I’ve started watching Black Summer. It’s by the guys who gave us Z Nation and Sharknado. But this is some really bleak stuff with long takes and shit. I started watching it because I read this:
Honestly, I’m not really getting into it but it’s interesting. But then I couldn’t sit through The Walking Dead after the first 2 episodes because it bored me to death. And I’m a pretty big Frank Darabont fan. This stuff is really subjective. I’m not sure if I’ll continue watching but I’m posting this just to say that it’s competently made but seems to have flown under the radar so if you guys like zombie shows, you might want to check it out.
Also, I think I had an erection when I saw this trailer:
I’m seriously mulling over whether to watch it in the cinema. The wife doesn’t want to because she’s scared of covid. I’d still have to buy 2 tickets to watch it alone because of the way the fucking seats are allocated for social distancing. Fuck.
RIP Benny Chan. He was one of the last remaining real directors still making badass HK movies. The man gave us A Moment of Romance, one of the greatest, most influential HK movies ever made:
This is the shit right there. It was initially advertised as a tragic love story with minor commentaries about social class and street violence. The movie ends with disembowelments, a knife in the face and the camera finally lingering on a lost chick in a bloodied bridal gown running aimlessly around an empty street.
Wanna talk about nihilism? Pre-handover HK movies could dial that shit up to 11 and still give us bigass explosions, almost sappy melodrama and gratuitous, highly stylized violence without turning into outright farces. You won’t find movies like this anymore lol.
Even when he made crap, it was spectacularly, awesome, hilarious, hyperviolent crap like The White Storm, which was some kind of weird tribute to John Woo’s Bullet in the Head involving drugs, revenge and trannies.
If anyone is interested in checking his films out, I’d recommend this as a starter:
Francis Ng appears for less than 10mins, blows everyone’s minds with his acting and wins a Best Supporting Actor award lol. Fuck, those were the days where you had real talent doing this shit.
The East (De Oost) is a Dutch movie chronicling their attempts to retake the Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia) in the immediate aftermath of WW2, using a hodgepodge army of conscripts, ex-resistance fighters and ex-Nazis. One of the villains is based on a real life Dutch officer, an alleged war criminal later turned opera tenor.
A solid 7/10, +1 for an unusual historical setting makes it 8/10. Would like to see a movie how Japanese troops commanded by British officers almost destroyed the Viet Cong in Vietnam during the same time.
I’ll be honest, I think I need to watch the first one again, because I didn’t think it was as fantastic as everyone seems to say it is. I will also admit I was unpacking from a trip while watching it, so I was slightly distracted.
I did appreciate that it was far more cerebral than I was expecting, and the writers/directors/editors/whatever did a good job of creating a sense of “ominousness” throughout the film. Benicio del Toro, despite not really doing much, came off as one scary mofo.
7/10. Might change that if I watch it again, though.
EDIT: Oh right, the second one.
Still good, but didn’t have the same impact as the first. 6/10.
Movies suck these days. Either they have a good story but the execution is boring as fuck or they’re dumb as fuck with big explosions and shit but I don’t go to the cinemas much anymore and viewing them at home just isn’t fun.
Omgosh I can’t believe they are bringing Dexter back!! I honestly thought he was dead and they’d maybe start a new series about his son mane he turns out to be like him. So stoked for this!!
I caught the first 10 mins of a bootlegged version of Shang Chi and holy fuck it was like I was watching a HK movie during their glory days. I had completely forgotten how fucking amazing this felt like during those days.
Dexter was a lot of fun, especially early on when there was lots of Miami local flavor and weirdness as Dexter tried to figure out socializing. Like when Bautista was thing to teach dude about El Pasion. So ridiculous!
Also, I want more cool geust stars like Lithgow and less douches like Tom Hanks Jr.
So I was watching 12 Monkeys last night. I knew the movie came out in 1995, and had Willis and Pitt in it. So I am watching this movie, and I am like damn, they fucking nailed what the future would look like. The scene is in 2013, the woman looked to be driving a 2013 model jeep (jeeps don’t change a lot, but still dead on). Then she answers an almost perfect looking smartphone that would have been current during 2013. The style (hair / clothes) is dead on too. I am watching for about 40 minutes and I am thinking damn they are killing it on what the style would be, but where the hell are Willis and Pitt. Then the credits roll and I find out I was watching 12 Monkeys the show. Boy I felt stupid.
Watched Louis Theroux’s documentary My Scientology Movie. I’m usually a huge Louis fan, but this one was lacking something. Maybe it’s the fact that he really didn’t have much to film, or the story wasn’t that interesting.
If you want some good Louis check out his Weird Weekends series. If you want some cringe Louis watch his documentary about polyamory
I have been trying to reach convince my wife to watch this one with me.
On another note, watched “Cruella” with the family the other day. Not bad, not particularly good but I am generally an Emma Stone fan. Interesting story line and the visuals were well done
