Saturday Evening Movie Post: Oddity, plus The Vourdalak and Red Desert [moviegique]

There were a couple of points of note on our journey to see the Irish horror film, Oddity.

It had opened on July 19th, after a flurry of other horror flicks, and The Boy and I had gambled on The Vourdalak, a peculiar French film based on a story by Aleksei Tolstoy. (That's the 19th century's Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, not the 20th century's Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy. Even Russian authors have confusing names.) We enjoyed this folkloric tale of a French dandy who finds himself adrift in the Balkans among a family whose ancient patriarch has gone to fight the Turk and returned...a vourdalak!

Two things really stood out: First, the French dandy is a rich character, vain and spoiled and definitely #metoo bait, but while not especially brave, he has a moral core and actually does a few right things at some personal risk. It was frankly a more strongly drawn character than we see these days in serious dramas.

Second, the vourdalak himself is played...by a puppet. A large puppet, but a puppet nonetheless, or maybe even just a doll. This probably knocks a few potential viewers right out, but The Boy and I loved it. It was far superior to using CGI, and it created a different kind of "uncanny valley", an edge of insanity to the spooky proceedings.

It's actually strongly reminiscent of pictures of people rescued from the camps in WWII.

While it certainly must have been low-budget, there's real brilliance in some of the camera work, in the acting, and the creation of a feeling (like The Witch) that just a few miles outside of major cities lies barbarism the courtly types are unsuited for.

They're all looking at the recently returned Vourdalak. Great blocking. (That's two new films in the last three weeks that used blocking in their storytelling: Will filmmakers bring this technique bak?)

But moviegoing is, for no reason I can fathom, feast or famine. There just wasn't much out, and Oddity had already left most of the local theaters. I dragged The Boy to the 60th anniversary of Red Desert, a Michelangelo Antonioni film, he was too tired to appreciate. On the other hand, I wasn't tired and I also didn't appreciate it all that much, being of that period I don't particularly care for—the era of washed-out Technicolor—but which I sample periodically looking for gems.

This story of a depressed housewife looking for meaning in life culminates with her cheating on her husband—no spoilers, it's obvious from the get-go this is going to happen—and discovering that only makes her feel worse. It reminded me, actually, of Melancholia, though it is nowhere as splashy nor self-indulgent. And it didn't have the "leave your husband and child to be happy" vibe of Louis Malle's The Lovers, which we saw back in June. Still, it's two hours of a woman being depressed.

It is shot-after-shot of evocative cinematography, however, so I get why the film school types like it.

Our presented maintained that it was ground-breaking for pointing out the dangers of pollution, which inverted my thinking as I watched it. I was thinking "Oh, her emotional state is reflecting the pollution in the environment." I'm sure now that's backwards: The pollution was the external reflection of her internal state. (Again, not unlike Melancholia.)

It's not something I would watch for enjoyment but it's masterful in its storytelling of a kind of story I'm not crazy about. Antonioni would follow this with The Three Faces and then his most famous directorial effort, Blow Up, which per IMDB, is almost as good as Red Desert.

Also, Italians from the '60s were weird. Bocaccio '70—heck, almost all the Italian movies of the '50s and'60s, have this otherworldly character of poverty being right around the corner. And here, where the characters are upper middle class (for Italians), a bunch of grown-ass adults hang out in a shed in the wharf for a day playing teenager drinking and spin-the-bottle type games. (This stuff is interesting for historical reasons, at least.)

Meanwhile, Oddity hadn't quite gone away. It had very high ratings for a horror film (anything above 7 on IMDB is remarkable, and it was at 7.5), and we had one day to catch it at the Music Hall in Beverly Hills, after which it would only be playing in distant Long Beach. So up, over and down we went.

There was a premiere for Neil Marshall's new film, Duchess going on. Marshall directed the excellent horror flick The Descent almost twenty years ago (currently 7.2 on IMDB), and he's never made a good movie since. He's apparently done some top-notch TV ("Game of Thrones", "Constantine", etc.), but that's entirely different from the auteur films he's famous for.

The lead actress was posing for pictures on the red carpet (horror stalwart Charlotte Kirk), which always cracks me up because (short of the mega-events), the carpets are pretty small and the surrounding environs rather shabby.

The theater itself has gotten shabbier, too, since 2019. The Laemmle family stopped leasing it in 2019 after decades. (They wisely own most of the land their theaters are on.) Most assuredly this was due to the rent-being-too-damn-high—Laemmle theaters have always been the lowest price for first run theaters (and their popcorn, which is topflight for movie popcorn). But the staff was very nice and competent, and I'm very appreciative of both in 2024.

(Movie review begins 800 words in):

Problems facing the modern woman: Do I let the maniac at the front door in in case there's a maniac in the house?

The most surprising thing about The Oddity, The Boy and I agreed, is that it's a good movie. Not "good for a horror movie" or "good for a low-budget movie" or "good for a movie made in the 2020s"—but just a good movie. And it's good in a lot of ways we don't see much these days. It begins with a simple premise, reminiscent of an urban legend: Somewhere in Ireland, A woman, Dani, whose husband works nights at the insane asylum decides to stay in this (gorgeous) old house that they're restoring.

Dani's lost her cell phone, so she goes out to her car to look for it, and when she comes back, there's a banging on the door. A one-eyed vagrant-looking guy named Declan tells her someone snuck inside when she went to the car. (This is in the trailer, so no spoilers.) This, of course, raises the question of why Declan happened to be watching her very isolated country house. It turns out he's a recently released patient of her husband.

Cut to months later, and we discover Dani was murdered that night, presumably by Declan.

Months later, our new widow, Ted, gives Declan's fake eye to Dani's twin sister Darcy, a blind psychic who runs an oddities shop where all the items are cursed (curses are removed at the cash register to deter shoplifting). She's still a bit piqued about her sister's death and wants to do a reading on the eye.

This is when your daughter grows up and goes goth but still loves tea parties with her dolly.

Well, before you can say "too ra loo ra lie", Darcy's invited herself and her family's treasured wood golem to the old Irish house because (as noted in the trailer), Dani never would have opened the door to the crazy man. So what really happened?

That's when things start to get weird.

There's so much good here. First of all, there's a solid underlying story. This is at heart a murder mystery with supernatural elements. The supernatural elements are pervasive without being substantial. That is, it feels like there are ghosts everywhere, but they're not being used as a crutch for the plot. (You know, that sense you get in some horror movies of "well, wait, why did that happened?", and the answer is very clearly, "because the movie formula requires it, and besides Ghosts Did It".)

And I'm being tongue-in-cheek, calling it a "wood golem": It's essentially the creepy doll trope, only the doll is six feet tall. It mostly exists to unnerve the characters, as it's always turning up in different attitudes and positions, even though no one ever seems to move it.

The characters are really well developed, which makes the story cohere well. For example, Darcy had convinced Dani to set up her camera so it took pictures every few minutes. This could seem incredibly contrived, except that it's perfectly in character for occult-obsessed Darcy. Ted's a jerk, but a somewhat indulgent jerk, who suffers his wife and sister-in-law's interest in the supernatural while being "a man of science". Yana, Ted's new squeeze, is bitchy and shallow, but not to where you want to see her die for it (probably).

It's one of those movies where you think the actors must be playing to type, they're so natural at it. But then you realize Carolyn Bracken plays both the sweet, domestic Darcy and the acerbic, fierce Dani. (I mean, they're twins in the movie, but I had to keep reminding myself it was the same actress.)

It's positively the same dame!

There's actual blocking in this film, which is something I harp on a lot. But because today's filmmakers are allergic to setting the camera down, actual good shots in movies are hard to find. This movie has none of that. It lets the camera do a lot of the storytelling using lighting and color and framing and blocking—moviemaking techniques, in other words—to create suspense.

And there is actual suspense in the film. For those who don't know, "suspense" is almost like "justice". Any modifier added to "justice" means "not". ("Social justice", e.g.) Well, any modifier to suspense means "Nothing happens but we can't just say boring." Last year's Anatomy of a Fall, for example, was often described as a "suspense drama". But in order for there to be suspense, at some point something has to happen. You can't create suspense without a credible threat of action (sorry, Skinamarink!).

This movie has half-a-dozen genuinely suspenseful scenes, from the opening "will she, won't she" open the door to "you're not really going to stick your fingers in the wood golem's mouth, are ya?" And it works because sometimes the dreaded thing happens and sometimes it doesn't and sometimes a third, unexpected thing happens.

Seriously: Is she gonna do it? If she does it, is it gonna bite her fingers off? The movie hasn't tipped its hand to where you know the answers to these questions.

There's comedy! I mean, very dark Irish humor, and comedy-of-manners stuff, as Darcy exploits her blindness to try to get to the bottom of things, but it works without breaking the atmosphere.

And there are jump scares that actually work! We've noticed lately a lot of filmmakers moving away from the jump scare, which is good because the Blumhouse formula has made them more irritating than anything. But Oddity earns its scares. It tells you, "Yeah, you're gonna get scared. This is going to happen. You know it, we know it, and you're gonna jump out of your seat anyway." And jump scares are just one of many horror techniques it employs.

A lot of movies we see get worse the more you think about them (last time's Longlegs, or Avengers: Infinity War), but this one we walked out of the theater the four blocks (the closest parking) to our car liking it more and more as we went. There's nothing wrong with a movie that entertains you for its runtime, but it's nice not to feel cheap afterwards.

Oddity has made only about $1.1 million, which isn't great for a movie that opened in nearly 800 theaters. (Hundreds of Beavers was still playing at the Music Hall, and its B.O. has crept up to $500K, and it's never been in more than 24 theaters.) Hopefully it will catch on in the home theater market when it becomes available on August 20th.

The Internet is increasingly flooded with AI generated imagery which someone based on a movie. I believe this is a genuine shot from the film, however.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:30 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Good evening everyone

Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2024 07:35 PM (fwDg9)

2 The Fall Guy is the Jackass of action comedy movies.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at August 10, 2024 07:35 PM (MeG8a)

3 Well you know what yer gettin' with a title like "Hundreds of Beavers", whereas "Oddity" is a gamble.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 07:37 PM (kpS4V)

4 Sorry about struggling with the pictures there. I think they're all right now.

Happy movie night!

Just got back from the 4K restoration of "The Conversation," "Lawrence of Arabia" is coming back tomorrow, and ... yeah, new movie-wise I think we're back to famine.

(Though some good Chinese movies out.)

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at August 10, 2024 07:38 PM (asXVI)

5 Eris,

"Hundreds of Beavers" has started their Oscar campaign.

https://x.com/beaversfilm/status/1822344946180866154/photo/1

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at August 10, 2024 07:40 PM (asXVI)

6 Honestly, I could watch young Monica Vitti being depressed - in color or in black-and-white - all day long.

Posted by: Pete in Texas at August 10, 2024 07:42 PM (BHrzb)

7 The Fall Guy is the Jackass of action comedy movies.
Posted by: gourmand du jour at August 10, 2024 07:35 PM (MeG8a)

I really enjoyed it except I think they could have written a better last 20 minutes.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 07:44 PM (B1dzx)

8 Fight the Turks and come back as a Dalek.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 10, 2024 07:44 PM (63Dwl)

9 I know I bitched about it, but now I'm kinda jazzed to see " Alien: Romulus". It looks like a teen slasher flick and I am okay with that. Look at the pedigree of "P---"...uh, the movie that shall not be named, helmed by Ridley himself, and ask yourself if "canon" means anything anymore.

Did I detect Ash's voice in one of the previews? Are they incorporating a story element from the novel "Out of the Shadows"?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 07:45 PM (kpS4V)

10 "Hundreds of Beavers" has started their Oscar campaign."
----

😆

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 07:45 PM (kpS4V)

11 Horror is my least favorite genre but I can appreciate a well made horror movie.

The Others is probably one of my favorite though probably more suspense than horror.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 07:46 PM (B1dzx)

12 Don't get sucked into the Propaganda on a Chinese movie

Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2024 07:47 PM (fwDg9)

13 I got nuthin'

Posted by: Don Black at August 10, 2024 07:47 PM (/7KEl)

14 Don't get sucked into the Propaganda on a Chinese movie
Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2024 07:47 PM (fwDg9)

Are you talking about The Martian ? /s

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 07:48 PM (B1dzx)

15 Polynikes,

This is more mystery/suspense. There are two gory moments in the film but they're both post-facto. We see the aftermath of Dani's murder as blood splatters on a tent. And we get a darkened room full of brains which are not contained in their natural location.

But I'd recommend for all but the most squeamish.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at August 10, 2024 07:48 PM (asXVI)

16 Eris, I want to follow you around for a day but I don't think I can expand my consciousness that far.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 10, 2024 07:49 PM (nDGMq)

17 Good movie about husband /wife tension is the 1971 movie Straw Dogs.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 07:49 PM (B1dzx)

18 Short Deadpool 3 review: better than a stick in the eye.

I enjoyed the movie, though it had a strange feel. Parody of comic book movies maybe. We certainly get a lot of trashing of the MCU and Disney in it.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at August 10, 2024 07:50 PM (8KZLC)

19 Maybe will suggest watching Oddity with J, your write up makes it sound interesting. I really don’t like horror, I don’t like the feeling of being scared.

Posted by: Piper at August 10, 2024 07:51 PM (p4NUW)

20 @2

>>The Fall Guy is the Jackass of action comedy movies.

This is a film that should have come out in the 90's and not the 2020's.

That being said, I thought it was dumb harmless fun with zero romantic chemistry between the leads.

That's the problem with Emily Blunt, she is so tied to being John Krasinski's husband, that you can't see her as a romantic lead without thinking, you whore!!! You're cheating on JOHNN!!!!!

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 10, 2024 07:51 PM (XV/Pl)

21 || Don't get sucked into the Propaganda on a Chinese movie

I really wanted to see the one where American soldiers in Korea were just shy of literal monsters.

Usually, though, the propaganda is a subtler message of money and materialism being bad and shallow, and serving your country a higher goal.

Which should sound familiar if you've seen any old American movies.

Since China, Japan and Korea often use each other's plots, it can be very interesting to compare them. Check out Extreme Job vs. Lobster Cop:

https://moviegique.com/2019/02/extreme-job/

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at August 10, 2024 07:51 PM (asXVI)

22 "Hundreds of Beavers" has started their Oscar campaign."

-
Tom Elliott
@tomselliott
MSNBC’s @MollyJongFast: ⁦@KamalaHarris⁩ is a “really gifted, Obama-level orator”

-
Well, she's had a lot of practice.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I got 99 problems but Vance ain't one at August 10, 2024 07:52 PM (L/fGl)

23 I was bored and started watching some of the Amazon Prime offerings, which are episodic (made for TV?). All of the plots seem to be recycled, the acting substandard and lo and behold...a girlboss in each and every one. I gave up.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at August 10, 2024 07:54 PM (mH6SG)

24 I've seen a lot of fun trash this summer and have no regerts!

Deer Camp '86
Twisters
A Quiet Place: Day One
Deadpool & Wolverine

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 07:54 PM (kpS4V)

25 || Maybe will suggest watching Oddity with J, your write up makes it sound interesting. I really don’t like horror, I don’t like the feeling of being scared. ||

You are not alone! In fact, I argue that a really good horror film, one which really rattles your cage, is going to be largely condemned.

Frankenstein, 'saw, John Carpenter's "The Thing": Fiercely attacked because, IMO, they genuinely scared people.

Ironic, maybe, that to be a successful horror film, you almost can't be a GOOD horror film.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at August 10, 2024 07:54 PM (asXVI)

26 Where do you get the stills moviegique?

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 07:55 PM (vFG9F)

27 One thing about Red Desert that may be lost on younger viewers: when Vitti's son tells her he can't move his legs, the unspoken assumption everyone is supposed to make is that it's polio.

"But Pete," you may reply, "they just came up with the vaccine at the time!"

Yes, they JUST came up with the vaccine. Kids in iron lungs were still the stuff of nightmares for that generation.

When it turns out the kid was just playing, it's usually interpreted as, the kid sees his mother acting weird, therefore he thinks he now has the freedom to act weird.

Posted by: Pete in Texas at August 10, 2024 07:56 PM (BHrzb)

28 || Deer Camp '86

This one looked so dumb, I couldn't get over that before it vanished from the one, out-of-the-way theater it was playing in.

("Could it be another 'Hundreds of Beavers'?" I asked myself.)

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at August 10, 2024 07:56 PM (asXVI)

29 yes the Conversation which is the book end with Enemy of the State 25 years earlier, except has a much darker notion, Hackman's character is tearing his apartment above looking for the bug, he failed to stop the murder in the film, that was effectively his job,

Posted by: no 6 at August 10, 2024 07:56 PM (PXvVL)

30 Frankenstein, 'saw, John Carpenter's "The Thing": Fiercely attacked because, IMO, they genuinely scared people.

Oh, boy. Delicate sensibilities must no be disturbed.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at August 10, 2024 07:58 PM (mH6SG)

31 not

Posted by: Notorious BFD at August 10, 2024 07:58 PM (mH6SG)

32 I saw a new "Batman" animated series had dropped on Netflix and it looked retro like the excellent "Batman:The Animated Series" (the BEST Batman).

But HOOOOBOY, Nerdrotic and the gang were dissecting it and it has a gender-swapped Penguin, blackwashed characters, and lotsa lesbo tongue. NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT. But is it asking too much to respect the source material?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:00 PM (kpS4V)

33 I was bored and started watching some of the Amazon Prime offerings, which are episodic (made for TV?). All of the plots seem to be recycled, the acting substandard and lo and behold...a girlboss in each and every one. I gave up.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at August 10, 2024 07:54 PM (mH6SG)
----
If you are that bored...READ A BOOK!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 10, 2024 08:01 PM (BpYfr)

34 But is it asking too much to respect the source material?
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:00 PM (kpS4V)
---
**Every IP from the last decade or so has entered the chat...**

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 10, 2024 08:01 PM (BpYfr)

35 Ironic, maybe, that to be a successful horror film, you almost can't be a GOOD horror film.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at August 10, 2024 07:54 PM (asXVI)

The Others was excellent and had some scary intense moments but I believed got good reviews

But again what would you classify it as since it was a supernatural ghost story?

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:02 PM (B1dzx)

36 I didn't know the Voordalak was a Tolstoi offering, theres a series by someone named Kent, which has the Russians recruiting them from Romania against the French, it continues to the Crimean War and the Revolution where they have become more numerous,

Posted by: no 6 at August 10, 2024 08:02 PM (PXvVL)

37 If you are that bored...READ A BOOK!

Heh. I read every day. Although I don't comment much, love your book thread. I just thought I'd take advantage of my Prime membership before I drop it.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at August 10, 2024 08:03 PM (mH6SG)

38 Svengoolie has been pre-empted by a college football game. Wth?

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 08:03 PM (vFG9F)

39

The problem with Disney is that they are catering to midwestern conservatives.

https://tinyurl.com/b83uxz4d

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 10, 2024 08:04 PM (63Dwl)

40 Evening.

Posted by: Robert at August 10, 2024 08:04 PM (KINUR)

41 "NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT."

We are quite liberal here in regards to said subject matter.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 08:06 PM (vFG9F)

42
Svengoolie has been pre-empted by a college football game. Wth?
Posted by: fd

That depends on your location. It's on here.
We had the last hour of the Stooges pre-empted by Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 10, 2024 08:06 PM (63Dwl)

43 I 100% support practical effects and would almost always rather see a puppet or claymation over CGI.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:06 PM (mIykB)

44 || Where do you get the stills moviegique?

Usually Google image search. The other services I've tried are not as good yet. I can sometimes get a few off the Brave image search, and dabble in Yandex, Bing or just pure image searches.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at August 10, 2024 08:06 PM (asXVI)

45 I enjoyed the movie, though it had a strange feel. Parody of comic book movies maybe. We certainly get a lot of trashing of the MCU and Disney in it.
Posted by: G'rump928(c)

That makes sense. Deadpool's powers are (1) he heals really fast, and (2) he knows that he's a character in a comic book.

If he's not breaking the fourth wall to criticize the writing and direction of the movie, he's not being Deadpool.

Posted by: mikeski at August 10, 2024 08:06 PM (DgGvY)

46 My favorite YouBoob film reviewer, Jerome Weiselberry, who also does double duty as a super cute girl, reviews Roger Corman's It Conquered The World (1956).

https://youtu.be/ltQlZJY5LXQ

Posted by: Robert at August 10, 2024 08:08 PM (uEblI)

47 That makes sense. Deadpool's powers are (1) he heals really fast, and (2) he knows that he's a character in a comic book.

-

That's a pretty clever superpower.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:10 PM (mIykB)

48 "It Conquered The World" begat Frank Zappa's "Cheepnis" and for that I thank you, Roger Corman
*Sky finger with kiss*

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:12 PM (kpS4V)

49 I've been continuing watching 'horror' movies and have moved onto gory movies too looking for the most screwed up stuff I can find. And here I only used to watch Disney and Nick kids shows....

Anyways...most of these are on Roku or Tubi...

Pulse (Japan 2002) .... 8/10.....creepy..not gory
Ghost Ship - (2002) ..... 10/10.... fun, not that gory
The Tag-Along (Taiwan 2015).... 9/10... creepy, not gory
Train to Busan (South Korea) ....10/10...good zombie flick
The Babadook (Australia 2014)...6/10...most annoying kid ever
Pulse (US 2006)....6/10

Posted by: Stateless at August 10, 2024 08:12 PM (jvJvP)

50 My favorite superpower comes from the Deadpool 2 movie.

The power of extreme luck.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:12 PM (B1dzx)

51 I was watching as a fairly little kid when a NFL football game ending was dumped for Heidi movie

Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2024 08:13 PM (fwDg9)

52 I'm watching "Rebel Without A Cause" instead. I forgot Mr Howell is in this movie.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 08:13 PM (vFG9F)

53 Posted by: Stateless at August 10, 2024 08:12 PM (jvJvP)

-

Track down Cemetery Man if you haven't seen it. It's Evil Dead-ish and a lot of fun.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:13 PM (mIykB)

54 We tried to see "Oddity" last week but it had skedaddled out of town, so we saw-

M Night Shammy's "Trap".

Critics' reviews make it sound like the worst thing MNS ever did. Meh, "The Happening", The Dame in the Pool thingy, Avatar all suck much much more.

In fact, the first half of "Trap" is so good, you think it's gonna be another MNS classic. But, then it makes the mistake so many movies these days make, the Trap has, at least, 4 endings tacked on. 2 of which are pretty good, 2 of which well..not great.

The story concerns a trap(!) set by police at a pop concert, where they know a brutal serial killer, The Butcher" will be in attendance.

I didn't hate it and kinda sorta liked it, but the multiple ending are an annoyance, by the end I was just thinking "For gosh sakes just end the damn thing!!!!. Oh, and there's a mid credit scene.

Probably worth seeing on streaming or if you're bored at the theater.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 10, 2024 08:14 PM (eDfFs)

55 3 I 100% support practical effects and would almost always rather see a puppet or claymation over CGI.
----

I would 1000% watch a Muppet or claymation Alien movie.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:14 PM (kpS4V)

56 My favorite superpower comes from the Deadpool 2 movie.

The power of extreme luck.
Posted by: polynikes

-

I remember watching... Teen Titans Go! maybe and there was an opposite power that I liked a lot. Jinx. I think she could make YOU unlucky.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:15 PM (mIykB)

57 Robert, she is a cutie! Definitely the type of woman you'd be comfortable taking home to meet Mom.

Posted by: Tonypete at August 10, 2024 08:15 PM (WXNFJ)

58 The cheaper the better, Eris.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 08:15 PM (vFG9F)

59 || But again what would you classify it as since it was a supernatural ghost story?

It's kind of like the Overton Window. There are perfectly fine scary stories to tell that aren't upsetting to people. Blumhouse is the master of this stuff.

And things like "The Others", the sort of morose types of ghost tales centered around tragedies can be excellent without really making you, y'know, lose your ish.

And the window moves.

In modern times, it's mostly NON-supernatural horror that really upsets people.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at August 10, 2024 08:15 PM (asXVI)

60 You're so right about The Witch[/]. The horror is palpable, but frequently (not entirely) just out of view, or sensed rather than seen - but entirely real, for all that.

Posted by: Paco at August 10, 2024 08:16 PM (njExo)

61 In modern times, it's mostly NON-supernatural horror that really upsets people.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!)

Klute was a terrible whore movie!!

what?

Posted by: Tonypete at August 10, 2024 08:17 PM (WXNFJ)

62 I finally went to watch "Twisters" at the local cinema this afternoon.

I liked it. I don't know that I'd agree 100% with the reviewers who've said it's politics-free; to the extent the movie has a villain, it's this rich white capitalist character (though you really don't see much of him), and the plot does rest on the notion that humans have the ability to alter the weather.

But you really have to be looking for those items, and they don't overshadow the action or the main characters. Good, enjoyable summer popcorn flick; the sort that, frankly, we need more of.

Posted by: Dr. T at August 10, 2024 08:17 PM (lHPJf)

63
River of No Return on GRIT with sleepy Bob Mitchem and the Marilyn Monroe. You watch you want.

Posted by: Auspex at August 10, 2024 08:18 PM (j4U/Z)

64 Not so much a movie review because we only got to watch three minutes of it before something came up and we had to postpone the whole thing and anyway who wants a review of the 60s Mary Poppins in 2024, but it got me to thinking about how there are some films that are so "right" and culturally relevant that they shouldn't be tampered with or reworked and poked at. Many of them are, of course, but they shouldn't be.

That could be an interesting thread.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:18 PM (mIykB)

65
I was watching as a fairly little kid when a NFL football game ending was dumped for Heidi movie
Posted by: Skip

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 10, 2024 08:18 PM (63Dwl)

66 Track down Cemetery Man if you haven't seen it. It's Evil Dead-ish and a lot of fun.
Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:13 PM (mIykB)

Cemetery Man is currently streaming on Shudder.

It's pretty good but the main attraction is the absolutely bodacious ta-tas of Anna Falchi.

BONUS! the rest of her body is awesome as well.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 10, 2024 08:18 PM (eDfFs)

67 "Usually Google image search. The other services I've tried are not as good yet. I can sometimes get a few off the Brave image search, and dabble in Yandex, Bing or just pure image searches.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!)"

So you are not snagging pics at the theater. That's probably a good thing.

In the old days I guess the studios had channels to release stills. Nowadays it's a screen grab.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 08:18 PM (vFG9F)

68 The brilliant thing about VVitch is that the terrors therein were the things that would have scared Puritans: shunning, heresy, fearing that they were angering God.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:19 PM (kpS4V)

69 Anyways...most of these are on Roku or Tubi...

Pulse (Japan 2002) .... 8/10.....creepy..not gory
Ghost Ship - (2002) ..... 10/10.... fun, not that gory
The Tag-Along (Taiwan 2015).... 9/10... creepy, not gory
Train to Busan (South Korea) ....10/10...good zombie flick
The Babadook (Australia 2014)...6/10...most annoying kid ever
Pulse (US 2006)....6/10
Posted by: Stateless at August 10, 2024 08:12 PM (jvJvP)

GHOST SHIP!!!!

Posted by: Dr. T at August 10, 2024 08:19 PM (lHPJf)

70 Heh. I read every day. Although I don't comment much, love your book thread. I just thought I'd take advantage of my Prime membership before I drop it.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at August 10, 2024 08:03 PM (mH6SG)
---
Oh, I totally get that!

There's lots of stuff on all the streaming channels. Too much for me to keep track of it all. So I usually just cycle through the same half-dozen shows or so...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 10, 2024 08:21 PM (BpYfr)

71 The VVitch was just right for me. I can't do much horror or gore anymore (even modern war movies are too real now), but the atmosphere and suspense / horror of that movie was just about perfect.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:21 PM (mIykB)

72 MONEY PLANE!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:21 PM (kpS4V)

73 Posted by: Robert at August 10, 2024

She is so normal and sweet looking! I am proud of you, Robert.

Posted by: Piper at August 10, 2024 08:22 PM (pZEOD)

74 Not scary now but the cannibal doll in the Triology of Terror scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:22 PM (B1dzx)

75 It's pretty good but the main attraction is the absolutely bodacious ta-tas of Anna Falchi.

BONUS! the rest of her body is awesome as well.
Posted by: naturalfake

-

Yeah, I remember thinking she was easily in the top ten of my most favoritists. I don't really recall the finer points so I might watch it again.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:23 PM (mIykB)

76 Creepy and gory and unescapable: Triangle.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at August 10, 2024 08:23 PM (8KZLC)

77 I 100% support practical effects and would almost always rather see a puppet or claymation over CGI.
Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:06 PM (mIykB)
---
Cheap practical effects can be overcome with clever writing and good storytelling.

Over-reliance on CGI tends to lead to big spectacle showpieces, rather than quality storytelling.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 10, 2024 08:24 PM (BpYfr)

78 There's lots of stuff on all the streaming channels. Too much for me to keep track of it all. So I usually just cycle through the same half-dozen shows or so...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 10, 2024 08:21 PM (BpYfr)

Comcast has 5000 free movies. Problem is finding ones that don't suck.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:24 PM (B1dzx)

79 I really don't believe we like any of the same movies. At all.

Posted by: setnaffa at August 10, 2024 08:25 PM (nOVGb)

80 Halloween has to be the king of horror movies ,No?

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:26 PM (B1dzx)

81 In modern times, it's mostly NON-supernatural horror that really upsets people.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!)

I'm definitely in that category. I really enjoy suspenseful and abstract horror like "The Others." Body horror, on the other hand, makes me squirm to no end. I respect the storytelling and impact of "The Thing," "The Fly," and so on, but there are scenes in those movies I can only watch with extreme difficulty, if at all.

Posted by: Dr. T at August 10, 2024 08:26 PM (lHPJf)

82 Cheap practical effects can be overcome with clever writing and good storytelling.

Over-reliance on CGI tends to lead to big spectacle showpieces, rather than quality storytelling.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

-

(sits back and dreams of big studios using CGI mostly to enhance practical effects)

I'm guessing that was probably Fury Road, wasn't it? Man, that was a great movie.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:26 PM (mIykB)

83 60 You're so right about The Witch[/]. The horror is palpable, but frequently (not entirely) just out of view, or sensed rather than seen - but entirely real, for all that.

---

Paco, who's review of The Witch is that? Yours? (It almost looks like I could have written it.)

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:26 PM (asXVI)

84 Faces of Death (197

...10/10... very interesting, not very gruesome

The Texas Chainaaw Massacre (1974)...7/10.. pretty good, pretty women...

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)....4/10....Weird. The girl had great legs though.

Leatherface (2017)...6.5/10....nothing stands out...

Terrifier....10/10...pretty brutal at points, creepy clown, great movie.

Terrifier 2.....10/10....not quite as gruesome as the first but still intense. Nice story. Pretty young woman.

Eden Lake (200

....10/10...kids brutalise a couple. Could be torn from the headInes...

The Poughkeepsie Tapes....(2007)...6/10...documentary style...meh

House of 1000 Corpses (2003)...8.5/10...some gore...part 1 of 3.

Devil's Rejects...killer's on the run. Brutal scenes. Nice story. 10/10

And Sheri Moon Zombie is really hot in those 2 movies. Tonight is '3 from Hell' and maybe 'Saw.'

Sorry. I never watched movies before so this is the first ti,e I am able to contribute!

Oh, also Japan. I've been going through the 'Ringu' series and 'Ju-on: the Grudge: . Both were good series. Not incredibly gory but atmospheric and creepy. I'll watch the American versions later....

Posted by: Stateless at August 10, 2024 08:27 PM (jvJvP)

85 I really don't believe we like any of the same movies. At all.
Posted by: setnaffa

-

Once Upon a Time in the West, Rushmore, and Snatch.

Go!

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:27 PM (mIykB)

86 One bad thing about over-reliance on CGI is that they don't know how to frame a shot or build impactful sets; they just throw a million things on screen. Compare the gorgeous set pieces of the original Star Wars trilogy with the visual vomit of the prequels.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:28 PM (kpS4V)

87 Halloween has to be the king of horror movies ,No?
Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:26 PM (B1dzx)

Halloween is overrated. There, I said it.

Posted by: Dr. T at August 10, 2024 08:28 PM (lHPJf)

88 yes I pretend Paul Dini went to the underverse,

Posted by: no 6 at August 10, 2024 08:28 PM (PXvVL)

89 Teenagers were a lot older in the 50s.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 08:28 PM (vFG9F)

90 The ghost movie that creeped me out the most was The Entity. Not scary but just creepy.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:28 PM (B1dzx)

91 The Ring was the beginning of the end of horror movies for me. The only time I ever had to come out of the woods when waiting in a deer stand at 5am the morning after watching it.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:29 PM (mIykB)

92 According to the trailer I just saw, Disney's Snow White must be a complete rewrite of what they started with.

It looks ... normal.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at August 10, 2024 08:29 PM (8KZLC)

93 I saw a new "Batman" animated series had dropped on Netflix and it looked retro like the excellent "Batman:The Animated Series" (the BEST Batman).

But HOOOOBOY, Nerdrotic and the gang were dissecting it and it has a gender-swapped Penguin, blackwashed characters, and lotsa lesbo tongue. NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT. But is it asking too much to respect the source material?
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:00 PM (kpS4V)

It's not good, Eris.

Aside from all the woke nonsense. It's just boring, I tried watching and fell asleep at some point each time.

Congratulations, a-holes you managed to make Batman boring.

BONUS! Harley Quinn totally loses all her humorous qualities and becomes a sour, brainwashing, torturing girl boss. Kinda like a Feminine Jigsaw but a boring Jigsaw.

Hate watch if you wish.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 10, 2024 08:29 PM (eDfFs)

94 48 "It Conquered The World" begat Frank Zappa's "Cheepnis" and for that I thank you, Roger Corman
*Sky finger with kiss*
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:12 PM (kpS4V
I ran into this kid at BestBuy Monday who looks exactly like Frank Zapper from 1965. I said 'Dude, do you play a guitar?' He said yeah. I told him 'don't take this wrong but you look exactly like Frank Zappa.' He said 'Who?' I said look him up. He did and asked 'Was he any good?'' Yep. Play Hot Rats first.'

Posted by: Eromero at August 10, 2024 08:31 PM (LHPAg)

95 || That could be an interesting thread.

I think it would mostly be depressing.

|| The brilliant thing about VVitch is that the terrors therein were the things that would have scared Puritans: shunning, heresy, fearing that they were angering God.

Along with the more material threats of starving and dying of exposure. But Eggers is good at that stuff: The Norseman fully endorses and realizes the morality of Nordic barbarians.

Loved it. Still can't believe they spend $90M on it, but it's not my money.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:31 PM (asXVI)

96 Sorry, 'Fake, there's too much good stuff out there.

Heck, I'm behind on the animated Harley Quinn, which was a hoot.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:31 PM (kpS4V)

97 It's my understanding that Batman mostly only exists now to allow for annual Harley Quinn projects.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:31 PM (mIykB)

98 89 Teenagers were a lot older in the 50s.
Posted by: fd

And there were no tackle box faces.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 10, 2024 08:31 PM (oKHcS)

99 I did watch the Witch movie with the Puritans.

It was pretty good. Atmospheric like the asian horror movies I've been watching and not heavy on gore. Kind of a slow burn.

Posted by: Stateless at August 10, 2024 08:31 PM (jvJvP)

100 Eromero, you're doing the Lord's work.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:32 PM (kpS4V)

101 What I'd like to see is a good (emphasis on good) horror/sf anthology show using the short stories of Fritz Leiber, Dennis Etchison, Ramsey Campbell, Charles L. Grant, Harlan Ellison, Gerald Kersh, Robert Silverberg, Philip K. Dick, Kealan Patrick Burke, Robert Heinlein, Robert Sheckley, Fredric Brown, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, and onandonandon...

Amazon Prime had a Philip K. Dick based series called Electric Dreams, but the episodes I watched didn't seem all that faithful to the source. The old Karloff-hosted Thrilller usually did them right, ditto quite a few of the original and 80s Twilight Zones. The Ray Bradbury Theater was good and so were the Hitchcock shows and usually the Roald Dahl Tales of the Unexpected. Doing a good anthology show seems to be a forgotten skill.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 10, 2024 08:32 PM (q3u5l)

102 It was pretty good. Atmospheric like the asian horror movies I've been watching and not heavy on gore. Kind of a slow burn.
Posted by: Stateless

-

It's mentioned here often but the Audition is another one if you haven't seen it. That movie is horrible in an Old Boy way.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:33 PM (mIykB)

103 They took Harley Quinn out of her hot pants in the follow up to The Suicide Squad.

That's the worst woke message .

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:33 PM (B1dzx)

104 71 I can't do much horror or gore anymore (even modern war movies are too real now), but the atmosphere and suspense / horror of that movie was just about perfect.

Honestly, life is too short to sit in a theater watching something you hate. I'm glad there's a wide spectrum of options available.

I 'spect things will only get niche-ier.

79 I really don't believe we like any of the same movies. At all.

I mean, *shrugemoji.com*? I've always presumed there will be some people who say "Movigique liked it, so I know I'm going to hate it."

I think that's a valuable service!

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:33 PM (asXVI)

105 I need as much sleep as I can get
Have a great evening everyone

Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2024 08:34 PM (fwDg9)

106 BONUS! Harley Quinn totally loses all her humorous qualities and becomes a sour, brainwashing, torturing girl boss. Kinda like a Feminine Jigsaw but a boring Jigsaw.

Hate watch if you wish.
Posted by: naturalfake at August 10, 2024 08:29 PM (eDfFs)

Makes sense. They ran out of characters to ruin that I cared about, so now they're moving on to ruining characters I don't care about.

Posted by: Dr. T at August 10, 2024 08:34 PM (lHPJf)

107 Good eveninnnnnnggggg....

So I watched The World's Fastest Indian last night for the first time. Good movie.

What really puzzled me was that there was a scene in a bar, somewhere between LA and Utah, and there was a neon Old Style sign in that bar. For anyone familiar with Old Style, do you think it's realistic that they would have served it way out west in that time period?

And for the record, it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I love it when I spot Old Style stuff in movies. I grew up on that stuff.

Posted by: haffhowershower at August 10, 2024 08:34 PM (NMT5x)

108 My 12 year old grandson is over this weekend, and he talked me into taking him to Deadpool 3 today. Generally not my kind of movie, but I said Ok. Better than I thought it would be; both funny and entertaining, and every scene is packed full of self referential nods to previous iterations of the MCU. (The big 20th Century Fox logo dumped in the Void where forgotten heroes go was particularly hilarious.)

Oh and language-wise, that was without a doubt the most Absolutely Vulgar movie I have ever sat through. Funny -but dammmnnnn!!!

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 10, 2024 08:35 PM (F/xk0)

109 "Yep. Play Hot Rats first.'
Posted by: Eromero

You just altered that kid's Conceptual Continuity.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 08:35 PM (vFG9F)

110 My 12 year old grandson is over this weekend, and he talked me into taking him to Deadpool 3 today.

--

hahahaha, that's a story to tell in the future. I guarantee he will.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:35 PM (mIykB)

111 The brilliant thing about VVitch is that the terrors therein were the things that would have scared Puritans: shunning, heresy, fearing that they were angering God.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:19 PM (kpS4V)

Yes!

The weirdest thing is the people who watch this a applaud the ending as a feminist triumph when the girl decides to accept the devil and "live deliciously".

When ackshewallee the devil has won and secured the eternal damnation of her soul.* which is totally in keeping with the Puritan viewpoint.

*The movie version of "The Witches of Eastwick" makes this same mistake.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 10, 2024 08:36 PM (eDfFs)

112 51 I was watching as a fairly little kid when a NFL football game ending was dumped for Heidi movie
Posted by: Skip

Spoiler alert!

The Oakland Raiders won.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 08:37 PM (BW+Gb)

113 80 Halloween has to be the king of horror movies ,No?

I guess it depends on how you define "king". Certainly wildly influential for 10 years (and less so today) but was it more influential than, say, the 1931 versions of Frankenstein and Dracula? Those dominated horror until WWII.

"Night of the Living Dead" was "king" prior to "Halloween".

Lots of influential movies. What tends to make them influential is percentage-return-on-budget.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:37 PM (asXVI)

114 "Oh and language-wise, that was without a doubt the most Absolutely Vulgar movie I have ever sat through. Funny -but dammmnnnn!!!
Posted by: Tom Servo "

Should have made him watch "The Giant Gila Monster".

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 08:38 PM (vFG9F)

115 But HOOOOBOY, Nerdrotic and the gang were dissecting it and it has a gender-swapped Penguin, blackwashed characters, and lotsa lesbo tongue. NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT. But is it asking too much to respect the source material?
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:00 PM (kpS4V)

I saw that HBO has the series, The Penguin coming out. Is it the story of Chilly Willie taking over the Happy Feet Family?

(Poor Chilly Willy, it was the longest night of the year)

Posted by: Kindltot at August 10, 2024 08:38 PM (D7oie)

116 Halloween has to be the king of horror movies ,No?

-

I think there has to be a line drawn between hack and slash stuff and things like the Exorcist, too.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:38 PM (mIykB)

117 55 3 I 100% support practical effects and would almost always rather see a puppet or claymation over CGI.
----

I would 1000% watch a Muppet or claymation Alien movie.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

A Muppet 'Alien' movie would be AMAZING!!

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 08:38 PM (BW+Gb)

118 91 The Ring was the beginning of the end of horror movies for me. The only time I ever had to come out of the woods when waiting in a deer stand at 5am the morning after watching it.
Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:29 PM (mIykB)
I hunted the Savannah River swamp for years, from age 12 to two years ago. There is a tale of the Wikilar, which is a badass cross between pterodactyl and a harpie. Two of my highschool buddies had one tear the mirror off their truck one night and they were doing fifty on a muddy logtrail. I have heard that story probably a dozen times over the years. My buddies were drunk each time they told it and I think they were drunk when it first happened back in the early 1970s. I think they hit a tree.

Posted by: Eromero at August 10, 2024 08:38 PM (LHPAg)

119 A Muppet 'Alien' movie would be AMAZING!!

--

comically, this is where I would support a mostly AI driven CGI bootleg version by some guy who loves the idea of it and has a vision in his head for how it plays out.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:39 PM (mIykB)

120 It's mentioned here often but the Audition is another one if you haven't seen it. That movie is horrible in an Old Boy way.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:33 PM (mIykB

Thanks. I'm pretty sure I've seen that on my list. I can't wait.

I actually started on this path watching some of my favorite Disney actresses in non Disney works and it just kind of kept going.

Everyone have a great night.

Posted by: Stateless at August 10, 2024 08:40 PM (jvJvP)

121 A Muppet 'Alien' movie would be AMAZING!---

Just watch Farscape in the meantime.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:41 PM (B1dzx)

122 You too, Stateless. Enjoy your Korean journey. They were arguably the best storytellers in film for a while (maybe still), so I hope it's a great time.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:42 PM (mIykB)

123 || Body horror, on the other hand, makes me squirm to no end.

My kids know Cronenberg from the Rick and Morty reference. I think that stuff upset people in the '70s, and it STILL upsets them today.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:42 PM (asXVI)

124 A Muppet 'Alien' movie would be AMAZING!---

Just watch Farscape in the meantime.

Posted by: polynike

Would Miss Piggy play Ripley?

Posted by: Erebus- ex-Killer Whale at August 10, 2024 08:42 PM (1iDhD)

125 A Muppet 'Alien' movie would be AMAZING!!

"PIGS IN SPACE!!!!!"

Posted by: Tonypete at August 10, 2024 08:42 PM (WXNFJ)

126 Welcome, Stateless!

And, oh, I guess good-bye.

"Audition" is a terrific little psycho-horror flick. The Japanese and Koreans got into a real uncomfortable area with their horror. Definitely pushing the window.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:43 PM (asXVI)

127 I did watch Antlers a couple of days ago. Based on an Indian legend of a demon that takes over people and turns them into a carnivorous beast with antlers.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 08:44 PM (B1dzx)

128 Saw Despicable Me 4 last night.
Funny and worth the time.

Posted by: Erebus- ex-Killer Whale at August 10, 2024 08:44 PM (1iDhD)

129 I've always presumed there will be some people who say "Movigique liked it, so I know I'm going to hate it."

I think that's a valuable service!
Posted by: moviegique

I treat the reviews on Anime News Network that way. There are reviewers who match my tastes, and reviewers who mismatch my tastes. Both sets of reviews are useful.

More useful than the ones who I find hit-and-miss. Then I have to read the review and understand it. Curses!!

Posted by: mikeski at August 10, 2024 08:44 PM (DgGvY)

130 " Body horror, on the other hand, makes me squirm to no end.

Invasion of the colostomy bag.

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at August 10, 2024 08:46 PM (GUpL7)

131 When I was a kid, I was up late watching a 'B' horror movie called 'Ghost Ship' with Karen Black. I was hoping the 2002 one would be a remake, but no.

In the 1970's one, people's boat crashes onto an abandoned ghost ship. They explore and discover it was a WW2 Nazi vessel.

Creeped me out. I'd love to see it again but I think that would ruin it. Like rewatching 1970's "Superfriends" or "Lost in Space..."
Penny....my first tv crush....

Now good night all....

Posted by: Stateless at August 10, 2024 08:46 PM (jvJvP)

132 113 80 Halloween has to be the king of horror movies ,No?

I guess it depends on how you define "king". Certainly wildly influential for 10 years (and less so today) but was it more influential than, say, the 1931 versions of Frankenstein and Dracula? Those dominated horror until WWII.

"Night of the Living Dead" was "king" prior to "Halloween".

Lots of influential movies. What tends to make them influential is percentage-return-on-budget.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:37 PM (asXVI)
I saw Night Of The Living Dead at a drive-in. That's when I vowed to always carry a firearm.

Posted by: Eromero at August 10, 2024 08:48 PM (LHPAg)

133
Should have made him watch "The Giant Gila Monster".
Posted by: fd

I sing whenever I sing whenever I sing.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 10, 2024 08:48 PM (63Dwl)

134 Giant puppets?

Dark Crystal?

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 08:50 PM (LT4uy)

135
"Audition" is a terrific little psycho-horror flick. The Japanese and Koreans got into a real uncomfortable area with their horror. Definitely pushing the window.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:43 PM (asXVI

Yeah, I've been touring the world.

Hey, a great movie from China was 'Dumplings'....91 minutes on Tubi.

"A chilling horror tale of a cook from China who is famous for her youth-providing dumplings, but the price of looking younger by magic is terrifying"

I enjoyed that.
Back to read comments tomorrow.
Seriously, all good night...

Posted by: Stateless at August 10, 2024 08:51 PM (jvJvP)

136 A Muppet 'Alien' movie would be AMAZING!!
Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 08:38 PM (BW+Gb)
---

Hogmartin asked me, if you made an Alien Muppet movie but had to keep one human actor in it, which would it be? And I immediately said Yaphet Kotto! Imagine him:

A) Hitting on Muppet Lambert (Hippy Chick)
B) bitching about shares with Brett (Gonzo)
C) getting his ass kicked by Muppet Ash (Bunsen Honeydew?)
D) tangling with a Muppetized xeno

Comedy gold!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:51 PM (kpS4V)

137 "I sing whenever I sing whenever I sing.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. "

Where else is he going to learn about skid marks?

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 08:52 PM (vFG9F)

138 119 A Muppet 'Alien' movie would be AMAZING!!

--

comically, this is where I would support a mostly AI driven CGI bootleg version by some guy who loves the idea of it and has a vision in his head for how it plays out.
Posted by: Moron Robbie

Especially if all the Muppet characters play Alien exactly the same way. Same dialoge, same plot, same feel as the movie. Not a comedy. Make no reference that they are a frog, pic, dog, etc or that this is The Muppets. I wish I had some skill and motivation. I'd make it myself for my own amusement.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 08:52 PM (BW+Gb)

139 Lots of influential movies. What tends to make them influential is percentage-return-on-budget.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:37 PM (asXVI)

I saw Evil Dead 2 when a friend who had a bad fever called me up and asked me to come and make sure what he was seeing was real.
It didn't care, that movie didn't care.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 10, 2024 08:52 PM (D7oie)

140 interesting stuff ...

g'night everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - they have been lying to us for decades at August 10, 2024 08:52 PM (UWgy2)

141 Saw Halloween when it first opened at a Chicago film festival, and several times when it hit theaters a while later. Watched now, it doesn't have the same impact it did on a first viewing before the slasher craze hit, but for the most part I think that sucker still holds up.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 10, 2024 08:53 PM (q3u5l)

142 || In the 1970's one, people's boat crashes onto an abandoned ghost ship. They explore and discover it was a WW2 Nazi vessel.

Could you be thinking of "Death Ship" with George Kennedy?

(It's from 1980 and Karen Black isn't in it, but it's the only film I can think of from that time period that fits your description. And yes, I do know them all.)

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:54 PM (asXVI)

143 A Muppet 'Alien' movie would be AMAZING!!

--

comically, this is where I would support a mostly AI driven CGI bootleg version by some guy who loves the idea of it and has a vision in his head for how it plays out.
Posted by: Moron Robbie

Especially if all the Muppet characters play Alien exactly the same way. Same dialoge, same plot, same feel as the movie. Not a comedy. Make no reference that they are a frog, pic, dog, etc or that this is The Muppets. I wish I had some skill and motivation. I'd make it myself for my own amusement.
Posted by: Puddleglum

Please take my money now!

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 08:55 PM (ftFVW)

144 (raises glass to Hogmartin)

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:55 PM (mIykB)

145 Just watch Farscape in the meantime.

Posted by: polynikes

I have the series on DVD!

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 08:56 PM (BW+Gb)

146 Influential movies?

Metropolis
Forbidden Planet
2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 08:56 PM (LT4uy)

147 I saw Evil Dead 2 when a friend who had a bad fever called me up and asked me to come and make sure what he was seeing was real.
It didn't care, that movie didn't care.
--

A classic. It nails comedy-horror in a way that you just don't see. I can think of maybe a handful in the entire history of the genre that manage it.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:56 PM (asXVI)

148 Kane would have to be played by Kermit, obvi.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 08:56 PM (kpS4V)

149 Especially if all the Muppet characters play Alien exactly the same way. Same dialoge, same plot, same feel as the movie. Not a comedy. Make no reference that they are a frog, pic, dog, etc ...

--

hahaha, that would be fantastic.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:56 PM (mIykB)

150 Bad news for the steal

VA to have paper ballot only

Posted by: melodicmetal1 at August 10, 2024 08:57 PM (XLfSN)

151 A classic. It nails comedy-horror in a way that you just don't see. I can think of maybe a handful in the entire history of the genre that manage it.

-

content alert!

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 08:58 PM (mIykB)

152 "... The Japanese and Koreans got into a real uncomfortable area with their horror. Definitely pushing the window.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:43 PM (asXVI "

"A page of madness" silent, 1926 ... print by George Eastman House

& now rly g'night ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - they have been lying to us for decades at August 10, 2024 08:59 PM (UWgy2)

153 Surely you can't be talking aboutAirplane!

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 08:59 PM (LT4uy)

154 I have the fear of dolls and puppets and mannequins so any movie with any of those are nightmare fuel for me.

Posted by: Megthered at August 10, 2024 09:00 PM (rwiQP)

155 Gonzo would have to be John Hurt's unfortunate character.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:00 PM (BW+Gb)

156 Gonzo or Beaker

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:01 PM (LT4uy)

157 Gonzo or Beaker
Posted by: Anna Puma

Beaker for sure.

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 09:02 PM (ftFVW)

158 Gonzo coming out of Beaker.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 09:02 PM (vFG9F)

159 Make that Bunsen Honeydoo the android.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:02 PM (BW+Gb)

160 Beaker looks like a person who spends his entire life anticipating a chest-burster encounter.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 09:03 PM (kpS4V)

161 Gonzo coming out of Beaker.

--

I like the way this guy thinks.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 09:03 PM (mIykB)

162 Gonzo coming out of Beaker.

The schnozz that killed a movie.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:03 PM (LT4uy)

163 Alien can be the same. Not a Muppet character. Though, a baby chicken ripping out of Gonzo would be amusing.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:03 PM (BW+Gb)

164 Of course the Muppet remake of Aliens is going to be twice as lit.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 10, 2024 09:04 PM (D7oie)

165 I was trying to figure out what could be the alien, and I bet there was a giant chicken muppet at some point. That would be fantastic.

And all played completely straight.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 09:04 PM (mIykB)

166 Eris

He is Honeydew's crash test dummy...

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:05 PM (LT4uy)

167 Could you be thinking of "Death Ship" with George Kennedy?

(It's from 1980 and Karen Black isn't in it, but it's the only film I can think of from that time period that fits your description. And yes, I do know them all.)

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 08:54 PM

Thank you so much! I think that's it! All I remember is being creeped out, but reality has been more terrifying since then.

Posted by: Stateless at August 10, 2024 09:05 PM (jvJvP)

168 Watched The First Omen (hulu)

Not bad

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at August 10, 2024 09:06 PM (Ka3bZ)

169 Speaking of puppets and ALIEN....

in ALIEN 3, the alien was mostly created by using a puppet for movement and attacks.

A bit of man in suit, a bit of early CGI, but mostly puppets.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 10, 2024 09:06 PM (eDfFs)

170 Fozzie as Yaphet Kotto.
"Can we talk about the bonus situation?"

Posted by: gKWVE at August 10, 2024 09:06 PM (gKWVE)

171 Remember that episode of "Angel" called "Smile Time", where Angel was transformed into a Muppetish thing?

I loved that he still retained his vampire strength. He beat up Spike, who couldn't stop laughing even as the "wee puppet man" kicked his ass.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 09:06 PM (kpS4V)

172 153 Surely you can't be talking aboutAirplane!
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 08:59 PM (LT4uy)

I am, but don't call me Shirley.

Posted by: haffhowershower at August 10, 2024 09:08 PM (NMT5x)

173 154 I have the fear of dolls and puppets and mannequins so any movie with any of those are nightmare fuel for me.
Posted by: Megthered at August 10, 2024 09:00 PM (rwiQP)
Clowns. You left out clowns.

Posted by: Eromero at August 10, 2024 09:09 PM (LHPAg)

174 165 I was trying to figure out what could be the alien, and I bet there was a giant chicken muppet at some point. That would be fantastic.

I mean, Big Bird.

||Thank you so much! I think that's it! All I remember is being creeped out, but reality has been more terrifying since then.

Not a great flick but the atmosphere holds up and it is--I mean, being on board a ship where George Kennedy's been possessed by a Nazi ghost, it's pretty creepy.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 09:09 PM (asXVI)

175 Fozzie Kotto yelling "waka! waka! waka!" trying to kill the chest burster.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:09 PM (LT4uy)

176 5 I was trying to figure out what could be the alien, and I bet there was a giant chicken muppet at some point. That would be fantastic.

And all played completely straight.
---

That scene in the conduit where Dallas turns and there's a giant chicken lunging for him. BUH-KAWWWK!!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 09:09 PM (kpS4V)

177 And all played completely straight.
Posted by: Moron Robbie

In full G/PG-rated Muppet style. No gore. Chestburster-infected Muppets would have cabinet-doored compartments built into their chests. Probably visible from the start of the movie. No aliens tearing puppets open.

Posted by: mikeski at August 10, 2024 09:09 PM (DgGvY)

178 I find Korean’s make very good Horror

The WAILING

The Guest (on Netflix) good Exorcist/Crime

The Priests an Exorcist movie.

Monstrum a Creature that kills people in the countryside

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at August 10, 2024 09:10 PM (FCrpy)

179 I mean, Big Bird.

-

There it is.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 09:10 PM (mIykB)

180 Buzz just drove off the cliff. Cars were cheaper in the 50s too I guess.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 09:11 PM (vFG9F)

181 Puppet clown mannequins

Has anything like that been used in a movie?

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:11 PM (LT4uy)

182 In full G/PG-rated Muppet style. No gore. Chestburster-infected Muppets would have cabinet-doored compartments built into their chests. Probably visible from the start of the movie. No aliens tearing puppets open.
Posted by: mikeski

Nay! I wanna see the stuffing fly.

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 09:12 PM (ftFVW)

183 Giant chicken?

It's Chicken BoO!

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:12 PM (LT4uy)

184 Private Vasquez played by Janice (from that band in The Muppets). Haven't figured out who Animal would play. Private Hudson?

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:13 PM (BW+Gb)

185 It can't be a legit Muppet Alien movie without the R-rated dialog and cartoon violence.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 09:13 PM (kpS4V)

186 181 Puppet clown mannequins

Has anything like that been used in a movie?

---

Yes

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 09:14 PM (asXVI)

187 jRHpSOZadoi

Posted by: TwqBfVbW at August 10, 2024 09:14 PM (rfixs)

188 Glad I don't oft watch horror movies

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:15 PM (LT4uy)

189 182 In full G/PG-rated Muppet style. No gore. Chestburster-infected Muppets would have cabinet-doored compartments built into their chests. Probably visible from the start of the movie. No aliens tearing puppets open.
Posted by: mikeski

Nay! I wanna see the stuffing fly.
Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 09:12 PM (ftFVW)
Abbatoir. Guts and colorful organs, slime and blood, food undigested (look that's a strawberry), and digested (dude musta been on a diet of beets). Like that stuffing?

Posted by: Eromero at August 10, 2024 09:15 PM (LHPAg)

190 146 Influential movies?

Metropolis
Forbidden Planet
2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 08:56 PM (LT4uy)

In Sci-Fi, those are Big Four. Everything else in the Genre is derivative of them in some way. Star Trek is just expanded Forbidden Planet; every Mad Scientist ever is just embellished Rotwang from Metropolis.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 10, 2024 09:16 PM (S6gqv)

191 185 It can't be a legit Muppet Alien movie without the R-rated dialog and cartoon violence.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Exactly. Rated R. Same gore and bloodshed (or stuffing, whatever). Scene by scene, exactly the same, but with Muppets!

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:16 PM (BW+Gb)

192 Stuffing fly?

Like when Thunder got so upset and exploded in Big Trouble in Little China. Like that?

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:17 PM (LT4uy)

193 I'd pay to see the Muppet Alien in the theater. In a heartbeat. No question about it at all. Played straight or not (as in Christmas Carol or Treasure Island), I'd be happy to lay my $$$ down.

But if they're gonna do it, I think they oughtta try to get Michael Caine to come out of retirement (he retired, right?) to play Ash.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 10, 2024 09:17 PM (q3u5l)

194 The best muppet movie stars were Michael Caine and Tim Curry. Caine acted as if he was talking to another human. And Curry was just talking to a fellow muppet.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at August 10, 2024 09:17 PM (lhenN)

195 I always kind of liked Caine. He sort of reminded me of what a British Robert Duvall would be like.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 09:19 PM (mIykB)

196
I have the fear of dolls and puppets and mannequins so any movie with any of those are nightmare fuel for me.
Posted by: Megthered

Thunderbirds Are OUT!

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 10, 2024 09:19 PM (63Dwl)

197 Was thinking of the cotton batting kind of stuffing, but I'm willing to entertain embellishments on what might be inside a Muppet.

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 09:20 PM (ftFVW)

198 Like when Thunder got so upset and exploded in Big Trouble in Little China. Like that?
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:17 PM (LT4uy)

I think I read somewhere that was a 20 gallon volume tube filled with latex balloons, so it would blow, and dribble but not be gooey

Posted by: Kindltot at August 10, 2024 09:20 PM (D7oie)

199 Michael Caine said he played his Scrooge from The Muppet Christmas Carol like he would play him on stage in London. Very seriously. He was great!

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:20 PM (BW+Gb)

200 I just watched Mad Max Furiosa and it was pretty good. Not as good as Fury Road but good.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at August 10, 2024 09:20 PM (lhenN)

201 A lot of people on set at The Muppets' various shows/movies said that you totally forget you're not interacting with a real person. (Frank Oz isn't real)

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 09:21 PM (kpS4V)

202 Clowns are the worst.

Posted by: Megthered at August 10, 2024 09:21 PM (rwiQP)

203 Just added a couple of AI generated images of a female American astronaut.

https://tensor.art/u/727481333235843246

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:22 PM (LT4uy)

204 192 Stuffing fly?

Like when Thunder got so upset and exploded in Big Trouble in Little China. Like that?
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2024 09:17 PM (LT4uy)
What's in the flask, Egg? Magic potion?
Yeah.
Thought so, good. what do we do, drink it"
Yeah.
Good, thought so.

Posted by: Eromero at August 10, 2024 09:22 PM (LHPAg)

205 Other influential movies: first Bullitt, and then French Connection changed the way car chases were filmed forever; and The Chimes at Midnight by Orson Welles, although not so well known, changed how Battle Scenes were filmed by everyone.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 10, 2024 09:22 PM (S6gqv)

206 Michael Caine said he played his Scrooge from The Muppet Christmas Carol like he would play him on stage in London. Very seriously. He was great!
Posted by: Puddleglum

Muppet Christmas Carol is my favorite version. Watch it every year.

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 09:22 PM (ftFVW)

207 Muppet Treasure Island is my favorite version, after Treasure Planet.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 09:24 PM (kpS4V)

208 A lot of people on set at The Muppets' various shows/movies said that you totally forget you're not interacting with a real person. (Frank Oz isn't real)
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 09:21 PM (kpS4V)
----
I believe it. The muppeteers are magical in how they portray those characters as "real."

It's incredible skill and talent.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 10, 2024 09:25 PM (BpYfr)

209 These kids today. Roughing up Mr Magoo! What's got into them?

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 09:26 PM (vFG9F)

210 And now for the rest of the evening, I'll keep imagining Rizzo the Rat shrieking "Game over, man! Game over!"

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 10, 2024 09:27 PM (q3u5l)

211 I recently rewatched Get Carter, a gritty 1971 gangster flick with Caine in the starring role. He’s amazingly good in the role; it’s like an early John Wick, except he dies at the end. But even Carter knows by the end that he’s put himself in a position with his bosses where that is the only possible outcome, and he’s taken out everyone who did him wrong by that time.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 10, 2024 09:28 PM (S6gqv)

212 Finished It Conquered The World.

Is it me or does Lee Van Cleef remind anyone else of Timothy Dalton but 30 years earlier? I think it's the eyes.

The monster is goofy, but Corman had a real story. It's basically a morality tale warning against the evils of collectivism. There's this whole but where the hero gives a spiel about how attempts at perfecting man end terribly and that resonates with my blackened little right-wing heart.

It's on YouBoob. Watch the little cutie I linked above after for bonus adorableness.

https://youtu.be/3iNk1fNSzj0

Posted by: Robert at August 10, 2024 09:28 PM (BTvbj)

213 So many of my happy childhood movie memories center around Henson's work. He was a gem.

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 09:29 PM (ftFVW)

214 Furiosa random first thoughts:

I was expecting Scrotus (not a phrase coined by the horde) to die because he wasn't in the other movie.

The actor who replaced Immortan Joe really didn't sound like the first one. They really should have cast for the voice since he didn't take his mask off. Taylor-Joy sounded =exactly= like Charlise Theron, to the point I am wondering if she was dubbed.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at August 10, 2024 09:29 PM (lhenN)

215 211 I recently rewatched Get Carter, a gritty 1971 gangster flick with Caine in the starring role. He’s amazingly good in the role; it’s like an early John Wick, except he dies at the end. But even Carter knows by the end that he’s put himself in a position with his bosses where that is the only possible outcome, and he’s taken out everyone who did him wrong by that time.
Posted by: Tom Servo at August 10, 2024 09:28 PM (S6gqv)
Payback with Mel Gibson. Kinda like Sisu. In a way.

Posted by: Eromero at August 10, 2024 09:30 PM (LHPAg)

216 I was expecting Scrotus (not a phrase coined by the horde) to die because he wasn't in the other movie.

Posted by: BourbonChicken

Had that exact conversation with BruceWayne.

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 09:31 PM (ftFVW)

217 First time I saw Caine in anything was when The Ipcress File hit the theaters. A delight from first frame to last.

Caught one episode of the recent streaming mini-series and didn't bother to go any further.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 10, 2024 09:31 PM (q3u5l)

218 Get Carter is hard core.

There's a recent-ish movie where Caine plays an aging former enforcer type who has had enough of local toughs trashing the neighborhood, harassing people, and pushing drugs, and he decides to take matters into his own hands. Can't remember the title, but really good. Ring a bell with anyone?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 09:31 PM (kpS4V)

219 It's on YouBoob. Watch the little cutie I linked above after for bonus adorableness.

https://youtu.be/3iNk1fNSzj0
Posted by: Robert at August 10, 2024 09:28 PM (BTvbj)

MS3TK had it on, they referred to the monster as "the giant Vlasic pickle"

Posted by: Kindltot at August 10, 2024 09:32 PM (D7oie)

220 Can't remember the title, but really good. Ring a bell with anyone?
Posted by: All Hail Eris

I also remember liking it, but can think of the title.

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 09:33 PM (ftFVW)

221 That recent Caine movie is Harry Brown. And it is a good one.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 10, 2024 09:33 PM (q3u5l)

222 211 I recently rewatched Get Carter, a gritty 1971 gangster flick with Caine in the starring role. He’s amazingly good in the role; it’s like an early John Wick, except he dies at the end. But even Carter knows by the end that he’s put himself in a position with his bosses where that is the only possible outcome, and he’s taken out everyone who did him wrong by that time.
Posted by: Tom Servo

Its very good. One of those movies where everybody got what they deserved. Caine isn't the good guy here. He's still a nasty piece of work but he's pissed and those he's taking revenge on were worse and deserved what they got.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:34 PM (BW+Gb)

223 Thanks, JSG.

Watch it, folks!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 09:34 PM (kpS4V)

224 218: Harry Brown

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:35 PM (BW+Gb)

225 Harry Brown is the Caine movie you are thinking of maybe.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 10, 2024 09:36 PM (D7oie)

226 Completely OT but I lol'd.

https://youtube.com/shorts/j8yAiDi6A7Y

Posted by: Robert at August 10, 2024 09:36 PM (5T68I)

227 Its very good. One of those movies where everybody got what they deserved. Caine isn't the good guy here. He's still a nasty piece of work but he's pissed and those he's taking revenge on were worse and deserved what they got.
Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:34 PM (BW+Gb)
It is the way.

Posted by: Eromero at August 10, 2024 09:37 PM (LHPAg)

228 Payback with Mel Gibson.

A remake of the James Coeburn starred original (late 60s). Gibson's 'Payback' also had Coeburn in it, playing the mob boss, I think. It was his final film before he died.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:37 PM (BW+Gb)

229 Always late. But I read the content.

Posted by: Braenyard at August 10, 2024 09:38 PM (bhSZH)

230
Caine isn't the good guy here. He's still a nasty piece of work but he's pissed and those he's taking revenge on were worse and deserved what they got.
Posted by: Puddleglum

Those dirty rats. They killed his brother.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 10, 2024 09:39 PM (63Dwl)

231 228 Payback with Mel Gibson.

A remake of the James Coeburn starred original (late 60s). Gibson's 'Payback' also had Coeburn in it, playing the mob boss, I think. It was his final film before he died.
Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 10, 2024 09:37 PM (BW+Gb)
I thought one of Coburn's best final films was Hudson Hawk.

Posted by: Eromero at August 10, 2024 09:40 PM (LHPAg)

232 I saw Payback when it came out in theaters but I didn't like it. EVERYONE else seems to love it.

At this point I remember exactly nothing about the film except maybe some blue tinting throughout. I should probably see it again.

Posted by: Robert at August 10, 2024 09:41 PM (rRDKH)

233 Clowns are the worst.
Posted by: Megthered

Mimes.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at August 10, 2024 09:42 PM (4Med0)

234 I saw Evil Dead 2 when a friend who had a bad fever called me up and asked me to come and make sure what he was seeing was real.
It didn't care, that movie didn't care.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 10, 2024 08:52 PM (D7oie)

My uncle did some of the miniature work on Evil Dead 2.
Tried to break out on his own and originally lost a lot of money on his attempt.
Horrible movie. Finally broke even many years later.
I still have the Fangora write up magazine on my uncles movie.
Filmed in a abandoned looney bin in Michigan.
It was on HBO once. Once, at 3 am Eastern time. About the same time as Army of Darkness came out, which he was offered a job on and stupidly turned it down.
My life plan back then was to get out of the Army and work for his fledgling production company.
I saw that movie with my roommate and was all "Fuck. I better figure out something else." She went back to bed.

Posted by: Reforger at August 10, 2024 09:43 PM (xcIvR)

235 Mime puppet manikins?

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024 09:43 PM (ftFVW)

236 Watched “The House of Wax”, when I was 9. Still gives me the shivers when I think about it

Posted by: javems at August 10, 2024 09:43 PM (GBk7O)

237 Thanks moviegique

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 09:46 PM (mIykB)

238 Uh oh. Now they got a throuple goin' on. The kid is cute though.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 09:48 PM (vFG9F)

239
Yeah, watching a set half nekkid Marilyn Monroe steer a raft through whitewater doesn't compare with all that shit

Posted by: Auspex at August 10, 2024 09:48 PM (j4U/Z)

240 Ooh the threads almost done. I better go back and read Movirgique wrote.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 10, 2024 09:49 PM (S6gqv)

241 Amazon Video has the Director's Cut version of Payback, and it is a much grittier movie, with maybe only 60 percent overlap with the theatrical release.

I liked both of them.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 10, 2024 09:50 PM (07QK6)

242 Tom Servo: *middlefingeremoji.com*

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 09:50 PM (asXVI)

243 Ooh the threads almost done. I better go back and read Movirgique wrote.
Posted by: Tom Servo

-

That takes all the challenge out of the thread.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 09:51 PM (mIykB)

244 Werner has been drinking non-stop since the second day of Cackle Creature: The Ascent of a Fell Beast, my documentary of the repellant horror that is the Harris/Walz campaign. Soberness is both a challenge and a threat to one's mental well-being in a situation like this.

Thus is this thread welcome in such a dark night of the soul. Although, if Werner is to candid, I am German, and this is everyday existence for my countrymen and I 24-7, 365. The whimsical bit of puppetry above raises Werner's spirits - like Krampus, or Ralph Nader, there is an eldritch horror there that speaks to the child within us all. I would expound on how I learned that the auteur concept was actually a massive head-fake by a certain prominent Froggy director to ensure that he could nail Claudia Cardinale. but it is beer o'clock, and Werner must heed its diktat.

Posted by: Werner Herzog Checks In at August 10, 2024 09:52 PM (tmPIh)

245 I looked up The Vourdalak. It's available to rent on Amazon.

I may do that when I get home before I go to the doctor and get a camera shoved up my asshole.

Posted by: Robert at August 10, 2024 09:52 PM (CDkSU)

246 229 Always late. But I read the content.

OK, it was long but it wasn't THAT long!

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 09:52 PM (asXVI)

247 Thanks, moviegique. All those sound interesting.

Probably the only "significant" movie I watched recently was the Japanese 2001 film "Pulse." It's slow and nothing much happens but it's creepy and unsettling anyway.

It seems to posit that there's a place that dead souls go when they die (doesn't seem to be Heaven or Hell) but it's starting to get full, somehow, so some ghosts have to end up in this world, where they find ethernet ports.

And since they see us as lonely, and they're lonely, they try to have us join them.

The main thing I got from this is that the point seems to be that death is a natural end to life, and we shouldn't fear it. Which seems positive.

Still, it's creepy and weird. Search YouTube for "Pulse Ghost" and you can see the weirdest bit. She's not horrible and says nothing but the way she moves is unsettling.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at August 10, 2024 09:53 PM (CHHv1)

248 Oh and by the way, I bought your books.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at August 10, 2024 09:54 PM (CHHv1)

249 182
Nay! I wanna see the stuffing fly.
Posted by: She Hobbit at August 10, 2024

And in the end we all sing The Rainbow Connection as the first part of reclaiming that word?

Posted by: Piper at August 10, 2024 09:55 PM (QzINz)

250 Thanks for the thread, moviegique.

Have a good evening, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 10, 2024 09:55 PM (q3u5l)

251 So the rebel (Dean) has no cause, unless you consider that the cause is poon, thereby making him a rebel with a cause. Too bad he got his little buddy killed in the process.

Posted by: fd at August 10, 2024 09:55 PM (vFG9F)

252 The other crap I've been watching are movies directed by Bill Rebane. Arrow Video, who seem to have a lot of time on their hands, put a bunch of his movies on blue-ray, though the didn't include "Giant Spider Invasion" which was his only hit.

Other than that, "Monster A Go Go," which he half-directed, is probably his most famous. And so far (here's a scary thought) it's the best of the four of his films I've seen.

Yes. "Monster a Go Go" is the best of something. That's also unsettling and weird.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at August 10, 2024 09:57 PM (CHHv1)

253 Wow, thanks, BeckoningChasm!

Thanks Just Some Guy and Moron Robbie and Eris and vmom, and I'll see y'all in three weeks! (If not sooner, but probably not too much sooner because I gotta finish book 4 before BasedCon.)

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 09:58 PM (asXVI)

254 So the rebel (Dean) has no cause,

-
His mother made his father do housework.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I got 99 problems but Vance ain't one at August 10, 2024 09:59 PM (L/fGl)

255 >> Bill Rebane

I believe his last film was Tiny Tim's only film. "Blood Harvest".

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 09:59 PM (asXVI)

256 unless you consider that the cause is poon,

-

Which is, big-picture wise, the only cause.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Women pursuing older men must desire incestous father fantasies at August 10, 2024 10:00 PM (mIykB)

257 Payback was a remake of Lee Marvin movie .

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 10:01 PM (B1dzx)

258 Point Blank.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2024 10:02 PM (B1dzx)

259 The Serpent and the Rainbow Connection

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 10:02 PM (kpS4V)

260 Thanks, Gique! Great thread! Sorry I derailed it (again).

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 10:03 PM (kpS4V)

261
Now "hannie Calder". Hard pass.

Posted by: Auspex at August 10, 2024 10:08 PM (j4U/Z)

262 259 The Serpent and the Rainbow Connection
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 10, 2024 10:02 PM (kpS4V)

lol, nice

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at August 10, 2024 10:10 PM (asXVI)

263 Bill Rebane is still alive. So he could strike again.

His films are all competent, in that they are focused, framed so the important stuff is on screen, shot from angles to give variety. Technically it's all there. Story wise, it's awful with no reprieve.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at August 10, 2024 10:19 PM (CHHv1)

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