Plato Shrimp » Watching Movies Alone with crumbsroom

crumbsroom · 11/29/2023 11:54 am

Rock wrote:
Snake Eyes is a lot closer stylistically to classic De Palma. It’s just that the screenplay is very, very bad.

I remember finding Domino really bland outside of maybe one sequence.

It's bookeneded by two pretty good (and pretty stupid) sequences.

And it's padded out in the middle with a bunch of hilariously bad character building scenes in weird locations.

It is bland, which kind of kept me off the DePalma scent. Lots of driving around with terrible dialogue and bad acting. Flat flat flat. It all feels very phoned in, but I was amused by at least half of it.

It's also such an unbelievable mess, just as basic storytelling. Not that I cared much for this, but it must have driven a lot of people nuts just wondering, what is any of this supposed to amount to?

crumbsroom · 11/29/2023 11:59 am

It would probably be between this, Greetings and Obsession as my least favorite of his.
I'd be happy to watch any of them again though, as even bad De Palma can't help but have a little juice in it.

Rock · 11/29/2023 2:37 pm

I haven’t yet seen Greetings.

I remember Obsession being pretty sleepy for the most part, until one moment when Genevieve Bujold starts screaming at the top of her lungs, at which point it quickly becomes hysterical.

Jinnistan · 11/30/2023 11:17 am

Bonfire of the Vanities is not good. It isn't quite as meme-worthy awful as Black Dahlia or as empty-headed as Mission to Mars. All of those have to be among my least favorites.

And I love Raising Cain. Sure, it's completely ludicrous, but it's the best Lithgow this side of Dr. Lizardo.

Jinnistan · 12/06/2023 3:13 pm

Rock, you gonna watch House of Yes for the Parker Posey hat-trick?

Rock · 12/06/2023 4:31 pm

For some reason that one isn’t on the Canadian service, but I could try fiddling with my free VPN and give it a go.

Jinnistan · 12/06/2023 5:17 pm

Rock wrote:
For some reason that one isn’t on the Canadian service, but I could try fiddling with my free VPN and give it a go.

I think it's the better of her 1997 films, although my memory of all three is a little hazy. Or go earlier with her Party Girl. I just wasn't sure if it was Posey who was motivating the viewings.

Rock · 12/06/2023 8:11 pm

Yeah, I’m watching for Posey. I watched Party Girl earlier this year, probably one of my favourite first time viewings of the year.

I’ve been looking at what other films of hers I have available. Apparently she did a WWE action movie with Triple H. I mean, it’s probably terrible, but maybe she brings some Scream 3 magic?

crumbsroom · 12/06/2023 11:25 pm

The reality show based on Squid Game is way better than Squid Game.

It also probably traumatized a lot of people,and so maybe should never have existed.

But I'm helplessly in love with it.

Jinnistan · 12/07/2023 5:08 pm

crumbsroom wrote:
The reality show based on Squid Game is way better than Squid Game.

It also probably traumatized a lot of people,and so maybe should never have existed.

But I'm helplessly in love with it.

I guess there's some satisfaction in forcing fans of the original Squid Game to admit that their enjoyment may not have been rooted in the best of intentions.

Jinnistan · 12/07/2023 5:19 pm

Rock wrote:
I’ve been looking at what other films of hers I have available.

She was in about every other indie for a while there. Some of them are really really bad (Doom Generation), some are cute (Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming, Sleep with Me). The Hal Hartley's are worth checking out if you haven't seen them. I don't even remember Posey in Amateur but it has Isabelle Hubbert to compensate, and might be my favorite of Hartley's distinctive dry style of humor.

Since the 90s, the only one that stands out to me is The Anniversery Party, a great film from Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming that no one seems to talk about anymore.

Rock · 12/07/2023 7:10 pm

I probably will watch The Doom Generation at some point, but I was left cold by the one Arraki I watched (The Living End).

I watched Amateur earlier this year when the Criterion Channel had their Isabelle Huppert month. My key takeaways were that repressed nun writing erotica is closer to onscreen representation than I’d care to admit, and I would 100% watch a porno called Gang Rape starring Elina Lowensohn.

Unfortunately most of the Hartleys have left the service, but it looks like Fay Grim is on there so I’ll give it a look.

Anniversary Party is on there too, meant to give it a look when they had their JJL series, but it left before I got to it.

crumbsroom · 12/07/2023 10:56 pm

The Doom Generation is awful

This isn't

Pretty great corporate-noir, detailing all sorts of business skullduggery and dread.

crumbsroom · 12/08/2023 3:13 pm

An insidiously wonderful kind of terrible. David Hess is, surprisingly, not a great director. Nearly everything in this film is completely wrong. Sometimes loudly, othertimes quietly. But always wrong.

And I love it for that, even though I think most people would be incredible bored by this.

I was entertained by nearly every minute.

crumbsroom · 12/08/2023 10:25 pm

Jinnistan · 12/09/2023 12:32 am

Is that cat wearing a monocle?

Jinnistan · 12/10/2023 9:28 pm

Rock, I'm need some help in mustering the strength to work up the sweat to go see this new Godzilla film.

crumbsroom · 12/10/2023 9:42 pm

Jinnistan wrote:
Is that cat wearing a monocle?

When Bob Dylan is strangling you, a monocle is always going to eventually pop out from inside your eyeball.

Or so I hear.

Jinnistan · 12/10/2023 9:52 pm

crumbsroom wrote:
Jinnistan wrote:
Is that cat wearing a monocle?
When Bob Dylan is strangling you, a monocle is always going to eventually pop out from inside your eyeball.

Or so I hear.

The cat on Bringing It All Back Home fared better.

crumbsroom · 12/10/2023 11:24 pm

Jinnistan wrote:
The cat on Bringing It All Back Home fared better.

Probably not. Dylan strangled many cats. Why not that one too?

Known fact.