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That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Taking a cue from the thread by @Chypmunk here, I thought I might make an actual effort to be a more productive member of this community beyond my typical one or two posts in everyone else's threads.

I fully expect to post 3-5 movies then get distracted, and abandoning all prospects of completing this list for the year, but I will put it out and maybe show more discipline than I tend to do with most projects. I may change structure if this makes it past a week as I get more experience in this so just be patient with my weird little patterns.

As I write my thoughts, please know that am heavily influenced by the experiences I take in with me. I tend to read from movies undercurrents that may not really be intended. It is what I take away though, and hopefully I can successfully translate some of those views here, in this thread, when applicable.



January (2018)
Phantom Thread
4.25/5

Infinity Chamber
3.5/5

(I will try to write up some commentary on the following, but it has now been several weeks since seeing most. I think it might be unfair to critique with such a gap in memory. If some struck me more than others, I may reserve a space; otherwise, it's just a base score to get caught up and more into this process)

Marshall
3/5

Triple 9
3/5

Fences
4.75/5

The Circle
2/5

Battle of the Sexes
4/5

American Made
3.5/5

Silence
4.5/5

Julie & Julia
4/5

Red Belt
3.75/5

Wind River
3.75/5

Molly's Game
4/5

The Post
4.5/5

Den of Thieves
2.75/5


(it may be the end of February before I get January finished. lol?)
baby steps.
__________________
"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear



Glad you're doing one of these

I fully expect to post 3-5 movies then get distracted,
This is why i'm going to be a big fan of this thread, if you do end up abandoning it post in here anyway i'm a big fan of your shouts and just humour in general.

Also really like your thought out posts a lot too btw, i think i like them so much because they always catch me off guard



Hey yn, kewl to see you start one of these ..... just one thing though - if it does somehow become a flapping, squawking albatross nibbling on some Stinking Bishop while attached to your ankle via some sort of unbreakable chain ... please don't blame lil' auld me as I've done all I possibly can to make my aide-memoire as boring and unappealing as possible to directly try and avoid instances such as this

Ever the optimist though I shall surely keep an eye out for any future posts you might accidentally drop into this thread and will go even further and actually read those that concern any movies I've also seen myself



Btw, I couldn't help myself. Sorry.


WTF! (2017)

If you don't mind the "teeny-bopper horror" "wrapper", this is a movie with an excellent plot that has a point to make (to a point).

C'mon, its ur namesake!



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
January

Phantom Thread
IMDB; Trailer
4.25/5

I must admit that for the first several minutes I was unsure of Day-Lewis' performance in that I felt his introductory presentation of Mr. Woodcock echoed mannerisms from Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient, or even John Malkovich from any reasonably dramatic role of his past. However, during the scene in which Woodcock stopped for breakfast en route to his country house, I saw a subtle expression cross Day-Lewis' face that gave me chills. In a blushing reaction to Alma's awkward entrance into the room, he offered an involuntary soft smile followed immediately by a slight pausing grimace, before formally looking up to greet her presence at his dining table. From this, I read his desires toward Alma, along with whatever guilty dismissal of his most recent lover that may have briefly chided him in finding attraction to this new, potential muse. This only lasted a second, but in that moment I knew that this was his performance, and that he was acutely aware of each symptomatic tick and posture that the psychology of Woodcock would conjure.

Phantom Thread is as delicate as the dresses designed within this movie. Every individual pose, expression, motion, and sound feels as though they were expressly designed to the exacting purpose for which they were placed. In an early scene we see Woodcock detailing a dress for a client's viewing. As he passes a needle through the fabric, the audience is offered a passing glance of the inner side of Woodcocks' thumb; and it is dry and calloused from a lifetime of handling the materials of his craft---of his life, worn from practicality and the necessity of pattern. While this is a detail that could have been omitted, it was not, and instead was presented as a sample of the many delicacies to come if one were of the mind to accept them.

Originally, I rated this 4.75/5 only a few hours after viewing. As I've now had several days to reflect, I feel that for as precious as each detail of this movie was, for as deliberate and thoughtful the direction must have been to produce such a pure and lovely experience for the audience, the change of tone within the last third of its run time was unsettling and still feels unbalanced relative to all that played out before. For me, the dynamics between Reynolds and Alma were enough. I preferred to witness how obsessiveness, love, and reclusive arrogance born in a self-reinforcing lifestyle influenced the highs and lows of their relationship. The self-awareness between compromising oneself for the inspiration of love or to abandon it, keeping one's emotional island in tact at the risk of losing that that brings life and purpose excited me. Only in this context can a simple act of spreading butter against an over-toasted cut of bread give so much drama as it did in Phantom Thread. Details such as this, are why I loved this movie.



Hey yn, kewl to see you start one of these ..... just one thing though - if it does somehow become a flapping, squawking albatross nibbling on some Stinking Bishop while attached to your ankle via some sort of unbreakable chain ... please don't blame lil' auld me as I've done all I possibly can to make my aide-memoire as boring and unappealing as possible to directly try and avoid instances such as this

Ever the optimist though I shall surely keep an eye out for any future posts you might accidentally drop into this thread and will go even further and actually read those that concern any movies I've also seen myself
Culprit identified!

Eeexcellent, @ynwtf!



January

Phantom Thread
IMDB; Trailer
4.25/5

I must admit that for the first several minutes I was unsure of Day-Lewis' performance in that I felt his introductory presentation of Mr. Woodcock echoed mannerisms from Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient, or even John Malkovich
Damn, it wasn't just me haha:

I actually wasn't that into him at first, of all people he reminded me of John Malkovich in his first few scenes.
Good review, glad to see you liked it.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Damn, it wasn't just me haha:



Good review, glad to see you liked it.

That's pretty wild that you too saw Malchovich! I kinda thought I was a bit crazy on that point. That one aspect really nags at me though. I'm curious how he takes that criticism, if it is true that this is his last film. I mean, surely as deep as he goes into his roles, he can see that now, in reflection? That would madden me!

Thanks for the comments



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Infinity Chamber
IMDB; Trailer
3.5/5

I found this little B sci-fi head game here, randomly, on this very site. Mr. Yoda had posted on it and I happened to have an hour or two to kill, so I thought, "Why not?"

Quickly, a man (Frank) wakes to find himself alone in the confines of what appears to be a prison cell. Throughout most of the movie, Frank's only communication is with a curious, but sarcasm-immune security camera operator named Howard. Howard's only job is to keep Frank alive for processing, while Frank tries to piece together a past that has led him to his current situation.

The movie is staged primarily in two unique realities: one is the aforementioned cell in which Frank passes time arguing the logistics of his capture and the apparent lack of a means to appeal his position; the other takes place within Frank's memory of a small coffee shop. Each day Frank must look into a device that scans his thoughts, as he tries to remember vital moments from these memories that may help give clues to the mystery of his situation. The more time he spends revisiting these memories, the more he finds he can control those memories to act as a sort of alternate reality avoiding the isolation and growing fear of his imprisonment. This is just one of a few philosophical dilemmas that begin to play larger roles in this story if the audience is open to the cues and is willing to contemplate such concepts.

One idea that really stuck with me, now weeks after viewing, is the potential commentary on our society's work ethics. I may be reading far too much into this one, but let me use software development as an example. In this industry, I see so many shortcuts being made to simply produce a base, functioning product without bothering with anything more than superficial logic and design. For instance, when some new software application crashes, then presents a pop-up error message informing you of said crash, more times than not there is no context as to what may have caused the crash or how to troubleshoot avoiding similar future crashes. Instead of allowing a user room enough to work around a crash, or the developers running proper logic flowcharts to preemptively consider the ramifications of such an crash, software simply breaks and what is left is a binary yes/no response that does nothing to help detect or resolve the error. We, the audience, are presented with this idea more than once as we observe Frank's experiences both in memories of his capture and in his developing relationship with Howard.

My only real issue with the movie is that it is difficult for me to pinpoint whether some of these concepts were intentional, or simply coincidental and perhaps unavoidable given the nature of the narrative. Ideas were presented, but never seemed to be explored and instead take a backseat to Frank's perception of reality as he finds a sort of comfort and denial during his memory scans.

While I enjoyed the movie overall (there are so few heady sci-fi trip flicks as it is!), I really feel like the story is still in a second or maybe third draft state. I would like to see the plot refined more, and focus be clearer on exactly what the writer's point of it all is, exactly. Otherwise, Infinity Chamber feels to be just a loose exploration of ideas from one shot to the next.

3/5 for a decent, thoughtful B sci-fi. +.5 for a few unintentional Portal references.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Well well well. In addition to dusting off my college Necromancy Incantation book for some ole' recipes this Halloween season, I inadvertently raised an old forgotten thread from the dead! It's probably for the best I leave this one in the grave as it's a prime example of my forgetfulness and complete lack of self-discipline, but I think anyone that's sat in a monthly music listing round with me should already know, I rarely follow through with anything. So what's a few years between posts?

It has a been a crazy few months in the ynwtf household and workplace. So, for the month of October, I've decided to binge on a handful of horrors to get in the trick-or-treat mood. As of yesterday, I've made it through the following:
  • Event Horizon
  • 1408
  • Hellraiser
  • Halloween
  • Hellbound: Hellraiser II
  • Halloween II
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street
  • Smile (2022)
  • Poltergeist
  • The Belko Experiment
  • The Crazies (2010)

I hope to at least come back and update for the additions filling the remainder of the month. If I'm feeling froggy enough, maybe even write up something to my opinions on a few views. I have no idea how many more flicks I'll take in, but my end game is to make a trip up to Montgomery on the 31st for a theatrical showing of The Thing (1982) at the historic Capri Theater, closing out the month. I was hoping to find a showing of the RHPS, but so far there's nothing under a 5-hour drive one way.

P.S. If anyone has the Power (I know, it does get kinda hectic), maybe drop the "2018" from the thread title? I don't think I'm dedicated enough to make one of these for each year. I mean, it's been what, four since? It'll be a miracle that I just hit the Post button....




Dropped the "2018" from the thread title for ya. Also dropped the 'cat face' from it even though it wasn't requested - can put it back if you really want it there.

Maybe going forward you could just post in this thread on each and every 29th of February?



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Dropped the "2018" from the thread title for ya. Also dropped the 'cat face' from it even though it wasn't requested - can put it back if you really want it there.

Maybe going forward you could just post in this thread on each and every 29th of February?
rofl.
wait. i had a cat face?!
=o.O=



rofl.
wait. i had a cat face?!
=o.O=
Well, you did once I removed the "2018" as it left " - " at the end



Out of interest where do you sit regarding the final act of Event Horizon?

(waits patiently for some sort of "about six feet away just slightly to the left of centre, same as I do for those that precede it" type of response)



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Out of interest where do you sit regarding the final act of Event Horizon?

(waits patiently for some sort of "about six feet away just slightly to the left of centre, same as I do for those that precede it" type of response)
Heh.... nice memory.

After a search, I now wonder if it's more of a Jack Noseworth hangup than it is anything against the movie itself. hrmmmm......



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Event Horizon
IMDB | Trailer
Original Post
3.25/5
For solid sci-fi horror that any cinecenobitephile could love, that drifted just a bit too far into the Dr. Weir(d) realm. Negative hits for missing digital FX quality control (I'm still looking at you, sloshy bottle of water) and overuse of Jack Noseworthy. I hate you, Baby Bear. I. hate. you.

I had no idea there was a longer cut of Event Horizon. That might have changed my perspective on the movie, had it been available. Hm. This is a movie that I'll revisit every five years or so because it has so much potential. It's great sci-fi horror in concept, the effects are mostly spot on (with the exception of water sloshing around in a plastic bottle within the abandoned, and frozen Event Horizon ship---I could be wrong on that frozen part, but that's the memory that stuck), it had weird nods to Hellraiser, which I was a long fan of by this release, and had a mostly great cast. Sam Neill was perfect in this role, IMO, showing a scientific restraint, all the while subtly slipping into madness as the story played out.

Perhaps it was Jack Noseworthy burnout from his Mtv's Dead at 21 run. Perhaps it was the awkward shift in tone during the final third. For sure it was a bottle of water.

Idunno.

I always find myself repeating most of these same comments whenever this title pops up here. It's like I've come out of a bad relationship but still can't find the strength to let go and just move on. I see so much potential, "if only..." Regrettably, whatever was missing for me was never there and never will be. I need to accept that and come to terms with it. I need to move on with my life. A rebound viewing of Ghosts of Mars should help. you know, something quick and easy but nothing that I'd introduce to mom. Then maybe I can try to enjoy other movies that I've been too reluctant to get involved with. Now might be the time to take another look at Under the Skin. Or to restart Stalker. I might even be open to experiencing Annihilation again! No. Wait. That's too much. I'm not sure I have it in me yet for that. Hm... Maybe I should just try to reach back out to Event Horizon. I admit that I might have misunderstood things. Or that maybe I expected too much. I can't put it all off on the movie. There were two of us, here, I mean. Surely, I am as responsible for the things not working out between us? I wonder if I could watch it tonight, maybe? I saw, recently, it's available for streaming. Maybe the things that used to bother me won't this time? Maybe I've changed with age? Maybe this movie has too? I think I owe it to myself to at least try again? Maybe this time will be different??

*Edit*
No. Same reactions. This is clearly a self-destructive, codependent relationship.