The Big Sick - It didn't live up to all the rave reviews online, but certainly better than your average Romance/Comedy. A little light on the comedy also.

The Death Of Stalin didn't do it for me, but maybe that's because I watched it in a big cinema with about 8 other people, two of whom left after forty. Would like to know how I would have enjoyed it with a full, lubricated audience since every indication says it should have been one of my favourite films of the year.

I don't always understand this.

A concert with fellow enthusiastic fans can make it a more enjoyable experience, but watching a movie?

If anything, more people detracts me from the movie.

I can't remember anytime a big crowd made a movie better, IME.

I often watch films in sparsely populated cinemas, and often enjoy them, but I rarely watch comedies so maybe it's different. Laughing is infectious.

Because it’s the name of a Norse god, an uncommon surname anywhere. Most people upon meeting a Detective Loki would be like WTF (even if they were, at the moment, going through the trauma of abduction).

The rest of the cast have names like Holly Jones, Nancy Birch, Ralph Dover, Bob Taylor. In a movie that’s shooting for stark realism, it seems a bit weird that the only fantastic element is the detective’s name, which is never acknowledged/explained.

So instead of being gripped by the storyline, the unraveling of the mystery, I was bugging my friends, asking them why the detective was named Loki, had I missed something. Which I’m sure (it was a while ago) they responded with who cares, idk, it’s a movie.

You could say it’s just overt symbolism, man. That the etymology of Loki is itself unknown.

Still seems out of place for emotional torture porn.

MoviePass has lowered its subscription fees to $10 a month, so I thought I'd give it a go. I think it's a pretty sweet deal if you see >1 movies a month. The way it works is you roll up to the theater with a phone app and a debit card and it lets you see one standard 2D movie of your choice per day for free (not imax or 3d). The app worked seamlessly for me on first attempt.

The downsides are: it doesn't work for imax or 3D movies so you have to pay in full for that. Also, you can't buy tickets ahead of time; you have to be 100 yards from the theater for the app to work so it could be dicey if you want to see something on an opening weekend. Plus, I don't know how MoviePass's business model can possibly work, so enjoy the cheap movies while you can before it goes bankrupt.

Cran,

They sell the data. Consumer preferences are part of the quest to make perfect movies.

Idk why they need to crunch numbers for that though. Just ask Michael Bay.

I get that, it's just hard to imagine my movie-watching habits are really that valuable.

Yours alone, nah. But the aggregate data of millions of people is very valuable.

I seriously doubt whatever mediocre data they collect is worth anywhere close to enough to make the product viable at its current price point.

They are hoping to partner with studios and I don't think it's likely to happen.

Why are theatres not selling unlimited passes? They are standard here.

For $5, I'd be willing to tell them what kind of candy I sneak into the theater (it's Junior Mints).

Just watched Mother.
0/10....the absolute worst movie I have ever seen.
Laughing most of the way through because it was just so rediculous.

Saw BR2049 tonight. It's exceptionally well crafted and entertaining but missed the mark to be anything more than a technically good film with atmosphere imo. It touches on a number of ideas but never really goes anywhere with any of them.

Also I can't ****ing stand old man Harrison Ford anymore. He can't run or throw a believable punch anymore, stop ****ing putting it on screen. The quick cut aways and awkward framing just makes it more obvious that you're putting the skeletal remains of HF on screen to help squeeze every dollar out of some IP.

Also man, the expected demographic for BR2049 must be feeble minded boomers based on the previews. Two awful looking war movies, Thank You For Your Service and 12 Strong, drew audible scoffs and complaining from the audience and a Morgan Freeman Tommy Lee Jones buddy comedy that seemed very short on laughs.

Tokyo Ghoul

Special Preview Alert! Bruce Willis has remade Death Wish! Perfect for our times! Guns! Vigilantes!

Live action: somehow I thought anime.

Cute girl cannibal: stone cold killer.

Otaku: not just for breakfast anymore.

Human/Ghoul transplants: whoops!

Pink eye: contagious.

Cops: fashion icons.

Cops: pick on little girls.

Tentacle porn: check.

Tentacle fu: check.

Nerd fu: check.

Ghoul on Ghoul violence: check. (At least I think it was violence -- it may just have been rough sex.)

Karate Kid: check.

Mr. Miyagi: played by ghoul alpha female.

Shimizu Fumika: in her greatest role (so far... (...or at least since Hentai Kamen)).

There's a moral at the end of the flick, but I lost it in translation.

I don't know what possessed me to see this movie, but it was the most fun I've had since the 1st Night of the Living Dead. By all means check it out.

I don't think that's what they expected, but that's what they got. The original isn't that well known outside the boomer demographic. Maybe it can develop a wider audience over time.

I went hoping to see the 1960 Chrysler Imperial reprise its role, but it was nowhere to be seen. Oh, well.

:facepalm:

One of the best comedies I've seen in a good while. I laughed so hard my stomach hurts. Solid 9.5 out of ten and highly recommended.


"Why Him" featuring James Franco and Bryan Cranston

I really like The Exorcist. I'm not big on horror. That and The Shining are the only two I think are great - at least in the color era. Frankenstein 1931 is pretty great iirc.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: just alright. Had a few funny moments. Dave Bautista by far the shiniest star of this one.

It Comes At Night: fun little horror film that went in a different direction than the trailers made it seem. I liked it.

Most of Polanski's from the Exorcist era are really very good, though aren't all strictly horror.

And there's Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

My favorite moment in a film this year may be the funeral scene, and I don't know why.

Raw - A very very good horror movie. I don't want to give too much away and spoil this but it reminds me of some Asian horror movies in that it's a very slow burn but once you hit that flashpoint, the movie flips and the horror is everywhere. It's not a scary movie really nor all that gory, it's just a movie infused with dread. It actually left me a bit nauseated for an hour after I watched it.

And, it is a beautifully shot movie from a first-time director. It's currently streaming on Netflix. It is in French so you'll have to watch subtitles.

Southpaw was good, not great. It definitely felt a little cliche and overblown and in the hands of less talented people would have been forgettable. Gyllenhall is just an auto A+ for me at this point, McAdams is the love of my life even if she’s not in this enough, and the little girl is outstanding. 50 Cent is not a great actor, but is very well cast here. It’s fast and slick, verging on cheesy and blockbustery, but it has enough heart to draw you in and make you care. Check it out if you like boxing or MMA especially - has some insight into that world.