Last Movie You Saw, Name & Review Movie • Page 182

You'll Never Find Me - 5.5/10
It's not the slow-burn aspect I take issue with here as much as the nihilistic monologues and blank-stare performances that fill the first hour of this minimalist horror-thriller. There are interesting ideas here about our natural inclination to distrust strangers, along with effective moments of tenseion, but even when we're treated with a nightmarish, Creepshow-esque finale, it's unfortunately not enough to make up for a glacially paced film with a number of good ideas, but not enough great ones. I do feel like others will really love this, though.

Dead Silence - 5.5/10
Exactly what I needed after a dark and heavy slowburn. It's not good, per se, but it's a fun, schlocky artifact of the mid-2000s from the guys who brought you Saw (and presumably love extreme color-grading). It's relatively brisk and easy to follow, stylized as all hell, and showcasing an all-time great hammy cop performance from Donnie Wahlberg. It's also one of the loudest films I have ever seen. The reveal is so funny and also low-key sick. You probably already know whether this one is for you or not.

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra - 7.5/10
This was a new one for me, recommended by my podcast co-host on our Low-Budget Horror episode. I'm honestly shocked I hadn't even heard of it, because if I saw this in high school, I would have been in love with it. (I still kind of am.) It's essentially a Mel Brooks film by way of Mystery Science Theater 3000, really capturing some of the insane dialogue and structure of 50s B-movies. With that concept, it naturally runs a little long in the tooth and not all of the bits land, but that ones that do really made me laugh. ("I sleep now!") This one will be fun to revisit and show friends.

 

I should have specified those early 50s and 60s ones. Was curious if you had any pet favorites I might not have seen.

Love all 3 of those. Definitely in the elite tier with Them! and It Came from Beneath the Sea

Then again it can be just as fun when they’re horrible. I think about The Giant Gila Monster so much more often than movies that are much better technically

 

Hah, I love movies like The Giant Gila Monster but I'm almost always checking to see if there's an MST3K version before I watch them lol. Excited to give The Fly sequels a watch, I believe those are a lower budget/in black and white.

 

Immaculate - 8/10
If there's anything we all know about horror movies right now, it's that they're too damn smart and too damn long. We should all be thanking Sydney Sweeney for blessing us with Immaculate, a 90-minute throwback to nunsploitation films and B-movies of the 70s. It's one part Rosemary's Baby, one part Midsommar, a dash of Jacob's Ladder, blended together with a twist that will make Malignant fans blush. This thing is briskly paced, goofy, gory, fucked up, mostly self-aware, and dumb as hell - with just enough to say about reproduction rights to elevate it above Shyamalan fare. And Sweeney is good! I may be overrating this slightly, but I really did have a blast. See this one in theaters if you can.

 

Pokémon Horizons (episodes 1-12) 8/10. This is the first batch Netflix released even though they’re on like episode 40 in Japan. It’s the first season not to have Ash in it. Not a bad thing, since these characters are cool. I haven’t seen any of the show since I was a kid and it first came out, but this is pretty much an all new story. All Pokemon fans should check this out. I hope we get the next batch soon!

 

Sorry for how often I post in here - I watch a lot of movies and I like to type out my reviews here before copying to Letterboxd because it's easier than typing on my phone, lol.

The Rental - 7.5/10
I love that this doesn't play by the current rules of horror needing some kind of twist or over-the-top reveal; instead, Dave Franco's directorial debut is a tense relationship drama co-written by mumblecore royalty Joe Swanberg that slowly devolves realistic AirBnB invasion horror. The characters here feel basic, their relationships relatively low-stakes, but strong performances from Alison Brie, Jeremy Allen White, and Sheila Vand bring a natural charisma that lends to the film's anxious and unforgiving third act. Franco's first showing as a director is very solid, giving us a self-aware, non-indulgent debut that builds effectively to keep the audience invested over a relatively brisk runtime. As a naturalistic drama-thriller hybrid in a sea of horror desperate to call back to the genre's heyday, The Rental feels compulsively watchable and refreshing.

 

I always read your shit Aaron!

 

Same and I sometimes read it again when I see it on Letterboxd lol

 

keep the posts coming Aaron!

 

I wish I could write a movie review half as good as you can, Aaron.

 

I don't know shit about shit lmao y'all are too kind. This thread is fun and I love reading everyone's reviews in here, they often lead me to add things to my list that otherwise might not have been on my radar. Thanks for being so nice about my oversaturation. Part of the reason I love Letterboxd (and this thread) is it keeps me critically evaluating and writing about art, even in bit-sized pieces.

 

Yeah I enjoy your posts. I just forget to post after I watch movies.

 

Which reminds me! Ricky Stanicky is very dumb but is 100% worth watching for the John Cena performance.

 

Definitely keep posting. It's fun to see you land on a movie I've seen and it gets me thinking about it again.

 

Edge of the Axe - 6/10
A serviceable, run-of-the-mill 80s slasher with charmingly poor performances and eccentricities despite nothing really standing out, kills included. The killer has a cool get-up and the twist is fun enough, but as a slasher film, it's about as standard as they come. Fun for the right audience, especially after a few beers, but this one is probably for the completist horror-heads only.

 

Late Night With the Devil - 8/10
It's Ghostwatch but less realistic, WNUF Halloween Special but more unsettling (and admittedly less cozy). It's not a particularly original idea, but movies like this might as well have been designed in a lab for me. David Dastmalchian crushes his leading role in a bizarre and briskly paced found footage film stylized as a cursed late night television taping from the 70s. The decision to present behind the scenes footage throughout the taping as exposition is an interesting and mostly successful one; the decision to use AI on several still images throughout the film (prior to this becoming a hot-button issue in Fall 2023) has proven more divisive, to put it lightly, as some Letterboxd users have somewhat disingenuously called to boycott the film and Twitter users (no doubt having a normal one) have told people paying to see the film to kill themselves.

Personally, I find it to be a disappointing blemish on an otherwise incredibly fun and sinister horror film, one that, were it to fail due to a boycott, would only make it more difficult for independent horror and original IP to make it to the big screen. The internet has seemingly made it impossible for people to have normal conversations about issues we're passionate about; if this were't the case, we'd likely just be talking about how cool the practical effects are here and how lacking the digital effects are in comparison. Regardless, Late Night With the Devil is a treat absolutely worth horror fans' time and money.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - 3.5/10
More of the same mess that Jason Reitman's Afterlife gave us, almost to a tee. Mckenna Grace's Phoebe Spenglar remains the best thing about these movies (aside from the score), and she is actually given a semi-interesting character arc here as she is shut out by her family for her rebellious behavior and manipulated by similar young ghost. Kumail Nanjini is a funny addition to the cast, at least for the first hour, and the film almost earns points for having a slightly more original story than its predecessor as things unfold in the second act.

Unfortunately, the film is still hung up the Ghostbusters legacy; despite Dan Akroyd and Ernie Hudson's actual on-screen enthusiasm, Bill Murray is still just here to cash a paycheck, Janine Melnitz is given a uniform the same way Chewbacca is given a medal in The Rise of Skywalker, and Slimer appears seemingly just so Finn Wolfhard can say exactly what the audience is thinking ("I know that guy!"). I mean, seriously, you'd have to be deranged to be excited about the return of the EPA guy. By the third act, we're left with 10 ghostbusters on screen (four senior citizens, two adults, and a mix of children and side-characters with little-to-nothing to do except shoot CGI Marvel lasers during a climax that looks like a video game cut-scene. "But Paul Rudd says the line from the meme!" Indeed he does. It's fucking dire, man.

 

Not to be a pain in the ass, but Dickless is in the first one. :ducks:

 

No, I appreciate the correction! I very much recalled the EPA trying to shut them down being a part of the second film for some reason.

 

Dune Part 2 - 9.5/10

 

Funny Pages (2022) - Not all passions are equal. Very funny subversion of the coming of age story. With nerd cultures' rise and romantication over the past 2 decades we have come to acknowledge it was wrong to bully them for their fun hobbies but there's a darker side, the gentrification of the only constructive space for all those undiagnosed antisocial and hygiene disorders guys. That side of nerdom is running wild here, its fresh and exciting comedy. The basement scenes are visceral.

La Strada (1954) - Haven't seen enough Fellini, going to fix that this year.

 

love La Strada

 

La Strada is his best, imo. Though you can make a case of Nights of Cabiria, 8 1/2, and La Dolce Vita for sure.

 

La Dolce Vita is top two of all time.

 

Paprika - 10/10. Wow, what a film. This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I need to rewatch it and then everything else Satoshi Kon made.

 

Personal Shopper - 7.5/10
This really does feel like two almost separate films attempting to come together in the final 20 minutes or so, and while I'm not completely sold that they do so successfully, the stories are fascinating and complimentary enough to mostly work. "Supernatural drama" is absolutely the right descriptor here, and considering the caliber of the film, the decision to show some of the apparitions is bold and surprising - but again, something about this movie is so engaging to me that even moments I find questionable (like the decision to fade out between every scene) seem to lend to its charm. Kristen Stewart is excellent in the leading role, no surprise there. To me, this is a good film that could be great, and unique enough that the longer I chew on it, the more I'm convinced it might be.

Sorority Slaughter - 6/10
Another W.A.V.E. Productions custom softcore porno masquerading as a SOV horror film, and you know what? Even with a shocking lack of slaughter, there is something charming going on here that feels nearly impossible to explain. SOV heads will know what I'm talking about. It's totally sleazy and lacking creativity (although the opening scene is shockingly effective), but it's also exactly what you'd expect from a movie called Sorority Slaughter - now with even more horniness!. Can't hate the grind. I'm thankful for video labels like Vinegar Syndrome, Terror Vision, and Saturn's Core for preserving outsider art like this.

X-Men - 7/10
I grew up with these first three X-Men films, but this might be the one I remember the least from. After revisiting Raimi's Spider-man films last year, I was excited to revisit these. This first one holds up relatively well! It's straightforward and doesn't overwhelm you with too many characters; the cast and performances are likable, nuanced even. It devolves a little bit into a generic third act, but gets by on the inclusion of the Statue of Liberty as its climactic set piece. (Nobody would be brave enough to destroy an American landmark or, god forbid, explode the White House on film these days.) X-Men is a funny property because some of the mutants have really complex powers and backstories while others are just named after animals, lol. Anyways, this was fun without being overindulgent and I'm really looking forward to making my way through the rest of the series (I loved X2 as a kid, and there's a few I still haven't seen).