I was thinking if we can have a weekly thread on ~movies for discussing Boxoffice performance and projections, if there is enough interest for it. There are a few posts on ~movies, however they are limited to popular movie of month like Indiana Jones and Elemental ones. A dedicated post will also reduce the multiple posts.

This is my running list of the strangest films I have seen (and managed to write down). This list is by no means exhaustive, so please feel free to add to it!

For list formatting purposes I don't lead with A, An, or The. An example: Fall, The (2006)

Altered States (1980)
Aria (1987)
Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
Black Moon (1975)
Blood Tea and Red String (2006)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Boxing Helena (1993)
Brazil (1985)
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The (1920)
Clerks. (1994)
Clerks II (2006)
Cowards Bend the Knee (2003)
Crash (1996)
Delicatessen (1991)
Dogtooth (2009)
Dreams That Money Can Buy (1947)
Elephant Man, The (1980)
Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)
Fall, The (2006)
Faust (1994)
F for Fake (1973)
Freaks (1932)
Funky Forest - The First Contact (2005)
Gozu (2003)
Grizzly Man (2005)
Gummo (1997)
Holy Mountain, The (1926)
In My Skin (2002)
Kamikaze Girls (2004)
Kids (1995)
Last Wave, The (1977)
Li'l Quinquin
Liquid Sky (1982)
Lost Highway (1997)
Love Serenade (1996)
Lucio (2007)
M (1931)
Marat Sade (1967)
Meet the Feebles (1989)
Muriel's Wedding (1994)
Naked Lunch (1991)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Rabbit a la Berlin (2009)
Rubber (2010)
Saragossa Manuscript, The (1965)
Sick - The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997)
Slacker (1991)
Sonic Outlaws (1995)
Spectres of the Spectrum (1999)
Spirited Away (2001)
Stalker (1979)
Survive Style 5+ (2004)
Sweet Movie (1974)
Talk to Her (2002)
Thing, The (1982)
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The (2005)
Topo, El (1970)
Tribulation 99 - Alien Anomalies Under America (1992)
Trouble Every Day (2001)
Tuvalu (1999)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
Videodrome (1983)
Visitor Q (2001)
Waking Life (2001)
Welcome to Woop Woop (1997)
WR - Mysteries of the Organism (1971)
You, the Living (2007)

He says he wants the "man-machine" built with the likeness of Maria in order to "sow discord" amongst the workers. Maria is the one who is preaching a message of hope/faith and therefore keeping a revolution at bay. For how much longer, who knows. The point is, she is giving the workers hope and preventing violence.

Why would Johann want a version of Maria that encourages a revolution (death to the machines!)? It is in Johann's best interest if the workers stay succumbed, as his bourgeoisie lifestyle is dependent on their work.

(First post, sorry if the tags are bad.)

Since there are topics about cult classics and movies that everyone loves, I figured I'd make another thread about movies that you love that everyone else hates!

I've got to start with Jupiter Ascending. A lot of you know that I'm an unabashed fan of the Wachowskis, and this is almost universally recognized as their worst movie. It's pretty easy to see why; it's a confused mess. But even so, you can see the vision behind it. The story goes that they wanted this to be a three-film series much like they did with the Matrix sequels, but at one point the studio decided that they just wanted to make one film, so we got a very long hyper-compressed version where things weren't allowed to make much sense. The visuals are fantastic as you would expect from a Wachowski film, but the real diamond in the rough here is Eddie Redmayne's performance.

Branded is an almost objectively terrible movie. It's a fairly well put-together movie, but the idea behind it was bad. To make matters worse, the company that promoted it released trailers that basically just lied about what it was about, basically just scamming the audience into thinking it was a much more interesting movie. The IMDB page still has a fairly misleading description to this day. Thankfully I went into it blind, and I actually enjoyed it. The message was good, even if the storytelling wasn't, and it had a surprisingly excellent soundtrack.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

We all have that one special movie that makes other people raise their eyebrows. Maybe it’s a movie they just don’t get, maybe it’s super campy, or maybe it really is bad but it still owns some real estate in your heart for your own reasons.

Mine is the obscure ‘Saturday the 14th Strikes Back’. It truly is awful. It has nothing to do with its horror parody prequel, the acting is uneven, the story is unmoored - but it’s zany. Lots of unexpected absurdities. I won’t force this movie on anyone, but it was a regular comfort rental for me back in the day.

So, what’s yours?

I just realized I haven't made a full post with Oscar predictions since January (did one for the Globes and one for the Guild). Well now that we're half-way through the year, here's where I think the current Oscar race stands:

Picture:

1. The Holdovers
2. Oppenheimer
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
4. Dune: Part Two
5. Barbie
6. Past Lives
7. The Zone of Interest
8. The Killer
9. Saltburn
10. Anatomy of a Fall

Director:

1. Christopher Nolan - Oppenheimer
2. Martin Scorsese - Killers of the Flower Moon
3. Alexander Payne - The Holdovers
4. Denis Villenueve - Dune: Part Two
5. Jonathan Glazer - The Zone of Interest

Original Screenplay:

1. The Holdovers
2. Past Lives
3. Saltburn
4. Anatomy of a Fall
5. May-December

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Barbie
2. Killers of the Flower Moon
3. Oppenheimer
4. Dune: Part Two
5. The Zone of Interest

Lead Actor:

1. Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer
2. Paul Giamatti - The Holdovers
3. Leonardo DiCaprio - Killers of the Flower Moon
4. Barry Keoghan - Saltburn
5. Colman Domingo - Rustin

Lead Actress:

1. Margot Robbie - Barbie
2. Greta Lee - Past Lives
3. Natalie Portman - May-December
4. Sandra Huller - Anatomy of a Fall
5. Annette Bening - Nyad

Supporting Actor:

1. Robert Downey Jr. - Oppenheimer
2. Robert DeNiro - Killers of the Flower Moon
3. Ryan Gosling - Barbie
4. Jesse Plemmons - Killers of the Flower Moon
5. Teo Yoo - Past Lives

Supporting Actress:

1. D'avine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers
2. Lilly Gladstone - Killers of the Flower Moon
3. Emily Blunt - Oppenheimer
4. Julianne Moore - May-December
5. Rosamund Pike - Saltburn

Cinematography:

1. Oppenheimer
2. Dune: Part Two
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
4. The Killer
5. The Zone of Interest

Film Editing:

1. Oppenheimer
2. Killers of the Flower Moon
3. Dune: Part Two
4. The Holdovers
5. The Killer

Sound:

1. Oppenheimer
2. Dune: Part Two
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
4. The Killer
5. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One

Original Score:

1. Oppenheimer
2. Dune: Part Two
3. The Zone of Interest
4. The Killer
5. Past Lives

Original Song:

1. "Dance the Night" from Barbie
2. "Quiet Eyes" from Past Lives
3. "More of Us" from Wish
4. "Gonna be You" from 80 For Brady
5. Original Song from Wonka

Production Design:

1. Barbie
2. Dune: Part Two
3. Oppenheimer
4. Killers of the Flower Moon
5. Wonka

Costume Design:

1. Barbie
2. Oppenheimer
3. Dune: Part Two
4. Wonka
5. Killers of the Flower Moon

Hair and Make-up:

1. Oppenheimer
2. Dune: Part Two
3. Guaridans of the Galaxy Vol. 3
4. Renfield
5. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

VFX:

1. Dune: Part Two
2. Oppenheimer
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
4. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One
5. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Animated Feature:

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
2. How Do You Live?
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
4. Wish
5. Nimona

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.

I love hearing about obscure or forgotten films that people are passionate about. I was in a thread on Reddit, IIRC, and someone mentioned The Man From Earth. I just watched it for the first time and I can see its appeal.

I'm sure you have more than one. For me, a couple of favorites off the top of my head are Wristcutters: A Love Story and Wings of Desire. And some old timey classics that I rarely hear mentioned anymore are I Know Where I'm Going and The Lady Eve.

What's a guaranteed hit, not everyone's favorite, but anyone can enjoy? (i.e. maybe not 9 or 10, but no ratings below a 6)

Shawshank redemption is my #1 pick. Others up there i think would be the Sandlot & The prestige.

Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.

Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.