movies

I’m going to cut to the chase. John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China is perhaps the greatest B-movie of all time. And seeing as the celebrated cult classic observes a release date anniversary today, I am prepared to loudly and proudly sing its praises.

Big Trouble in Little China works so well because Carpenter knew precisely what kind of film he was making. He wasn’t trying to create fine art. He was far more interested in serving cinematic comfort food and I am here for it. The beloved director succeeds remarkably in delivering a rip-roaring action spectacle with a hefty helping of imagination, a killer sense of humor, and a dynamite showing from Kurt Russell as lead character Jack Burton.

The poster and description do nothing to inspire watching it, but I finally gave it a go and wow it surprised me. It's an awesome revenge flick.

The main character basically Rocky Balboas his way into becoming John Wick and it's a fun ride. They even call him John Wick at one point, which usually would be eye rolling but it's funny. There's some fun religious stuff thrown in, and really good fight choreography.

At one point I had to pause for the bathroom and was really happy I was only half way through it.

I highly recommend it.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hollywood-basic-crafts-negotiations-talks-resume-july-8-1235938943/

Check out their channel it has great essays about Film. It had previous upload 7 years ago.

I haven't posted the article as normal to hide any potential spoilers, click here for the link.

Jane Schoenbrun’s horror drama I Saw the TV Glow, dubbed one of the best trans films in recent years, has finally got a UK cinema release date.

...

Now, two months after I Saw the TV Glow landed in US cinemas, it’s set to open in UK and Irish cinemas on 26 July.

Something is wrong in Appalachia in the first trailer for 'Hellboy: The Crooked Man.' Jack Kesy stars as the big red hero trying to figure it out.

I would've shared the video via YouTube, but unfortunately, it's embedded into Entertainment Weekly's web page. As a big Hellboy fan, I'm not sure what to make of it so far, but I like the horror vibe.

Fuck it, I ripped it to my YouTube account. Find it here.

I watched them roughly once every night or two. And I'd previously seen them all.

And I was rather surprised at how I felt about the films afterwards. It seemed really clear that the quality of the films went continuously down after Casino Royal.

I thought Skyfall would stand out as the best followed by Casino Royal. But, in sequence, nah. Despite having clearly positive qualities, it seemed bloated and empty by comparison.

I also thought Quantum of Solace would rank pretty low as I recall thinking little of it at the time it came out. Instead, I thought it paired really well with Casino as a great follow up.

In fact, it felt like the Craig-era was basically Casino + Quantum and "other things". And yea, the "post-Skyfall" films just didn't feel like they were worth the effort. I thought they'd be more passable than they were, but after Casino + Quantum, which, for me, had a real punch and through-line, Spectre + No-Time-to-Die just felt like they were going through the motions and taking up space. At times, they really seemed to be badly flawed. And that's where my impression of Skyfall really hit ... it seemed that was the "what do we do now with this character?" moment and that Skyfall belonged with Spectre etc not the other way round.

Is this common among Bond fans or am I off base here?