Film Diary September 2024
Oct. 3rd, 2024 12:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amado1Sept 1: Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Sept 3: Cabaret (1972)
Sept 8: The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
Sept 8: The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022)
Sept 10: Evil Under the Sun (1982)
Sept 10: A Passage to India (1984)
Sept 13: Murder on the Orient (1974)
Sept 15: Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
Sept 21: Doubt (2008)
Sept 22: Apocalypse Now (1979)
Sept 22: Return of Captain Invincible (1983)
Sept 22: The Swan (2023)
Reviews:
Bodies Bodies Bodies was a fun, surprisingly watchable horror takedown of affluent young adults, a movie I expected to be grating and empty, but ... no, actually! Is it a scathing commentary? Not exactly, but sometimes the dialogue is pitch-perfect. Is it particularly clever? Ehh, it has its moments. It got me tense, it left me wondering, and it made me laugh. I think the best way to sum it up is "Better than a Blumhouse movie."
Cabaret is Cabaret! Liza and Joel Gray are exquisite. The flagrant bisexuality is a welcome change from the more conservative stageplay. But Bob Fosse seems to miss the message of the stageplay entirely; I don't think he really understood Cabaret, and this has become such a classic mainly because of the stellar performances, not because of him.
The Exorcist: Believer -- in the first 20 minutes, I turned to my family in disbelief and said, "Wow, this is actually GOOD! Like really good!" It got me at the beginning with an ominous scene in Haiti that was just a blatant callback to the original movie's opening, but after that, I was hooked. Interesting direction, good writing, a great premise. And then those 20 first minutes were up and the movie became hot garbage. I kept making complaints throughout, like "God, this reminds me of the new Halloween movies!" "Ugh, they're bringing back a classic female character but completely erasing her personality ... just like the new Halloween movies..." and "Wait, is this the same soundtrack from the new Halloween movies?" Finally I looked it up and found out that the writers are...the same guys...from the new Halloween movies.
The handling of race and religion in this movie was imo very clumsy and tone-deaf. Not exactly offensive for the most part, just ... painful, because anyone can see how much better they *could* have made it if they just had an editor take a look.
Bob's Burgers Movie: cute, palatable. Basically, it's like the Simpsons movie. Not as funny as the seasons you remember laughing aloud to, but still okay.
Evil Under the Sun: I enjoyed this much more than Death on the Nile. The cast is star-studded in both films, but the director is different, and Evil Under the Sun was handled so much better. The humor crackles, the shots are actually fairly clever and interesting, the mystery is tighter and more engaging/doesn't seem as ludicrous when explained.
A Passage to India: An excellent movie, but not as good as the book. And it pains me to say that, because I love David Lean. He just fumbled a few key elements, and I couldn't help mourning the film that could have been. Because of that, I find this one hard to rate.
Murder on the Orient Express: Perfectly captures the haunting, eerie emotional atmosphere of the book while still retaining Christie's signature humor.
Lisa Frankenstein: THIS IS BEETLEJUICE FOR THE BITCHES THAT HATE BEETLEJUICE. AND I HATE BEETLEJUICE. I fucking loved this movie. It's off-kilter, it's camp, it's ardent, it's tongue in cheek, it's sincere... it's trans???? I was going nuts. I was so charmed. I love everything here, the colors, the homages to classic film, the granularly specific references to real 80s culture (the shell-themed bathroom T__T). I popped this on expecting a mediocre good time and I got my socks blown off. I had no idea either that it was Zelda Williams' directorial debut until after I finished the movie -- that was a cool little surprise.
And then I think I summarized my thoughts on the Film Day movies in a different journal entry, but here they are anyway, in brief:
Apocalypse Now: Actually Great
Captain Invincible: Actually Good, but in a totally opposite way from Apocalypse Now. Shitty camp indie fun, with Christopher Lee doing an evil song and dance and abusing Muppets. Off-the-wall humor.
The Swan: Wes Anderson Is A Hack I Will Die On This Hill
Sept 3: Cabaret (1972)
Sept 8: The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
Sept 8: The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022)
Sept 10: Evil Under the Sun (1982)
Sept 10: A Passage to India (1984)
Sept 13: Murder on the Orient (1974)
Sept 15: Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
Sept 21: Doubt (2008)
Sept 22: Apocalypse Now (1979)
Sept 22: Return of Captain Invincible (1983)
Sept 22: The Swan (2023)
Reviews:
Bodies Bodies Bodies was a fun, surprisingly watchable horror takedown of affluent young adults, a movie I expected to be grating and empty, but ... no, actually! Is it a scathing commentary? Not exactly, but sometimes the dialogue is pitch-perfect. Is it particularly clever? Ehh, it has its moments. It got me tense, it left me wondering, and it made me laugh. I think the best way to sum it up is "Better than a Blumhouse movie."
Cabaret is Cabaret! Liza and Joel Gray are exquisite. The flagrant bisexuality is a welcome change from the more conservative stageplay. But Bob Fosse seems to miss the message of the stageplay entirely; I don't think he really understood Cabaret, and this has become such a classic mainly because of the stellar performances, not because of him.
The Exorcist: Believer -- in the first 20 minutes, I turned to my family in disbelief and said, "Wow, this is actually GOOD! Like really good!" It got me at the beginning with an ominous scene in Haiti that was just a blatant callback to the original movie's opening, but after that, I was hooked. Interesting direction, good writing, a great premise. And then those 20 first minutes were up and the movie became hot garbage. I kept making complaints throughout, like "God, this reminds me of the new Halloween movies!" "Ugh, they're bringing back a classic female character but completely erasing her personality ... just like the new Halloween movies..." and "Wait, is this the same soundtrack from the new Halloween movies?" Finally I looked it up and found out that the writers are...the same guys...from the new Halloween movies.
The handling of race and religion in this movie was imo very clumsy and tone-deaf. Not exactly offensive for the most part, just ... painful, because anyone can see how much better they *could* have made it if they just had an editor take a look.
Bob's Burgers Movie: cute, palatable. Basically, it's like the Simpsons movie. Not as funny as the seasons you remember laughing aloud to, but still okay.
Evil Under the Sun: I enjoyed this much more than Death on the Nile. The cast is star-studded in both films, but the director is different, and Evil Under the Sun was handled so much better. The humor crackles, the shots are actually fairly clever and interesting, the mystery is tighter and more engaging/doesn't seem as ludicrous when explained.
A Passage to India: An excellent movie, but not as good as the book. And it pains me to say that, because I love David Lean. He just fumbled a few key elements, and I couldn't help mourning the film that could have been. Because of that, I find this one hard to rate.
Murder on the Orient Express: Perfectly captures the haunting, eerie emotional atmosphere of the book while still retaining Christie's signature humor.
Lisa Frankenstein: THIS IS BEETLEJUICE FOR THE BITCHES THAT HATE BEETLEJUICE. AND I HATE BEETLEJUICE. I fucking loved this movie. It's off-kilter, it's camp, it's ardent, it's tongue in cheek, it's sincere... it's trans???? I was going nuts. I was so charmed. I love everything here, the colors, the homages to classic film, the granularly specific references to real 80s culture (the shell-themed bathroom T__T). I popped this on expecting a mediocre good time and I got my socks blown off. I had no idea either that it was Zelda Williams' directorial debut until after I finished the movie -- that was a cool little surprise.
And then I think I summarized my thoughts on the Film Day movies in a different journal entry, but here they are anyway, in brief:
Apocalypse Now: Actually Great
Captain Invincible: Actually Good, but in a totally opposite way from Apocalypse Now. Shitty camp indie fun, with Christopher Lee doing an evil song and dance and abusing Muppets. Off-the-wall humor.
The Swan: Wes Anderson Is A Hack I Will Die On This Hill
no subject
Date: 2024-10-03 07:34 pm (UTC)