NOW WATCHING
- Thread starter Onhell
- Start date
CriedWhenBrucieLeft
Meme Only Account
GSW23MaidenFan
Invader
Uh, lol, Celebrity Family Feud.
phantomoftheicarus
Bleeding Freak
The Great British Bake Off, which is obvious and mandatory viewing for all natives of Great Britain
Edington
Last Son of The Miracle
Just finished it myself. "That baby looks like a giant prawn!". I love Paul
GSW23MaidenFan
Invader
Oakland A's vs. Houston Astros - Bottom of the 9th
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
I've been watching the Netflix series, El Chapo about the biggest mexican drug lord, Joaquin Guzman Loera "El Chapo." It is a very good series and I highly recommend it. It was produced in the U.S by Univision, but it is in Spanish with American and Mexican actors. What I find most impressive about the series is that there are no good guys, NONE. Our main character is a drug lord, the rest of the cast of characters are the other durg lords, corrupt politicians, corrupt police, military and even the DEA itself. Yet somehow you cheer for el Chapo. A man that with a 3rd grade education went from a peasant working amapola fields to having a monopoly on the production and distribution of Marijuana, Cocaine and Heroin in all of the American continent, Most of Europe, West Africa, Russia, China and Malaysia. He displays resourcefulness, business acumen and except for one mistake, great military tactician. You are rooting for a monster to fuck over other monsters... that is a great TV show.
There is one episode in season 2 which I thought vital to the series. It is the consequences of the War on Drugs launched by Mexican President Calderon in 2006. You see women being kidnapped and turned into prostitutes, children being forced into the drug cartel armies and how they are broken and brainwashed. Families destroyed by their missing children and how corrupt cops take advantage of them and steal from them too. I thought the episode vital as it reminds us that El Chapo and the other drug lords ARE monsters, they ARE horrible people. Sadly it was just one episode, but I'm glad it is there, otherwise the series runs the danger of glorifying and romanticizing drug lords like the famous Narco Corridos, songs not unlike Medieval epic poems like the Song of Roland or El Mio Cid, except about narcos.
There is one episode in season 2 which I thought vital to the series. It is the consequences of the War on Drugs launched by Mexican President Calderon in 2006. You see women being kidnapped and turned into prostitutes, children being forced into the drug cartel armies and how they are broken and brainwashed. Families destroyed by their missing children and how corrupt cops take advantage of them and steal from them too. I thought the episode vital as it reminds us that El Chapo and the other drug lords ARE monsters, they ARE horrible people. Sadly it was just one episode, but I'm glad it is there, otherwise the series runs the danger of glorifying and romanticizing drug lords like the famous Narco Corridos, songs not unlike Medieval epic poems like the Song of Roland or El Mio Cid, except about narcos.
CriedWhenBrucieLeft
Meme Only Account
terrell39
Ancient Mariner
As if you can't tell by my Avatar, i am a huge fan of The Conjuring film Universe. Saw the Nun and I agree it was the darkest of the films. Tied to the 1st Conjuring film in a cool and unexpected way.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottm...uring-the-biggest-r-rated-horror-series-ever/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottm...uring-the-biggest-r-rated-horror-series-ever/
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
Dude, totally agree. LOVE the Conjuring cinematic universe. Yup, I just called it that, no different from the MCU. I really like it, but the more I think of it the more I LOVE it. SO many things I absolutely enjoyed about the movie from a technical aspect to the story itself.
I'll start with the non-spoiler nitpicks. It did bother me that it fell into a few horror cliche's like seeing something creeping in the middle of the night/forest and instead of, oh I don't know, running for your life/going back to bed, they go investigate with obvious repercussions.
When being told the history of the abbey they explain how the Templars show up with a relic to fight the evil. Later in the movie the priests tells the nun that accompanied him on his mission, "Only a true bride of Christ is worthy to carry such holy relic," or something like that, because I saw it in Spanish (will get to that later). Umm... Really? Because Templars weren't "brides of Christ," or very "pure" or "holy" people and they were able to carry it. Why is this nun so special? IT DOESN'T MATTER!
Minor annoyance due to watching it in Spanish, because my friend didn't want to watch it in English. One of the character's name is Daniel. In Spanish we have strong vowels ONLY, unlike in English. So we would say Daniel with the A as in apple, the i as "ee" as in knee and the e as in elephant. Also the emphasis is on the last syllable and on the E. Daniel. The people that dub the movie, latinize the English pronunciation emphazising the first syllable and stressing the a and merging the i and e sounds: Daniel. So bad job on their part. Also, Damian Bichir is a MEXICAN actor, he could have done his own dubbing, but they got some other dude to do it, so it was off-putting at first to see a familiar actor with a different voice.
Now to the good stuff!
Non-spoilers. I loved, loved, LOVED the references to Dracula. The fact that it was completely shot in Romania and like the first part of Dracula they go from the metropolitan, progressive, "big city," to the primitive, superstitious backwater that is the Romanian wilderness, horse-cart and all. Fucking awesome. It also reminded me of Stigmata with the whole investigation aspect and it is your traditional buddy-cop horror movie with the older, more experienced priest and the young, skeptical novice. The set-ups and payoffs are GREAT! Chekov would be proud, specially, because there's a gun. Get it? Chekov's Gun? *Rim shot* The Casting was great as well. I liked that Taissa Farmiga, of American Horror Story fame, played the novice as her sister, Vera Farmiga, is Elizabeth Warren in the main Conjuring franchise.
I recently saw a Youtube vid about, "What is wrong with modern horror movies," and one of his main gripes is they don't know how to build/release tension. Heavy reliance on gore and inadequate jump scares. Jump scares are often red herrings and it's just the friend, the cat, the broom, etc. This movie has NO false jump scares, so even if you see them coming you are rewarded with legit horror instead of someone closing a window.
To quasi-spoilers
I found the scene when Sister Irene finally takes her vows in the chapel her laying on the floor with her white habit is juxtaposed with the black ashes of the recently incinerated, possessed, mother superior. That reveal was incredible, learning that all the nuns were dead. It reminded me of The Others. The fact they were surrounded by ghosts the whole time, just... fuck yeah. Then the Star Wars Special Edition scene at the end where they edit one of the scenes from the original Conjurings when Ed and Lorraine Warren are showing a tape of an exorcism they performed they switch the actor to the one playing Maurice. They edit the line to say, "He was called Frenchie" and they Show that that is when Lorraine learns Valak's name. Great way to tie it in and have both sisters in the same film.
So like most of this cinematic universe (the first Anabelle did suck monkey nuts), nothing new, but VERY well executed, beyond competent storytelling and execution. As a horror fan I am in love with these creators (James Wan, Oren Peli, Gary Dauberman and Leigh Wannell to name a few.) who have a deep respect for the horror of the past and really know how to create good, modern horror that while it isn't original, it doesn't come across as a rip-off or cliched. I could go on for hours so I'll stop right here.
Last edited:
Number 6
Ancient Mariner
Her name is Lorraine.
Btw, saw the movie today! Loved it all the way through. I didn't get any of the criticism it's been receiving; none of the jump scares felt cheap, and there weren't even that many to begin with (at least, no more than in the other Conjuring films). Some critics (most, actually) even claimed this film to be the weakest in the franchise, story-wise, but I got none of that shit. Everything to me was well thought through and pieced together very well.
Bonnie Aarons is still fantastic as Valak, and her character was used very well. I loved the opening sequence, and all the twists and turns torwards the end and how it all connected back to the first Conjuring. The plot was much simpler than the other films in the franchise, I'll admit, but it was very well executed and put together in my opinion.
The Conjuring is by far my favorite cinematic universe ever, and every movie so far has been nothing short of outstanding (yes, I even like the first Annabelle; it might have been the weakest so far, but was still effective, and the hatred it keeps getting to date still baffles me).
In short, The Nun is yet another magnificent addition to the best horror series ever created.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
I realized my mistake and edited my post, but looks like I missed one lol. I too feel the criticism it is getting is underserved. One student from a different class said, "I didn't like it, because it didn't scare me." I'm fucking old and I've been watching horror since I was 3 years old. The last movie to truly scare me was The Descent. The Nun didn't "scare" me either, but it didn't make it a "bad" movie or less enjoyable.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
I just showed my students When a Stranger Calls. The original from 1979, though the 2006 remake wasn't bad. The first 20 minutes are the most iconic as it gave us the lines, "Have you checked the children?" and of course, "The call is coming from inside the house!" which was later spoofed 17 years later on one of the ads for the (failed) beer Bud Ice to great comical effect. It then got remade in 2006.
The movie's second act has been heavily criticized as pointless, slowing the whole movie down, rambling, etc. As I watched it (twice) again today I remembered why it is truly terrifying. There is a madman lose on the streets, literally. WE, the audience, knows what he is capable of and fear for everyone he meets. It is also important, because, to me anyway, he is as much of a victim as the babysitter he terrorizes in the first act. Expertly played by Carol Kane who's most recent work is on Netflix's The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Back to our Killer. It depressed me, seeing the scenes where he is trying to hit on a woman at a bar and failing miserably, begging for money, literally bumming around and eventually ending at the Gospel Rescue Mission. For those who are not aware, in the late 60s, the U.S let it's mentally ill population out on the streets for a couple of reasons. One, of course, was money. Government claimed it was getting to expensive for the fed and state governments to fund so many patients. The second was that many reports came out exposing the abuse of patients. Now the CRIMINALLY insane were obviously still kept in the hospitals, but the "harmless" population were unleashed to roam the streets. My site director when I worked at the behavioral health agency told me how many of the northeast ex-patients were bused to the southwest so they wouldn't freeze during winter. It is clear he is a paranoid schizophrenic, and his violent outbursts reminded me of the young man that shot our congresswoman in Tucson, and other stories I heard during my time at the behavioral health agency.
It is a fascinating movie to watch now. The lines mentioned above are still used today. The fact that it is from 1979, seeing the rotary phone, the old ringing sound, dial tone, busy signal, the fact that there were still human operators on the other side of the line. The soundtrack is classic 60s/70s suspense/horror violins/piano that one can recognize in movies like Insidious. The long shots, the building of tension... loved it.
The remake was competent. It takes the first 20 minutes of the original and made it a feature length home-invasion film. I liked that the girl actually fought back instead of being a dumb damsel in distress scream queen.
The movie's second act has been heavily criticized as pointless, slowing the whole movie down, rambling, etc. As I watched it (twice) again today I remembered why it is truly terrifying. There is a madman lose on the streets, literally. WE, the audience, knows what he is capable of and fear for everyone he meets. It is also important, because, to me anyway, he is as much of a victim as the babysitter he terrorizes in the first act. Expertly played by Carol Kane who's most recent work is on Netflix's The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Back to our Killer. It depressed me, seeing the scenes where he is trying to hit on a woman at a bar and failing miserably, begging for money, literally bumming around and eventually ending at the Gospel Rescue Mission. For those who are not aware, in the late 60s, the U.S let it's mentally ill population out on the streets for a couple of reasons. One, of course, was money. Government claimed it was getting to expensive for the fed and state governments to fund so many patients. The second was that many reports came out exposing the abuse of patients. Now the CRIMINALLY insane were obviously still kept in the hospitals, but the "harmless" population were unleashed to roam the streets. My site director when I worked at the behavioral health agency told me how many of the northeast ex-patients were bused to the southwest so they wouldn't freeze during winter. It is clear he is a paranoid schizophrenic, and his violent outbursts reminded me of the young man that shot our congresswoman in Tucson, and other stories I heard during my time at the behavioral health agency.
It is a fascinating movie to watch now. The lines mentioned above are still used today. The fact that it is from 1979, seeing the rotary phone, the old ringing sound, dial tone, busy signal, the fact that there were still human operators on the other side of the line. The soundtrack is classic 60s/70s suspense/horror violins/piano that one can recognize in movies like Insidious. The long shots, the building of tension... loved it.
The remake was competent. It takes the first 20 minutes of the original and made it a feature length home-invasion film. I liked that the girl actually fought back instead of being a dumb damsel in distress scream queen.
Navigators Ghost
Ancient Mariner
KHL hockey
FTB
Stranger in a Strange Board
No problem dude. We get 2 Sunday games every week. Next up is pats jaguarsGo Pack Go!
For a first time in years I've got a channel where I can watch NFL and I hadn't even noticed
Thank you so much @FTB !!!
AR12 playing on 1 leg is still better than 95% of the qbs
Last edited: