Support NeoGAF

[UberTag]

I'm curious, what's your take on this from the perspective of someone like me, who adores something like The Good The Bad The Weird purely for the quality of its action and energy, fully accepting that the story isn't much beyond a treasure hunt where everyone wants to kill everyone?

I would imagine you'd enjoy The Age of Shadows more going into it with that expectation than I did. I never watched The Good, The Bad and The Weird, however.

I don't mind a nonsense film about people trying to kill each other if it's honest about it... I gave props to Wheatley's Free Fire after all. But you'd better bring an energy along with it and not expect me to care about your window dressing.

 

[Vampirolol]

The Nice Guys: this movie is very fun and well made, I think I'm going to rewatch it again and again. Loved the acting. Shane Black perfected his style with The Nice Guys, too bad it flopped.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Super doesn't work on any level other than having a few decent chuckles, though watching Ellen Paige rape Rainn Wilson is kind of a trip.

 

[UberTag]

One fundamental difference between Contact and Arrival I would be remiss not to call out is the influence of religion. It's practically a non-existent factor in Arrival despite being hyper-prevalent in Contact.

Instead of questions about faith, we're presented with a screenplay focused around the fundamental roots of language and communication. World powers don't react harshly based on their religious world belief being shattered by the presence of aliens but instead react based on fear of powerbrokering and what amounts to a Cold War deterrence dynamic playing out between the various factions of humanity and this unknown extraterrestrial threat.

I suspect science nerds might flock to Arrival much harder than they have recent sci-fi efforts. Most notably Interstellar which suffered greatly from random characters making stupid off-the-cuff decisions because that's what the script demanded of them.

 

[UrbanRats]

Super doesn't work on any level other than having a few decent chuckles, though watching Ellen Paige rape Rainn Wilson is kind of a trip.

Still works better than Kickass at that "lol what if a real life loser wanted to be a super hero?" thing.

 

[Messofanego]

Pretty majestical.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Granted, there isn't much competition this year aside from Everybody Wants Some!! and Wiener-Dog, but the same team behind What We Do In The Shadows (dir. Taika Waititi, who has a great scene about Jesus and doors) deliver once again the best comedy of the year. The development of the relationship between Sam Neill's and Julian Dennison's characters felt natural and is realised how similar they are as loners. Surprisingly, exceptional cinematography (Lachlan Milne) clearly afforded by a bigger budget and helped by the New Zealand forests and mountains (yes, there is a Lord of the Rings reference). There are a couple of cool pan shots, the latter of which gets funnier when it goes 360 to show off the ridiculous manhunt team. Not surprisingly, WETA helped out on the "Terminator Pig". The whole cast is fantastic, particularly Rachel House as the child welfare worker ("no child left behind") punching way above her weight to tower even over the police. One of my favourite lines from her character is when she's berating Ricky ("You're more like Sarah Connor in the first movie before she could do chin-ups"). Absolutely hilarious and heartfelt throughout. Fantastic visual humour and witty dialogue, reminded me of Edgar Wright's films. More people should go see this.

 

[Rei_Toei]

Pretty majestical.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Granted, there isn't much competition this year aside from Everybody Wants Some!! and Wiener-Dog, but the same team behind What We Do In The Shadows (dir. Taika Waititi, who has a great scene about Jesus and doors) deliver once again the best comedy of the year. The development of the relationship between Sam Neill's and Julian Dennison's characters felt natural and is realised how similar they are as loners. Surprisingly, exceptional cinematography (Lachlan Milne) clearly afforded by a bigger budget and helped by the New Zealand forests and mountains (yes, there is a Lord of the Rings reference). There are a couple of cool pan shots, the latter of which gets funnier when it goes 360 to show off the ridiculous manhunt team. Not surprisingly, WETA helped out on the "Terminator Pig". The whole cast is fantastic, particularly Rachel House as the child welfare worker ("no child left behind") punching way above her weight to tower even over the police. One of my favourite lines from her character is when she's berating Ricky ("You're more like Sarah Connor in the first movie before she could do chin-ups"). Absolutely hilarious and heartfelt throughout. Fantastic visual humour and witty dialogue, reminded me of Edgar Wright's films. More people should go see this.

Thanks for posting about this, I forgot a bit about Waititi but Eagle vs Shark is one of my alltime favourite comedies, so I'll keep an eye out for this one!

 

[thenexus6]

HEAT

Long long overdue for a re-watching. With the Oscar screening recently and my friend looking just like Neil when I met him the other day I dug it out.

Mann, its good. Don't really have to say much about it.. It's a classic.

I really want to watch Manhunter again now, another i've wanted to revisit for ages but I don't get it, and unavailable to rent on Google play. Maybe i'll find a cheap blu ray deal.

 

[Mist]

Pretty majestical.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Granted, there isn't much competition this year aside from Everybody Wants Some!! and Wiener-Dog, but the same team behind What We Do In The Shadows (dir. Taika Waititi, who has a great scene about Jesus and doors) deliver once again the best comedy of the year. The development of the relationship between Sam Neill's and Julian Dennison's characters felt natural and is realised how similar they are as loners. Surprisingly, exceptional cinematography (Lachlan Milne) clearly afforded by a bigger budget and helped by the New Zealand forests and mountains (yes, there is a Lord of the Rings reference). There are a couple of cool pan shots, the latter of which gets funnier when it goes 360 to show off the ridiculous manhunt team. Not surprisingly, WETA helped out on the "Terminator Pig". The whole cast is fantastic, particularly Rachel House as the child welfare worker ("no child left behind") punching way above her weight to tower even over the police. One of my favourite lines from her character is when she's berating Ricky ("You're more like Sarah Connor in the first movie before she could do chin-ups"). Absolutely hilarious and heartfelt throughout. Fantastic visual humour and witty dialogue, reminded me of Edgar Wright's films. More people should go see this.

Saw this last weekend as well. I loved it.

This song pops up in my head every now and then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us6ZcvCcYoo

 

[Divius]

I have a weird reference point for The Blair Witch Project, because I watched it only once before and didn't remember much of the movie itself, but more so about the experience surrounding that viewing. Which was in a cabin in the woods. In the middle of the night. And then we went for a walk in the woods afterwards. Yeah. Great stuff, but I never really looked back at the movie. With the new one being out I decided to revisit and..

..A rewatch proved better than expected. The handheld format works quite well with the documentary style, the improvised (?) lines feel realistic and really flesh out the characters (until the part where they seem to lose it and the acting feels off), the night scenes are legit spooky although nothing much happens. It takes a bit to get going but things slowly start to spiral out of control and the movie left me satisfied. 7/10

Too bad the new one is supposed to be poopy, don't plan to see it in theaters.

quickies:
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates wasn't half bad. Tired but safe comedy plot structure, some decent jokes, not half bad. Plaza looked amazing. 5/10
Hunt for the Wilderpeople my MOTY so far, although it doesn't have much competition yet. What a delight. Super fun filmmaking. 8/10
Black Mass was super boring to me. Felt like the movie had no energy. Not in its direction, pacing, editing, acting, plot. Nearly put me to sleep. Depp's performance grew on me. 5/10

 

[TheFlow]

Forrest gump is one of the best movies ever.

 

[omgkitty]

Forrest gump is one of the best movies ever.

 

[TheFlow]

Can't even look at someone the same way if they think otherwise.

 

[lordxar]

Pretty majestical.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Granted, there isn't much competition this year aside from Everybody Wants Some!! and Wiener-Dog, but the same team behind What We Do In The Shadows (dir. Taika Waititi, who has a great scene about Jesus and doors) deliver once again the best comedy of the year. The development of the relationship between Sam Neill's and Julian Dennison's characters felt natural and is realised how similar they are as loners. Surprisingly, exceptional cinematography (Lachlan Milne) clearly afforded by a bigger budget and helped by the New Zealand forests and mountains (yes, there is a Lord of the Rings reference). There are a couple of cool pan shots, the latter of which gets funnier when it goes 360 to show off the ridiculous manhunt team. Not surprisingly, WETA helped out on the "Terminator Pig". The whole cast is fantastic, particularly Rachel House as the child welfare worker ("no child left behind") punching way above her weight to tower even over the police. One of my favourite lines from her character is when she's berating Ricky ("You're more like Sarah Connor in the first movie before she could do chin-ups"). Absolutely hilarious and heartfelt throughout. Fantastic visual humour and witty dialogue, reminded me of Edgar Wright's films. More people should go see this.

You had me at What We Do In The Shadows.

 

[Messofanego]

Saw this last weekend as well. I loved it.

This song pops up in my head every now and then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us6ZcvCcYoo

"Once rejected, now accepted" Ricky's face during that is so good.

 

[Beefy]

Steven Segal - Perfect Weapon

I got bored one night and this was on. Damn it has to the worst Seagal movie I have ever seen. It is set in the not to distant future and is about Seagal who is a ruler in a city. He recruits the best of the best to be his assassins, wiping their minds and making them the "perfect weapon". The story follows one if the recruits who starts to get his memory back and fight control.

To make it worse Seagal's melted plastic face is plastered every where. There are huge video screens on sky scrappers of his face sort of spinning around. Also every time you see seagal he is with some young asian girl that is basically his slave ( which is cringy as fuck).

-100/10

 

[Infernostew]

Forrest gump is one of the best movies ever.

 

[Blader]

Monsieur Verdoux
Chaplin's second talkie, and certainly an improvement over The Great Dictator (which I was pretty meh on); it's funnier and Chaplin's acting has improved (or he at least has a better handle on how to use his voice). It stills a feel bit stale compared to his silents, it's probably about a half hour longer than it needs to be, and Chaplin's politicking speech feels even more shoehorned here than it did in TGD. But overall, while not as great his silent efforts, I liked it fine.
7/10

Three Outlaw Samurai
A bit better than the other Gosha I've seen, Sword of the Beast, but my feelings on it are about the same: great swordplay choreography and some striking cinematography, but for whatever reason, the plot and characters just do not engage me at all. So it averages out to a so-so for me.
6/10

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Still works better than Kickass at that "lol what if a real life loser wanted to be a super hero?" thing.

It does, you are correct, but for a movie whose entire premise is a "realistic" take on a superhero, it's pretty damn sloppy on that front.

And, uh, Ellen Page does not come across as somebody who works in a comic shop and gets wet for schlubby dudes in spandex. Not even a little.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

She doesn't look like somebody who goes for dudes, period.

 

[UberTag]

Thrilled to see more people hop on board the Hunt for the Wilderpeople bandwagon. The relationship between Sam Neill's Uncle Hec and Julian Dennison's Ricky Baker remains my favourite of 2016. I challenge anyone to watch this film and not crack up at Sam's facial expressions. Holds up extremely well to repeat viewings as well.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

She doesn't look like somebody who goes for dudes, period.

Eh, I know that's true of her IRL, but I wouldn't say it's a quality she exudes just looking at her. "Juno" is a shitty movie, but I recall her and Michael Cera having some genuinely sweet moments in it.

She def does not strike one as a loser weirdo who wants to be a superhero so she can sate her bloodlust.

 

[TheFlow]

Juno was shitty? o_o

 

[Ridley327]

At this rate, we're going to scare TheFlow out of this thread for good.

 

[T Dollarz]

Still the best movie I've seen this year.

Same. Linklater has been climbing my all time directors list quite steadily.

 

[TheFlow]

At this rate, we're going to scare TheFlow out of this thread for good.

Haha I can accept others opinions no matter how strongly I disagree with them.

 

[Daante]

London has Fallen

Enjoyable popcorn movie.

6,5/10

 

[IronRinn]

Watched High-Rise this weekend. Not sure I liked it while I was watching it, but I do like it thinking back on it.

I just kept thinking that nothing really connected but, in retrospect, that was probably a good way to get you into Laing's descent. Or maybe I'm just giving Wheatley a pass. Did make me want to read the book, though, that's for sure.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Thrilled to see more people hop on board the Hunt for the Wilderpeople bandwagon. The relationship between Sam Neill's Uncle Hec and Julian Dennison's Ricky Baker remains my favourite of 2016. I challenge anyone to watch this film and not crack up at Sam's facial expressions. Holds up extremely well to repeat viewings as well.

I really want to see it. What We Do In Shadows was in my top 10 last year.

 

[Ridley327]

I really want to see it. What We Do In Shadows was in my top 10 last year.

It is awesome. It's so good that it makes me sort of hopeful for Thor 3.

But only sort of!

 

[ViewtifulJC]

It is awesome. It's so good that it makes me sort of hopeful for Thor 3.

But only sort of!

Sir

have you seen Thor 2

nothing good can come out of that

 

[Puck Beaverton]

Same. Linklater has been climbing my all time directors list quite steadily.

He's been on my top 10 since the 1-2 combination of Before Midnight and Boyhood.

Also odd to see Korea elected a genre picture over the critically acclaimed, highbrow period drama that was also financially successful. I like Kim Jee-Woon, but that's kinda an odd choice to submit to the Academy.

Oh and Juno had Olivia Thirlby so it's alright.

 

[Discotheque]

It is awesome. It's so good that it makes me sort of hopeful for Thor 3.

But only sort of!

Eh we're at a point in the mcu where I feel like they could hire any director they want and the movie would still come out like the rest of them.

I gotta see wilderpeople for sure tho. I liked what we do in the shadows quite a bit.

 

[Divius]

It is awesome. It's so good that it makes me sort of hopeful for Thor 3.

Eh we're at a point in the mcu where I feel like they could hire any director they want and the movie would still come out like the rest of them.

Maybe it'll be like Iron Man 3. Interpret that however you like.

 

[lordxar]

Another blast of movies:

Masters of Horror Family. George Wendt being a crazed "family" man was actually pretty cool. There was a nice twist at the end that really sold this one for me.

Brain Damage. Ah the classic. I've never watched this before but I've heard about it on the various horror must see lists. Pretty cool to finally get to see this. Dude winds up with brain thing for a buddy that looks more like a dildo with teeth. Brain thing zaps him with lsd or something like that anyway and away the story goes. Very cool movie over all. It's not something I'd give extremely high marks to but I did enjoy it quite a bit and can definitely see why its a classic.

Dagon. I've seen the cover for this at the rental place or on whatever streaming service and always passed on it but its actually quite good. Think the village of RE4 with fish people. CGI wasn't great but it wasn't frequent either so even though it was horribly dated it wasn't a focal point ie not distracting. Recommended.

Bad Taste. Peter Jackson's gore fest comedy. Another I've heard of but never watched. It's cheesy and cheap as hell but funny.

 

[TheFlow]

15 movies to look out for this fall.

http://www.vox.com/2016/9/19/12951156/fall-movies-preview-2016-la-la-land


I am hyped for La la land because

1.Same dude who made Whiplash which is easily in my top 4 of all time.
2.Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are the best on screen couple. They can do no wrong together.
3. it is a musical. we already knew Gosling could sing, but I am excited to hear more of Stone's voice.


Moonlight looks like it is going to be the one that is most talked about for sure.

 

[Discotheque]

Moonlight looks so good for sure. It's a topic that hasnt come up in many black films too. Could be my movie of the year if the trailer is anything to go by

La La land looking strong too. Wanna see these more than anything else this year right now

 

[TheFlow]

Moonlight looks so good for sure. It's a topic that hasnt come up in many black films too. Could be my movie of the year if the trailer is anything to go by

La La land looking strong too. Wanna see these more than anything else this year right now

agreed. moonlight going to have people crying

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Every few days I find myself watching the Moonlight trailer and its many beautiful sounds and images.

I cry sometimes I can't lie

 

[Lord Virgin]

15 movies to look out for this fall.

http://www.vox.com/2016/9/19/12951156/fall-movies-preview-2016-la-la-land


I am hyped for La la land because

1.Same dude who made Whiplash which is easily in my top 4 of all time.
2.Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are the best on screen couple. They can do no wrong together.
3. it is a musical. we already knew Gosling could sing, but I am excited to hear more of Stone's voice.


Moonlight looks like it is going to be the one that is most talked about for sure.

I like them, but Gosling and McAdams is where it's at. Dude fucked up.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

It is awesome. It's so good that it makes me sort of hopeful for Thor 3.

But only sort of!

I believe in Taika

And Jeff Goldblum.

 

[Blader]

I am all about La La Land and Arrival

Spoiler

and Rogue One and Dr. Strange ssshhh

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

I am all about La La Land and Arrival

Spoiler

and Rogue One and Dr. Strange ssshhh

Leave now and never come back.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

I suspect science nerds might flock to Arrival much harder than they have recent sci-fi efforts. Most notably Interstellar which suffered greatly from random characters making stupid off-the-cuff decisions because that's what the script demanded of them.

Alas, our numbers are small and puny. Nerds alone cannot carry a movie. It has to tip over into general appeal like The Martian did for that to work.

 

[TheFlow]

I like them, but Gosling and McAdams is where it's at. Dude fucked up.

but eva mendes is sooo fine

 

[lordxar]

but eva mendes is sooo fine

No arguments here.

 

[Discotheque]

I am all about La La Land and Arrival

Spoiler

and Rogue One and Dr. Strange ssshhh

Oh right. Rogue One could be fun too. Hoping it's not a trainwreck going by all stories about production change up.

Arrival looking like sci fi movie of the year though. Should have got a McConaughey or Jodie Foster cameo to make it "Contact 3"

 

[Wolfe]

I watched Mechanic: Ressurection recently as I was out and wanting to waste time so a movie seemed like a decent idea. Unfortunately there wasn't much to watch so I settled on this one. Admittedly I haven't seen the previous movie(s?), talking about the Statham ones specifically, but this one was a snooze fest.

I mean it was shot well enough, and the performances were ok, but damn if I didn't end up wondering multiple times how much longer the movie was. Just felt like nobody really gave a shit and that it was just something being cranked out for the money. Felt like nothing was happening while at the same time things were happening too fast and that there was too much thrown into this movie without enough time to flesh any of it out. The best part was prolly Tommy Lee Jones and he just shuffled around like an old man in his PJs for most of his scenes.

 

[Ridley327]

Sir

have you seen Thor 2

nothing good can come out of that

Well, at least they haven't replaced the respected director with someone from TV yet, and Natalie Portman isn't around to be held up at gunpoint to deliver her lines.

 

[TheFlow]

Hail, Caesar! 2016
★★★ Watched 19 Sep, 2016

Charming movie, with a stellar cast, but I can't help thinking this movie wasn't funny and had few memorable moments. Will be forgettable as the time wages on. Not the Coen brother's best but still worth a rental.


yea didn't live up to the hype for me, but I can see why people like it.


unto Midnight Special