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Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 1, 2018 Open your Eyes 1997
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125659/

A very handsome man finds the love of his life, but he suffers an accident and needs to have his face rebuilt by surgery after it is severely disfigured.

A strong recommendation to be unspoiled if going into this film. I absolutely did not expect some of the twists and turns. Worthwhile and probably good to look into a rewatch. Not much to say without spoiling.

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 2, 2018 Something Wicked this way comes 1983
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086336/

In a small American town, a diabolical circus and its demonic proprietor prey on the townsfolk.

This is like the 4th movie to have circus I've seen for this, it was not intentional. Essentially a better version of Dr. Lao although still not amazing and probably more suited to a younger audience.

2/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 3, 2018 Blue Velvet 1986
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090756/

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

I'm a fan of David Lynch's work despite seeing only a few of his films. Naturally it has it's oddities and eccentricities but fails to get as weird as some of his other films. This ones depiction of abuse is worth noting in particular.

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 4, 2018 Citizen Kane 1941
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/

Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance.

Really know for evolving how film was presented and I do see how it was so influential. First half is interesting but tends to drag from then once Kane gets with the singer.

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 5, 2018 Evil Roy Slade 1972
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067072/

The meanest villain in the West falls for a pretty schoolteacher and tries to change his ways, but a determined (and egomaniacal) singing sheriff is out to capture him.

A hilarious film while it worked better parodying the wild west the second half is still good. Since it is a comedy nothing is especially deep but still fun.

3/5
Foxtrot
I am simply AMAZED at your commitment and I especially appreciate how you spread out your choices out rather than just watching what's out and what's recent.

https://letterboxd.com/whiskey_mike/films/ here is my letterboxd if anybody's interested, since the website was brought up in an earlier post
Topic Starter
Green Platinum

Foxtrot wrote:

I am simply AMAZED at your commitment and I especially appreciate how you spread out your choices out rather than just watching what's out and what's recent.
I did a similar thing with anime movies for a month last year while I was banned. Of course a year is much longer and I have a long way to go. And of course anybody who knows me is aware I love the old, the obscure and the influential. I just wish there was more engagement but I guess I have demonstrated why there shouldn't be a film and tv subforum.

April 6, 2018 The Third Man 1949
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041959/

Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.

Effective presentation for a film that is almost exclusively people talking. The second half is absolutely brilliant tying together threads and I absolutely love the brief chase scene through the cobbled streets of Vienna.

4/5
rHO
also gonna post what I watched today

i watched I, Tonya (2017)

i really liked this movie as it really shows the story of Tonya Harding, unlike how people took the idea that she did and plan the whole knee thing by herself (as i've heard). i don't know why, but i nearly cried watching the makeup prep scene before the olympics. this movie shows how tragic her story is, not in a laughable way

4/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 7, 2018 The Great Dictator 1940
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032553/

Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.

Hilarious. Despite that the film feels excessively long clocking in at over 2 hours and while there is comedy to be had in every scene the quality is drastic at times.

3/5
rHO
yesterday i watched
A Quiet Place (2018)

my second best movie so far for 2018, behind Annihilation (2018). this movie is a horror movie that heavily rely on audio, and it is 100% recommended that you watch in a small and/or empty theater. not gonna spoil the story on this one, but i like it very much.
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 8, 2018 Låt den rätte komma in (2008)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139797/

Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.

This movie was pretty neat. Sound mixing felt a little off with how loud some of the passive breathing and sound effects were but maybe that was to build upon the somewhat bestial nature of the characters. The bizarre deaths were a plus such as a woman mauled by vampiric cats.

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 9, 2018 Lost Highway (1997)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116922/

After a bizarre encounter at a party, a jazz saxophonist is framed for the murder of his wife and sent to prison, where he inexplicably morphs into a young mechanic and begins leading a new life.

Couldn't get invested in this at all. Structured to make the narrative needlessly confusing, of course it is David Lynch but an inferior Blue Velvet in the end. The first act didn't seem to have anything to do with the rest except for the broad details.

2/5
Chintam

smh wrote:

yesterday i watched
A Quiet Place (2018)

my second best movie so far for 2018, behind Annihilation (2018). this movie is a horror movie that heavily rely on audio, and it is 100% recommended that you watch in a small and/or empty theater. not gonna spoil the story on this one, but i like it very much.


A Quiet Place was the first horror movie I've watched in the cinema. I absolutely loved it, although there were a few things niggling at me, like why the hell did they get pregnant.

I really like the use of sound, or lack of.
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
First month down.
April 10, 2018 The day the earth stood still (1951)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/

An alien lands and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.

A pretty simple premise testing the conflict between human ideals and the way they behave. Unfolds predictably. Really enjoyed Michael Rennie's performance

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 11, 2018 The Devil's backbone (2001)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256009/

After Carlos - a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War - arrives at an ominous boys' orphanage, he discovers the school is haunted and has many dark secrets that he must uncover.

This movie was all over the place. In an attempt to do to much it came across as confused to what it wanted to be. With more development on motivations and relationship I could see this being really good but the attempts at horror within the first act cloud this.

2/5
abraker
4 pages in and still no 5/5 movie
Topic Starter
Green Platinum

abraker wrote:

4 pages in and still no 5/5 movie
I'm an elitist, every perfect score I give out reduces my life by 1 year. Remember a 1/5 is considered an average score so a 4/5 could be extrapolated to a mostly perfect score for a regular person.

April 12, 2018 Harry Brown (2009)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289406/

An elderly ex-serviceman and widower looks to avenge his best friend's murder by doling out his own form of justice.

With all the ideas of youth crime, police incompetence and vigilantism this movie could have been excellent however it fails to deliver. First act is great but falls to basic as soon as the major conflicts begin to occur. Taxidriver from earlier was the same idea but better.

2/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 13, 2018 Inland Empire (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460829/

As an actress starts to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world starts to become nightmarish and surreal.

Very much a more haunted and thrilling version of Satoshi Kon's Millenium Actress. While Friday the Thirteenth is suited to much more of a horror film this one does have it's nightmarish moments, the scenes with the rabbits are pretty weird in that way. This movie is not for everyone and especially long at 3 hours but recommended if you like weird stuff.

4/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 14, 2018 Idiocracy (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

Private Joe Bauers, the definition of "average American", is selected by the Pentagon to be the guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program. Forgotten, he awakes five centuries in the future. He discovers a society so incredibly dumbed down that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.

It has been a long time since I saw this. The premise which everybody knows demonstrates how great an idea it is but the movie itself is really mediocre. Of course any criticism of how dumbed down the plot is can easily be met with "That's the point" but was the narrator really necessary? How this film comes up in discussions leaves much to be desired.

2/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 15, 2018 The Maltese Falcon (1941)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033870/

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

I'm not a big fan of mystery, too often they are poorly structured and built on conspiratorial reasoning or otherwise they are boring and predictable. It is only once this film becomes a discussion on trust and a narrative 'prisoner's dilemma' does it's value truly shine. However this is only in the last 30 minutes and too late.

2/5
Faust
Recent films I've watched include "Blade of the Immortal (2017)",
"13 Assassins (2010)" and "A Quiet Place (2018)".

I'd recommend these though the latter 2 really shine out within their respective genres.
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 16, 2018 Mulholland Dr. (2001)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/

After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

An enjoyable film. Still a few details elude me and am still confused about parts of the plot. That lesbian sex scene was really unexpected.

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 17, 2018 From Dusk till Dawn (1996)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116367/

Two criminals and their hostages unknowingly seek temporary refuge in a truck stop populated by vampires, with chaotic results.

Pretty stupid. Wish I watched this with friends, it's that kinda movie. The corpse guitar and cheap effects were especially amusing.

1/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 18, 2018 The Elephant Man (1980)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080678/

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous facade, there is revealed a person of intelligence and sensitivity.

Naturally what you'd expect from a film about acceptance and appearance not being the end all of a person. Interesting for a film made in 1980 to be entirely in black and white but it suited the era the film was going for as well as being somewhat reminiscent of Freaks which I reviewed earlier in this thread whether intentional. It also had a very theatrical flourish to it, a good choice considering how the theater is an important element to the film.

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 19, 2018 The Pilgrim (1923)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0014358/

The Tramp is an escaped convict who is mistaken as a pastor in a small town church.

Didn't capture me at all and after seeing The great dictator I cannot recommend this. The only upside is it's extremely short.

1/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 20, 2018 Memento (2000)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/

A man juggles searching for his wife's murderer and keeping his short-term memory loss from being an obstacle.

I think this story would make a great tv series with the constant revelations and mini cliffhangers. As well as it's engaging story the insight it provides into memory and how people tend to treat mental illness is great. The action is the least desirable part since they don't take advantage of the primary gimmick but it's forgivable since they are short.

4/5
B1rd

Green Platinum wrote:

abraker wrote:

4 pages in and still no 5/5 movie
I'm an elitist, every perfect score I give out reduces my life by 1 year. Remember a 1/5 is considered an average score so a 4/5 could be extrapolated to a mostly perfect score for a regular person.
If 1/5 is average, then you have a real problem with your rating system. Rating systems are intuitively supposed to have average as the middle value with equal numerical representation for below average and above average.


Today I watched The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, an old Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa. The plot was pretty simple, it involved a paranoid clan leader suspecting his younger brother of treachery. Thus the younger brother took a small band of retainers disguised as itinerant priest to escape to a different country, but first they have to get through a guarded pass. In doing so, they had to bluff their way through, and it was really quite good and entertaining watching the acting and dialogue, with the retainers masterfully bluffing with perfect poker faces under the immense tension and pressure, in contrast to their mountain guide who seemed to have exaggerated emotions written across his face at all times. The movie elements were quite similar to what happens in a game of mafiascum, and I enjoy the act of creating elaborate deceptions and making people believe them.


Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 21, 2018 12 Monkeys (1995)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/

In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

Accidentally edited this post and lost what I wrote....

2/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 22, 2018 The Magnificent Seven (1960)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/

An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.

This really moved at a snails pace without building any tension as was likely the objective. The cast wasn't particularly distinct and many individual character moments ended mixed together. Otherwise some decent themes and messages just delivered in an incomplete package.

1/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 23, 2018 28 Days Later (2002)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289043/

Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.

Something of a modern classic in the zombie apocalypse genre. Keeping the zombies as somewhat of an environmental hazard and leaving humans to be the real threat always works better. A decent chunk is also spent on slice of life and basic survival allowing for the setting to be much better explored. Not a complete disaster but zombie fatigue still kicks in with any of these movies.

1/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 24, 2018 Blazing Saddles (1974)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/

In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.

All over the place. Much better when it goes all meta and self aware. Otherwise just a solid comedy all around.

2/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 25, 2018 Get out (2017)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052448/

A young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.

The horror movie that seemed to surprise everybody last year. The uncanny awkwardness during the setup is great and the escalation is very good. The ending and resolution feel rushed and could have packed more punch.

2/5
B1rd
>28 days later is 1/5

Horrible taste.
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 26, 2018 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/

Humanity finds a mysterious, obviously artificial object buried beneath the Lunar surface and, with the intelligent computer H.A.L. 9000, sets off on a quest.

This film is a artistic masterpiece and captures what I wish film would strive for. Massively innovative and has managed to stand the test of time and could not exist in any other medium. While the story is rather simple the creativity used to execute it is it's true raison d'etre.

5/5
abraker
wow a 5!
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 27, 2018 The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032551/

A poor Midwest family is forced off their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.

A depressing look at the state of poverty and unemployment during the great depression. All's not miserable however as it still hoists up the silver lining of the American Dream and despite my cynicism towards particular relevant attitudes I think optimism is important particularly for that time. Aspects can come off as rather repetitive although it is the constant grind of failure and uncertainty that was important for this film to capture.

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 28, 2018 The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031455/

In 15th century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.

Never actually seen the Disney version so I don't have the typical point of comparison. Rather slow with themes and characters feeling undeveloped. The Hunchback never felt very pitiable which I assumed was their goal. I'd probably recommend The Elephant Man instead.

1/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 29, 2018 Lord of the Flies (1963)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057261/

Lost on an island, young survivors of a plane crash eventually revert to savagery despite the few rational boys' attempts to prevent that.

A classic film exploring the base nature of humanity within us all. Naturally a film with so many child actor can get pretty grating especially the round table discussions. Really apart for the acting and general datedness my only problem it how there is no real sense of time, are these kids lost for a week or months? the reality could really change the intended perception for me.

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
April 30, 2018 The man who knew infinity (2015)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787524/

The story of the life and academic career of the pioneer Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and his friendship with his mentor, Professor G.H. Hardy.

Without being somewhat of an expert you can never really know the truthiness of biographies like this. Ramanujan was a brilliant mathematician and I am glad to see he is appreciated in such a way. The film is both engaging and enjoyable just hold some skepticism for the extent of some particular details.

3/5
Topic Starter
Green Platinum
May 01, 2018 Zabriskie Point (1970)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066601/

At Zabriskie Point, United States' lowest point, two perfect strangers meet; an undergraduate dreamer and a young hippie student who start off an unrestrained romance, making love on the dusty terrain.

Given the political climate a film starting with a student activism meeting is one way to lead my interest astray. Gladly the politics didn't last however the characters and story never really engaged me. Maybe I just need more insight into the hippie movements of the era to appreciate the film's context and would like it then. The ending was rather artfully done and the best part.

1/5
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