Last movie you watched

[erilaz]

Last night I was farting around online, watching YouTube videos, but at 11:45 I remembered that Tommy Wiseau's The Room (2003) was starting at my neighborhood theater in 15 minutes! I saw it on DVD back in 2011, so it was a very different experience this time, with the rowdy midnight movie crowd shouting out comments and throwing plastic spoons.

I followed it up this afternoon with a matinee of The Disaster Artist (2017), which tells the story of the making of The Room, with James Franco doing an amazing portrayal of Tommy Wiseau.

"Oh hi Denny."

[erilaz]

Big Story in a Little City (Մեծ պատմություն փոքր քաղաքում) (2006) — A man in Yerevan is crushed by a falling piano, and hilarity ensues when the morgue gets his body mixed up with that of a similar-looking gangster. I saw this at a film festival ten years ago, so it was time to see it again.

Baby Bump (2015) — Say what you will about Japan, but when it comes to WTF cinema, nobody beats Eastern Europe.

[DSQueenie]

@erilaz @zunu

On Neo Yokio. It was like an amiable failure. I get why people didn't like it but I could also see the hard work. Jaden might be famous because of nepotism but he has some talent.

[Nayoko-Kihara]

Get Out ★★★
Entirely underwhelming, especially the reveal and the ending. The reveal was the biggest letdown. No desire to watch this again with someone else.

[erilaz]

Tonight at SF IndieFest I saw Top Knot Detective (2017). It's an Australian mockumentary about a bizarre, low-budget, samurai TV series from Japan that was a cult hit in Australia: "the gold standard of shitty '90s Japanese V-cinema," as one interviewee describes it. (No, the series didn't really exist.) It's an absolutely brilliant parody of Japanese entertainment and marketing, and the more familiar you are with these things, the more you'll get out of it. Bonus points for special appearances by Guitar Wolf and Shonen Knife!

One gripe: when the name "Koike" appeared onscreen, in subtitles or elsewhere, it was misspelled as "Kioke" about 75% of the time. Was this intentional?

I'm surprised that so few people came to see this film. There were only about 30-40 people in the theater, and this was the only screening at the festival. I'll buy it if it comes out on DVD or Blu-ray.



"DEDUCTIVE REASONING!"

[erilaz]

About the Pink Sky (ももいろそらを) (2011) — A quirky indie dramedy about a high school girl named Izumi, whose hobby is rating newspaper articles, mostly with negative values, because the news is usually bad. After she finds a wallet containing ¥300,000, her life starts to get interesting. Or at least different. It's not as if things go crazy or out of control. It's a pretty low-key film, but with plenty of charm.

[Nayoko-Kihara]

Another HBO weekend preview.

Woder Woman ★★★★★
I loved this. This is what I wanted. This has me more excited to see Justice League than I ever was for Avengers. I hope the next few superhero movies I watch don't kill my momentum.

The Zookeeper's Wife ★★★★★
I didn't think I was a fan of Jessica Chastain, but this flipped me. I'm going to be looking back at her previous work, and adding Diane Ackerman's novel to my TBR list.

Bessie ★★★★
I knew Queen Latifah played lead before watching, but I did not know Mo'Nique was part of the cast! That was a nice surprise. Loved the music and the costuming, and enjoyed the 2 hours afterward reading about the real-life women.

Jersey Boys ★★★★
I watched this because of my dad. He knows I'll watch more or less anything with musical numbers in it, even better if it's a period piece of some kind, and - in this case - even better that I already knew some of the songs. I haven't looked into how truthful it was, but it didn't seem ridiculously embellished.

Gifted ★★★
I expected quirky and cute, I got quirky and cute. It accomplished it's job. It took me half the movie to realize Mckenna Grace looked familiar because she's also on ABC's Designated Survivor.

The House ★★★
Similarly, I went in wanting something specific and it fulfilled that well enough. Thumbs up for being the first time in a while that I haven't been annoyed by Will Ferrell, half a thumb down for all of the daughter's friends being annoying instead.

The Mummy ★★★
I don't like Tom Cruise, but he's easy enough to ignore and in the end I thought this was an alright movie. I'd probably watch a sequel, but I wouldn't rush out to see it.

Everything, Everything ★★
Felt 100% like a tween YA novel. Not entirely a waste of time, but close enough.

Within ★★
I didn't like the ending, and I guessed part of the twist before the half way mark. The topic is something I find creepy and interesting, but they veered too far off into fantastical bullshit for me to care by the end. I absolutely would have enjoyed this more had they sided more on realistic.

[Zunu]

^ I thought The Mummy was surprisingly ok as well, especially after it critically bombed. I initially watched the film for Sofia Boutella but I wasn't impressed by her. As for Tom Cruise, I don't think I could call myself a fan, he seems too impressed by himself. But at the same time, he knows how to carry a film; I've never seen a movie of his that I didn't like. I also saw Jack Reacher last week. I would've been disappointed if I had paid full price, but grading it on an Amazon Prime scale I'd give it four stars.

[Nayoko-Kihara]

That type of action movie is exacty part of the reason I have to go back to 2005 to find the last pre-Mummy Cruise movie I watched.

[Zunu]

If you like SF, maybe check out Oblivion (2013), somewhat derivative of Moon (2009), and in terms of atmosphere, reminiscent of Douglas Trumbull's 1972 classic Silent Running. It wasn't really an action movie although it had a few obligatory fight scenes.