable mention of Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet as the great post-modern MTV generation adaptation of the Bard.

Because with that cutoff date I can’t say Roman Polanski’s (yes Roman Polanski) 1971 MacBeth. Just a viscerally dark and bleak adaptation with sword fights that legit look like dudes in heavy armor slugging it out.