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#41

Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2

Last post by M.10rda - August 28, 2026, 08:45:40 AM

The Bride (2026)
It only took me a few minutes in before I realizes ... damn. It is not looking good. 

For some reason they do a big dance number to "Putting on the Ritz".
 
The detective that has been following them the whole time jumps out and shoots the Bride a bunch. Then other police show up and open fire on Frank and his Bride and the detective runs. 

THE BRIDE! (2026):
I can't dispute anything Jim says in his review, except:

It isn't Detective Peter Skarsgard who shoots the Bride - he already relinquished his badge in Niagara Falls to secretary Penelope Cruz - which even in whatever year this movie takes place in, a police detective can't do. But anyway, it's the Bride's mobster ex-boyfriend who follows her and shoots her.

Like Jim, I was a bit worried in the early scenes. As the world's biggest living Elsa Lanchester fan, I wasn't interested in some Jessie Buckley bird trying to put her own grubby mitts on the Mary/Bride dual role. Fortunately, THE BRIDE! isn't a remake. I don't know what it is but it isn't a remake.

And, I started to cringe at the "Puttin' On The Ritz" number - as my admiration of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is inversely proportionate to my admiration of Elsa Lanchester....... but Buckley and Christian Bale dance so damn well (spasmodically, monstrously) I was really swept away in the frenzy.

Like Rev. Powell, I love a good trainwreck (as opposed to a bad trainwreck). There were a couple other moments in the screenplay that made me roll my eyes or bite my lip, but Maggie Gyllenhaal's tongue is in her cheek more often than her heart is on her sleeve here, and her direction (as well as the acting) is strong enough to put the material over. I don't actually require my films to make complete sense!

Everybody is good here, though Buckley doing Natasha Lyonne 2/3rds of the time made me kind of just want Natasha Lyonne. Great to see Annette Bening and always a pleasure to see weirdo Zlatko Buric (in everything nowadays). Bale is awesome in the moment after he confronts Jake Gyllenhaal and a great dancer generally (lest we forget SWING KIDS and NEWSIES). Cruz steals the show, however, as "Myrna Malloy". 

3.5/5    Glad it exists.    The bizarre "Ygor"-like maid who looks like Angelica Huston after a brutal bender fortunately isn't Angelica Huston but instead (more bizarrely) Mike Nichols and Elaine May's daughter Jeanie Berlin. Gyllenhaal dedicates the film "to [her] daughters", one of whom has a cameo in the theater playing WHITE ZOMBIE. A Bela Lugosi cameo in a Frankenstein movie - hilarious! 

#42

Entertainment / Re: What have you been listeni...

Last post by Rev. Powell - August 28, 2026, 08:36:22 AM

#43

Good Movies / Re: Movies that you never "got...

Last post by Dr. Whom - August 28, 2026, 08:21:57 AM

Make a real dinosaur and film it and I'll watch that.

Since birds are technically dinosaurs, Hitchcock has got you covered

#44

Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2

Last post by Dr. Whom - August 28, 2026, 08:19:55 AM

Ribbon Hero (2026)

This is an odd one.
It is based on a manga by Tezuka, and it is basically an episodic magical girl story: Monsters attack, girl transforms (somewhat sexily) in hero form, girl beats monsters, rinse and repeat. It also has the somewhat telescoped feel of storytelling that results of trying to compact a long running series in a single movie.

However, stylistically it is all over the place, with your standard series animation switching to more free flowing styles, and even some live action thrown in. The monsters are also CGI'd into the drawn animation, in a jarring way that was all the rage when CGI was new and exciting. It is cut up in a number of 'acts' complete with curtains like Wes Anderson would do.
I looked up the manga, hoping it would give some answers, but it turns out that, apart from some superficial elements, the movie is completely different. It does explicitly reference the manga, though. Lots of puzzling choices were made for what is essentially a pretty run of the mill story.

#45

Bad Movies / Re: 100 Movie titles that are ...

Last post by Rev. Powell - August 28, 2026, 08:13:59 AM

15. SHIRLEY VALENTINE (1989)

12) Harold and Maude

no offence but I feel like "and" flouts the rules... Rev what do you reckon?

if not, then what other words are allowed?

Yeah, no "and"s. Names only.

1. Barbarella (1968)
2. PATRICK (1978)
3. Akira
4. Erin Brockovich
5. Harvey
6. Ted
7. Shane
8. PAUL (2011)
9. Barb Wire
10. KATRINA (1969)
11. Carrie
12. Patton (1970)
13. Shaft
14. SHIRLEY VALENTINE (1989)
15. Hamlet
16. Dracula

and

17. Barton Fink (1991)

#46

Bad Movies / Re: 100 Movie titles that are ...

Last post by Dr. Whom - August 28, 2026, 08:07:14 AM

17. Dracula

#47

Bad Movies / Re: 100 Movie titles that are ...

Last post by bob - August 28, 2026, 07:29:01 AM

16

#48

Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2

Last post by FatFreddysCat - August 28, 2026, 07:02:09 AM

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth" (2000)
A cool documentary looking back on the famously difficult production of Tobe Hooper's slasher classic, featuring interviews with most of the original cast & crew. Their stories are supplemented by loads of vintage clips and photos from the shoot, making this an enjoyable trip down memory lane for horror nerds.

I wonder if they mention it was banned in South Africa?

They did mention that it was banned in "numerous countries" upon its release, but didn't mention any specifically except England.

James Cameron was asked about this in a panel, and he answered with a completely straight face that he thought it was still one of the better movies about flying piranhas ever made.

Well, he's not wrong! 😆 After all, it's not like there's much competition in that category. 

#49

Off Topic Discussion / Re: Bipolar

Last post by HappyGilmore - August 28, 2026, 05:40:31 AM

I'm getting the impression that my councilor doesn't understand the concept of PTSD.....

Can you find a new one?

I've been through several

#50

Off Topic Discussion / Re: Bipolar

Last post by zombie no.one - August 28, 2026, 03:47:59 AM

Congrats on not smoking. You are actually giving me moral support today to not smoke a cigarette. I have a good PDF about the tobacco companies written in 1976. I mean the PDF of course was not made in 1976 but it was digitized. It talks about the Tobacco companies. And yeah I mean those guys are wolves. Sometime I wonder if they aren't werewolves (I wouldn't be surprised if some of those cats have stock in casket companies. Because yeah they are really into it. I wonder if you did a percentage survey of Americans who smoke and the reason being, because they saw James Dean smoking in rebel without a cause if that would be like kind of a high number. Reminds me of when people do those percentage survey things about Genghis Khan. And how much of the percentage of the gene pool of Russia and Eastern Europe have Genghis Khan genetics because of how thorough his invasions were. Smoking and vaping now has become the new Genghis khan. Like supposedly you can't just say no..Like Genghis Khan. Trying saying no to that dude and look at what happened to ya..)

a work colleague smoker I know has switched to vaping instead. it can't be healthier? I think the 'fruity flavours' aspect is more devious because it attracts kids... funny how 'tobacco flavour' is not something that translated over to foods, strangely enough!

more power to you if you do give up smoking... been racking my brain to think of any worthwhile nuggets to impart?

one thing that has occurred to me in retrospect, was that when I was in the thick of giving up, I attributed any and every 'urge' or 'pang' to wanting a cigarette... but actually I think random cravings that spring from nowhere are just part of being alive. I seem to remember as a kid sometimes having them... like a sudden craving for... something!? which then cannot be sated.

when you're so used to nixing any and all cravings with a cigarette, you perhaps become conditioned into thinking that's the one and only source of the cravings?

[/psychobabble!]