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StarTopic Film Chat |ST| What's Your Favorite Acting Turn?

My dad was channel surfing last night and ran across Kickboxer near its beginning so I got to see a significant amount of that movie, and I've been wondering ever since: that was supposed to be a comedy, right?
 
chocolate_supra said:
My dad was channel surfing last night and ran across Kickboxer near its beginning so I got to see a significant amount of that movie, and I've been wondering ever since: that was supposed to be a comedy, right?
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probably not, but it's one in my heart at least
 
Well dang

I did not expect Megalopolis to be absolutely blown away in reviews by.. Furiosa.

I mean don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to Furiosa just.. I didn't expect it to review so well and for Megalopolis to review so poorly 😬
 
chocolate_supra said:
Well dang

I did not expect Megalopolis to be absolutely blown away in reviews by.. Furiosa.

I mean don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to Furiosa just.. I didn't expect it to review so well and for Megalopolis to review so poorly 😬
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I kinda did because outside of like, Godfather, Godfather 2, Apocalypse Now and Dracula, FFC is kinda ehhhhhhh
 
chocolate_supra said:
Well dang

I did not expect Megalopolis to be absolutely blown away in reviews by.. Furiosa.

I mean don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to Furiosa just.. I didn't expect it to review so well and for Megalopolis to review so poorly 😬
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Well, in the last decade, George Miller directed one of the most critically acclaimed action movies of all time. Whereas in the last 30ish years, Francis Ford Coppola directed... well, not much of note.
 
chocolate_supra said:
Well dang

I did not expect Megalopolis to be absolutely blown away in reviews by.. Furiosa.

I mean don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to Furiosa just.. I didn't expect it to review so well and for Megalopolis to review so poorly 😬
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Megalopolis was always going to be a wild and divisive swing, which honestly just makes me more excited for it.

robertman2 said:
I kinda did because outside of like, Godfather, Godfather 2, Apocalypse Now and Dracula, FFC is kinda ehhhhhhh
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The Conversation? Tucker?
 
It's been over a decade since I saw Prometheus, but since I recently rewatched Alien for its 45th anniversary (still one of the great horror masterpieces btw), I'm thinking again about how the big idea to make a soggy fecking prequel about the weird dead alien pilot was SCHITT !!! Alien being so good is partly due to its subtle worldbuilding. Nothing in the plot is heavy-handed or superfluous. The reveal that androids just exist in this world, and a member of the crew was secretly one of them working for the evil corp the whole time is genuinely surprising, but feels so natural. They don't need to Glup Shitto lore dump who the big dead alien bloke is, everyone was perfectly content being as clueless as these space truckers are. So yeah, Prometheus isn't good, and I probably won't be rewatching it anytime soon. Alien (1979) is still GOATed, though. Hopefully Romulus later this year is at least decent!
 
Aurc said:
It's been over a decade since I saw Prometheus, but since I recently rewatched Alien for its 45th anniversary (still one of the great horror masterpieces btw), I'm thinking again about how the big idea to make a soggy fecking prequel about the weird dead alien pilot was SCHITT !!! Alien being so good is partly due to its subtle worldbuilding. Nothing in the plot is heavy-handed or superfluous. The reveal that androids just exist in this world, and a member of the crew was secretly one of them working for the evil corp the whole time is genuinely surprising, but feels so natural. They don't need to Glup Shitto lore dump who the big dead alien bloke is, everyone was perfectly content being as clueless as these space truckers are. So yeah, Prometheus isn't good, and I probably won't be rewatching it anytime soon. Alien (1979) is still GOATed, though. Hopefully Romulus later this year is at least decent!
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When you're right you're right, and Aurc? Bloke is always right.

I had no cognizance of it being Alien's 45th b-day! I should do an Alien-Aliens double feature this week. I've also been meaning to replay Isolation for a while now...aliens, Jerry!
 
It's Furiosa week, baby.

I still remember the day I watched Fury Road. A friend of mine sent me a message asking me what I was doing, I told her I'd be watching Fury Road, she said she was not interested in the movie but would go with me anyway, and a few hours later we both left the theater absolutely mind-blown.

A few "holy shits" were said as we walked out of the session.
 
Aurc said:
It's been over a decade since I saw Prometheus, but since I recently rewatched Alien for its 45th anniversary (still one of the great horror masterpieces btw), I'm thinking again about how the big idea to make a soggy fecking prequel about the weird dead alien pilot was SCHITT !!! Alien being so good is partly due to its subtle worldbuilding. Nothing in the plot is heavy-handed or superfluous. The reveal that androids just exist in this world, and a member of the crew was secretly one of them working for the evil corp the whole time is genuinely surprising, but feels so natural. They don't need to Glup Shitto lore dump who the big dead alien bloke is, everyone was perfectly content being as clueless as these space truckers are. So yeah, Prometheus isn't good, and I probably won't be rewatching it anytime soon. Alien (1979) is still GOATed, though. Hopefully Romulus later this year is at least decent!
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Alien Covenant rewatch wen.

Romulus looks like it'll be a back to basics sort of thing, but that turned out extremely well for Predator with Prey, so hopefully this is good too.
Earthbounder said:
It's Furiosa week, baby.

I still remember the day I watched Fury Road. A friend of mine sent me a message asking me what I was doing, I told her I'd be watching Fury Road, she said she was not interested in the movie but would go with me anyway, and a few hours later we both left the theater absolutely mind-blown.

A few "holy shits" were said as we walked out of the session.
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I'm so mad I never got to see Fury Road in theaters
 
Rented Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire over the weekend and watched it twice (we had it for 48 hours). Absolutely ridiculous movie. My mom and I loved it.

Godzilla's powered up design taking inspiration from the Millennium Godzilla got me. Godzilla 2000 is one of my favorite movies and that's one of my favorite designs.

Now, if I could get to watch Minus One...
 
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hologram said:
Has anyone watched I Saw The TV Glow? Seeing it tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it
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yep, I saw it this weekend and haven’t really stopped thinking about it since. I’d seen Schoenbrun’s previous film and was surprised by how much more conventional this one is (though it’s still not a “typical” A24 horror film or anything), but I found it incredibly effective and beautiful. I think anyone who grew up in the 90s or early 00s will find the visuals truly remarkable and touching on their own. it’s shot on film and all the colors and lighting and production design are out of this world—perfectly suited to the time period with just the right amount of exaggerated flourishes.
and, without getting into any specifics, it is kind of uniquely devastating—one of those rare films that feels like it will actually have a tangible impact on certain people’s lives
 
Challengers - I only watched this because of the awesome Trent Reznor score. Movie is not my cup of tea. That town has so much rubbish blowing in the wind, holy shit. 4/10

The Fall Guy - movie is okay. It has poor writing and Gosling and Blunt have zero chemistry. Being from Sydney, the car chase/ute scene through the city hurt my brain as they are teleporting through a couple streets back and forward haha. 6.5/10
 
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I'm on a mission to watch all the movies I bought digitally that I have never watched in order of when I bought them. Going through the backlog as it were. So far I finally finished Shaun of the Dead, which I had seen most of but never finished. It was alright.

Last night I watched Hot Fuzz, of which I had never seen a single minute. I enjoyed it quite a bit, pretty delightful movie.

I had alread seen At World's End several years back so I have officially completed the Cornetto Trilogy, which I had to look up why it's even called that. Apparently it was an attempt to get free ice cream by mentioning it in each film.

Anyways next sadly is X-Men Days of Future Past, which technically I didn't buy as it was free for some reason. Attempted long ago but fell asleep never to return to it until now. Thought about skipping it since I didn't really buy that one. After that will be Big Trouble in Little China, again I have watched most of it but was too tired and passed out before. After that another few John Carpenter films: They Live, and then, Prince of Darkness.

Edit: Oh I guess I'll mention my favorite from the Cornetto trilogy is probably At World's End, but I haven't seen it in so long I need to revisit it at some point.
 
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Watched Xmen Days of Future's Past. It was 'meh' besides a few scenes and moments. Magneto was kinda badass with the Sentinels and the baseball stadium. Disliked all the future scenes as they just felt pretty rinkadink in general. Did not know Kitty Pryde even had that power, thought they could only walk through walls. Pretty confusing and awfully convenient. Hopefully that's probably the last Bryan Singer movie I'll ever see.

Edit: Also does Quicksilver listen to absurdly sped up music. What's the point of putting on headphones to listen to a song when everything he does happens in less than a split milisecond. Just dumb.

Next up Big Trouble in Little China, and at some point after the audio commentary with Kurt Russel and John Carpenter.

Edit 2: Alright just finished Big Trouble in Little China. What a great movie. It's kinda all over the place in the best possible ways. The whole cast is great and the film itself is so charming. Kim Cattrall is great in this. She always captures my attention in whatever scene she is in. She absolutely nails this role. Kurt Russell of course is great as well, but so is the rest of the supporting cast. Such a wild movie.
 
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So, after sitting on it for a day I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm just totally blown away by I Saw the TV Glow. It very successfully used imagery and narrative mechanisms that feel very familiar to me in order to tell a deeply horrific personal story. I wasn't super sold on the use of 90s era analog horror vibes at first, but the way it is used to layer in and put forth specific ideas with specific feelings ended up hitting hard. It's a Psych Horror joint that is trying to nestle itself somewhere deep in your brain, and using nostalgia and borrowing some mechanisms from other kinds of media really helps you find yourself there. Very effective at creating a specific brainspace and landscape to work inside of.

They've gone to pretty good lengths to hide what the emotional core of this movie actually is though, even having some inferences of it I could not expect where it ended up at all. I'm gonna talk about it in a spoiler tag for a minute, but if you're interested in seeing it at all just go do that. If you have seen it I'm curious how this all sat with you though. I really am going to spoiler the shit out of this movie so fair warning.

So, the themes around feeling "otherness" and specifically queerness and specifically transitioning issues were layered into the Pink Opaque things pretty well imo. Finding comfort and safety in media and especially nostalgia where you can enjoy things from a space of who you really are just fits. Fred Durst's character going, "Isn't that a show for girls?" hits. The rest of the early themes of hiding and abuse related to this all fit right at home and I kind of got the vibe where this is going. Then things get messy quick. If you haven't seen the movie and this intrigues you, I implore you to stop here and just go watch it instead.

Maddy's reappearance and explanations on what is real or not hit p hard. Owen's feelings about being a specific somebody with a specific purpose were real, even if those feelings are compartmentalized in the show. It's easy to reject a lot of that though. It gets a lot harder when the monologue happens about what it takes to become that person. The real horror of the trapped person inside is rough. The panic inducing reality of what Maddy did in order to free that person. She blew her life up in a way that sounds all too familiar, then went through unbelievable torture to get to be that person. Then offering to help Owen do the same, to stop the real versions of themselves from suffocating. "That's not my name" coming up when denial comes through.

Owen's rejection of this as being too fantastical, too out there, and too scary is fucking devastating. It's also just really believable; choosing to not transition out of fear has never been giving such an accurate, visceral depiction that I have seen. "Time to become a productive member of society" juxtaposed after "There is Still Time" hits in a way that is all too fucking real. The continued rejection of self reflected in the rejection of nostalgia feels familiar. The general theme of spinning in place feels familiar. The final few scenes being about the existential fear of dying without ever really being your true self, or even showing dying as a result of not being your true self, made me feel like I needed to claw for air. The way the scenes also invoke a kind of psychological horror hellscape out of the mundane and familiarity that have been built up over the course of everything make it feel so real. The climax of seeing that those feelings are still there and what they can do for you just shuts everything down.

I haven't really felt this kind of emotional impact in a hot minute from a horror movie. The horror being the existential threat of being trans in the wrong place and wrong circumstances was a pretty big shock to my system at least. It being told as a horror story with mechanisms that are really familiar to me also mattered. It prays so heavily on that familiarity in a way that is essential to building the time and place they are aiming for. "There is Still Time" is another familiar and extremely important message that I'm glad made it in there. Being trans is a very scary and fantastical thing I often ascribe to being like psych horror in some cases, and it can feel like you're losing as time goes on. Haven't really seen a clearer picture of how this feeling can manifest in a movie until this. Having the message of "it's never too late to transition" really helps tie together some signs of hope for others who see this message while also reinforcing the horror of choosing to still reject the self.

Anyways that's my poorly done word vomit of the themes that hit me and how they made me feel. I'm just genuinely very curious how others felt about these things, regardless of whether or not you can personally relate to the themes in the film. If others even got all of that in the same way I did, or if there's some other kinds of media they think step up to the plate in the same way that did.
 
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BotenAnna said:
So, after sitting on it for a day I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm just totally blown away by I Saw the TV Glow. It very successfully used imagery and narrative mechanisms that feel very familiar to me in order to tell a deeply horrific personal story. I wasn't super sold on the use of 90s era analog horror vibes at first, but the way it is used to layer in and put forth specific ideas with specific feelings ended up hitting hard. It's a Psych Horror joint that is trying to nestle itself somewhere deep in your brain, and using nostalgia and borrowing some mechanisms from other kinds of media really helps you find yourself there. Very effective at creating a specific brainspace and landscape to work inside of.

They've gone to pretty good lengths to hide what the emotional core of this movie actually is though, even having some inferences of it I could not expect where it ended up at all. I'm gonna talk about it in a spoiler tag for a minute, but if you're interested in seeing it at all just go do that. If you have seen it I'm curious how this all sat with you though. I really am going to spoiler the shit out of this movie so fair warning.

So, the themes around feeling "otherness" and specifically queerness and specifically transitioning issues were layered into the Pink Opaque things pretty well imo. Finding comfort and safety in media and especially nostalgia where you can enjoy things from a space of who you really are just fits. Fred Durst's character going, "Isn't that a show for girls?" hits. The rest of the early themes of hiding and abuse related to this all fit right at home and I kind of got the vibe where this is going. Then things get messy quick. If you haven't seen the movie and this intrigues you, I implore you to stop here and just go watch it insteat.

Maddy's reappearance and explanations on what is real or not hit p hard. Owen's feelings about being a specific somebody with a specific purpose were real, even if those feelings are compartmentalized in the show. It's easy to reject a lot of that though. It gets a lot harder when the monologue happens about what it takes to become that person. The real horror of the trapped person inside is rough. The panic inducing reality of what Maddy did in order to free that person. She blew her life up in a way that sounds all too familiar, then went through unbelievable torture to get to be that person. Then offering to help Owen do the same, to stop the real versions of themselves from suffocating. "That's not my name" coming up when denial comes through.

Owen's rejection of this as being too fantastical, too out there, and too scary is fucking devastating. It's also just really believable; choosing to not transition out of fear has never been giving such an accurate, visceral depiction that I have seen. "Time to become a productive member of society" juxtaposed after "There is Still Time" hits in a way that is all too fucking real. The continued rejection of self reflected in the rejection of nostalgia feels familiar. The general theme of spinning in place feels familiar. The final few scenes being about the existential fear of dying without ever really being your true self, or even showing dying as a result of no being your true self, made me feel like I needed to claw for air. The way the scenes also invoke a kind of psychological horror hellscape out of the mundane and familiarity that have been built up over the course of everything make it feel so real. The climax of seeing that those feelings are still there and what they can do for you just shuts everything down.

I haven't really felt this kind of emotional impact in a hot minute from a horror movie. The horror being the existential threat of being trans in the wrong place and wrong circumstances was a pretty big shock to my system at least. It being told as a horror story with mechanisms that are really familiar to me also mattered. It prays so heavily on that familiarity in a way that is essential to building the time and place they are aiming for. "There is Still Time" is another familiar and extremely important message that I'm glad made it in there. Being trans is a very scary and fantastical thing I often ascribe to being like psych horror in some cases, and it can feel like you're losing as time goes on. Haven't really seen a clearer picture of how this feeling can manifest in a movie until this. Having the message of "it's never too late to transition" really helps tie together some signs of hope for others who see this message while also reinforcing the horror of choosing to still reject the self.

Anyways that's my poorly done word vomit of the themes that hit me and how they made me feel. I'm just genuinely very curious how others felt about these things, regardless of whether or not you can personally relate to the themes in the film. If others even got all of that in the same way I did, or if there's some other kinds of media they think step up to the plate in the same way that did.
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excellent post, thank you for sharing that here. I'm not sure I have much substantial to add except to say that even as a cisgender person I found the direction the film took in the final act to be wholly emotionally affecting in a way few movies are for me. I can't remember the last time I so desperately wanted a movie to not end at the point it did, for it to pull back and reveal some reality that actually exists separate from the nightmare we've been watching, that this character really hasn't lost decades of their life in the hell prescribed for them, but instead it ends where it does, with only the song playing over the credits providing some explicit glimmer of hope. I think this aspect of it very intentionally mirrors the way the Pink Opaque ends and how upsetting and frustrating and devastating it is for the characters. I said above that I feel like the film will actually have a tangible affect on the lives of some of its viewers—to end on such a low note almost makes the film act as a cautionary tale about how dangerous it is to not live as yourself (while beautifully, sympathetically acknowledging how difficult it is to find and then accept that self, and how difficult it is to actually transition).
what a remarkable weaponization of horror. it made me completely distraught at the same time as it made me overwhelmed with empathy.
 
BotenAnna said:
So, the themes around feeling "otherness" and specifically queerness and specifically transitioning issues were layered into the Pink Opaque things pretty well imo. Finding comfort and safety in media and especially nostalgia where you can enjoy things from a space of who you really are just fits. Fred Durst's character going, "Isn't that a show for girls?" hits. The rest of the early themes of hiding and abuse related to this all fit right at home and I kind of got the vibe where this is going. Then things get messy quick. If you haven't seen the movie and this intrigues you, I implore you to stop here and just go watch it insteat.

Maddy's reappearance and explanations on what is real or not hit p hard. Owen's feelings about being a specific somebody with a specific purpose were real, even if those feelings are compartmentalized in the show. It's easy to reject a lot of that though. It gets a lot harder when the monologue happens about what it takes to become that person. The real horror of the trapped person inside is rough. The panic inducing reality of what Maddy did in order to free that person. She blew her life up in a way that sounds all too familiar, then went through unbelievable torture to get to be that person. Then offering to help Owen do the same, to stop the real versions of themselves from suffocating. "That's not my name" coming up when denial comes through.

Owen's rejection of this as being too fantastical, too out there, and too scary is fucking devastating. It's also just really believable; choosing to not transition out of fear has never been giving such an accurate, visceral depiction that I have seen. "Time to become a productive member of society" juxtaposed after "There is Still Time" hits in a way that is all too fucking real. The continued rejection of self reflected in the rejection of nostalgia feels familiar. The general theme of spinning in place feels familiar. The final few scenes being about the existential fear of dying without ever really being your true self, or even showing dying as a result of no being your true self, made me feel like I needed to claw for air. The way the scenes also invoke a kind of psychological horror hellscape out of the mundane and familiarity that have been built up over the course of everything make it feel so real. The climax of seeing that those feelings are still there and what they can do for you just shuts everything down.

I haven't really felt this kind of emotional impact in a hot minute from a horror movie. The horror being the existential threat of being trans in the wrong place and wrong circumstances was a pretty big shock to my system at least. It being told as a horror story with mechanisms that are really familiar to me also mattered. It prays so heavily on that familiarity in a way that is essential to building the time and place they are aiming for. "There is Still Time" is another familiar and extremely important message that I'm glad made it in there. Being trans is a very scary and fantastical thing I often ascribe to being like psych horror in some cases, and it can feel like you're losing as time goes on. Haven't really seen a clearer picture of how this feeling can manifest in a movie until this. Having the message of "it's never too late to transition" really helps tie together some signs of hope for others who see this message while also reinforcing the horror of choosing to still reject the self.

Anyways that's my poorly done word vomit of the themes that hit me and how they made me feel. I'm just genuinely very curious how others felt about these things, regardless of whether or not you can personally relate to the themes in the film. If others even got all of that in the same way I did, or if there's some other kinds of media they think step up to the plate in the same way that did.
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slide's said:
excellent post, thank you for sharing that here. I'm not sure I have much substantial to add except to say that even as a cisgender person I found the direction the film took in the final act to be wholly emotionally affecting in a way few movies are for me. I can't remember the last time I so desperately wanted a movie to not end at the point it did, for it to pull back and reveal some reality that actually exists separate from the nightmare we've been watching, that this character really hasn't lost decades of their life in the hell prescribed for them, but instead it ends where it does, with only the song playing over the credits providing some explicit glimmer of hope. I think this aspect of it very intentionally mirrors the way the Pink Opaque ends and how upsetting and frustrating and devastating it is for the characters. I said above that I feel like the film will actually have a tangible affect on the lives of some of its viewers—to end on such a low note almost makes the film act as a cautionary tale about how dangerous it is to not live as yourself (while beautifully, sympathetically acknowledging how difficult it is to find and then accept that self, and how difficult it is to actually transition).
what a remarkable weaponization of horror. it made me completely distraught at the same time as it made me overwhelmed with empathy.
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Don't really have anything to add but I really enjoyed these analysis! I would even say they enhance my appreciation of the film
 
slide's said:
excellent post, thank you for sharing that here. I'm not sure I have much substantial to add except to say that even as a cisgender person I found the direction the film took in the final act to be wholly emotionally affecting in a way few movies are for me. I can't remember the last time I so desperately wanted a movie to not end at the point it did, for it to pull back and reveal some reality that actually exists separate from the nightmare we've been watching, that this character really hasn't lost decades of their life in the hell prescribed for them, but instead it ends where it does, with only the song playing over the credits providing some explicit glimmer of hope. I think this aspect of it very intentionally mirrors the way the Pink Opaque ends and how upsetting and frustrating and devastating it is for the characters. I said above that I feel like the film will actually have a tangible affect on the lives of some of its viewers—to end on such a low note almost makes the film act as a cautionary tale about how dangerous it is to not live as yourself (while beautifully, sympathetically acknowledging how difficult it is to find and then accept that self, and how difficult it is to actually transition).
what a remarkable weaponization of horror. it made me completely distraught at the same time as it made me overwhelmed with empathy.
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Yeah, I've been really curious about responses from cis people tbh. I think one of the best things about art and media is the ability to imprint very real emotions to people who may not ever know what those are like in their real life. I'm really glad you took away a lot of those same feelings from this! I've seen a pretty wide range of reactions from all kinds of people on the themes of this one, including some batshit insane critic takes. While those are kind of fun to gawk at for a minute, I'm more glad to see others resonating with a lot of what I saw.
 
So Furiosa was pretty great I thought. As I said I wasn't huge on Fury Road, so this easily surpassed it for me. Really wish this had somehow been made first, and honestly if you ever watch all of these in order, this would be better to watch in chronology and before Fury Road. Even if you haven't seen Fury Road, this just works better in front of it in my opinion, so go see it even if you haven't seen any othe Mad Max film. Highly recommend seeing this in theatres for the excellently constructed action setpieces. Fantastic film.
 
Watching Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind gave me the vibe as Escape From New York did where it's just constant "oh this is what inspired insert thing I like.". Very good movie though
 
Prophet64 said:
So Furiosa was pretty great I thought. As I said I wasn't huge on Fury Road, so this easily surpassed it for me. Really wish this had somehow been made first, and honestly if you ever watch all of these in order, this would be better to watch in chronology and before Fury Road. Even if you haven't seen Fury Road, this just works better in front of it in my opinion, so go see it even if you haven't seen any othe Mad Max film. Highly recommend seeing this in theatres for the excellently constructed action setpieces. Fantastic film.
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Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I'm gonna try to squeeze in a showing this weekend and I'm so excited~
 
I wonder if the killer this time will also be the only good thing about the movie?

Following that, I wonder how much wasted talent will be crammed into it as well.
 
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