Yeah, I've never even seen Dune all the way through.
I can defend his other not quite Lynchian movies that I think fall outside his usual strengths. But unless it got a lot better after I stopped watching, I really didn't care for Dune at all, and it was the main thing I was thinking of when I put in qualifiers.
Yeah, I've never even seen Dune all the way through.
I recall enjoying it as a little one. An oiled-up nearly naked Sting and death by heart-plug removal made impressions.
My main recollection from my last rewatch - some 20 years ago - is of cheesy power chords while Kyle MacLachlan rode giant over-compensatory metaphors.
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I can defend his other not quite Lynchian movies that I think fall outside his usual strengths.
What falls in to that category? The Straight Story (which I haven't seen)? Anything else?
Yeah, The Straight Story, and I don't think Elephant Man is really full Lynch either.
Plus just to be clear, I'm talking about full length narrative movies. I've only seen a small fraction of his shorter features and documentary type things because there are millions of them.
We watched Solo and I fucking loved it. A Space Western it was, complete with a train heist, and poker shenanigans, and more than one quick-draw-style stand-off. Donald Glover is a treasure, of course.
I dared to hope that Lando would pronounce "Han" with the short-A sound, just like BDW did. I did not expect an actual retcon for why he does it.
Other fan-servicy stuff:
I can forgive the gun-fetishist close-up of Han's blaster when he first receives it, because I approve of any and all fan-service that doesn't attempt to explain Klingon forehead ridges.
But I can't wank away the bit later when they have to check their weapons. Woody has something stupid like a shovel left, I don't even remember what it was, and he makes a point of saying it's the only weapon he has left. Meanwhile Han checks "his" new blaster, and I'm like give Woody back his fucking gun, asshole. Damn.
I thought the Solo was okay. There's nothing really wrong with it. But it didn't do anything really spectacular either. I mean, not like Rogue One. The big critique I've hard a couple of places is that it doesn't give the character anywhere to grow. When viewed with an eye towards the series (not just this one film) you won't be surprised when he shows up at the end. He's not just the selfish scoundrel out for the money. You all ready know he's got that big soft heart. But that's a bit too meta for me.
So. That's Solo.
I've also seen't the Incredibles 2. Now, I have to say this first: The Incredibles is, like, my favorite movie. I was totes okay with there never being a sequel. That said:
It's hard to fight the notion that Mr Incredible is Superman. Analogous to be sure - as in, he's the per-eminent superhero of that universe. But any comparison should end there. He is not altruistic. Heck, by the time we get to know him I'm not totally convinced he's heroic. Dude has some anger issues, right?
He doesn't get any better in the new movie. I mean, on one hand, okay sure. He's human. Capable of good, and often does good for its own sake. But every so often you get that selfish butthole who just enjoys punching things.
In beautiful contrast, there's Elastigirl. I love watching her work. And I love that I get to see more of her doing her thing. Man, after watching Incredibles 2, I really want an Elastigirl Prequel.
But, putting that aside: What about the movie? I really enjoyed it. It's not as clean or as put together as the first one. I like the main story, even if it does feel like we've seen it before. I enjoyed the antics of the side stories, for the most part. But put all together it's not quite as cohesive. It's a romping great visit with the Parrs (et al) though.
What keeps happening in both movies is that the underpinning philosophical debate gets short shrifted. They both ask great questions but the answer is, basically, POW BOFF BOOM. (Should society allow people with special abilities to showcase them for the benefit of the society? Do we really need them to?)
I haven't seen solo yet but it seems to me that it already suffers from the franchisement of StarWars and idolizement of Solo that prevents any showing of the real character. Afterall we meet him at the ass end of nowhere acting as a ferry and clearly skipping out on Debts. Things that lead a character to that point aren't the dashing hero that you might expect.
At first I thought I would not like the Mr. Mom stuff, but it ended up being better than I had feared. I liked that it didn't take too long for him to find a way to better parent. I liked that the kids met him halfway rather than being obstacles. You know, they worked together like a family.
I agree that Elasti Girl is considerably more interesting as a protagonist. Mr. Incredible is a bit too easy of a read and there isn't a lot there. I loved loved love how her bike worked with her powers, that was pretty amazingly unique.
I do wish that while they expanded the world, they actually went deeper, too. The villain's motivation was a bit half-baked and it only touched on the larger issues you mentioned, rather than get right into it. There could have been an analogy between Mr. Incredible letting the kids finding their own and how supers can relate to the general populace. That might still be a little cliche, but it would have been nice to see some effort given to more nuance in the film.
We watched The Big Sick. It was funny and touching in equal parts. I thought Kumail Nanjiani's acting was a little stilted, but Zoe Kazan was fantastic.
Jumanji was a perfectly reasonable action/comedy which does the video game elements of it reasonably well without beating you over the head or making a billion reference jokes but it's also just a straight video game style, there's bad guys, take the gem from point a to point b type of stories. It's elevated though by the actors who do a great job bringing the characters to life as high schoolers playing a game inside these avatar bodies. There's already plans for a sequel. Probably over half the reason to see this is to watch The Rock Smolder on screen (his character actually has a 'smolder' ability when talking to people) and Jack Black play a teenage girl.
One of my few complaints is the badguys are pretty empty and generic. In the first movie Van Pelt was scary to Alan not just because he was hunting him but because he represented Alan's issues with his father made manifest.
Curiously, I was never a fan of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. That's because, even as a child, I thought it was too saccharine for my tastes. Still, I've always liked and admired Fred Rogers. As Won't You Be My Neighbor makes plain, it wasn't an act; Fred Rogers truly was one of the most fundamentally decent human beings who ever lived.
The documentary does point out that he was human. He sometimes felt angry at injustice and cruelty, and that he fell into near despair after the events of 9/11. Sadly, I can't help but feel he'd be appalled at what's happening in our country nowadays.
We need more people like him. Desperately.
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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
I love me some Mission: Impossible. The TV series is still at the top of my charts - even if it is very much a thing of its time. I thoroughly enjoyed the first M:I movie. Not perfect, but a still fantastic thrill ride. I've had mixed feelings for the subsequent sequels.
Obviously two is the weakest link. I wanted more from the Brad Bird one. And, well, I have a love/hate thing going on with JJ Abrams putting his fingers in all my nerd pies.
If you're already amenable to Tom Cruise or the M:I series, you're probably already wanting to see, have seen, or will see this movie. I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't enjoy this one. If you're not any of those things, I don't think any thing I say will sway you. It's not high cinema. It's big hollywood doing its big block busting action movie thing.
The story is the story. It's serviceable for its purpose.
Here's the thing.
The stunts and action sequences are the best this series has ever produced. And there are multiple stunts and sequences. The HALO jump - filmed over several real life HALO jumps by Cruise himself (no matter what side of opinion you have on that, it's still remarkable). I'm even more impressed by the camera work on that sequence. Probably the most amazing thing to be filmed this year - for action sequences any way. The bathroom fight scene is incredible. The car/motorcycle chase is fantastic.
And also a great standout this time: The Music. This is the best M:I soundtrack to date. To my shame I do own the soundtrack to the second one. Don't be mad at me, that was the style in those days. It was only five bees for a dollar back then.
I finally got around to seeing "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst". It takes a bit too long to get to the point - that critical point where the filmmaker presents Durst with evidence that a letter sent to the police to help them find Susan Berman's body is almost identical to Durst's handwriting, down to the misspelling of Beverly Hills.
...and then the probably unethical "hot mic" moment at the end...
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There it is. You’re caught. You’re right, of course. But you can’t imagine. Arrest him. I don’t know what’s in the house. Oh, I want this. What a disaster. He was right. I was wrong. And the burping. I’m having difficulty with the question. What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.
However, that's not the most insane part. The most insane part is how Durst's lawyers got the jury on his side - Durst was in hiding because an ambitious lady lawyer from New York was after him! Members of the jury thought this was a perfectly reasonable excuse to go into hiding!
Saw what was possibly the best zombie movie I've ever seen, a Korean film: Train To Busan. The zombie plague hits without warning, nobody knows what the hell it is, and the still-living people on a high-speed train have to do what they can without any real weaponry. I think there's one single gun in the whole film, a small pistol - which follows Chekov's rule - but that's about the only predictable thing in the whole film. That and a bit at the end that I'd seen before in a short feature.
It's awesome because, even though there are a couple of the usual tropes (particularly the selfish vs. the compassionate conflict), it's a true horror film about fear and how it affects people differently - not an action-video game.
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hide, witch, hide / the good folks come to burn thee / their keen enjoyment hid behind / a gothic mask of duty - P. Kantner
Melissa McCarthy plays a CIA agent who is the desk operative for a charming and daring field agent (Jude Law). She comes into her own as a field agent when he is killed and she volunteers to go after them. Jason Statham is a cocky field agent who goes rogue because he doesn't believe McCarthy can do the job.
It's genuinely funny and well done, with good action scenes to complement the comedy. The pleasant surprise was that Statham can do straight comedy - I mean, I've seen him in "Crank" but that's not him doing comedy exactly.
I genuinely enjoy this movie - it's an all-time horror classic. I think its reputation has been sunk by the significantly worse sequels, but this one is pretty darn good.
It's cheap as fuck and doesn't always look great, but the basic story is compelling and creepy. It's based on Clive Barker's "Hellbound Heart," which I think is a pretty solid foundation for the movie.
The basic story: A man enlists his lover (who is also his brother's wife) to help him escape from a hellish dimension, and he needs her to murder a few men to do it. The Cenobytes - the masters of this dimension, are not happy to learn someone is trying to leave...
A Star Is Born lives up to the hype and then some. Bring a box of tissues, though; you'll need it. It's even more of a tear jerker than a typical This Is Us episode. Regardless, it might actually be the best musical film I've ever seen. I might expand this with more when I'm not posting from my phone at 5 am, but it has something truly profound to say about art and the process of creation - something I feel a lot of people need to hear.
Unrelated, they played about a dozen trailers before the film and not one of them elicited a "yeah, not gonna see that" response from me. That's literally never happened before. I was surprised how good the new Lisbeth Salander film looks, but then, Claire Foy is a fucking force of nature. I still don't like how Larsson's estate has treated his long-time girlfriend, though.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
Re: Seen Any Good Movies...?
It was better than I thought it would be. Volcano special effects were good. 
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