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memfree @ memfree @piefed.social
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  • This week's LIVE MOVIE FRIDAY will be: Time of Death (2013)

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  • It is a very good writeup with which I totally disagree. I found it predicatble, uninteresting, and devoid of atmosphere.

    Before watching this, I'd watched Central Station and needed to ruminate on that for a bit before watching anything else. The characters developed with the story. The sets were busy with life and activities, and the settings were anything but generic. In comparison, Time of Death was so enervating that I needed to take a nap after the effort to sit through it.

  • This week's LIVE MOVIE FRIDAY will be: Time of Death (2013)

    Jump

  • Sorry I forgot which timezone so I guess I watched slightly early.

  • This week's LIVE MOVIE FRIDAY will be: Time of Death (2013)

    Jump

  • One of the things I learned during my years in business was that you can't dwell on the past. Mistakes are inevitably going to be made.

    Yeah, this was as bland and unremarkable as all the indicators suggested. It would have been a fine filler in any of several TV detective shows where we care what develops between the recurring characters, but it wasn't worth making into yet-another-generic-grey movie.

    Watching this got me looking for a better movie-night community and accidentally discovered that wombat@hexbear.net posts list Thursday Cinema nights I'd like to watch. Unfortunately, that basically involves joining hexbear.net and I am soooo not ready to take that step.

  • Will Smith, Westbrook Sign First-Look Deal With Paramount to Make Franchise Films

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  • I'm not watching anything with Will Smith or the rest of his family since he slapped Chris Rock. What a low rent jackass.

  • Cory Doctorow New Book: Enshitification

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  • Doctorow doesn't allow DRM on his works (both print and audio) so he can;t distribute through sites lilke Amazon that require it. Instead he runs a kickstarter to pay actual talent to do the audio and distributes through smaller channels.

  • Basic steak, veg, and mash

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  • Are those just boiled veg? Where's the garlic salt and pepper? I'd coat with butter or olive oil flavored with: paprika & cumin, or tarragon & thyme, or mustard & honey. Any extra would go on the meat.

    Anyway, it looks very pretty... just a bit bland.

  • Weekly thread - What movies have you watched this week? 03/09/2025

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  • I didn't get to answering last week, so this is two weeks of flicks:

    • The Doorway to Hell (1930): Pre-code gangster tries to reform. Lew Ayres stars yet Cagney shines in this so-so drama.
    • The Mayor of Hell l (1933) - Cagney stars as a gangster who was going to grift a reform school but instead decides to do right by the boys. Child actor Frankie Darro does a great job.
    • Beat the Devil (1953): light thriller by John Huston. Capote helped with the screenplay and Bogey and Lorre are fun.
    • Private Buckaroo (1942): war propaganda, but worth watching just to hear Harry James blow that bugle, boy... well, his trumpet, mostly. Also Andrew Sisters, Shemp, and overly choreographed jitterbugging.
    • The Doughgirls: (1946): inane and shrill
    • House (Hausu/ハウス) (1977): In modern parlance, this is extreme camp, but innovative and artistic for a 1977 schoolgirl comedy/horror.
    • Vamp (1986): Unlikeable guidos deal with vampires. Awful.
    • Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989): Fun vampire flick. It gave me a Nightlife vibe, which I appreciate.
    • every friggin Alien-but-not-Predator-movie in timeline order. When I saw them in the theaters on initial release, I cringed at the ending for Alien 3, and disliked the 4th, but on re-watch, I appreciate both movies as part of the lore... though that ending on 3 still annoys me a bit.

  • Is it worthwhile to watch bad movies?

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  • I hear you. I feel the same about overrated Marvel movies. The trick is to find critics that share your tastes, and ideally to find a few who share your tastes for different genres. I think this was easier in the age of print newspapers. You can trust J. Hoberman for serious movies, but not so much for silly ones. If you find yourself agreeing with a review, you might check if they're on the Rotten Tomatoes critic list to figure out if their other reviews follow your tastes.

  • Is it worthwhile to watch bad movies?

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  • sigh. I don't assume. I check. And my point is that Secret Path (aka Chasing Secrets) is generally regarded as a GOOD movie. In a different conversation, you mentioned that you don't like to follow critics or general opinions, but for me, a critic I trust is worth heeding and if I can't find that I fall back to the less precise voice of the people. Certain specific movies get hate-votes for things like an actor's scandal rather than the film, or an irrelgious item that has the church folk up in arms, but generally -- and certainly with exceptions -- if a movie rates highly with thousands of votes, it's ususally alright.

  • Is it worthwhile to watch bad movies?

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  • I did say "most" because there are exceptions. As you and the rating indicates, that'd be an exception.

  • Is it worthwhile to watch bad movies?

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  • Picking Roger Corman or Ed Wood as examples for 'bad movies' is disingenuous. They are known auteurs with limited budgets. Ken Russell almost fits, but he got a LOT of money for Tommy and that was awful -- but still worth watching because Russell directed it and it was quite a spectacle.

    There are lots of shlocky cheap movies WITH redeeming features that make them worth watching, but then there are the masses of mediocre movies that aren't trying for anything and add nothing of interest to the hours of available content. You know, the stuff AI will be churning out in the near future.

    Actual bad movies are things like: most anything on Lifetime -- you know, the 'scared white woman' dramas that follow the same strucure and simply change locations and threats, or most Hallmark romances with the same plot yet different cateers for the characters, or most anything Steven Segal made since the turn of the century.

    A GOOD bad movie might be The Barbarians. It is bad, but also kinda amusing and really cheap. The plot is predictable, but they obvioulsy had fun making it, and that comes through. The Blackening has its merits.

    4 for Texas is bad. Full stop. Yet... if you want to see a bunch of Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin movies, you'd be forced to sit through it for completion.

    Death of a Unicorn was just a waste of time.

  • This week's LIVE MOVIE FRIDAY will be: Time of Death (2013)

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  • I know! And you are good at it! I really liked your write up for Curse of the Cat People and meant to comment, but life took over and then later it felt too late.

  • Visitors!

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  • That's a muscovy. Have you lived there long? If not, did the previous people feed her last year? Try peas. Like: get a bag of frozen peas, microwave so they aren't frozen (or hot) and toss a couple out on the walk.

  • This week's LIVE MOVIE FRIDAY will be: Time of Death (2013)

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  • I don't want to argue with you because I really like your content and I admire the dedication to having a movie community at all... but... if I see a cow, I haven't 'discovered' it; seeing movies ain't discovery unless you are watching a recent release and there has not yet been time to reflect on it. I remember how bad the reviews for Blade Runner were on initial release, but a critic I followed suggested it worth a watch despite the flaws. I fell in love with it. It was totally unique for the time. I tried to share it with someone a few years back and he said there's nothing special to it -- it reminded him of a dozen other sci-fi moveis (to which I replied those all came after and this was their inspiration, but oh well).

    I won't play the slots because that's a losing game. The house always wins. I might play the horses, but I'd need a tip on why to pick one horse over another. I really want some decent critic/archivist/mega-fan to give me a tip on why to watch a movie that is generally considered bad.

  • This week's LIVE MOVIE FRIDAY will be: Time of Death (2013)

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  • Time is valuable, so unless I hear someone I trust suggest that despite the flaws, a thing has value for X reasons, I don't want to waste my time with it.

    I don't want to eat at a crappy restaurant when I can cook better at home, I don't want to read a crappy book when so many good books await, and I don't want to watch a crappy movie when so many interesting ones exist.

  • The Essential Indiana Jones Rip Off Movies of the 1980s - From King Solomon’s Mines to Romancing the Stone

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  • King Solomon’s Mines should not be on there because it is a remake of the classic from 1950, which is a remake of the 1937 version, and they are all based on the novel.

  • This week's LIVE MOVIE FRIDAY will be: Time of Death (2013)

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  • I appreciate all the work you put into organizing this and finding links, but... next time couldn't we watch good movies together? Or at least decent ones?

    I get stuck watching bad movies on my own for stupid reasons -- like watching Absolute Beginners because it has BOTH David Bowie AND Ray Davies (The Kinks) in it, but it isn't good. I wouldn't try to get anyone else to watch it. Rotten tomatoes only gives Absolute Beginners 39% and The Movie DB gives it 54%. My minimuim bar is generally 65% unless I'm looking for something specific from the film (like 2 famous musicians or a cinematographer who does amazing stuff even in bad films). For comparison, Time of Death gets 57% from TMDB and 36% from Rotten Tomatoes.

    I guess I don't mind stumbling into 'so bad it's good' once in a while, but I don't want to intentionally schedule it very often. Maybe we can switch it up?

    All that said: I'll be watching Time of Death with you on Friday!

  • If you had an 18 hour flight, what would you watch?

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  • On a round trip of two 14 hour flights, I tried to binge watch a TV series, but while the series was fine, the experience was awful. Games got boring, too. Reading was better. Sleep was best.

  • PAX Cooking: The aftermath

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  • Thank you for all the posts! I admire your dedication. Also, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one using those take-out/deli style containers for most everything.

  • What TV series has the best intro song or sequence? What TV series have the worst intro song or sequence?

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  • Believe it or not, I'm walking on air -- I never thought I could feel so free
    Flying away on a wing and a prayer -- Who could it be?
    Believe it or not, it's just me

    On the most sensational inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational This is what we call the Muppet Show!

  • movies @piefed.social
    memfree @piefed.social

    ‘Good Boy’ Trailer: A Horror Movie Told Entirely from a Dog’s Point of View Is One of the Year’s Best

    www.indiewire.com /news/trailers/good-boy-trailer-horror-movie-dog-point-of-view-1235145906/
  • Television @piefed.social
    memfree @piefed.social

    25 Shows We Can’t Wait to Watch This Fall

    www.indiewire.com /gallery/fall-2025-tv-preview/
  • movies @piefed.social
    memfree @piefed.social

    Beau Geste (1939) is a must-see classic

  • movies @piefed.social
    memfree @piefed.social

    Six Films Better Than the Books They’re Based On

    www.theatlantic.com /newsletters/archive/2025/07/six-films-better-than-the-books-theyre-based-on/683603/