what was the last movie you watched?
- Thread starter Folsom Al
- Start date
Löwenherz
Starter
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
Starter
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.
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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.
Without giving away too much, I thought it was ending when Teddy detonated.
Löwenherz
Starter
I will absolutely not be rushing out to watch Hereditary.
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.
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.
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whitechocolate
Bench
What happened to this thread? It used to be about nothing but guys wearing spandex, codpieces, and capes.
Löwenherz
Starter
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
Starter
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.
The wrestling thread is two doors to the left.
I picked up a copy of The Relic and watched it tonight - first time since I saw it in the theater in '97 if I recall correctly. This monster horror flick is based on an excellent book by the same name, and that's actually the reason I first watched it (a friend of mine recommended the book to me right before the film came out). Unfortunately, they pulled out one of the main characters from the book in this adaptation (actually THE main character for their book series that followed this one) and moved the setting from NY to Chicago (apparently the American Museum of Natural History couldn't reach a deal about filming there so they moved it to the Field Museum of Natural History).
Tom Sizemore and Penelope Ann Miller are the leads with Linda Hunt in a good supporting role. Audra Lindley (aka Three's Company's Mrs. Roper) has a great little turn as the forensic pathologist in her last film role.
Sam Winston took the lead on the practical creature effects. The computer-generated ones for it running and jumping were actually pretty darn good for the time period.
As is typical for something like this, the book is somewhat better than the movie - the flick is a bit dated and cheesy, but still somewhat entertaining.
If you get a chance, read the book. It's very good.
Tom Sizemore and Penelope Ann Miller are the leads with Linda Hunt in a good supporting role. Audra Lindley (aka Three's Company's Mrs. Roper) has a great little turn as the forensic pathologist in her last film role.
Sam Winston took the lead on the practical creature effects. The computer-generated ones for it running and jumping were actually pretty darn good for the time period.
As is typical for something like this, the book is somewhat better than the movie - the flick is a bit dated and cheesy, but still somewhat entertaining.
If you get a chance, read the book. It's very good.
This movie I do not know. Yet.
Sluggah
All-Star
No Pendergast is a wild move. Makes me think Preston and/or Child was fine to give the rights to the story but not the character.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Haven’t been this excited for a Spielberg film since Lincoln at least. Wildly good cast as is to be expected from Spielberg (but I mean c’mon, Colin Firth, Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colman Domingo?) and John Williams is reportedly signed on to score the film despite claiming to be retired. Spielberg also has a perfect batting record on UFO movies (his War of the Worlds is severely underrated and pretty much set the stage for every single blockbuster movie that has come out since).
Might have to do a marathon of his filmography leading up to release (disclosure) day.
Now that’s a trailer. Looks great
Löwenherz
Starter
This is becoming a cool tradition for my wife and me watching the best picture together for the first time fairly immediately after the Oscars.
One Battle After Another (2025) - Amazon
PTA is a filmmaker I admire and appreciate even if I don’t personally love his movies. I’ve seen all of his features except Hard Eight and marvel at the twisting depths of his narratives and his uniquely personal and compelling style that manages to span the breadth of his filmography. Clearly fantastic cinema I fully celebrate, that somehow doesn’t connect viscerally with me on a personal level in particular. It happens; There’s no accounting for taste.
One Battle though fits within PTA’s stylistic throughline while being nothing like any of his previous films. I would have never expected PTA to create a political action thriller with explosions, gun fights, and car chases, but here we are with him summoning his inner Michael Bay.
And there are so many individual parts of this that I love, including the phenomenal cinematography, casting choices and performances, the portrayal of the police action against the sanctuary city, and specifically the final 40 minutes I found especially gripping.
Yet I still can’t fully say if I loved the film as a whole. I think I need one more run through to be fully sure, but it should say something that I’m willing and eager to take the ride again.
For my wife’s part, she abandoned it halfway through. Thought the narrative was unfocused and wasn’t particularly drawn in by the performances.
No accounting for taste.
One Battle After Another (2025) - Amazon
PTA is a filmmaker I admire and appreciate even if I don’t personally love his movies. I’ve seen all of his features except Hard Eight and marvel at the twisting depths of his narratives and his uniquely personal and compelling style that manages to span the breadth of his filmography. Clearly fantastic cinema I fully celebrate, that somehow doesn’t connect viscerally with me on a personal level in particular. It happens; There’s no accounting for taste.
One Battle though fits within PTA’s stylistic throughline while being nothing like any of his previous films. I would have never expected PTA to create a political action thriller with explosions, gun fights, and car chases, but here we are with him summoning his inner Michael Bay.
And there are so many individual parts of this that I love, including the phenomenal cinematography, casting choices and performances, the portrayal of the police action against the sanctuary city, and specifically the final 40 minutes I found especially gripping.
Yet I still can’t fully say if I loved the film as a whole. I think I need one more run through to be fully sure, but it should say something that I’m willing and eager to take the ride again.
For my wife’s part, she abandoned it halfway through. Thought the narrative was unfocused and wasn’t particularly drawn in by the performances.
No accounting for taste.
This movie was filmed in large parts locally, including some scenes in my little town (that were later cut out, I believe). I have yet to see this but want to.
