movies

[Flex]

but it still seems slightly less than the sum of its parts.

I see what you did there

[Dr. Medulla]

but it still seems slightly less than the sum of its parts.

I see what you did there

Ha! Unintentional, or perhaps subconscious.

[WestwayKid]

Late to the party on this, but would Knives Out be appropriate for my 10 year old to see?

Probably. There's one line from Daniel Craig about referring to the alt right kid masturbating in the bathroom (it's a joke, nothing like that is depicted) and there's some depicted pot use, both those are brief. But I don't recall much salty language and despite the murder plot it's not really violent or anything. Very minimal blood in one scene. No scenes of sex or whatever. Definitely calibrated to be a movie the whole family can go to.

Looking forward to this, hopefully this week.

We saw it over the weekend. Altho it took a few frames to adjust to Daniel Craig's southern accent the ensemble cast was really something, and Christopher Plummer is the Keith Richards of actors - he just keeps going and going.

We this last night and really enjoyed it. A refreshing take on the well worn whodunit. The acting was great. It was suspenseful, yet light on its feet and fun. Rian Johnson continues to impress. This was just a really fun film to watch.

[matedog]

Meanwhile, the Boss is watching Love Actually, which I've never seen. It is not good at all. I'm not sure a terrorist attack that kills most of the characters could save it for me.

i actually (heh) like love actually - it's terrible but it's terrible in ways i find amusing and watchable - but i'll never forgive it for spawning a "Love Actually is Bad, Actually" thinkpiece industrial complex that rivals only baby it's cold outside during the holiday season. Like, your feelings about this movie isn't Doing Politics, people. go volunteer for a campaign or something.

I can't imagine being invested in this movie enough to generate a hate piece, unless it's part of a meta-Hugh Grant hate piece. I'd be cool with that.

update: B just headed off to the tub for a warm-up bath, so I've changed the channel. She told me I'll want to see how it ends; I assured her that I don't care a whit about any of the characters' happiness.

I was appalled by the subplot about the guy fawning over his best friend's wife. And somehow that's romantic? That subplot deserves a thinkpiece every year, for all I care. I do like that the kid plays drums to impress the girl though.

[Flex]

I was appalled by the subplot about the guy fawning over his best friend's wife. And somehow that's romantic? That subplot deserves a thinkpiece every year, for all I care. I do like that the kid plays drums to impress the girl though.

I don't actually have a real problem with it. It's a plot about a guy becoming honest with his own feelings in order to move forward and develop healthy, adult relationships with his friend, his friends wife, and (at the end of the film) a new love interest. Would that more movies correctly portrayed his feelings as something to move past, not embrace.

The real creepy plot, to me, is the Colin Firth one where a wealthy older white man lusts after his hired working class maid. All sorts of fucked up power dynamics there.

[matedog]

I was appalled by the subplot about the guy fawning over his best friend's wife. And somehow that's romantic? That subplot deserves a thinkpiece every year, for all I care. I do like that the kid plays drums to impress the girl though.

I don't actually have a real problem with it. It's a plot about a guy becoming honest with his own feelings in order to move forward and develop healthy, adult relationships with his friend, his friends wife, and (at the end of the film) a new love interest. Would that more movies correctly portrayed his feelings as something to move past, not embrace.

The real creepy plot, to me, is the Colin Firth one where a wealthy older white man lusts after his hired working class maid. All sorts of fucked up power dynamics there.

I get what they were going for with the Kneightly subplot, particularly the last thing of him walking away and encouraging himself to move on, but it was too little too late for me.

A common theme with a lot of the subplots is superficial lusting = romance. Which I guess makes for more entertaining stories, but having been married for only four years now, it's pretty eyeroll inducing how little work and substance = LOVE! in this movie.

Anyway, we are doing our own thinkpieces now. I kinda enjoy hatewatching this movie like I like to hatewatch Empire Records or Blues Brothers 2000, but people unironically loving this movie is a bit much for me.

[Kory]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) A group of outcast teenagers find a half-written book of short stories by a witch, The book continues to write additional stories by itself, in which members of the group disappear in real time. I just couldn’t get behind this kiddie-romp, and was even more disappointed to find that it’s from the director of the outstanding Autopsy of Jane Doe. Set in 1968, Donovan’s fantastic “Season of the Witch” played over the opening credits, while Lana Del Ray’s uninspired cover of the same song played over the end credits.

Even more disappointing is that the series of books that it's ostensibly adapted from have some of the most terrifying illustrations ever. I highly doubt they carried over.

[Wolter]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) A group of outcast teenagers find a half-written book of short stories by a witch, The book continues to write additional stories by itself, in which members of the group disappear in real time. I just couldn’t get behind this kiddie-romp, and was even more disappointed to find that it’s from the director of the outstanding Autopsy of Jane Doe. Set in 1968, Donovan’s fantastic “Season of the Witch” played over the opening credits, while Lana Del Ray’s uninspired cover of the same song played over the end credits.

Even more disappointing is that the series of books that it's ostensibly adapted from have some of the most terrifying illustrations ever. I highly doubt they carried over.

God those illustrations were absolutely monstrous.

[Kory]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) A group of outcast teenagers find a half-written book of short stories by a witch, The book continues to write additional stories by itself, in which members of the group disappear in real time. I just couldn’t get behind this kiddie-romp, and was even more disappointed to find that it’s from the director of the outstanding Autopsy of Jane Doe. Set in 1968, Donovan’s fantastic “Season of the Witch” played over the opening credits, while Lana Del Ray’s uninspired cover of the same song played over the end credits.

Even more disappointing is that the series of books that it's ostensibly adapted from have some of the most terrifying illustrations ever. I highly doubt they carried over.

God those illustrations were absolutely monstrous.

Did you see that they republished the books some years ago with new, less-scary illustrations? What is the earthly point of that?

[Wolter]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) A group of outcast teenagers find a half-written book of short stories by a witch, The book continues to write additional stories by itself, in which members of the group disappear in real time. I just couldn’t get behind this kiddie-romp, and was even more disappointed to find that it’s from the director of the outstanding Autopsy of Jane Doe. Set in 1968, Donovan’s fantastic “Season of the Witch” played over the opening credits, while Lana Del Ray’s uninspired cover of the same song played over the end credits.

Even more disappointing is that the series of books that it's ostensibly adapted from have some of the most terrifying illustrations ever. I highly doubt they carried over.

God those illustrations were absolutely monstrous.

Did you see that they republished the books some years ago with new, less-scary illustrations? What is the earthly point of that?

I did and that was BS.

[tepista]

Watched Frankenstein's Army this evening. Torn over the thing. It looks great. Seriously unsettling, albeit more steampunk than I'm into. (Still, I loved how batshit impractical the creatures were. Yeah, I'll give this guy a propeller for a head because, you know, why not?) But I'm not really a fan of the found-footage style because, as effective as it can be for selling a story, it's often used to cover up the lack of a narrative. Which is how this felt. I'd still recommend this for this visuals and particular scenes, but it still seems slightly less than the sum of its parts.

The "found footage" gimmick, as well as the other things you said are the main reason I would choose Overlord over F's A, even though I prefer the idea of mecha-men over super-soldiers.

[tepista]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) A group of outcast teenagers find a half-written book of short stories by a witch, The book continues to write additional stories by itself, in which members of the group disappear in real time. I just couldn’t get behind this kiddie-romp, and was even more disappointed to find that it’s from the director of the outstanding Autopsy of Jane Doe. Set in 1968, Donovan’s fantastic “Season of the Witch” played over the opening credits, while Lana Del Ray’s uninspired cover of the same song played over the end credits.

Even more disappointing is that the series of books that it's ostensibly adapted from have some of the most terrifying illustrations ever. I highly doubt they carried over.

God those illustrations were absolutely monstrous.

Did you see that they republished the books some years ago with new, less-scary illustrations? What is the earthly point of that?

I did and that was BS.

Oh also, it looked like they were going for period piece (1968) on cars and clothes, but not on hair and dialog. i.e. half-assed

[Kory]

I was appalled by the subplot about the guy fawning over his best friend's wife. And somehow that's romantic? That subplot deserves a thinkpiece every year, for all I care. I do like that the kid plays drums to impress the girl though.

I don't actually have a real problem with it. It's a plot about a guy becoming honest with his own feelings in order to move forward and develop healthy, adult relationships with his friend, his friends wife, and (at the end of the film) a new love interest. Would that more movies correctly portrayed his feelings as something to move past, not embrace.

The real creepy plot, to me, is the Colin Firth one where a wealthy older white man lusts after his hired working class maid. All sorts of fucked up power dynamics there.

Also, come on, it's not like none of us have fallen in love with our friend's wives. It's common because you get a chance to see what this person is like in a relationship and it's easy and kind of charming to imagine yourself in your friend's place, especially if you're single. I APOLOGIZE FOR NOTHING.

[matedog]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) A group of outcast teenagers find a half-written book of short stories by a witch, The book continues to write additional stories by itself, in which members of the group disappear in real time. I just couldn’t get behind this kiddie-romp, and was even more disappointed to find that it’s from the director of the outstanding Autopsy of Jane Doe. Set in 1968, Donovan’s fantastic “Season of the Witch” played over the opening credits, while Lana Del Ray’s uninspired cover of the same song played over the end credits.

Even more disappointing is that the series of books that it's ostensibly adapted from have some of the most terrifying illustrations ever. I highly doubt they carried over.

The stories themselves were usually pretty hokey, so it's not THAT much of a betrayal of the source material. Harold (which I guess this one adapts, so maybe my counterpoint is bs) was actually pretty legit.

The one that I remember being particularly upsetting was the one about the kids that have to behave poorly to get a toy drum and eventually their mother is replaced by a demon. That one really fucked with me.

Edit - here is the story

https://www.scaryforkids.com/drum/
The gypsy kid is a real dick. Probably hasn't aged well in that respect. The last line still gets me: The lights in the house were off, but when they peered through the window, they could see their new mother's glass eyes glistening in the glow of the firelight and they could hear her wooden tail thumping on the floor.

[tepista]

I never even heard of them, and the first one came out in 1981 when I was 11, so I was the right age. I guess the Sauza family has never been big on books.