Tammy and the T-Rex (Gore Cut) - 8/10 Night of the Living Dead (1968) - 8.5/10 Totally Killer - 5.5/10
The Mothman Prophecies - 9/10 I grew up with this film. I remember my friends telling me about the Mothman and Ingrid Cold and thinking it sounded made up until I saw it for myself. It was suitably creepy for an X-Files fan under the age of 12 then, and after a day of interviewing Mark Pellington and seeing the film on the big screen at the Eerie Horror Fest, I am pleased to say The Mothman Prophecies remains compelling, relevant, and at times, truly scary. Connecting seemingly unrelated dots in an attempt to conjure meaning for the most challenging moments in our lives, and subsequently creating our own individual realities. I don't know if I've seen a film that balances style and substance as well as this one.
They Live (1988) - Sometimes you just got to put on sunglasses and blast the rich, dont fuck around with subtle complexities, take aim and fire! This is another movie I had missed when I was young, I didnt even know the bubblegum line was coming. Great performance from Roddy and looking juiced up! What an awesome fight scene from Keith david! Bottoms (2023) - Lesbian highschool fight club was fun. It's at its best when it gets its absurdist Heathers mode on, kinda flounders through the Superbad intro without the chops to make it pop. It's a much more enjoyable ride after it shifts into gear and shows it's teeth, the humour and style start punching through with only the occasional lull when a highschool scene gets bogged down by its trope. I like seeing this, more comedies, more mid budget movies, more young voices, more cinema!
Martin - 8.5/10 A very unique Romero film - dark, humorous, and filled with introspective thoughtfulness as opposed to social satire. Extremely cozy. Can't wait to revisit this one. Watched on Youtube. After Hours - 8/10 After Hours walked so Beau is Afraid could run. V/H/S/85 - 7/10 Uneven but fun, pretty much exactly what you expect and probably want from this franchise if you're anything like me
Babylon - I was expecting much worse based on some of the reactions I read here. Its overindulgence prevents it from really achieving something great, but I liked it for the most part. Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, and Diego Calva do a lot of heavy lifting. The score is also fantastic. With a tighter edit and a less cornball ending, it could have been really good. No One Will Save You - This is the rare 90-minute movie to feel too long. The first 30ish minutes were really enjoyable. But about an hour in I was ready for it to end and there were somehow still 30 more minutes. Then the reveal of why she was ostracized from the community comes in and I began to actively hate it. But somehow those last five minutes tied everything together for me in a way where I actually ended up liking it again.
Almost word for word how I felt about No One Will Save You, except that last five didn't come together for me outside of Twilight Zone-esque novelty
For me, I viewed the ending as she did a horrible thing and the whole movie it seemed like she was just hoping to be forgiven without actually putting in any work. In the end, she gets what she wants but it is a complete fantasy. The people she's dancing with aren't actually the people she wronged and who hated her. It reminded me of all the image rehabilitation cries we've seen for people who have been canceled (for lack of a better word) for doing awful things in the last few years. None of them have actually put in the work, they just think "Oh it's been enough time, I should be forgiven now". I found that to be an interesting way to bring the story together. That and the surreal framing of it worked for me.
That's a great and really thoughtful analysis, I just don't think it was actually there haha. Loved reading it though!
I think the only evidence we saw were those little letters she was writing to her dead friend she killed. But she was just keeping those for herself. To be fair, if someone killed someone I loved with a rock I don't think they could really put in any amount of work to make me forgive them. She seemed to be acting like she had hoped people had just moved on.
Opening Night My first Cassavetes film and I loved it, that last like 10 minutes of John and Gena doing improv was so great
Babylon will eventually be rightly recognized as a classic. Chazelle took his shot and took and ENORMOUS swing and more or less nails it.
It’s got its flaws, but I still overall enjoyed it quite a bit. The extended sequence earlier on at the silent film lots and filming the battle scene is truly fantastic. I might revisit it again a few years down the line.
The "Babylon is actually good" crowd is striking too early. You have to let people forget how bad it was so they aren't ready for the thinkpieces.
I loved Babylon from the moment I left the theater. Latecomers are welcome to the team, but some of us have been here.
Glenngary Glenn Ross - An incredibly entertaining look at the slimy, dog eat dog world of sales and how people will debase themselves under the boot of capitalism. Each one of these guys really is a complete loser just looking for an angle to screw someone else over and blaming everyone else for their failures. I could watch all of these guys (except Spacey, obviously) monologue for days.