FBG Movie Club: We're Getting the Band Back Together: Metallica vs Nina Simone Movie Docs (1 Viewer)

[KarmaPolice]

Hereditary is the best one on that list. I will never understand how Get Out has made it on to these lists. It's really not that good.

It's a lot better than Us, IMO.   Peele has talent, and I will still watch what he puts out next.   For my tastes, great horror should have that fine balance of saying something, whether intentional or not, but Peele toes the line far more into overt social commentary and less on the horror for my personal liking.  There were some creepy moments in Get Out for sure, but I thought it was a bit unsubtle with the commentary I thought the back 1/4 or so of the movie was a bit dull.   I get why it's so highly regarded though.  

Something like Hereditary did a much better job at juggling the scares and creeps but also being about more than that - family dynamics, grief, etc..  

 

[prosopis]

I watched Peeping Tom. Very good stuff. Loved the use of music to build the tension. Camera angles to make things unsettling as well. I also felt there was some good editing to get the quick shots seemingly seamless. Sound editing was really well done as well.

That's how I saw it anyway.

 

[Ilov80s]

I watched Peeping Tom. Very good stuff. Loved the use of music to build the tension. Camera angles to make things unsettling as well. I also felt there was some good editing to get the quick shots seemingly seamless. Sound editing was really well done as well.

That's how I saw it anyway.

Director Michael Powell deserves a ton of credit, he’s right up there with Hitch and Lean as the best British filmmakers.

 

[wikkidpissah]

Director Michael Powell deserves a ton of credit, he’s right up there with Hitch and Lean as the best British filmmakers.

The Archer? Now i gotta see this thing, even tho i dont have Prime anymore. Their stuff is always interesting even when it isnt pleasurable

 

[Ilov80s]

The Archer? Now i gotta see this thing, even tho i dont have Prime anymore. Their stuff is always interesting even when it isnt pleasurable

Yes sir, maybe we should have advertised that part. 

 

[jwb]

Just watched Peeping Tom.

Wowww

Just watched.  Holy ####.

x3. 

I sort of remember seeing it as a kid, but I'm sure I tuned out. An 8-year-old wants to see ghosts and monsters, not a psychological thriller.

Much better now. 

 

[KarmaPolice]

Gotta do my homework.... 

 

[Ilov80s]

Gotta do my homework.... 

same. I’ve been on a horror binge but mostly mindless old cheesy horror flicks TCM has been playing where I can kind of of half pay attention and half work on stuff for school.

 

[krista4]

  Think I’ll watch Creep and the funny one first.

You’ll never think of Mark Duplass the same way after seeing it. 

I wanted to go for some extra credit tonight, so I attempted Creep since it was the first one that had been mentioned.  I'm generally amenable to lo-tech "found footage" stuff, but holy hell was this awful.  I kept thinking that at least it had in its favor that it was only 1:15 long, but I couldn't do it and tapped out about 1/2 hour before the finish.  I have nothing positive to say here.  Are we this desperate for something "different" to watch?  Gah.

Onward.

ETA:  Re Mark Duplass, never heard of or seen him before now.

 

[krista4]

By the way, little article in the New Yorker today about 10 horror movies to watch.

 

[KarmaPolice]

By the way, little article in the New Yorker today about 10 horror movies to watch.

Interesting list.  There's a couple that I haven't heard of too.  

 

[krista4]

Interesting list.  There's a couple that I haven't heard of too.  

Me too.

 

[Ilov80s]

I wanted to go for some extra credit tonight, so I attempted Creep since it was the first one that had been mentioned.  I'm generally amenable to lo-tech "found footage" stuff, but holy hell was this awful.  I kept thinking that at least it had in its favor that it was only 1:15 long, but I couldn't do it and tapped out about 1/2 hour before the finish.  I have nothing positive to say here.  Are we this desperate for something "different" to watch?  Gah.

Onward.

ETA:  Re Mark Duplass, never heard of or seen him before now.

Now I’m really glad we didn’t choose Creep as one of the movies. I’m not into low budget found footage movies so I don’t think I would have made it through that.

By the way, little article in the New Yorker today about 10 horror movies to watch.

Only ones I’ve seen or heard of are Vampyr and Carnival of Souls which are both very good. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to horror.

 

[Osaurus]

Interesting list.  There's a couple that I haven't heard of too.  

Me too.

The Cropsey documentary is very creepy (and true). Oof. 

 

[krista4]

The Cropsey documentary is very creepy (and true). Oof. 

That one in particular looked really interesting to me.   

 

[krista4]

Now I’m really glad we didn’t choose Creep as one of the movies. I’m not into low budget found footage movies so I don’t think I would have made it through that.

Only ones I’ve seen or heard of are Vampyr and Carnival of Souls which are both very good. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to horror.

I just realized this could be read to say you haven't seen The Vanishing?  Get right out and correct this.  As KP knows, it's tops on my list of "amazing movies I never wish to watch again."

 

[krista4]

The Cropsey documentary is very creepy (and true). Oof. 

That one in particular looked really interesting to me.   

Looks like this is on Amazon Prime, in case anyone's interested.  Think I might bump that to the top of my horror queue now.  That one called The Rapture with Mimi Rogers looked pretty good, too.

 

[Osaurus]

Looks like this is on Amazon Prime, in case anyone's interested.  Think I might bump that to the top of my horror queue now.  That one called The Rapture with Mimi Rogers looked pretty good, too.

Grabbed this one last night

 

[KarmaPolice]

Let's, bump this is.  I read a few wows in here for Peeping Tom- was that a hood thing or a bad thing? 

 

[Ilov80s]

Let's, bump this is.  I read a few wows in here for Peeping Tom- was that a hood thing or a bad thing? 

 Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts as well...

 

[wikkidpissah]

Watched Tom on Satiddy - two days later i dunno what to say (and that's kinda my thing). will watch the other tonite or tomorrow - maybe that'll trigger sumn

 

[KarmaPolice]

Watched Tom on Satiddy - two days later i dunno what to say (and that's kinda my thing). will watch the other tonite or tomorrow - maybe that'll trigger sumn

Nice. That's means the rest of us have a little time before wikkid posts his mic drop reviews!

 

[KarmaPolice]

Also great timing now that the movie draft is done, 80s can work with the 2nd place finisher to decide on the November assignment. 

 

[Ilov80s]

Also great timing now that the movie draft is done, 80s can work with the 2nd place finisher to decide on the November assignment. 

Once the results are posted, I’ll message them

 

[krista4]

I was certain I'd seen the lead actor from Peeping Tom in something else, so I looked him up and don't think I had, since he's only been in one other movie I've seen and I don't remember his character.  But what I did find interesting was that he was apparently heavily involved in charitable work in Ethiopia, receiving honorary citizenship and a bunch of big-deal awards there.  He and his first wife were also accused by his oldest daughter of molestation.      He's incredibly mesmerizing in this movie, which I thought was excellent overall.  The overall creepiness level was high in a great way.  I thought the lead actress and the one playing her mom were also fantastic.  I liked that they cast someone sort of ordinary looking as his "love interest" (using the term loosely), as it seemed to fit better for him to be taken with someone who was simply nice and normal to him instead of the starlets he was usually filming.  The ending of this movie...holy ####.  I don't have a ton of say of interest, but this was a top-notch selection for the month.

The other...well...

 

[KarmaPolice]

I was certain I'd seen the lead actor from Peeping Tom in something else, so I looked him up and don't think I had, since he's only been in one other movie I've seen and I don't remember his character.  But what I did find interesting was that he was apparently heavily involved in charitable work in Ethiopia, receiving honorary citizenship and a bunch of big-deal awards there.  He and his first wife were also accused by his oldest daughter of molestation.      He's incredibly mesmerizing in this movie, which I thought was excellent overall.  The overall creepiness level was high in a great way.  I thought the lead actress and the one playing her mom were also fantastic.  I liked that they cast someone sort of ordinary looking as his "love interest" (using the term loosely), as it seemed to fit better for him to be taken with someone who was simply nice and normal to him instead of the starlets he was usually filming.  The ending of this movie...holy ####.  I don't have a ton of say of interest, but this was a top-notch selection for the month.

The other...well...

Good observations.  

I am also curious to know what you disliked about Nightcrawler (from the posts, I assume just about everything?) 

 

[krista4]

Good observations.  

I am also curious to know what you disliked about Nightcrawler (from the posts, I assume just about everything?) 

Caricatures.  The whole movie was caricatures and overused tropes.  The two leads (assuming Rene Russo was one) were caricatures.  The "message" was so heavy-handed it was ridiculous - ah yes, media creating the story for ratings, media having no boundaries in a quest for ratings, media sinking to the lowest common denominator of what the public might want for ratings.  So over-the-top in its obviousness, even making Russo into a literal media whore.  Good god.

I'm looking for anything good to say...I thought the score was good?

As for Gyllenhaal, I think he's a terrific actor, but the charismatic sociopath is also a trope I'm just sick of, in part due to Joaquim Phoenix having seemingly made it his life's work.  But the fidgety and anxious sad sack, with fake smile and happiness, faux-earnest to a fault, fastidious/rule-abiding in some senses but living under his own code, creepy, greasy, too skinny, smart and alarmingly soft-spoken thing...yeah, all that.  It's been done and done and done.  And I'm done.

 

[krista4]

I did a little extra credit and hope still to do more.  I already mentioned my negative reaction to Creep. 

I then watched Cropsey, which was an interesting documentary even if I didn't think it was so much a "horror" movie.  I really like a doc where the filmmakers just see where things lead them instead of having an established POV.  I thought they made it seem a little too "unknown" (much like Capturing the Friedmans, where I didn't think the answer was as murky as they did), and they inserted themselves a tad too much into the film for my taste, but still it was very interesting and well-made.

Finally I watched Hereditary, which I thought was outstanding for about 5/6 of it, then it took some late turns that seemed too crammed in and unsatisfying.  But a monumental performance by Toni Colette and most of the rest of the cast.  Gabriel Byrne, whom I love, was horribly miscast, as it took me nearly 1/2 the film before I realized he was the "dad" instead of the "step-grandfather," such was the ridiculous age difference (22 years, it turns out) between him and Colette.  He seemed like he wasn't sure what he was doing there, too, as his performance was low energy.  Overall, though, this was a smart and exceedingly creepy movie with a fantastic sense of increasing dread.  Boy oh boy, was that little girl a creepfest.

 

[jwb]

Caricatures.  The whole movie was caricatures and overused tropes.  The two leads (assuming Rene Russo was one) were caricatures.  The "message" was so heavy-handed it was ridiculous - ah yes, media creating the story for ratings, media having no boundaries in a quest for ratings, media sinking to the lowest common denominator of what the public might want for ratings.  So over-the-top in its obviousness, even making Russo into a literal media whore.  Good god.

This is perfect. I thought to myself "this is like Crash" in how over the top it was. Not saying this stuff doesn't happen, but a little more subtlety would have been good.

 

[jwb]

I had a nice writeup on Peeping Tom. Then I accidentally closed my browser and lost it. I don't feel like writing another tonight.

Suffice to say, I liked it a lot. More tomorrow.

 

[krista4]

This is perfect. I thought to myself "this is like Crash" in how over the top it was. Not saying this stuff doesn't happen, but a little more subtlety would have been good.

Yes!  I kept thinking of Crash too, and forgot to mention that.  

 

[bigbottom]

Finally I watched Hereditary, which I thought was outstanding for about 5/6 of it, then it took some late turns that seemed too crammed in and unsatisfying.  But a monumental performance by Toni Colette and most of the rest of the cast.  Gabriel Byrne, whom I love, was horribly miscast, as it took me nearly 1/2 the film before I realized he was the "dad" instead of the "step-grandfather," such was the ridiculous age difference (22 years, it turns out) between him and Colette.  He seemed like he wasn't sure what he was doing there, too, as his performance was low energy.  Overall, though, this was a smart and exceedingly creepy movie with a fantastic sense of increasing dread.  Boy oh boy, was that little girl a creepfest.

Okay, I’ve had a lingering question about Hereditary and would be interested in your and anyone else’s thoughts. 


Did the son have to die to finally be inhabited by Paimon?  That is what I initially thought. It was only after he jumped out of the attic window and was lifeless on the ground that the spark of light landed on his back, was apparently absorbed and he awoke as Paimon. 

But if that’s the case, that would mean the sister had died previously at some point, since there were multiple references to Paimon possessing her body (and it not being ideal because she was a girl).

Maybe I’m trying to put too much thought into it.
And yes, Toni Collette was absolutely chilling. Her facial expressions alone were award-worthy. 

 

[Ilov80s]

Okay, I’ve had a lingering question about Hereditary and would be interested in your and anyone else’s thoughts. 


  Reveal hidden contents
Did the son have to die to finally be inhabited by Paimon?  That is what I initially thought. It was only after he jumped out of the attic window and was lifeless on the ground that the spark of light landed on his back, was apparently absorbed and he awoke as Paimon. 

But if that’s the case, that would mean the sister had died previously at some point, since there were multiple references to Paimon possessing her body (and it not being ideal because she was a girl).

Maybe I’m trying to put too much thought into it.
And yes, Toni Collette was absolutely chilling. Her facial expressions alone were award-worthy. 

I don't remember it well enough to say. I just remember it being really creepy and Toni as well as the daughter really stick in my head. The details of the plot, not so much.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Okay, I’ve had a lingering question about Hereditary and would be interested in your and anyone else’s thoughts. 


  Hide contents
Did the son have to die to finally be inhabited by Paimon?  That is what I initially thought. It was only after he jumped out of the attic window and was lifeless on the ground that the spark of light landed on his back, was apparently absorbed and he awoke as Paimon. 

But if that’s the case, that would mean the sister had died previously at some point, since there were multiple references to Paimon possessing her body (and it not being ideal because she was a girl).

Maybe I’m trying to put too much thought into it.
And yes, Toni Collette was absolutely chilling. Her facial expressions alone were award-worthy. 

My understanding is it needed male host and a certain # of "sacrifices", yes.  

 

[KarmaPolice]

Caricatures.  The whole movie was caricatures and overused tropes.  The two leads (assuming Rene Russo was one) were caricatures.  The "message" was so heavy-handed it was ridiculous - ah yes, media creating the story for ratings, media having no boundaries in a quest for ratings, media sinking to the lowest common denominator of what the public might want for ratings.  So over-the-top in its obviousness, even making Russo into a literal media whore.  Good god.

I'm looking for anything good to say...I thought the score was good?

As for Gyllenhaal, I think he's a terrific actor, but the charismatic sociopath is also a trope I'm just sick of, in part due to Joaquim Phoenix having seemingly made it his life's work.  But the fidgety and anxious sad sack, with fake smile and happiness, faux-earnest to a fault, fastidious/rule-abiding in some senses but living under his own code, creepy, greasy, too skinny, smart and alarmingly soft-spoken thing...yeah, all that.  It's been done and done and done.  And I'm done.

Thanks for this.  I come in looking for opinions that push back on mine.  I will admit a couple things: 1.  I stupidly thought I could rely on my memory for Nightcrawler and didn't get to that rewatch, and I am realizing that can't be the case, and 2.  sometimes my biases don't get me thinking about movies that much if I probably agree with what is being spoon fed to me.  At that point I am more about the acting and directing, and I a lot more in favor of Jake in this than you are (and a bigger fan of Phoenix too).  

 

[prosopis]

Thanks for this.  I come in looking for opinions that push back on mine.  I will admit a couple things: 1.  I stupidly thought I could rely on my memory for Nightcrawler and didn't get to that rewatch, and I am realizing that can't be the case, and 2.  sometimes my biases don't get me thinking about movies that much if I probably agree with what is being spoon fed to me.  At that point I am more about the acting and directing, and I a lot more in favor of Jake in this than you are (and a bigger fan of Phoenix too).  

I liked Night Crawler quite a bit when I first saw it. I could be wrong but I thought this came before Joaquin's shtick? 

Anyway I did not re watch this movie. I will be honest and say I don't want to rewatch it as my memory of it was good and I don't want to change that memory. Maybe someday in the future.

 

[wikkidpissah]

well, i watched em both and cant connect em any better than the original "creep with a camera" theme already has, so i wont try to better it.

Peeping Tom - technicolor psychosis. it's funny that Hitchcock went from Technicolor to B&W for his psycho, but Michael Powell might have even brightened his already lively palette for his. i was hoping that i could pay the Freudian "raised on film" theme of Tom off in the 2nd film but Nightcrawler never told us what got its protagonist to his tipping point besides wanting to matter (and that theme is as interesting to me anymore as an ant wanting to eat the most dogpoop of anyone on the pile). I would like to venerate it more because it risked so much to warn us about ourselves, but i've been so lately busy de-mystifying Freudian themes that i can't really give Tom's piercing observations their due.

Nightcrawler - I both enjoy and am irritated when a movie makes me start re-writing it almost from the start. First off, I immediately recognized and envied the updating of the Weegee story cuz my bff is a photographer and obsessed with Weegee (look him up) and it amazes me i never thought to use that. Secondly, i recognized and immediately regretted that this was going to be a personally-focused action picture when it should be a societally-focused black comedy. The story quickly loses its credibility because it spends the time it should have been focused on exposition developing a juicier role out of the lead (only the 417,998th time that's happened in Hollywood). If they had made the Gyllenhaal character a "found" assistant of Paxton's and had his rise to kill his master as the focus and only made the TV station cartoonishly complicit, it would have worked as action, comedy & satire, but Jake's & Rene (the director's wife) Russo's roles wouldnt have lead as strongly, so.....

interesting batch, tho. thx, guys -

ETA: BTW, for you Powell & Pressburger fans, the TV Network FX (Fargo, American Horror Story) has turned the Archers' film Black Narcissus into a mini-series which begins two wks from Sunday. should be weird -

 

[jwb]

Yea, regarding Peeping Tom.

I loved it. Wikkid mentioned the color, and that was my first thought too - it just popped.  And it's funny, I was half expecting Black and White. The whole movie surprised me like that. From the awkward relationship (if you can call it that) to the mother to Mark's coworkers who he seemed fairly normal with (heh, to a point).  Even the guy buying nudie pics in the store was offbeat and unexpected. And the ending - wow. Did not see that coming, but it fit. 

That's the big contrast between the two for me - Peeping Tom kept surprising me, and Nightcrawler was predictable and somewhat trite.

I saw this one was I was a kid, but aside from (wrongly) remembering it as a B&W film, I had forgotten it. Great choice.

 

[Ilov80s]

Anybody home?

 

[KarmaPolice]

 

Man does time fly by.  It's been almost a year? 

 

[jwb]

Yup, been awhile. I'd be into reviving. 

 

[Ilov80s]

Also great timing now that the movie draft is done, 80s can work with the 2nd place finisher to decide on the November assignment. 

Who got 2nd? I never did message them

 

[Charlie Steiner]

Gotta be something good enough to snap me out of my Mad Men binge-watching loop.

 

[Ilov80s]

Gotta be something good enough to snap me out of my Mad Men binge-watching loop.

What streaming channels do you have now?

 

[Don Quixote]

 

[Osaurus]

Cropsey is unbelievably messed up. Truth is stranger (and sadder) than fiction. 

 

[Charlie Steiner]

What streaming channels do you have now?

Just Amazon Prime.

 

[Ilov80s]

Just Amazon Prime.

Damn, access to a library with a good selection of DVDs and Blu Rays?

 

[KarmaPolice]

Just saw the title change. First movie = The Muppets (2011)?

 

[KarmaPolice]

Damn, access to a library with a good selection of DVDs and Blu Rays?

Not sure if there are quality options, but we could also consider things like Peacock and Tubi that are free (if people are willing to put up with ads).