Luca Bottazzi
24Jan13
Truly true!
Threske: Filmography
OM NAMAH SHIVAYA. OM NAMAH SHIVAYA. OM NAMAH SHIVAYA. OM NAMAH SHIVAYA.
One word: mouthgina. ★★★★
I went into this expecting an unpretentious, silly romp - one of those comedies that knows it's dumb and cliched and delivers consistent laughs (e.g. "Sex Drive") - but as much as I dig Corddry and Cusack, this is an unforgivably, savagely, unremittingly shitty movie. It makes knuckle-dragging, lowbrow, by-the-numbers bromedies seem complex and sophisticated, and didn't elicit so much as a chuckle. ★★, generously.
"John, you know when you're little, you have more endurance than God is ever to grant you again? Children are man at his strongest; they abide."
Ultimately ineffectual plot exposition is forgivable when framed with some of the most distinctive, evocative, and sublimely atmospheric aural and visual aesthetics I've ever seen. Utterly alive with dreamlike, sterile alien menace, like a dimly-recalled nightmare, Beyond The Black Rainbow is an icy plexiglass, steel, fluorescent and analogue synth confluence of Tarkovsky, Lynch, THX 1138, Ridley Scott, et al. ★★★★
Luca Bottazzi and Cbarky99 like this
"I TOLD YOU TO FACE THE GODDAMNED WALL."
Gratuitous CGI escapism at its finest. ★★★★
Gimme some sugar, baby.
One of the most fun and original movies made in recent years. That something this unorthodox and outright wacky not only survived a few pitch meetings but was greenlit, produced and ultimately saw wide theatrical release is nothing short of miraculous. Know as little about it as possible going in and let the incredulous laughter flow. ★★★★
I love Tina Fey, but this is a real piece of shit.
I'm puzzled as to how this was so widely dismissed as mediocre and even poor. Cheese was sprinkled fairly liberally throughout, especially in the third act; there're plenty of glaring inconsistencies in era technology; just as numerous are the B horror film caliber "Why-would-they-do-that"s - but I genuinely enjoyed most of it. I'll not remark on its iteration of the Alien cosmology - I have my own "real" Xenomorph
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Threske
30Sep12
universe, an isolated and idiosyncratic mythos cherry-picked from the original film, Giger's seminal vision, and some of the Dark Horse comics canon, and I can't ever realistically expect any subsequent films to do it justice - suffice it, I didn't care for it. Whatever treatment of the Engineers I would've liked to see would be sparse. The Xenomorphs must definitively remain monolithic question marks; to deal in causal, chronological and original terms of their being is to bleed them of the profound menace of the unknown -- the films are called Alien; the Xenomorphs: Alien. Giving too much of a how, why, and especially a who to them defeats the purpose utterly. That said - taken apart from the canonical arc of Alien proper, Prometheus is far from bad.
Easily one of the most overrated sci-fi films of the 00s. By no means a bad film, but far from the prescient, evocative, hyper-pertinent vision of New Dystopia it's inexplicably misremembered as being. ★★★ for its justly-praised production value.
"Thank my lucky stars, a negro!"
Mike Nelson, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot give this the sendup it shamelessly earns. Highly recommended MST3K episode.
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Sheldon No
22Jan13
Actually, this film really is underrated. People treat this film as though the filmmakers were the Tarantinos of the 70's. For being so modestly made, it's a wonderful and outstanding piece of moody horror. But it is in fact a modest film. The way people attack it, again you'd believe the director was the biggest asshole on the planet who hated the audience.
Ay yo, cuz', you hella cliched 'n' shit, ya 'eard? Like, schkraight up, embarrassingly hackneyed stereotype on two feets, dogg. F'real: you a coarse, low-minded caricature; the popalarity y'all's buffoonery garners is symptomatic of a larger cultural devolution; another deafening horn heralding the abasement of our species. Y'all be, like, black Jersey Shore. Real talk, son.
I'm perfectly comfy both with having never seen this and having zero desire to do anything about it. The irradiated cultural fallout of its influence proves its insipidity. Is there such a thing as a training montage that /doesn't/ involving shadowboxing while running up municipal building steps in sweatpants, post-Avildsen? I like drooling, lobotomized blockbusters as much as the next guy, but this reeks of L.C.D.
The last thing a metal drummer should be asked to do is act. And yet, he outperforms Clive Owen. This's *that* bad.
I wanna see this solely for Brolin's Tommy Lee Jones
Qiydaar Foster likes this
If you ever wondered what it'd be like to watch Brad Pitt hastily eating for two hours, this's the movie for you
Is there a better living American actor?
Kirby and my nigga totoro like this
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Roscoe
16Sep12
Sean Penn, Kevin Kline, Paul Giamatti, Hal Holbrook, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Michael Shannon, Martin Sheen, Brian Dennehy, Sissy Spacek, Julianne Moore, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, James Earl Jones, Denzel Washington, Robert Downey Jr., Lawrence Fishburne, Jeffrey Wright, Justin Kirk, Ron Liebman, Samuel L. Jackson, Sally Field, the list goes on and on and on, any number of of living American actors who are far better than P.S. Hoffman. I've only scratched the surface here.
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Threske
17Sep12
A few of them are his peers (notably Penn, Duvall, Pacino), and several are very good (Downey, Hoffman, Sheen, DeNiro, Spacek), but none you listed excel him (nevermind "are far better"), several are mediocre, and a few even outright poor. The inclusion of Kirk, McDonald, and Kline are confusing, for while they're by no means bad, they haven't delivered any convincing performances. But Lawrence Fishburne? James Earl Jones, Sally Field? Paul Giamatti and Samuel Jackson!? I mean, I /enjoy/ watching a few of those actors, but you're either joking, or buying melodramatic histrionics as genuine, cathartic and evocative acting.
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Roscoe
18Sep12
Looks like we disagree. I've yet to see anything genuine, cathartic or evocative from P.S. Hoffman. He's by no means Keanu-level bad, but he's yet to deliver a really convincing performance to match the best of Al Pacino or Robert Duvall).. In calling him America's finest living actor, you're either joking, or buyikng melodramatic histrionics as genuine, cathartic and evocative acting yourself. Opinions differ all over the place. Sorry to hijack your posting, though.
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This shouldn't work on so many levels - almost uniformly horrible acting, a few laughably cheesy moments - but it does. The post-processing on the tapes (static, noise, roll, color deformation) is almost the star in itself, and helps to create some of the most unique and genuinely creepy atmosphere in anything I've seen. I hate the "horror" genre, categorically, but this is a hugely underappreciated gem.
Steve Pulaski likes this
Greg Proops was right on the money about this one.
Technically exquisite, and totally mediocre in every other way. An inexplicable late-game "sequel" undeserving of its ancestor. I almost couldn't keep a straight face with Pam Adlon as Leila in the English dub.
♪ ♫ Do you ever take drugs so that you can have sex without crying, yeah-yeah! ♫ ♪
Ryan Clark likes this
Wow, what a turd.
Samantha Kate and Max like this
He doublegobbled.
WhatsUpWill likes this
"EGO SUM QUI INTUS HABITAT!" ...Latin for "I can't believe I'm in this piece of shit." ★★
Kid Sisyphus likes this
Handily one of 2008's shittiest.
Oh THERE you are, Peter!
Life, uh, uh, FINDS a WAY.
