PCF at the Movies (2 Viewers)

[detroitdad]

Just a reminder: anyone who likes disturbing movies go see the fucking Witch this weekend. I've seen it twice and will probably go a third time before it leaves the theaters. Great flick.

If you posted reasons why you liked it so much I must have missed it. Sorry. Anyways, may I ask what you liked about it so much? I must be missing something. We watched it last night and I was bored with it. It was only 90 minutes. It felt so much longer than that.

Granted I'm not into horror/scary flicks but I was excited to see this. You apparently loved it. It hit 90% on rottentomatoes. For some reason it just didn't click for me. I did enjoy the acting of Anya Taylor-Joy. Actually I pretty much enjoyed all of the actresses in the movie. The dad's voice kept grating on me though.

 

[jbutler]

If you posted reasons why you liked it so much I must have missed it. Sorry. Anyways, may I ask what you liked about it so much?

So many things.

Most apparently, the minimalism. Few if any other movies are so spare in every respect. Everything captured is essential to the movie. There are no superfluous conversations or daliances in the plot that don't make crucial contributions to building the narrative, the characters, and the world in which they live. And the bleakness of the cinematography only reinforces the stripped down nature of the existence of the characters.

All of which is perfectly suited to the questions put to the characters: with nothing to distract us from our raw existence or to obscure our view of our own nature, what are we? We are asked to answer the same questions by the end of the film, the climax begging us to resolve superficial plot questions, the answers to which should allow us to reinterpret some of the earlier actions of the characters. Was Thomasin drawn to the darkness from the beginning? Did she know it? Or was she pure until the end and only corrupted by the twins or by Black Phillip? Or did she only engage with the Devil out of desperation, with no other choice by the time she was asked to join him?

And of course the technical accomplishments of the film are many. I already mentioned the cinematography which was absolutely perfect. The costumes were created by the filmmaker with the same pre-industrial techniques which were used to make the clothes in the actual period in which the movie is set and it was worth it. Most impressive was the score which captured the absolute chaos just beneath the surface of what were intended to be such ordered, devout lives.

It's certainly in my top 2 and is maybe my favorite movie of the year so far.

EDIT: I posted this earlier in the thread, re: expectations of a general audience:

I'll write a bit more about it when I have more time but the Witch was phenomenal. Saw it last night. But my opinion was NOT shared by the majority of the people in my theater. More than a couple walked out and there was a lot of "that was terrible" as we walked out.

It's definitely not a standard horror movie and if you go with expectations of straightforward scares and storylines you will be very disappointed I think. If you go in looking for more of an Ingmar Bergman/Roman Polanski or maybe even Kubrick style paranoid psychological drama, you'll dig it. Very, very well-made film. Definitely my favorite of 2016 so far.

 

[tommythecat]

I watched this on Netflix over the weekend...loved it. If you enjoyed cheesy 80's sci-fi movies this is the perfect homage to pretty much all of them.

 

[jbutler]

I watched this on Netflix over the weekend...loved it. If you enjoyed cheesy 80's sci-fi movies this is the perfect homage to pretty much all of them.

I've heard grumblings about this, but hadn't yet watched the trailer or read anything. Looks promisingly absurd and I love Michael Ironside (most hilariously appropriate name for a character actor ever btw). I'll have to check it out soon.

Came here to post this link to Thrillist's "The Best Movies of 2016 (So Far)". The concept is that Matt Patches keeps a running list (i.e., it changes week to week) of the top movies of the year to date as a means of guiding people who don't have time to just watch everything.

So currently Everybody Wants Some!! is number one on the list, but as recently as last week, number one was Mountains May Depart and before that, Krisha. Those latter two are semi-esoteric, but Patches is an equal opportunity viewer so you'll also see Hail Caesar, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Zootopia and even Barbershop 3 (?1?) on the current list. I've loved it because it has tipped me off to a few movies I'd have otherwise had no interest in: The Wave, The Treasure and the aforementioned Barbershop 3.

Just another source if anyone is interested in seeing recommendations for current movies. In my experience the guy has a good eye for mainstream, genre, art house, foreign - pretty much everything. Although I'm a bit shocked he didn't have Midnight Special in there since that's currently rivaling The Witch (which is on the list) for my favorite movie of the year.

 

[tommythecat]

Love these new IMAX posters for Civil War...can't wait for this movie though I likely won't see it opening weekend.

 

[Mr Tree]

From an interview of Patton Oswalt. This response on The Force Awakens just instantly made me think of Jbutler.

IGN: Since you mentioned the movie and have had great observations on Star Wars in the past, I have to ask - what did you think of The Force Awakens?

Oswalt: I loved it. I loved that he recreated the thrill of seeing it for the first time in the theater and also having to juggle all of the things that people wanted to see from the original reintroduced and giving things the end off and intros they deserve. I said this on Conan… Star Wars was this amazing friend of yours in the 70s that had great cocaine and hookers and you stayed up until 5am and he was always fun and then in the late 90s he got sober and became libertarian and always talked about government and trade tariffs and “Maybe you need to know where the cocaine comes from” and you’re like “Dude, I thought we were going to party!” And now he’s back and he’s like “Screw all that. Let’s do it!” So that’s how I equate it.

 

[jbutler]

Only saw one thing in the theaters this weekend, but I really liked it. Definitely among the best surprises so far this year. I almost didn't want to include the trailer because it makes the movie look horrible. Nevertheless...

But the movie has a lot going for it in terms of personnel. The cast is fantastic: Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Ryan Reynolds and the lesser known but also very good Gal Gadot and Michael Pitt. And the director's last movie was The Iceman with Michael Shannon which I didn't love, but which was obviously attempting as something deeper in a way that made me want to see what he did next.

So with all that, I was glad to give it a shot and it was a lot of fun based almost entirely on the performances and the direction. The story is almost a First Blood kind of thing - the government creates this guy to do its bidding, but when he won't do what they say they assume the worst of his motives and go after him. It had a Tony Scott feel to it and in substance calls back to 80s and early 90s action movies.

Not a ton to say more than that. If it sounds like your thing, you'll probably enjoy it.

 

[manamongkids]

Finally saw revenant, remarkable picture and cinematography.

Kinda funny watching Leo have Dr Doolittle type luck throughout the film...oh he's starting to heal and get better, running for his life...heals some more, fucked by a bear.

Overall I'm saying B

 

[ohio3302016]

Revenant was ok but I'm not really into snuff films.

 

[detroitdad]

Jungle Book (ridiculously seamless CGI brings to life a well loved children's book)

I agree 100%. We saw it yesterday. A great movie. I thought the young actor, Neel Sethi did a fantastic job as Mowgli. Add Bill Murray's delivery as Baloo and I would be willing to pay to see this again.

 

[detroitdad]

The animated animals are literally indistinguishable from real life

There were times while I was watching this movie that I forgot it was cgi. It was that smooth. Best CGI animals to date.

 

[tommythecat]

Rather than dump a bunch of pics in here, check out these awesome new horror movie posters here...

http://io9.gizmodo.com/youll-scream-for-these-seven-new-horror-posters-from-mo-1773704143

Love the Jaws and Nightmare On Elm St posters. There is also a Great Pumpkin poster in the comments that is just incredible IMO.

 

[jbutler]

Saw two movies last night: one meh, one awesome.

While I am not a big Key and Peele fan I have to admit that I was looking forward to Keanu.

In my opinion Key and Peele are most effective when they are in total farce mode and the trailer gave me hope that's where this movie existed. Unfortunately not so much. For the most part it attempts to get by on the atmosphere of sheer ridiculousness and it succeeds in a limited way. Too often, though, it runs too long without anything that's more than amusing.

I got a few laughs and I didn't dislike the movie, but it seems like there was a lot more that they could have done with this premise even as tired as it is (just because the actors are half black doesn't make the "nerdy guy in the hood" scenario any more original). And what worked best in the movie - attempts to mimic Bad Boys-style action movies - Hot Fuzz did much better.

If you have a hard on for these guys there's plenty you'll like and it certainly beats most other recent comedies, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.

But Green Room is killer and should be seen by anyone with any interest.

I really liked Jeremy Saulniers' last film, Blue Ruin the first time I saw it and loved it on a rewatch recently so I was looking very much forward to this one and had high hopes. They were certainly met if not exceeded.

Saulniers has said he thought of this movie as sort of a punk Straw Dogs by Sam Peckinpah. Others have compared it to The Thing by John Carpenter. Both are hard directors to live up to and I can't say at this point that Green Room hits as high marks as those films do, but both are worthy comparisons. As Saulniers has recognized in interviews, the plot itself is thin and the movie survives on the basis of its atmosphere and pacing and at 95 minutes it's the perfect length for the subject matter. The tension is off the charts and the violence is totally real even if it's not filmed to be salacious.

And the performances are nearly perfect. No weak links in the bunch including an absolutely brilliant turn by Macon Blair - the protagonist from Blue Ruin - as a neo-nazi foot soldier. Patrick Stewart is as good as you'd expect and all members of the band - including Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat - are totally believable individually and as a group. They apparently spent some time learning to actually play together as a band and it shows. Very believable. Plus they play a classic - and subject-appropriate - Dead Kennedys cover to start off their set at the white power venue in which most of the movie occurs.

Highly recommended. Definitely in the top five of 2016, probably the top three.

 

[Chicken Rob]

My problem with key & peele is their writing often feels lazy and obvious. My picture of what goes on in the writers room:

What's a funny topic?
Periods.
Not really funny, how do we make it funny?
Say a bunch of obvious stuff in an over the top fashion.
I think we need more.
Make it a rediculous motivational speaking team delivering the info to men.
Gold.

And then it's not actually funny.

 

[jbutler]

Saw Capt America: Civil War tonight. Meh. Should've been called Avengers 3. Was better than the first and second Avengers movies but not nearly as good as the first two Capt America movies.

Basically every complaint I've had about the previous Avengers films applies to Civil War. What makes this better than those are the technical aspects of the film. The direction and the cinematography are so far beyond what Joss Whedon did with the Avengers movies which look messy and murky compared to the tight shots and editing of Civil War.

Unfortunately the movies suffers what a lot of what brought down Batman v Superman. I just never bought the motivation for the fight among the Avengers. I understand what we're told motivates it but it didn't work for me.

EDIT: Meant to mention, a couple other highlights for me were Black Panther and - to my true shock - Spiderman. I can't believe I could be interested in more fucking Spiderman, but I liked the kid playing him here. And it can never hurt to get more Marisa Tomei. Never thought I would be lusting after Aunt May.

 

[slisk250]

Saw 2 today in Bahrain. Causeway traffic is complete bullshit...oh! wrong thread.

Capt. America - also agree, meh. Was about 20 minutes to long too, I needed to take a wiz. I'm not into super hero or computer generated movies.

The Boss - haven't laughed that hard in a long long time. Melissa McCarthy was damn funny. We know a bit was censored and figured out we missed part of a scene where she was rubbing on Kristin Bell's rack but all the language was intact. My 13 year old loved it. 5 stars.

 

[jbutler]

...Green Room is killer and should be seen by anyone with any interest.

I really liked Jeremy Saulniers' last film, Blue Ruin the first time I saw it and loved it on a rewatch recently so I was looking very much forward to this one and had high hopes. They were certainly met if not exceeded.

Saulniers has said he thought of this movie as sort of a punk Straw Dogs by Sam Peckinpah. Others have compared it to The Thing by John Carpenter. Both are hard directors to live up to and I can't say at this point that Green Room hits as high marks as those films do, but both are worthy comparisons. As Saulniers has recognized in interviews, the plot itself is thin and the movie survives on the basis of its atmosphere and pacing and at 95 minutes it's the perfect length for the subject matter. The tension is off the charts and the violence is totally real even if it's not filmed to be salacious.

And the performances are nearly perfect. No weak links in the bunch including an absolutely brilliant turn by Macon Blair - the protagonist from Blue Ruin - as a neo-nazi foot soldier. Patrick Stewart is as good as you'd expect and all members of the band - including Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat - are totally believable individually and as a group. They apparently spent some time learning to actually play together as a band and it shows. Very believable. Plus they play a classic - and subject-appropriate - Dead Kennedys cover to start off their set at the white power venue in which most of the movie occurs.

Highly recommended. Definitely in the top five of 2016, probably the top three.

Just a bump to say I saw this a second time this weekend and it was even better. As noted, the plot is not the most complex you can find, but there are enough nuances that I was able to pick up a lot more this time around. I'm also surprised I didn't recognize how gorgeous the photography was the first time around. Some of the exterior shots are beautiful.

Anyway, go see it.

 

[Chicken Rob]

Saw Capt America: Civil War tonight. Meh. Should've been called Avengers 3. Was better than the first and second Avengers movies but not nearly as good as the first two Capt America movies.

Basically every complaint I've had about the previous Avengers films applies to Civil War. What makes this better than those are the technical aspects of the film. The direction and the cinematography are so far beyond what Joss Whedon did with the Avengers movies which look messy and murky compared to the tight shots and editing of Civil War.

Unfortunately the movies suffers what a lot of what brought down Batman v Superman. I just never bought the motivation for the fight among the Avengers. I understand what we're told motivates it but it didn't work for me.

EDIT: Meant to mention, a couple other highlights for me were Black Panther and - to my true shock - Spiderman. I can't believe I could be interested in more fucking Spiderman, but I liked the kid playing him here. And it can never hurt to get more Marisa Tomei. Never thought I would be lusting after Aunt May.

I met Marisa Tomei circa My Cousin Vinny. She was doing Wiliamstown Theater Festival, and a friend of mine was an apprentice there that summer. I also met Austin Pendleton (who was also awesome in Vinny) at the same time. Austin did a Q&A at a showing of What's Up Doc.

Long story short, Marisa is 10x hotter in person than film, if you can even believe such a thing is possible. At least in 1992.

 

[detroitdad]

10 Cloverfield Lane was awesome. John Goodman's performance was out of this world good IMO

We finally watched this last night. Couldn't agree more. Very well done. If anyone on here that is a fan of movies hasn't seen this yet. Please do. You will not be disappointed.

B

 

[jiratic]

I met Marisa Tomei circa My Cousin Vinny. She was doing Wiliamstown Theater Festival, and a friend of mine was an apprentice there that summer. I also met Austin Pendleton (who was also awesome in Vinny) at the same time. Austin did a Q&A at a showing of What's Up Doc.

Long story short, Marisa is 10x hotter in person than film, if you can even believe such a thing is possible. At least in 1992.

Did you have Costanza's reaction?

 

[Chicken Rob]

Did you have Costanza's reaction?

I'm balding and wear glasses now, but back in '92 I had more hair and better vision, so that similarity was time delayed. I did have a hard time actually speaking in her presence. She literally made me speechless with her beauty.

We got to Williams college campus and went looking for our friend the apprentice. Walked into a room where Marisa and Austin were working together at a table. They were super nice. Tried to help us find our friend. We tried to be cool, but were a bunch of dorks I'm sure.

 

[jbutler]

Saw two movies last night: one meh, one awesome.

While I am not a big Key and Peele fan I have to admit that I was looking forward to Keanu.

In my opinion Key and Peele are most effective when they are in total farce mode and the trailer gave me hope that's where this movie existed. Unfortunately not so much. For the most part it attempts to get by on the atmosphere of sheer ridiculousness and it succeeds in a limited way. Too often, though, it runs too long without anything that's more than amusing.

I got a few laughs and I didn't dislike the movie, but it seems like there was a lot more that they could have done with this premise even as tired as it is (just because the actors are half black doesn't make the "nerdy guy in the hood" scenario any more original). And what worked best in the movie - attempts to mimic Bad Boys-style action movies - Hot Fuzz did much better.

If you have a hard on for these guys there's plenty you'll like and it certainly beats most other recent comedies, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.

This girl knows what's up.

What Is the Joke in Keanu?

I wouldn't say "wildly unfunny", but I definitely left with a sense of, "Is that really all they could do when they were given 90 minutes to do anything they wanted? Did they really just want to repeat the same two or three jokes over and over and over and over and over?"

 

[jbutler]

guardians of the galaxy
iron man
captain america
iron man 3
thor
thor 2
captain america 2
avengers
incredible hulk
avengers 2
iron man 2

So it's been a year since I ranked the Marvel movies and there have been two more entries: Ant-Man and Capt America: Civil War. I also rewatched a few of these and my rankings changed a bit My updated rankings - best to worst - with star ratings (out of five):

Guardians of the Galaxy (5)
Iron Man (5)
Iron Man 3 (4.5)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (4)
Thor: The Dark World (4)
Captain America: The First Avenger (4)
Thor (4)
Ant-Man (3.5)
Incredible Hulk (3)
Captain America: Civil War (2.5)
Iron Man 2 (2)
Avengers (2)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2)

I can't imagine I'll ever rewatch any of the bottom four, but I would be open to rewatching all the rest again and have seen my top five multiple times already.

Looking at my star rankings I have to admit the movies have a higher average overall than I expected. Hard to account for that. Maybe my ratings for the bottom four are higher than my actual opinions would dictate. It's also true, though, that there are only two truly great movies among the 13 released which is not great since these are supposed to constitute some kind of golden age of superhero movies.

 

[detroitdad]

Guardians of the Galaxy (5)
Iron Man (5)
Iron Man 3 (4.5) I would have this one lower. Wasn't a big fan of it. I haven't seen it a second time so maybe that changes.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (4)
Thor: The Dark World (4)
Captain America: The First Avenger (4)
Thor (4)
Ant-Man (3.5)
Incredible Hulk (3)
Captain America: Civil War (2.5) I would probably give this a 3.5. I would watch the airport scene again. That is about it.
Iron Man 2 (2)
Avengers (2)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2)

I bolded my differences. The list is pretty accurate for me. I might have Ant-Man ahead of Thor. Winter Soldier would definitely be #2.

 

[ohio3302016]

I thought Drive with Ryan Gosling was a quality movie.

 

[jbutler]

I bolded my differences. The list is pretty accurate for me. I might have Ant-Man ahead of Thor. Winter Soldier would definitely be #2.

Iron Man 3 has some of the best writing of all the Marvel movies which is no surprise since it was written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon 1 & 2, Last Boy Scout, etc.). The airport scene in Civil War had absolutely no weight to it imo. There was never any chance for consequences. When there are no stakes to the action, it's pointless.

I can see Ant-Man being above Thor. I haven't seen Ant-Man since the theater.

I thought Drive with Ryan Gosling was a quality movie.

I loved Drive and I have loved most of Nicolas Winding Refn's movies. Valhalla Rising is probably in my all time top 50 and is one of my most rewatched movies.

 

[detroitdad]

The airport scene in Civil War had absolutely no weight to it imo. There was never any chance for consequences. When there are no stakes to the action, it's pointless.

I completely agree with this statement. However, I liked it for two reasons. 1. Spiderman 2. Spiderman

Otherwise I don't plan on watching it ever again. Matter of fact I'm about done watching superhero movies at the theater mainly due to the lack of creativity.

 

[jbutler]

Hearing good things about Joe Berlinger's (Brother's Keeper, Paradise Lost, Some Kind of Monster) new documentary Tony Robbins: I'm Not Your Guru.

Premiering on Netflix in July and at festivals now. Might catch it at the AFI Docs festival in Maryland in June, but they don't have the schedule for the festival set yet.

 

[jbutler]

Oh and the actual reason I'm going to the AFI Docs festival:

 

[Chicken Rob]

Hearing good things about Joe Berlinger's (Brother's Keeper, Paradise Lost, Some Kind of Monster) new documentary Tony Robbins: I'm Not Your Guru.

Premiering on Netflix in July and at festivals now. Might catch it at the AFI Docs festival in Maryland in June, but they don't have the schedule for the festival set yet.

Looking forward to this, though the preview kinda turned my stomach.