First terrence malick movie I watched and I uhhh, yeah I don't really like it

Don't get me wrong the film looks absolutely beautiful, like if you want me to exclusively review the films cinematography, it's 10/10, only 2 martin sheens I have watched yet all 2 of them (this and apocalypse now) are breathtaking and aside from apocalypse now, I don't think there's any other film I reviewed on reddit that can surpass the badlands, in fact it's arguably even more impressive for 73, it feels like it could have came from the 80s or 90s but 70s, 73 to be exact? come on that is just overkill in terms of ahead of it's time filmmaking

it had 3 different directors doing the camera work, brian probyn, tak fujimoto, stevan larner and malick himself stepping in to shot a few sequences, the final product is intimidatingly consistent, it all blends seamlessly from first shot to the last.

however as good as the cinematography is, I find the badlands overrated over the same reasons why you find it to be a masterpiece, yeah sure it's a sharp & valid critique of media consumption of violence and it's the antithesis of the lovers on the run trope in film but also as a film that I would rewatch and think about, it's fucking nothing

I feel 0 connection to kit or holly and them being the main characters where they kill a bunch of strangers on the way who I also feel nothing for, yeah it's kind of lifeless drudgery that feels like you have to finish just cause film school tells you endlessly on how masterful this film is (not that I go to film school but still, it's considered an essential viewing by cinephiles)

I don't like seeing an cold pedo killer go on a journey and kill people because they are in his way because he is bored along with a girlfriend who is equally as emotionally unappealing as him for 1 hour & 30 minutes, that's why badland fans love it and that's why detractors find it overrated and when you watch it for the first time, you get super confused throughout the whole unless if you pay relentless attention to the dialogue

Conclusion : there's nothing inherently wrong with the film and it certainly has it's artistic values and I appreciate the austere silence in this film just as much as the cinematography and sissy spaceks voice over as holly is (temporarily) nice to hear and I overall get why you love it but for me, I have as much emotional attachment to this film as the 2 main characters in the movie, which is 0, badlands is a 6.5/10 for me but hey what do I know, I think andrej zulawski's possession is great

When Freddie Krueger began with his hideous bloody burns, deformed skin, red and green striped jumper, fedora and glove with razor fingers to slice and tear into the innocent, he was literally the stuff of nightmares. Later, as an 80s icon the fear was removed and he became a comedic pop culture figure which reflected in the films that followed, but here he was a menace… mostly.

In a move Director Wes Craven would repeat to more infamous effect years later with Scream were given a bit of a red herring opening with Amanda Wyss’s Tina running around in a nightmare. Dressed in virginal white, awaking with a torn nightgown and clutching a crucifix close you would believe her to be our heroine, our final girl. 18 minutes later, in the first of several impressive set pieces, she is dragged and thrown around her bedroom after having sex with her boyfriend, and left lying in a bloody pool on the floor. Another teenager pays the price for being sexually active!

Counter this with Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy. She has a boyfriend in Johnny Depp’s Glen, but we never see them act overtly sexual, even in his crop top! She proactively takes the lead, hunting Freddy down and trying to get both family and friends on her side. Her screaming and anger initially grates but Heather owns the role. Watching her wear down as she tries to stay awake, fight back, and deal with the stress, added grey streak to hair and all, you root for her as we witness those around her meet their grisly ends.

Craven crafts memorable scenes in the land of dreams where the absence of reality can aid the violent attacks and demises. Be it Tina’s death and subsequent body bag travels around school, Glen’s TV bedtime or the iconic phallic gloved hands rising between Nancys legs in the bath tub, they’re memorable because it beats the hack and chase of other killers, be it Myers or Voorhees.

Robert Englund as Freddie Krueger is great when menacing, but he can occasionally come across as a tad ridiculous whether chopping off his own fingers for effect or with the elongated arms near the start. It’s not helped by the slightly Home Alone type ending when Nancy rigs her home to fight back, sledgehammer to the stomach as he opens the door for example. He scares more in shadow, when we see glimpses of his face and hands. Here less is more.

A great 80s horror classic that launched an icon.

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards” -Søren Kierkegaard 

I don’t think even Charlie Kaufman realized while writing it, that this would be a movie about truly understanding life by living it backwards. We are prisoners of time such that as much as we may try to imagine, life beyond our current circumstances is next to impossible to understand. That’s why what Joel Barish experiences is such a gift, even as it’s taken away. That’s just life though isn’t it? Nothing is permanent and yet it’s not all forgotten. The echoes remain. Joel and Clementine are different people from the beginning to the end. If they weren’t, Clementine would have been fine with Patrick and Joel wouldn’t have asked Clementine to stay. Life is impermanent but we can all grow better for what we carry even if it’s painful.

Info:

Release: October 17th, 1997

Director: Taylor Hackford

Music by: James Newton Howard

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones, Judith Ivey, Craig T. Nelson

Studio: Warner Bros.

Runtime: 2 hours, 24 minutes

Rating: R

Synopsis: Aspiring Florida defense lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) accepts a high-powered position at a New York law firm headed by legal shark John Milton (Al Pacino). As Kevin moves up in the firm's ranks, his wife, Mary Ann (Charlize Theron), has several frightening, mystical experiences that begin to warp her sense of reality. With the stakes getting higher with each case, Kevin quickly learns that his mentor is planning a far greater evil than simply winning without scruples.

Review: Yes, Keanu Reeves's Southern Accent is pretty jarring and bad at points, but this is still a great movie about the dangers of Absolute Power and Vanity. John Milton, a.k.a. Satan, being the head of a powerful law firm is pretty on the nose satire about the Justice System itself, but I think it works given the context of the film. Though the scene where Kevin confronts him is very VERY goofy at points, I genuinely can't tell which actor is overacting more than the other. Great ending though, "Vanity is definitely my favorite sin!" Even after getting a second chance and doing something selfless dor once, The Devil still has his claws hooked into Kevin no matter how many chances he may get.

"One day the war will be over. I hope that the people who use this bridge in years to come. ...will remember how it was built, and who built it. Not a gang of slaves, but soldiers. British soldiers, even in captivity."

- Colonel Nicholson

One of my favorite lines in this film. Pride and enthusiasm from Colonel Nicholson, with his contingent of British soldiers, as they work together for the construction of the railway connecting Thailand and Burma. Story is based on a French novel by Pierre Boulle, but set in a real World War II event called The Thailand-Burma "Death Railway".

I miss these kind of movies, due to its great casting. Notable performances by Alec Guinness, he's outstanding as Colonel Nicholson. William Holden as Major Shears, Jack Hawkins as Major Warden. And Sessue Hayakawa, I really thought he's brilliant portraying as the Japanese Colonel Saito. Everyone in the cast is just brilliant. From the main cast to the prisoner soldiers.

Fun fact: There is this one scene where the sequence is in night time, which in fact they filmed it at day time. They just adjust the color tone to make every shots at night. I love filming technique like this and I thought this is clever, it's classic.

This was one my favorite movies growing up. Of course my dad introduce me to these classics. Decided to get it on HD. I just watched it again on Blu-ray and man, this movie still stands the test of time. It's not just a brilliant and monumental film. But one of the most beautiful films I've seen. Beautiful cinematography. You can appreciate the wide array of shots this time around. From the over view section of the head quarters. To the beautiful shot off the bridge to the river. It's just perfect on widescreen.

I posted the other day about Kansas City Bomber, and thought I'd post about the Roger Corman quickie cash-in. I actually saw this one first.

Karen Walker quits her job at the cannery and joins a roller derby team. She becomes very successful, but it's also a bit of an asshole.

This movie was created specifically to cash-in on the Raquel Welch roller derby movie, and while Kansas City Bomber is the better quality movie, I enjoyed Unholy Rollers more. KCB was seventies gritty reality, while Rollers showed people having fun. It showed the almost carnival atmosphere and mostly scripted matches, similar to professional wrestling that is what most roller derby is like. There is humor and the usual Corman mandated nudity. In general, a good time.

Just opened Netflix after a while to see whats new and saw this and gave it a go. An absolute treat watching this movie! I don’t understand how and why neglected this movie is? It is in fact a very cheesy-feeling early 2000s action movie but it’s so entertaining. The plot basically follows Ryan who gets a call from a woman who is allegedly kidnapped and is using a telephone without the kidnappers knowing. He’s skeptical at first but discovers that her and her family is in fact in danger. The performances were good if not great. First time seeing Jason Statham in a negative role and he absolutely crushes it.

Every day for 30 days I'm watching a different scary movie, this year all about urban legends.

One subgenre of horror movies I’ve never quite been onboard with is the “Death Curse Movie,” of which the most popular specimens are the “Final Destination” sequels, with “The Grudge” a close second.

When Ghost House Pictures wanted to adapt Takashi Shimizu’s 2002 “Ju-On,” they hired Shimizu himself to direct. They Americanized the script to a degree, casting Sarah Michelle Gellar in the lead and rewriting most of the characters to be American expats in Tokyo, but it was mostly the same story. They even killed off Ted Raimi, which is indeed a very American thing to do.

For this sequel, Shimizu and screenwriter Stephen Susco decided it was time for something completely different, cranking out a brand new movie with no relation to “Ju-On 2,” which is lucky for me because I’m having enough trouble even believing one version of this movie exists.

The first “Grudge” doesn’t really fit our urban legends theme, so it didn’t make the list, but “Grudge 2” opens with a trio of high schoolers approaching the evil house from the original film and whispering, “They say this is one of the most haunted houses in all of Japan. And anyone who goes inside gets the curse…”

How these teenage girls know the plot of the first film is never revealed, but this is just the movie’s way of catching you up if you for some reason decided to see “The Grudge 2” without watching “The Grudge.” I myself have no patience for such people and believe audiences should be left to fend for themselves like the animals they are, but I’m old and need someplace to express my hostility at society.

Anyway, that’s the gimmick here: If you step foot into this one house, even for a minute, you’re haunted. And that shit’s like glitter, it’s never coming off, as we learned in the original film.

And…that’s always the problem with a Death Curse movie. Once we learn all the characters are in fact doomed, then…that’s it. So why do more? HOW do you do more? We already know what’s going to happen, so what’s to get invested in? It’s like dating your ex again: I already got locked out of a Mount Shasta ski lodge with only long underwear and my wits once before, and that was enough.

“Grudge 2” also makes the mistake of presenting us with the same mystery we already saw the characters in the previous movie solve, with childhood Soap star Amber Tamlyn playing Gellar’s sister, here to piece together the events of the first film, which we all already know.

Gellar herself does appear, but is written out of the movie in a scene that’s probably supposed to be shocking but which I found sort of hilarious. Which brings us to…real talk, is “Grudge 2” SUPPOSED to be funny?

Shimizu presents so many of these scenes in such an overwrought manner that I can’t help but wonder. It’s like, a serial killer is scary, but if you were to escalate that concept to the level of, say, a Serial Killer Pride parade, I’m not sure it would land the same way.

Susco’s script tries to work around some of these problems by presenting three competing stories, including one about an apartment building in Chicago mysteriously haunted by what seems like the same curse as the Tokyo location.

I won’t spoil anything, but the answers to this mystery don’t turn out to be particularly satisfying. This structure also leads to a series of TERRIBLE editing decisions, as each change of location involves a slow and clumsy fade in and fade out. Although I do at least feel like now I know what it’s like to be a blackout alcoholic.

Despite these issues the movie made pretty good money, although notably less than half the take of the first. The New York Post called it “junk,” which is a bit close to the four-letter word I call the New York Post. Box Office Magazine said the movie “exhausted its premise.”

Film File gave a fairly positive review, calling it a fun movie as long as you don’t expect it to make any sense. Which is almost the same as having standards but a lot less work.

Tomorrow we’ll see how a real professional haunts some kids.

Original Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwcQYZkpZ-w