• Most new users don't bother reading our rules. Here's the one that is ignored almost immediately upon signup: DO NOT ASK FOR FANEDIT LINKS PUBLICLY. First, read the FAQ. Seriously. What you want is there. You can also send a message to the editor. If that doesn't work THEN post in the Trade & Request forum. Anywhere else and it will be deleted and an infraction will be issued.
  • If this is your first time here please read our FAQ and Rules pages. They have some useful information that will get us all off on the right foot, especially our Own the Source rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to one of our staff for further details.
  • Please read our Rules & Guidelines

    Vote now in wave 1 of the FEOTM Reboot!

The Last Movie(s) You Watched... (quick one or two sentence reviews)

I just watched the 1992 cult classic GHOSTWATCH.

Predating Blair Witch, this might be the movie inspired the found footage genre. The fact that the "characters" are famous BBC broadcasters/reporters playing themselves is fantastic. I can't even imagine what it would've been like to catch this live when it first premiered.

Ghostwatch is definitely making its way into my Halloween season rewatch list.
 
Empire Of The Sun - A great cinematic masterpiece, biggest flaw was it felt it had multiple endings. But it's really beautiful and impactful. 6/10

Romancing The Stone - A funny late 80's Indiana Jones esc tale with comedic actors and fun set pieces. 8/10

The Karate Kid - A really well done story, great choreography, really interesting take on demonstrating the karate motions, "Wax On, Wax Off". Really good! 8/10

The Karate Kid II - Honestly I don't know how to think about this one, the film is rough, I appreciate the story given to Mr.Miagi (spelt wrong), but think the romance David experiences in this film, and the third ruins the first movie. Why did he fight the bully in part 1? Because he wanted the girl (yes just general bullying, but mainly over the girl.) Now he's just dating some other girl, then another in the third. I don't care if they write there way out of it, you did defeat the purpose of those films. Also a lack of action scenes. 5/10
 
"Fukushima 50" (starring Ken Watanabe)

According to TMDB: "Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear power plant to prevent total destruction after the region is devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011."

The movie is based on the nonfiction book, "On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi" by Ryusho
Katoda.
 
JosephDQuinn said:
I just watched the 1992 cult classic GHOSTWATCH.

Predating Blair Witch, this might be the movie inspired the found footage genre. The fact that the "characters" are famous BBC broadcasters/reporters playing themselves is fantastic. I can't even imagine what it would've been like to catch this live when it first premiered.

Ghostwatch is definitely making its way into my Halloween season rewatch list.
Click to expand...
Ghostwatch is so great & so well done!
I don't watch it often, but only because I want to keep it sacred.

As for the found footage thing, that trope predates Ghostwatch. But I do think Ghostwatch was the first to lean this hard into the idea & the first to do it so well.
Cannibal Holocaust (1980) is one of the earlier examples that comes to mind.
I DO NOT recommend that film though. Animal cruelty is not entertainment.
 
Ray Danger said:
As for the found footage thing, that trope predates Ghostwatch. But I do think Ghostwatch was the first to lean this hard into the idea & the first to do it so well.
Cannibal Holocaust (1980) is one of the earlier examples that comes to mind.
I DO NOT recommend that film though. Animal cruelty is not entertainment.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. I tend to forget that one exists. I've seen mini-docs about it but have no desire to see the film itself.
 
Ray Danger said:
Cannibal Holocaust (1980) is one of the earlier examples that comes to mind.
I DO NOT recommend that film though. Animal cruelty is not entertainment.
Click to expand...
Some releases offer an optional "Cruelty-Free" version, but just knowing that it's there even if you don't get to see it still can make it hard to watch. In my experience, I also just found the film to be really boring. Some influential films just aren't worth watching.

Anyways, Ghostwatch sounds neat. I feel like I've heard of it somewhere before. I really like the idea of found footage horror, but the genre has such a bad reputation, and there's plenty of bad movies within the genre to sift through.

Man Bites Dog is another early found footage horror movie that just came to mind, I never finished it so I can't attest to its quality, but I remember the premise being really neat.
 
The Karate Kid Part III (1989) A film with great ideas, but bad execution, I like the film actually, found it really enjoyable but still the storyline is weak. (5/10)

The Next Karate Kid (1994) The actress was not the issue, nor was the concept, once again it was the execution, bad storyline with stupid romance and random Monk side plot, not enough action, and oh my goodness the slow motion makes it look cheap. (3/10)
 
The Fanatic (2019) - The other day I discovered that my mortal enemy Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit has directed a few movies, so I just had to check one out. Surprisingly Fred Durst is actually a competent director. I was hoping that it would be disasterously bad and I'd have a good laugh, but it's not and I have mixed feelings about it. In the end, it's just another Joker wannabe, going hand in hand with Cuck (2019), though it's at least better made than Cuck.
 
^If it makes you feel any better, most people think this movie is one of the worst ever made? Like, Travolta's performance became a series of memes and jokes for a solid 2 years afterwards, it was so notoriously bad.

You finding it similar to Cuck is interesting. Most people thought it was just very derivative of The Fan.
 
mnkykungfu said:
^If it makes you feel any better, most people think this movie is one of the worst ever made? Like, Travolta's performance became a series of memes and jokes for a solid 2 years afterwards, it was so notoriously bad.
Click to expand...
Weird, I never heard or saw anything about it until now. And when I was looking into it, the first thing I saw was praise for Travolta's performance.

mnkykungfu said:
You finding it similar to Cuck is interesting. Most people thought it was just very derivative of The Fan.
Click to expand...
I don't really think it's similar to Cuck, it's just that both films felt derivative of Joker (or rather, a particular idea of what people on Twitter expected Joker to be like), so they're just similar by association.
I don't think I'm familliar with The Fan?
 
Ha ha! Well, I mean, each to their own. Travolta certainly gives a performance. Don't think it connected with many people though. Sitting at a 4.1/10 on IMDB, 31% on RT, 1.7/5 on Letterboxd, 4.4/10 on Metacritic....basically pretty rotten across the board. I do see some people saying they think it's very enjoyable as a "so-bad-it's-good" film. But hey, I like some weird stuff that bombed, so I won't yuck someone else's yum if it ain't hurting me.

The Fan (1996) was also not very good, but has a lot more talent involved. A Tony Scott movie, it stars Robert DeNiro and Wesley Snipes, among others. It has its moments.

A new film!

Civil War (2024)
I think Alex Garland is getting better and better as a director, and love how he uses freezeframes to bring you into the world of these wartime photojournalists. As a writer though, I think he has less and less to say and this film is a kind of non-specific, muddled exercise that doesn't do more than portray the worst imaginings of a certain political persuasion. It doesn't say anything new, and its vacant attempts to appeal to both "sides" ring hollow.
 
mnkykungfu said:
Civil War (2024)
I think Alex Garland is getting better and better as a director, and love how he uses freezeframes to bring you into the world of these wartime photojournalists. As a writer though, I think he has less and less to say and this film is a kind of non-specific, muddled exercise that doesn't do more than portray the worst imaginings of a certain political persuasion. It doesn't say anything new, and its vacant attempts to appeal to both "sides" ring hollow.
Click to expand...
I saw Civil War 2 weeks ago. I agree with your review. I also think Garland's previous films were more interesting. And I'm not sure about the music choices... The movie was really well directed, but its story felt a bit like a pilot episode for a post-apocalyptic series. I think this idea would have benefited from a 10-episode series that could dig deeper into this world, its factions and its characters.
 
Coraline (2009)

There's nothing like re-visiting something you love. Laika's first, and in my opinion still their best, film. I love the film's envelope pushing of the PG rating, and how it hardly even bothers trying to be for kids. I love the horror movie vibe and aesthetic that the film goes for. And I love the message about letting go of perfection and taking responsibility in life. A fun, spooky animated venture, any way you look at it.

King Kong (1933)

Although many blockbusters have been made since, this movie still remains as my number 1 pick for the greatest blockbuster ever made. The special effects are incredible for their time, and I still wonder how they did it with the technology they had back then. The story is ingloriously simple, and it almost feels like an ancient parable in it's own way. Not to mention the iconic Empire State building climax, which must be seen before you die.
 
The Fall Guy 6/10

Proper switch your brain off and watch the action type film. Don’t let the plot bother you.
 
Miraculous Ladybug: The Movie

Substantially better than the show and absolutely beautiful to look at, but still suffers from spending too much time on forgettable songs instead of much needed plot and character development. I enjoyed it nonetheless.
 
I did a triple-feature of short films you can find on Youtube:

Diversion...(1980)
The short that was later re-made into Fatal Attraction, this is missing a lot of the tension but definitely fits the more-typically British understatement of adultery gone wrong.

The Phone Call (2013)
The Oscar winner for Live Action Short that year, this really hinges on Sally Hawkins' performance. Perfectly good but I won't remember it long other than for her.

Stranger at the Gate (2022)
Made from an article by The New Yorker, this is a portrayal of Midwest America dealing with the ramifications of hate and prejudice in the wake of the September 11th attacks. Some people will find it manipulative, others very affecting. It's rich enough material that you could've made a feature to dive into it all, but I didn't expect that level of depth from this short.
 
UNFROSTED (Netflix)

Jerry Seinfeld’s life long obsession with breakfast cereal pays off with lots of great laughs. Zany satire, clever dialogue and hilarious visuals. A silly, funny watch. 👍
 
Stop Making Sense (1984)

This is often hailed as the greatest rock concert film of all time. I wouldn't go that far, as I was never wowed or blown away, but it was worth the watch nonetheless. Part of me wonders how much of this works out of pure luck. It's a "lightning in a bottle" kind of movie, and if the timing had been different, it wouldn't be so well liked. I guess that's why people love it. For me though, it was still just a concert. Albeit a highly choreographed and ambitious one.
 
^Concert docs often depend so greatly on how much you enjoy the music. I wonder if the gloving reputation of this one doesn't have quite a bit to do with how many film critics just really dig David Byrne.
 
mnkykungfu said:
^Concert docs often depend so greatly on how much you enjoy the music. I wonder if the gloving reputation of this one doesn't have quite a bit to do with how many film critics just really dig David Byrne.
Click to expand...

According to IMDb scores, it's not just film critics who really dig David Byrne.

Personally, I am neutral on Talking Heads. I'm not a diehard fan, but I do like some of their songs. I guess I had to be hardcore in love with the band to understand the appeal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom