Last Movie You Saw, Name & Review Movie • Page 84

Klute - 7.5/10
Spider-Man: Homecoming - 8/10
Two Mules for Sister Sara - 6.5/10
Get the Gringo - 7.5/10
Planet of the Apes - 8/10
Beneath the Planet of the Apes - 5/10
Escape from the Planet of the Apes - 7/10
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes - 6/10
Battle for the Planet of the Apes - 5/10
The Lego Batman Movie - 8/10

An overall good week that was dominated by one of the weirdest but ultimately interesting film series' I have seen. Firstly Klute which was an effective albeit predictable neo-noir crime-thriller that featured two solid leads and engrossing plot. Spider-Man: Homecoming had the same problem as Spider-Man 3 in that was slightly too long but unlike that film it was entertaining, funny and way better in terms of plot and script. I also like the fact it didn't bog the film down in retreading backstory or take part in franchise building. Two Mules for Sister Sara is the final Western from Eastwood I had yet to see and the film entirely rests on the two leads and their chemistry as apart from the action and the score everything else is lacking. Get the Gringo is exactly what you would expect from a modern day Mel Gibson led film in that it is gritty, unapologetic but ultimately a fun and engrossing film despite not exactly painting Mexican people in a positive light. Now on to the original Planet of the Apes series with the first film being problematic in the sense that it is obvious that the astronauts have landed back on Earth due to coincidences like the apes speaking English, Earth animals being present and other elements. Quite frankly had these not existed or been less apparent the twist ending would have had a far greater impact. Beneath is even more problematic as the first half of the film basically retreads the first film just that this time we have a Charlton Heston lookalike and lower production value however the second half somewhat makes up for the first half with how bizarre it is, the amount of violence, the social commentary and the utterly surprising ending. Escape somehow got made despite the ending of Beneath and though I don't believe for one moment what supposedly happened off camera in the second film it does at least mean we get the best sequel in the series. The first half is a fish out of water comedy and it is genuinely funny and intriguing, the second half is a bit more chase thriller cliche ridden but once again the ending makes up for it as it is violent, devastating and emotionally weighty. Conquest piles high the social commentary to skyscrape levels but it backs it up with an effective plot, a mostly areshole ridden human cast and a violent and impactful final act that has solid action and an ending that was recut but ultimately works in the context of the film series. Finally Battle concludes the series in an ultimately average way as you can see that the ideas had pretty much run dry as the social commentary present in the previous four films is pretty much gone and replaced with the most action in the series but it was interesting to see how much it parallels the newer films and that ending was hilarious.

So another film series in the bag and easily the most intriguing one I have seen despite the numerous flaws, should hopefully get Rise and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes watched this weekend before I see the new one later this month.

 

Weekend (Haigh) - good god, what an intimate film. i'm such a fan of naturalism, and this was so well-shot, acted, and written.

 

I like the idea of an existential Bergman horror film, but Hour of the Wolf just isn't that great. By anyone else's standards it works well enough, but it doesn't touch the other 5 Bergmans I've seen. Well, maybe Shame. Still, gorgeously (and eerily) shot.

 

Sabotage (1936) - 6.5/10
The Hunt - 9/10
Dead Ringers - 7/10
A Hijacking - 8.5/10
The Girl with All the Gifts - 8.5/10
The Raid 2 - 9.5/10
Into the Night - 6.5/10
The Funhouse - 3.5/10
The Omega Man - 6.5/10
Mechanic: Resurrection - 1.5/10
I Am Not a Serial Killer - 8/10
Basket Case - 3/10
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children - 6/10

An overall great week despite a few duds but since my expectations were hardly high for those that turned out to be on the whole rubbish I wasn't all that disappointed. Unfortunately due to personal issues this whole minimum of one film a day goal I have set myself may well come to an end at some point (though I hope it doesn't) but if it does it has been highly enjoyable and I have discovered many films I now love. Those personal issues also mean I don't have the time to run down through everything I have seen but I will say that The Hunt, A Hijacking, The Girl with All the Gifts, The Raid 2 and I Am Not a Serial Killer were all great and Mechanic: Resurrection is easily one of the worst action films I have ever seen.

 

The Hunt is so good

 

Dunkirk 9/10
Nolan is just one incredible director. This was probably my least favorite Nolan movie since Batman Begins, yet I still think it is one of the better movies I have seen this year. I think it did a good job of showing a different type of war movie where the suspense and sound design made a viewer anxious from how stressful this situation was just to survive.

 

Alien Covenant

I loved the inventive gore, creature design, and sets/locations.

This movie was Prometheus 2 though. Who asked for that? The middle chunk where the film explores its themes (which aren't terrible) is boring and takes place in a boring location. This struggles from an underwhelming script and an at least half bad screenplay, though it doesn't reach the dreadfully incomprehensible lows of Prometheus before it. It desperately needs more sequences that feel interesting or thrilling. I'm being really harsh on it but fair because of the originals legacy. I want to love it because of the aforementioned just wish it was way better realized.

 

You Can Count on Me is very much a dry run for Manchester by the Sea, but it also has a lot of the same strengths.

 

Totally agree with this assessment. Nearly fell asleep in the middle but the beginning and end were fun

 

I honestly would have rather had a proper Prometheus 2 than what we got. Prometheus has its issues (and I mean a lot of issues), but I at least find the mythology behind it to be pretty interesting. Covenant was neither a good sci-fi movie or a good Alien movie and it was trying to be both. I don't think I've hated a movie more this year lol.

I've mentioned it before but I love the world that Scott has created but the stories within that world are seriously lacking.

 

Agreed. Except for man I hate Prometheus 1 really bad. But agreed.

 

As flawed as Prometheus was, I was very interested in seeing the outcome of Shaw and David's trip to the Engineer planet. The way they write all of that off in two minutes is probably the most frustrating thing. Ridley Scott wanted to tell this biblical origin tale, didn't get the response he wanted, and then made another Alien movie.

 

Have you seen Covenant yet? It might be the thread you were looking for.

It's actually tied together in a pretty sensical way and it works on paper. Just wish the screenplay was better.

 

Yes, I saw it. Why would I be looking for that thread? I was responding to your thoughts on Prometheus.

 

Nah I mean that story thread. That was confusing. Covenant does the creation motif I mean.

 

It does, but it is geared far more toward the expectations of Alien. In interviews around the time of Prometheus, they said that the sequels would go even farther away from the Alien mythology. Calling it Alien Covenant, bringing back the alien, and dropping the story of the Engineers into a flashback was an abandonment of what they had suggested. I would imagine he could not get the budget otherwise, even though the budget was smaller than Prometheus five years later.

 

Oh gotcha. I was curious what the budget was. The making-of segments made it look extremely expensive.

Now it looks like we may not get a sequel to Covenant. As lukewarm to cold on the whole thing as I am, I'd like to know what happens after Covenants ending. These scripts could maybe make a cooler series than they could 2 hour films.

 

Prometheus' budget was around 130 million and grossed 126 million. Alien Covenant's budget was about 97 million and grossed 74 million. I would be very surprised if we got another Ridley Scott Alien movie.

Alien: Covenant v. Prometheus

 

wiki has different box offic numbers cited. but I see articles all over the place talking about how Covenant didn't do well enough. Wiki shows it earning back its budget 200% and change. I don't know much about that stuff tbh i.e. what's considered successful.

 

The different numbers are due to Wikipedia citing the worldwide gross while the link I gave was to the domestic gross.

I had always heard that a film has to double its budget in sales to be profitable, but for some reason they pretend like they lost money when the domestic gross alone does not do that. The last Terminator movie falls in the same boat; it did not do great in America but in the rest of the world it made four times as much money as it did in America. They still canceled the sequel.

They must not have been happy with the money made if they only gave him 3/4 of the budget after five years of inflation. I won't pretend to understand Hollywood economics, but in the last decade or so it seems like they are only willing to give big budgets to movies that are going to make enough money to buy an island.

 

@brandon_260 @Morrissey has there even been a general discussion thread for non-American/lesser known film discussion? Would be cool to have a general dump thread for all the stuff happening outside of films that can survive on their own dedicated threads

 

Not that I remember. I tried to make threads for certain directors on the other forum but it rarely caught on. Would be a good idea to dump info and thoughts. For like festival circuit films yeah?

 

Sort of the idea, most of that stuff will not survive with its own thread but I hate feeling like I'm behind as I don't have a ton of resources for those films outside of ya'll. for example, would not have seen Nocturama had it not been for you bringing it up a long time ago and it'd be cool to have a discussion on modern (or not) under the radar films. Just a thought and no idea if it'd work.

 

You should make one, or I'll do it tomorrow. I think it would be effective and I would love somewhere to discuss and post news.

 

That is a great idea. The Criterion thread at the old forum sort of served that role, but it should obviously apply to all independent and foreign film. The individual film threads get very little traction.