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Terrifier (2017) - Damien Leone

- Second watch of this movie. I love it and it's mainly because Art The Clown is so freakin' terrifying his look is amazing. One of the few Guilty pleasure movie I have from this decade. Violent, Gory and entertaining love it.
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Hostile (2017) (Dir. Mathieu Tiru)



The melodramatic half is insufferable with the cologne ad art gallery guy saving this wretch off of the streets and straightening her out for a while. The horror half of the film is fine despite our protagonist ricocheting between competent badass and helpless fish out of water constantly. The two halves don't reconcile very well tonally, but the contrast is obviously intended, though the thematic tie of the female character being hopeless fending for herself is quite gross.

The creature design is rather unsettling. The bottled setting is comforting. It's unfortunate the director is only interested in torturing and blaming his lead despite appreciating her as iconography on a superficial level. It's impressive how boldly Tiru has appropriated a trend of female empowerment as a way to further deride them. The ending is also one of the worst of all time.
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Final Portrait. 2017

This is a low key movie about three weeks in the 60s when the writer James Lord sat for a portrait by the artist Alberto Giacometti. Based on recollections from Lord, what we are really seeing is a portrait of an artist and his process. It's also as much a memoir/documentary as a movie. And although there is not a whole lot of traditional 'storyline' to the narrative, I found that the depiction of the artist and his creative process was so authentic, I felt I met and knew him through this film.
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Giacometti was an artist who achieved great fame and financial success, known more for his spindly elongated sculptures, of an almost grotesque yet primal elegance, which are shown spaced throughout his Parisian studio.

The artist, btw, is not a man who was easy to admire. He is callous and cruel to his long suffering wife, as he blatantly courts and indulges a prostitute who is young enough to be his daughter, or more likely, granddaughter. He somehow takes this young lady to be his Muse, and it becomes apparent that this was an honored position that his wife, who still loves him, once held.

Giacometti promised Lord that the sitting will take a few hours , then a few days, which stretch into weeks. During that time we see the artist working and erasing and reworking the painting, while in the throes of self degradation and doubt of his abilities. It is inexplicable to the straight laced stodgy Lord (and I ' m sure, to some of the audience) why this man, who is so egotistical and selfish as a human being, is so unsure and riddled with doubt and disdain of his own art and abilities. However, if you, as a viewer, have ever been strongly involved with the arts, ( as a dedicated artist of some discipline yourself, as a close comrade of a driven artist, or even as an appreciative viewer) you will find this aspect of the man rings as true as the clang of a steeple bell on a clear October morn. The man throws his artwork on the floor, and is in equal disregard of his fortune, hiding millions of francs in his messy studio so well, he forgets where he puts them.

The uncombed and untamed regal fluff of his hair, his shabby attire, the walks with Lord in a graveyard as Alberto merrily and wittily pontificates on art, Picasso, and life ,and the studio where you can almost smell the paint and the dust - all are real and speak of truth of this man and his world. . Note that the cinematographer chose to shoot the studio in a monochrome, while outside scenes - the streets and cafes of Paris- are bathed in colorful glow- - a way of saying, perhaps, that life can be bountiful but the hard driven passion of creating some object of worth is as stark and dry as a bone.

The main characters are revealed layer by layer, and the character study is more pressing in this film than a storyline. But for me, the entire ride was engaging. It may not sound like it, but there is a a great deal of humor sewn all through the movie. even towards the end as Lord and Alberto's brother hatch a plot to end the sitting.

Diego, the brother, is played so well with an air of Zen like calm and mystery, that I didn't even recognize the talented Tony Shalhoub in the role.

A final observation, this quiet film raises more questions than it answers: about the nature of artistic genius, the mysteries of creating, and the frustration and confoundment of those who are bound to deal with this man. But they are questions you may well enjoy mulling over at a later time.

As I said, I enjoyed the film, But then, after seeing it, I knew Giacometti. And how can you not enjoy a movie about someone you have met and known personally?



RATING: four out of five stars


Because I understand that this movie may not appeal to everyone, I didn't give it a 5 star rating - and besides, I'm sure Alberto himself wouldn't want to carry the onus of that kind of perfection.



A titled user of stuff
Louise by the Shore, a great French animated movie of aging.
Louise, an elderly woman is visiting a fictional resort seaside town that completely shuts down over the winter. However, she misses the last train out for the season and has to survive the winter on her own with only her wits, memories and one old stray dog named Pepper.
Very charming tale for anyone even thinking about getting old.
I found it on the Sundance Now channel.





Titanic (1997)





Crossroads (2002)




I watched part of this months ago...I guess I need to finish


When I see "The Ritual" it reminds me of David Pinner's novel.



"Honor is not in the Weapon. It is in the Man"

Knuckleball (Michael Peterson, 2018)

Think of Home Alone as a Canadian-set thriller about a 12-year old who is visiting his grandfather during the winter in a small town. When Grandpa dies in his sleep, the boy gets help from the next door neighbor, who slowly becomes a sociopath and goes after the boy...with some truly WTF twists. Former Degrassi star Munro Chambers' crazy neighbor is one of my favorite indie villains this year...he gives a very haunting performance but the Home Alone gags are amped up a very dangerous notch.



Ride (Jeremy Ungar, 2018)

When an aspiring actor/Uber driver picks up a woman in L.A., he thinks about her after dropping her off and his next ride, a slowly unhinged man, convinces the driver to get the girl and soon enough, the wild night in L.A. is about to get dangerous. Great performances from Jessie Usher and Bella Thorne, but Will Brill takes the cake as the unhinged Bruno.
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Snooze factor rating = Zzz


[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it



The Night Porter (1974)



Tale of obsession and I didn't find it that shocking at all. Rampling is incredible. The part of the film about the "Trials" and "making peace" I found intriguing...more could have made more of that aspect.

8/10






My first observation of this 70s war film of the vital Battle Of Midway in 1942 was it is a reunion for a bunch of aging former box office stars. In the cast were Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Toshiro Mifune, Glenn Ford and Robert Mitchum... all well past their prime. Midway just took too long to get into its stride. Action scenes were mostly actual war footage while I had a chuckle at the purloined Tora, Tora, Tora footage. In a word disappointing for a big budget war flick.



The Beast Must Die
(1974)

Recommended by @Siddon for the B Movie II HOF

I will write a short review in the thread after I watch all the movies




Hold the Dark (2018) (Dir. Jeremy Saulnier)



While I have enjoyed all of Saulnier's prior output, I was left wanting something hardier after the all too digestible Green Room. His latest offering via Netflix delivers on that end as a frigid Iraq War allegory with a rather opaque resolution. It also fills the moody, existential thriller void left by True Detective's first season which neither the second season nor Taylor Sheridan's Wind River managed to fill. Perhaps the most immediate takeaway from Hold the Dark is thus: revenge may don the mask of reason but is often as senseless as the act which provoked it.



The Beast Must Die
(1974)

Recommended by @Siddon for the B Movie II HOF

I will write a short review in the thread after I watch all the movies

Worst movie the great Peter Cushing made. I would not bother with a review except to say terrible and give in 3/10.






In a strong year for film A Star is Born will end up being an Oscar surefire bet. Bradley Cooper is going to likely end up with four oscar nominations (producing, writing, directing, staring) and he's got a great shot at two of them. While the film is a remake three times over and deals with a plot and story you've seen dozens of times before it's still going to be a contender for several reason.


  1. The music, this has an all-time soundtrack.
  2. The chemistry, Cooper was a mad man pulling performances from a hodgepodge of actors you would never think to put together and yet they all fell in wonderfully.
  3. The writing and directing, it's shot very well and it's written with a level of realism that these sort of films never have.



Bradley Cooper is going to likely end up with four oscar nominations (producing, writing, directing, staring)
He should definitely win for Staring. He was looking at Lady Gaga a little too much, but she seemed to like it.