We all either love horror films, or hate horror films. What's that film that kept you up at night? The one that you re-watch all the time? The one that made you groan at 'the big reveal'?...
As I work today I'm listening to the soundtrack from the 1982 Conan the Barbarian film that was composed by Basil Poledouris. Things are feeling fairly barbaric at the moment here in the Arizona desert
While its good to see that books still hold their own (in revenue generating terms) with films & music (they outperform both), the big news is that video games generated more revenue globally than books & music combined.
As someone who has never played a video game, but reads a lot of books, I'm not sure how I feel about this... but it tells us something about where the globe's creative & receptive energies seem to be spent.
The 1966 film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (based on the award winning 1962 play, and still frequently revived on stage today) itself won five Academy Awards. I consider it to be among the two most emotionally draining films I've ever seen, and the most accurate portrayal of a complex "real life at home" situation as well.
Starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Sandy Dennis, and George Segal, with the first two as far from looking and behaving "glamorous" as could possibly be imagined, the topic of the story seems prosaic enough.
A middle-aged couple (the husband a college professor) invites a new professor and his wife to their home after a college party. The results shocked playgoers and sent the MPAA into convulsions when they attempted to deal with the language and sexual content of the film, which was very far beyond any kind of norm at the time.
Even now, the film has enormous impact, as you watch the four characters descend into a kind of booze-induced madness.
I strongly recommend this film. It is available to view in the usual places.
Before I get to work, a few thoughts on the current big movies and TV series. You may not agree with my PoV.
Oppenheimer was about 1 hr too long. Some good character play but overall very dreary and talky. Gave up about 30mins before the end.
Flower Moon thing was almost too boring to keep watching after about 45 minutes but I kept on for a bit. I gave up and went to bed and didnt bother watching the end. What the hell was it really about? Did I have to do loads of googling to get the plot? Tedious.
Rebel Moon - a pathetic waste of time lost I will never get back. Gave it about 45 minutes.
The Killer was good. Not really good but definitely good. Fassbender is quite compulsive in these loner roles and I enjoyed how the film was put together.
The Creator was overall very enjoyable. A bit long and drawn out but the whole idea and the general production value was excellent.
I have watched earlier series of Succession but stopped as I was sick of watching stories about really horrible people. This also applies to Billions.
I haven't watched Napoleon yet but going on comments I wont bother fttb.
Same as above for Maestro.
I didn't watch Barbie bc (...) Id much rather watch Lee, but haven't been able to find a source to watch it.
I think current movies are overall terrible. There is no story, or if there is, it is so obscured by terrible screenplay that it gets completely lost in supposed nuanced meaningfulness that we the viewers lose all interest. We dont care about the characters. Quite a lot of TV series on the other hand tend to be very good, if you choose what interests you. This is the opposite of what may have been true a decade ago.
On this day (November 4) in 1988, John Carpenter's THEY LIVE was released.
Did a recent rewatch of this recently and it holds up. Disturbingly accurate as to what's still going on in the world today (and maybe has always and will always go on in the world, with corruption, greed, etc.)
2024 marks the 45th anniversary of sci-fi horror masterpiece Alien, which was released May 25, 1979.
The first time I saw it I was pretty young, it was on TV and censored. We actually had it recorded on a VHS from TV, which is something my family did a lot. I only saw the full uncensored version years later! 😂
THE EVIL DEAD is probably one of my absolute favorites. While I do give the edge to 2, it’s only because I enjoy the humor. This movie was a landmark in horror. It was a cutting edge film for 83 that still looks great today. The film feels just as unhinged and chaotic as the first time I watched it.
Released 36 years ago yesterday (September 18) in North America (Sept 10 in the UK) in 1987, one of my favorite movies ever, Hellraiser. It's had all kinds of sequels - I've seen all the Bradley ones and the Hulu one. All have their perks (2 might be my favorite? 3 is cool too) but they definitely get cheesier and weirder as they go (with the exception of the newest Hulu one, which was pretty great).
It’s a good thing Netflix recently added Dune: Part One to their library (at least in my region) so that I could rewatch it before seeing Part Two in the cinema! 🤩
Somebody - I’ve never really got on with Miranda July’s films but this short for the Miu Miu Women’s Series is fun and enjoyable. Maybe I’ll give her features a go again. Any recommendations?
House of Tolerance - I started this months ago and got sidetracked but watched it again when it popped up on MUBI. Adele Haenel stars in this look at the lives of women in a French brothel from their point of view. It looks great, yes, but is full of searing rage and despair. In the US it was called House of Pleasure, when, mostly for the women in the film, their indentured lives are full of anything but pleasure.
Almost Entirely a Slight Disaster - A dry, droll Turkish film about your young people in the country, all of whom we see crying alone, as they face hardships. It’s funny, though; think Roy Andersson or Ali Kaurismäki.
Challengers - The trailer made me think I’d hate this film but I read lots of reviews praising it, and went in open-minded and hopeful. First off, Zendaya is good. But the characters are inanely one-dimensional, it jumps around all over the place, Trent Reznor’s techno drowns out the dialogue, and the ‘shock’ ending is telegraphed miles out. And worst of all it’s just boring. The first hour would have been a spinning-newspaper headline in a 1930s film. And it’s got tennis in it. Ha, to make the tennis interesting Guadagnino uses every cliché, making it look like the camera’s in the ball, sticking a GoPro on the racquet, and those scenes end up being laughable. TL:DR I didn’t like it.
Film telling the (mostly true) story of the 2008 financial crises. Surprisingly, this is a compelling movie, with good performances by all the leads (including a difficult to recognise Brad Pitt). The film also uses guest celebs to explain the intricacies of merchant banking products.
The movie is fast-moving, entertaining, and informative.
Kbin: What is your favourite (or least favourite) horror film?
We all either love horror films, or hate horror films. What's that film that kept you up at night? The one that you re-watch all the time? The one that made you groan at 'the big reveal'?...
Marathon Halloween French
Octobre commence, saison propice pour regarder des films qui font peur !...
[Discussion cinéma] Les pires films de science-fiction selon vous French
[Discussion cinéma] Les pires films de science-fiction selon vous...