Hidden Gems of Amazon Prime instant videos

New Boys Trailer (probably not endorsed by PETA):

Nevin73 wrote:

New Boys Trailer (probably not endorsed by PETA):

edit: f*cking face-blindness

Bumblebee is on Amazon Prime. I'd heard a lot of good things about it so I watched it last night.

Man, that's a bizarre movie. It's beat for beat filmed like an 80's movie with better graphics, kind of like Russkies. I think the idea is that it's for people who played with Transformers in the 80s and their children. Only I feel like the nostalgia kick is about seven years off. It's full of early 80's nostalgia, and my sense is that Transformers were more late 80's. Maybe I just don't have a good read on when those toys were popular. Also, the Decepticons flat out obliterate a few people, and I guess we're still playing with "murder doesn't count towards movie ratings if it's sentient robots" rules. There are some weird swings in tone.

I'm not sure it works without Hailie Stanfield (even though the supporting cast are also excellent, esp. the mother and stepfather and John Cena). Also, does Angela Bassett need money this badly?

I dunno, my main emotion upon watching it was confusion.

slazev wrote:

Finished rewatching BSG. Sometimes I went for my blu-ray collection (either to watch the extended versions of some episodes or razor) and by the end I just kept with it. The video and audio quality on Amazon just seems kind of bad.

I didn't find the series a masterpiece, like my nostalgia was trying to convince me of, but I still loved it. The characters are just so good. That Baltar is a riot. A pity I haven't seen that actor in other stuff (I think he's Alucard in Castlevania). In the first seasons, it's weird to see characters be front and centre for a couple of episodes and then completely disappear for long stretches. This becomes less of problem at the latter seasons.
Season 2 is still he highlight to me, especially the Pegasus storyline.
Like the first time I watched it, I actually had no real problems with the ending like most people do.

I loved the ending of this and Lost so I’m a bad person. But every time I’ve been tempted to rewatch I can’t stomach Baltar so inevitably nope out.

I really enjoyed Bumblebee, mostly because of Hailee Steinfeld. Its most impressive achievement, though, was making a CGI Transformers movie that wasn't an incomprehensible, hyperkinetic assault on the senses of viewers.

I got the Rifftrax for Bay's Transformers trilogy recently (HIGHLY recommended!), but I made the mistake of watching Age of Extinction and Last Knight afterwards. Hadn't seen them before. I didn't think it was possible to make CGI action combat more confusing but somehow Bay managed it, getting successively worse in each of those movies. (NOT recommended! Not even for "so bad it's good"!)

Keep in mind, I'm a guy who enjoys turning his brain off for a nice mindless action movie that's all fight scenes and exploding helicopters, and even I could not stomach those Transformers movies.

I watched Midsommar yesterday. I am not a horror movie guy, but I remember seeing it praised a lot and, stupidly, I think seeing images from it shared as memes on Twitter also just kept it bouncing around in the back of my mind. I wanted to watch something while doing some work yesterday and it just floated into my brain. I liked it a lot! It reminded me of Hannibal, incredibly beautifully shot and also creepy as hell. It also had a Lynchian quality to it, a sort of dreamy feel, although the moment-to-moment plot was totally comprehensible. As soon as it ended I wanted to read/hear critics takes on it. I haven't yet sought that out but I'm sure I'll find something. Anyway, despite not being a horror guy, my enjoyment of this made me question whether maybe I should watch more horror movies. We'll see.

mrlogical wrote:

I watched Midsommar yesterday. I am not a horror movie guy, but I remember seeing it praised a lot and, stupidly, I think seeing images from it shared as memes on Twitter also just kept it bouncing around in the back of my mind. I wanted to watch something while doing some work yesterday and it just floated into my brain. I liked it a lot! It reminded me of Hannibal, incredibly beautifully shot and also creepy as hell. It also had a Lynchian quality to it, a sort of dreamy feel, although the moment-to-moment plot was totally comprehensible. As soon as it ended I wanted to read/hear critics takes on it. I haven't yet sought that out but I'm sure I'll find something. Anyway, despite not being a horror guy, my enjoyment of this made me question whether maybe I should watch more horror movies. We'll see.

Maybe check out Hereditary, Ari Aster's film before Midsommar.
I would also suggest the Scaredy Cats Horror Show podcast, its a real treat as someone who didn't think they were into horror but since I had seen all but one of the movies they covered I think it means im into horror.

I love Hereditary, but be forewarned, there is a lot of ick in there. More ick than Midsommar, even.

Check out Mike Flanagan's horror films (and Netflix series). They're all great for people who aren't normally horror people, because nearly all of them are more character driven.

My favorite of his is a toss-up between Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil (a prequel to a movie he had nothing to do with, and it does not require watching the first movie). The Haunting of Hill House Netflix series is fantastic.

Yeah Hereditary was one I enjoyed thinking about after the fact, but found it deeply unpleasant while actually watching.

Pretty much enjoyed Midsommar without qualification though.

What’s everyone’s favorite rifttracks on prime?

Kingdom of the Spiders! They get a lot of mileage out of William Shatner.

Grenn wrote:

Kingdom of the Spiders! They get a lot of mileage out of William Shatner.

Hell, William Shatner got a lot of milage out of William Shatner

BadKen wrote:

The Haunting of Hill House Netflix series is fantastic.

If not better than that!

I have a limited palate for horror, but I'm quite interested in Midsommar.

Wrong thread, but I'm extremely interested in HBO's upcoming Lovecraft Country, as Lovecraftian stuff is my biggest horror interest. I also tend to like haunted house stuff. I can't wait until my kids are old enough to watch Don Knotts' Private Eyes.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
BadKen wrote:

The Haunting of Hill House Netflix series is fantastic.

If not better than that!

I have a limited palate for horror, but I'm quite interested in Midsommar.

Wrong thread, but I'm extremely interested in HBO's upcoming Lovecraft Country, as Lovecraftian stuff is my biggest horror interest. I also tend to like haunted house stuff. I can't wait until my kids are old enough to watch Don Knotts' Private Eyes.

The Wookalar!

NSFW language:

Watched Homecoming. Really good. Preferred the 1st season, mostly because of Esmail's direction.
Whose idea was it to use Bunda as a character's name? That's just so hilariously wrong. Do a Google image search and see what I mean.

boogle wrote:
mrlogical wrote:

I watched Midsommar yesterday. I am not a horror movie guy, but I remember seeing it praised a lot and, stupidly, I think seeing images from it shared as memes on Twitter also just kept it bouncing around in the back of my mind. I wanted to watch something while doing some work yesterday and it just floated into my brain. I liked it a lot! It reminded me of Hannibal, incredibly beautifully shot and also creepy as hell. It also had a Lynchian quality to it, a sort of dreamy feel, although the moment-to-moment plot was totally comprehensible. As soon as it ended I wanted to read/hear critics takes on it. I haven't yet sought that out but I'm sure I'll find something. Anyway, despite not being a horror guy, my enjoyment of this made me question whether maybe I should watch more horror movies. We'll see.

Maybe check out Hereditary, Ari Aster's film before Midsommar.
I would also suggest the Scaredy Cats Horror Show podcast, its a real treat as someone who didn't think they were into horror but since I had seen all but one of the movies they covered I think it means im into horror.

Seconding Scaredy Cats, though I'm sad it had such a limited run. One of the creators of Night Vale and Cecil Baldwin have started a new horror movie podcast too - I haven't listened to it yet, but the premise is that they have a spreadsheet of horror movies, and use a random number generator to pick what they get next - so far they've covered Psycho, Children of the Corn 2, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Black Sheep. It's called Random Number Generator Horror Podcast.

Just watched The Vast of Night. I give it high marks for its technical aspects - it looks great, etc. - but very average to below average marks for the quality of the narrative. Not very successful as a film, imho, but this director could do well in the future.

6/10

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Just watched The Vast of Night. I give it high marks for its technical aspects - it looks great, etc. - but very average to below average marks for the quality of the narrative. Not very successful as a film, imho, but this director could do well in the future.

6/10

I'd rather people enjoy things these days even if it's something that didn't quite gel for me, but it does make me feel a little better to see someone else that came away feeling a little flat after that thing ended.

I enjoyed parts, but in the end it felt like a prologue for a more full story and film that we didn't get.

According to wikipedia, it was rejected by 18 film festivals before it was accepted - so apparently there are plenty of people it's not a hit with.

On the other hands, are film festivals so overflowing with great stuff that they turn this movie down?

I'd say it's a great audition for the director, as the movie looks fantastic and is extremely impressive as an indie production. However, I'm not sure he should be allowed to write the script in the future. He needed someone to point out that

Spoiler:

the first 20 minutes don't matter and don't serve the film at all, and that the ending is completely unsatisfying. Funny that he framed it as an episode of the Twilight Zone or similar shows, because I would think that ending would be more acceptable for a shorter, single episode that the audience has less invested in.

Yall are being too hard on it I think. The first 20 minutes are a little self indulgent, yet impressive, and they immerse you in the small town world they've built with its fast talking and bright characters that belie the rural setting. A lot of the script is characters telling stories and I thought each story was its own gripping tale and well told by the actors.

The overall plot was messy, the writer could benefit from the influence of others in a collaboration (3 writers are credited, I dont know how that collaboration went) but to suggest the writer needs to step away from writing is overly harsh.

The director wrote the script under two pseudonyms, which is something I've never seen; I have only seen the reverse.

I watched the transfiguration on prime tonight. Very atmospheric but understated horror/drama, I don’t want to say too much but it very much has the feel of George Romero’s Martin.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

On the other hands, are film festivals so overflowing with great stuff that they turn this movie down?

Yes. Film festivals are usually overflowing with submissions and take only a fraction of what is submitted. Most of it is dreck; some of it is good-but-not-great; some of it is great but they don't have the space for it in their lineup.

I wouldn't necessarily hold up being rejected by a bunch of festivals as a badge of honor, though. You could submit to a whole string of high profile film festivals with little to no chance of making it in without some kind of sponsor from within the industry. You'd rack up a lot of rejections, but so would pretty much everyone who wasn't an established filmmaker.

Jesse Eisenberg may be a jerk, but his movie "Vivarium" is pretty solid

fangblackbone wrote:

Jesse Eisenberg may be a jerk, but his movie "Vivarium" is pretty solid :)

Is he a jerk? I always figured he was because he plays lots of jerky characters, but didn't know if he actually was one.

Garth wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

Jesse Eisenberg may be a jerk, but his movie "Vivarium" is pretty solid :)

Is he a jerk? I always figured he was because he plays lots of jerky characters, but didn't know if he actually was one.

He does? I thought he played a bunch of pathetic losers.

If you can get past the love affair of the New Zealand team and a bunch of American teams, and the cheezy Bear Grylls voice-overs, the latest Eco-Challenge Fiji is really, really good.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
Garth wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

Jesse Eisenberg may be a jerk, but his movie "Vivarium" is pretty solid :)

Is he a jerk? I always figured he was because he plays lots of jerky characters, but didn't know if he actually was one.

He does? I thought he played a bunch of pathetic losers.

There is a Venn diagram of those two groups of people.

Of course, that's true, I just don't think I've seen a movie where he plays a jerk rather than a pathetic loser. I've seen him in three movies that I can think of. Man, I went to the movies a lot before we had kids.