At the Movies with Kane and BN

Kane52630 · Oct 29, 2019

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Hagazussa

It's a extremely moody and atmospheric gothic horror flick that's really light on plot. The movie delves into the German folk tale about witches and they do some interesting things with it.Thematically it's very similar to The Witch and The Wind, although both of those films has a lot more going on than this. Aleksandra Cwen's performance was really well done even though she doesn't get a whole lot of dialogue. Overall, it's a great first effort for Lukas Feigelfeld who directed it, but the movie needed more meat on its bones.
7.5/10

Kane52630 · Oct 30, 2019

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Night of the Living Dead

I wasn't sure what I was gonna watch that day, so I went with the ol reliable. I don't know what else can be said about this classic. I still think of it as the demarcation of horror, because everything after it ushered in a new era of horror and created the new form of zombies. Not to mention, the themes are still relevant to today. Also, It's still crazy to me that because of the copyright stuff, that this is usually the go to horror movie to be put in other people's movies and shows. You still see it today and that's lasting power that only few movies can achieve.
10/10

Kane52630 · Oct 31, 2019

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Halloween III: Season of the Witch

A personal all time favorite of mine and a must watch every October. To me, Halloween III a criminally underrated horror film that (for obvious reasons) doesn't get the respect it deserves. Not to mention, this has some of the best horror music that's right up there with the original Halloween.
10/10

Kane52630 · Nov 1, 2019

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Trick 'r Treat

Closing out this years marathon with my favorite movie to watch on Halloween. While John Carpenter's Halloween is a classic that a lot of people watch every Halloween, I believe Trick r Treat is looking to be the new modern classic folks will watch every year for decades to come. There's so many horror anthologies that tries to replicate this movie, but none have actually beaten it. It's so well crafted and put together, you could see this movie 5 times and still see minor story/visual details that you've never seen before. Overall, it's a masterpiece and I still hope they go ahead with Trick r Treat 2.
10/10

Kane52630 · Nov 1, 2019

Motherless Brooklyn

It's a overstuffed detective noir that lacks energy and originality. Edward Norton tries to mimic the old school approach to the Oscar baity films like Chinatown and LA Confidential, but it comes off like he was making a stage play version of it. The performances weren't bad, but they weren't necessarily amazing and Edward Norton was so trying to channel a Rain Man like performance. There are some legit great moments in the movie, but they are few and far between. On paper, this should be a rich and interesting story, but the pacing keeps it from making you care for any of the characters. Overall, while it's never outright terrible, it is a slog to sit through. It would probably work better as a HBO limited series.
6/10

Kane52630 · Nov 2, 2019

Terminator: Dark Fate

Finally a Terminator sequel that's a worthwhile entry in the series. It's what Terminator Genisys should have been. I wasn't really sure what to expect going in. I necessarily didn't have super high hopes, but I went in with an open mind. Just from the opening scene alone, Tim Miller does a litmus test on whether or not you accept this sequel right off the bat. It's a radical change that will divide fans, but for me, it's a change I'm totally fine with and one that is needed to advance the story. They also made it clear early on, this movie is not intended for the "gamergate" crowd.

The big emotional crux of this movie is Linda Hamilton returning as Sarah Conner. You realize she is the centerpiece to the series that was missing since T2. Mackenzie Davis does indeed bring it as a badass on a mission. They also did the smart thing by not making her some flawless super soldier. Gabriel Luna as a Rev-9 is interesting, he's got elements of Robert Patrick, but brings in a different kind of menace. With his abilities, they basically made him Noob Saibot as a Terminator. And as for Dani Ramos, I thought Natalia Reyes does a pretty good job trying to be the Sarah Connor of the original Terminator movie who's thrust into the story trying to survive.

While at first it might feel like a fast paced roller coaster action ride, they do have some downtime that I thought was so beneficial to the movie. For me, they are some of the best scenes in the movie... particularly when Arnold shows up. What they do with the T-800 worked so well for me. In so many ways, I feel like Tim Miller looked at Terminator Genisys and thought "How can I do this 100x better?" There's some levity throughout the movie that helps not making the movie so dry and serious. The action and fight scenes are pretty well choreographed.

Despite the great things in the movie, it's not quite on the level as T1 and T2. While they have some stellar visual effects early on, there's some noticeable CG with the Rev-9 that kinda takes you out. What they do with the future scenes was great at first, but I would have loved some ambiguity towards the end. The movie also shares some sequelitis where it felt the need to go bigger with the set pieces than the previous movies. I thought 3rd act was not nearly as efficient as the first two.

Overall, it's definitely the The Force Awakens for the Terminator franchise however, it's more similar to The Last Jedi where the movie will be the dividing line among fans. For me, it's without question the best Terminator movie since T2 but that's sadly not saying much.
8/10

Black Narcissus · Nov 2, 2019

Parasite

My second viewing.

I needed to see this a second time while it was still fresh on my mind, just to know that it was indeed the best film of the year. You bet your ass tis' is. A masterpiece. Boong Joon-ho delivered his best film, and I absolutely loved 'Memories of Murder', but all of his films lead up to this. The pacing is just so damn smooth, I also laughed so damn much. Park So-dam (what an awesome name) is the mvp for me here. She just steals every scene she is in, I know its kinda weird to make the comparison, but she kinda reminds me of Margot Robbie in a way that one can't take their eyes off of her, she could be texting in the background and even then, she controls your attention. Cho Yeo -jeong had most of the comedic moments, but you have to be a great actress to do so easily and with a sense of pending dread on her face, simply great. The set designer deserves all the awards! When the violence hits, it kinda sneaks up on ya, even tho one knows its coming, but the korean pov in general when it comes to violence, they don't hold back, but even here, there was a sense of delicate elegance to the brutality. My favorite film of the year. Boong Joon-ho conveys the differences of class in such a simple manner, that it never crosses the line of being preachy or too on the nose, he simply let's the viewer in and watch in a masterful and uncomfortable manner. A wsocial satire done the way of a modern master behind the camera.
10/10

Kane52630 · Nov 4, 2019

Jojo Rabbit

Possibly the most fun, sweet, and poignant film of the year. Taika Waititi does an incredible job of not only starring, directing, and writing it... but balancing the tones between comedy and drama for a subject matter like this. While at first glance it may look like a copycat version of a Wes Anderson movie, it quickly starts to form its own Taika Waititi identity once they get into the plot. It's an obvious satirical take on Nazi Germany so there's a ton of jokes and riffs on Nazis that would make Mel Brooks proud. It's a movie full of great characters.

Roman Griffin Davis as Jojo does hold his own as the lead especially when things get more dramatic and serious. Taika Waititi was great as imaginary Hitler and they do the smart thing of not having him around all the time. Thomasin McKenzie was also incredible as Elsa and between this and Leave No Trace, I can't wait to see what she does next. Scarlett Johansson doesn't have a whole lot of screen time, but when she does, she's phenomenal in it and way more playful than she's ever been. Overall, I loved it. It's hard to say whether or not this is my favorite Waititi film, but it's certainly up there.
9.5/10

Kane52630 · Nov 4, 2019

Dolemite Is My Name

A great ode to the late Rudy Ray Moore and a solid comeback for the Eddie Murphy we used to know. While it's not necessarily a traditional bio pic, it does follow the same footsteps as one. It's essentially a movie about Rudy Ray Moore's rise into stardom in the exploitation genre and the making of his films. Much like any biopic, they cram several details together to make the film sail smoothly. What works is the giant cast of solid performances. It's a return to form for Eddie Murphy and while he was great, Wesley Snipes kinda steals the movie. He was doing nothing but chewing scenery at every scene. I thought they do a great job showing the inner workings of how to get a lowbudget film made back in the 70s. To me, it's kinda similar to The Disaster Artist. The movie is a crowd pleaser and my only issue with that is there's not a whole lot of conflict going on. I would have loved it even more if tackled more issues and had more complex things to say. Overall, it's a fun biopic that's got full of great performances.
8.5/10

Kane52630 · Nov 6, 2019

Farming

An interesting look inside Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's life growing up as a child in a farming system in the UK. It's pretty much an auto-bio pic considering he wrote and directed it. The way the movie starts you'd think it would be a pretty traditional drama about a kid trying to find his identity of being British and Nigerian, but it quickly takes a left turn that you don't expect. The majority of the movie actually deals with Adewale joining a skinhead gang and they pretty much do some Clockwork Orange style sh**. You start seeing some first time director problems with this movie. Once it gets to the 2nd act, the movie devolves and starts becoming cartoonish even though it's tackling some interesting issues. Overall, it's a movie that's rough around the edges and not nearly as great as it could be, but it's an interesting movie to be out in 2019.
6.5/10

Black Narcissus · Nov 6, 2019

Terminator: Dark Fate

The opening half of this flick is goddamn great. I felt at ease, and a bit nostalgic after rewatching the first two classics back to back. Tim Miller doesn't disappoint till, Sarah Connor shows up and then Arnold soon after. Mackenzie Davis is the mvp for me here, she is badass, but vulnerable and just a great actress overall. Natalia Reyes was just there, she did nothing for me, but her best moments are with Mackenzie. I kinda wished now that this story was just them two, I could've done without Sarah and Arnold. The action sequences are well done, but it does get bloated on the last act, a kind of roll eyes moment for me involving Sarah. Still, this is the best of all the modern ''sequels'', but that ain't saying much either. I still believe Rise of The Machines was good and a solid start for a new trilogy, but they messed that up long ago.

This is still a very solid and mostly fun and watchable last entry.

7/10

One of the biggest fails imo, is the fact that we never got a true John Connor lead type movie. Sure, the Bale version kinda touched on this, but not really. Ever since I was a kid and watched the first and even now after a rewatch, I feel a sense of lost that we never got John fighting the machines, a true arch of him becoming the leader and eventual savior of the human race. Some LoR/Edge of Tomorrow type combat with him rallying all of what was left of humankind, one last battle call.

But come again, perhaps it all ended after T2. They completely stopped Judgment Day. Better off I suppose. Just like Godfather part III doesn't exist in my mind.

Schlosser85 · Nov 6, 2019

Terminator: Dark Fate

Yup, did nothing to change my opinion that they should have ended with #2 and everything since feels like fanfiction. While there’s a certain small pleasure in seeing Arnold and Linda Hamilton again, neither of them really did anything special. The concept of a Terminator left adrift with no purpose after fulfilling its mission, developing a conscience, and becoming more human could have been interesting but it and “Carl” in general was pretty underdeveloped.

Also let’s just kill John Connor and then....replace him with a pseudo John Connor stand-in. Even their “daring” decision there doesn’t shake anything up. John becomes Dani and Skynet becomes Legion.

There’s also too many characters with Grace the most obvious extra one. Mackenzie Davis was fine but they could have done more with Carl if they’d left her out and gotten to him sooner and had more focus on him and Sarah. Grace just felt like she got in the way of all that. Gabriel Luna wasn’t all that threatening and definitely no Robert Patrick. The fight scenes have way too much CGI and exaggerated flipping around and everything just looks too cartoony and has absolutely none of the grittiness of the first two movies. Overall it’s iust meh.

Kane52630 · Nov 9, 2019

Doctor Sleep

A worthy sequel to The Shining much like 2010 was to 2001 A Space Odyssey only better. It's an interesting film because it's trying to juggle the Stephen King novels and the Kubrick film and what it ends up being, for the most part, is a Mike Flanagan signature film. In a way, this does feel like the culmination of Flanagan's filmography.

I thought Ewan McGregor as Danny Torrance was great. They do a lot with the character where you do feel sympathy for him. Kyliegh Curran probably impressed me the most as Abra Stone. She gives the film the playful energy it needs and the one character that's more relatable because you are with her discovering her Shining abilities. However, the one that pretty much steals the movie for me is Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat. It might be her best role to date and she's the one character that chews the most scenery out of everyone.

There's also a lot of supporting characters that I also dug and some of them worked with Flanagan before. The first two acts do feel like it's bringing something new to a well known iconic film and expands the world. Which is why when they start to harken back to the original film so heavily in the 3rd act, it does feel like they've earned those moments. Overall, it's hard to say if this is my favorite Mike Flanagan movie, but it's certainly up there as well as one of the better Stephen King adaptations.
9/10

Mysteryman · Nov 9, 2019

Going soon, any jump scares?

Kane52630 · Nov 9, 2019

Not at all, it's not that kind of movie.

Schlosser85 · Nov 9, 2019

Kane52630 said:
Not at all, it's not that kind of movie.

I've heard it's not really a horror movie, more a drama/thriller with supernatural elements.

Kane52630 · Nov 9, 2019

Pretty much. It's got some superhero elements in there as well.

Black Narcissus · Nov 9, 2019

Doctor Sleep

An almost perfect marriage between King and Kubrick without punching you in the face with nostalgia, but just enough to set the mood, right from the opening as the haunting score hits the screen. A slight minor nitpick, but the kid version of Danny just didn't work for me, nothing to make me hate his performance but he was the weakest, which thankfully isn't much screen time either, considering the other kid actress (Kyliegh Curran) is fantastic. She holds her own with Ewan McGregor.

I want to give high praise to Alex Essoe as Wendy Torrance. Her voice and scream was eirly similar to Shelley Duvall's and she just looked like an updated version of her, if that kinda makes sense. She didn't seem out of place as the kid who played Danny. Emily Alyn Lind did a wonderful job with her character, she did a great job with making one feel for her but then she turns into vile poison so quickly, great to see. She was memorable even with not much screen time, but just enough to leave one wanting more.

Rebecca Ferguson for me is the mvp here. This is her show. Yes, McGregor is good, but all that weight of Danny going through this wouldn't stand much without a great villain performance. You can tell she just had a lot of fun. In the hands of another actress this character could've gone the way of too much hamming it up and cheese, and plenty of roll eyes to go along with it, but she is just so damn smooth and charming, what a great actress. She can do it all.

The ending sorta lost its grip on me for a bit, it kinda felt just there. Not bad or over the top, but just a shrug from me. Overall it was a worthy of both Kubrick and King, while trying to do something new.

8/10

Black Narcissus · Nov 10, 2019

American Animals

A true real life attempt at an art heist by four college friends... who grew up in the post Fight Club era of longing to feel alive, while having everything else in their lives going for them.

I watched this the other night and it was tense and so damn funny. More funny that all of this even happened in real life. It almost feels like a documentary because they used the real life guys involved with this heist while simultaneously cutting back to the actor versions of them. Well played and it add to the tension and just overall awful plan. At some point they even give each other the same code names as the characters in 'Reservoir Dogs' do, as one of them reminds the others that they all die in the end. Evan Peters is the standout for me here, he just nails the true life guy, especially when they cut back to him, just damn perfect. This definitely one I should've seen in theaters.

8/10

Kane52630 · Nov 10, 2019

Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Surprisingly a fun kids movie for the family that's not annoying. It sorta reminds me of the live action family movies that were made in the late 90s and early 2000s. The movie takes what people know about Dora the Explorer and becomes fully aware of itself which makes for some good comedy. The first 30 minutes pretty much deals with Dora going to high school trying to fit in. That's probably where the movie is it at best because of the scenes between Dora and Diego. The next hour and change is pretty much an adventure movie for kids and it's not bad for the most part. It's not wholly original or new, but there's a lot of charm that keeps it afloat. Isabela Moner as Dora does a great job making the movie fun and light. The movie also has some bizarre choices and scenes that would only make sense if you're high. Overall, it's enjoyable and while it's not perfect, there's some effort put into this.
7/10

Kane52630 · Nov 10, 2019

The Art of Self-Defense

Imagine if Yorgos Lanthimos made a low budget Fight Club, it would look pretty similar to this movie. Jesse Eisenberg plays a socially inept guy who's incredibly neurotic (what a stretch, I know). They make him such a coward that you at first don't feel sorry for him. He gets randomly beat up one night and he suddenly turns to a strip mall Karate school for guidance. They do a good job at first showing you the ins and outs of a Karate school. You get the gist that is movie is a satire once Alessandro Nivola, who plays the instructor, starts acting bizarre with his teachings. There's also some hints that you see early on that this is not some normal Karate school. The movie gets into Fight Club territory in the 2nd half and it makes for an interesting discussion on toxic masculinity. I thought Imogen Poots was great and they do give her some of the better moments in the movie. Overall, while it doesn't fully work for me, there's a lot of things in here that make for a decent satire of a movie.
8/10

Kane52630 · Nov 10, 2019

The Hustle

Goddamn. If comedies can be used as a torture device this movie would be up there. This is like watching The Big Bang Theory (which is already atrocious on its own) without the laugh track. It's like watching Steph Curry miss every 3 pointer. It's the equivalent of hearing some dude's fanfic about My Little Pony. All you need to know about this "comedy" is Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson doing some lame 90s hijinks to game the system and profit from it. It all feels like it came from a bad SNL sketch that someone threw in the trash and some movie producer picked it up and threw money at it. There is no script or structure outside of the plot summary of the movie. It's a lot of bad imporv that goes nowhere. If I had anything nice to say about this, it would be that they hired a good cinematographer and Anne Hathaway looks good in every outfit she's in. Outside of that, it's a trashfire that sank in a lake full of sh**. It's easily one of worst films of the year.
2/10

Black Narcissus · Nov 12, 2019

Yojimbo

A rewatch for the soul.

I'm always in awe at how masterful and truly original Kurosawa was. So much so that another italian master took from him and created his own mythology. I read that Leone over the phone using a ''bad translator'' couldn't correctly get across what he intended to do with the material and Kurosawa refused to sell him the rights. Leone of course went ahead made his movie without it, but he still ended up paying him about 15% of the profit. A classic which many till this day take bits and pieces.

Kane52630 · Nov 13, 2019

Reign of the Supermen

Gotta say for a DC Nu52 animated movie, this was not bad. They do a solid job setting up the aftermath of the Death of Superman and the rise of the new Supermen that shows up. I do like they try their best not to crowbar in the JL and the Nu52verse as much as they could. While the animation has not really improved, they are some good moments every now and then. The only part that was interesting were the scenes with Lois Lane interacting with the different Supermen. And when Superman does show up in his black suit, it's pretty great. Outside of that, it's more or less what you expect. Some of the voice acting were spotty at best and Rainn Wilson's Lex Luthor is still awful. Overall, it's serviceable.
7/10

Kane52630 · Nov 13, 2019

The Angry Birds Movie 2

A yet another frantic animated feature that is as lazy as its title. I thought the first one was just passable with some funny moments, but this felt like a reheated version of that first movie. It's a lot of slapstick humor that you do see coming and some gags and bits that you'd see in a sitcom. The plot is nothing but cobbled together pieces from other animated movies just to fill time and space. Overall, while it looks colorful to look at, it's nothing but a time waster.
5/10

Kane52630 · Nov 13, 2019

Her Smell

A brilliant and chaotic film that is captured as a mock documentary of someone's self-destruction. Elisabeth Moss plays a lead singer in a punk rock band in the early 90s who got famous pretty quick. I suppose it's trying to mirror someone like Courtney Love. More than half of the film takes place in backstage arenas, so it automatically gives you a claustrophobic feeling. On top of that they shoot it in a documentary style where everybody is always up in your face. A lot of the supporting cast is great, but Elisabeth Moss was fantastic. The first half of the movie she is sprawling out of control and chewing up the scenery left and right. They don't give you a reason to like her at first, but once the 2nd half starts, it makes it worth it. Overall, it's worth seeing just for her incredible performance.
9/10

At the Movies with Kane and BN

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