Tag: movies

The Magnificent AI-mbersons

I’ve talked about AI before, and my feelings stay the same—it should not be used blindly in the creative world.

One thing I haven’t talked about is how much of a fan I am of Orson Welles. I have conflicted feelings about a project that’s currently in the works. Someone is attempting to rebuild the missing 43 minutes of footage from The Magnificent Ambersons. For those who don’t know, the studio didn’t like Welles’s version of the movie, re-cut it with a happier ending, and destroyed the footage. Over the years, he left detailed notes of what had been shot and how he envisioned the movie. Those working on the “restoration” project are filming actors portraying the original actors, then using deepfakes and AI to rebuild the performances. The reason it’s a bit of a gray area for me is that it’s a little more of a closed loop. They’re using the original footage, voices, and locations from the shoot as the source material. It doesn’t feel all that different from CGI in this case—artists are still involved in getting things right, and it’s a tool using information from the original director.

What is less cool is that the company allegedly doesn’t have permission from the Welles estate to do any of this work, and that’s where this breaks down for me. On the flipside, Welles didn’t ask for his film to be destroyed.

I for sure think about this when it comes to the missing Doctor Who episodes. But then again, what makes a movie or a show what it is? Will a deepfake performance match the choices that Joseph Cotton would have made? Will the shots be composed in a way Orson Welles or the D.P. would have imagined? Does the music fit the scene? Would CGI be different from AI if used for the same reason?

This reel from The New Yorker explains it and shows some of the footage:
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DUlVT6BkTFZ

Anyway, here’s a bunch of Welles-related stuff I’ve seen (there are some gaps, mostly of the Shakespearian variety):

  • Films
    • Citizen Kane
    • The Magnificent Ambersons
    • The Third Man
    • Touch of Evil
    • The Lady from Shanghai
    • Mr. Arkadian/Confidential Report (I’ve seen two of the seven versions)
    • F for Fake
    • Does The Transformers count?
    • (and I’m sure more)
  • Dramatizations
    • The Cat’s Meow
    • RKO 281
    • Mank
    • Me and Orson Welles
    • Cradle Will Rock
    • Ed Wood
  • Docs
    • The Battle Over Citizen Kane
    • Prodigal Sons

Martin

I’m a big George Romero fan. I was excited to find his movie, Martin, on YouTube. It’s (sort of) a vampire film and very different from a lot of his other work.

Young Martin (John Amplas) is entirely convinced that he is an 84-year-old blood-sucking vampire. Without fangs or mystical powers, Martin injects women with sedatives and drinks their blood through wounds inflicted with razor blades. After moving to Braddock, Penn., to live with his superstitious uncle (Lincoln Maazel), who also believes Martin is a vampire, Martin tries to prey exclusively on criminals and thugs but stumbles when he falls for a housewife (Sara Venable).
-Rotten Tomatoes

You can also view it on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/Martin.1977.DVDRipAmoFilmesdeTerrormkv

Backrooms

Do you know The Backrooms? I think I’d heard the name and then hadn’t seen footage until it was shown on Corridor Crew. The original was (mostly) CGI and done by Kane Parsons/Kane Pixels, who was 16 or 17 when he made the original viral video. Now, at the age of 20, his feature-length version is being released by A24. I’m glad to see Kane is also directing this, and I’ll be curious to see what they do for a story. The original was inspired by a photo of an abandoned HobbyTown under renovation. Anyway, here’s the trailer, the original, and the clip from Corridor Crew.

The Teaser:

The Original:

Corridor Crew video:

Free Movies

If you’re ever in a pinch and looking for something to watch, did you know you can watch free (legally, with ads) movies on YouTube? I’ll often use this to scope out something before paying for it, or if it’s not streaming elsewhere. Here’s a sample of a few sources…

Weapons

I’ve been thinking about Weapons (the movie) off and on since I saw it. This has been partially bolstered by others’ video essays. I’m not going to go into detail to avoid spoilers, but I’m curious what others think.

The movie draws on several sources:

  • A standard mystery/drama: The first section of the film operates like one, with characters trying to find missing children and exploring the lives of Josh Brolin and Julia Gardner.
  • Fairy tales: Most obviously, the Pied Piper and Goldilocks.
  • P.T. Anderson’s Magnolia: The episodic nature, the cop character, the overall look and feel. Plus, the director even said so!
  • Alcoholism: The director has gone on record as saying this is a massive piece of the film. Julia Garner’s character is one, as were Josh Creeger’s parents. The idea of a child taking care of their parents originated here.
  • What else am I missing?

Movie Retrospective

I’ve previously written about AI and what uses I do and don’t like. Here’s one I do like… gathering info about posts I’ve written in the past. I thought I’d see what movies I’ve referenced over the last few years.

Movie TitleYearDirector(s)
Abigail2024Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Attack the Block2011Joe Cornish
Barbarian2022Zach Cregger
Billy Elliot2000Stephen Daldry
Bit2019Brad Michael Elmore
Body Bags1993John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper
Brassed Off1996Mark Herman
Bride of Chucky1998Ronny Yu
Child’s Play1988Tom Holland
Child’s Play 21990John Lafia
Child’s Play 31991Jack Bender
Chopping Mall1986Jim Wynorski
Dark Star1974John Carpenter
Dune (1984)1984David Lynch
Dune (2021)2021Denis Villeneuve
Fright Night2011Craig Gillespie
Fresh2022Mimi Cave
Freaky2020Christopher Landon
Halloween II1981Rick Rosenthal
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II1987Bruce Pittman
Hereditary2018Ari Aster
It Follows2014David Robert Mitchell
Late Night with the Devil2023Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes
Lisa Frankenstein2024Zelda Williams
Love and Monsters2020Michael Matthews
Malignant2021James Wan
Martin1977George A. Romero
No Time to Die2021Cary Joji Fukunaga
Nosferatu (Robert Eggers, upcoming)(2024/2025)Robert Eggers
Parasite2019Bong Joon-ho
Phantasm1979Don Coscarelli
Possession (1981)1981Andrzej Żuławski
Pride2014Matthew Warchus
Prom Night1980Paul Lynch
Seed of Chucky2004Don Mancini
Shadow in the Cloud2020Roseanne Liang
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings2021Destin Daniel Cretton
Sleepaway Camp II1988Michael A. Simpson
Sleepaway Camp III1989Michael A. Simpson
Slither2006James Gunn
Talk to Me2022Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
The Babadook2014Jennifer Kent
The First Omen2024Arkasha Stevenson
The Forever Purge2021Everardo Gout
The Funhouse1981Tobe Hooper
The Lighthouse2019Robert Eggers
The Northman2022Robert Eggers
The Omen1976Richard Donner
The Omen III1981Graham Baker
The Omen IV (TV Movie)1991Jorge Montesi, Dominique Othenin-Girard
They/Them2022John Logan
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge1985Jack Sholder

Child’s Play

I’d never seen the Child’s Play / Chucky movies but I’ve been working on it lately! The first movie was very different from what I’d pictured – it’s a bit more grounded with the origin (if that makes sense). I never knew why Chucky was the way he was until I randonly watched the opening scene. I’m a big Brad Dourif fan (I mean Dune, Excocist III, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, etc.). These movies are a real mixed bag, but I’m enjoying the ridiculosness and am looking forward to watching the show once I’m done with the movies.

So far I’ve watched:

  • Child’s Play
  • Child’s Play 2
  • Child’s Play 3
  • Bride of Chucky
  • Seed of Chucky

Talk to They/Them, Fresh and Freaky Abigail and Lisa

In my last post, I somehow missed the best of the horror movies I’d recently watched, Talk to Me.

I’ve had a bit of a light-horror Catherine Newtonfest with Lisa Frankenstein, Freaky, and Abigail. Lisa Frankenstein was probably the weakest of the bunch, but all are fun and new takes on the horror genre. Avoid the Abigail trailer if you don’t want spoilers.

Fresh is another movie where I would avoid knowing too much, though skip it if you’re at all squeamish. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan are great. Like a lot of the other movies on this list, it’s a mix of genres… it starts out as a rom-com and moves away from that quickly.

The less said about They/Them, the better. It had potential, but it was mostly a jumbled mess.

Omenbarmaladook Follows

I recently watched The First Omen which kicked off a run of watching other horror films. While many were just the other films in The Omen series, the rest were horror movies from the last 10 years that had been on my list since they were released. I’d probably call out The First Omen, The Omen, and Barbarian as the highlights. I realized that Sam Neil was in The Omen III and Possession in the same year, 1981. While The Omen III is flawed, I was impressed to learn those intense performances were the same year. It Follows and The Babadook were close to being great, but both left too many questions. Malignant has some great WTF moments, but it’s incredibly poorly acted. I was glad to see others calling it the horror equivalent of The Room. The Omen IV would be skippable, but are you not going to watch the whole series?