Idiocracy- 2006 Just shows where we are going…as a society. 😜
UHF - so many quotable lines.
Babylon
I really enjoyed the storyline and character arcs. It’s witty and raucous. I like the start with debauchery and descent into depravity. Reminds me of Casino with the rise and fall of magnates. Characters were well researched and written from historical basis pulling from multiple important figures in early cinema. And as usual, Margot Robbie is spectacularly precise.
Exit to Eden. Terrible rotten tomatoes score, but it’s awesome and loved by the bdsm community. It’s a 1990s film adaptation of the Anne Rice novella of the same name, which is more or less just classic her style erotica, this one of a man going to a femdom island retreat and falling in love with and impressing the head lady there. Cliche whatever, but pretty good representation of kink despite the outlandish setting. But some executives or someone involved in the movie had a brilliant idea: buddy cop b plot with Rosie O’Donnell. This takes it from a bold and interesting decision that would probably be well regarded by a small group of people, to a movie that’s just kinda fucking nuts in a fun way. The b plot keeps the movie silly and light.
So yeah, if this sounds up your alley I highly recommend it.
Matrix Reloaded. People generally dislike it. I find it deepens the Matrix universe in many ways
The matrix sequels definitely muddle the pacing and characters, and they struggle to fill the void left by the central mystery of the first film, but the philosophising and action are both as good or better than the first film.
Speed racer has already been critically reevaluated so I guess my wachowski hot take is that Jupiter Ascending is due. It’s idiotic but it’s a sweaty blast of pure cinema.
Well, yea, I agree. Nothing can beat discovering the Matrix. The first film has a myth mike quality to it that is mostly lost in the sequels
Aha, Jupiter Ascending ! didn’t really stick to this one, but I think a rewatch is in order becayse I think it’s been a decade and I’d like to try watching it while blazed beyond belief. I want to see if I mesh better with it in that state
How is it idiotic though ?
The metaphysics in the whole series is honestly mind blowing. I even found the 4th movie to be oddly disturbing because it made it click in my mind that choosing a different reality than you were born into is akin to suicide. That blue pill kills your old self. It didn’t quite click for me in the first movie because I feel they were doing a lot of world building and it was easy to miss it in the fast pace.
The 4th movie they kinda lingered on that concept and it just screamed “this is talking about suicide” to me. And then I got kinda anxious. Because the blue pill seemed like the obvious choice until then. I know Cypher kinda makes a point about preferring the matrix, but it felt more like preference than suicide.
But he did say “if you told us the truth we’d have told you to shove that blue pill up your ass!”
ahhh… never saw it that way. I remember reading Lana (?) saying it was a trans allegory, and it made so much sense to me.
I didn’t like the 4th at all but I fully expect to read more into it a decade from now or so
La huitieme jour. It is a French movie about Down Syndrome and life. It gives you such a different perspective on it all. Also it ends remarkably sad but beautiful. Very French.
Payback with Mel Gibson (pre-rant) was one of my favorite movies. Lots of dark humor, a solid revenge story, and quippy dialog
I love Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise films. Shitty, shitty people. Good director and actor.
Mother!
I found it really enjoyable trying to trace all of the symbolism and allegory. For whatever reason, audiences didn’t like it so much.
Pontypool, great concept and execution for a low budget horror, Canadian zombies with a twist
The Man from Earth low budget sci-fi about a guy who’s been alive for thousands of years, mostly just character development and story telling through actually story telling.
Deep Blue Sea 3, 1 was great b movie shark horror, 2 was garbage, but 3 knew it was on the back foot and just goes all in, not a great movie but after 2 definitely underrated.
The Man from Earth low budget sci-fi about a guy who’s been alive for thousands of years, mostly just character development and story telling through actually story telling.
Seconded. It’s also an indie film that they want people to see, so it’s probably somewhere for free. The sequel was a torrent on their site iirc.
The Man From Earth is at least on YouTube as a 720p movie. For free. Recommended. (The sequel wasn’t as good but I enjoyed it somewhat as well.)
I often think about John/J’aan. Is he the embodiment of humanity, or the complete rejection of it, given all that happened throughout his life.
Also, do his skills decay if he does not use them for a period? e.g. did he learn to juggle and then forget
Are his memories just a general vague flattened blur of too familiar human patterns, and all he experiences is the present?
Great concept
Are his memories just a general vague flattened blur of too familiar human patterns, and all he experiences is the present?
I mean if you’re over the age of 20, you can probably imagine this.
You can’t really remember all the things you did. Especially not for the first years when you were shitting yourself and sucking tits. But that’s more for psychological protection I feel like. My point being that from like 3-5 you start having some memories. The more vivid the connection, the better it stays. I can’t remember most of my childhood, but I can definitely remember parts of it. And especially if someone reminds me of a thing. Or a smell or something else familiar. But like yeah, the limits of memory on someone that old would be interesting. I just think it’s a sort of prioritised order for him as well. Might not remember lots of specifics but does remember lots of vague ideas.
I think skills stay longer than non-vivid memories… I’m not sure if he could just juggle, but doing so would prolly come back fast from muscle memory. Idk
This whole comment is me just guessing. But that’s what the movie makes you do, and it’s what I love about it.
Even I remember (now we’ve been over this a bit) on how he was asked if he ever got seriously ill. And John remembered getting like pneumonia in the stone age or smth. Would prolly remember who cared for him more vividly than someone they met at a grocery store a few weeks before telling the story.
Human minds and memories are fascinating.
genuinely shocked the movie i was gunna comment already here at the top. i am so tired of zombies, and pontypool is the movie i point to whenever i tell people they don’t always all have to be the same
If you like your zombies different, you might like Pluribus.
Predestination. Ethan hawk mind fuck.
Probably bc the Heinlein story it’s based on is crazy
An American Pickle! The one with Seth Rogan playing two roles. Everyone I’ve talked to who’s seen it thought it was awful but I really enjoyed the premise and the ideas that it presented. What if i had to show the present day world to a long gone relative at the same age?
Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story
Great biopic parody that just keeps on giving. For me, Tim Meadows will always remain Sam, saying “not once.” It helps that his other roles are also goofy, like the ARGUS dude in Peacemaker.
I liked him in every role he played. He’s so funny, even if he seems to play the same character over and over
This movie was such a perfect parody that it killed the music biopic genre for a while.
“Wrong kid died.”
While I’ve always liked the first two Terminator movies due to their Tech Noir aesthetics, I find that this one adds some important background to the world building in general. The story is for the most part interesting, and Christian Bale plays the role well.
Terminator III and any movies after Salvation can fuck right off, tho.
Joe Versus the Volcano
I know he can get the job, but can he do the job.
Sneakers message still resonates strongly today
Better Off Dead outside the band of most 80s teenager comedy movies
Paycheck I thought it was a fun sci-fi that most people missed
The Great Escape not underrated back in the day, but not very well known now
Seconding Paycheck. One of the few Affleck movies I like.
I’ll third it. The premise alone is awesome; they invent a time machine, but you don’t travel in time, it’s more like a telescope that lets you observe the future.
Based on a story by Phillip K. Dick. But sadly, having read the story first, the movie became a huge disappointment (for me).
Sneakers is a lot of fun, but there’s one scene that just irks me. In the beginning of the film, the main character is picking up a check from a bank teller after their “white hat” elite team stole (then returned) untold millions from the same bank. The teller cuts him a check and asks what he does. He gives a short explanation and he says “it’s a living”. She looks at the check and back at him saying “not a very good one”. It’s clear that she’s a low level employee and there were 4 or 5 people on the crew, and she’d have no idea how much work went into the job. Even at minimum wage, it would have been a pretty nice paycheck and she would have had no idea whether it was a good amount, nor whether it was just one guy getting paid the amount on the check. The comment makes no sense.
