Time for a new film thread, because I do what I want until finally getting banned forever. Or whatever.


1. Requiem for a Dream (2000, Darren Aronofsky)-DRUGS NOT HUGS
2. New Year's Evil (1980, Emmett Alston)-SHADOW
3. The Giant Gila Monster (1959, Ray Kellogg)-BAD MONSTER, BAD
4. Godzilla vs. Hedorah ‘ゴジラ対ヘドラ’ (1971, Yoshimitsu Banno)-POLLUTION IS EVIL

Requiem for a Dream (2000, Darren Aronofsky



If you wanted a film about drug addiction fueled delusion to be largely a fantasy driven horror movie, this is your film. I have viewed most of Aronofsky's filmography, and haved thought highly of all of them, yet it is Requieum that seems to edge out the others. While Ellen Burstyn was rightfully nominated for an Oscar, and Jared Leto and Marlon Wayans dominate most of the screen, I felt that Jennifer Connelly is the film's main feature.

Unlike the others, one could argue that Connelly never truly hits rock bottom, and her nightmare fails to end. The film's score properly conveys a strong feeling of doom, a sense that the trio is heading towards oblivion. Leto dreams of a better tomorrow, one he could only imagine in his drug addled mind. I sure picked the right film to kick off the new year.

New Year's Evil (1980, Emmett Alston)



Hurray for a rock 'n' roll slasher film set around a major holiday. I actually do not care for New Year's, as I drink on any day of the week. However I was intoxicated while viewing this film, so I ignored some obvious information early on, not that it matters. This is a dumb, fun, at times brutal, horror film, one that sticks the ending. It also features a band called Shadow, so hurray for that, I guess.

if there is any scene in RfaD that got me choked me up it was the shot of Ellen Burstyn's friends sobbing on the park bench after visiting her at the hospital.

it's a movie I admire the hell out of..... and maybe I was too admiring of the filmmaking to let it make me depressed. I know it has a lot of somewhat unrealistic portrayals of drug addiction but then again Apocalypse Now is not a very realistic portrayal of Vietnam and it arguably still gets at some of the 'truth' of the situation.

The scene in Requiem with Burstyn and Leto where Burstyn talks about being old and lonely is one of the best-acted scenes I've ever watched. Did all of the Academy voters collectively nod off during that scene or something?

I love Requiem for a Dream. It's a very well-acted and horrifying film which sticks with you long after watching it. As far as Aronofsky goes, I like Pi the best.

That scene is powerful, and very sad.

Huh, that makes sense. I found the film to be depressing at times, but mostly too freaky and tragic.

Julia Roberts was the favorite that year, so there is your answer.

Pi is near great. My personal favorite of his is currently Mother!

The Giant Gila Monster (1959, Ray Kellogg



MST3K skewers this dismal turkey of a film rather well. The 1950s gave us some quality monster films, and this is not one of them. The jokes this movie inspired were funny, which made Gila more bearable to view. I do not recall one single character here, and the models used were really cheap, even for a low budget film.

Also those hot rods were lame, and Gila does not even feature proper rock n roll. Weak. This is not the worst film I have seen, but it does hit rock bottom quickly. Oh so quickly.

I haven't seen mother! yet.

I want to though.

He'll never do better than Black Swan, as far as I'm concerned.

I don't know where I'd place mother amongst the rest of his films, but it would be probably be in my top three or four. I like it a lot, but don't necessarily love it. But the rampant criticism it has received is generally pretty stupid. Even if one just accepted mother as being as big a failure as many thought it was, it would still be a more interesting movie than virtually anything else that came out this year. This should count for something. The fact that the dismissive attitude it received is probably mostly due to the the fact that it was willing to commit so strongly to its big, weird ideas, should have been more of a badge of honor it can wear than something it should be ashamed of.
But that's not the world we live in, I guess.

I wasn't keen on mother! but I still think it is an interesting movie. It just didn't live up to that Aranofsky greatness IMO. Requiem For A Dream is probably the most realistic drug movie I've ever seen. I'm a recovering addict so my expertise on drug fueled doom is valid.

That's why I love absurdity. I find weird and unconventional films to brim with creativity, and I love to see the amount of imagination in them.

Pretty much every unconventional movie which gets released today (The Tree of Life, Leviathan, Knight of Cups, A Ghost Story, mother!) has to deal with the "It's pretentious" argument. I like to say that there's 2 main reactions people have to unconventional films. The first group instantly assumes that there's no meaning behind what they watched, so it must be pretentious. The second group, on the other hand, might be initially confused as to the meaning behind what they watched, but they try to think of possible interpretations to it before they criticize it. Unfortunately, far too many people fall in the first group.

Also, what did you think of Pi?

I liked it.

1)Black Swan
2)Requiem for a Dream
3)The Fighter
4)mother
5)Pi
5)The Wrestler

I like them all.

You forgot Noah. Also he didn't direct The Fighter. That was David O' Russell. However he was originally gonna direct it after The Wrestler.

Do you mean Leviathan the Russian movie? That was great. I want to see his latest Loveless which is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

I'm referring to this one. I haven't seen the Russian film yet.

Do so. It's a great and great looking film. It's actually sort of loosely based on the biblical tale of Job and the whale.

PS - I never heard of the other Leviathan but it does look interesting. Hopefully it will play on Netflix sometime.

I'll keep an eye out for it.

Its...an experience, heh.

Black Swan is a great, creepy horror film. Mother! is the closest he has come to recreating that type of environment.

Yeah I only have booze and weed experiences, neither of which are in the same ballpark.

As for Aronofsky:

Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Mother! (2017)
The Wrestler (2008)
Black Swan (2010)
Pi (1998)

All great films. He has a lot of talent, which I often forget for some reason. I still need to see The Fountain and Noah.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah ‘ゴジラ対ヘドラ’ (1971, Yoshimitsu Banno)



Poor Banno was booted from the series after directing a fun, really good entry, which is too bad. I liked how Godzilla vs killer pollution featured up close and personal death scenes (even a skeleton!), a groovy rock band, and obvious, yet pointed, environmental aspects. Oh and Godzilla uses his breath to fly. That is badass, as are the fights between Hendorah and Godzilla, the last one being fairly brutal. Even though the characters are paper thin as usual, I still liked them, which is not usual for most monster films.

Roger Ebert said this was his favorite Godzilla film, and I can see why. Also Godzilla showing his anger towards the humans for them allowing the monster to happen is both funny and kind of neat. The Godzilla franchise was mostly campy by this point, so this film is not completely out of place. Even though it was apparently too out there for those in charge, sadly.