The Movie Thread Reloaded

[Omega]

Kids? Plural? IIRC There's Butch Patrick's character Eddie Munster & the Niece Marylin Munster. You might be thinking of The Addams.

But no, it's only the 3 adults: Grandpa, Lily & Herman.

Correct. Eddie was Herman and Lilly's kid and Marilyn as Lilly's niece. Though its very easy to miss and shes more often treated as a daughter. Which makes sense as Herman and Lilly raised her.

As for the new Munsters. Compare it to say Mockingbird Lane that came out in 2012 which was a pretty unusual approach with the supernatural elements ramped up.

Didn't watch, hell I didn't even knew it existed, it's a show or a movie?

I saw it on its one showing I know of. Was a hour long Halloween pilot that was not picked up. Interesting on its own and for third go at a reboot it was not bad really. Feels more Adams Family than Munsters though. Oddly I like it more than the Here Come the Munsters one-off from the 90s. Though the 90s one did hit all the beats of the original. Same for Munsters Today which also hit alot of the beats of the original.

Mockingbird Lane trailer.

[GeekyBugle]

Kids? Plural? IIRC There's Butch Patrick's character Eddie Munster & the Niece Marylin Munster. You might be thinking of The Addams.

But no, it's only the 3 adults: Grandpa, Lily & Herman.

Correct. Eddie was Herman and Lilly's kid and Marilyn as Lilly's niece. Though its very easy to miss and shes more often treated as a daughter. Which makes sense as Herman and Lilly raised her.

As for the new Munsters. Compare it to say Mockingbird Lane that came out in 2012 which was a pretty unusual approach with the supernatural elements ramped up.

Didn't watch, hell I didn't even knew it existed, it's a show or a movie?

I saw it on its one showing I know of. Was a hour long Halloween pilot that was not picked up. Interesting on its own and for third go at a reboot it was not bad really. Feels more Adams Family than Munsters though. Oddly I like it more than the Here Come the Munsters one-off from the 90s. Though the 90s one did hit all the beats of the original. Same for Munsters Today which also hit alot of the beats of the original.

Mockingbird Lane trailer.

They got the house perfect, everything else? not so much, but they were going for a more serious show I guess.

[GeekyBugle]

Kids? Plural? IIRC There's Butch Patrick's character Eddie Munster & the Niece Marylin Munster. You might be thinking of The Addams.

But no, it's only the 3 adults: Grandpa, Lily & Herman.

Correct. Eddie was Herman and Lilly's kid and Marilyn as Lilly's niece. Though its very easy to miss and shes more often treated as a daughter. Which makes sense as Herman and Lilly raised her.

As for the new Munsters. Compare it to say Mockingbird Lane that came out in 2012 which was a pretty unusual approach with the supernatural elements ramped up.

Didn't watch, hell I didn't even knew it existed, it's a show or a movie?

I saw it on its one showing I know of. Was a hour long Halloween pilot that was not picked up. Interesting on its own and for third go at a reboot it was not bad really. Feels more Adams Family than Munsters though. Oddly I like it more than the Here Come the Munsters one-off from the 90s. Though the 90s one did hit all the beats of the original. Same for Munsters Today which also hit alot of the beats of the original.

They got the house perfect, everything else? not so much, but they were going for a more serious show I guess.

Okay, after watching the pilot I've changed my mind, it could have been a good show, if not as funny as the original at least very fun.

[Omega]

That was my impression as well. Lots of potential, especially if viewed as its own thing.

[Thornhammer]

Huh. Sidney Sweeney wants to star in and direct a remake of Barbarella.

As Dale Gribble said: "I'm skeptical that you could, but intrigued that you may."

[Omega]

Seems there is some back and fourth over the rights to a Buck Rogers movie.

One group has the actual Buck Rogers setting. The other grabbed the original Armageddon book when it went public domain and are claiming that their movie will totally not be Buck Rogers because the character is named Anthony Rogers. uh-huh. Yep. Totally different. 

[Trond]

My wife and I were just watching the Critical Drinker's eviscerating review of Wakanda Forever,  and it suddenly disappeared. We can't find it on his channel anymore.

[Lurkndog]

My wife and I were just watching the Critical Drinker's eviscerating review of Wakanda Forever,  and it suddenly disappeared. We can't find it on his channel anymore.

It's back now, if it ever truly left. 

https://youtu.be/VPRUAqraFFY

[Reckall]

I watched "Barbarian" (a horror movie set in modern day - I won't spoil what the title refers to). The first two acts are really good and, as a European watching from outside, I would tell that they capture many of the anxieties of contemporary United States. Unfortunately all of the good plot strands somehow lead to a very conventional third act. Still. the movie does a good job in keeping the tension and the mystery high for a good chunk of its length. 6/10 in my book.

The trailer, for once, is effective without giving things away. Very tongue in check too

[Omega]

Was going over the history of Will Smith's I, Robot movie and turns out I was right. They really did just slap the title and a few place names on a totally different script.

[Ghostmaker]

Was going over the history of Will Smith's I, Robot movie and turns out I was right. They really did just slap the title and a few place names on a totally different script.

That happened with Verhoeven's godawful Starship Troopers adaptation as well.

[Omega]

Got to see the live action Aladin remake. In HD.

Was not bad really. A little woke nonsense change but nothing too bothersome. That being Jazmine wanting to be the sultan and her father not allowing it because she is a girl. But at the end the sultan hands over the title to her and tells her the sultan can change the rules. Well why didnt you do that in the first place? But it fits the slightly more sombre, subdued background tone for this telling.

But that was really surprising was discovering finally what HD really is. And not liking it much. Everything was... TOO real. I was watching it and everything liked like people on a set somehow. Closest I can come to as comparison is to some old TV shows that were filmed live on a stage. Or many soap operas. Except here it is much more pronounced.

It looks good and someone put alot of effort into it all. But the HD kept disconnecting me.

Will Smith made a great Djini and whomever they got to play Jafar did a good job of playing him as this very subdued almost personable character on the surface. Jasmine was another one well played. Not as fiery as she is in the cartoon. Which was odd as shes supposed to be fighting the "patriarchy". But does not do much at all aside from make an end-run for the lamp and make a speech near the end.

Overall not bad and on its own it fares well against older live action versions.

[Reckall]

I finally catched Savageland (it is available for free on Youtube) and I found it as creepy as hell - if you forget the political messaging.

It is a fake documentary, very well done, about what happened in a small town in Arizona, near the border with Mexico, during a single night. The whole population of 57 souls was savagely massacred and killed. The sole survivor, an illegal Mexican immigrant, was accused of being the only culprit. He, however, was an amateur photographer, and shot 36 pictures "showing" (the quotes are necessary) the horror that came to the town. The documentary uses these pictures as a mean to understand what really happened during that horrific night.

Let's put away the elephant in the room. Many people are interviewed about these events and they either condemn the Mexican survivor ("He is one of those people") or defend him without, however, elaborating on the content of the pictures. The problem is that it is simply impossible for one man to brutally kill a whole town. Even the most bigoted person wouldn't believe that this is possible. The police would quickly assume, at the very least, that other people are involved - maybe a drug cartel enhancing some kind of vendetta. A lawyer would be able to point this out with five words. All of this to say that I understand what the filmmakers wanted to express, but the political "message" comes out as completely forced.

All of this doesn't touch the genuine creepiness of the main story. Using computer maps of the small town, interviews and, above all, those 36 pictures, the movie paints a horrific tale that, for some reason, reminded me of something out of R.E. Howard. Remote towns in the middle of the Southwestern deserts are timeless places where "things" may happen. I won't spoil, but after a while it is very obvious what is going on. That's not the point: the beauty of the movie is how the tale is told. The fake documentary has a realistic feel, something made by someone that just wants to find the truth. The 36 pictures are among the creepiest things I have seen in a horror movie ever. I wouldn't sleep in a room with a copy of them on the walls. And I liked how the origins of the event are a complete mystery (Again, it is suggested that the police and even the legal system just want to bury everything, but why? If there is a conspiracy, it makes no sense).

Overall, I was creeped for 90 minutes by a movie made with a minuscule budget. Bravo to the first time filmmakers but next time either give a proper context to the political messaging or leave it out. 7 out of 10 in my book.

The full movie:

[Lurkndog]

I watched the first episode of Amazon's The Peripheral. It's an adaptation of a William Gibson book. Chloe Grace Moretz plays Flynne Fisher, a young woman living out in the boondocks of near-future America. She's scraping to get by, working in a 3D printing shop on a dirt road, and taking gigs as a "hired gun" in online video games to make ends meet and take care of her ailing mother. When her neer-do-well brother comes across a new client willing to pay big bucks to play a new game on cutting-edge hardware, she gets drawn into something else entirely...

Short and spoiler-free version: the first episode is good, getting things off to a quick start, and setting up a plot that is, if not believable, than at least internally coherent. Good cast, too.

I say check it out.

[Trond]

Just saw Romancing the Stone again after, what, 35 years?
Boy, I miss these good old, fun adventure movies. Great humor, and with damsels who are occasionally in distress! (script by a woman if it matters)