This is not funny. This... this is a morality tale about the evils of sake.

Simon ,'Objects In Space'


Buffista Movies Across the 8th Dimension!

A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.


Vonnie K - Oct 15, 2018 12:04:19 pm PDT #1760 of 3463
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, which means less trips to the multiplex than my usual. Stuff seen:

A Star Is Born: I enjoyed it, but I'm not rabidly in love with it as many film critics seem to be. The first half is fabulous but the second half is a bit of a slog. Cooper and Lady Gaga have legit great chemistry together though, and the concert footage (which was reportedly shot during actual musical festivals to capture that crowd energy) is dynamite.

The big single ("Shallows") is catchy but structured weirdly and lacking in transition, I find. Judy Garland's rendition of "The Man That Got Away" ( [link] ) is still the reigning champion in my heart among the musical numbers in all the ASIB movies over the last 100 years.

The Sisters Brothers: An atypical western that went to a lot of unexpected places, with four genuinely great performances by Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed. While there are some funny bits, this is a very melancholic, thoughtful affair overall, and at times unexpectedly moving. I don't think it's doing much in the box office, which makes me sad. I kinda want someone to write a yuletide fic about Gyllenhaal's and Ahmed's characters.

The Wife: in which Glenn Close gives a fantastic performance as the long-suffering wife of a novel laureate in literature, Who Snaps Gloriously. The movie is rather slight, but Close is great in it. To be frank, I saw it as Oscar homework, heh.

I've already seen The First Man and Colette in Toronto (both very worthy films that didn't particularly ring my bell). Now debating whether to go see Venom, for lulz. Or I guess I could try The Hate U Give...


Laura - Oct 15, 2018 12:14:21 pm PDT #1761 of 3463
Our wings are not tired.

Question on A Star Is Born. Is it terribly depressing? Sister and I were going to go see it then a friend of hers said it was depressing and I heard the same elsewhere. We skipped it since we weren't in the mood for that the day we were nearby the theater.


Vonnie K - Oct 15, 2018 12:21:49 pm PDT #1762 of 3463
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.

Cereal:

FINALLY got around to watching Train to Busan, which has been streaming on Netflix all this time but which I'd been too much of a weenie to see. I had a friend over for dinner last night, and we figured we'd rectify this deficiency while holding each other's hands during scary bits.

Anyway, it was RIOTOUS GOOD TIME, y'all. It's fast-moving, smart, with a real knack for economical introduction to stock characters that make the audience care about them in record time. I feel like the last 20 minutes had about 3 different endings and the movie basically sat on the button labelled "FLORID SENTIMENTALITY" during the entire denouement, but even that was rather entertaining. My friend (also Korean-born) and I talked about how that mix of violence and sentimentality is baked into the fabric of Korean cinematic genre fare.

For fellow horror movie weenies: it's got your typical zombie movie violence but I didn't find it particularly scary. It's more action than horror. Two thumbs way up.


Vonnie K - Oct 15, 2018 12:31:27 pm PDT #1763 of 3463
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.

Question on A Star Is Born. Is it terribly depressing?

It follows the plot template of all 3 previous A Star Is Born movies (i.e. it ends unhappily) but I don't know if I'd call it depressing? I mean, addiction and relationship breakdown are big parts of the the story, but in its heart, it's a good ole-fashioned melodrama, where sad things happen and you have a good cathartic cry and feel fine about it afterward. But YMMV.


Laura - Oct 15, 2018 12:40:46 pm PDT #1764 of 3463
Our wings are not tired.

That makes sense, Vonnie. We'll just see it on a day when in that kind of mood.


Jessica - Oct 16, 2018 7:55:19 am PDT #1765 of 3463
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

For people who don't have problem with heights/vertigo, I highly recommend the documentary Free Solo.

It is an INTENSE movie.


juliana - Oct 17, 2018 3:18:02 am PDT #1766 of 3463
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I miss them all tonight…

I watched Meditation Park on the plane up to Toronto, and I loved it. It's a quiet film, but it's such a delight, and there's an absolutely iconic Chinese granny power walk in it. Sandra Oh and Don McKellar (Darren Nichols from Slings and Arrows) have lovely supporting roles.


Toddson - Oct 18, 2018 10:44:21 am PDT #1767 of 3463
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

They released a poster for Aquaman and, well, some people are having fits. Seemingly, the picture - of Aquaman on the back of a shark with an army (navy?) of sharks, etc., behind him used (gasp!) stock photos for the fish. um ... first of all, that's what stock photos are for and, second, did they think the studio was going to assemble the fish and have an underwater photo shoot of Jason Momoa with them? And they're pretty good photos - Getty images - so it's not like they're using some clumsy clip art ....


billytea - Oct 18, 2018 3:43:33 pm PDT #1768 of 3463
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

And they're pretty good photos - Getty images - so it's not like they're using some clumsy clip art ....

Clip art would've been hilarious though. Or they could've spliced him into some Sharknado footage.


Matt the Bruins fan - Oct 19, 2018 6:06:09 am PDT #1769 of 3463
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

I think they may have already done that for his aerial scenes in Justice League—I'm pretty sure I saw Tara Reid amongst the Para-demons.