#film re

[maysshortmoviereviews]

Civil War (2024)

In a dystopian future America, a team of military-embedded journalists races against time to reach Washington, D.C., before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

(minor spoilers)

This movie appears more enticing in its trailer than it actually is. The best moments are showcased in the promotional material, while the remainder is a tedious journey of pretentiousness, where little unfolds besides some artistic photography. There's a glaring absence of plot development and character depth. Though the message condemning war is noble, the execution falls short. Throughout, it's unclear who is fighting whom and for what cause. The film follows four miserable photographers on a road trip, raising questions about the practicality of using film in a digital age (they all use film in their cameras for photography), especially during a 'civil war' scenario where quick reporting is essential. When would they find time amidst the chaos to develop and distribute their photos to media outlets?

Personally I felt that this movie is overhyped and therefore for me it underdelivered and felt like a complete waste of time.

[odetokeons]

The Substance (2024) + parallels with other horror films

Re-Animator (1985)

Saw (2004)

The Shining (1980)

Videodrome (1983)

Pearl (2022)

Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

Carrie (1976)

[familyabolisher]

I've walked past the Barbie branded selfie booth, sat through the reel of old commercials that precede the previews, and watched Margot Robbie learn to cry, and I’m still not sure what “doing the thing and subverting the thing,” which Greta Gerwig claimed as the achievement of Barbie in a recent New York Times Magazine profile, could possibly mean. This was the second Gerwig profile the magazine has run. I wrote the first one, in 2017, which in hindsight appears like a warning shot in a publicity campaign that has cemented Gerwig’s reputation as so charming and pure of heart that any choice (we used to call them compromises) she makes is justified, a priori, by her innocence. This is a strange position for an adult to occupy, especially when the two-hour piece of branded content she is currently promoting hinges on a character who discovers that her own innocence is the false product of a fallen world. But—spoiler alert!—the point of Barbie’s “hero’s journey” is less to reconcile Barbie to death than to reconcile the viewer to culture in the age of IP.

“Doing the thing and subverting the thing”: I haven’t finished working out the details, but I think the rough translation would be Getting rich and not feeling feel bad about it. (Or, for the viewer: Having a good time and not feeling bad about it.) One must labor under a rather reduced sense of the word “subvert” to be impressed with poking loving fun at product misfires such as Midge (the pregnant Barbie), Tanner (the dog who poops), and the Ken with the earring, especially given that the value of all these collectors’ items has, presumably, not decreased since the film opened. Barbie may feature a sassy tween sternly informing Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie that the tiny-waisted top-heavy billion-dollar business she represents has made girls “feel bad” about themselves, but if anyone uttered the word “anorexia,” I missed it. (There was a reason Todd Haynes told the story of Karen Carpenter’s life and death with Barbies, and it wasn’t because an uncanny piece of molded plastic has the magical power to resolve the contradictions of girlhood and global capitalism.) There’s a bit about Robbie going back into a box in the Mattel boardroom, but Barbies aren’t made in an executive suite; they come from factories in China. On the one hand, it’s weird for a film about a real-world commodity to unfold wholly in the realm of ideas and feelings, but then again, that’s pretty much the definition of branding. Mattel doesn’t care if we buy Barbie dolls—they’re happy to put the word “Barbie” on sunglasses and T-shirts, or license clips from the movie for an ad for Google. OK, here’s my review: When Gerwig first visited Mattel HQ in October 2019, the company’s stock was trading at less than twelve dollars a share. Today the price is $21.40. 

Christine Smallwood, Who Was Barbie?

[superior-soundwaves]

Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West Re-Animator (1985)

[suratan-zir]

If you're confused, don't know anything about Russia's war on Ukraine, and aren't sure which information to trust, you should know at least one thing:

Everything - everything - you see professionally filmed from within the Russian army, or that comes from Russian-annexed territories of Ukraine, must be approved by the Kremlin. A journalist or filmmaker cannot gain access to Russian-controlled areas without a green light from the Kremlin. Even if it seems apolitical or oppositional, even if the creators claim to be against Putin - if they were able to film professionally or over an extended period within Russian-controlled spaces, they got permission. Please keep that in mind.

[themitchiemitch]

Interstellar (2014) dir. Christopher Nolan

Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that, even if we can't understand it…

[renthebarbarian]

Queer Icons of Horror

[the-crooked-library]

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Ellen’s sex scene with Thomas is weird, unsexy, frantic, fully clothed and disturbing, while Ellen’s sex scene with Orlok, literal corpse, is slow, detailed, sensual, and they are both naked. The juxtaposition.

exaaactlyyyy!! it's about the INTIMACY

regardless of how desperate both Ellen and Thomas may be to conform to their socially acceptable marriage (they're both distinctly queercoded, Ellen wants passion, Thomas cannot give it, both of them see each other as a duty), they still do not and cannot understand each other. Ellen, who comes from a wealthy but abusive home, cannot imagine prioritizing material success over love and connection; Thomas, who self-deprecatingly refers to himself as a "pauper," cannot imagine ostracizing himself so completely from the society that very easily jeopardizes the livelihood of anyone non-conforming. There is a distinct lack of intimacy between them, only partially breached by anger and confrontation; which is, indeed, illustrated by their fully clothed, aggressive scene. It is more of an argument than sex.

Ellen's death-wedding with Orlok is entirely different - as you said, slow, sensual, reverent; it centers their closeness above all. They cling to one another, both overcome with emotion (self-professed inability to love be damned), perfect living skin against rotting flesh; the visual implication here is that there is, quite literally, nothing between them. They know each other entirely, the flaws, the beauty, and that understanding is more important than their own life or death.

One is a sex scene that is actually a fight, the other is a lovemaking disguised as murder, and I am obsessed

[miwwwch]

[vieneri]

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (2005) | Dir. Joe Wright

[copia]

PAPA IV and the SKELETONS in Rite Here Rite Now

[odetokeons]

i don't know what this movie genre is called, but it's my favourite movie genre

[kdval]

RE: Village

[bleedingspiral]

horror movie blinkies made by me using ezgifs, lunapic, phonto, and online-image-editor. use with credit :)

[maekar76]

Horror Madness!!

[dareduffie]

the crazy thing about cherik is that i knew they were gay going into it and then they were even gayer than i thought they would be. do you know how homosexual you have to be to have that happen