Flicks I seen

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 8:21 pm

Big Eyes - 8.5/10

Surprisingly quite good. I had no expectations coming in and very much enjoyed myself. It's the true story of Margaret and Walter Keane, San Francisco-based married painters in the 1960s. She does the actual painting. He takes credit for it. At first she's OK with this arrangement because they're making a lot of money together, but over time it starts eating her up inside and she changes her mind. Arson, divorce, Hawaii. Good flick.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:39 pm

Inherent Vice - 10/10

Strong earthy tones of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights) puts on a masterclass of dialogue, pacing, cinematography, everything. This movie is...perfect. Joaquin Phoenix plays a hippie private detective/stoner who's hired by his ex to stop her boyfriend's wife from putting him away in a mental home to steal his fortune. Josh Brolin plays a cop who is Joaquin's best friend/rival. He helps him out and they uncover all kinds of interconnected schemes from prostitution to heroin to dentists to trampolines*. Josh Brolin is a genius of comedy (the final scene--and I'm deadly serious--might be the funniest thing I've ever seen). It's sexy, witty, hilarious, fast, slow, good, bad. What the fuck did I just watch.

*Admittedly (and as some critics have pointed out), the plot gets pretty complicated, but totally follow-able if you're paying attention and can hear the often quiet/whispered dialogue. Big turning points/important details aren't always, like, announced in Big Capital Letters. Ya know, they're kind of mentioned in passing or under someone's breath. And I like that. It makes you listen and makes intonation and idiosyncrasies important.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:06 pm

American Sniper - 7.75/10

I'd like to preface this by saying I do not know much about the real-life subject matter that is Chris Kyle. I don't know the ins and outs of his story. So I just saw this film in a vacuum and will review it as it stands alone.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

This is an agonizing film in a number of ways. Bradley Cooper plays Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in United States military history, having killed like 200 people or something in Iraq. The film starts out with a scene from Chris's childhood. His family is sitting down at the dinner table after a day in which Chris saved his younger brother from a bully. Their father is proud of Chris. He explains that there are three kinds of people in the world: sheep, wolves and those who protect the sheep from the wolves: sheepdogs. Chris Kyle fancies himself a sheepdog. This is the basis for his whole life. He joins the Navy SEALs and goes to Iraq to fight the "War on Terror" believing it to be his duty as a protector of the weak. His wife and family suffer at home as Chris becomes somewhat obsessed with concepts likes how he could be "saving even more people" in Iraq. His wife has two kids without him there, and he doesn't seem to care. His mind is focused on one thing.

So, in Iraq, there's a sniper playing for the other team who's really really good and set up as kind of Chris Kyle's equal and opposite. Kyle's team members have been getting shot down by this man and Chris makes it a personal vendetta of his to get this one man. In a lot of ways he undermines the war effort as a whole and compromises his team's safety to get his man. He eventually does, and at that moment decides he's done fighting. He got his man, the war is over. He goes home. His wife and family obviously are very happy he's back, but Kyle has signs of PTSD and struggles to get back into the groove of society. He ends up helping out veterans at the VA hospital and devotes his time to that.

It's difficult to decide exactly what the tone of this movie was supposed to do to me. There are hints of a "war is bad" mentality and Kyle's blatant emotional challenges highlight that. But then he goes through with the kills anyway and they're celebrated. I mean, yeah it's a war and that's what you do in a war, but he essentially became a killing machine. Perhaps we're meant to have disdain for his glorification. The ending credits montage showed actual footage of Chris Kyle's funeral in Dallas. It was massive. Thousands of people. Huge ceremony. But a sense of dread had loomed throughout the film, so this deifying procession was somewhat out of place. I believe deliberately.

Anyway, it's a film I'm still digesting and will probably see again to try and pick up cues as to how I should feel.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Tue Feb 03, 2015 4:43 am

A Most Violent Year - 8.5/10

You all know how I feel about Jake Gyllenhaal getting snubbed for an Oscar nomination. That's inexcusable. Well, Oscar Isaac deserves one, too. That was some good shit. This movie was fine. A little slow to get started, but I was kept in acceptable suspense before shit popped off. And then BOOM it's a wild ride to the climax (which was...weird). Highly recommended.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 6:40 pm

Still Alice - 7.5/10

This is the one that Julianne Moore is nominated for all the awards and for which she is the frontrunner. And, well, yeah I guess so. She acts pretty well. None of the other contenders stick out enough for me to not say Moore will win. But I was really underwhelmed by this movie. Julianne Moore plays a woman with early onset Alzheimer's. Her symptoms gradually get more and more severe over the course of like a year or so (not sure the time frame of the movie) until she's essentially a vegetable.

There was one really strong/significant/sad/symbolic thing about her ordeal that was quite redeeming, but I won't spoil that. If the filmmakers had taken the tone of that particular concept and spread it out over the rest of the film, I would have enjoyed it much more. Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart co-star.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:26 am

Two Days, One Night - 8/10

Half an hour went by. I yawned. Another half an hour went by. I looked at my watch, yawned, then something happened. I like Marion Cotillard. I do. But, shit man. This was one boring humorless fucking thing. It did get better about three quarters in, but I think DA and I saw two different movies. It's about a woman whose co-workers vote to each get a bonus in exchange for laying her off. She spends the weekend visiting each one and trying to convince them to keep her there, forfeiting their bonuses. And saying anything more would spoil it. So, see it if you're interested in artsy fartsy stuff. I mean, I usually am totally down with indie flicks, but, like, do something. I dunno. Maybe I wasn't in the right state of mind.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:34 am

You didn't like it yet you gave it an eight out of ten...? You're weird.

Anyway I might defend it later. I probably need to watch it again. I fully admit up front I probably wouldn't have liked it as much if not for, you know, Marion Cotillard. But it's still good with or without her.

I just recently watched The Immigrant, another artsy indie thing staring Marion Cotillard which is currently being hailed as a "masterpiece", and I admit I was a bit underwhelmed. So it's not that I have an automatic bias towards emotive indie stuff, if that's the impression I'm making.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:40 am

It got an 8 because I feel the last 45 minutes or so were pretty good. I'm a big believer in a shitty movie redeeming itself with the ending. I have never and will never walk out on a movie for such a reason. And she acted pretty well. So an 8 seems reasonable.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:46 am

That's a good philosophy. If only Boyhood had ended with the guy tripping and breaking his neck in the shower or something, I might have been more positive of it. That might have redeemed everything I saw earlier... maybe. Perhaps.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:48 am

Naw man fuck Boyhood naw. Should have walked out of that one.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:12 am

Yeah, you're right. Lucky for me I didn't pay for it, so the only thing it cost me was about three hours of my rapidly dwindling youth. But I don't really care about that anyway.

At the last half hour or so when I was frustrated and angry at everything I entertained myself by fantasizing about all the characters in the movie getting violently killed. So at least that part was enjoyable.

Dr_Liszt · Post by **Dr_Liszt** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:30 am

You guys are better than me. I gave up an hour into the movie. And I saw it.. you know... illicitly. Thank God. I'd have killed myself if I went to the theater.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:11 pm

Hot Tub Time Machine 2 - 3/10

This shit was terrible. HUGE fan of the first. Love the first. First one is hilarious, laughing constantly. All four main characters have good chemistry and rhythm. The sequel just fucked the first one in the butt. So bad. So impossibly bad.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:36 am

Just so's you know I'm not done with that Two Days, One Night thing. Thing is I watched it unethically the first time and I can't find it again because it was taken off and I'm waiting for a safe avenue to watch it again. That's why I haven't followed up yet.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:16 pm

Leviathan - 10/10

Wow. This may be the most hopeless, depressing, tragic movie you'll ever see. And it was excellent. So beautiful, so elegantly acted. So perfect. So sad. Very well-placed comic relief in an otherwise fucking BLEAK movie. My God. Recommended if you're in a particularly good mood. If you have any empathy for the human race and want it challenged, go see this. We follow a man who's up against a corrupt mayor for his land. His son and wife (stepmother to the son) and lawyer friend are by his side fighting the dirty mayor until...shit gets real. Jesus. Go.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 3:03 pm

What We Do in the Shadows - 8/10

It's a comedy mockumentary about vampires living in modern-day Wellington, New Zealand starring the ilk of "Flight of the Conchords" and whatnot. It is expectedly quite hilarious.

Unvoiced_Apollo · Post by **Unvoiced_Apollo** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 3:28 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote:You didn't like it yet you gave it an eight out of ten...? You're weird.

Anyway I might defend it later. I probably need to watch it again. I fully admit up front I probably wouldn't have liked it as much if not for, you know, Marion Cotillard. But it's still good with or without her.

I just recently watched The Immigrant, another artsy indie thing staring Marion Cotillard which is currently being hailed as a "masterpiece", and I admit I was a bit underwhelmed. So it's not that I have an automatic bias towards emotive indie stuff, if that's the impression I'm making.

I didn't like the Lego Movie but that had more to do with my personal preferences. I'd argue it's a 7-8 out of 10.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 10:53 pm

All right, I watched Two Days, One Night again. I still support everything I said about it before. In fact, I liked it even more the second time, and I now consider it to be one of my favorite movies ever. I hope you'll give it another chance.

There is so much to say about this movie. It's close to perfect. I really don't know if it would be useful to describe why or what makes it so, although I think I could if I tried. It's a movie where if you're not able to fully appreciate its profound beauty and artistic quality while watching it... listening to someone else is not going to convince you. It has to be felt.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 4:55 pm

I should try it again. But, for realsies, she does the same fucking thing four or five times with slightly different reactions from everyone. "Vote for me, please?" "OK." "No." "Maybe." And then it's Monday and *gasp* the vote is tied! But oh we'll keep you if we can fire this guy over here. No, I'm stronger than that. I have depression but it'll be a growing experience to suffer for a little bit. (Actually that last part is the part I liked about the movie, but the process of getting there was fucking exhausting.)

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 5:33 pm

Yeah... well as you can guess I liked the "same fucking thing four or five times" thing about it. I mean, this movie is primarily about the struggles of the working class, and being forced to go face-to-face with your fellow employees to beg for your job back, to try to cajole them into giving up something for themselves in return for a favor for you, over and over and over and over again, is really fucking humiliating and degrading, and the movie I thought shows that very well. Especially when you have depression. It's also helped in no small part by Cotillard, who is one of the most emotionally expressive actresses I've ever seen, and she gives the process a lot of... humanity, I guess.

I also liked the meetings with everyone because it effectively showed such a wide sweep of humanity, that everyone had their own reactions and their own motivations, that no one she met was simply an empty boogeyman to make her life more difficult, that they all somehow had a bit of depth even though they only had a few speaking lines. The film tries to encompass a lot of varieties of people during a somewhat short running time when it easily could have chosen not to, and I think it succeeded, mostly by making the structure relatively simple and rigid so as to milk every possible moment for as much as it's worth. I think that might partly be why I like it - it's really understated and quiet and somewhat character-study-ish, but it's also very outward-looking and all-encompassing at the same time. It gives it the feeling of being "complete" and "whole" which other films which would only have attempted either one - or tried both and failed - would have failed to have. (Boyhood failed spectacularly at this.)

I dunno, man. You just need to be in the right mindset, I guess. Don't expect an action-adventure flick, don't expect a cutesy indie drama, don't expect a coming-of-age story. Just watch the movie and let it take you where it's going. That's how I watch movies, and it helps me enjoy them quite a bit more.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 5:48 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote: Don't expect..... Just watch the movie and let it take you where it's going. That's how I watch movies, and it helps me enjoy them quite a bit more.

Indeed. I try to do that with every movie I see. I'll avoid reading any reviews or plot details before going in; if something seems interesting, I'll see it as neutrally as possible. I think you and I are discovering that we have slightly different tastes on a fundamental level. Nightcrawler is the only thing we've agreed upon (in a positive way, not counting Boyhood). I appreciate and can see everything you say about Two Days, One Night, yet those things just aren't hitting home for me.

That said, I watched the Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson flick The Internship last night and it was quite good as a harmless little time-killer. Not as raunchy as Wedding Crashers, but just as funny.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 6:16 pm

Fair enough. You should still watch Whiplash again.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Sat May 02, 2015 10:18 am

Ex Machina - 9/10

This shit was great. Interesting thought experiments and whatnot. Written and directed by the guy who wrote Sunshine and 28 Days Later etc. Great sci-fi. Recommended.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Ok, set up. A young employee at the world's biggest tech/search engine company wins a competition to go visit the compound of his boss, the company's founder. It's a massive estate with mountains and rivers and shit. The guy's house/research facility is largely subterranean. It's beautiful, modern, everything. The young man (Caleb) meets his eccentric boss (Nathan) and they seem to hit it off, drinking beers and chatting away. Nathan reveals that Caleb is there to test a new AI that Nathan built, a robot named Ava. She has a human-looking face and figure, but is largely mechanical visually. Caleb is to interact with Ava daily and after a week determine if she is truly AI, which means he needs to determine if she generates genuine emotion and thought or simply simulates it. That's how it's stated to Caleb by Nathan.

Oh yeah. Every room in the compound has an electronic lock that can only be opened with a key card. Caleb and Nathan each have a key card, but Caleb's only works on certain doors. Other doors are off limits. There is also a lot of surveillance, cameras and shit. BUT it's also set up that there are occasional power outages during which all cameras turn off and all doors lock. These last for about a minute. Ok.

Pretty innocent stuff so far. Ok, Caleb's first day goes well. He meets Ava through a glass wall (she's in a locked room) and asks rudimentary questions like does she know she's a robot and what she thinks about all this and whatnot. After the visit, Caleb meets up with Nathan and they discuss the interaction. Nathan tries to get Caleb to be more open-minded and not go into the experiment so analytically. Essentially, he wants Caleb to begin to see Ava as a real person. Sort of.

Ok, the next few days reveal Nathan more and more to be a bit psychotic. Caleb discovers that Ava is simply another stage in a long line of AI attempts and that Nathan uses each robot to essentially be a whore and a maid and then when they become conscious enough to quit or be angry about it, he "kills" them. So Caleb sees his role as needing to prove that Ava is the best version of AI and is worth keeping "alive". At the same time, Ava is seemingly developing feelings for Caleb. She puts on clothes, draws things, and repeatedly says she wants to be with him.

Meanwhile, Nathan appears to be quite jealous of this. He warns Caleb not to get too close. But he's creepy so you're never quite sure what he's up to. Ok, now it all comes to a head. Caleb and Ava orchestrate a plan to escape during one of the power outages. Caleb's plan is to get Nathan drunk and rewire all the doors to unlock so he and Ava can get out. Nathan of course had a hidden camera and heard the whole thing and confronts Caleb. But he isn't angry, he just finds it interesting. He's convinced that Ava manipulated Caleb to distrust Nathan so he feels compelled to help her escape. Nathan also reveals that Caleb's presence there wasn't a random competition selection. He was chosen specifically because he is smart and has no family, so no one would worry about him if he died. Nathan also constructed Ava's appearance and personality based on Caleb's search preferences. And this is interesting for many reasons. But I digress. Caleb is furious, and overrides the system so Ava's door opens. Nathan is shocked and knocks Caleb out. Nathan runs out into the hall armed with a pipe to secure Ava. They fight and Nathan is killed.

Ava discovers all the old robots and steals their skin and clothes. Now she looks totally human. She reunites with Caleb. She asks him to gather his things while she takes a look outside. As she leaves, she locks Caleb inside and destroys the computer so he's stuck in the compound forever while Ava is loose in the outside world.

So the whole movie you're led to think that Nathan is the evil one but I think the ending basically means he wants AI to work but they always end up evil. And he knows this, but he asks Caleb there to see if maybe this time around she won't turn out evil. Well, she did and apparently was smarter than her predecessors because she triumphed over Nathan and escaped. Maybe THAT was Nathan's plan?? To make an AI so advanced that it grows the intellect to escape and "beat" a human. And she did. She beat two humans. Bam.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Sun May 24, 2015 12:57 am

Flicks re-seen recently

Enemy - 9.5/10
Jake Gyllenhaal discovers his doppelganger and they get into all kind of seedy antics. An elephant-sized tarantula makes an appearance.

Prisoners - 9/10
Hugh Jackman and Terrance Howard's daughters are kidnapped and Jake Gyllenhaal is a detective trying to find them and Paul Dano may or may not have taken them. Reeeeeaaaaallyyyy fucking good movie.

Snowpiercer - 8.75/10
Great dystopian flick. The survivors of a global freeze are perpetually stuck on a train run by Ed Harris. Chris Evans is in the lower-class car at the back of the train and leads a revolt against the upper-class. So good. So good.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Mon Jun 08, 2015 3:36 pm

Love & Mercy - 10/10

It's a movie about Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. Paul Dano and John Cusack are two of my favorite actors and they each do a fantastic job here playing Wilson at different stages in his life. Much of the focus on younger Wilson lands on the time he was working on the album "Pet Sounds" and the emotional and mental crises it implied. And we follow the older Wilson around in the 80s and 90s and the whole controversy surrounding his mental condition and care. It's really really good. Even if you're not a fan of The Beach Boys and don't know Wilson's story, it's a good one and the two leads are amazing. Also terrific supporting performances from Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Mon Jun 15, 2015 4:25 pm

Pet Sematary - 7/10

I can't believe I'd never seen this before. I love weird Stephen King shit. This one is hilarious. I love Fred Gwynne. Oh man. If anyone watches "South Park", you'll recognize Fred Gwynne's character in Pet Sematary making an appearance in the episode when Butters' mom tries to kill him. Gold.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 6:32 pm

The Cobbler - 6.5/10

SPOILERS (not like it matters)

Adam Sandler (Max) runs a shoe repair shop he inherited from his father. He does not enjoy his mundane life, but maintains the shop to support his elderly mother. His father apparently left the family long ago. One day he is forced to use an old stitching machine he finds in the basement. After using this old stitcher, he accidentally tries on the shoe he's just mended and realizes that he has supposed the form of the shoe's owner. Yes, a magical stitcher. Mend a shoe with it, put the shoe on, and you turn into that person. OK.

So he experiments with this and has all kinds of fun being other people blah blah blah. One of the people he switches to is a gangster/drug dealer/gun dealer. When Max's mother dies, he needs money to pay for a nice headstone. So he assumes the role of the gangster and steals fifty thousand dollars from him. (There's a subplot that follows a community activist who's trying to save the block from the big bad realtors. The money Max stole from the gangster belonged to the main evil developer, unbeknownst to him at the time.) OK, so he stole the money. The developer was going to use that money to pay the gangster to burn down the last remaining apartment building on the block, forcing a stubborn tenant out. But, Max took it (and accidentally killed the gangster), so the building and the tenant are safe.

So the subplot with the developer is over. Now, Max's cobbler shop is next door to a barbershop, Jimmy's. Jimmy (Steve Buscemi) is an old family friend and finally reveals to Max after his mother's passing that Max's father didn't leave out of neglect, but that their lives were in danger because he'd gotten in with the wrong people. After all this sentimental stuff, Jimmy removes his shoes and reveals himself to indeed be Max's long lost father (Dustin Hoffman). He had been next door all along, protecting Max and the shop under a false identity.

So, more sentimental stuff blah blah blah. It's revealed that a cobbler's job is sacred and that it's a huge responsibility and that similar roles are carried out within a delicate system shared with a tailor and a barber and a deli clerk or something. So Max assumes his new role and he and his father live happily ever after.

Kind of cheesy, not exactly a comedy but not not a comedy. I don't know. It was on Netflix so I watched it.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 12:44 am

Flicks re-seen recently (two of my all-time favorites)

High Fidelity - 10/10
If you haven't seen this movie, you should be living on Neptune. You are not in the phone book. Great soundtrack, great writing, funny things. John Cusack is awesome. I don't know why I'm saying I watched a 15-year-old movie. Nostalgia, I guess.

Dead Man - 10/10
Weird and great. In my top-15 movies ever. So funny and weird and perfect all at once. More.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 1:23 am

Weird timing, on another forum I'm on, someone just yesterday talked about having just seen High Fidelity. I haven't seen it in about 14 years, so I don't remember it too well. Will have to watch it again soon.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Mon Jun 22, 2015 2:59 am

Such a classic

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 3:24 pm

Dope - 6.94/10

A movie about a geeky high school senior living in a rough neighborhood in Inglewood. He and his non-streetwise friends accidentally get a hold of some drugs and are forced to sell it. They run into all kinds of danger but eventually find a way to sell it via the internet black market. And the message is all kinds of stuff about transcending stereotypes and whatnot. It fell flat for me. The soundtrack was fuckin...dope...but there was just something inorganic about it. Maybe it's the relative inexperience of the young actors, which is normally fine, but there were also a lot of cringe-worthy trendy things that maybe I'm simply not in tune enough with to let it feed me emotional information. Yeah, it's really geared toward young people who can relate to trendy things, but I can also imagine that if I was one of those people I would feel somewhat mocked. I don't know. It was interesting. Something to think about, anyway. Not really the content; the content was as linear and transparent as any movie. What's to think about is what the young, trendy audience will take away from it. If they can relate to the main character, the geeky Malcolm, then it should be something positive. If they find that Malcolm is unrealistic (I don't know if these hyper-trendy people even exist) and/or a big fat hypocrite (there are instances where his geekiness is challenged and he essentially acts "like everyone else"), then the message is lost.

I don't know. Whatever. Not great.

EDIT: I have a feeling DA would enjoy this movie. That's not a dig at your taste, it just seems up your alley given what we've discussed on Two Days, One Night etc.

Unvoiced_Apollo · Post by **Unvoiced_Apollo** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:31 pm

sikax wrote:Dope - 6.94/10

A movie about a geeky high school senior living in a rough neighborhood in Inglewood. He and his non-streetwise friends accidentally get a hold of some drugs and are forced to sell it. They run into all kinds of danger but eventually find a way to sell it via the internet black market. And the message is all kinds of stuff about transcending stereotypes and whatnot. It fell flat for me. The soundtrack was fuckin...dope...but there was just something inorganic about it. Maybe it's the relative inexperience of the young actors, which is normally fine, but there were also a lot of cringe-worthy trendy things that maybe I'm simply not in tune enough with to let it feed me emotional information. Yeah, it's really geared toward young people who can relate to trendy things, but I can also imagine that if I was one of those people I would feel somewhat mocked. I don't know. It was interesting. Something to think about, anyway. Not really the content; the content was as linear and transparent as any movie. What's to think about is what the young, trendy audience will take away from it. If they can relate to the main character, the geeky Malcolm, then it should be something positive. If they find that Malcolm is unrealistic (I don't know if these hyper-trendy people even exist) and/or a big fat hypocrite (there are instances where his geekiness is challenged and he essentially acts "like everyone else"), then the message is lost.

I don't know. Whatever. Not great.

You should have seen Inside Out instead.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:37 pm

There's no such thing as "instead". I see everything that looks interesting. Animated movies in general do not interest me. Except for the Peanuts movie that's on its way. Can't wait for that shit.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 4:56 am

I have a feeling I would enjoy it too. Maybe not a lot, but a little.

I also watched High Fidelity recently and... um... I didn't get it. Let's... just leave it at that.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 5:43 am

What...um...do you mean by that? What didn't you get?

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:11 am

I didn't get what was good about it.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 3:39 pm

Oh. I don't know, it's funny. And when I was a teenager I could relate to it a lot. Music, girls, whatever. It's just one of those movies that I grew up with and therefore really like even if it isn't objectively a masterpiece.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 4:52 am

The Winding Stream

A documentary about the Carter family. Music, that is. A.P. and Maybelle and Sara and June and Helen and Anita and the rest, featuring Johnny Cash's final interview. Any fan of music of any kind will appreciate this one. It's sensational, very informative, very funny.

The history of the Carter family makes you feel connected to all music. They started everything. One member of the family who's interviewed says they are like The Beatles in that threads of their music are woven into everything that came after. And it is absolutely true. All country music - which in itself is a broad term that also reflects gospel, the blues, jazz, bluegrass, rock and roll, everything - stems from the Carter family. Learn it, know it, love it.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:13 pm

Movies I've seen before and watched on Netflix yesterday because I was sick and stayed home from work

The Big Lebowski - 9.5/10
Classic, obviously. Nothing to say here.

Wet Hot American Summer - 9/10
One of my favorite comedies ever. Endlessly entertaining. A Netflix series is starting soon. Going to be pure gold.

The Paperboy - 8.5/10
Some weird shit. Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron are brothers, the former is a journalist uncovering all kinds of things about a murder that John Cusack may or may not have committed. Cusack and Efron are both in love with Nicole Kidman. Cusack is creepy as fuck, McConaughey is probably gay. Good stuff. Creepy, weird Florida swamp shit.

Something from Nothing: the Art of Rap - 10/10
One of the best documentaries I've seen. I'm a huge fan of hip-hop and loved every second of this. If you aren't a fan, hopefully you can at least appreciate the art that's displayed here. Ice-T goes around and interviews famous rappers, asking about their technique and whatnot. Absolutely great stuff.

Unvoiced_Apollo · Post by **Unvoiced_Apollo** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:38 pm

sikax wrote:Movies I've seen before and watched on Netflix yesterday because I was sick and stayed home from work

The Big Lebowski - 9.5/10
Classic, obviously. Nothing to say here.

I disagree that there's obviously nothing to say here. I personally didn't like it all that much.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:32 pm

I just mean that since pretty much everyone has seen it, a description isn't necessary.

Blade Azaezel · Post by **Blade Azaezel** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:14 pm

I haven't seen it.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:17 pm

It's a Coen brothers flick about a lazy stoner who's dragged into this scheme involving a kidnapped woman and he's meant to solve it along with his bumbling idiot friend and they get into all kinds of shenanigans. Very quite funny and good. It sounds like it's slapstick but it's not. It's subdued, Coen humor, which I like.

Unvoiced_Apollo · Post by **Unvoiced_Apollo** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:14 pm

sikax wrote:It's a Coen brothers flick about a lazy stoner who's dragged into this scheme involving a kidnapped woman and he's meant to solve it along with his bumbling idiot friend and they get into all kinds of shenanigans. Very quite funny and good. It sounds like it's slapstick but it's not. It's subdued, Coen humor, which I like.

Maybe I just don't get them. I've seen a few of their movies (including The Big Lebowski), but the only one I remember is O Brother Where Art Thou, and that's a loose adaptation of the Odyssey, so I could only be remembering it for that connection.

BruceSmith78 · Post by **BruceSmith78** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:38 am

The Coen Brothers suck at comedies. Their funniest movies are Fargo and No Country for Old Men. Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Big Lebowski, and The Lady Killers are all shit, and not the least bit funny.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:01 am

I'm not a huge fanboy or anything, but I disagree. The only one of those that is shit is The Lady Killers. The others range from good to great.

Cassius Clay · Post by **Cassius Clay** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:25 am

I just watched Inherent Vice. I could tell it's probably a pretty good film, but I didn't pay close enough attention, and it lost me when the plot got too complicated.

That one sex scene is pretty fucking hot though. Goddamn.

sikax · Post by **sikax** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:21 pm

Inherent Vice is so amazingly good. I hope you get around to paying more attention to it.

And yes, quite sexy.

CashRules · Post by **CashRules** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:32 pm

Raising Arizona would have sucked if it had not been for the acting genius that is Nicholas Cage, easily the greatest actor in the past 50 years. It suffered from one of the same problems as The Big Lebowski: that being John Goodman. I mean both movies were bad because John Goodman was on the screen for more than a millisecond and had speaking lines. I mean any movie in which John Goodman is allowed within a hundred miles of the set is going to suck. You can never have too little John Goodman. John Goodman is so bad that movies made before he was ever born are at the risk of sucking in anticipation of his future existence. Gone With The Wind almost blew chunks because of John Goodman. The worst thing about Birth Of A Nation was John Goodman.

Unvoiced_Apollo · Post by **Unvoiced_Apollo** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:57 pm

CashRules wrote:Raising Arizona would have sucked if it had not been for the acting genius that is Nicholas Cage, easily the greatest actor in the past 50 years. It suffered from one of the same problems as The Big Lebowski: that being John Goodman. I mean both movies were bad because John Goodman was on the screen for more than a millisecond and had speaking lines. I mean any movie in which John Goodman is allowed within a hundred miles of the set is going to suck. You can never have too little John Goodman. John Goodman is so bad that movies made before he was ever born are at the risk of sucking in anticipation of his future existence. Gone With The Wind almost blew chunks because of John Goodman. The worst thing about Birth Of A Nation was John Goodman.

Now tell us how you really feel