Let's All Go to the Lobby

I'm trying to watch Weapons and finding it impossible to view. It's to darn dark. 

Did anyone else have this problem with the film. If I can't see anything, how can I enjoy it, stay in the moment, and actually follow the visual story? 

Posted by: @benstaad

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I'm trying to watch Weapons and finding it impossible to view. It's to darn dark. 

Did anyone else have this problem with the film. If I can't see anything, how can I enjoy it, stay in the moment, and actually follow the visual story? 

I saw it in the theater and thought the same thing, so I can only imagine how much worse it'd be on the small screen. I also found the film a bit disappointing once the mystery was revealed, but all in all it was worth a couple hours of my time.

I suppose that's always a problem, though, the horror dissipating once the mystery is gone. The trailers for the new film Backrooms look great, but it feels like one of those ideas that could collapse once the reveal is done. I hope not, it looks like something I'd like to see. 

I wonder if your TV setting are a little off, and if Ron saw it in a theater that had the screen underlit, because I don't recall any of it being too dark for me, and that is a BIG bugaboo of mine, so I would have bitched about it, lol.

 WEAPONS was a complete mystery to me until I saw it...I studiously avoided spoilers of any kind. I loved the reveal of the mystery, and didn't feel the film lost anything after the reveal. The ending was amazing and cathartic, IMO. 

I turned everything up to bright and still not much joy. I may try watching this at night which may help a bit. 

Posted by: @dannyboy121070

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I wonder if your TV setting are a little off

Posted by: @benstaad

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I turned everything up to bright and still not much joy. I may try watching this at night which may help a bit. 

 

Posted by: @dannyboy121070

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I wonder if your TV setting are a little off

 

I can't watch Horror films until after dusk, because I have too much sun coming into the rooms where the TVs are, and if the image on the screen is even remotely dark, I can't see a thing due to the glare.

 We've been accompanying our son and his girlfriend on their movie dates as chaperones/drivers, and saw THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU last weekend, and THE BACKROOMS yesterday.

 I loved THE MANDALORIAN tv series, but the movie was an instantly forgettable bit of fluff that didn't advance the overall arc of the show one bit. I saw a commercial for the film the day after we watched it, and I thought "Oh, when is that coming out?" I had already forgotten seeing it. And, just to air a hypocritical pet peeve of mine...Martin Scorsese can't bitch and moan enough about how Marvel movies are not cinema, he doesn't like them, yadda yadda, yadda...But I guess Star Wars IS cinema, because he had no problem taking near-top-billing and probably a large paycheck to voice a CGI alien street food vendor. Marvel doesn't always hit a home run, but 90% of their films have way more depth and substance than this film did. Get that money, you hysterical old crybaby.

 THE BACKROOMS was just...weird. I was glad to see that the theater was packed with that rarely-seen cinema-goer, the teen and twenty-something. They all, as well as my son and his girlfriend, loved it. I thought it was very well-made, but my tolerance for the Horror trope of "People trapped in an otherworldly space they can't get out of" has been nil for decades. My wife was very scared and disturbed by the whole affair, which I always find very entertaining to experience...The ghastly noises she makes are hilarious to me. The film wasn't very long, but we both felt it seemed very dragged out.

 I would probably recommend waiting to stream both of these.

Posted by: @ronclinton

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Posted by: @benstaad

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I'm trying to watch Weapons and finding it impossible to view. It's to darn dark. 

Did anyone else have this problem with the film. If I can't see anything, how can I enjoy it, stay in the moment, and actually follow the visual story? 

I saw it in the theater and thought the same thing, so I can only imagine how much worse it'd be on the small screen. I also found the film a bit disappointing once the mystery was revealed, but all in all it was worth a couple hours of my time.

I suppose that's always a problem, though, the horror dissipating once the mystery is gone. The trailers for the new film Backrooms look great, but it feels like one of those ideas that could collapse once the reveal is done. I hope not, it looks like something I'd like to see. 

 

VERY late to this conversation, but I watched Weapons via a Blu-ray disc at home with no issues.

I will agree, however, that the movie dipped quite a bit after the mystery was revealed. Maybe because the character focus shifts in the last part as it reveals the mystery that I found myself not caring too much about this particular character as I did the others since I'd already spent the majority of the film's journey with them. I also found the ending

I did see a trailer for the director's remake/reboot of Resident Evil and it looks promising.

The above is why I cling like an old man to places like this...I LOVED WEAPONS (!!!), but aside from my wife ("That was horrifying."), and my mother ("I liked it."), I only get discourse and feedback from my friends here. The people that agree with me, disagree...I love the variety of opinions and the discourse. 

Posted by: @dannyboy121070

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 We've been accompanying our son and his girlfriend on their movie dates as chaperones/drivers, and saw THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU last weekend, and THE BACKROOMS yesterday.

 I loved THE MANDALORIAN tv series, but the movie was an instantly forgettable bit of fluff that didn't advance the overall arc of the show one bit. I saw a commercial for the film the day after we watched it, and I thought "Oh, when is that coming out?" I had already forgotten seeing it. And, just to air a hypocritical pet peeve of mine...Martin Scorsese can't bitch and moan enough about how Marvel movies are not cinema, he doesn't like them, yadda yadda, yadda...But I guess Star Wars IS cinema, because he had no problem taking near-top-billing and probably a large paycheck to voice a CGI alien street food vendor. Marvel doesn't always hit a home run, but 90% of their films have way more depth and substance than this film did. Get that money, you hysterical old crybaby.

 THE BACKROOMS was just...weird. I was glad to see that the theater was packed with that rarely-seen cinema-goer, the teen and twenty-something. They all, as well as my son and his girlfriend, loved it. I thought it was very well-made, but my tolerance for the Horror trope of "People trapped in an otherworldly space they can't get out of" has been nil for decades. My wife was very scared and disturbed by the whole affair, which I always find very entertaining to experience...The ghastly noises she makes are hilarious to me. The film wasn't very long, but we both felt it seemed very dragged out.

 I would probably recommend waiting to stream both of these.

 

That's funny because my local drive-in theater is doing this exact same double feature right now! I've heard these same complaints about the Mandalorian movie. It's a tricky proposition to transition a television show to feature film. In an age where budgets are so inflated, movies must appeal to the broadest amount of people possible to make back the money. It seems that the film leaned toward catering to those who haven't watched the show versus those who have. Reports have the film dropping close to 70% over its second week, which is not good news.

Backrooms killed at the box office, though. Supposedly it made over $80m on a budget of $10m. The box office is incredibly impressive, but as a joint venture between Blumhouse, Atomic Monster (formed by James Wan), and A24, there was a lot of weight behind the film and marketing and distribution (the film opened in over 3000 theaters) surely was costly. However, it obviously paid off! 

Personally, I don't have a ton of interest in the Mandalorian movie. The Star Wars universe has never been a big draw for me. Backrooms I will be checking out at some point, if only because I like Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Posted by: @dannyboy121070

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The above is why I cling like an old man to places like this...I LOVED WEAPONS (!!!), but aside from my wife ("That was horrifying."), and my mother ("I liked it."), I only get discourse and feedback from my friends here. The people that agree with me, disagree...I love the variety of opinions and the discourse. 

I love the discourse, too!

And don't get me wrong. I really like Weapons. It's just the film went from an A+ to a solid B with the final transition/reveal/ending. Now, I have only seen the film once and I am a firm believer that you've haven't really seen a film until you've watched it twice, so it might grow in my estimation. It might also wane a little in my opinion because I watched it in close proximity to Bring Her Back (maybe the same night?) and Bring Her Back was bleak and brutal and wound up being one of my favorites from last year. 

Chiwetel Ejiofor was great, as always. It is surprising to see someone like him in a Horror film...He lent it a lot of weight, and his character had a lot of meaty moments. I'm glad the film did well, especially since the Director is only 20 years old, which is amazing...This guy can possibly become a new Spielberg. I will say, despite not loving the film, I've sure been thinking about it a lot more than I have THE MANDALORIAN. THE BACKROOMS certainly appealed to the existing fan base...When we left the theater, I saw something I haven't seen in decades: Groups of viewers just hanging around outside the entrance and discussing (In excited tones) what they had just seen. THAT is a real cinematic, community experience, which you just can't get at home. (Thumbs up to you for name-dropping BRING HER BACK, which I still think about over a year later!)

Posted by: @dannyboy121070

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Chiwetel Ejiofor was great, as always. It is surprising to see someone like him in a Horror film...He lent it a lot of weight, and his character had a lot of meaty moments. I'm glad the film did well, especially since the Director is only 20 years old, which is amazing...This guy can possibly become a new Spielberg. I will say, despite not loving the film, I've sure been thinking about it a lot more than I have THE MANDALORIAN. THE BACKROOMS certainly appealed to the existing fan base...When we left the theater, I saw something I haven't seen in decades: Groups of viewers just hanging around outside the entrance and discussing (In excited tones) what they had just seen. THAT is a real cinematic, community experience, which you just can't get at home. (Thumbs up to you for name-dropping BRING HER BACK, which I still think about over a year later!)

Thanks for sharing the community experience you saw at the showing of Backrooms. I do think we are starting to see a swing back towards a more communal cinematic experience. Combined with the resurgence in physical media, I think there is some understanding of what we lost to digital streaming and home viewings. I love the convenience, but I also think there is something rather impersonal and lacking in intention with streaming in contrast to seeing a movie in a theater or, heck, going to a video rental place and perusing the shelves. 

Saw two fantastic films this weekend:

First up was Project Hail Mary (2026). Talk about a crowd pleaser! Though I could guess some of the plot beats, I had such a great time watching them unfold on the screen. The film is beautifully shot, Gosling gives a charismatic performance as always (I'm a big fan of Gosling, ever since I saw him in The United States of Leland), and Rocky is amaze! amaze! amaze!  It's been a while since I've seen something this enjoyable, yet well put together. 

Second film was one I've been meaning to get to for a while, but kept pushing it off, which was Coda (2021). The film won a bunch of awards a few years back so I won't detail the plot too much, only to say it centers around a teenage girl, the only hearing person in her family, as she navigates her growing passion for music and desire to attend college while struggling to separate from the obligations of her family. The cast was uniformly great, but Troy Kasur was an absolute standout (probably why he won an Oscar). I found the film sweet, heartfelt, and very funny. One of the better coming-of-age films I've seen in recent years. 

I like the sound of this film. I'll keep an eye out for it. 

Posted by: @sock_monkey

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Second film was one I've been meaning to get to for a while, but kept pushing it off, which was Coda (2021). The film won a bunch of awards a few years back so I won't detail the plot too much, only to say it centers around a teenage girl, the only hearing person in her family, as she navigates her growing passion for music and desire to attend college while struggling to separate from the obligations of her family. The cast was uniformly great, but Troy Kasur was an absolute standout (probably why he won an Oscar). I found the film sweet, heartfelt, and very funny. One of the better coming-of-age films I've seen in recent years. 

Posted by: @sock_monkey

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Saw two fantastic films this weekend:

First up was Project Hail Mary (2026). Talk about a crowd pleaser! Though I could guess some of the plot beats, I had such a great time watching them unfold on the screen. The film is beautifully shot, Gosling gives a charismatic performance as always (I'm a big fan of Gosling, ever since I saw him in The United States of Leland), and Rocky is amaze! amaze! amaze!  It's been a while since I've seen something this enjoyable, yet well put together. 

Second film was one I've been meaning to get to for a while, but kept pushing it off, which was Coda (2021). The film won a bunch of awards a few years back so I won't detail the plot too much, only to say it centers around a teenage girl, the only hearing person in her family, as she navigates her growing passion for music and desire to attend college while struggling to separate from the obligations of her family. The cast was uniformly great, but Troy Kasur was an absolute standout (probably why he won an Oscar). I found the film sweet, heartfelt, and very funny. One of the better coming-of-age films I've seen in recent years. 

 I thought PROJECT HAIL MARY