Recent theatrical viewings

[Rev. Powell]

THE TASTE OF THINGS (2023): Two 19th century French chefs, a man and a woman, prepare (and eat) decadent meals (vol-au-vent, baked Alaska) in loving detail, with romance as the palate cleanser. I wish I could have eaten this movie instead of watching it; it made me ashamed of my popcorn. Way too long, but highly artistic, so a reluctant 3/5.

[Rev. Powell]

DUNE, PART 2 (2024): Hiding out in the desert, Paul Atreides bides his time seeking revenge against the Emperor and his Harkonnen lackeys, learning Fremen ways as he fulfills an ancient prophecy. The sequel turns up the epicness a notch and provides everything you could want in a blockbuster spectacle: battles, revenge, romance, dastardly villains, mysticism, marauding sandworms, Chrisopher Walken looking confused. Even at 2.75 hours it's obvious Villeneuve had to cut a lot--scenes sometimes end and pick up much later--and I think the inevitable director's cut will be taxing, but secure its masterpiece status. I suspect most will still want to give it 5/5, but I'm super picky. See it on the big screen if you can.  4.5/5.

[Alex]

DUNE, PART 2 (2024): Hiding out in the desert, Paul Atreides bides his time seeking revenge against the Emperor and his Harkonnen lackeys, learning Fremen ways as he fulfills an ancient prophecy. The sequel turns up the epicness a notch and provides everything you could want in a blockbuster spectacle: battles, revenge, romance, dastardly villains, mysticism, marauding sandworms, Chrisopher Walken looking confused. Even at 2.75 hours it's obvious Villeneuve had to cut a lot--scenes sometimes end and pick up much later--and I think the inevitable director's cut will be taxing, but secure its masterpiece status. I suspect most will still want to give it 5/5, but I'm super picky. See it on the big screen if you can.  4.5/5.

If Kevin Bacon & Fred Ward don't turn up to deal with the giant worms I'm not watching it. 

[Dr. Whom]

DUNE, PART 2 (2024): Hiding out in the desert, Paul Atreides bides his time seeking revenge against the Emperor and his Harkonnen lackeys, learning Fremen ways as he fulfills an ancient prophecy. The sequel turns up the epicness a notch and provides everything you could want in a blockbuster spectacle: battles, revenge, romance, dastardly villains, mysticism, marauding sandworms, Chrisopher Walken looking confused. Even at 2.75 hours it's obvious Villeneuve had to cut a lot--scenes sometimes end and pick up much later--and I think the inevitable director's cut will be taxing, but secure its masterpiece status. I suspect most will still want to give it 5/5, but I'm super picky. See it on the big screen if you can.  4.5/5.

If Kevin Bacon & Fred Ward don't turn up to deal with the giant worms I'm not watching it. 

You really need Burt Gummer

[Rev. Powell]

LOVE LIES BLEEDING: Lou (Kristen Stewart) hooks up with Jackie (newcomer Katy O'Brian), who's hitchhiked to Lou's small town on her way to a bodybuilding competition in Vegas, but neglects to tell her about her violent family. A snappy neo-noir full of 'roid rage and psychosis and lesbian superwomen getting over on the Man. I was the only non-lesbian in the theater. 3/5.

[M.10rda]

Visited Ithaca, NY (my undergraduate college town, and Madame's) for our 10th anniversary, so took the opportunity to see our first big screen movie in months at Ithaca's Cinemapolis. Options were DUNE 2, LOVE LIES BLEEDING, Anthony Hopkins in ONE LIFE (which didn't look like an anniversary movie), something endorsed by Guy Maddin called HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS which looked awesome to me but I couldn't sell my partner on it, and finally the one we watched:

PROBLEMISTA (2024):
Writer/director Julio Torres also stars as a peculiar manchild from El Salvador living in NYC while pursuing his dream of inventing odd, depressive children's toys. When his ability to remain in the US legally is jeopardized, Torres finds himself at the mercy of an unstable art critic, played (almost inevitably) by Tilda Swinton. The RZA aka Bobby Digital of the Wu-Tang Clan appears in a tragicomic role as Swinton's husband, also of course called "Bobby", and does a pretty decent job; and Isabella Rossellini (again, natch) provides the narration.

I went into this one almost completely blind and I'd recommend that approach. I'll just say that, in a filmography such as Swinton's, there's little logic in nominating a standout performance... but her performance here must be at least as good as any other she's given, and she's definitely having a lot of fun giving it. Her character (who looks in her most sane moments a lot like my wife but who behaves most of the time like my sister-in-law) could've sucked all the energy out of the film and its audience by the half-hour mark, but Swinton and Torres admirably manage to locate additional dimensions to her and allow for sympathy in even this most monstrously off-putting figure. As a filmmaker, Torres earns comparisons to Gondry and Kaufman. He puts a lot of balls in the air, though is perhaps less willing than Kaufman to let those balls drop or disappear into the ether. Still, I won't complain about a resolution that is commendably rich in generosity and compassion for its warped lead characters.

4/5

I look forward to any forthcoming reviews of HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS on this site and all the potential comments that the title necessarily invites.

[Rev. Powell]

Visited Ithaca, NY (my undergraduate college town, and Madame's) for our 10th anniversary, so took the opportunity to see our first big screen movie in months at Ithaca's Cinemapolis. Options were DUNE 2, LOVE LIES BLEEDING, Anthony Hopkins in ONE LIFE (which didn't look like an anniversary movie), something endorsed by Guy Maddin called HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS which looked awesome to me but I couldn't sell my partner on it, and finally the one we watched:

PROBLEMISTA (2024):
Writer/director Julio Torres also stars as a peculiar manchild from El Salvador living in NYC while pursuing his dream of inventing odd, depressive children's toys. When his ability to remain in the US legally is jeopardized, Torres finds himself at the mercy of an unstable art critic, played (almost inevitably) by Tilda Swinton. The RZA aka Bobby Digital of the Wu-Tang Clan appears in a tragicomic role as Swinton's husband, also of course called "Bobby", and does a pretty decent job; and Isabella Rossellini (again, natch) provides the narration.

I went into this one almost completely blind and I'd recommend that approach. I'll just say that, in a filmography such as Swinton's, there's little logic in nominating a standout performance... but her performance here must be at least as good as any other she's given, and she's definitely having a lot of fun giving it. Her character (who looks in her most sane moments a lot like my wife but who behaves most of the time like my sister-in-law) could've sucked all the energy out of the film and its audience by the half-hour mark, but Swinton and Torres admirably manage to locate additional dimensions to her and allow for sympathy in even this most monstrously off-putting figure. As a filmmaker, Torres earns comparisons to Gondry and Kaufman. He puts a lot of balls in the air, though is perhaps less willing than Kaufman to let those balls drop or disappear into the ether. Still, I won't complain about a resolution that is commendably rich in generosity and compassion for its warped lead characters.

4/5

I look forward to any forthcoming reviews of HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS on this site and all the potential comments that the title necessarily invites.

You probably should have pulled the trigger on BEAVERS (although I can't speak for Madame, maybe she doesn't like comedies). I've heard nothing but raves (although I confess I haven't seen it all the way through myself). I did host an interview with the director and star: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW0_OpbbSEE

[Rev. Powell]

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL: A gimmicky sweeps-week Halloween broadcast of "Night Owls" program goes to Hell when the host invites a girl possessed by a demon onto the show. It's "The Exorcist" meets "The Merv Griffin Show"; slow to get started--although if you like 70s talk shows you'll love the vibe--building to a freaky conclusion. 4/5 for horror fans.

[Trevor]

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL: A gimmicky sweeps-week Halloween broadcast of "Night Owls" program goes to Hell when the host invites a girl possessed by a demon onto the show. It's "The Exorcist" meets "The Merv Griffin Show"; slow to get started--although if you like 70s talk shows you'll love the vibe--building to a freaky conclusion. 4/5 for horror fans.

I get the feeling it is a kind of a knockoff of GHOSTWATCH?

[Rev. Powell]

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL: A gimmicky sweeps-week Halloween broadcast of "Night Owls" program goes to Hell when the host invites a girl possessed by a demon onto the show. It's "The Exorcist" meets "The Merv Griffin Show"; slow to get started--although if you like 70s talk shows you'll love the vibe--building to a freaky conclusion. 4/5 for horror fans.

I get the feeling it is a kind of a knockoff of GHOSTWATCH?

Dunno, I never saw GHOSTWATCH.

[M.10rda]

Visited Ithaca, NY (my undergraduate college town, and Madame's) for our 10th anniversary, so took the opportunity to see our first big screen movie in months at Ithaca's Cinemapolis. Options were DUNE 2, LOVE LIES BLEEDING, Anthony Hopkins in ONE LIFE (which didn't look like an anniversary movie), something endorsed by Guy Maddin called HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS which looked awesome to me but I couldn't sell my partner on it, and finally the one we watched:

PROBLEMISTA (2024):

You probably should have pulled the trigger on BEAVERS (although I can't speak for Madame, maybe she doesn't like comedies). I've heard nothing but raves (although I confess I haven't seen it all the way through myself). I did host an interview with the director and star: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW0_OpbbSEE

LOL, thanks! I will watch the interview. Madame 10rda likes modern absurdist sitcoms, she likes smart character-driven comedy, she likes terrible rom-coms, and she likes British humor. What she doesn't go in for is anything sophomoric and puerile that was made after say 1990. I couldn't possibly sell her on a Jerky Boys album, for instance. She saw that poster and even her freckles went white. Then we watched the trailer and she remained unconvinced. I'm all in for it, though! 

[M.10rda]

Thanks again for the link, Rev. If your co-host was able to watch it three times, maybe Madame will be able to get through it once.

[Rev. Powell]

PROBLEMISTA: Aspiring toy-designer and El Salvadoran immigrant Ale has a month to find someone to sponsor his work visa or face deportation; he volunteers to work as a personal assistant for an eccentric and demanding middle-aged art critic (Tilda Swinton) who's planning a retrospective of her cryogenically frozen husband's egg paintings. Energetically directed and frequently amusing light satire; Swinton is perfect as the ultimate self-absorbed Manhattan art world Karen. 3.5/5.

[WingedSerpent]

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.  

Far more in the vain of the goofy Showa Era films, then the more serious Godzilla:Minus One, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it.

[Rev. Powell]

MONKEY MAN: An underground fighter who wears a monkey mask and takes dives nightly plans an elaborate revenge against the powerful men who destroyed his village and family. Basically a big-budget B-movie with over-the-top violence silly plot twists that desperately wants to be John Wick when it grows up; wiry Dev Patel and takes a good beating, and the Mumbai setting gives it some flavor, but it makes a big deal about its Hanuman parallels, then only explores them in a shallow way. I wasn't crazy about it, but I think most audiences would eat it up.