Top 10+ Music, Movies, and Visual Art of the Week (2025)
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Facetious
Gender: Male
Age: 26
Location: Somewhere you've never been 
- #1871
- Posted: 12/26/2025 19:53
- Post subject:
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| AfterHours wrote: | Not too far off! 😎
Thanks for the rec! Most relentless fun I've had watching a new movie in a bit!
Perfect Christmas flick for the whole family! 🤣
Film-making, cinematography, editing, action style comp could maybe be Natural Born Killers crossed with Fast and the Furious 26 ... or something! |
Glad you liked it, and I agree. Crank 2 is more of the same, perfect for a follow-up!
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AfterHours
Gender: Male
Location: The Zone
- #1872
- Posted: 12/27/2025 16:41
- Post subject:
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| Facetious wrote: | | AfterHours wrote: | Not too far off! 😎
Thanks for the rec! Most relentless fun I've had watching a new movie in a bit!
Perfect Christmas flick for the whole family! 🤣
Film-making, cinematography, editing, action style comp could maybe be Natural Born Killers crossed with Fast and the Furious 26 ... or something! |
Glad you liked it, and I agree. Crank 2 is more of the same, perfect for a follow-up! |
Thanks Facetious, I'll be checking 2 out soon!
Will also get around to rating Clue soon as I can, as well as some other Disney like (perhaps somewhat psychedelic) "jazz" and "improvisational" inspired The Jungle Book, a child hood favorite that I just started on and don't think I've seen for at least 20 years.
Also revisited Lady and the Tramp which was "okay" but (while not expecting it to be much better) was still something of a let down -- very moderate Disney fare even though it has some darker undercurrents, well enough thought out coming of age themes, sometimes interesting (though about avg for its time) visual art, and shows some measured emotional content, poetry I suppose, in that it thankfully doesn't go too heavily sentimental without the content earning it. Not as hugely disappointing as revisiting, say, Cinderella some years back, which was way weaker than its reputation (I almost thought I was watching some butchered version of the film). Dumbo was another one, while it has some adventurous, trippier, imaginative sequences to help elevate it, and a classic and sympathetic story, it was also seemed to me a rather large step back in animation, visual art and breadth, from, for instance, Snow White (where so much more care is being put into its sequences), Bambi (visual poetry and astounding, a work of art, really) and of course Pinocchio (perhaps the summit of the period, all things considered). And I'm still not as big of a fan with their rather mitigated take on Alice in Wonderland as many seem to be (a bit puzzling to me...) -- maybe I need to give it another shot? But last viewing a few years ago, I was surprised how weak it seemed and how relatively plain or un-adventurous the visual art/animation and how relatively uninteresting the scenes -- especially with relative masterpieces like Svankmajer's Alice, or film's like Pan's Labyrinth (not Alice in Wonderland of course, but in a similar ballpark), or Wizard of Oz... or better, more directly comparing (animated film to animated film) to both the aforementioned earlier (and far superior, more imaginative, more visually rapturous, efforts) like Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia, but also later Disney efforts where the visual art, animation, imagination, is much more seen and felt, the effort and ambition far more evident (like Lion King, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast) even though these film's are yet quite derivative, cliched in theme/story/predictable outcomes -- nevertheless far more of interest imo...
Ok... don't mind me, just rambling about...
_________________
Best Classical
Best Films
Best Paintings
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- #1873
- Posted: 12/28/2025 01:35
- Post subject:
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| AfterHours wrote: | | Facetious wrote: | | AfterHours wrote: | Not too far off! 😎
Thanks for the rec! Most relentless fun I've had watching a new movie in a bit!
Perfect Christmas flick for the whole family! 🤣
Film-making, cinematography, editing, action style comp could maybe be Natural Born Killers crossed with Fast and the Furious 26 ... or something! |
Glad you liked it, and I agree. Crank 2 is more of the same, perfect for a follow-up! |
Thanks Facetious, I'll be checking 2 out soon!
Will also get around to rating Clue soon as I can, as well as some other Disney like (perhaps somewhat psychedelic) "jazz" and "improvisational" inspired The Jungle Book, a child hood favorite that I just started on and don't think I've seen for at least 20 years.
Also revisited Lady and the Tramp which was "okay" but (while not expecting it to be much better) was still something of a let down -- very moderate Disney fare even though it has some darker undercurrents, well enough thought out coming of age themes, sometimes interesting (though about avg for its time) visual art, and shows some measured emotional content, poetry I suppose, in that it thankfully doesn't go too heavily sentimental without the content earning it. Not as hugely disappointing as revisiting, say, Cinderella some years back, which was way weaker than its reputation (I almost thought I was watching some butchered version of the film). Dumbo was another one, while it has some adventurous, trippier, imaginative sequences to help elevate it, and a classic and sympathetic story, it was also seemed to me a rather large step back in animation, visual art and breadth, from, for instance, Snow White (where so much more care is being put into its sequences), Bambi (visual poetry and astounding, a work of art, really) and of course Pinocchio (perhaps the summit of the period, all things considered). And I'm still not as big of a fan with their rather mitigated take on Alice in Wonderland as many seem to be (a bit puzzling to me...) -- maybe I need to give it another shot? But last viewing a few years ago, I was surprised how weak it seemed and how relatively plain or un-adventurous the visual art/animation and how relatively uninteresting the scenes -- especially with relative masterpieces like Svankmajer's Alice, or film's like Pan's Labyrinth (not Alice in Wonderland of course, but in a similar ballpark), or Wizard of Oz... or better, more directly comparing (animated film to animated film) to both the aforementioned earlier (and far superior, more imaginative, more visually rapturous, efforts) like Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia, but also later Disney efforts where the visual art, animation, imagination, is much more seen and felt, the effort and ambition far more evident (like Lion King, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast) even though these film's are yet quite derivative, cliched in theme/story/predictable outcomes -- nevertheless far more of interest imo...
Ok... don't mind me, just rambling about... |
I personally enjoyed Fantasia but I don't believe you ranked it as highly as something like Pinnochio. Do you think Fantasia does anything specifically well?
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AfterHours
Gender: Male
Location: The Zone
- #1874
- Posted: 12/28/2025 14:11
- Post subject:
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| TiggaTrigga wrote: | | AfterHours wrote: | | Facetious wrote: | | AfterHours wrote: | No t too far off! 😎
Thanks for the rec! Most relentless fun I've had watching a new movie in a bit!
Perfect Christmas flick for the whole family! 🤣
Film-making, cinematography, editing, action style comp could maybe be Natural Born Killers crossed with Fast and the Furious 26 ... or something! |
Glad you liked it, and I agree. Crank 2 is more of the same, perfect for a follow-up! |
Thanks Facetious, I'll be checking 2 out soon!
Will also get around to rating Clue soon as I can, as well as some other Disney like (perhaps somewhat psychedelic) "jazz" and "improvisational" inspired The Jungle Book, a child hood favorite that I just started on and don't think I've seen for at least 20 years.
Also revisited Lady and the Tramp which was "okay" but (while not expecting it to be much better) was still something of a let down -- very moderate Disney fare even though it has some darker undercurrents, well enough thought out coming of age themes, sometimes interesting (though about avg for its time) visual art, and shows some measured emotional content, poetry I suppose, in that it thankfully doesn't go too heavily sentimental without the content earning it. Not as hugely disappointing as revisiting, say, Cinderella some years back, which was way weaker than its reputation (I almost thought I was watching some butchered version of the film). Dumbo was another one, while it has some adventurous, trippier, imaginative sequences to help elevate it, and a classic and sympathetic story, it was also seemed to me a rather large step back in animation, visual art and breadth, from, for instance, Snow White (where so much more care is being put into its sequences), Bambi (visual poetry and astounding, a work of art, really) and of course Pinocchio (perhaps the summit of the period, all things considered). And I'm still not as big of a fan with their rather mitigated take on Alice in Wonderland as many seem to be (a bit puzzling to me...) -- maybe I need to give it another shot? But last viewing a few years ago, I was surprised how weak it seemed and how relatively plain or un-adventurous the visual art/animation and how relatively uninteresting the scenes -- especially with relative masterpieces like Svankmajer's Alice, or film's like Pan's Labyrinth (not Alice in Wonderland of course, but in a similar ballpark), or Wizard of Oz... or better, more directly comparing (animated film to animated film) to both the aforementioned earlier (and far superior, more imaginative, more visually rapturous, efforts) like Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia, but also later Disney efforts where the visual art, animation, imagination, is much more seen and felt, the effort and ambition far more evident (like Lion King, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast) even though these film's are yet quite derivative, cliched in theme/story/predictable outcomes -- nevertheless far more of interest imo...
Ok... don't mind me, just rambling about... |
I personally enjoyed Fantasia but I don't believe you ranked it as highly as something like Pinnochio. Do you think Fantasia does anything specifically well? |
I too enjoy it. Last I watched it I put it in the 6's from 6.8 or so. Prior times -- years back -- I seemed to appreciate it more. Fantasia is quite impressive visually, even if without the music. Just a highly variegated demonstration of the animated art, a sort of culmination of the period. It was quite impressive in how it aligned the visuals, even abstractly, to its musical cues (the rhythm, the shaping, the colors, and so on...). In this sense -- in a purely visual sense -- it is probably Disney's masterpiece in its own way. But for me it does wear a bit, though I'm open to revisiting and re-upgrading it. For me it's a little bit too much of a "demo", a "presentation" piece, and doesn't build much personal involvement, attachment to any character or outcome, etc. Perhaps I could appreciate this more for what it is instead of wanting it to be more -- I dunno... It's one of those ones I feel probably "should be" higher, but I would have to actually see it this way, experience it that way personally, before I actually changed the rating.
_________________
Best Classical
Best Films
Best Paintings
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- #1875
- Posted: 12/30/2025 00:27
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I see what you mean about it feeling like more of a "demo"/"presentation". I haven't watched much old Disney movies as reference points to compare them to - except Bambi and Snow White, with Bambi feeling kind of empty to me - seemed more focused on being cute...but it's been a good while since I've seen that movie.
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AfterHours
Gender: Male
Location: The Zone
- #1876
- Posted: 12/30/2025 02:22
- Post subject:
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| TiggaTrigga wrote: | | I see what you mean about it feeling like more of a "demo"/"presentation". I haven't watched much old Disney movies as reference points to compare them to - except Bambi and Snow White, with Bambi feeling kind of empty to me - seemed more focused on being cute...but it's been a good while since I've seen that movie. |
Bambi is all about the poetic beauty of its visual art and animation, the beauty of nature and innocence assaulted/interrupted by Man, the coming of age in confronting the realities of mortality, death and loss and growing up into adulthood, the struggle of nature to remain itself with Man as the dominant, destructive, species... Watch it with this understanding, which is being expressed poetically in its visuals and rhythm and direction, the poetic juxtaposition of its animated figures within their environments (the scenery, the backgrounds, then interrupted by Man) and it should strike at least some amazement/awe. It's not about lots of action or a lot of things happening, it's actually pretty courageous to really try and create a relatively subtle, rather un-showy (trusting the audiences intelligence, not overstating its points...) and pared down work of art that is also a children's film. It's breathtaking visuals and expressiveness are also evident, stand out even more, when you compare to animated visual art of the period -- just before/during or even after -- and you see the care Disney animators are putting into the film -- the care, grace, the eloquence, in bringing about these themes and expressiveness in its visuals and sequences.
_________________
Best Classical
Best Films
Best Paintings
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AfterHours
Gender: Male
Location: The Zone
- #1877
- Posted: 12/31/2025 18:41
- Post subject:
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TOP 50 WORKS OF ART OF THE YEAR (2024 + 2025)
1. The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri (circa 1321) [Literature: Poetry]
2. Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgment - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1508 - 1512; 1535 - 1541) / Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Painting]
3. Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1822) [Classical]
4. Symphonie Fantastique - Hector Berlioz (1830)
5. St. Peter's Basilica - Principal Architects: Donato Bramante (Original design and began construction of central Greek Cross plan: 1503 - 1514); Michelangelo Buonarroti (Revised plan and construction with updated Greek Cross design heavily informing the final result less the later addition of Maderno's Nave and Facade; revision and main design of the central Dome: 1546 - 1564); Carlo Maderno (Revised to Latin Cross plan with addition of central Nave; addition of Facade: 1603 - 1629); Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Revision of St. Peter's Square, addition of Colonnade: 1656 - 1667) (Building completed and opened by 1626; various additions thereafter) / Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Architecture and Structural Sculpture]
6. Brazil - Terry Gilliam (1985) [The Final Cut, 142 minutes]
7. Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt (1974)
8. Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major - Franz Schubert (1828)
9. Pauline Chapel: The Conversion of Saul and The Crucifixion of St. Peter - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1545; 1550)
10. The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground (1966)
11. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor "Choral" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824)
12. The Doors - The Doors (1966)
13. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (1964)
14. Winterreise - Franz Schubert (1827)
15. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1808)
16. Symphony No. 3 in F Major - Johannes Brahms (1883)
17. Angkor Wat - Started by Suryavarman II; Completed by Jayavarman VII (circa 1122 - 1150; Note: there are various anomalies that may suggest an earlier date of construction -- perhaps even much earlier) [Architecture]
18. Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor "Appassionata" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1805)
19. Guernica - Pablo Picasso (1937)
20. Hagia Sophia - Directed by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I; Designed by Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles (Current Main Structure: 532 - 537; various changes, additions thereafter) [Architecture, including Mosaics]
21. Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey - William of Volpiano (1060-1523) / Manche, Normandy, France [Architecture]
22. Symphony No. 2 in D Major - Johannes Brahms (1877)
23. Symphony No. 1 in C Minor - Johannes Brahms (1876)
24. Symphony No. 4 in E Minor - Johannes Brahms (1885)
25. Symphony No. 4 in F Minor - Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1878)
26. Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major - Ludwig van Beethoven (1820)
27. Piano Trio No. 7 in B-flat Major "Archduke" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1811)
28. Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major "Kreutzer" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1803)
29. Symphony No. 6 in B Minor "Pathetique" - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1893)
30. Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World" - Antonin Dvorak (1893)
31. Violin Concerto in D Major - Johannes Brahms (1878)
32. Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor - Dmitri Shostakovich (1944)
33. Chartres Cathedral - Master of Chartres (Anonymous French Architect) (Mostly constructed 1194-1220; Completed 1252; Various modifications and additions thereafter) / Chartres, France [Architecture, including Stained Glass and Structural Sculpture]
34. Symphony No. 5 in E Minor - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1888)
35. Alhambra - Muhammad I Ibn al-Ahmar; later additions overseen by Yusuf I and Muhammad V (initial structure: 1250; several alterations thereafter through the 1600s) / Granada, Spain [Architecture, including Mosaics, Stained Glass, Structural Sculpture and Landscape Architecture]
36. Taj Mahal - Ustad Ahmad Lahauri (1631 - 1653) / Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India [Architecture, including Landscape Architecture]
37. Sagrada Família - Antoni Gaudí (Gaudi: 1883 - 1926, unfinished; Still under construction) / Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain [Architecture, including Stained Glass and Structural Sculpture]
38. Notre-Dame de Paris - Main construction principally directed under Bishop Maurice de Sully (1163 - 1260, main construction; various additions, updates, restorations thereafter; reconstruction of fleche and roof from fire damages: 2019 - 2024) / Parvis Notre-Dame – Place Jean-Paul-II, Paris, France [Architecture, including Stained Glass and Structural Sculpture]
39. Batalha Monastery - Afonso Domingues (1388 - 1402); Huguet (1402 - 1438 in which several Flamboyant Gothic elements were added; changed architects posthumously, continued construction, revisions, additions through completion circa 1517) / Batalha, Portugal [Architecture, including Stained Glass and Structural Sculpture]
40. Milan Cathedral - Begun by Simone da Orsenigo; Several architects thereafter (Originally: 1386; several developments through 1965) [Architecture and Sculpture]
41. Cologne Cathedral - Master Gerhard of Ryle (1248 - 1560, construction led by various architects after 1271; construction halted in 1560; resumed and completed 1842 - 1880) / Cologne, Germany [Architecture, including Stained Glass and Structural Sculpture]
42. Are You Experienced? - Jimi Hendrix (1967)
43. Desertshore - Nico (1970)
44. Spiderland - Slint (1991)
45. Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
46. Kailasa Temple - King Krishna I (circa 773) [Architecture and Sculpture]
47. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A Major - Franz Schubert (1828)
48. Pieta - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1499) [Sculpture]
49. La Fabrica - Ricardo Bofill (1973 - 2022) / Sant Just Desvern, Catalonia, Spain [Architecture]
50. Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1875)
PAST WINNERS: 1995 - 2023
(NOTE: My series of "Top 10 of the Week" lists only actually goes back to 2008. Prior to that are simply my noted favorite works of each given year without any attempt to keep further record)
2023: Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgment - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1508 - 1512; 1535 - 1541) / Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Painting]
2022: Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgment - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1508 - 1512; 1535 - 1541) / Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Painting]
2021: Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgment - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1508 - 1512; 1535 - 1541) / Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Painting]
2020: Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgment - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1508 - 1512; 1535 - 1541) / Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Painting]
2019: Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt (1974) [Rock]
2018: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor "Choral" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824) [Classical]
2017: Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgment - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1508 - 1512; 1535 - 1541) / Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Painting]
2016: Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgment - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1508 - 1512; 1535 - 1541) / Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Painting]
2015: Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (1968) [Rock]
2014: Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgment - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1508 - 1512; 1535 - 1541) / Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Painting]
2013: Requiem - Giuseppe Verdi (1874) [Classical]
2012: Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941) [Film]
2011: Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941) [Film]
2010: Symphony No. 9 in D Major - Gustav Mahler (1910) [Classical]
2009: Nostalghia - Andrei Tarkovsky (1983) [Film]
2008: The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus (1963) [Jazz]
2007: Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart (1968) [Rock]
2006: Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt (1974) [Rock]
2005: A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (1964) [Jazz]
2004: Kid A - Radiohead (2000) [Rock]
2003: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco (2002) [Rock]
2002: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel (1998) [Rock]
2001: Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (1968) [Rock]
2000: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824) [Classical]
1999: Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor - J.S. Bach (1723) [Classical]
1998: OK Computer - Radiohead (1997) [Rock]
1997: The Bends - Radiohead (1995) [Rock]
1996: 2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick (1968) [Film]
1995: Throwing Copper - Live (1995) [Rock]
_________________
Best Classical
Best Films
Best Paintings
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AfterHours
Gender: Male
Location: The Zone
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AfterHours
Gender: Male
Location: The Zone
- #1879
- Posted: 01/03/2026 20:03
- Post subject:
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@Facetious / anyone...
I'm half way through Crank 2 and should have a rating by the end of today...
Of the following films that Crank seems to have inspired (per others, not me), have you seen any of these (I haven't yet) and any opinion on them, what would you rank/rate these in comparison?
Hardcore Henry
Shoot Em Up
Boy Kills World
And any others? ... (that, preferably also stay in the Comedy/Black Comedy genre), Natural Born Killers being (probably) the "OG" at least on hyper-modern cinematic terms (with its own nods back to films like Bonnie & Clyde ... Peckinpah's Wild Bunch ... John Woo's absurd, convoluted massacres... Scorsese...)
_________________
Best Classical
Best Films
Best Paintings
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AfterHours
Gender: Male
Location: The Zone
- #1880
- Posted: 01/05/2026 15:37
- Post subject:
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Running Log - Comedy Films - Updates Ratings/Rankings...
La Dolce Vita - Federico Fellini (1960) ...simply added to my Comedy Films list whereas before it was missing... (same rating as it has been for years: 8.4/10)
Holy Mountain - Alejandro Jodorowsky (1973) 7.9/10 to 8.1/10 ...update from several months ago...
The City of Lost Children - Jean-Pierre Jeunet (1995) 7.2/10 to 7.4/10; 7.4/10 to 7.6/10
Celine and Julie Go Boating - Jacques Rivette (1974) 7.5/10...added, whereas before it was missing ... rating from a long time ago ("tentative")
Delicatessen - Jean-Pierre Jeunet (1991) 7.4/10 to 7.3/10 ...update from several months ago...
Crank - Mark Neveldine / Brian Taylor (2006) 7.3/10
Poor Things - Yorgos Lanthimos (2023) ...added to Comedy list whereas before it was only on my "Greatest" overall films list (7.3, though "tentative/may need revisit") ... haven't seen since Christmas time 2023 when it opened in theaters, need to see again to be sure (at the time I thought it was somewhere around 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and this will likely stand, so this rating should be close nevertheless)
Adaptation - Spike Jonze (2002) 7.2/10 (no change... "probably -- not necessarily final")
Magnolia - Paul Thomas Anderson (1999) 7.2/10 ...added , whereas before it was missing (questionable genre selection...)
What About Bob? - Frank Oz (1991) Not Rated or "tentative 6.6/10" to 7.2/10
Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick (1975) Not Rated to 7.0/10 ...finally adding to Comedy list... rating very tentative -- most recently viewed about 10 years ago... genre selection (for Comedy) also arguable ... needs a revisit to better judge on both counts... (note that I've rated this pretty much every where between 6.5 or so and 7.5 or so before, so this rating is basically just an estimate for now in between those points)
Everything Everywhere All at Once - Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (2022) 6.9/10 to 7.0/10
This is Spinal Tap - Rob Reiner (1984) Not Rated to 7.0/10 ...Rating not truly new but an estimate from years ago, "tentative" ...finally added this film, whereas before it had somehow (not realizing it) been missing from any of my lists all these years? Unfortunately, Reiner's passing reminded me... (RIP) ... I do plan on revisiting during this round of viewings...
Naked Gun 2 1/2 - David Zucker (1991) Not Rated or "tentative 6.0" to 7.0/10 ...Hadn't seen this in at least 15 years so was a treat to revisit ... possibly the best of the series, even if I could say the first one is maybe superior up until (roughly) the last fourth (of each). The last Act or so of 2 1/2 reaches the heights of comedic masterpieces like Airplane, with a series of ingenius gags that never lets up, among the high points of 1990s comedy. Rest of the film is always amusing or funny and relentlessly satiric as well (of bad guys, of the president and his wife, of etiquette, of politics, of suspense films, of buddy cop films, of police and detectives in general and their brilliance at solving the mystery, etc, with countless quotations including the hilarious tribute to Ghost's love scene...) ...and it avoids too much repetition with the original (no small feat), always finding new ways to express its wit, humor, satire, with Neilsen's dead pan, oblivious stupidity among the great characters (and most useless, inadvertently winning despite himself...) in the history of comedy...
48 Hours - Walter Hill (1982) 6.6/10 to 6.9/10 ...update from several months ago...
Stranger Than Fiction – Marc Forster (2006) 6.8/10 (no change) ... Could be 6.9-7.0 but at least for now decided that 6.8 is (probably) accurate, fwiw... may change my mind as I revisit some others...
Bad Santa - Terry Zwigoff (2003) 6.8/10 (no change) ... Another one that might change as I watch/re-watch some others... still kind of getting my bearings with film during this Christmas season, after my time off spent getting sloshed at Miami beach (that's a reference to the film, not serious... 😎 )
Labyrinth - Jim Henson (1986) 6.4/10 to 6.8/10 ...added to Comedy list "questionable genre selection"
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Frank Oz (1988) 6.5/10 to 6.8/10
Heartbreakers - David Mirkin (2001) Not Rated or "tentative 6.7/10" to 6.7/10
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - Mel Stuart (1971) Not Rated to 6.5/10 ... possibly 6.8 or so... And now for some "RAMBLING THOUGHTS BY AFTERHOURS" 🤔 ...qualitative cut off point for 6.8 plus or minus for children's films/Fantasy is The Neverending Story (barely 6.8...), so it comes down to whether or not this is slightly above or below that... all things considered, a tough call... Neverending Story may achieve a greater sense of wonder, emotional, thematic momentum and impact, even if Dahl's themes are ultimately more interesting on their own in Wonka... Cinematically, Neverending Story may be the greater achievement due both to superior visual sense and wonder, achieved technically, edited to a greater momentum, tension between its "parallel universes", ultimately, more drama, and so on... Wonka is a fine film but too often simply "shows" things happening (with mostly stationary camera, more or less unadorned by cinematography that could make it seem more wondrous or visionary, and/or applying a rather basic composition of its scenes/action ... "generally" with some exceptions of course) ... City of Lost Children takes up more or less similar themes and predicaments, though obviously far more compelling and fascinating visually, cinematographically (even if one allows for technical advance, film-making prowess, between them and relative to period -- relative to the quarter century between them), achieving both more awe and wonder, more sinister, darkness, tension, ambiguity and immersion between dream/nightmare ...more visionary, more impact, etc... Wonka is pretty firmly stationed in the techniques, cinematic craft, visual sense (more or less) of Capra films from as far back as 1939 (like the composition, camera work, editing of Mr Smith ... characterizations of the protagonists, family, the crowd of Capra or Vidor...) crossed with the rather stationary visual imagination of Wizard of Oz (also 1939; sets only, after the tornado largely unadorned by cinematographic imagination to make it yet more visionary and immersive...), whereas an early Fantasy film even as far back as 1927 like Lang's Metropolis, uses and achieves quite a bit more expressive, impactful, stylish, (and more interesting, compelling) sets and effects with resourceful craft, combined with much tighter montage, editing and more visceral staging and action, to achieve far more energy, momentum, emotional impact, etc (Wonka only occasionally starts to approach such at some junctures in the film, but could've used more of...) ... or see, for example, Zardoz -- obviously a very different type of Fantasy film, and certainly not for children -- but nevertheless, made only a year later, yet employs quite a bit more visual imagination, cinematographic ingenuity, on even half the budget; never mind films like Gilliam's Time Bandits (only a decade later) or Brazil (14 years later) seem to exist in almost entirely different mediums (far more visionary, more visually extraordinary, more immersive...) ... So, to continue thoroughly beating a dead horse, Wonka seems slightly below Neverending, perhaps slightly above Wizard of Oz (though my last rating of 6.4 might be a little low in retrospect...) and then one can take a film like City of Lost Children (7.4 last time I watched several months ago, and at least plus-0.5 superior to Wonka...) gives it a point to compare up to and, between this and Wizard of Oz and then Neverending Story, leaves one a few "poles" to rate and rank it between or around ... any way, just giving a general set of parameters I'm thinking about it within and some (rather miscellaneous and scattered) reasons as to why -- just in case one thinks the 6.5 seems too low at a glance while this film has been gaining more and more acclaim since, especially, Wilder's death ... for the record, I like the film in many ways btw, it is a very fine children's film with darker/sinister undertones and underlying themes that symbolize its action and consequences (including the two-faced ambiguity of Wonka himself), a joy to revisit it after so many years...
Crank: High Voltage - Mark Neveldine / Brian Taylor (2009) 6.5/10
Ghostbusters II - Ivan Reitman (1989) Not Rated to 5.5/10 (tentative, still under consideration)
Idiocracy - Mike Judge (2006) 5.8/10 to 5.3/10
Crocodile Dundee - Peter Faiman (1986) Not Rated to 5.0/10; 5.0/10 to 5.2/10 ... Hadn't seen in at least 20 years ... simple, amusing, very predictable. The best thing about it is that it is a relatively efficient, pleasant comedy that combines the flip sides of two "fish out of water" stories into halves of the film as a single comedy. The whole movie is obviously pretty stupid (especially the Romantic aspect between the woman and two men -- she is essentially cheating in each half of the film -- but being a Romantic comedy treats this as a non-issue ethically, giving Dundee no second thoughts about her once she leans towards him, and then the predictable resolution without conflict...?...idk... 🤔 ...anyway not that important being a silly, rather useless film, but just thought I'd mention this...). Maintains mild interest, amusing jokes for the most part throughout, and is a mildly original take on the fish out of water comedy. It has a charming happy ending.
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