[Movies] Talk about the last movie you saw 2: Electric Threadaloo

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

Not quite as horrible as I'd been led to believe, but yeah... this movie has some problems. Still though, going in with low expectations helped.
 

fade

Staff member
There's a bizarre charm to the movies, for the most part. The movies are obviously shot with a tight budget but they make it work, by and large. Most of the cast are steadily-working character actors so they do their parts pretty well, with a few exceptions. They're not great movies but they're easy to watch.
See, that's what throws me off about it. The better quality acting sets up expectations that don't pay off for me. Instead you get B effects with A acting, which is off-putting. To me anyway.
 
Crimson Peak: I'm glad Guillermo del Toro has made such a point of telling people this is not a horror movie (as advertised), but a gothic romance, because just going off the trailers I'd have been disappointed. My wife knew what it was and was still disappointed, actually.

I enjoyed it a lot. There's only so much you can do in an old and narrow genre before it stops being that genre and del Toro clearly wanted to indulge in gothic tropes. If del Toro was doing a horror movie, the ghosts wouldn't be jumping out screeching and covered in blood. He's done horror; he knows how to key the suspense. This is a colorful movie with giant, old houses, dark moods, and blood (or red clay) decorations. I was into it the whole way; it's a beautiful film to look at and stayed interesting throughout.

On the subject of Tom Hiddleston's nudity:
So interviews and social media have been really building this up, so I was prepared to see some full-on dick. Nope. There's a quick shot of his ass ... that's it. I think the women I know who have been eager to see this largely for Hiddleston's nudity are going to be a little disappointed.
 
Crimson Peak: I'm glad Guillermo del Toro has made such a point of telling people this is not a horror movie (as advertised), but a gothic romance, because just going off the trailers I'd have been disappointed. My wife knew what it was and was still disappointed, actually.
Tell that to the critics: they've been dumping on the movie because it's not scary, not knowing it's not supposed to be a horror movie. This is why directors quit the craft.
 

Cajungal

Staff member
Crimson Peak: I'm glad Guillermo del Toro has made such a point of telling people this is not a horror movie (as advertised), but a gothic romance, because just going off the trailers I'd have been disappointed. My wife knew what it was and was still disappointed, actually.

I enjoyed it a lot. There's only so much you can do in an old and narrow genre before it stops being that genre and del Toro clearly wanted to indulge in gothic tropes. If del Toro was doing a horror movie, the ghosts wouldn't be jumping out screeching and covered in blood. He's done horror; he knows how to key the suspense. This is a colorful movie with giant, old houses, dark moods, and blood (or red clay) decorations. I was into it the whole way; it's a beautiful film to look at and stayed interesting throughout.

On the subject of Tom Hiddleston's nudity:
So interviews and social media have been really building this up, so I was prepared to see some full-on dick. Nope. There's a quick shot of his ass ... that's it. I think the women I know who have been eager to see this largely for Hiddleston's nudity are going to be a little disappointed.
Also liked it. Very spooky and moody, and I love when movies aren't completely dank and brown/gray. The audience was fun--lots of big reactions. I sat in front of a really nervous lady. As for your spoiler, I'll take whatever I can get, and it was spectacular.
 
Tell that to the critics: they've been dumping on the movie because it's not scary, not knowing it's not supposed to be a horror movie. This is why directors quit the craft.
It's hard to get mad at them when the advertising has been all about it being a horror movie. Even the before-show stuff that AMC does said "before you watch this scary movie ..."

Del Toro has had more than enough critical accomplishment in the past. My concern is that this movie makes money so he can actually get to do his other projects. There was a trailer before this for Victor Frankenstein, which looks so uninspired, essentially an action-adventure Pirates of the Caribbean kind of Frankenstein movie, and all I could think was how much more I'd love to watch del Toro's take.
 
Yeah, Crimson Peak was pretty good. Not all that frightening, so I wouldn't really classify it as a horror movie. The acting was solid, the visuals were very pretty, and the story kept my interest.

Although Charlie Hunnam simply can't do an American accent to save his life.
 
Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil

A really funny subversion of the Hillbilly Horror genre. A group of too-dumb-to-live college students and a failure to communicate ruins the weekend of rednecks Tucker and Dale, who are doing some repairs to their new vacation home in West Virginia. Bloody, hilarious, well worth watching.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Remember when all the trailers played off Arachnophobia as a comedy about a wacky exterminator? Yeah, I was.. 9 I think? NOT WHAT I EXPECTED.

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil

A really funny subversion of the Hillbilly Horror genre. A group of too-dumb-to-live college students and a failure to communicate ruins the weekend of rednecks Tucker and Dale, who are doing some repairs to their new vacation home in West Virginia. Bloody, hilarious, well worth watching.
Definitely one of my favorite newer movies.
 
Yeah Arachnophobia was legit scary, not like the trailers made it look at all. Here's a reminder of how stupid TV was in the 80's / early 90's - CBS was planning a spinoff series from Arachnophobia following the adventures of Ralph the Exterminator (John Goodman's character).
 
Yeah, Crimson Peak was pretty good. Not all that frightening, so I wouldn't really classify it as a horror movie. The acting was solid, the visuals were very pretty, and the story kept my interest.

Although Charlie Hunnam simply can't do an American accent to save his life.
And it was never supposed to be a horror movie. Actors, director, everyone who worked on making the movie said so. But WB probably thought this was the only way to sell it.
 

Cajungal

Staff member
And it was never supposed to be a horror movie. Actors, director, everyone who worked on making the movie said so. But WB probably thought this was the only way to sell it.
I liked that it was a bit of a red herring movie. (I hadn't heard any press stuff about how it wasn't really a horror movie.) From the trailers, I was thinking--the way that the siblings were talking--some kind of virgin sacrifice to soothe angry spirits movie? I thought of that again when the sister made some comment to her about whether or not they'd had sex yet. Were they dead miners because of the clay angle? As it went on, it became more apparent, and it was fun to watch it unfold. I'm sure other people figured it out before I did, but I think I willfully stupefy myself during movies a bit because I enjoy being surprised.
 
I still haven't seen it (big surprise, I know), but I remember that during the Oscars for that year, one of the envelopes was delivered by a robotic spider lowered to the podium from up above (ostensibly as one of the "stars" of Arachnophobia).

--Patrick
 
I liked that it was a bit of a red herring movie. (I hadn't heard any press stuff about how it wasn't really a horror movie.) From the trailers, I was thinking--the way that the siblings were talking--some kind of virgin sacrifice to soothe angry spirits movie? I thought of that again when the sister made some comment to her about whether or not they'd had sex yet. Were they dead miners because of the clay angle? As it went on, it became more apparent, and it was fun to watch it unfold. I'm sure other people figured it out before I did, but I think I willfully stupefy myself during movies a bit because I enjoy being surprised.
For me it was less figuring it out and more my brain throwing out every gothic story trope possible in this situation, and then half of them were right. I thought the siblings were married to each other, but nope, that didn't happen. I did laugh when Edith said "you're not his sister" and Lucille said something to the effect of "that's cute".

I'm hoping the movie-going public will get into it like you did. Cinema Snob midnight screening wasn't really into it for the first half, but once things started to become more evident, he understood why the first half was the way it was.
 

Cajungal

Staff member
The first half was a good setup. I loved it.

I wonder if the Jane Eyre-like monologue that Tom Hiddleston spouted off to Edith was intentional...kind of appealing to her lit fangirl side? Am I getting the timing completely wrong here, or would that book have been around at that time? I'm talking about the "our hearts are connected and we shouldn't be seperated" thing he said. It sounded a lot like the "I have a string from my heart to yours" thing that Rochester says in Jane Eyre.
 
I still haven't seen it (big surprise, I know), but I remember that during the Oscars for that year, one of the envelopes was delivered by a robotic spider lowered to the podium from up above (ostensibly as one of the "stars" of Arachnophobia).

--Patrick
Dude, Captain America is more current on his movies than you are at this point.
 
The first half was a good setup. I loved it.

I wonder if the Jane Eyre-like monologue that Tom Hiddleston spouted off to Edith was intentional...kind of appealing to her lit fangirl side? Am I getting the timing completely wrong here, or would that book have been around at that time? I'm talking about the "our hearts are connected and we shouldn't be seperated" thing he said. It sounded a lot like the "I have a string from my heart to yours" thing that Rochester says in Jane Eyre.
I did get some Jane Eyre feeling from some of it, but that was because Jane Eyre drops a gothic bit in the middle of the story with Bertha, in an otherwise not gothic story. So maybe less the Jane part, more Rochester vibe from Thomas Sharpe.

It is annoying talking about Tom Hiddleston's character because the character's first name is Thomas, so it sounds confusing.
 
Dude, Captain America is more current on his movies than you are at this point.
Dude, Captain America has always been more current on his movies than me.
I still haven't seen Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath, The Maltese Falcon, Birth of a Nation, King Kong, The Philadelphia Story, etc.

--Patrick
 
Dude, Captain America has always been more current on his movies than me.
I still haven't seen Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath, The Maltese Falcon, Birth of a Nation, King Kong, The Philadelphia Story, etc.

--Patrick
Then get thee to a Redbox, muthafucka!
 
Dude, Captain America has always been more current on his movies than me.
I still haven't seen Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath, The Maltese Falcon, Birth of a Nation, King Kong, The Philadelphia Story, etc.

--Patrick
Have you seen the Wizard of Oz?
 
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