Netflix: instaView rec's

[fomofo]

Watched some of the Brady thing on Netflix last night. Raunchy/edgy, as a proper roast should be served up.

This segment did not disappoint...

[dookeyXXX]

THE BOOK OF CLARENCE
Saw this in the theater back in January, but got inundated with ski season and forgot to review it (I didn’t even take notes, doh!).
Anyway, it’s written and directed by Jeymes Samuel, the multi-hyphenate behind The Harder They Fall.
Whereas he tweaked the Western genre with that film, here he goes after the biblical epic. Imagine The Life of Brian, but less absurd and way slicker.
Solid pacing, a tight cast, and some brilliant music video chicanery all combine for an enjoyable cinematic time that also has some interesting socio-political and religious insights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntNS-ANoMyM

[jono]

To the best of my knowledge, no rational was stated, but .......
Given the diameter of the nano-fiber and the spacing between wires, at least 90% of the ship was not cut.
Yeah, I pulled the 90% out of my ass, but still. So presumably a gamble they felt they had to take, given the lack of any other options?

The also didn't explain exactly how you handle such a dangerous fiber weapon, but I'm more than willing to coast along in ignorant bliss.
Up to a point, of course.

The nanofibers cut a ship in half but they couldn't be bothered to a) strengthen up the "sail" lines or b) run them through a slippy anchor point in the middle with the ends 180 degrees apart on the sail so it would stay balanced if one broke? And no discussion of either steering or radiation shielding with that bomb ladder?

I didn't read the books, but the only way those things make sense to me is if the aliens were lying about not lying. They never wanted to meet him. Or they changed his course to one they liked better.

[PB]

Sorry ..... we've moved on.

[jono]

You know, I guess I had, too. I've learned the Chinese forte is not sci-fi, though, so that's something.

[dookeyXXX]

UPGRADE
Imagine a William Gibson cyber-thriller jacked up on crystal meth.
Or, if you prefer, Ex Machina dumbed down and augmented with brutal bone-crushing action.
Whatever your take, Upgrade is a surprisingly good, fuel-injected spin on ‘80s action films touched with a slight, malevolently humorous nod to Kubrick/Clarke's 2001 for good measure.
Brought to you by Leigh Whannell, who is best known for writing the first Saw, this flick is sufficiently stuffed with adreneline-soaked pacing and a plethora of red herrings to keep your mind just enough off-kilter for the twist ending.
The story, while following a pretty basic revenge motif, is coated in enough glossy sheen as to feel almost new. And there are a few welcome surprises, too.
Bottom line: Upgrade is a solid B-movie with bristling action sequences and cool production design swathed in a slick blitz of industrial cyber-glaze.

RIYL:
The Guest; The Termimator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjwlPsqm3Sc

[PB]

Just re-watched Upgrade - it's holding up well.
So, unless we've already discussed it previously, "B movie category"? What differentiates B from A? Is there a C category?

[dookeyXXX]

The first Terminator was a B-movie.
The second Terminator was an A-movie.

[dookeyXXX]

Wiki elaboration on the term “B-movie”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie

Generally speaking, a B-movie is a low-budget genre film.
Roger Corman was the undisputed king of B-movies.
Sam Raimi’s early—and arguably best—films were all B-movies.

Upgrade fits the B-movie moniker to a T: moderate budget, no big name recognizable stars, streamline production, etc.
Upgrade was made for 3M in 2018…that’s peanuts in Hollywood $.

I have never heard/seen the term “C-movie” in any reviews, but I have seen/heard the term “Z-movie” for films that are just horrible and lower than low budget…

[PB]

Got it - thanks. I like that it's mostly a budget thing - low budget can obviously still mean quality film.
And conversely an A movie can stink to high heaven.

[dookeyXXX]

Got it - thanks. I like that it's mostly a budget thing - low budget can obviously still mean quality film.
And conversely an A movie can stink to high heaven.

Yup.
I have also found that many directors make great low-budget films as the lack of money requires them to be more creative (see early Raimi, for example).
Also, quite a lot of B-movies have great stories, scripts, and snappy dialogue (imho, I feel this is the case as the filmmakers realize they need a good story, creative script, and solid acting to make up for lack of money for production and FX).

I think one can easily argue that a lot of film franchises started out as B-movies.
The first Pitch Black, the first Fast and Furious, the first A Nightmare on Elm Street, imho are all B-movies (modest budgets, non-A-list actors, etc.).

Heck I would even postulate that both Star Wars: A Mew Hope and Jaws were B-movies, at the very least they were heavily inspired by classic B-movies. Granted both had pretty sizable budgets for their time (and both went on to be among the high grossing films of all-time, plus Jaws is credited with starting the summer blockbuster blueprint, but they are B-movies at heart (both feature largely unknown casts and Spielberg had to get creative with his filming because all of the expensive FX kept glitching).

John Carpenter is a classic B-movie director.
I think David Cronenberg is the thinking man’s B-movie director (though I am sure he would balk at that tag).
George Miller was a B-movie director, but after Mad Max 2, not anymore.

Honestly some of the greatest and also most popular directors of the past 40-odd years all started out making B-movies:
Spielberg
Coppola
Miller
Cameron
Howard
Jackson
Scorsese
Sayles
Woo
Tarantino

Some of them managed to keep the energy and creativity of their early B-movies in their bigger budget films and, sadly some haven’t.

But now I am just rambling.

Bottomline:
I’d take a movie like Upgrade over almost any major big budget action film made in the past 20 years. Sure, there are some exceptions, but films like Upgrade prove that you don’t need to spend $300M to make a great action film.
The downside, sadly, is because Upgrade didn’t have an A-list cast or A-list director, very few people actually saw it when it was in theaters. That’s the real shame about the movie (and music) industries: there’s quite a lot of real excellent stuff out there that just doesn’t have the backing of some of the big budget crap, so it gets lost. That or suits misinterpret what made the B-stuff so great and exploit it (comic book movies, grunge music, hip-hop culture are just a few prime examples of really cool artistic movements that got co-opted by folks who had no clue about art, but knew how to make money).

End rant.

WATCH UPGRADE DAMMIT!!!

[MontuckyFried]

Wiki elaboration on the term “B-movie”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie

Generally speaking, a B-movie is a low-budget genre film.
Roger Corman was the undisputed king of B-movies.
Sam Raimi’s early—and arguably best—films were all B-movies.

Upgrade fits the B-movie moniker to a T: moderate budget, no big name recognizable stars, streamline production, etc.
Upgrade was made for 3M in 2018…that’s peanuts in Hollywood $.

I have never heard/seen the term “C-movie” in any reviews, but I have seen/heard the term “Z-movie” for films that are just horrible and lower than low budget…

Have you seen Atlantic Rim? Where does that one land? It has to be a Z-movie, right?... RIGHT? Saw it on the last season of MST3K and MAN it was horrendously bad. Like actually painful to get through. I love a schlocky cheese-fest as much as the next guy, but wow this one was a new low. 1.6/10 on IMDB! Haha. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2740710/

[PB]

Yup.
I have also found that many directors make great low-budget films as the lack of money requires them to be more creative (see early Raimi, for example).
Also, quite a lot of B-movies have great stories, scripts, and snappy dialogue (imho, I feel this is the case as the filmmakers realize they need a good story, creative script, and solid acting to make up for lack of money for production and FX).

I think one can easily argue that a lot of film franchises started out as B-movies.
The first Pitch Black, the first Fast and Furious, the first A Nightmare on Elm Street, imho are all B-movies (modest budgets, non-A-list actors, etc.).

Heck I would even postulate that both Star Wars: A Mew Hope and Jaws were B-movies, at the very least they were heavily inspired by classic B-movies. Granted both had pretty sizable budgets for their time (and both went on to be among the high grossing films of all-time, plus Jaws is credited with starting the summer blockbuster blueprint, but they are B-movies at heart (both feature largely unknown casts and Spielberg had to get creative with his filming because all of the expensive FX kept glitching).

John Carpenter is a classic B-movie director.
I think David Cronenberg is the thinking man’s B-movie director (though I am sure he would balk at that tag).
George Miller was a B-movie director, but after Mad Max 2, not anymore.

Honestly some of the greatest and also most popular directors of the past 40-odd years all started out making B-movies:
Spielberg
Coppola
Miller
Cameron
Howard
Jackson
Scorsese
Sayles
Woo
Tarantino

Some of them managed to keep the energy and creativity of their early B-movies in their bigger budget films and, sadly some haven’t.

But now I am just rambling.

Bottomline:
I’d take a movie like Upgrade over almost any major big budget action film made in the past 20 years. Sure, there are some exceptions, but films like Upgrade prove that you don’t need to spend $300M to make a great action film.
The downside, sadly, is because Upgrade didn’t have an A-list cast or A-list director, very few people actually saw it when it was in theaters. That’s the real shame about the movie (and music) industries: there’s quite a lot of real excellent stuff out there that just doesn’t have the backing of some of the big budget crap, so it gets lost. That or suits misinterpret what made the B-stuff so great and exploit it (comic book movies, grunge music, hip-hop culture are just a few prime examples of really cool artistic movements that got co-opted by folks who had no clue about art, but knew how to make money).

End rant.

WATCH UPGRADE DAMMIT!!!

Well said.

[Mike Pow]

Loved Upgrade

[Vt-Freeheel]

The Tourist was a bizarre wild ride

[Danno]

The first Terminator was a B-movie.
The second Terminator was an A-movie.

Got it - thanks. I like that it's mostly a budget thing - low budget can obviously still mean quality film.
And conversely an A movie can stink to high heaven.

Yup.
I have also found that many directors make great low-budget films as the lack of money requires them to be more creative (see early Raimi, for example).
Also, quite a lot of B-movies have great stories, scripts, and snappy dialogue (imho, I feel this is the case as the filmmakers realize they need a good story, creative script, and solid acting to make up for lack of money for production and FX).

Nowhere is this displayed better than the Terminator franchise. T2 was a good A-movie action film. The original Terminator was a much better movie, way more intense and new feeling.

[Danno]

The first Terminator was a B-movie.
The second Terminator was an A-movie.

Got it - thanks. I like that it's mostly a budget thing - low budget can obviously still mean quality film.
And conversely an A movie can stink to high heaven.

Yup.
I have also found that many directors make great low-budget films as the lack of money requires them to be more creative (see early Raimi, for example).
Also, quite a lot of B-movies have great stories, scripts, and snappy dialogue (imho, I feel this is the case as the filmmakers realize they need a good story, creative script, and solid acting to make up for lack of money for production and FX).

Nowhere is this displayed better than the Terminator franchise. T2 was a good A-movie action film. The original Terminator was a much better movie, way more intense and new (as in an idea that felt fresh/new) feeling.

[MontuckyFried]

Nowhere is this displayed better than the Terminator franchise. T2 was a good A-movie action film. The original Terminator was a much better movie, way more intense and new (as in an idea that felt fresh/new) feeling.

Would you liken that perhaps to Alien vs Aliens?

[dookeyXXX]

I would.
Alien is a fantastic, claustrophobic B-movie, rich in atmosphere, great acting by a great cast.
Aliens was an over-the-top action film with a bigger budget. But still a great cast. Plus Cameron and crew were wise to shift the tone and style of the sequel; by switching from containment horror to incendiary action they made a movie that built upon the original (Cameron did the same with T2).

I would add that the first two films in each of those franchises are the only ones we really needed. All the rest were cash grabs, for the most part (though I have enjoyed some of the later Alien films more than any of the later Terminator films).

[mcski]

IDK. iirc, alien had a fairly significant marketing budget. Plus, multiple well known character actors. I don’t think I’d call it a B even tho it fits some of the criteria. T1 was much closer to B status. To be a real B, it can’t really be more than a studio afterthought when it comes to distribution imo. Alien was well supported by marketing. In that sense, i wouldn’t really consider NoES a B either really. It was def a marquee must see when it got released. I think it feels more B in retrospect because of the genre.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Upgrade was a fun watch, no dragged out story, just a quick blast.

[MontuckyFried]

SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF
Man, I am always a sucker for a good love story, especially if it’s augmented with ass-kicking and sci-fi goodness.

Finally got around to this one and enjoyed the hell out of it! I liked the original comics back in the day and thought Scott Pilgrim vs the World was a great live action adapation that captured the spirit of the comics well. This one pretty much nails the whole thing.

[dookeyXXX]

FWIW, Mr. Pilgrim is returning to theaters for two days only on June 2 and 5:

https://www.flashbackcinema.net/new-blog/scottpilgrim

[MontuckyFried]

FWIW, Mr. Pilgrim is returning to theaters for two days only on June 2 and 5:

https://www.flashbackcinema.net/new-blog/scottpilgrim

FUN!!! That one is definitely worth seeing at the big screen. It's a bit of a spectacle with a great soundtrack. Same with the newer animated series on Netflix! I really enjoyed the music and it definitely benefits from a good sound system or headphones.

[AK47bp]

Your Honor with Bryan Cranston is good. Just finished season 1.


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