General Movies & TV Thread

[jseal777]

Did you watch Heated Rivalry only for the hockey?

 

[SeventyOne]

Admitting to my bias, I'm a huge A Song of Ice and Fire fan, and the Dunk and Egg novellas are my favorite books in the series. That said, HBO's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is one of the best book-to-screen adaptations I've ever seen. Every character so far is perfectly cast--some ("The Laughing Storm") even improve upon the book, while remaining true to it. Entire scenes use the exact dialogue from the text. This is a character-driven piece with no flashy CGI dragons, but it never feels slow. And there's a fair amount of humor, which is often missing in this universe. Highly recommended.

 

[Cwoolboy]

Not to get political BUT: When you realize that Greg Bovino looks almost exactly like Col. Lockjaw in One Battle After Another...especially the haircut.

 

[rageofthegods]

Not to get political BUT: When you realize that Greg Bovino looks almost exactly like Col. Lockjaw in One Battle After Another...especially the haircut.

You know what's hilarious? OBAA was completely finished before Bovino became a national figure. He only came to prominence in June of last year during the ICE wave in Los Angeles, before that he was an obscure regional commander.

Anyway, hope he retires to a nice corner office with a view.

 

[Cwoolboy]

Posting my review for Send Help here because it's more of a dark comedy than it is a horror film.

Linda Liddell (Rachel McAdams) is an unappreciated over-achiever and Suvivor (as in the tv show) enthusiast who works in strategy and planning. Promised a VP position by her former boss, she is heart-broken when his nepo baby phallic noggin son, Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), takes over and passes the job to one of his college buddies (a mini Patrick Bateman named Donovan, played by Xavier Samuel). When their private jet headed for a corporate meeting crashes into the ocean during a fierce storm, Linda and Bradley wash up on the same deserted island. They carry their ugly corporate politics from their previous lives onto the island, and a desperate fight for dominance ensues.

Sam Raimi returns to original films after mixed reactions to 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Raimi continues his signature taste for oddball dark humor, this time leaning fully into the comedy aspect of survival films. Send Help is a comedically cartoonish take on Cast Away or Survivor. A good portion of the movie feels like an extended take on the SpongeBob episode where SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward find themselves stranded on an island.

This film refuses to take itself seriously, despite there being a good deal of darkness and messed-up stuff going on, especially in the last 35 minutes. The cinematography is handled by Bill Pope. It’s competently done, but shines most during the first 20 minutes on the mainland. The score is composed by Danny Elfman and he does an impressive job as usual. There is a lot of CGI used throughout and all of it is ugly, bad, obvious, and overly cartoony. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien are entertaining in their respective roles. It’s appreciated neither are particularly likable by the end.

Those looking for horror are bound to be disappointed as this one is basically a straight-up dark comedy. Easter Eggs to look out for include the necklace from Evil Dead being worn by Linda during the first act and a sequence that hearkens back to Raimi’s beloved Deadites. Send Help isn’t quite the return to form or return to horror fans have been screaming for as Raimi’s main interest these days seems to be making goofy, darkly comedic, feature-length live-action cartoons. Despite my complaints, Send Help is still a wildly entertaining time at the theater.

3.5 STARS