Between yesterday and today, I watched 2023's The 12th Fail and 2024's Maharaja. I absolutely LOVED both movies for different reasons—they're both amazingly good in their own right. I want both in my collection so badly, and I’d love to buy copies to gift to people I care about. But after a quick Google search, I couldn't find any information about a physical release, not even a future date. Is this common for Indian movies? I'm fairly new to their cinema, so it's really disappointing that I can't include these gems in my collection! Any advice or insights would be appreciated. Thanks!

I watched Hitman a few weeks ago and I really hated the ending, but that's not really what this post is about. My main confusion is with the girlfriend. To my understanding she wanted to kill her husband for the insurance money and it's made clear throughout the film that she's bad news, but what I can't quite figure out is why she felt the need to perform and play the sad, victim girlfriend when she met up with glens character the first time. We slowly start to see what type of person she is as the movie goes on and it's nothing like what she presents herself to be in that first scene. Based on the scene where she and glens character meet the husband at the bar she does not look like someone who is seeing their abuser for the first time in awhile, in fact she seems to be very sarcastic about it. I thought that maybe she knew he was a cop and wanted to make it seem like she had no choice, but it's not implied at any point that she knew glens character was a cop, if that was the case she wouldn't have shown up in the first place. I chalked it up to maybe the actress was not very good but after watching her performance in "Blink Twice" she seems to be an excellent actress. What is with the change in her characters personality? Is she just a sociopath and played all innocent because she has never shown her true colors and after dating glens character she felt like she didn't have to hide? I just don't see any benefit or reason for her put on a show for her hitman. How would giving a sob story benefit her? Even if i misunderstood and she was being abused or mistreated by her husband why pretend to be someone you're not when we've seen throughout the film that she is not that person.

I’m kind of confused, Sharif gets mag dumped and dies immediately. Cain is wounded and suffers til his death and O dog isn’t even scratched.

Also what I find funny is moments before the shooting, Anthony rides his tri back to the front of the van. He was basically out of way when the shooters pulled up. They fired after they pulled up and as far as my gun knowledge, I’m aware guns aren’t always accurate and bullets will sway time to time.

And with that knowledge, the bullets could find their way to Sharif with fast paced, careless shooting, but not in the direction of Anthony himself? Not to mention Cain is “safe guarding” Anthony ON THE WRONG SIDE. Anthony’s back is up against the curb cause Cain couldn’t fully cover him.

What I also find sad as well is when Harold was murdered on the night of the jacking, Sharif stayed behind. And I understand it’s pointless to care for the dead in the heat of the moment, but I kinda wished they did the same for Sharif upon his death.

I’ve had these questions for a while and were reminded of them each time I rewatched the movie. But I’m actually curious as to why this is the way it is. AND WHERE THE FUCK IS A-WAX THROUGH ALL OF THIS? Like seriously, he just disappears every time without me having a single clue of where he went.

But to finish it up, does anybody have any answers?

Does the plot of the movie "No Hard Feelings" with Jennifer Lawrence make anyone else mad? Like the one scene where she tells Percy to smack her butt and starts to act sexual with him makes me mad, because if the roles were reversed and it was a guy acting sexual it wouldn't be okay with anyone, yet when a girl does it to a guy it's fine.

I read from Wikipedia "A Mary Sue is often an author's idealized self-insertion, and may serve as a form of wish fulfillment". Is it means what a right character is that who can make a mistakes and to have a little bit of kind and evil? I mean what if a character can be more realistic that way but with a bit of dreams of author?

Other than the stepmother in Cinderella and Malficent due to massive plot change, the other villains simply didn't have the magic like their animated selves.

Jafar was pretty much the weakest part of the movie while I like it a lot. Scar also wasn't even close. Gatson and Ursula both didn't leave anything memorable.

Sean Penn in Mystic River, for example. Could be heartbreak, or any other circumstance. My husband's vote is Denzel Washington in Glory. This came about because we were discussing the best drunk portrayal and decided on Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas. Then we changed to heartbreak/agony, and i thought id consult with Reddit about it, too

Asking because I have recently watched a few movies that seem like complete blackmail.

Guess Who with Ashton Kutcher

Tiptoes with Mathew McConaughey

Battlefield Earth with Travolta

The Happening with Zoey Deschanel

These movies are so frustratingly stupid and obsurd that I can't come up with any reason as to why they were made the way they were. I will admit that I do kind of enjoy Battlefield Earth but the others are unthinkably pointless. The happening also seems like a candidate for money laundering because theres just no possible way the people involved in production didn't understand how bad it was during its filming.

Guess Who has the worst chemistry between Ashton Kutcher and everyone else. It almost seems like he is being held hostage and forced to read the lines. Very confusing performance and basically an unwatchable movie.

Tiptoes I don't even need to explain....just watch the trailer.

Are there stories of actors being blackmailed into roles to keep from being negatively viewed?

I’m not necessarily saying it has to be the scariest scene of all time, but what movie gave you a bad jump scare and what was the scene?

It was 3 am and my friends put on this movie for me called It Follows. I don’t know why but the scene when the 7 foot man walked into the room with the mask on I completed jumped and yelled

I’m curious to hear some other scenes, did anyone else get scared by the tall man? Lol

To be clear this is not a great movie not even a good movie, but it has so many things that I look for in a film that I’m having trouble figuring out where it went wrong.

Cast : great Michael Pitt, Sharlto Copley, (Edgar Ramirez.. a little).

Genre: heist/ action : my favorite genre

Budget : relatively high considering set pieces are well designed

Runtime : excessive

For any of you who have seen this, where did they drop the ball? So many good pieces

I was thinking about Rob Lowe today. There’s a good chance younger generations only know him as the literally lovable and upbeat Chris Traeger from Parks and Rec, but in the 80s and early 90s he was an absolute douchebag in almost every role.

Ray Liotta also seemed pretty cantankerous and bad in a lot of roles, but he’s also in my mind the definition of an amazing father in the movie Blow.

Anyone you can think of that fits the bill?

I don't know how well-known this film is, but what a masterpiece. Especially if you're a movie lover yourself. The film tells quite a generic love story between two people, only it's being told with small clips from existing classics. There's some very surprising and funny choices in movies as well, and I got excited every time a favorite movie passed through.

It's called Final Cut: Ladies & Gentlemen. You can watch it for free on Vimeo!

I’m watching Mission Impossible. I can’t believe how old fashioned it feels…IN A GOOD WAY. It feels like a movie you can really snuggle into and get invested in. I don’t get that with the sequels for some reason. Same with Die Hard 1 and 2: both have snuggle value that for me the sequels don’t have. Why is that?

I have it on Blu-Ray. With all the A.I. talk going around I decided to re-watched this the other night.

A good flick. Great cinematography, smart dialogue, strong story, thought provoking. But difficult to watch. It stays with you after the end credits have run (at least for me).

The moral questions it raises. The Flesh Fair scene. The abandonment in the woods. That scene crushes me every time. It used to make me cry.

What's everybody's take on it?

This is quite possibly my favorite movie at the moment, and I get something new out of it each time I watch it.

However.

There are two scenes that confuse the shit out of me that both involve Raymond Dufayel watching recordings on his TV. What is the significance of what he is watching and why is it that both times the initial recording is interrupted by antique recordings of American black people singing and dancing? The first time it’s a gospel choir and the second time it’s a man with a peg leg singing and dancing. I can’t for the life of me figure out what this means. I’m pretty sure those two scenes are the only times both black people and the English language show up in the movie, which has to be significant in some way.

This is obviously a rhetorical question, he's doing them because he wants to, and I like all his recent work, but I am desperate for an original film once again. Nightmare Alley was a remake/re-adaptation of the book (great film but a weird Best Picture nomination, I'd have swapped it for Tick Tick Boom or Pig), Pinocchio is a masterpiece but still a very old source and now he's doing Frankenstein. Again, I'm excited for the film, but I'm really keen for an original work, as before now his only IP stuff was Hellboy and Blade. Even Shape of Water was basically his hidden Creature From the Black Lagoon. If not even GDT can finance original projects, what hope does anyone have?

This came out in the last couple of days.

A guy named Calhoun shows up at a super-remote house owned by a mother and daughter. He's got some ill gotten gains with him.

I watched it today, thought it was pretty good, the interaction between the mother and Calhoun a definite high point. The villain had some real Biff Tannen vibes.

There were some stupid bits, though. >!One of the gang shoots the daughter in the shoulder. She's unconscious for a good 15 minutes, he doesn't bother checking to see if she's dead, he just tells everyone she is, even his own allies.!<

The ending >!has a twist that's purely for shock value - it turns out the mother and daughter were cannibals. It makes little odds - Calhoun was dead anyway, so were the rest of them - and the film hasn't really raised any questions that that answers!<

Decent watch anyway, maybe a 6/10.

Just watched SMILE and it really got to me. The movie dives into trauma and schizophrenia in such a chilling way. The part where she gives the dead cat to the boy was so disturbing. The whole film is unsettling, especially the ending when her mind finally breaks. Anyone else find this movie intense and unsettling?

Before you ask, yes, there are a total of 11 movies, lol. Five of these are Anaconda films. The first two are standalone, while the 3rd and 4th are connected. The 5th is a Chinese reimagining of the original that was just released this year. As for the Lake Placid series, the first four movies are connected, and the 5th seems to be a standalone story. Finally, there’s a crossover called Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, which connects to Anaconda 3 and 4, as well as the first four Lake Placid films. Now, here are my thoughts.

THE ANACONDA MOVIES:

1. Anaconda (1997) 7.5/10:

It's an entertaining summer horror movie that still holds up well to date!

It’s been a while since I saw it as a kid and enjoyed it, and I’ve always wondered why it was never considered beloved. Now I can kind of see why some people don’t like it, but I think they are a bit over the top about this movie. It’s honestly not a bad movie at all. It’s just campy fun and holds up remarkably well for a killer snake movie.

The whole cast is fun! Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube are a duo that weirdly works out well, and I enjoyed them together. Jon Voight gives an annoying and laughable performance, but he was also entertaining. “Bad good” is probably the right phrase to describe his performance. Seeing Owen Wilson in it was so random because I don’t remember him being in it at all.

The vibes and visuals were really enjoyable. The practical effects were effective, even though they weren’t anything impressive. It had some good anaconda action. Everything else was simply dumb fun, and it perfectly filled my time.

Overall, I call it a good and entertaining monster movie. I enjoyed it!

2. Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) 6.5/10:

Although I still prefer the original, this was actually better than I expected and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone found it better than the first film.

I expected the quality to be undoubtedly low, given that it’s a sequel to the first film, which was quite cheesy, but it overall seemed fairly decent. One thing I liked about this movie is that it felt more like a survival movie about people getting lost in the jungle rather than just being about anacondas. A lot of the filming locations made it feel like the first Far Cry game.

Not all the characters are likable, but there were some good ones, and I liked that there’s a human who is a bigger villain than the anacondas. And the monkey was cute. The movie had some solid suspense, satisfying moments, and enjoyable shitty CGI anaconda.

Overall, it’s not anything impressive or amazing, but it was dumb fun with an enjoyable story that was worth my time.

3. Anaconda 3: Offspring (2008) 4.5/10:

It's more of an action movie with a mix of sci-fi and horror elements. It has some hilarious moments and some ridiculous ones. It's a bad movie, but I was surprised by its pretty low ratings. I personally found it to be just dumb fun and silly B-movie fare, nothing more. I don't think it's truly terrible or painfully boring.

As a Baywatch fan, I loved seeing David Hasselhoff being a main part of it. While the acting is pathetic sometimes, he actually saved the movie quite a bit. The CGI anaconda is clearly bad, but I also kind of dig it because it looked like CGI cutscenes in games, and the anaconda's details were cool. The kills were even a bit fun. Nothing else comes to mind.

Overall, it easily could have been better because the production felt extremely cheap, with a predictable plot and weak execution, but there are some fun parts.

4. Anacondas: Trail of Blood (2009) 3/10:

Absolutely terrible! I’m honestly surprised they still managed to make this movie as a direct sequel to the previous one. When I found out that while watching it, I knew it would certainly suck. The previous one was just dumb in some fun ways and had cheap production quality, but that was more than enough. This one didn’t even need to be made. However, it's basically the same as the previous one in terms of quality because both films were shot back-to-back, but without the fun, and everything else is worse.

The movie has an almost empty plot. You just see the characters running in the middle of the forest for almost the whole movie. It barely has any actions, has worse characters, a worse CGI anaconda, and everything else is worse than in the previous one.

Overall, it would’ve been fine if it were another standalone shitty sequel, but being a direct sequel made it a waste of my time.

5. Anaconda (2024) 5/10:

It’s just okay. It’s quite different from the original, except for a few similar elements and parts. It’s not as serious as the original, but it does have some dark comedy moments. While it’s a much better improvement over the Anaconda/Lake Placid sequels, unfortunately, it didn’t offer me much entertainment. I felt it just lacked a lot of things. The production quality is alright here, but I think it’s just the quality of the writing, story, and characters that I didn’t care much for.

I managed to struggle through watching all the awful graphics and CGI of creatures in those sequels, but they have done really well in this one. I also enjoyed the action, and the final scene was good. Beautiful scenery, too.

Overall, that being said, it’s just okay. It has its moments, but I wouldn’t say it’s overly entertaining or memorable.

THE LAKE PLACID MOVIES:

1. Lake Placid (1999) 7.5/10:

If Anaconda (1997) had crocodiles, then this movie would be one.

I still slightly prefer Anaconda over this movie, even though it’s technically a better film. I think it’s probably due to nostalgia. However, Lake Placid brought improved quality, with better CGI and practical effects that made the crocodile scenes more realistic than those in Anaconda. The cast and acting are decent, and you have Betty White here, who feeds the crocodiles.

Overall, it's just a cheesy killer crocodile movie that is short on suspense, but it’s still good because of its humor and overall fun.

2. Lake Placid 2 (2007) 3/10:

Oh, this movie smells like dirty lake water. It's a bad movie. It tried hard to be at least fun but failed.

I think one of the biggest issues is how ugly and dry the photography and scenery are, which clearly look worse than they should. The movie just made me mad at times because of how awful the dialogue and acting were, to the point that I couldn’t wait to finish watching.

The CGI crocodiles were awful, and not in an entertaining way. Not only was the CGI of the crocodiles poorly done, but the CGI helicopter was also terrible. The kills were weak, especially because we couldn't see them being attacked by crocodiles. They were just acting as if they were being attacked by nothing.

Out of the cast, Cloris Leachman was really the only watchable actor here and probably the film’s only redeeming quality as well. While the first film was very solid, I hate the fact that this is meant to be a direct sequel to the original since Leachman plays the sister of Betty White's character.

Honestly, the movie started quite okay, but it just got worse and worse towards the end, especially due to the painful acting and ugly cinematography. Overall, there's no fun to be had with this movie, in my opinion.

3. Lake Placid 3 (2010) 4/10:

A pretty bad movie, but it’s marginally better than the previous one.

It’s better because it seems like the writers decided not to take it as seriously as they should have and instead threw out some logic to make it look goofy. Lake Placid 2 wasn’t like that. I had fun watching how ridiculously awful the camerawork, editing, and CGI crocodiles are. That’s probably the only thing I liked better about it, but still, that’s not saying much. It was just as bad as you would expect after watching the previous one.

4. Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (2012) 4.5/10:

I think it fits more into the "so bad, it's good" category than the previous two films and was a less poorly made movie. Obviously, it’s very low-budget and has poor CGI crocodiles, but still, it’s just more entertaining with lots of hilariously bad lines, and Robert Englund as the villain definitely helps make it the best film in the series since the first one.

However, I find it funny how all four Lake Placid movies have a weird connection all because of Betty White's character who appeared in the first film. Overall, it's a bad movie, but it's kind of mildly watchable that was better than the previous two films.

5. Lake Placid: Legacy (2018) 3/10:

It definitely seems like they had a larger budget than the previous Lake Placid sequels. Good for them for having tried to be something new and refreshing, but it was actually the worst in the Lake Placid series.

It's just boring. At least the previous ones gained some entertainment value because of how ridiculously terrible and over-the-top they were. This one didn’t. It just tried to be a cinematic movie compared to the previous ones, but it failed, especially due to how boring and unlikeable the characters were. The plot was boring. The dialogue was sleepy. The CGI crocodiles were badly cartoonish.

Some people have asked where the crocodiles were, and I think it's a valid question. The crocodiles really don’t show up much. The ending was also stupid, and it’s no wonder the crocodiles turned out to be smarter than the humans. Overall, it’s not a terribly made movie like the previous ones, just pretty boring with nothing else interesting going on.

THE CROSSOVER MOVIE:

Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015) (released before Legacy and the Chinese version) 4/10:

Well, that was a bit disappointing crossover. I knew I shouldn’t have expected a great deal of fun, but there were a few things that left me disappointed.

1. The movie is basically more of a follow-up to Lake Placid 4 and doesn’t really feel related to any Anaconda films, except it just has an anacondas.

2. The characters from the Lake Placid sequels returned, but none of the characters from Anaconda 3 and 4 returned.

3. The crocodile-anaconda battles don't start until almost an hour in.

It has some hilarious moments and a few bikinis, but it’s just the same thing over and over, which honestly means it’s nothing like the epic crossover you expect after watching all four films in both series. The crocodile-anaconda battles weren’t even much fun to watch. Overall, it’s not too bad for a bad movie, but it’s just okay and had a few laughs.

RANKING THE MOVIES:

1. Anaconda

2. Lake Placid

3. Anaconda 2

4. Anaconda (2024)

5. Lake Placid 4

6. Anaconda 3

7. Lake Placid vs. Anaconda

8. Lake Placid 3

9. Lake Placid 2

10. Lake Placid: Legacy

11. Anaconda 4

Sorry for the pretty long post, but I appreciate you reading it all the way through, lol.

Is there an actor you didn't realize played a role until much later after you watched (or even rewatched multiple times)?

I'm thinking less prosthetic or voiced characters and just straight up someone you saw but didn't make the connection.

I've watched Angels in the Outfield probably between 10-20 times since it came out and I only, very recently, realized that Roger's dad is Dermot Mulroney.

Personally, I think it is one of the most profound and thought-provoking masterpieces I have ever seen. The unique take on the multiverse theory, the exploration of nihilism through metaphors and allegories, and yet managing to maintain the random absurdity and comedy of it all , the powerhouse performances from Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu, all weave together to contribute to a masterpiece of a lifetime. It rightfully cleaned up at the Oscars (ok, maybe JLC didn't deserve to win, but it deserved the other 6), but I've heard some people claim that it's acclaim was manufactured and that The Banshees of Inisherin and TÁR were better films.

I feel like it’s a type of story that hasn’t been used in years. Granted, most of them would probably require a big budget, but there’s so much great stuff to pull from. A lot of cool adventures with creative creatures and locales.

I’m mainly familiar with Norse and Greek, which have stuff like Ragnarok, the Titanomachy, etc, but there’s hundreds of myths from all around the world that could be used.

We had Troy a while ago, but I feel like beyond that there wasn’t a ton

I have some movies that were horrible to see in theaters some more than others. Some bearable : Avatar 2009 (lack of originality and main characters so awful it made me side with the marines), X-Files 2008 (didn't knew anything of X Files and the plot was terrible)

And others who were so god awful to sit through it made me want to make a reddit thread to share my pain years later

Day Watch 2004 : Can't remember much of the movie, i went to see it with a friend and what a piece of garbage, plot impossible to follow, slow mo all the time. Fortunately some guys were next to us cracking jokes it made it at least less painful

Blood The Last Vampire 2009 : Same thing but i was on my own. You don't know what is a bad movie, like really bad, nothing to make fun of, nothing to enjoy even the action, god awful special effects, impossible to follow scenario, main character unlikable and so on. I watched it one time and i can't forget how painful it was to see it

And last and worst of all, The Star Wars Prequels : forced to see all of them and everyone was worst than the last. Even at 8 i could tell the Phantom Menace was shit, the second i was older but the movie even worse so much choices and stories i can't understand a human being wrote them (perhaps the worst romance ever written) and the last, wow the terrible dialogues, the dumbness of the jedi counsil, Obin Wan, Anakin, Padme leaving his kids alone because she is heartbroken. Thank god for the awesomess of The Emperor who is the only one having fun and giving life to this robot written story

I must add that i didn't even watch the Original Trilogy until after watching the Prequels. The OT is perfect and my favorite trilogy of all time. Talk about day and night