Movie Discussion

Best Stoner Comedy

  • Up In Smoke

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • How High

    Votes: 2 22.2%

  • Half Baked

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • Dude, Where's My Car?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

    Votes: 3 33.3%

  • Dazed and Confused

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • Pineapple Express

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Reefer Madness (lol)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Friday

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Saving Grace

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • The Big Lebowski

    Votes: 5 55.6%
  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .
Knives Out

Saw this in theaters two days ago with friends ( :D )
It was great.
The moment they made the flashback for Marta's mistake I realized it would be hard to predict how the story would turn out, but I did have an inkling of a thought that she didn't literally put all that morphine in him and that the liquid was somehow switched, and that he killed himself for no reason, but I knew nothing beyond that. I guess that's what the hole in the donut was. Great acting in this movie, great plot, quite clever pulling the wool over our eyes by trying to make us think we know what happened and misdirecting us with Marta. She's honestly a terrific character, as well as blanc. The ending was really the icing on the cake. The gweneth paltrow character was the funniest to me though.

One criticism I could make of the movie is that the backdrop drips with the obviously biased left-wing ideologies of its creators, making a point to ostracize the rightist teen boy as a creep and paint the SJW liberal arts major friend character as a victimized hero in the background of a perfectly good mystery story. It really took me out of it... I don't see at all why this was necessary. Like, just why? The story stands good enough on its own without such needless political prodding.

8/10. could have been a 9 though if not for that really intrusive character point. Its praise on this forum is definitely deserved.

After the movie my friend said "i usually don't care for mystery movies but that one was fun" which I consider a big achievement, considering how difficult it is to impress the guy.

Edit: also, I just realized that the names of the characters are kinda clever. Marta = martyr, blanc = white, ransom = ransom. I see, I see, I see. The hole in the donut also has another donut hole but it's actually just another donut with a hole of its own after all.
 
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Ad Astra (2019)
Really liked this one, the space loneliness, the voiceovers, and especially Brad Pitt. Man had to go somewhere dark to do this and it shows. The space shots were super neat-o, a lot like Blade Runner 2049, and boy, those Mars scenes were just lovely. Watching this also felt a lot like re-watching Planetes, which I loved the shit out of, so there's that. Kind of underwhelming that it all boiled down to daddy issues in the end, but given the way Pitt's character arc was going, it made sense. 7.5/10

Hustlers (2019)
This was a surprisingly good one and something I enjoyed from start to finish. J. Lo and Constance Wu's chemistry is off the charts, and it's their relationship that really gives the film a heart. I'd argue this could be just as good as mafia movies, but I wish it could've explored its class divide issues more deeply. It's a good character piece, but given the societal issues it name-dropped, I felt the movie could have done more to challenge the status quo. Could have also used more Julia Stiles. 7/10

Joker (2019)
A big yikes and an even bigger no for me, dawg. This movie ain't it and if you felt like you could have been an Arthur Fleck at some point in your life, then you seriously have a lot of growing up to do. It tries to punch way above its weight class by introducing heady topics like the class divide and the society we live in. But it never goes beyond the simple black and white moralities it sets up and is instead, content with Arthur ranting against the world because it makes him look cool. Even worse, there's nothing in here that warrants its connection to the DC originals, because it could have been about anyone else and it would have still worked. Mental illness is not some excuse or friggin' badge of honor for you to lash out and hurt people by the way, it's a real sickness that needs to get cured. It's super basic and tries justify only the most horrible, most unrepentant villain in DC's roster. Joker's relationship with Batman is a complex one; where Batman craves order to justify his parents' murder, Joker is all-out chaotic and unpredictable. This movie disregards that depth completely, just so they could paint Joker as this edgy man we must all feel sorry for and rally to when the rich start stepping on the poor again. Fuck this movie, man, for real. 2/10

GTOwlnizuka said:
Knives Out
Benoit is literally called a gentleman sleuth, and then quickly becomes almost a parody. The donut speak, the absurdly obtuse vocabulary, the pretentiousness. Most of his "a-ha!" moments happen by luck, a plot device for "charming detective" stories, but operates interestingly here, as instead of enjoying the blind luck, we're almost annoyed by it (intentional, as we're led to support Marta).
Click to expand...

I caught that detail early on too, that Benoit didn't do a lot of sleuthing and was really just stumbling upon the clues before putting them together. But to be fair to him, he did explain that was how he did his investigations, to wait, wait, and wait, until the opportunity presented itself. Sly bit of humor there.

Thrawn said:
I am totally going to go see this so I can have the theater for myself. And for that pimp cat.
Click to expand...

It's like I keep telling my friends, bro, Idris Elba might turn me into a furry or something, and I wouldn't know what to do with myself if that happened.
 
Franconator said:
Joker (2019)
A big yikes and an even bigger no for me, dawg. This movie ain't it and if you felt like you could have been an Arthur Fleck at some point in your life, then you seriously have a lot of growing up to do. It tries to punch way above its weight class by introducing heady topics like the class divide and the society we live in. But it never goes beyond the simple black and white moralities it sets up and is instead, content with Arthur ranting against the world because it makes him look cool. Even worse, there's nothing in here that warrants its connection to the DC originals, because it could have been about anyone else and it would have still worked. Mental illness is not some excuse or friggin' badge of honor for you to lash out and hurt people by the way, it's a real sickness that needs to get cured. It's super basic and tries justify only the most horrible, most unrepentant villain in DC's roster. Joker's relationship with Batman is a complex one; where Batman craves order to justify his parents' murder, Joker is all-out chaotic and unpredictable. This movie disregards that depth completely, just so they could paint Joker as this edgy man we must all feel sorry for and rally to when the rich start stepping on the poor again. Fuck this movie, man, for real. 2/10
Click to expand...
Amen.
 
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Well, damn, a film so bad it makes someone question whether they're into movies.
 
Surviving Christmas

Man, this is great! These people are so unlikable, so materialistic that conveys the folley of Christmas and festive modernism that eschews family for consumerism and capitalism while trying to enforce family values and maintaining one's childhood memories by offering currency to appeal to the sullen, grumpy anti-family family. It has one hell of a cast; Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate, Catherine O'Hara... all great people but they pull all the stops in what families shouldn't do for Christmas, or at all. But it'll be all right in the end, it's a Christmas movie! And it had the most cliche music placement of The Primitives' Crash, you could hear the lyrics coming. Cliches abound, but the
Managing two girls so they don't meet bit is surprisingly quick and turned about
I did have some laughs, and while the ending may not be as well-earned as most, it's still... yeah. You could do worse. But you could do a lot better. It's the schlock that's generic in the movie scene but not as charming or unharmful, nor as friendly as Hallmark shit. A lot of unneeded filler that serves no point and in general it's forgettable, and not one you would come back to. The forced, rampant greed that is the human folly is on play nearly every step of the way, but to get past that and see family for what it is, that's just how you... Survive Christmas.

3.5/10
 
Cash on Demand (1961)

Starring Peter Cushing, features a nice intro that is pretty much a journey through a bank, ending at the vault with the title drop and after all the credits have rolled through. And starring Audrey Mortel who is outstanding in his role, standing toe-to-toe with Peter Cushing and being absolutely menacing in one scene and an unassuming, ordinary bloke in another, it is a joy to watch. Good man. The fear Peter Cushing portrays, the affably evil/faux affably menacing of Audrey Mortel, they play off each other perfectly and completely sell the movie. Not to say bad about the co-stars, this really feels like a prim and proper bank and not like the American "snippy and sarcastic" style or of comedies or more free-balling settings. They're by the book here by the stint of the manager who runs a tight ship while having the character of the underclass workers who aren't as uptight as the higher-ups. There is also nary a stint of violence, it runs on tension, suspense and the sheer emotion given by the main duo, and that is what makes a great thriller; not needing violence to create action or atmosphere. Action is good in places, but this movie doesn't need it and works all the better for it. Don't be dismayed at the start, once the reveal happens, it really kicks into gear.

8.5/10, the acting is truly stellar.
 
Thoughts on Gremlins and Gremlins 2:
so in comparing the atmosphere between the two movies, the first one feels darker compared to the 2nd, which goes for a more looney tunes vibe. They definitely went for more variety when it came to the different gremlins in the second one. The humor in the 2nd feels sort of hit or miss. It was funny when the gremlins invaded the movie theater though. Loved it when Gizmo went Rambo on Spike.

If I had to compare the endings though, I think the first one ended on a stronger note. When they showed that Lady Gremlin was alive at the end of the second, I was saying what. Its like all of the characters' efforts to kill all the gremlins felt wasted in the end. Maybe they were attempting to create a cliffhanger in case the 2nd movie was successful enough to make a 3rd one, but I'm guessing it didn't do well enough.

Gremlins are interesting monsters, they even appeared in Rosario Vampire season 2 when they were eating the airplane the characters were on. Being on an airplane usually ends up having something bad happen, sort of like in Jojo.

I enjoyed the movies, even if the 2nd one doesn't end on a strong note.
 
Thoughts on Infinity War Endgame:
By far the longest Marvel movie I have seen so far. So the movie doesn't really begin to pick up until the characters figure out they can time travel to get the stones before Thanos can get them. Even without getting spoiled, you can tell that Tony Stark was going to die in the movie cause of how much screentime he was getting. In that regard, the movie still suffers from too many characters and the inadequate screentime between them, just as with the other Avenger films.

Plus Thanos isn't really a compelling antagonist, considering he's been just an obstacle to the other characters. Even without his own origin film, if they had shown a scene from his childhood that shaped his character, I would have felt differently with his character. At least the actors for Captain America and Iron Man fulfilled their contracts and can now move on to different projects. I can say that I've seen all of Infinity War now and honestly, it just doesn't resonate with me like it has with others.
 
Thoughts on Spider-Man: Far from Home:
Well, its better than the Endgame movie, although that's not saying a lot. Compared to Homecoming I think its improved a bit. At least they didn't rush Peter and Mary Jane's relationship like with what happened with Peter and Gwen during the Amazing Spider-Man films. MJ even helped progressed the story so that worked out. With all those drones trying to kill Spider-Man, you'd think it was starting to become a Terminator movie.

I can say that Mysterio felt like a better villain compared to The Vulture, probably cause he had more connection to the story. Plus the themes with his character feel relevant in today's society.

What really made me happy was that they kept the Jonah Jameson actor towards the end. That put a smile on my face seeing that guy again from the Sam Raimi films. I know that they've been trying to portray Happy as a sort of father figure to Peter, since he had more screentime in this movie. Liked how Peter made his own Spider-Man outfit, since the Spider armor made him too powerful to begin with.

Quite the surprise at the end, Mysterio's attempt to reveal Spider-Man's identity to everyone. It'll probably play out like that Spectacular Spider-Man episode, where Peter has to pretend he's not Spider-Man. Think I'm looking forward to the next movie, just a little bit.
 
Krampus (2015)

I was like "Oh shit, it's that guy from Parks and Rec!" and then "Oh shit, it's that girl from Mr. Deeds!", and a guy who reminds me of That 70s druglord. Missed the first 20 minutes or so so I missed how the plot kicked off, with the kid ripping up his letter after his dick cousins totally read it out loud and it made shit so awkward and instead of Santa, he got.... KRAMPUS! Neat twist, right? So totes. It has family that sucks and is unlikable but becomes likable as it goes on with development and respect and papa wolf/mama bear going around and only one or two I disliked. Some nice creepy beasties around, Krampus is some freaky shit, and if you look close it becomes even freakier. It's not scary, but has nice tension and visuals. Some nice comedic moments, shotgun, not so much dick measuring but "Check out how big my dick is" sort of thing going, with a bit of measuring. It's definitely creepy and the adult fear is done quite nicely. Also has a nice ending, with

the kid opening the present to show the bell/bulb/ornament Krampus gave him. It's expected that it would be that when it's all happy and shit, but everybody looking at it and their reactions is worth the predictability of what the present was. The recognition, the dawning comprehension... that is what I live for.

It was pretty good, definitely worth catching on cable.

7/10

Holiday Date

It's sweet, I missed the first 20 minutes so I missed how the guy is acting as her "boyfriend" Ethan, who is her ex at the time of the story and that he was hired to do so. But the twist might have been revealed early on so I'll keep mum about him being Jewish and totally flubbing up all the Christmas stuff but they accepted it nicely. Obligatory throwing snowballs at each other to defuse tension, misunderstanding by only catching part of the conversation, the part that needs the rest of it to make sense but it's resolved quickly, and the main guy looks like a younger Mark Consuelos, AKA Hiram Lodge from Riverdale. One of the better ones I saw. Them trying to keep up with the lies and the web of is fun to watch.

6.6/10
 
It was a mistake watching Die Hard in the morning before Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker.
DH is a classic of explosions, a great cast and a bromance that grows before your eyes.

Star Wars...
 
The High Life

If someone took an Alex Garland script then fed it through Google translate in different languages two or three times then this is the movie you'd get. None of the characters speak or act remotely like a human being, but there are a lot of interesting ideas about how a ship full of criminals on a suicide mission would react to being on a deep space mission. Ideas aren't enough if the execution isn't there though. 4 out of 10
 
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