Gore holds no appeal for me, but I can be fine with it if it feel like it makes sense and is necessary. What I dislike is this giggling teenage edgelord mentality of putting as much of it as possible into every story just because you can and thinking you've written the next Watchmen by doing so, which sometimes feels like it's Ennis' whole shtick. The Preacher is pretty much the only one of those early core Vertigo titles (like Swamp Thing, Sandman, Hellblazer) that I could never get into.

Unlike The Preacher, The Boys seems like it might be kind of interesting, and if wasn't for Ennis I'd probably check it out by now. As it is... for now I'm happy rewatching Star Trek Enterprise, and that will keep me occupied for the next 3 months or so, so I'll wait. After that I might give it a shot, though I'll keep my expectations low.

Yesterday, ''Only God Forgives''.

I just rewatched Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and you know what? I still think it's good. In fact, I might have liked it even more this time. I think all the hate it gets is quite ridiculous. It's not as good as Lost Ark or Last Crusade, but it's still a ton of fun, and feels perfectly true to the originals to me, while changing up enough to not feel like a boring rehash. Ford is still great, Cate Blanchett is honestly probably the best villain the series had since the first film, and even Shia is honestly quite good in this. Yes, some of the CG is wonky but compared to how much of it we get now, and how bad it sometimes looks in some big movies on day one, and this being 12 years old now, it's really not that bad. And some of the shots are still great. Say what you will about the infamous fridge - that shot of Indy's silhouette in front of the nucelar blast is a fantastic bit of visual storytelling, in an instant driving home the point of an iconic character facing a different era.

And yeah, some of it is silly, but you know what? That's nothing new. There was also a lot of goofy moments in Last Crusade, not to mention Temple of Doom. And yes, I think Crystal Skull is a way, waaay better movie than Temple of Doom. Indy's companions are actually likeable, not insufferably annoying, the tone is more consistant, and the action is better.

And if you think about how much better it is than the Star Wars sequels it's not even funny. It's a new story, not a scene -for-scene rehash of an old one, the focus is still on the original character, the original character is still likeable, adventurous and fun, his character arc from the previous movies is respected, and it's a self contained story and not a cliffhanger-ending with tons of loose ends and no plan for them. Even if unlike me you really dislike the movie's execution, story-wise it's still a perfectly good coda for Indy. Honestly, people didn't know how good they had it with the Crystal Skull.

I could agree Mutt is one of Shia's best characters, but I wouldn't for my life call him "likable" in anything he's ever done, both in movies and real-life. The closest he ever got was I, Robot and that's because he spent half his screen-time being shoved by a robot.

As for the rest of it, I'd consider Crystal Skull collection-worthy if the line "Knowledge was their treasure." concerned a hidden duplicate of the Library of Alexandria instead of aliens. Armchair writing, I know.

Mutt really grew on me this time, there's lots of genuine and surprisngly well acted concern on his part for his mother and the professor who helped raise him. That said, I've no idea what LaBeouf's been up to in real life, nor do I much care. I'm just happy he doesn't make me want to fast forward through all his scenes like Short Round did :P

This sounds like a blast, love Blade Runner and I'm curious about more cyberpunk films! Maybe you've already seen it, but if not, you might like Richard Stanley's Hardware. It's a little campy, but it's also at times trippy and has massive cyberpunk vibes, but in a really small contained location (if I remember correctly, a lot of the film takes place in a single apartment. Not the whole film, but a lot of it). It's flawed but really good fun!

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I recently saw Ghostwatch which I love to pieces. Been watching some horror films for the build-up to Halloween and this one is a treat. Basically it's a mockumentary film, aired on the BBC back in 1992 for Halloween as if it were a real paranormal investigation and it frightened millions of people, who ended up complaining in masses. It's a pretty cool thing, and works really well as a suspense-driven paranormal film. It's held up really well in my opinion, albeit it's also a bit campy at times (keep in mind they were trying to create light afternoon teatime viewing that gave the impression of going completely off the rails). Genuinely brilliant.

Gravity (2013), with the V-neck monster hybrid Sandra the Bull

I remember very well how much praise it received all those years ago, but right from the start, the terrible writing and acting, the lack of human touch, all of it tells you it's going to be miserable. The flimsiest plot is told up front and simply unfolds until it's over. Some visual moments are impressive.

I thought minimalist movies were supposed to have unsuspected depth, but this was more shallow than a teen comedy about trying to rent a video game in a snowstorm.
History is a lie, my dude.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986, John Carpenter)

We were about 10, my friend and I, and I think I had called to make sure Super Mario Kart game was available. It was a long walk in thick snow, and the game wasn't there to rent. We came home with tired little legs with our eyes almost frozen shut with icicles, it was fun. More like children's movie than teen, I guess. Could even be Christmas-themed if needed to get funding.

Sound like a way better Mario movie than the one we got.

Hardware (1990) sounds like a cross between Child's Play (1988) and Terminator (1984). Since it's almost Halloween, that sounds pretty good. I saw the Color out of Space (2019) modernization Richard Stanley did last year, based on the 1927 Lovecraft story of a similar name ("Colour out of Space"), but with Nicholas Cage, Tommy Chong, and cellphones. I prefer Lovecraft stories set in their own time and place (mostly 1920s New England), but the books do that well enough.

Two different films, both on completely different ends of the spectrum: Possession (1981) and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020).

Possession is probably one of the more intense and disturbing films I've seen in recent memory. Something about the combination of Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill's performances, the more grounded arguments between the two, and the surreal psychological horror elements just stuck with me throughout. Quickly became one of my favorites in the genre.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm was something I didn't expect to happen, yet it seems fitting for 2020. It's not quite as shocking as the original - if nothing else because what was so shocking about the first one is much more normalized in 2020. But it was still a very funny and occasionally shocking film that carries both a surprisingly stronger narrative and fantastic performances from Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova (who honestly should be up for an Oscar for how fearless her scenes could be and how well she matched Cohen).

Up next: recently picked up the box set of Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, which contains all three versions of the film along with the Hearts of Darkness documentary. I've only seen the original cut until now, so it should be interesting.

That's a great selection! I love Possession, it's a film I found really difficult to watch because of how intense it is from the very beginning, with those heated arguments, the characters' resentment, and then when it delves into those more surreal moments, I wasn't really prepared. Isabelle Adjani is fantastic in that, and I can't help but think about that scene where she breaks down with her shopping in the underpass.

I saw Borat Subsequent Moviefilm too! It was an engaging, funny film, but at this point I'm rather keen on anything Sacha Baron Cohen does. I do agree it's not as shocking as the first film, but I felt it was very clever how they integrated the Covid pandemic into the narrative, while also having some great "gotcha" moments revealing depths of ignorance. It's quite scary to see how passive people are when faced with clearly abhorrent things (the anti-Semitic cake or how Borat sings a song at a rally that basically advocates for another Holocaust and the audience cheers). Also Rudy Giuliani putting his hands down his pants in front of a character who is meant to be 15 is just horrifying.

I've never seen the Apocalypse Now Final Cut but I definitely need to!

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I recently watched The Squid And The Whale directed by Noah Baumbach which I loved but I would struggle to watch it again. It's a very uncomfortable film, focusing on a dysfunctional family during a divorce. Jeff Daniels, Jesse Eisenberg and Laura Linney are great in it. It's the type of family dysfunction that's quieter, passive-aggressive, competitive, rather than something playful and screwball-esque like in Little Miss Sunshine. A lot of character complexity in The Squid And The Whale, but it all feels so natural too. I really admire what Baumbach does.

Last film I watched, well I'm not sure it can be counted as one but the Chernobyl series from HBO, it's been my cup of tea for the past months. I'm wondering if there is anyone else in here who has seen it and has opinions on the story, I've been told there was another countries take on there version of Chernobyl and I was wondering if anyone here knows the name or anything about it.