18th Mofo Hall of Fame
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Starting to watch Split. Let's see if I can do it in one session.
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No love for Split from me either. At least I was able to write majority of my review while watching the film 
Split (1989) N
Big Brother is watching everyone but one man lives beyond its control. Is he the new messiah or just a random lunatic?
To me Split looks exactly like how I'd imagine a film school project that tries too hard to be intellectual and artistic to impress the teachers. The result is preachy and incoherent mess only interested in giving speeches and doing gimmicky edits.
I like my movies with story and characters but Split is more like modern art splashing almost random images and big words on screen with all sorts of noises playing in the background. I'm somewhat sure that there's a logic behind Split's structure but it doesn't really save it from being utterly boring (and I'm more interested about the piece of art than the artist's explanation of it anyways, hence my distaste for the so called modern art).
I can't really find much positive to say about this. I think it's technically terrible (especially editing is horrendous), badly acted and badly written piece of cinematic junk.
Big Brother is watching everyone but one man lives beyond its control. Is he the new messiah or just a random lunatic?
To me Split looks exactly like how I'd imagine a film school project that tries too hard to be intellectual and artistic to impress the teachers. The result is preachy and incoherent mess only interested in giving speeches and doing gimmicky edits.
I like my movies with story and characters but Split is more like modern art splashing almost random images and big words on screen with all sorts of noises playing in the background. I'm somewhat sure that there's a logic behind Split's structure but it doesn't really save it from being utterly boring (and I'm more interested about the piece of art than the artist's explanation of it anyways, hence my distaste for the so called modern art).
I can't really find much positive to say about this. I think it's technically terrible (especially editing is horrendous), badly acted and badly written piece of cinematic junk.
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I kind of really want to watch Split now.
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Last edited by CosmicRunaway; 02-07-19 at 09:57 AM.
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All the negativity towards Split makes me wonder what film got the most hate in a HoF before.
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I fell asleep early last night and didn't watch anything. Might try to fit in two today.
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All the negativity towards Split makes me wonder what film got the most hate in a HoF before.
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Brimstone (2016)
I remember watching an old vampire movie. As the vampire draws near, the inept vampire hunter pulls out his wooden cross to fend off the blood sucker. The vampire heartily laughs and says, 'you have to believe in that to make it work'...
Brimstone is like that...it's touted as dark and disturbing but to the savvy movie watcher it's so cliche ridden with one dimensional characters that only exist to wield knives and kill, that nothing in the movie seems real. Hence it's utterly ineffective as the vampire hunter's wooden cross was.
Brimstone is like a $35 gourmet hamburger served with a sprig of parsley in a fancy restaurant. Sure it looks fancy with it's on location shooting and impressive cinematography, but it's still just a hamburger...it's a fast food thrill flick to be gulped down, fine cuisine it's not.
Brimstone is a con, a sham that pretends to be something more than it is. Strip away the cinematography and sets and it's just a well dressed up horror film with a stone faced antagonist that's even more unbelievable than Jason from Friday the 13th. The plot is juvenile, pretending to deal with deep themes, when all it actually delivers is thrill kill scenes fit only for mass consumption. What Brimstone needed to be believable, was some good old fashion character development and drama.
If you want to see a top notch thriller about an evil preacher chasing down children, watch Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter (1955) now that's a movie!
Brimstone is like that...it's touted as dark and disturbing but to the savvy movie watcher it's so cliche ridden with one dimensional characters that only exist to wield knives and kill, that nothing in the movie seems real. Hence it's utterly ineffective as the vampire hunter's wooden cross was.
Brimstone is like a $35 gourmet hamburger served with a sprig of parsley in a fancy restaurant. Sure it looks fancy with it's on location shooting and impressive cinematography, but it's still just a hamburger...it's a fast food thrill flick to be gulped down, fine cuisine it's not.
Brimstone is a con, a sham that pretends to be something more than it is. Strip away the cinematography and sets and it's just a well dressed up horror film with a stone faced antagonist that's even more unbelievable than Jason from Friday the 13th. The plot is juvenile, pretending to deal with deep themes, when all it actually delivers is thrill kill scenes fit only for mass consumption. What Brimstone needed to be believable, was some good old fashion character development and drama.
If you want to see a top notch thriller about an evil preacher chasing down children, watch Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter (1955) now that's a movie!
Last edited by Citizen Rules; 02-07-19 at 01:10 PM.
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At least I knew CR will hate it. And yes, Brimstone essentially is a "well dressed up horror film" even though it doesn't have the tag on IMDb. Obviously I disagree with the lack of depth and such but maybe it's just the horror-loving, religion-hating me 
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At least I knew CR will hate it. And yes, Brimstone essentially is a "well dressed up horror film" even though it doesn't have the tag on IMDb. Obviously I disagree with the lack of depth and such but maybe it's just the horror-loving, religion-hating me
Link to Roger Ebert.com review: Brimstone
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18th Hall of Fame
Brimstone
2016
Brimstone you say? Yeah, more like “Grimstone”…
This two-and-a-half-hour wannabe horror tale is a persistently and purposely pale presentation of pure evil and extreme religion set inside a revenge slash stalker story with a grim reverend and a runaway girl in the middle of all the murky madness…
This soulless, satanic approach to Gods will and people’s wrongdoings is both its strength and its weakness, respectively. The stubborn graphic imagery acts like a tow-truck to the story, pulling the audience through the mud by the neck, until there is no more filth to pick up or fresh air to breathe, leaving this aggressively agonizing approach to torture the film towards an inevitable breaking point. How long it takes for the torture to tip the cup over for its audience is completely up to the individual watching – either you with it all the way or you ain’t, because it won’t back down, that’s for sure. I must confess that I rapidly accepted the reaper-like tone going on and prepared myself for a harrowing (and hollow) hell on earth experience. I ran with the silliness of it and bought into the barebone skeleton of its set-up. I wish it was a bit more tongue-in-cheek. Instead, it’s just a bit tongue-less.
But I was mostly able to “enjoy” this almost drab demise into depression and death by acting submissive to the sick mind of the director and view his screwed-up vision – of what I take is sort of a horror-western-family-tragedy – in the light of a pulp-cult-b-movie trying to act as a “big budget”, professionally executed character study. Because, under the surface, there really isn’t much to it at all. It might make it seem like there is, but it really is just a well-executed exercise in executions and elaborate set-ups for situations meant to break our main character... for two and a half hours. Despite all the talk of religion and what comes with it, every moral or thematic point hits you on the nose like a baseball bat filled with rusty nails. It isn’t so much about the “whys” as it is about “to which degree”. And it isn’t about each hit either, but more the amount of hits possible in the shortest amount of time.
If you can accept the director going on a killing spree and ending up on a collision course, then you may very well enjoy watching whether this movie can stand the test of its runtime, while testing your level of acceptance for psychical and mental torture. If you struggle with that, you may find a saving grace in the superb cast and often striking cinematography. Dakota Fanning has the look needed for this role and delivers a well-balanced performance, while her younger self is even better in my opinion, portrayed by Emilia Jones. The show of the town though, however sadistic for the sake of being sadistic he might be, Guy Pearce does deliver the goods as the baddy. Perhaps “one note” but notably so. If he doesn’t make you uncomfortable, I don’t know what will. And as stated, the images that brings this ugly tale to life are often extremely beautiful; the compositions are elegant – especially the extreme wide shots and those shooting directly down from above – they really evoke something in you and probably have more character than the entire film. I really liked the score by Junkie XL too.
Dear Father, please forgive me and wash away all my (cinema) sins for digging this insanity. It isn’t a particularly good film, but the paper-thin plot delivers more than a papercut in its execution and the combination of wacky violence and wonderful visuals builds a fiery fundament on top of the plot and characters that does indeed lie buried in the ground from the get-go. I went with it and I don’t hate myself for doing so. I admit there was something refreshing about watching a movie that requires a refreshment before, during and after... If this movie was a drink it would be a virgin bloody Mary. Kind of a double entendre in here, maybe even more… Anyways, the drink’s awful, but the fancy fruit and colorful cocktail umbrellas does look nice. Another!
-
on a bad day I would have brought
it down to 3/5-
Brimstone
2016
Brimstone you say? Yeah, more like “Grimstone”…
This two-and-a-half-hour wannabe horror tale is a persistently and purposely pale presentation of pure evil and extreme religion set inside a revenge slash stalker story with a grim reverend and a runaway girl in the middle of all the murky madness…
This soulless, satanic approach to Gods will and people’s wrongdoings is both its strength and its weakness, respectively. The stubborn graphic imagery acts like a tow-truck to the story, pulling the audience through the mud by the neck, until there is no more filth to pick up or fresh air to breathe, leaving this aggressively agonizing approach to torture the film towards an inevitable breaking point. How long it takes for the torture to tip the cup over for its audience is completely up to the individual watching – either you with it all the way or you ain’t, because it won’t back down, that’s for sure. I must confess that I rapidly accepted the reaper-like tone going on and prepared myself for a harrowing (and hollow) hell on earth experience. I ran with the silliness of it and bought into the barebone skeleton of its set-up. I wish it was a bit more tongue-in-cheek. Instead, it’s just a bit tongue-less.
But I was mostly able to “enjoy” this almost drab demise into depression and death by acting submissive to the sick mind of the director and view his screwed-up vision – of what I take is sort of a horror-western-family-tragedy – in the light of a pulp-cult-b-movie trying to act as a “big budget”, professionally executed character study. Because, under the surface, there really isn’t much to it at all. It might make it seem like there is, but it really is just a well-executed exercise in executions and elaborate set-ups for situations meant to break our main character... for two and a half hours. Despite all the talk of religion and what comes with it, every moral or thematic point hits you on the nose like a baseball bat filled with rusty nails. It isn’t so much about the “whys” as it is about “to which degree”. And it isn’t about each hit either, but more the amount of hits possible in the shortest amount of time.
If you can accept the director going on a killing spree and ending up on a collision course, then you may very well enjoy watching whether this movie can stand the test of its runtime, while testing your level of acceptance for psychical and mental torture. If you struggle with that, you may find a saving grace in the superb cast and often striking cinematography. Dakota Fanning has the look needed for this role and delivers a well-balanced performance, while her younger self is even better in my opinion, portrayed by Emilia Jones. The show of the town though, however sadistic for the sake of being sadistic he might be, Guy Pearce does deliver the goods as the baddy. Perhaps “one note” but notably so. If he doesn’t make you uncomfortable, I don’t know what will. And as stated, the images that brings this ugly tale to life are often extremely beautiful; the compositions are elegant – especially the extreme wide shots and those shooting directly down from above – they really evoke something in you and probably have more character than the entire film. I really liked the score by Junkie XL too.
Dear Father, please forgive me and wash away all my (cinema) sins for digging this insanity. It isn’t a particularly good film, but the paper-thin plot delivers more than a papercut in its execution and the combination of wacky violence and wonderful visuals builds a fiery fundament on top of the plot and characters that does indeed lie buried in the ground from the get-go. I went with it and I don’t hate myself for doing so. I admit there was something refreshing about watching a movie that requires a refreshment before, during and after... If this movie was a drink it would be a virgin bloody Mary. Kind of a double entendre in here, maybe even more… Anyways, the drink’s awful, but the fancy fruit and colorful cocktail umbrellas does look nice. Another!
-
on a bad day I would have brought
it down to 3/5-
__________________
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror
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It's a poor movie, period. Even at Roger Ebert.com the film received a scathing review and a dismal 1 star rating. You might give out 1 star ratings like candy, but most critics reserve 1 star for the utter failures.
Link to Roger Ebert.com review: Brimstone
Link to Roger Ebert.com review: Brimstone
I get that you hate my nom and it's OK. I still love the film regardless of that and linking other opinions similar to yours won't change my stance. It's just a matter of taste, no need to make it anything more.
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People that hated Split wouldnt know a good movie if it gave them the reach around.
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People that hated Split wouldnt know a good movie if it gave them the reach around.
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People who insult other people for their taste in film shouldn't participate in HOFs.
Anyways, picking a movie like Split, whether you like the crazy weirded out style of it, you would KNOW it would receive a helluva lot of backlash in a HoF.
I haven't seen the film yet but I do wonder the thought behind going that extreme with a nomination. It has 130 votes on IMDb - and that's NOT in thousands.
I wonder if Joel himself actually participated in the making of this film...
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I can understand where Joel is coming from in theory...I mean I watched Mad Love, Akira, and Mr Freedom all fail to make an impact on these Hall of Fames, I think challenging films could work but typically they don't.
With that said Split is definately the worst film I've seen in any of these Hall of Fames.
With that said Split is definately the worst film I've seen in any of these Hall of Fames.
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Brimstone (2016) is a deeply flawed film executed to perfection basically told in four parts the cohesive story is a pretty big flop yet by breaking it up the cast is expanded the story becomes much more palatable. I enjoyed the ambition of a film like this even though I felt like it got swallowed up in it's larger themes.
The film has a strong undercurrent of fetishism, feminism, pedophilia and apostasy. While any of those themes could have connected and told a powerful story the filmmaker bounces from one ideology to the other never really settling into one and letting the characters develop. If you can't tell one good story it makes sense to tell four flawed ones.
Guy Pierce is terrible in this, I'm a little disappointed he didn't end up tying the Fanning girl to the train tracks at one point. Yet the high production values and excellent set pieces elevate the work a bit for me. Though the climax is equally ridiculous.
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