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Saturday Evening Movie Post [moviegique]: Backrooms
Another good and in some ways significant film—twelve out of twelve new films in a row, for those counting—has crossed our paths, being yet another trampler of a once undefeatable franchise.
The origins of Backrooms go back to a 2019—ancient history!—creepypasta about an eerie interdimensional space that looks like a very ordinary but empty office building or, in fact, a furniture store. Although much of the concept (which I don't know, honestly) was developed collectively on the Internet, 16-year-old writer/director Kane Parsons created, wrote, directed and starred in a YouTube series based on his take on the story and, now, at the ripe old age of 20, has directed a movie that's easily smashed the $100M barrier, made 20x its budget back already and trounced the flagging Mandalorian.
Of course, only 20x its budget (so far) makes it a big compared to Obsession, which had now made over 220x it's budget, but I doubt anyone's going to complain. And Backrooms may have even better legs, because while it's not a better film, it does have a massive trove of Easter Eggs for fans.
"Backrooms" looking at "Obsession"s legs in the distance.
The Boy was quite pleased, more than I, but I liked it and I could sense the layers of lore there.
I would call it a "funhouse horror," which is what I call scary movies that prioritize effects over narrative consistency—but the best funhouse flicks have an aesthetic or dream logic which pulls everything together. Phantasm, for example, doesn't make narrative sense, but it convinces you (in the way of a dream or nightmare) that it's perfectly rational by its own rules.
Its rules, not ours. Why is there a tiny door with three doorknobs there? What is that menacing human-like shadow? Where'd that seagull come from? Despite not making sense, the movie derives a clear set of rules from the first scene and sticks to it. The weird stuff is in the Backrooms, it's all gonna happen there, and while anyone can get it, nothing from inside gets out.
There is even a kind of rationale, which I think shares something in common with the last movie I saw Chiwetel Ejiofor (nope, 20 years later and I still don't know how to pronounce his name): The Life of Chuck. (No spoilers, but TLoC actually makes less sense as it goes and is kind of a cheat.)
Our star! Well, one of them. Probably. Might just be the key grip.
Ejiofor does a great job as Clark, the rage-filled loser who owns his own (constantly empty) furniture store, which he sleeps in, and can't decide whether he's a pirate or a sultan (as the store mascot). Lukita Maxwell and Finn Bennet do a good job supporting Ejiofor as he's looking for confirmation of how the Backrooms are laid out. Mark Duplass (Baghead) fits perfectly as the man who knows something about the Backrooms, which is worse than knowing nothing.
The other pivotal character in the story is Mary, Ejiofor's therapist, who's a fraud and mess in her own way. Played by Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve, who is perfect for the part, I kept wondering what I knew her from. (The Worst Person In The World and Sentimental Value.)
The movie starts off with a fair amount of backstory. We learn a lot about Clark from his sessions with Mary. We learn a lot about Mary because she's hung up on some childhood trauma. I thought this part was a little slow, but it all pays off.
We have another movie, in other words, where the makers cared about it. Nobody trying to pad the runtime. Nobody trying to check boxes on some list.
"!evol fo eman eht ni..."
We've thankfully seen more films pulling away from the 2010s "color coding", with recent filmmakers not constraining themselves to blue, gray, black and red. Backrooms is yellow. A not-quite-healthy yellow. And it mostly hews to that kind of a palette without shifting to blue/blacks as a crutch.
Also, the use of "analogue" video, as the kids might or might not be calling it, is very effective. It's basically grainy '90s video—the movie takes place pre-cell phones and old media formats abound. As I noted years ago, both in Cloverfield and Chronicle, using lower res video can actually sell CGI better, at least to my eyes.
Unlike Furiosa, for example, where the action is compromised by a seemingly elastic space, and despite the Backrooms being an irrational, dreamlike space, the topology is very anchored. The backrooms can be and are mapped. This doesn't mean there aren't disruptions in the reality. It means that the disruptions are intentional and not a lazy out. Again, somebody cared about this map.
I don't know that I'd rank it as highly as Obsession or Hokum, but it is very different from both and very layered. One of my tweeps has seen it three times, and it's the sort of thing that sparks fan theories.
It has one jump scare in the opening sequence that I saw coming a mile away and it still got me. There's not a lot of blood. If the movie can go for weird/unsettling over gory, it picks the former every time. I'm sure some will dislike that aspect but on the other hand it makes it easier to recommend to even the squeamish.
Big props to Parsons here. Not just for directing it, but for working with Will Soodik, a more seasoned screenwriter, to adapt his series. And for getting excellent actors rather than insisting on being the lead. (Might've been trouble for the 20-year-old to be a divorced, middle-aged man with a furniture store.)
We are getting spoiled here, and I almost shudder to contemplate what might be around the corner.
Man, that one episode of "The Twilight Zone" gets a lot of mileage.
MOVIEGIQUE NEWS: Light fortnight-and-a-half as we saw only four (?) movies but all were new and all were good! Tuner (heist/musical/romcom?), Python Hunt (doc about Burmese Python hunt in Florida), Backrooms and Pressure (Brendan Fraser IS Dwight D. Eisenhaur ON D-Day). ALSO: I moved my site from Wordpress to...nothing. The new moviegique.com is a static site, so it loads blazingly fast and the search function is also much improved. I do all my editing locally, so it's a million times slicker than WP, and also has none of the security risks. I was getting something like 8,000 visitors a week, 90% of which were hackers and bots. I had taken away the membership registration just to keep down the spam only to discover WP has an API for registration which was on and causing my site to send out login information--probably a thousand emails this year. The commenting system is crude, since that's trickier from a static website perspective, and we'll see how long I can keep it completely open. (Probably not long.) Also cool, I have a special "Ace of Spades" button on my local editor that makes it do all the things I used to have to do manually. It takes about two minutes to upload a review now. I only wish OregonMuse were here to see it.
Comments
(Jump to bottom of comments)Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 07:30 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: Skip at June 13, 2026 07:31 PM (Ia/+0)
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 13, 2026 07:33 PM (Cqx++)
Still, I may check it out some time.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Born in Butte, America at June 13, 2026 07:34 PM (0aYVJ)
Posted by: polynikes at June 13, 2026 07:34 PM (GseMx)
Posted by: polynikes at June 13, 2026 07:34 PM (GseMx)
----
Yeah, it's not a terribly original premise.
I've seen it countless times.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 13, 2026 07:36 PM (gnNyN)
Too bad it didn't do well at the box office. At the end I was pumped for a sequel.
Posted by: MAGA_Ken at June 13, 2026 07:36 PM (Q6WZq)
Posted by: polynikes at June 13, 2026 07:37 PM (GseMx)
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 13, 2026 07:37 PM (gnNyN)
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 07:37 PM (zZu0s)
Posted by: Kindltot at June 13, 2026 07:38 PM (rbvCR)
However, it doesn't look or feel like "Cube" at all. Cube is a puzzle, more like "Saw", where you're dealing with traps. It's ruthlessly materialistic, you could call it.
"Backrooms" is more a materialized subconscious. In that sense it resembles "The Cell" more than anything.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 07:38 PM (K40fF)
6 Days, Iranian terrorists took over the Iranian embassy in London in 1980. I was in England at time, barely remember it.
Goebbles and Hitler a movie starting whete it ends the last days of May 1945.
Posted by: Skip at June 13, 2026 07:38 PM (Ia/+0)
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at June 13, 2026 07:39 PM (l26NL)
The empty space (rooms) that seem to have no rhyme or reason show up in a lot of fiction.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 07:39 PM (zZu0s)
---
Furiosa's big set pieces don't feel like real space to me. There were times I felt like the topology was being violated to try to create cool imagery--really in direct opposition to what was done with "Fury Road".
"Backrooms" relies heavily on the physicality of the space. The characters walk into these imaginary (essentially) rooms, but you begin to know what is down that hall, and what is up that shaft and so on.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 07:43 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: MAGA_Ken at June 13, 2026 07:43 PM (Q6WZq)
Brendan Fraser was very good as Eisenhower but I was more impressed with the English actor, Andrew Scott, who played the meteorologist, James Stagg. He was excellent.
Posted by: Tuna at June 13, 2026 07:45 PM (lJ0H4)
A good time. I recommend it.
I had some surprises in the rewatch, so I'll just give you how I would now rank them:
Rocky
Rocky 3/ Rocky Balboa
Rocky 5
Rocky 2
Rocky 4
These ranking are based on them as movies.
The top 4 all had very clean, clear, organic, mostly linear stories.
The top three are also feel good movies which is nice.
Rocky 5 is a feel bad movie and really not worthy of the final Rocky movie, which is was intended to be. Rocky winds up poor, brain-damaged, and he wins a street fight, soooo back to being a street bum. What were they thinking. That said it's a very well-written, well-directed and acted movie. It doesn't deserve its lousy reputation.
Rocky 2 and 4 start off with a great concept and nuthin' else. The plotting and characters are all over the place as they try to fill out enough time to make it a movie. They feel very fake even though you like how they end.
That's it. Check them out. They're all streaming on netflix.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 13, 2026 07:45 PM (iJfKG)
---
This is why I go to the movies. It's just so hard to concentrate otherwise.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 07:45 PM (K40fF)
Choi hired on for a fixed salary, something like $7,000 which is not a bad deal for someone iwth only one credit to their name and no photo on IMBD. Now that the movie has grossed millions and millions of dollars, Choi now wants more money.
Congratulations, you no longer have a career in Hollywood or in the entertainment industry itself.
But look on the bright side, there is probably a scriptwriter using your meteoric rise and cataclysmic crash as inspiration for a story of their own.
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 07:46 PM (2GVsD)
***
Good way to describe it, M. This dull, washed-out palette in films now, where you can barely see what is going on or who is doing it, is damned annoying. Compare the 1969 True Grit and its vibrant color to the washed-out look of the Jeff Bridges remake.
Normally I will watch any Nicole Kidman film at least once. But one drama she did set in then-modern Australia was so greyish and dimly lit, combined with the unpleasant characters around me, that it sent me away.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 07:46 PM (wzUl9)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 07:46 PM (2GVsD)
Posted by: MAGA_Ken at June 13, 2026 07:47 PM (Q6WZq)
Posted by: Easy the Elder at June 13, 2026 07:48 PM (CKRkE)
It was so '70s. I took the kids to see the original "Rocky" a few years ago and was shocked at how gritty it was. Rocky is a dunce and low class...I mean, in Rocky 2, it's revealed he's illiterate.
Then I think of Tony Danza on "Taxi" when "Rocky 3" came out and he's all "It's the best Rocky since Rocky 1!"
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 07:48 PM (K40fF)
I know what you mean. It seems to occur sometimes where there is a mix of practical foregrou d and CG background and takes you out of it. Like the colors don't match just right or the perspective is off.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 07:48 PM (zZu0s)
Posted by: Mister Horse at June 13, 2026 07:49 PM (Jr5Lq)
What a dummy. The actress, who is tremendous, got $20K. I don't know what the director got but it wasn't much.
But what probably everyone got for working on it was a WHOLE LOT OF OPPORTUNITY.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 07:50 PM (K40fF)
Also I finally have seen Top Gun: Maverick. Since I have never seen the original, I don't know how it compares, but it was very entertaining and solidly filmed. Say what you want about Tom Cruise, but he delivers 100% when he is on screen.
I need to see Eyes Wide Shut again.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 07:50 PM (wzUl9)
BEST 0.5 BLACK PRESIDENT EVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Concern is mounting that taxpayers could be left holding the bag if the Obama Presidential Center runs into financial trouble, as the foundation behind it has yet to establish a promised $470 million safety net to guard against a public bailout.
The scrutiny comes as a Fox News Digital investigation found multiple contractors and subcontractors claiming losses ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions on the project, with some alleging they remain locked in payment disputes and face financial ruin just days before the center's grand opening.
Posted by: Jackson K. at June 13, 2026 07:50 PM (Bnw/D)
Posted by: Skip at June 13, 2026 07:50 PM (Ia/+0)
---
In the worst cases, space is literally compressed or telescoped because it's too hard to make the CGI work. It is irritating to those of us who notice.
Like when superheroes punch each other and the physics are all wrong. That has bothered me since I was nearly 12, nearly 17 near years ago.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 07:51 PM (K40fF)
Yeah, saw that. She's an idiot. Instant gratification instead of building a career.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 07:51 PM (zZu0s)
Posted by: Tuna
He played a US soldier in the 101st on D-Day who was killed when Winters attacked the guns firing on the beaches.
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at June 13, 2026 07:52 PM (l26NL)
It will cost a lot less to tear it down that it did to build or maintain it.
Posted by: fd at June 13, 2026 07:53 PM (vFG9F)
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 07:54 PM (zZu0s)
Posted by: Easy the Elder
Required:
One (1) Randy Johnson.
One (1) hot dog.
Posted by: mikeski at June 13, 2026 07:55 PM (VHUov)
That is one of the things that turned me off from watching the latest Gundam movie Hathaway. The colors in the trailer were not popping, they were muted.
And the level of detail for an anime movie budget was also underwhelming. It was like the animators decided to ape the style from the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series.
When compared to more modern stories in the UC timeline like Unicorn or Thunderbolt, both choices are a jarring step backwards.
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 07:56 PM (2GVsD)
"Concern is mounting that taxpayers could be left holding the bag if the Obama Presidential Center runs into financial trouble"
Someone should make a movie about it.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 13, 2026 07:56 PM (Cqx++)
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 07:51 PM (K40fF)
The snaps, I call it. No conservation of momentum. The bodies have physics in the engine, but it does not look right and the forms do not have weight.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 07:56 PM (zZu0s)
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr.
---
That pic is ~ mid century stuff.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 07:56 PM (xhuRr)
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields in Return is just awful. Mixing bigatures, CG and human actors is too much.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 07:58 PM (zZu0s)
No sir. I don't like it.
It's not good.
https://moviegique.com/reviews/the-purge/
But it gets so much worse:
https://moviegique.com/reviews/the-forever-purge/
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 07:59 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 07:59 PM (2GVsD)
Posted by: edited for Morons of other generations at June 13, 2026 07:59 PM (VHUov)
Posted by: edited for Morons of other generations at June 13, 2026 08:00 PM (VHUov)
The movie is "The Call of the Hatchet." No, wait, sorry, it's "Heart of the Beast." It appears to star a K-9 soldier, who is retired, but still has bad dreams. His owner (who probably has the same nightmares) wants to get away from it all, so the two take a bush-plane up into the great northern forests. But on the way, they have a Hatchet moment (the pilot has a heart attack and crashed the plane) and the two are marooned in the wilderness, hundreds of miles from help. They (probably led by the dog) must then make a harrowing journey back to civilization.
It sounds awesome, and I hope the actual is as good as the premise suggests.
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 13, 2026 08:00 PM (3v7ra)
Posted by: mikeski at June 13, 2026 08:00 PM (VHUov)
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 13, 2026 08:01 PM (RIvkX)
But I'm not an expert and I didn't go to see a documentary and I like Fraser generally so...'s fine.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:01 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:02 PM (K40fF)
---
It's like the "end times", innit?
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:03 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 13, 2026 08:03 PM (RIvkX)
Teaches running and fitness, sportsmanship, and acting.
(See how I stayed with the movie theme?)
Posted by: Diogenes at June 13, 2026 08:03 PM (2WIwB)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 07:59 PM (2GVsD)
Hell, the Flak Towers in Berlin at least served a useful purpose AND they are STILL more aesthetically pleasing that this thing.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:04 PM (zZu0s)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:05 PM (2GVsD)
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 13, 2026 08:00 PM (3v7ra)
That does sound interesting.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:05 PM (zZu0s)
==
It was not a skit it was a short film and iirc it caused a stir because they broadcast it not long after John Lennon was murdered.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 13, 2026 06:13 AM
--------
I’ve thrown that line out before, anticipating a more complete rebuttal such as a link?
By the way, I did not call it a skit.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 08:06 PM (xhuRr)
"The son, Charlie, is played by Max Burkholder ..."
A terrible child actor, IMHO, and Lord knows there have been awful ones.
I watched it with Mister Horse, and I always let him handle my zero stars reviews. Movies so bad that I won't even spend the effort to do my typical forty word capsule snark.
Website looks good! Well done. AI rulez!
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:06 PM (Jr5Lq)
Posted by: Diogenes at June 13, 2026 08:07 PM (2WIwB)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:08 PM (2GVsD)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:09 PM (Jr5Lq)
By the way, I did not call it a skit.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 08:06 PM (xhuRr)
====
Didn't mean to make it a rebuttal just sharing what I remembered.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 13, 2026 08:10 PM (RIvkX)
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:10 PM (zZu0s)
Should Moviegique watch Paprika?
https://youtu.be/anu2IrsUlVs
Posted by: Anna Puma
[edited for autocorrect failure]
Everyone should watch Satoshi Kon's (RIP) movies!
I still like Perfect Blue a bit more, though he was only the director and not also the writer for that one.
He's the right guy to bring up in a thread about another mindscrew of a movie, though.
Posted by: mikeski's mind has been screwed at June 13, 2026 08:11 PM (VHUov)
With that, I can say with certainty that this is laser sited on the current teen crowd. So we’re going to be hearing about it for a while, I think.
Posted by: Tom Servo at June 13, 2026 08:11 PM (cx1bp)
Should Moviegique watch Parika?
https://youtu.be/anu2IrsUlVs
Posted by: Anna Puma
--
I was raised on Walt Disney animation. Anything less leaves me flat.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 08:12 PM (xhuRr)
Old guy pointing at the K-9, "what's with the teeth?"
Guy, "He was shot in the face." Doggie has gleaming steel fangs.
Old guy, "bet that pissed you off. What you do?"
Guy, "I shot him in the head."
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:13 PM (2GVsD)
===
So like Stranger Things, but instead of upside down world we have never ending going out of business sale.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026 08:13 PM (/lPRQ)
"Should Moviegique watch Paprika again?" is the question.
I saw it when it came out 20 years ago. When I was nearly 9. Curiously the Boy was 10, but I don't do math or biology.
But I only recently saw "Perfect Blue" and "Tokyo Godfathers" so I'd kinda like to revisit it with that context.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:14 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:14 PM (Jr5Lq)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at June 13, 2026 08:14 PM (ndZc7)
https://youtu.be/JFQcDFhNh4o?
si=Zd9k6thELjjizEg7
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:14 PM (zZu0s)
This is a great trailer. Definitely will put butts in seats.
"Whalefall"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Iz4vudW7I
The downside here is that I read the novel and it's not very good.
When we're not "inside the whale" it's all about the main character whining about his Daddy complex. You know, why didn't Daddy love meeeee? Why was he so tough?
Anywho, if they can handle that aspect better, it's a great high concept. It just needs a decent story to fill out the 30 or so minutes of whale time.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 13, 2026 08:15 PM (iJfKG)
The short film set to Foreigner's "Cold as Ice" appeared in the episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Christopher Lee with musical guest Meat Loaf. The episode originally aired on March 25, 1978.
-ChatGPT
Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 13, 2026 08:15 PM (RIvkX)
The truth behind that phrase is quite disturbing.
And the movie isn't about the rotting of a whale corpse? But a guy with daddy issues?
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:17 PM (2GVsD)
It sounds awesome, and I hope the actual is as good as the premise suggests.
Posted by: Castle Guy
Looked up the trailer on IMDB. It stars Brad Pitt and it does look good.
Posted by: Tuna at June 13, 2026 08:17 PM (lJ0H4)
Posted by: Skip at June 13, 2026 08:17 PM (Ia/+0)
Safdie movies are an acquired taste. Holy cow there were a lot of classic character actors cast in "Marty Supreme." If you hated that one, you might hate "Uncut Gems" even more.
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:17 PM (Jr5Lq)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:18 PM (2GVsD)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at June 13, 2026 08:18 PM (ndZc7)
Hypothetically.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:10 PM (zZu0s)
Who would be stupid enough to kill the dog in movie like this? (Remembers reading Where The Red Fern Grows. Remembers every bit of Hollywood hero-hating deconstructionism from the past 15 years) ...Okay, yeah, I'll have some matches ready just in case.
...Hypothetically.
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 13, 2026 08:18 PM (3v7ra)
-ChatGPT
Posted by: San Franpsycho
---
Going to check it out. Thanks, been looking for years.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 08:18 PM (xhuRr)
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:18 PM (zZu0s)
I didnt furiousa was as bad as fury road the vast desert expanses namibia makes tattoinr seen down right charming
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:19 PM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:19 PM (2GVsD)
Satoshi Kon directed Perfect Blue, and is listed as an uncredited writer for it on IMDB.
> So like Stranger Things, but instead of upside down world we have never ending going out of business sale.
I bailed on ST after season one--might be the last modern Western TV show I watched--but this doesn't have anything like the ST feel. I guess it's retro, in that it's set in the '90s, but this...you know, this feels a bit more like "Stalker".
It's a thing that is. It's nobody's weapon or scientific-experiment-gone-wrong or preface to an invasion or anything. I got the strongest sense it was the main character's subconscious, but it might also have been using him.
To me, the interesting thing is, you could just leave it alone. It was those who couldn't who got into trouble.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:19 PM (K40fF)
The truth behind that phrase is quite disturbing.
And the movie isn't about the rotting of a whale corpse? But a guy with daddy issues?
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:17 PM (2GVsD)
The guy finds himself accidentally trapped inside a sperm whale.
But, hijinks occur and he needs to get out before the whale falls and he's crushed by pressure.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 13, 2026 08:20 PM (iJfKG)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:20 PM (bXbFr)
Hypothetically.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone
That's my fear. I'll probably use The Movie Spoiler and check the ending before I go see it.
Posted by: Tuna at June 13, 2026 08:20 PM (lJ0H4)
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at June 13, 2026 08:21 PM (l26NL)
How? *pauses* Never mind, I don't care.
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:21 PM (2GVsD)
Maybe there's some psychological thing here that isn't connecting with me because there's no fear here, there's not even interest. This is like "I explored the empty office building, the movie"
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 13, 2026 08:21 PM (UZCuZ)
How? *pauses* Never mind, I don't care.
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:21 PM (2GVsD)
Watch the trailer and you'll see how.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 13, 2026 08:22 PM (iJfKG)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:22 PM (Jr5Lq)
https://moviegique.com/reviews/uncut-gems/
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:23 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:23 PM (zZu0s)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:23 PM (2GVsD)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:24 PM (bXbFr)
A horror movie doesn't always need to be about bloodletting, slashing and shock.
Sometimes just evoking a sense of dread is sufficient.
Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at June 13, 2026 08:24 PM (SRceu)
---
Did you not SEE all the furniture stacked in the middle of the room?
No human stacks furniture that way!
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:24 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: Tuna at June 13, 2026 07:45 PM (lJ0H4)
Andrew Scott had a very memorable appearance in 1917.
Posted by: Cow Demon at June 13, 2026 08:24 PM (T6aVk)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at June 13, 2026 08:14 PM
----
I thought it was a good movie about a supremely annoying person. The Safdies like to make films about hustlers trying to outrun their bad decisions (see "Uncut Gems") and it can be exhausting.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 13, 2026 08:25 PM (kpS4V)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:25 PM (Jr5Lq)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:25 PM (2GVsD)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fat, Dumb, and Happy at June 13, 2026 08:18 PM (ndZc7)
I've heard good things about that show. And I am a comic book/superhero fan....But I'm not paying for Disney+. Also, I've gotten kind of sick of alternate-versions of Superheroes. I don't want a dozen different Spider-Men. I just want the real one, done right. but, since that won't be happening anytime soon...
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 13, 2026 08:25 PM (3v7ra)
Posted by: Rev. Wishbone
Those are the ones I like. Like the original Haunting.
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at June 13, 2026 08:25 PM (l26NL)
A horror movie doesn't always need to be about bloodletting, slashing and shock.
---
While not disagreeing, Phantasm has a literal scene of complete exsanguination.
---
99 Oh wow, now imagine if it was Brad Pitt as Odysseus in Nolan's film.
---
Wait, wasn't he in "Troy"? As...Achilles?
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:25 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: Anna Puma
I was raised on Walt Disney animation. Anything less leaves me flat.
Posted by: Braenyard
Disney was the only company (pre-digital-composition) to animate "on the ones," right? Most American animation was "on the twos."
Movies were shot at 24 frames per second. "On the ones" meant you drew all 24 frames for a second of animation. "On the twos" meant you drew 12, and projected each twice. "On the threes," 8 frames and each used thrice. etc.
Anime typically used higher "on the" numbers. Threes or Fours, or even Sixes, which looks really choppy.
There's a short movie on youtube that showcases the difference..... the tap shoes are American-style animation, and the ghost is Japanese style. The shoes look smoother, even with youtube's compression.
https://youtu.be/byAfC5yW_hw
Posted by: mikeski at June 13, 2026 08:26 PM (VHUov)
Apparently he's scuba diving, the whale is after a squid, he gets tangled up with the squid and... its just odd.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 13, 2026 08:26 PM (UZCuZ)
Before going to watch that movie, read some Jack London to get into the mood.
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:19 PM (2GVsD)
And some Jim Kjellgard. And maybe Hatchet.
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 13, 2026 08:26 PM (3v7ra)
How? *pauses* Never mind, I don't care.
Posted by: Anna Puma"
One in a million shot, Doc!
Posted by: the whale at June 13, 2026 08:26 PM (vFG9F)
There is a very very small chance he shows up as the ghost of Achilles
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 13, 2026 08:27 PM (UZCuZ)
...Hypothetically.
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 13, 2026 08:18 PM (3v7ra)
Where the red fern grows - Since the title of the story is a reference to the dogs grave, you shoulda seen that one coming.
Posted by: Tom Servo at June 13, 2026 08:28 PM (cx1bp)
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 13, 2026 08:25 PM (3v7ra)
Its not Disney marvel. Sony owns the rights to Spiderman. Its on Amazon prime for free.
Watchbitbin black and white. Its meant to be watched in black and white.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:28 PM (zZu0s)
Posted by: Pudinhead at June 13, 2026 08:28 PM (1D2Ie)
Posted by: the whale at June 13, 2026 08:28 PM (vFG9F)
Choppy animation? I give you Clutch Cargo or Johnny Quest.
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:28 PM (2GVsD)
Damian McCarthy.
And he does it on the cheap without leaving his home base in Ireland.
https://moviegique.com/reviews/hokum/
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:28 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at June 13, 2026 08:29 PM (l26NL)
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 13, 2026 08:29 PM (Cqx++)
I recommend Spider Noir, it is well done
but... if you have strong arachnophobia, maybe not some of the episodes.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 13, 2026 08:29 PM (UZCuZ)
The only creepypasta story I am semi-familiar with is "Channel Zero", which was a really unsettling show. Frikkin' puppets, man...they're always evil.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 13, 2026 08:29 PM (kpS4V)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:29 PM (Jr5Lq)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:30 PM (bXbFr)
Aren't you a bowl of petunias? Oh, that was the other missile.
Whalefall is sounding dumber and dumber the more it is explained.
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:30 PM (2GVsD)
https://moviegique.com/reviews/uncut-gems/
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:23 PM (K40fF)
It was one of those movies that I didn't hate and I kinda sorta liked.
It's a character movie that falls apart at the end because-
originally his backer was supposed to be a malevolent vampire who would bite Marty and doom him to a horrible "life" forever.
I am not kidding. His backer goes into this monologue basically about how he's a vampire.
And then nuthin'.
Odd movie with Plotus interruptus.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 13, 2026 08:31 PM (iJfKG)
I saw low, dark, angry clouds with rotation pass right overhead. Did not see any tornadoes drop down to the ground.
After than, a very brief hit of hail (did not see it, but it hit the roof in an unmistakable sound), heavy rain and a strong electrical storm passed close aboard. When I went back upstairs, the rain was falling in bright sunshine.
Did not find damage in my initial look. Now for a more thorough check.
Have a great night, everyone. Hug it out with someone close.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at June 13, 2026 08:31 PM (u82oZ)
Posted by: Rev. Wishbone
Those are the ones I like. Like the original Haunting.
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at June 13, 2026 08:25 PM (l26NL)
This.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:31 PM (zZu0s)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:31 PM (Jr5Lq)
Posted by: Pudinhead at June 13, 2026 08:28 PM (1D2Ie)
----
I really liked that one, and it did disappointing box office. I loved the Hasidic hit men who took a break to have dinner with Mom.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 13, 2026 08:32 PM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:32 PM (2GVsD)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:33 PM (2GVsD)
You want wrong physics check out what happens to the woman in Django Unchained when she gets shot in a doorway LOL
CINEMATIC GENIUS!
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 13, 2026 08:33 PM (UZCuZ)
After minority report speilbergs output waa more mediocre
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:34 PM (bXbFr)
Posted by: SMH at God's mercy at June 13, 2026 08:35 PM (TTUKx)
---
Horror movies are generally better on the big screen, IMO. I think it's probably especially true here because there are a lot of details that contribute to the atmosphere you might not pick up at home.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:35 PM (K40fF)
It should have been slow and dull but he was so good it just worked, the guy was subtle and really good. He just holds your attention on screen. Twelve Monkeys sealed the deal.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 13, 2026 08:36 PM (UZCuZ)
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:36 PM (2GVsD)
Posted by: Eromero at June 13, 2026 08:36 PM (LHPAg)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:36 PM (bXbFr)
Posted by: moviegique
You want wrong physics check out what happens to the woman in Django Unchained when she gets shot in a doorway LOL
CINEMATIC GENIUS!
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor
Everyone remembers the MST3K "Space Mutiny" episode for all the names they gave the leading man..... Slab Bulkhead, Big McLargeHuge, etc.
But the other running joke was actors standing behind a railing. And getting shot in the chest, and pitching forward over the railing.
Momentum, how does it work?
Posted by: mikeski at June 13, 2026 08:37 PM (VHUov)
Some of the best car stunts since Blues Brothers.
Posted by: buddhaha at June 13, 2026 08:37 PM (uyNHw)
You and Ex-Ex are one state away! So glad you two lovebirds moved.
In calm air. Now gtg.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at June 13, 2026 08:37 PM (u82oZ)
Might be interesting to see how they can actually film something like that. Is there no dialog at all when he's trapped in the whale? Is there air in the whale's stomach, so he can take off his scuba gear and speak? That would seem kind of silly in such an otherwise serious situation... Guess people will find out when they watch it...
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 13, 2026 08:37 PM (3v7ra)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:37 PM (bXbFr)
Akira is any Democrat run city where Bill Gates and Fauci have a lab.
Posted by: Anna Puma at June 13, 2026 08:38 PM (2GVsD)
SNL – March 25, 1978: “Cold As Ice” Sketch
On March 25, 1978, Saturday Night Live aired its Season 3, Episode 15
...If you’re looking for the original “Cold as Ice” sketch, it’s part of the full episode available on Peacock and in SNL archives, where you can [buy it]
Drat the luck, foiled again.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 08:38 PM (7X7ea)
There's a plaster-cast hand that acts as a Ouija Board, and if you grasp it and say the words, it lets in an Odic from the Companion Set (basically). Jews might call this undead spirit a dybbuk.
That, as Barker's channel would say, is a bad idea. Aboriginal 20/f talks a 15 year old boy [who probably is crushing on her] to let in the odic. The odic then causes the boy to crack his own skull. Aboriginette is then scrambling around trying to break the curse.
Posted by: gKWVE at June 13, 2026 08:39 PM (gKWVE)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:39 PM (Jr5Lq)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:40 PM (bXbFr)
They made a trailer, showed it to their parents' wealthy friends in Minneapolis, and the rest is history.
M. Emmet Walsh (the VW-driving private investigator) took one look at the Coens and their sets, and said, "You know guys, I do this for a living. I can't just donate my time to a student film project!"
Posted by: mnw at June 13, 2026 08:40 PM (RCjYY)
Some of the best car stunts since Blues Brothers.
Posted by: buddhaha
---
On the big screen, Against All Odds, the car chase between Jeff Bridges and James Woods was very realistic.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 08:42 PM (7X7ea)
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026
***
Hope he had Farmer's Insurance!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 08:43 PM (wzUl9)
In part because he showed all the parts from the sonoran desert to roys close encounter
Things we had never seen before
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:43 PM (bXbFr)
Hypothetically.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone
The director has already said the dog doesn't die,
but in all honesty, I don't get the silly emotionalism about a dog dying in a movie, cuz-
You know dogs die. It's a fact of life.
The late great Stormy died a couple of years ago at the age of 17. And I shed some tears cuz she'd been part of the family for so long.
But a movie dog? Well, the theater might get dusty. But, I'd forget about it 3 minutes after I left the movie.
Not a big trauma.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 13, 2026 08:43 PM (iJfKG)
About horror movies I have heard that being in an audience in the theater helps build tension and creates more drama, makes it scarier as other people react around you. Not a genre I care for but it works for comedy, so it should with horror, too.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 13, 2026 08:45 PM (UZCuZ)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:45 PM (bXbFr)
They said it was okay dumb fun, but they wouldn't want to see it again.
Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at June 13, 2026 08:46 PM (fBXgl)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:46 PM (bXbFr)
Obsession and Backrooms are at the theatre here. Haven't decided whether to pop for theatre tickets or rent the eventual streamers. Will toss a coin this week.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 13, 2026 08:46 PM (q3u5l)
Brad Pitt is VERY good also in "Jesse James and the Coward Robert Ford."
Pitt gives excellent Jesse.
Posted by: mnw at June 13, 2026 08:47 PM (RCjYY)
Posted by: Skip at June 13, 2026 08:47 PM (Ia/+0)
---
I saw that movie. It seemed full of promise. Nazis versus a Demon. It would be the first of many times Michael Mann disappointed me. Can't say I remember a musical number.
I read the book after and it was...I don't know if it was good, but it was probably better.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:47 PM (K40fF)
(OT: Speaking of which, the latest 'tranche' of UFO docs released from the govt is an embarrassing nothingburger.)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:48 PM (Jr5Lq)
Many here hate the TV series (I loved it and still do), but even if you do you'd almost certainly prefer it to the film.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 08:48 PM (wzUl9)
Posted by: Skip at June 13, 2026 08:49 PM (Ia/+0)
Jurassic part did 200 million (inflation adjusted)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:49 PM (bXbFr)
158 Blood Simple was a damn fine movie, though and Frances McDormand was really pretty in it.
Yeah, she was a femme fatale. And this is the ONLY Coen Bros. movie where sex is presented unironically.
Until the dumb one went off and started making lesbian movies with his dumb wife, and lesbian sex is just too beautiful to be mocked.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:49 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 08:48 PM (wzUl9)
I loved the series as the driving force behind the humor was sarcasm and a fair bit of gallows humor.
Posted by: Cow Demon at June 13, 2026 08:50 PM (gfO9L)
Obsession is the one that speaks to late-teen / early-twenties simps (assuming the parents aren't around). Backrooms is about a middle aged loser (although arguably the protagonist is his shrink).
Posted by: gKWVE at June 13, 2026 08:50 PM (gKWVE)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:51 PM (bXbFr)
---
Yup. CGI made it possible for Pixar to give weight to animated 3D models, and for Marvel take weight away from real actors.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:51 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:49 PM (K40fF)
Scissor Me Timbers
Posted by: Cow Demon at June 13, 2026 08:51 PM (gfO9L)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:52 PM (bXbFr)
well it's not like any of that would ever get posted on THIS site
Posted by: gKWVE at June 13, 2026 08:52 PM (gKWVE)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 13, 2026 08:53 PM (q3u5l)
---
Yes, I noticed that, too. My guess is "Obsession" was meant to be a kinda throwaway teen slasher-type flick--think something like "Evil Dead"--where the kid who directed Backrooms had been living it his entire adolescence, so he had the lore to draw on.
I mean, there's more there than you could ever film, I think. He picked a slice and ran it with it.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:53 PM (K40fF)
--
It isn't, that's the real sin.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:54 PM (K40fF)
It's A Boy Girl Thing (2006)
https://youtu.be/LSZQaK6IvRM
Prim scholarly girl and rough jock boy switch bodies. Certainly the expected cringes, exploring genitalia, hanging in locker rooms, passing as each other with friends, parents, and teachers. Keeps it light. Some good if simplistic growth for the main characters.
The To-Do List (2013)
https://youtu.be/u3XBzME6nPg
Virgin gal makes a list of sexual acts she wants to try, culminating in coitus. As raunchy as it sounds. Cavalier about sex. Cutie Aubrey Plaza puts in an interesting performance. Or puts out, whatever. Clark Gregg slums as her dad; has some funny moments. MiladyJo checked out half-way in, but I persevered to the climax.😁
Aubrey Plaza - led me to another film of hers
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
https://youtu.be/6-67gid4HXg
Only about half-way through this. Guy advertises for a time-traveling partner. Is he crazy or just weird? Not sure yet. Amusing.
Popcorny.
Posted by: mindful webworker - aw, who cares anyway at June 13, 2026 08:55 PM (32Bdv)
Posted by: Cow Demon at June 13, 2026
***
And sharp wordplay as well as effective drama. It was not a McHale's Navy kind of war comedy. (Hogan's Heroes at least had the underpinning that Hogan and his men were Allied agents, not just clowning around the Germans to line their own pockets or something.)
M*A*S*H the series had solid characterizations, especially in the later years, and memorable dialog.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 08:55 PM (wzUl9)
It isn't, that's the real sin.
Posted by: moviegique
IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE ACE WILL NEVER LIVE DOWN THE "POSTING BUSTY LESBIAN PR0N" THING.
Posted by: BEN ROFLCOPTER at June 13, 2026 08:55 PM (VHUov)
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:49 PM (K40fF)
Scissor Me Timbers
Posted by: Cow Demon
---
Lesbian movie genre, very interesting.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 08:55 PM (7X7ea)
There was once an M. Emmet Walsh Fan Club.
He made every film he was ever in better. The Coens understood that.
Posted by: mnw at June 13, 2026 08:56 PM (RCjYY)
I thought most series that la more than a couple years wait until season three before going LGBTXYZ....
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026 08:56 PM (/lPRQ)
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 08:54 PM (K40fF)
It was, once. Angela White and Chloe B if anyone is interested in the ace backstory.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 08:57 PM (G3T/K)
I need to see Eyes Wide Shut again.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 07:50 PM (wzUl9)
Stop what you are doing and watch the original.
Posted by: Cow Demon at June 13, 2026 08:57 PM (T6aVk)
He made every film he was ever in better. The Coens understood that.
Posted by: mnw at June 13, 2026
***
Walsh was born to play Mack, the leader of the homeless guys on "the Row," in Cannery Row. I can't think of another actor who could come close.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 08:57 PM (wzUl9)
Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at June 13, 2026 08:46 PM (fBXgl)
I'm just a tiny bit too young to be a Masters of the Universe fan. (And I'm a little embarrassed to call it He-Man.) But I am a big fan of the Sword and Sorcery stories that inspired the franchise. And I did watch the 2002 re-boot cartoon, and found it enjoyable enough. I should have been excited for this...but saw too much Earth-stuff in the story, and all the reviews (both positive and negative) agree that the movie doesn't take itself seriously. That last bit killed any interest I had in the movie.
Posted by: Castle Guy at June 13, 2026 08:58 PM (3v7ra)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 08:59 PM (bXbFr)
I prefer weird/unsettling over gore. Depends on the movie. I loved RoboCop and it was gory as hell. The Wicker Man (1973) was weird/unsettling and I love that movie.
Posted by: Puddleglum, Back in Babylon DC at June 13, 2026 08:59 PM (sAmhv)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 08:59 PM (Jr5Lq)
That is pretty much the definition of a Robert Altman movie. It can kinda work sometimes but overall i find it annoying and pretentious, like French movies. Look, its like real life, its chaotic and people talk over each other, there's no story! I'm going to follow this one random woman who just walked by for no reason! There's no story!
Yeah. There's no story, which is the purpose of storytelling.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 13, 2026 08:59 PM (UZCuZ)
I dimly remember a reviewer or two talking about Altman having people talking over each other in the film and how original of him to have the characters doing that. They'd clearly forgotten Hawks/Nyby doing that 20 years earlier in The Thing.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 13, 2026 08:59 PM (q3u5l)
Posted by: Cow Demon at June 13, 2026
***
I can probably get Top Gun from the library. Maybe Eyes Wide Shut too, though I suppose it'll be the expurgated version I saw before.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 09:00 PM (wzUl9)
--
No, really, guys. It's not.
> Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
Relatively early Duplass brothers movie. (One of whom is in Backrooms.) This is probably my favorite work of theirs.
https://moviegique.com/reviews/safety-not-guaranteed/
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 09:00 PM (K40fF)
M*A*S*H the series had solid characterizations, especially in the later years, and memorable dialog.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius,
Speaking of lining one's pockets in war,
Catch-22
If they respliced that movie into chronological order it would be less than a half hour. Flashback in a flashback in a flashback...
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026 09:00 PM (/lPRQ)
Also, it's fascinating that the rise of these indie horror films, with fresh new directors with new ideas, is happening when the new Spielberg film coming out, a retread of other alien films he's done, isn't great and is going to probably tank. The Spielbergs and Lucases were also once fresh faced young upstarts turning over moviemaking as we knew it. Hollywood needs to humble themselves and let a new generation find their feet. Stop greenlighting warmed over sequels stifling creativity. Get a life, and let the youngins with actual fresh creative ideas have a chance.
Posted by: LizLem at June 13, 2026 09:00 PM (gWBY1)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere
He had one of the funniest lines to me anyway ever. He's talking to Nolte's character who was some kind of academic researching something in the are and he mentioned how difficult it was.
Walsh said, "Why don't you just give up?"
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at June 13, 2026 09:01 PM (l26NL)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 13, 2026
***
Hawks had that in a lot of his films. Didn't he direct His Girl Friday? That had a lot of cross-chatter. And Bringing Up Baby too, I think.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 09:01 PM (wzUl9)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 13, 2026 08:53 PM (q3u5l)
Over the years I have become more and more convinced that Brad Pitt is one of the greats. His range is huge. Started out as the pretty boy, but then he did 12 Monkeys with Bruce Willis. Bad hair, bad teeth.
He does comedy as well: see Burn After Reading.
But his Jesse James is powerful.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Born in Butte, America at June 13, 2026 09:02 PM (0aYVJ)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 09:02 PM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere
*
He had one of the funniest lines to me anyway ever. He's talking to Nolte's character who was some kind of academic researching something in the are and he mentioned how difficult it was.
Walsh said, "Why don't you just give up?"
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at June 13, 2026
***
That movie is a gem, melding as it does elements from both of Steinbeck's stories about Cannery Row.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 09:03 PM (wzUl9)
+++
Nice final episode - Pretentious peacenic prick Hawkeye makes a Korean woman kill her baby.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026 09:03 PM (/lPRQ)
"The Thing From Another World"...Hawks often gets credit for it, like Spielberg does for "Poltergeist". The Hawks influence is super-strong for sure, and Nyby never made another film as good or anything like it, AFAIK.
But Hawks was famous for the talking-over-each-other thing when he released "His Girl Friday" in 1940.
The difference between Hawks and Altman I think is that Hawks scripted his talking-over stuff and Altman let the actors improvise it.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 09:04 PM (K40fF)
Catch-22
If they respliced that movie into chronological order it would be less than a half hour. Flashback in a flashback in a flashback...
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026
***
Never seen the film, but I was expected to read the novel in college. The same event, or bunch of events, kept being told to us over and over again. I get it, Joe H., war is pointless and the same horrors happen over and over again, but Jeez it got tiresome.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 09:04 PM (wzUl9)
Two or three seasons of Gary Coleman getting molested by the bicycle shop owner wears thin, real quick.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 09:05 PM (G3T/K)
He's just good. If he's in a bad movie that's the fault of the movie.
Posted by: gKWVE at June 13, 2026 09:06 PM (gKWVE)
Two or three seasons of Gary Coleman getting molested by the bicycle shop owner wears thin, real quick.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone
====
Gary Coleman getting molested by the bicycle shop owner?
I missed that episode of MASH.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026 09:06 PM (/lPRQ)
I think he did. So long since I've seen those I remember just about zip-a-dee-doo-dah about 'em. But I do remember that you could get lost in MASH's cross-chatter, and I don't think that's the case with The Thing. YMMV.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 13, 2026 09:06 PM (q3u5l)
Even if polanski had not been such a beast his career would have run out of steam althougj ghost writer and the dreyfus tale suggest otherwide
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 09:06 PM (bXbFr)
He made a very un-Altman psychological horror movie in 1972. IIRC. - titled-
"Images"
Very artsy, very slow burn, but I think very good as well.
BONUS! It has the lovely Susannah York.
She plays a children's author suffering from hallucinations. And she goes with her husband to the Irish country side.
I haven't seen it in decades. I'll probably check it out again and see how it holds up.
Check it out if it sounds like your kind of thing.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 13, 2026 09:08 PM (iJfKG)
The man is an actor-- not just a movie star.
Posted by: mnw at June 13, 2026 09:08 PM (RCjYY)
Posted by: Puddleglum, Back in Babylon DC at June 13, 2026 09:08 PM (sAmhv)
Yeah, horror is relatively safe: It's cheap so you can allow for some freedom, and you're not just trying to shoehorn all the new talent into doing the "human" scenes in a superhero movie.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 09:09 PM (K40fF)
I missed that episode of MASH.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026 09:06 PM (/lPRQ)
You know what I mean. 'A very special episode' quickly became the foreword of doom.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026 09:09 PM (G3T/K)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 09:09 PM (bXbFr)
The man is an actor-- not just a movie star.
Posted by: mnw at June 13, 2026 09:08 PM (RCjYY)
Yeah. Mickey.
I love that movie. Fooking Bricktop is scary as fuck-all.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Born in Butte, America at June 13, 2026 09:10 PM (0aYVJ)
https://moviegique.com/reviews/safety-not-guaranteed/
---
Where are the lesbians?
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 09:11 PM (7X7ea)
Posted by: Don Black at June 13, 2026 09:12 PM (ZxPkt)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 09:13 PM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at June 13, 2026 09:13 PM (q3u5l)
You know what I mean. 'A very special episode' quickly became the foreword of doom.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at June 13, 2026
***
If you mean the M*A*S*H episodes like the real-time countdown as they try to keep a patient alive for the twenty minutes it will take to get him operated on, or the Alan Alda star turn where Hawkeye does not dare fall asleep in an enemy hut, those were all well done. I thought of those as expanding what TV comedy could do, incorporating drama while also being amusing in the right places.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at June 13, 2026 09:13 PM (wzUl9)
Posted by: gp at June 13, 2026 09:14 PM (Jr5Lq)
I missed that episode of MASH.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026 09:06 PM (/lPRQ)
You know what I mean. 'A very special episode' quickly became the foreword of doom.
Posted by: Aetius451AD
True, but I could see a later MASH episode with Coleman guest starring...
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026 09:14 PM (/lPRQ)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 09:14 PM (bXbFr)
Yeah, and it ruined the Emmys for comedy forever. Seinfeld constantly lost out to "very special episodes".
Not a huge fan of the show but I admired that they refused to go down that road.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 09:15 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 09:15 PM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at June 13, 2026 09:16 PM (l26NL)
There.
Are.
No.
Lesbians.
ANYWHERE!
They're like unicorns or rational Democrats*! They don't exist!
* My topical humor of the day.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at June 13, 2026 09:16 PM (K40fF)
Posted by: Don Black at June 13, 2026 09:17 PM (ZxPkt)
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 09:17 PM (7X7ea)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 09:15 PM (bXb
The Gentlemen was also very good.
Posted by: polynikes at June 13, 2026 09:17 PM (GseMx)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at June 13, 2026 09:18 PM (bXbFr)
===
I guess almost all successful TV series eventually 'jump the shark'.
That 70s Show was pretty good, but I didn't see it all.
So got a chance to watch it streaming.
The last couple of seasons - what the hell was that?!
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at June 13, 2026 09:18 PM (/lPRQ)
Are.
No.
Lesbians.
ANYWHERE!
They're like unicorns or rational Democrats*! They don't exist!
* My topical humor of the day.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books)
---
Pretty play like is entirely acceptable.
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at June 13, 2026 09:18 PM (7X7ea)
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