Movie Thread

Kiss of Death (1947)- Starring Victor Mature and Richard Widmark in his film debut, it's an excellent example of 1940s film noir through and through. Mature's protagonist is an ex-convict trying to make up for the mistakes that got him sent up. He does this by trying to take down a psychotic former friend (Widmark)who's only grown in influence since he's been away. Mature's character is likeable and easy to root for despite his past and tough exterior and he undoubtedly carries the film but it's Widmark's performance as the sadistic Tommy Udo that draws in viewers. While Conrad Veidt's Gwynplaine (The Man Who Laughs, 1928) might have been the visual inspiration for DC's Joker, the familiar mannerisms that we presently associate with the character took obvious inspiration from Widmark's performance here. It is a characterization that redefined movie villainy at the time and here over 70 years later is still well worth a watch.

It's been said that Udo was based on the Joker to begin with as Widmark apparently was a big fan so it's kind of chicken or the egg.   Apparently Frank Gorshin based his Riddler laugh on Udo as well.

Been a minute since I posted up in here, let's see....

Color Out of Space - A meteorite lands on a remote alpaca farm setting in motion a bizarre series of events. Not a bad flick, making good use of it's bright color palette and weird sound design...kinda like if David Cronenberg edited together 2018's Mandy and Annihilation in a blender, but it feels like something is definitely missing. Needed less of the annoying teenage girl character and way more of Nic Cage freaking out, but I suppose that criticism could be leveled at a pretty large number of films.  7/10

The Platform - While it beats you pretty bluntly over the head with it's central metaphor time after time, there's enough finely crafted tension and splatter to keep this filthy little indy horror flick enjoyable. It's strongest in the first half, as it introduces the main protagonist and deftly establishes the ground rules for the bizarre premise. The second half falls flat on it's face, and the metaphor crumbles under the weight of a ponderous political message and a nonsensical ending. 6.5/10

Venom - I refused to watch this adaptation of one of my favorite Marvel villains (I was a teenager obsessed with Spider Man comics when Venom was introduced as an antagonist) for a long time, because I heard it was pretty awful. And it is. Awful, I mean. The aimless story sucks, Tom Hardy is clearly phoning it in, the CGI is pretty ugly in places, and the script is a joke. But it's one of those "good" bad movies that still manages to be somewhat entertaining despite being utter shit. 5/10

The Old Guard - They take a really cool premise (small band of immortal soldiers fighting their way through the various conflicts throughout history), and turn it into a run of the mill Call of Duty-style shoot em up. Most of the gunplay involves Charlize Theron instantly headshotting anyone who enters her field of view. There's a couple of solid hand to hand fighting scenes, but nothing that hasn't already been done better by other movies. Probably would've been much better as a series rather than a film. 6/10

New Kenshin trailer

While waiting for Kenshin I'll also be checking out Crazy Samurai 400 vs 1 and The Swordsman

I'm working my way through it. I have difficulty watching hour long shows anymore so it's taking me a few viewings to get through "The Snyder Cut" but halfway in, it really is a more coherent and entertaining piece than the original theatrical release. The original movie wasn't ZOMG TEH WORST THING EVAH like many made it out to be (or rather a handful of people with massive online followings made it out to be and their lemmings just spread it without thinking on it for themselves) BUT it was pretty lacking in terms of immersion, balance, and worst of all, characterization. In the 2.5 hours of the re-cut that I've seen, it markedly improves on all three facets. That said, there's still plenty of time for it to fall flat and not live up to the promise of the re-cut first half of the film but so far, so good.