Which films have you seen lately Vol.22 Now with Smell-O-Vision.

[Kyriakos]

Trap (2024 Shyamalan film).
It was meh.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I really liked Jennifer Jason Leigh in Kansas City, so my movie-watching buddy suggested we see her in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Not much of a "plot" movie, but I enjoyed the early eighties vibe. I recognized a lot of actors who would do bigger things, and Leigh is in a lot of gratuitous "We're showing boobs so we can get rated R and be really cool" scenes. Nice to see malls in their prime. I grew up when malls had JUST hit their peak and were about to crash dramatically. It's just a movie about horny high school kids. Was tickled to see Boothby from ST TNG / ST VOY as a grumpy history teacher.

 

[lymond]

Fast Times is a classic!

Leigh is excellent in the most recent season of Fargo, which is very good - one if not the best of the series.

Coulda sworn Leigh was nominated for an Oscar a long time ago, but only see that she was nominated for The Hateful Eight. She has a ton of awards over the years regardless.

 

[Kyriakos]

She also got old. Damn it
I remember her in Existenz.

 

[JPetroski]

I thought It Ends With Us was a phenomenal film that did a brilliant job of showing how complicated something that's really black and white and inexcusable can be. I was expecting a chick flick that I was going to have to groan through as my patriotic duty as an Ape, but I walked out of a film that gave every character depth (even the villain). There wasn't a single 2 dimensional character in the film. Also, the way it progressed was how I suppose a lot of DV probably does... It starts somewhat blurry - you find yourself understanding why there'd be a benefit of the doubt given, but then it gets clearer and clearer. There's some really deep lines and moments and I thought Blake Lively did an outstanding job. Hopefully the film inspires more than a few people to do what they need to do to get out of an abusive situation as well.

For the type of film it is, when comparing apples to apples, I'd give it 10/10. I couldn't think of anything they might have done better. This is coming from someone who hasn't read the book though so I'd be interested to hear thoughts from someone who has.

 

[Fippy]

Lowlifes (2024 horror)
Gore & weird stuff without interesting chars or stories.
It surprised me 1x and then drifted into violent, loud nonsense.

There will be peoples who praise a "know little and be surprised very much" factor.
Or the messed up chars. I would say the creators had just one thing in mind: splatter & shock value.
But without anything that makes good horror films (like tension).
4/10 for genre fans..1/10 flat for anybody else.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Niagra, 1953. A young couple trying to combine a honeymoon with a business trip run into Marilyn Monroe and her estranged beau, a man who is described as neurotic but who the viewer realizes has a healthy appreciation for MM's tendency to cheat on him. Beautiful in color: Marilyn Monroe was not an icon for nothin'.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1822101210666795332

Some concept images.

Spoiler :

 

[thetrooper]

Secretary (2002)

Maggie

 

[Smellincoffee]

A Clockwork Orange, 1971. Disturbing film about a teenage psychopath who is treated and made to feel revulsed at the thought of violence or lust, but who after his release is continually assaulted by those he offended which (as the movie ends) appears to lead to the mental conditioning failing. If I had known how much sexual violence there was in this, I might not have bothered. It proved quite interesting, but the beginning was....insane.

 

[Clubber Lang]

‘Alien: Romulus’ debuts with 97% on Rotten Tomatoes -

‘Alien: Romulus’ Review – Fede Álvarez Reignites the Franchise with Grimy Thrills​

The future of the Alien franchise was clouded in mystery after the 2019 Disney-Fox merger. The House of Mouse would have been foolish to leave the iconic IP untouched, but giving director Ridley Scott a third film to complete his prequel trilogy also seemed very unlikely given the divisive response to both 2012’s Prometheus and 2017’s Alien: Covenant. Flash forward 5 years, and we’re now left with Alien: Romulus, a standalone prequel set between Scott’s original Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). Helmed by writer-director Fede Álvarez, famous for the 2013 Evil Dead remake and 2016’s Don’t Breathe, Alien: Romulus has all the right ingredients to reignite the franchise’s popularity in the zeitgeist. And, to no surprise, it does so in style. By all means, this is the series comeback that Disney and 20th Century Studios were hoping for. However, that studio-driven purpose hinders its own true potential.


Bringing a filmmaker like Fede Álvarez, who’s adored in the horror community, into the Alien IP is a dream come true for many fans. The director’s taste for bleak themes, off-putting characters, and cruel set pieces is the perfect recipe to tell a new kind of Alien story. But unlike 2022’s Prey directed by Dan Trachtenberg, which brought back the Predator series, Alien: Romulus is less of a standalone genre exercise and more of a revamp with connective tissue. In this way, it does seem like there was more studio oversight involved, including the guidance of Ridley Scott as a producer, to attract as many newer folks as possible to the franchise. This retroactively hinders Alien: Romulus as it feels like it’s often more concerned with reminding audiences how spectacular, frightening, and simply awesome an Alien movie can be by retreading familiar ground rather than being its own thing.


Alien: Romulus centers on the relationship between young space colonist Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) and her synthetic android Andy (David Jonsson). Stuck in a life of servitude to the Weyland-Yutani corporation on a desolate mining planet, Rain dreams of escaping off-world. She longs to set foot on Yvaga III, the supposed peaceful planet where colonists go to retire after completing their work. Moreover, it’s where the sun actually shines. Stuck in this dream, Rain only has Andy to lean on. Rain’s father, before his death, programmed Andy to be her primary caretaker — but in most cases, she has to look after him as he’s got glitches in his system. The two are barely getting by on their own when one of Rain’s old friends, Tyler (Archie Renaux), comes back into the mix with the offer of a lifetime.


Tyler is orchestrating an illegal escape to Yvaga III with his sister Kay (Isabela Merced), his cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Bjorn’s girlfriend Navarro (Aileen Wu). Rain is invited to join in, though only with the help of her synthetic Andy. Their plan is to sneak aboard a long-abandoned space shuttle orbiting just above their mining planet. Andy, being an android, can grant them access to the ship’s hypersleep chamber and look after their cryo pods while they travel across the galaxy for the whole 9 years it takes to reach their destination. With nowhere else to go, Rain reluctantly agrees. In true Alien fashion, the group soon discovers that they aren’t infiltrating a forgotten spaceship but the deserted Romulus space station, and it’s filled with secrets. Once they stumble across a room full of facehuggers that were being mysteriously stored by Weyland-Yutani, you know how the rest goes.

The biggest setback of Alien: Romulus has nothing to do with its relatively straightforward premise. While its “back to basics” horror approach will definitely turn off people who are expecting something as risky as Ridley Scott’s prequels, there are still enough fresh ideas present to enlighten the franchise’s lore and storytelling. This is mainly seen in the brother-sister relationship between Andy and Rain. Their siblinghood introduces a new kind of dynamic to the Alien universe, one that brings out surprising amounts of emotion within the viewer. This is the most cunning part of Fede Álvarez’s screenplay, which is co-written by longtime collaborator Rodo Sayagues. Their bond is constantly pushed to the limits, putting Rain in a position where she can turn on Andy for following his programming, especially when under eerie circumstances. Ultimately, Rain’s decision-making in these moments builds a distinct identity that separates her from past Alien protagonists.


Cailee Spaeny, who is impressively coming off both Alex Garland’s Civil War and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, leads Alien: Romulus with great vigor while still giving Rain a raw vulnerability. Likewise, David Jonsson (Industry, Rye Lane) injects Andy with the kind of pathos that can’t be easily replicated. Johnsson steals the show when Andy is unsuspectingly given a new directive relating to the Xenomorph, completely switching gears and seeming like a completely different character with his android etiquette. Rain and Andy’s sibling dynamic makes up for the thin supporting cast, which is mainly here to get their own fudged up, yet highly memorable death scene. Given the classic horror structure of the script, this isn’t that big of a deal. Fede Álvarez made it work in the Evil Dead remake, and he mostly pulls it off here as well. However, there is one huge element working against Alien: Romulus… nostalgia.


For some incomprehensible reason, Alien: Romulus pulls off a nostalgic callback to Ridley Scott’s Alien that is brought to life with uncanny CGI. Also, it’s not just one scene or reference — the movie keeps cutting back to this creative choice from the second act all the way to the end. Easter eggs are one thing, but to constantly keep going back to a nostalgia-fueled decision like this, to the point where it cannot be ignored or is no longer easy to swallow, just takes you out of the film each time. Not since Lucasfilm decided to open Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with a 25-minute (!) action set piece with a freakishly de-aged Harrison Ford has there been a creative decision relating to VFX that is this outright perplexing. It’s upsettingly uncanny and, frankly, unnecessary. A real shame because the rest of Alien: Romulus is utterly breathtaking.


At least in the visual department, it’s evident that Disney is willing to shell out the proper resources to create an Alien film that surpasses modern blockbuster expectations. With the help of Mexican cinematographer Galo Olivares (Gretel & Hansel), Fede Álvarez has crafted the most visually stunning movie of his career. From the busy streets of the dreadful mining planet to the cold interiors of the Romulus space station, Alien: Romulus boasts an immersive tactility and griminess in its vast sets. Of course, the practical facehuggers and animatronic Xenomorphs are welcomed back with open arms too, and they look better than ever. Aside from the sleek visuals, though, huge credit has to be given to Álvarez’s staging and blocking. Alien: Romulus ups the ante with one extremely tense set piece after the other, all of which introduce never-before-seen, imaginative scenarios that build up to a truly bathorsehocky insane third act.


At the bare basics of its plot, Alien: Romulus isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. But, thematically, it presents enough exciting ideas to prove that filmmaker Fede Álvarez could continue to push the series into uncharted territory with a sequel. If only the movie didn’t make that one damning nostalgic choice. It’s hard to know who to blame for this outcome — was Álvarez in over his head or was there pressure from Disney/20th Century Studios to overstate Romulus‘ ties to the original film? In trying to appeal to older fans and affirm its place in the franchise, Alien: Romulus ends up doing one of the few things that would turn dedicated fans away. It’s quite ironic, repeating certain plot points of the original movie is nothing new for legacy sequels. Yet, Álvarez would have done a better job at letting his unique ideas breathe if not for this nostalgic inclusion.


Still, despite its one glaring flaw that works overtime to bring the rest of the film down, it’s hard not to be enamored with the sheer imagination behind Alien: Romulus. When director Fede Álvarez frames entire action set pieces filled with Xenomorphs with clear inspiration from the Alien: Isolation video game, and even some in zero gravity that bring to mind the beloved Dead Space series, you would be hard-pressed not to be over the roof of what this filmmaker can do in the franchise next.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Watched this sequel to "Before Sunrise" tonight, Before Midnight. The original movie had two young people meeting on a train and then deciding to spend an afternoon & evening exploring Prague together. Now they meet again, nine years later. I had my doubts if it was possible to capture that magic again, but the sequel works. It's not the same magic, but it's different magic -- the experience of two slightly older people meeting again and struggling with their choices and of how they've changed over the years, navigating between cynicism and romance and responsibility.

 

[Birdjaguar]

A Clockwork Orange, 1971. Disturbing film about a teenage psychopath who is treated and made to feel revulsed at the thought of violence or lust, but who after his release is continually assaulted by those he offended which (as the movie ends) appears to lead to the mental conditioning failing. If I had known how much sexual violence there was in this, I might not have bothered. It proved quite interesting, but the beginning was....insane.

A fabulous movie when it came out and now.

Watched this sequel to "Before Sunrise" tonight, Before Midnight. The original movie had two young people meeting on a train and then deciding to spend an afternoon & evening exploring Prague together. Now they meet again, nine years later. I had my doubts if it was possible to capture that magic again, but the sequel works. It's not the same magic, but it's different magic -- the experience of two slightly older people meeting again and struggling with their choices and of how they've changed over the years, navigating between cynicism and romance and responsibility.

Julie Delphy, nothing more needs to be said.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Chief of Station on Hulu is pretty good spy thriller action flick. Set in Budapest.

 

[lymond]

Julie Delphy, nothing more needs to be said.

Oui Oui!

Smellin', can't believe you've not seen A Clockwork Oragnge!

Interesting indy movie called Killing Zoe is worth checking out...with Delpy, Stoltz, and Jean-Hughes Anglade. Movie is an underrated little gem IMO, but may not be for everyone. I've seen it several times.

 

[Clubber Lang]

Interesting indy movie called Killing Zoe is worth checking out...

Tarantino was attached to that.

KILLING ZOE's executive producers include Tarantino and his producer, Lawrence Bender; star Eric Stoltz also appears in PULP FICTION. And the material is pure Tarantino: the ZOE robbery is very nearly the unseen DOGS heist with every awful moment of mayhem played out, rather than evoked through dialogue and flashbacks.

 

[lymond]

Tarantino was attached to that.

Ah yes..I remember that now...it is a bit Pulp Fictionesque

 

[tjs282]

Hardly surprising, since KZ was written (and directed) by Roger Avary -- the guy who helped co-write PF with QT.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Match Point, 2005. Directed by Woody Allen. A tennis coach (discount Jude Law) falls in with Matthew Goode, his hot fiance Scarlett Johannson, and Goode's sister what's-her-face. Discount Jude Law become an item with whats-her-face because DJL rather likes Matthew Goode's set, but after Goode dumps Scarlett Johannson DJL begins an affair with SJ. Unfortunately for DJL, Scarlett gets knocked up and insists on his doing the right thing, but he's gotten rather comfortable flying in Matthew Goode's social circles, so he opts to kill her with a shotgun so she won't be such a bother. Discount Jude Law, as IMDB revealed to me afterwards, was Johnathan Rhys Myers, who I knew as Bishop Heathmund in VIKINGS. Interesting film...watched it for Scarlett and Matthew, mostly. Matthew Crawley's mother from Downton was also a character. Oh! And Armstrong from Armstrong and Miller was also in it as a bit player. Standard!

 

[EvaDK]

ALIEN: ROMULUS

This was pretty good. The absolute standouts being production design, editing, sound design/score and the practical effects. I felt complete immersed in the world of ALIEN/ALIENS due to Fede Alvarez and his team's meticulous recreation of the well known tropes and designs.

Spaeny and Johnson are excellent as Rain and Andy; especially Johnson gives a unusually nuanced performance of what an android can also be in the world. He actually has two slightly different performances going for reasons I won't spoil, but he switches between them effortlessly.

It felt like playing ALIEN ISOLATION all over again especially from act 2 and onwards; the film recreates the tension and terror very well. Creature designs looked mostly practical which is why it works so well. The ending is probably the weakest element in the form of storytelling; the tension is there, but it feels a bit stale when you realize what they were going with. I would have preferred a completely unique ending that didn't feel like a callback to the existing films in the franchise.

There's also a character introduced that is a bit twitchy with regards to *how* and the character is imo given too much screentime and too much exposition to deliver. They should just have had that character appear in one scene and move on.

I'd like to see more installments following this one, which is the biggest praise I can give Alvarez.

3.75/5