The ***Official*** MDC movie thread

[MDC 5,891]

Bone Tomahawk: new western with Kurt Russell:

 

 

This was really good. Russell is one of my favorite actors but it was more of an ensemble with great performances by Patrick Wilson and Richard Jenkins too. It's being billed as a western / horror but outside one extremely gory scene it's not much of a horror movie. The dialogue and characters are great, excellent dry sense of humor and exceptionally well acted. I'd give it a 8 out of 10 and recommend it to fans of the Coen Bros or Tarantino maybe.

[iam90sbaby 2,125]

Just downloaded it and starting it now. Let you know what I think in a few hours.

[iam90sbaby 2,125]

Eh it was decent at best. It was like watching the wild west version of The Lord of The Rings, all they friggin did was walk. John Brooder was my favorite character and didn't realize it was Michael Fox until about halfway threw.

 

Taking into account the budget of the film I give it a 5/10.

[MDC 5,891]

Sorry to hear that my man. I loved the characters and dialogue and that kept me going. The mid section of the film is pretty long but I couldn't stop watching things going from bad to worse.

 

Different strokes and all that I guess.

[Mike Honcho 4,033]

Added to my Netflix queue, doesn't release to December. When it does I'll bump it 20, if it's good, your next recommendation will get a bump to 15..if it's bad, you drop to 30. You are on movie probation.

[parrot 789]

Looks good. Hadn't even heard of it. Jack from lost and Hanzee from Fargo in there too.

[MDC 5,891]

So I watched The Gift (2015) last night and it was a perfectly fine example of the "stranger from the past reappears, ingratiated himself in your life and wrecks it" sub genre that was popular in the 80s and 90s. It's about a young couple who move to California when Simon (Justin Bateman) runs into a former classmate named Gordo, who becomes very persistent about stopping over and bringing gifts etc. It was pretty well acted and tense throughout the first half. There were a few slight wrinkles on the premise that made it unique, namely that

Bateman's character is revealed to be a complete ass hole who deserves everything he gets.

 

 

At the end I felt like the writer ran out of ideas and started lifting plot points and tropes from several movies I've seen before. It went from really pretty good to mostly forgettable and I can only give it a mild recommendation of 6/10.

 

I would more strongly recommend The Guest from 2014 and especially a Spanish movie called Sleep Tight for better variations on the same ideas.

[fandandy 3,311]

Have you watched The Man From UNCLE yet? If yes, is that worth a watch? Also, It Follows. Seen it yet? Looks skeeery.

[MDC 5,891]

Have you watched The Man From UNCLE yet? If yes, is that worth a watch? Also, It Follows. Seen it yet? Looks skeeery.

Haven't seen Man From UNCLE. I did see It Follows and really liked it - great soundtrack, looks great, cool concept and some creepy scenes. Not really skeevy. The rules of the movie were a little haphazard and the ending was weak but overall it was one of the best new horror movies I saw this year, 8/10 and well worth renting.

[Big Guy 1,400]

Have you watched The Man From UNCLE yet? If yes, is that worth a watch? Also, It Follows. Seen it yet? Looks skeeery.

 

I've only seen a trailer & it looked quite entertaining, though it didn't resemble one of my favorite childhood shows at all.

[Magnificent Bastard 190]

Sorry to hear that my man. I loved the characters and dialogue and that kept me going. The mid section of the film is pretty long but I couldn't stop watching things going from bad to worse.

 

Different strokes and all that I guess.

Do you recommend "The Vanishing" ?

[MDC 5,891]

Do you recommend "The Vanishing" ?

I never saw the remake but I loved the original. It's about an obsessive creep who can't let things go and eventually disappears because of it.

[Magnificent Bastard 190]

I never saw the remake but I loved the original. It's about an obsessive creep who can't let things go and eventually disappears because of it.

How long does it take to get him to disappear?

[IGotWorms 3,315]

How long does it take to get him to disappear?

Longer than you'd think

[Magnificent Bastard 190]

Longer than you'd think

The OP said I would be gone in a few days. It's in the Dave Grohl thread.

[MDC 5,891]

Just took my son (3.5 years old) to see The Good Dinosaur. It was really pretty good. You may think like I did from the commercials that it's about the cave boy (Spot) but the movie was actually about Arlo the Apotosaurus, a cowardly dinosaur who gets washed away down a river from his family and had to get home. The dinosaurs are cartoony but the backdrops / terrain are incredibly impressive. Not too many big laughs but the story about overcoming your fears is pretty good and on a level where even kids my boy's age could understand it. Not on the level of The Incredibles or Toy Story but it was far better than Inside Out and a really good family movie.

 

I'd give it a 7.5/10.

[IGotWorms 3,315]

I tried to watch Bone Tomahawk and could not get into it at all.

[MDC 5,891]

I tried to watch Bone Tomahawk and could not get into it at all.

Maybe you'd like The Good Dinosaur better?

[Djgb13 2,338]

Went and saw The Night Before. Found it hilarious. Want to get around to seeing Creed but that won't happen until next week

[DankNuggs 305]

Meru- documentary on some mountain climbers. Pretty ridiculous story and great footage. Worth a watch

[MDC 5,891]

Saw Goodnight Mommy (2015), a German / Austrian film about two twin boys (I'd guess they're 10 or so) whose mother comes home with her head heavily bandaged through reconstructive surgery and they become convinced she's an imposter. This got some best horror of the year type accolades but I didn't like it much. The premise is good and the movie looked great. Nice setting with a super modern architectural house in the rural countryside. But the movie is interminably slow with little suspense, the violence toward the end is gross and the twist was moronic. 4/10 and not recommended.

[MDC 5,891]

I also saw A Hard Day (2014), a Korean police thriller. The basic plot is this: Lee is a crooked homicide cop. We know this because he and his cronies sit around talking about cover ups and the like. On the way to his mother's funeral, he hits and kills a man in the road. Instead of reporting the crime Lee buries the man with his mother. Then he starts being harassed and blackmailed by an anonymous caller who saw the crime.

 

This movie was 90% absolutely AWESOME and about 10% suck. The acting is good, well directed, and some extremely tense and suspenseful scenes. The hero is flawed but likeable, the villain is arrogant and loathsome. It was really a top notch thriller for nearly all its run time. Then the movie makes the mistake of going on for a scene too long when it really should have known well enough to end on a high note and tosses in a completely nonsensical Americanized "extra" ending that burned a lot of the good will it had built up to that point. It still managed to conclude pretty well.

 

Just short of "great" but I'd still call it really good and give it 7/10. Recommended to fans of crime / thrillers who aren't too lazy to read subtitles.

[MDC 5,891]

Watched Sicario last night. Overall it wasn't a great movie but it was very good. Basic plot is that Kate, an FBI agent in Arizona who specializes in kidnappings, is recruited by James Brolin into a task force to attack a Mexican drug cartel. She knows very little about what is going on except that the group appears to involve the DOJ and their methods are patently illegal. Also lurking around as part of this group is Benicio del Toro, a "DOJ consultant" who has intimate knowledge of the cartels and a questionable background.

 

Most of the movie was great: well acting with some seriously suspenseful set pieces, great direction, soundtrack and story. The main character Kate is thrust into this situation with little knowledge of what's exactly going on just like the audience and one of the pleasures of the movie is figuring out what's happening along with her.

 

My only real criticisms are that Kate is almost painfully naive and I think we the audience are supposed to the wringing our hands at the lawlessness of Brolin's team but I thought the plan when we sort of figured it out (not everything is explained) was a pretty good one and Kate the audience proxy was a bit of a nag.

 

I hated the director's movie Prisoners and this one has the same nagging feeling that it's just a suspenseful genre pic without a lot more going on but it worked pretty well on that level and I think fans of war / special missions and police thrillers will really like it.

 

7.5 out of 10.

[IGotWorms 3,315]

I didn't "hate" Prisoners but I agree that it was somehow lacking. Has sorta turned me off seeing Sicario but I do love me some Emily blunt . And Benicio is a badass

[MDC 5,891]

Hate is a strong word. I thought Prisoners was really pretentious and very dumb.

 

Del Toro is at the height of his badassery in Sicario, you'll like it.

[fandandy 3,311]

Watched Sicario last night. Overall it wasn't a great movie but it was very good. Basic plot is that Kate, an FBI agent in Arizona who specializes in kidnappings, is recruited by James Brolin into a task force to attack a Mexican drug cartel. She knows very little about what is going on except that the group appears to involve the DOJ and their methods are patently illegal. Also lurking around as part of this group is Benicio del Toro, a "DOJ consultant" who has intimate knowledge of the cartels and a questionable background.

 

Most of the movie was great: well acting with some seriously suspenseful set pieces, great direction, soundtrack and story. The main character Kate is thrust into this situation with little knowledge of what's exactly going on just like the audience and one of the pleasures of the movie is figuring out what's happening along with her.

 

My only real criticisms are that Kate is almost painfully naive and I think we the audience are supposed to the wringing our hands at the lawlessness of Brolin's team but I thought the plan when we sort of figured it out (not everything is explained) was a pretty good one and Kate the audience proxy was a bit of a nag.

 

I hated the director's movie Prisoners and this one has the same nagging feeling that it's just a suspenseful genre pic without a lot more going on but it worked pretty well on that level and I think fans of war / special missions and police thrillers will really like it.

 

7.5 out of 10.

I just watched this yesterday. I pretty much agree with your synopsis. Started out awesome and I was thinking this is gonna be a great movie but it just kinda fizzled. Just watched A Walk In The Woods today. Horrible. Terrible acting, the plot sucked, I fell asleep before the credits rolled. Saw The Martian the other day, I really enjoyed that one. Saw this preview before A Walk In The Woods. It looks pretty good.

 

[penultimatestraw 473]

Meru- documentary on some mountain climbers. Pretty ridiculous story and great footage. Worth a watch

One of the better mountaineering films, second only to Touching the Void IMO

[frank 2,145]

I thought this thread was going to be about the official MDC movie. I was scared to open it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, my phone tried to correct MDC to DMC. Awesome.

[Chronic Husker 85]

My bro liked Sicario. Haven't caught it yet.

 

One flick that really surprised me is No Escape with Owen Wilson. Keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

 

Throwing your kids off a building to save them is brilliant, imo.

[SUXBNME 1,335]

My bro liked Sicario. Haven't caught it yet.

 

One flick that really surprised me is No Escape with Owen Wilson. Keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

 

Throwing your kids off a building to save them is brilliant,imo.

That's not on Netfix instant yet, is it?

[Chronic Husker 85]

That's not on Netfix instant yet, is it?

Not sure. Got it on redbox a month or so ago.

[MDC 5,891]

Watched a low budget horror movie called Last Shift (2015) starring Juliana Harkavu of the Walking Dead. I haven't watched that show in years so I can't say who she is.

 

Last Shift has garnered some positive reviews from horror fans for being sort of a mashup of Assault on Precinct 13 with a supernatural horror movie but other than the abandoned police station setting I didn't see many similarities. The basic setup is Harkavy is a rookie cop assigned to oversee a police station that's been abandoned and will be offlined the next day. So through a scriptwriter's contrivance she's left alone in the building overnight and of course weird things begin happening. Some of which are actually sort of creepy with a few unexpected and fairly creative jump scares. The setting atmosphere and sound design for the first 30-45 minutes are really solid. Unfortunately there are a couple big problems:

 

1. When we find out the backstory and nature of the haunting it is so dumb, and the acting is so bad, that instead of being creepy it was just focking gay.

 

2. Last Shift is one of those movies like 1408 and Occulus where we never truly know what's happening and what is in our main character's head. The problem with this kind of film is once you tip your hand that what we are watching may or may not be happening it's very hard to sustain audience interest and it just comes off as needless wheel spinning, which was the case with all 3 of these movies.

 

Even at 85 minutes the last 10 or so of this film were interminable. I will give it a very charitable 5.5/10 for a handful of legitimately creepy scenes and pretty decent production values and acting for what was clearly a low budget film but there is no reason to seek this one out. Session 9, House of the Devil and The Innkeepers had a similar vibe and all 3 were infinitely better.

[MDC 5,891]

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. Really excellent documentary including the history / background of L Ron Hubbard and Scientology up through today's modern church. I knew enough about the subject going in to know they're a deranged nutter cult but I did learn a few things:

 

1. Hubbard was more likely a delusional paranoic than an outright snake oil salesman. He comes across as outright insane.

 

2. The Church is sitting on literally billions of dollars worth of real estate and assets and operates more like a shell company than a religious institution.

 

3. The Church actively goes after critics as people who've left the church with frivolous lawsuits, online smear campaigns and trailing / harrassment for years after key members leave.

 

One of the big tenets of Scientology is "auditing," where you tell a therapist / auditor about your deepest secrets and insecurities and he helps you process / get past it. These auditors keep reems of written notes and use them to blackmail people who want to leave the church or go public with what they know about it.

 

According to the doc, they now have less than 50,000 total adherents but according to tax records just 3 of the 20 or so branches required to file tax records have over $1.5 billion in assets, mostly real estate they're buying all over the world.

 

At 2 hours this is a pretty long movie but it was never boring. Recommended if you want to hate Scientologists even more than you do now. 8/10

[MDC 5,891]

Natural Born Killers: I saw this in the movies when it was released back when I was maybe 21 and thought it was "meh" and didn't work as the fun exploitation I was hoping to see.

 

I saw it again last night and thought it was the worst movie I've watched in literally years - holy fock what a total mess. Senseless constant changes in film stock and style, and a complete and utter fail as satire without a single interesting thing to say. It also again completely fails as even raw exploitation, totally not delivering the goods on even a basic storytelling level.

 

Is Oliver Stone a total focking hack? I don't know. But this film was an utter bomb. 2/10

[IGotWorms 3,315]

Natural Born Killers: I saw this in the movies when it was released back when I was maybe 21 and thought it was "meh" and didn't work as the fun exploitation I was hoping to see.

 

I saw it again last night and thought it was the worst movie I've watched in literally years - holy fock what a total mess. Senseless constant changes in film stock and style, and a complete and utter fail as satire without a single interesting thing to say. It also again completely fails as even raw exploitation, totally not delivering the goods on even a basic storytelling level.

 

Is Oliver Stone a total focking hack? I don't know. But this film was an utter bomb. 2/10

You can't apply today's standards to a movie like that. Not saying it was great but it was a hell of a lot more provocative back then

[MDC 5,891]

You can't apply today's standards to a movie like that. Not saying it was great but it was a hell of a lot more provocative back then

I'm not complaining about the dated haircuts. I'm saying the movie was an utter mess.

[tanatastic 2,061]

I haven't seen natty born killers in a long time but remember it fondly. This thread is making me want to revisit it to see how it holds up.

[fandandy 3,311]

I am watching Vacation. The new one. I don't know if I'm just in a good mood or what but I am laughing my ass off.

[MDC 5,891]

There Will Be Blood with Daniel Day Lewis was awesome. The basic plot is that he's a self made oil tycoon in the late 1800s / early 1900s Texas. Really the film is pretty meandering and episodic and it's about a total self loathing misanthrope who has no feelings at all except his boundless ambition.

 

Awesome directing, acting, setting, soundtrack etc. This is the kind of film I could imagine people finding boring because not a whole ton happened but to me it was just mesmerizing and the best movie I've seen in months. Easily 8/10, maybe even 9/10.

[IGotWorms 3,315]

There Will Be Blood with Daniel Day Lewis was awesome. The basic plot is that he's a self made oil tycoon in the late 1800s / early 1900s Texas. Really the film is pretty meandering and episodic and it's about a total self loathing misanthrope who has no feelings at all except his boundless ambition.

 

Awesome directing, acting, setting, soundtrack etc. This is the kind of film I could imagine people finding boring because not a whole ton happened but to me it was just mesmerizing and the best movie I've seen in months. Easily 8/10, maybe even 9/10.

 

You didn't see it years ago?

 

Agree that it was awesome though