Category: Movie Pass Adventures

  • Movie Pass Adventures: 40 Acres

    The cast of 40 Acres.
    A small, thin image of the top halves of the cast of 40 Acres.

    When a suspense/horror/apocalypse movie is really good you ignore all the details that don’t make sense. That said:

    The whole plot is based on a disease that kills 98% of all edible plants, which causes the death of all animals. But the forest looks great! What happened to the animals that eat forest plants? How is the forest not completely out of balance? What about insects? If the trees are alive, should insects that eat wood be having a field day? And then wouldn’t animals that eat insects also be having a grand old time?

    And where do they get gas?

    And the farm has been turned into a heavily monitored fortress. How?

    And the electric fence can be disabled by breaking a junction box that’s unlocked and in plain sight on the fence! How is that useful?

    And I won’t spoil the fight scene at the end that is so dumb that it hurts.

    Even with all this, the movie is still okay. But if the story was just a little stronger I wouldn’t have cared about the billions of plot holes.

    The big link between this movie and the movie the fake poster is based on: their titles both start with a number in the forties.

    A poster for 40 Acres mimicking the poster for 48 HRS.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Streaming Retro Movie Adventures: Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

    Stephen Chow as Sing in Kung Fu Hustle

    I watched this because it was a pick on the Screen Drafts “Action Comedy” episode. It’s really fun- very much a live action martial arts version of a Warner Brothers cartoon. I was a little put off by a bit of homophobia, but other than that it was pretty darn good.

    Today’s fake poster once again has almost nothing to do with the poster it’s copying, but they both feature someone smoking. That’s something, right?

    A fake poster for Kung Fu Hustle mimicking the poster for The Phoenician Scheme.

    A side note: I think I finally fixed the way these posts are showing up on Mastodon. We’ll all know when I hit the publish button!

    Fediverse reactions

  • Retro Streaming Movie Adventures: The Night of the Hunter (1955)

    Robert Mitchum in The Day of the Hunter, holding the head of a post, showing tattoos oneach finger that spell out LOVE.
    A closeup of Robert Mitchum's fingers in The Day of the Hunter, showing tattoos that spell LOVE on his right hand and HATE on his left.

    Call me crazy, but I think that preacher seems untrustworthy.

    If you recognize the source poster for this fake one without looking it up, you know far too much about movie posters.

    A fake poster for The Night of the Hunter mimicking the poster for The Day of the Dolphin.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Retro Movie Adventures: Nashville (1975)

    Stylized image of Henry Gibson as Haven Hamilton in Nashville. He is drawn in red, white, and blue, with red white and blue outlies.
    Keith Carradine and Cristina Raines as Tom & Mary in Nashville.

    Things to have or do in a movie to make me less likely to enjoy it:

    • Tons of characters with no clear lead
    • So many people talking at once that it’s hard to know what anyone is saying
    • Lots of country music

    Robert Altman manages to put all of those things in a movie that’s over two and a half hours long and make something great.

    Now I should probably watch it again with subtitles.

    Today’s poster isn’t very good, and the two movies have pretty much no connection whatsoever. Enjoy!

    A poster for Nashville mimicking the poster for Dune.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: Poolman

    Stylized image of Chris Pine as Darren Barrenman in Poolman.
    Chris Pine as Darren Barrenman in Poolman, showing off his sweet elementary school headphones.

    Watched as prep for The Flop House. I try to do my homework!

    This movie got hammered by critics like it was made of cancer and strangled kittens, and I don’t think it’s anywhere near that level of nightmare. It constantly almost works. There are details I love, like his “Walkman”: a COBY knockoff with big elementary school headphones (I see you, Califone 2924AVs). But Pine lets too many of his influences take over instead of using them as a lens for his own style. But it’s is first shot at directing; I would not be surprised at all if there are Chris Pine directing retrospectives in the future (where Poolman is called “critically misunderstood”).

    Or he might become Neil Breen. Who knows?

    Today’s poster: A movie called “Poolman” gets a pool movie poster.

    A poster for Poolman mimicking the poster for The Hustler.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: F1: The Movie

    Brad as Sonny in F1: The Movie
    “I’m Maverick – I mean, I’m SONNY.”
    Brad Pitt and Damson Idris looking seriously at the camera in F1: THe Movie.

    If you ever wanted to see Top Gun: Maverick but 20 minutes longer and with race cars, then I’ve got the movie for you!

    Today’s fake poster is based on an equally serious film.

    A poster for F1: The Movie mimicking the poster for Dude, Where's My Car?.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: Ponyboi

    River Gallo as Ponyboi, standing in a laundromat, leaning against a broom
    Murray Bartlett as Bruce looks at River Gallo as Ponyboi, who is looking away.

    There’s a lot of good stuff in this, but it gives Ponyboi too many problems to deal with. I’m sure the effect is supposed to be a constant heightening of tension, but it felt more like trying to cram every possible neo-noir cliché into a single story.

    Bonus: Ponyboi (2019)

    I didn’t realize until I got home that the movie is adapted from a short film River Gallo made in 2019. It’s on Vimeo. The short is less polished than the movie, but the story is more focused. Almost every line from the short is in the movie, but some are shuffled to new characters. The last scene is similar to the last one in the movie, but it’s much more connected to the rest of the story.

    Obvious choice for today’s fake poster:

    A poster for Ponyboi mimicking the poster for The Outsiders.
    Fediverse reactions

  • Movie Pass Adventures: Sorry, Baby

    Eva Victor holds a cat in Sorry, Baby.
    Naomi Ackie and Eva Victor bundled in warm jackets and laying on brown grass in Sorry, Baby.

    A movie about recovering from sexual assault that somehow manages to acknowledge the seriousness of the crime even while it inserts comedy. I liked it muchly.

    Today’s fake poster is based on a very different baby movie.

    A poster for Sorry, Baby mimicking the poster for Rosemary's Baby.

    But the question is: did I fix how the blog posts to the Fediverse? We’re about to find out!

    Fediverse reactions

  • Retro Movie (no pass) Adventures: Blade Runner (1982)

    Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty in Blade Runner. Just his head is visible, He is smiling.
    Sean Young as Rachael from Blade Runner. Just her face is visible. The background is unclear gold and brown shapes.

    Man, this movie is good. I saw a 4K remaster at The Egyptian, and it was frickin’ beautiful.

    A few days ago I watched Tony Scott’s The Hunger. Yesterday I watched Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. I guess I should complete the director trilogy by watching Michael Scott’s Threat Level: Midnight.

    A few months ago I used Blade Runner’s poster as the model for the fake poster for A New Leaf, so it only seems fair to do the reverse for this movie.

    A fake poster for Blade Runner mimicking the poster for A New Leaf.

  • Movie Pass Adventures: Bring Her Back

    The siblings from Bring Her Back.
    The eyes of "Ollie" from Bring Her Back.

    Well, that movie wasn’t for me. It does exactly what it looks like it will do; if that’s your thing, you’ll probably enjoy it. I was mostly bored and occasionally uncomfortable.

    Today’s fake poster kinda-sorta looks like the original. The reason it works at all is the movie logo.

    A fake poster for Bring Her Back mimicking the poster for Back to the Future.
    Fediverse reactions
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