What Emmanuelle Movie Did You Just Watch?

[Matt]

I had time to kill on my flight yesterday, so I partook of the offerings that were available on the movie screen in the headrest in front of me.

DEADPOOL 2.
Loved this. Where I was kinda meh on the first one, this one hit me perfectly. My wife kept nudging me to keep it down because I was laughing so hard in spots. I'm tempted to give the first one another shot.

SOLO.
Worse than I remembered it. Just a slog. I didn't finish it.

[FilmNerdJamie]

Exorcist II: The Heretic.

Still the wacky, wrong-headed disaster I remember it being.

But the more I think about it, the more I can (at the very least) appreciate it for existing. For all the sequels that go with the "More of the same... BUT BIGGER!" approach, Exorcist II switches gears from the original. Not even trying to be scary.

[Captain Russ]

The Predator.

Nowhere near as bad as everyone is saying it is. It was def chopped to shit and the reshoots changed the movie, but it was no worse than say Predator 2 or Predators. In fact the only thing that this movie did that was totally dumb was the ending with the pod.

That could have been some amazing reveal but instead it was just silly.

I still stand by the conspiracy theory that Shane purposely tanked the fucking thing from day one.

Everybody’s a Hawkins trying to out pussy-joke the other without a single fucking Blaine or Billy to shut ‘em the fuck up. The humor was fucking terrible all the way through. Key needs a gag order, the man is a menace.

The CG was trash, the plot too (ya gotta be fucking kidding me that a predator of all aliens would want to help us out or that autism can be genetically weaponized.).

At least the rehashes in 2 and Plural Predator tried to keep to what made the original work while adding things to the mythos that were interesting or at the very least different enough to carve out their own identity. This just tried to Frankenstein a bunch of half-assed genre stories into one and none of them really ended up working as a result. And then it refused to fucking end and just ramped up the idiocy for the reshot ending. ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR FOCUS GROUPS OF TRAINED SEALPEOPLE.

The Guyver/Iron Man shit at the end was just a steaming chrome dump on top of the rest of the quasi-comedy, myth-deconstruction of the Predator. If this had been called “The Hunter” with the Predator X’ed out, then the moments that truly felt like a joke or satire of monster movie moments could have really shined through. But expectation with a franchise as well known as the dreadlocked pussyface from outer space deserved better.

Don’t waste your time.

[Captain Russ]

One more thing about the Predator:

anybody else think the sound design was really lacking?

[Captain Russ]

MANDY.

In a word, strange. In more words, the following:

Beautiful at times to behold, but more surface in its telling than with fully formed characters (though an argument could be made for Linus Roache's turn as Jeremiah Sand). Cosmatos is a complete stylist, so it all comes as no surprise when you have Frazetta and Jeff Jones-like backdrops and bits from genre stalwarts like Hellraiser, Mad Max, and Phantasm II thrown into a blender with a shitload of high-contrast lighting. It is very straightforward, but has wonderful little moments peppered throughout that hint at something bigger than the carnival ride on display.

What really hit home for me was the score by dead Icelander Johann Johannsen and the soul-tearing being done by Nicolas Cage. His freakout in his cabin after the inciting incident drives home just how well he can turn on a dime from insane to wounded. He even goes a bit broad in some scenes, but where that was once completely cartoony in context (see: Face/Off), here it is a strength of the picture, where Cage is able to convey the humanity of his character without a word needed. Coupling his quest of vengeance with both melancoly and doom-metal inspired drones couldn't have been a better choice.

This is now the third Ghost Rider film he has done (Spirit of Vengeance, Drive Angry, Mandy), and I am fine with him returning to these sorts of films as an avatar of loss and revenge so long as they are built by such fine craftsmen (we aren't including that first try by that Mark Steven Johnson fellow, as it is shit) that know what they're working with when they hire such an actor.

[Abraham Smashington]

Cheddar Goblin.

[Captain Russ]

Definitely belongs in the same universe as the Ma-cheese-mo commercial in Freaked.

[Abraham Smashington]

YES.

[Abraham Smashington]

but for reals, that whole bathroom scene with Cage was amazing.

[Captain Russ]

That was worth the price of admission on its own. Everything that followed was a bonus. Especially the LSD biker mice from mars talk with Bill Duke.

[FilmNerdJamie]

48 Hrs.

The template for the "Buddy Cop" sub-genre and the film that launched Eddie Murphy into movie stardom... and I finally got around to seeing it tonight.

One can see why this registered in '82 thanks to how well Murphy and Nolte bounce off one another. And I respect just how Goddamn unapologetically rough it is with the gun-fights and language. None of this would slide today, especially with twerps on Social Media and Film Twitter.

[Anderson]

48 Hrs.

The template for the "Buddy Cop" sub-genre and the film that launched Eddie Murphy into movie stardom... and I finally got around to seeing it tonight.

One can see why this registered in '82 thanks to how well Murphy and Nolte bounce off one another. And I respect just how Goddamn unapologetically rough it is with the gun-fights and language. None of this would slide today, especially with twerps on Social Media and Film Twitter.

I had a piece of shit defriend me on Facebook because I merely asked what his problem was with the movie.

[Nathan]

I had a piece of shit defriend me on Facebook because I merely asked what his problem was with the movie.

That movie is amazing. Those who doubt me orally copulate with a permission slip.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[gravedigger]

HOLD THE DARK- Saulnier and Blair are three for three. This movie is so good and I have no desire to ever watch it again. Bleak as hell but Netflix gave them a budget for a big setpiece in the middle. The one problem, I thought, was that the setpiece pumps so much adrenaline that the deliberate second half suffers a little because of it.

[Abraham Smashington]

Ant-Man and the Wasp. Dug this a whole bunch. Goggins was mostly wasted but Ghost was fucking badass. Luis still stole every scene he was in. Loved the quantum realm stuff and there was a deleted scene in regards to it that was AWESOME.

  Spoiler: spoilers 

Janet and Hank come across some giant "being"and she uses this piece of tech to talk to it and tell it they mean it no harm. It then says "peace be with you" and floats on by. Loved it

Also that that end stinger was the goods

  Spoiler: spoilers 

oh snaps.