Midweek Movie Free Talk

I finally saw X and Pearl. I try to keep up with all the hyped movies that come out of the internet but every now and then I’ll just try to avoid some until the hype dies down a little.

I had torrented X a while ago now actually (I think before Pearl even came out) but never watched it. But now that Showtime got unlocked for Paramount+ and now I can watch all those A24 film I decided to give them both a watch.

I think I like the idea of both movies more than I like the movies themselves. Making two horror movies back to back with the same actress (I actually think it would have been cooler if they kept the exact same cast for both). One of them is more of an old-school exploitation flick (X) and the other is more in line with modern art-house horror films (Pearl). And they’re both pulled off pretty well.

I liked Pearl more than X. Pearl has more sophisticated techs, the colors, the camera movement, the costumes. And Mia Goth gives a better performance in it than in X. Though I did like X’s more tongue in cheek tone and the goofy soundtrack.

I kind of wish I saw both in theaters now. I know film twitter likes X but they went bananas for Pearl. But yeah, having one release in March and the other in September (with a premiere at Venice no less) is such a cool idea. I’m actually surprised they didn’t just shoot all three films together (Maxxxine will come out some time next year). And I can definitely see why Ti West got invited to the academy on the backs of these films.

Just rewatched "Silence of the Lambs" over the weekend and got a lot more out of it than last time. The way many scenes are shot to show Clarice as small / vulnerable with men leering at her stood out, especially as she gets further into the case and transitions from confident to pleading with Hannibal to reveal the killer. The dialog as Hannibal twists their conversations further and further to reveal her vulnerability and break her down is riveting. My biggest complaint is the climax leaning on the "I'm going in solo" cop trope at the end, but the scene of Buffalo Bill creeping after Clarice in night-vision is gut-wrenching. Overall just a fascinating, disturbing watch.

I watched Gone With the Wind for the first time. The racism, sexism and minimizing of the horrors of slavery was hard to watch. But Vivien Leigh has an amazing gift for facial expression to show emotion. As the story of a tragic marriage, it was excellent.

I wasn’t feeling Asteroid City at first, but once it clicked with how meta it’s was, I enjoyed it. I most likely won’t ever watch it again, however. Andersons latest work is parody of his earlier work.

In my other comment I mentioned that Ti West got invited into the Academy on the back of X and Pearl. Well something I learned about not so long ago, but I thought was fascinating, was this movie called My Son Hunter. It's about the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Back in 2022, the film had an industry screening where it received a standing ovation. Because conservatives in Hollywood do in fact exist, and it's not just Clint Eastwood.

It's on the back of this film that Robert Davi, the director, got invited into the Academy.

So someone uploaded the entire film on YouTube for free. I went in with an open mind, because maybe there's something there for this industry reception, right? I didn't finish it. I didn't even get far into it. The opening five minutes feels like a bad Daily Caller sketch, it's like they snatched random people off the street and asked them if they wanted to be in a movie. And I've seen better cinematography, editing, and sound in porn (though to be fair there's pretty high quality porn now-a-days).

It's just such a weird little corner of the industry.