Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

The Bookie

Members
  • Posts

    4,989
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Everything posted by The Bookie

  1. haven't even heard of that but yeah looks good - maybe more of a fall/winter movie for me though
  2. T2 Trainspotting 7/10 If it would be possible to rate this in a vacuum it'd be great but no. Completely unnecessary sequel to a classic (and if anything, watching this just fully kickedin how much the original had an effect on teenage me) and they went too far in the nostalgia direction baking it into the theme. And f'in flashbacks. I hate flashbacks. On the plus side there were moments that were as good as the first time. 3 sequences in particular that made it all worthwhile - the heroin/club and final dance/train/closing credit scenes, and an old bit from the source novel that gets mixed in perfectly where the group as young hooligans encounter Begbie's wino father in an abandoned train station. movies I've watched recently that were mehdecent but not memorable enough to bother writing about Logan Cheap Thrills Oklahoma City Free Fire
  3. I think I'll be most happy if we can come away from the first round with one of Glass or Vilardi at #5 and a second pick to grab Petterson. Really solidify the C position going forward - one pretty close to a guaranteed NHL player in some capacity, the other a bit of risk/reward gamble with high upside. But really I'm ready for anything. Doing my best not to get too high or low on any of the names being tossed around.
  4. The Visit 7.5/10 Whoa, an MNight Shamaluu movie that doesn't suck. And it's a realistic modern horror story without the scifi/fantasy/occult prop up. Was not expecting that. Not really a great movie I would watch again, but it held together consistently and even pawned off his signature 'twist' gracefully. Now I'm wondering if I should watch his new one, Split.
  5. Skull Island 7/10 Pretty good as far as pulpy blockbusters go. Heavy cgi for my taste but otherwise pretty visuals, some fresh stuff still staying true to the KK universe, mostly solid cast. John C Reilly, Brie Larsen and John Goodman were perfect along with some of the no name supporting actors. Hiddleston just looks like he's auditioning for Bond all the time now. Samuel L is getting old and his endless catchphrase grumbling is tired.
  6. Canada Reads has gotten a little too reality show screamy for me (I also just catch bits of it on the radio) but every year it's a good loose guide to pick 1 or 2. This year I'm most interested in The Right To Be Cold. I think they've always mixed fiction and non-f. edit - yeah The Tiger was nominated in 2012 and that's one of the best non fiction books I've ever read http://www.cbc.ca/books/booksandauthors/2010/09/the-tiger-a-true-story-of-vengeance-and-survival.html
  7. I enjoyed it a lot more in retrospect than while watching, I'll say that. Add Richard Jenkins to that list! He was Brad Whitford's other half of the incompetent scientist duo in Cabin, and I was just raving about his performance in Bone Tomahawk the other day.
  8. The Love Witch 7.5?/10 This is a weird one. Amazingly stylish in a DIY, pure hard work and attention to detail way (the writer/director also does the art & set design, costumes, make up etc.) and it's a dedicated retro throwback trip. But then it's so over the top cheeseballs camp that I had to take two breaks while watching, like it was just too much. At least the acting walked the line perfectly between 'is this bad acting?' and 'oh, I think they're winking at me, wait, no'. Even the gender/sexual politics were confusing. There might be more to chew on, or it could just be a soft-core porn movie. WTFKnows.
  9. Bone Tomahawk, second watch - I think this is legitimately a solid movie. Its reputation for the grisly death scenes kind of overshadows it and I was definitely primed for/distracted by that on the first watch. But really the first 2/3 are a quiet and methodical character driven adventure story, like a campy dime novel perfectly realised. The actors are having a feast. In particular Richard Jenkins as the rambling sidekick who slowly morphs into the wise sage and moral compass. Went back and looked at the best supporting actor noms from the 2015 Oscars - JK Simmons won for Whiplash and I think that was deserved, but Jenkins could match any of the others here. think I gave it 8 or 8.5, bump it to 9 -- I am partial to Horror-Western crossovers tho
  10. Yeah she just sort of seemed vaguely familiar. Looking at her IMDB credits I think it must just be from small roles on tv shows like Key and Peele & Always Sunny in Philly.
  11. I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore 8/10 Man, Netflix must really be throwing around the cash if they've got the Sundance Grand Jury winner a month later, but I'm not complaining, thought I'd have to wait longer for this. The directing debut of Macon Blair, who starred in both of Jeremy Saulnier's movies. It's got a very similar style - everyday oddball characters who stumble into bigger, more violent territory - but is a little more uneven and slants towards the slapstick comedy side of the spectrum. I say uneven in that the first half is more or less straight forward hapless buddy comedy, then it explodes into a Coen Bros violent crime gone awry second half. Didn't like it as much as Blue Ruin or Green Room, but still look forward to more from him. Does have one of the best minor twists right at the end there though. Made me spit out a mouthful of beer and cheer.
  12. have you seen this I don't know that I'm all that excited though. It'll be entertaining, but it's looking pretty repetitive. Land on planet, explore, what are these pods?, Technology! I will fight you yet you will save me. The Aliens are looking mega cgi too.
  13. No but seeing it in your list reminded me of its existence. Someone was recommending it to me somewhere very recently and I hadn't heard of it, and already forgot. Will check it.
  14. I tried to do a top ten and couldn't get past five. After that they all blend together in a verygood--almostgreat soup. 1. The Witch 2. Moonlight 3. Hypernormalisation 4. Arrival 5. Silence honorable mentions to Hell or High Water, 10 Cloverfield Lane, American Honey, Captain Fantastic, Lo & Behold, Hunt For The Wilderpeople + others I'm sure the best not-released-in-2016 movie that snuck up on me was Faults
  15. Get Out 8.5/10 Don't remember the last time I dragged my ass down to a packed theatre for opening night (Borat maybe) but when one of your favorite comics stealth drops a horror flick, you drag. I forgot how much fun it can be watching a movie in unison with a bunch of people jacked up for it. The genre splicing was perfect, to the point where the laughs and the scares were almost simultaneous. Lots of loose social subtext to chew on too. I'm only really docking it points for being a tad predictable plot wise, but even then there was a bit of a surprise twist I didn't see coming.
  16. Murder Party 8/10 I know, with a name like that, why even watch it, it's obv a masterpiece. But this was ridiculously fun, in all kinds of wrong ways. The first movie from Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room). Ultra low budget with kind of a Reservoir Dogs feel to it, a handful of characters in a warehouse setting, just, more casually demented than RD. It's like a post-modern hipster horror with more than a tinge of psychotic comedy. I definitely guilty-cringe-chuckled more than once. Gore a plenty, and a lot of pop culture references to other horror/sci-fi/cult movies. Actually I'm surprised this hasn't developed a bit of a cult following as it's got all the elements, but it seems to be almost completely unknown. Tried to find it after seeing Blue Ruin a few years ago but all the torrents were dead; I guess now with Green Room raising his profile it's been re-seeded and is circulating again.
  17. Incendies 9/10 I guess this was Denis Villeneuve's breakout movie from 2010, found it kicking about on my hard drive. Twins from Quebec are sent on a journey to their ancestral homeland (Lebanon?) after their mother's death. Slow and takes a looooong time to get where it's going but when it does, my dog!, one of the bigger wtf twist moments. And along the way it's still absolutely beautiful to look at, terrific powerful acting, with Radiohead's Amnesiac as a soundtrack. Easy to see his early potential.
  18. Passengers 2/10 So much wrong here I don't even know where to start, so let's go with the funniest - Andy Garcia has 4th billing, and he's literally only in it for like 3 seconds. One point just for being real purdy, the other for one legitimately cool creative scene, the rest is a hunk of junk. Midnight Special 6/10 Nothing special. Individually a lot of the scenes were interesting and hooked me, yet overall the movie wasn't able to do the same. Missing that je ne sais quoi. I Am Not a Serial Killer 8/10 Now this I liked. There's been a bunch of these throwback to the 70s-80s horror films recently (throwback in style, not the smirky snarky self-referential stuff that Scream started) and this is one of the better ones imo. Not as good as It Follows, but better than The Conjuring, House of the Dead, or Stranger Things. A review compared it to Romero's vampire movie Martin and it felt similar, doing that thing where you're not sure if you're following the hero or the villain (or both). Slightly grainy film quality was bang on - just so subtle without overdoing it - couldn't shake the feeling I was watching a well preserved VHS even as the characters play around with smartphones. Not a perfect movie, but after Passengers, man, give it some awards.
  19. @GLASSJAW I tried reading Hilary Mantel for the first time a few months ago and it was the most unpleasant book experience I've had in years. Just the loosest framework of a plot allowing a pile of annoying, petty, gross characters to whine and argue with one another. I read reviews of Wolf Hall and her other most famous books after on goodreads and they all seemed to complain of the same things. I do not understand the critical/award hype for her. 2 other novels I've read recently that I would recommend: A Brief History of 7 Killings - 2015 Booker winner. Fiction story based around the real historical assassination attempt on Bob Marley. Multiple narrators, all told in their voices. Phenomenal. Will be an HBO series soon I think. Barkskins - Follows two families generations down through 300 years of the logging industry in Canada, the US, New Zealand and Germany. A little rambly at times but I think that was the point, and stuffed with fascinating historical environmental trivia,
  20. @Monty ha, yeah, that actually was probably the funniest thing in the film for me
  21. Hacksaw Ridge 6.5/10 Interesting individual true war story with a couple memorable moments (alternate title: Vince Vaughn's Super Fun Sleigh Ride!) but I'm not sure it warranted the 2:20 run time. Idiocracy 7.5/10 Had never seen this but apparently I downloaded it at some point, and my tv will keep playing files alphabetically off my hard drive, so, now I've seen it. It's funny but a little too absurd - there's no way someone as ridiculous as President Camacho and his bumbling cabinet could ever seize power in the United States of America. C'mon. "I can't believe you like money like me!" "Yeah, hey, we should hang out!"
  22. Silence 8.5/10 That's a rare case where I like the movie over the source book. Not to take away from the book/story, it's deep historical religious fiction that brought to life a different time, but something always seems to get mangled in Japanese -> English translations, and here it came off like satire, this man running around in the mountains of a foreign land obsessing over his rituals and looking down on the people he's supposed to help. The movie does a better job of conveying the gravity and hopelessness of the situation. Also the book didn't seem interested in the beauty (natural and man made) of Japan, but on camera it's inescapable. It's got a great paradox/rhetorical question at the center of it all too - would Jesus himself even hesitate to renounce all the protocols that had been enacted in his name if it meant immediately and directly easing the suffering of others? But yeah, both book and movie, while great, are a slow slog. Much as I liked it don't think I'll be rewatching anytime soon. In conclusion, Adam Driver's face is weird.
  23. Hidden Figures 7.5/10 A lot like Imitation Game last year - slick and sleek, important true story, just a little too polished for my liking. There's something about these movies that feel intentionally crafted to win awards that rings a little hollow. But, no major complaints, glad I watched it, probably wouldn't ever watch again. Hopefully they were more accurate to the historical story than with Turing. Feel like, the individual stories of the three women were probably correct, it just seemed a bit too perfect how they were already a tight trio who drove to work together etc. Have to look into it.
  24. Manchester by the Sea 8/10 It's a very good 'small' movie with realistic characters and tight acting, but, I don't know, underwhelming. I'm definitely still reeling from Moonlight a few days ago. This suffered in its shadow.
×
×
  • Create New...