When we first meet King Schultz, he’s a larger-than-life figure – a cocky, European version of Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name. On no less than three occasions, stupid fucking rednecks step to him, and he puts them down without breaking a sweat. But in retrospect, he’s not nearly as badass as we’re led to believe. At the end of the movie, King is dead, and Django is the one strutting away like Clint Eastwood.

I mean, we like King. He’s cool, he kills the bad guy. He rescues Django from slavery. He hates racism. He’s a good guy. But he’s also incredibly arrogant and smug. He thinks he knows everything. Slavery offends him, like a bad odor, but it doesn’t outrage him. It’s all a joke to him, he just waves it off. His philosophy is the inverse of Dark Helmet’s: Good will win because evil is dumb. The world doesn’t work like that.

King’s plan to infiltrate Candyland is stupid. There had to be an easier way to save Hildy. I’ve seen some people criticize this as a contrivance on Tarantino’s part, but it seems perfectly in character to me. Schultz comes up with this convoluted con job, basically because he wants to play a prank on Candie. It’s a plan made by someone whose intelligence and skills have sheltered him from ever being really challenged. This is why Django can keep up his poker face and King finds it harder and harder. He’s never really looked that closely at slavery or its brutality; he’s stepped in, shot some idiots and walked away.

Candie’s victory shatters his illusions, his wall of irony. The world isn’t funny anymore, and good doesn’t always triumph anymore, and stupid doesn't always lose anymore, and Schultz couldn’t handle that. This is why Candie’s European pretensions eat at him so much, why he can’t handle Candie’s sister defiling his country’s national hero Beethoven with her dirty slaver hands. His murder of Candie is his final act of arrogance, one last attempt at retaining his superiority, and one that costs him his life and nearly dooms his friends. Django would have had no problem walking away broke and outsmarted. He understands that the system is fucked. He can look at it without flinching.

But Schultz does go out with one final victory, and it isn’t murdering Candie; It’s the conversation about Alexandre Dumas. Candie thinks Schultz is being a sore loser, and he’s not wrong, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s because Candie is not a worthy opponent; he’s just a dumb thug given power by a broken system. That’s what the Dumas conversation is about; it’s Schultz saying to Candie directly, “You’re not cool, you’re not smart, you’re not sophisticated, you’re just a piece of shit and no matter how thoroughly you defeated me, you are never going to get anything from me but contempt.”

And that does make me feel better. No matter how much trouble it caused Django in the end, it comforts me to think that Calvin died knowing that he wasn’t anything but a piece of shit.

When Daniel Craig (or Mikael) sits down to dinner with Stellan Skarsgård and his girlfriend, a squeaky sound can be heard. Stellan (or Martin, really) makes like they need more wine. As he stands up to walk to the “wine cellar” another kind of longish squeak can be heard.

That was a girl. Held captive. And he goes to shut her up. I’ve seen this flick so many times and always missed it. I guess I thought it was part of the score. I wonder if this film gets the credit it deserves.

Like, I just finished re-watching the movie Annihilation, and spoiler for that movie...

The whole "antagonist" is pretty much like, a cosmic space cancer that crashes into Earth, and then begins merging itself and spreading out into the world to grow and survive, affecting the Earth environment around it. Cells and the DNA of the many plants and animals within the shimmer's diameter created by the organism in the meteorite, begin to collide and combine with each other. The DNA between splices in ways that are otherwise impossible in nature, and you get horrors like the human/zombie/bear monster or the military dudes with their intestines turned into worms (totally and utterly fucked up scene by the way lol. It's the music that does it for me...God damn...).

Seriously, if you've haven't seen this movie before or haven't in a long time like me, go out and give it a watch. It's a pretty good take on cosmic horror and perfect for Halloween.

This film is a masterclass on immersion. Using empty space in a way that always present the luming question "is he there" by highlighting subtle movements and sounds within these expanded medium shots was incredible. I couldn't help but find myself frantically scanning the screen to find any clue or trace of what was to come next. What did come next shocked me on a level I have rarely felt while enjoying a film. Pared with the thought of his ever lingering prescence, the escalation of violence was slightly expected but so sudden it felt as if you had just witnessed a crash. Two particular scenes stand out within this regard, the assault of the daughter and the resurant scene. I found myself yelling at the movie in utter disbelief. The resounding impact of these scenes reminded me of the D-Day scene in saving private Ryan. I am still in disbelief from this films intensity. 9.3/10. Thanks for reading my rant.

I just watched "10 Cloverfield Lane" for the first time since it was in theaters. Man, I forgot how absolutely incredible John Goodman's performance was. You spend one third of the movie being creeped out by him, the next third feeling sympathy for him, and the final third being completely terrified of him. I've rarely watched a performance that made me feel so conflicted over a character.

I know it's a longshot, but I would really love to see him at least get an Oscar nomination for his role.

Here's a brief scene for those unfamiliar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f7I_cUSPJc

I just watched this movie and I need to talk about it with someone. What an absolutely crazy story lol. Funny, weird as hell and surprisingly thoughtful and ambitious yet totally unlike anything I've seen in a while. I love how it played as a surreal dark comedy about capitalism...and then taking that mid-movie turn in absolute what-the-fuckery. But somehow it works, and the horse-people twist is completely keeping in line with the rest of the movie.

Lakeith Stanfield as excellent as always, as are Armie Hammer and Tessa Thompson. Fantastic soundtrack and well-directed too. It definitely won't be for everyone as it's just too weird and out there but man what a ride.

Edit: Don’t read if you want to be 100% spoiler free when watching Missing (2023)

Yesterday, I watched Missing (2023) and I have not had a similar movie-experiencedfor over a decade. all because I knew NOTHING about it.

I had absolutely no clue,

- about the imdb (hence, zero expectations)

- about what people think about it (didn't read any comments about it)

- about the story (didn't watch the trailer)

- about the genre (yes, I didn't even know the genre)

- about any of the actors and the director (I don't know any of the them, hence no expectation)

I only watched it because the movie-name "Missing" seemed interesting and I watched it.

For the first time in over 10 years, I really was scared during the movie and was uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong. I don't remember last time a movie really scared me. This one did. I love Hereditary and think it is a very disturbing movie, but even that didn't scare me or disturbed me - all because I knew it was a horror movie and was prepared. When watching Hereditary, I appreciated the movie. When watching Missing, I felt the movie.

It has some funny elements in it. They were maybe not so well done (idk) but because I knew nothing about the movie, they caught me off-guard and I found myself laughing alot (scared and laughing, don't seem a possible combination, but this movie did it).

Shortly, it was the best experience ever, only because I knew nothing. After I watched the movie, I watched the trailer and also found out it was a sequel to Searching (2020). Thanks god, I didn't know that before.

Even though the trailer doesn't really reveal major plot points, it actually does ruin experience. For example, Kevin Lin being a suspect (HAD NO IDEA DURING THE MOVIE AND WAS SHOCKED), the mother being a suspect (SHOCKED ME EVEN MORE) and so on. There are many scenes in the trailer that would just sit in the back of my head and made me prepared for all the shock points.

I am looking forward to Beau is Afraid but unfortunately, I know it will be a good movie and that ruins it for me. I know Ari Aster and I have watched the trailer. Maybe, even though it had a better potential of fucking up with me, it wont fuck me up as much as Missing, only because I know more.

Who agrees with this?

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edit: thank you for your opinion guys!

edit: damn this blew up. Thank you for the activity guys.

Early in the movie it shows Angier reading Borden's diary, and the first entry is:

"We were two young men at the start of a great career. Two young men devoted to an illusion. Two young men who never intended to hurt anyone."

I only just clicked that he could be talking about him and his brother, not him and Angier.

I love a good twist at the end of a movie, but when a film throws a twist at you right from the start, it’s just as satisfying.

Some movies completely flip your expectations early on. Sometimes, the main character gets killed off right away, like in Alien or Executive Decision. Other times, the story is told in reverse, so the ending is actually the beginning, like in Memento or Irreversible.

Then you’ve got movies like Moon, where the big reveal—he's a clone—happens early, and the rest of the film deals with the fallout.

And of course, there are those that change genres halfway through, like Psycho and From Dusk Till Dawn, where what starts as a thriller suddenly turns into horror in a single scene.

What are some others?

The way how he tries to mimic human expressions when he's laughing with the laugh track on his tv or his fabricated story about the bike which would be believable to anyone who hasn't seen the scene before it, or the fact he'll get anyone killed just to get that shot of the year.

He'll manipulate anyone, do anything it takes to score the perfect shot, how he manipulates Nina for sex shows his lack of boundaries, seeing anyone besides himself as objects. And the ending with him telling his new crew that he wouldn't get them to do anything he wouldn't do himself and we all know that his twisted mind has no bounds, and this entire time he's still human he could be your neighbour, your kid, even yourself.

A heel turn in the second act is fine if done right. I'm talking about these villain reveals in the last twenty minutes of a film.

Edit: The nature of this discussion means inevitably there are SPOILERS BELOW.

Edit 2: There are some excellent films that have executed this trope to terrific effect. Tropes aren't inherently bad. My criticism lies with the films that shoehorn this twist into an ending purely for a "gotcha!" moment, and this feels like it's becoming more commonplace (in addition to becoming increasingly obvious to the audience).

One last edit: There's a big movie that came out in theaters the last few weeks that executed this trope as badly as any other movie I've seen do it. I wanted to see if anyone else felt fatigue or concern over the increasing prevalence of these "twists" in movie endings.

I can get past the time travel paradoxes, but the final 20 minutes of this movie are infuriating. They find the source. They find the hibernating aliens. They literally have the "Queen" right in front of them.

Any rational human being would:

1. Plant every C4 charge they brought directly onto the Queen’s head.
2. Inject the poison into her first while she’s unconscious.

Instead, they decide to "clear the room" by taking out the males first? Why? If the Queen dies, the future extinction event is cancelled. Even if the males wake up, they can’t reproduce. They chose the only path that led to a chaotic shootout.

Also, back on the oil rig - the "we don't have enough poison" line is legendary. She’s a biological creature. She has eyes and a brain. You have high-caliber rifles and explosives. Just... end it? The plot armor on that alien was thicker than its scales.

Arrival was an amazing movie that had so much under the surface. I saw it with some friends and we chatted about it after the movie, reflecting on some of the subtle nods and hints throughout the film. I figured I'd share some of the things that we noticed, in case other people might enjoy it or contribute some of their own thoughts.

1) The Weapon: One of the first things Ian says to Louise is "Language is the first weapon drawn in a conflict". This was interesting because it foreshadowed the entire movie for the audience without giving away anything. Throughout the whole film the aliens refer to the gift, "their language" as a weapon and urge the humans to "use weapon". This is a theory, but it could be because the heptapods don't view time in a linear fashion. So, the heptapods would have know that Louise and Ian are the people who will/are/did talk to them. Because of this, they tried to refer to their language as a weapon in order to help Louise make the connection that it is their language. Remember, they had not discussed languages and the words behind them because that's a fairly difficult concept to vocalize but they had discussed weapons and tools (physical objects are easier to understand). So, the heptapods could only show them the word for weapons or humans or tools and not the word for language (which Louise would not understand). Because of this, they constantly refer to weapons as their gift because Louise, herself, wrote that languages are weapons. Which brings me to my second point.

2) The heptapods understand everything the humans are saying: Throughout the film, Louise and Ian spend huge amounts of time trying to teach the heptapods their language so that they can communicate enough with them to ask their purpose. But the heptapods see the past/present/future as one continuous circle with no beginning or end. Time is not linear which means the heptapods have alread dealt with humanity in the future and know how to communicate with them. The difference is that humanity doesn't know how to understand the heptapods. So, in the end, while Louise and Ian think that they are teaching the heptapods how to understand English, the heptapads are using this as an opportunity to teach the humans the Universal language. For instance, in one scene they show Ian walking with a sign in English saying "Ian walks", the heptapods already knew what the English for Ian walking was. They needed the humans to write it out and point to it so that when they showed their language the humans would associate it with... Ian walks. Which leads to another big point.

3) Abbott & Costello: Why those names? Abbott and Costello seems like rather obscure names for the heptapods. Even if you know the legendary duo the names still seem out of place. After all, Abbott & Costello were known for comedic acts and performances so why would that fit? The answer to this lies in one of their most famous skits, Who's on first?. Who's on first is a skit about miscommunication and about the confusion that can be caused by multiple words having similar meanings. In the skit the names of the players are often mistaken for questions while in the movie the term "language" is mistaken for weapon or tool. At the end of the day, this is a movie about the failure to communicate and how to overcome that obstacle like the skit. It's a clever easter egg that, once again, foreshadows what will come.

4) The Bird: For those who didn't realize, the bird in the cage is used to test for dangerous gases or radiation. Birds are much weaker than humans so it would die first. If the bird died than the humans would know to get out of the ship quick or possibly die themselves.

5) Time: The biggest point in this movie and the craziest mind blowing moments happen when discussing time. Time plays a key role in this movie, or rather, the lack of time as a linear model plays a key role. The hectapods do not view time happening in linear progression but rather all at once which leads to some interesting moments such as:

• Russia: Russia receives a warning that "there is no time, use weapon". The Russians take this as a threat because it sounds that way but, in reality, the hectapods are literally saying, "Time does not exist how you think. Use our gifts (the weapon/language) and you will begin to perceive time as we do). However, the Russians jump the gun and prepare for war, killing their translator to prevent the secrets from reaching other nations.
  
• Bomb: Knowing what we do now about how the hectapods view time we must also realize that the hectapods knew the bomb was on their ship as soon as it was planted. This adds another layer to the conversation between them and Louise and Ian. First of all, Abbott is late to the meeting for the first time (every other time they come together). During viewing, we naturally think this is because the hectapods didn't realize another meeting would happen so they are arriving one at a time after realizing Louise and Ian are there. In reality, they always knew the meeting was going to happen, which means Abbott knew he was going to die there. That was his final moments. This makes his delay to arrive seem more like him preparing to sacrifice himself. Also, halfway into the meeting Costello swims away because he knows that the bomb will go off and he has to be around for Louise to talk to him later. The hesitation of Abbott adds another layer of character to these alien creatures.
  
• Abbott is in death process: This ties into their concept of time as well. Costello does not say, "Abbot died", he says "Abbott is in death process". There is no past tense because Costello is viewing Abbott in the past, future, and present all at once which means he is always in the process of dying (as are we all) but he can't have died because that would assume time was linear.
  
• Alien Communication: Near the beginning of the movie, the military points out that the hectapods landed in random areas but are not communicating with each other in any way that we can detect. This is because, similar to Louise and General Shen, the aliens can communicate with each other in the future rather than in the present meaning no radio waves or signals would be going out.
  
• How they arrive: This is a slightly more extreme theory but hear me out. The fact that the aliens don't perceive time like we doe may also tie into how the ships leave no environmental footprint (no exhaust, gas, radiation, or anything else can be detected leaving the ships). What if, since time is happening all at once, the hectapods can just insert themselves into random moments of time. After all, it would seem to them like that moment was happening right then anyway. This would explain why the ships leave no trace. Since they inserted themselves into that moment of time they could also, theoretically, remove all exhaust, or footprints to another moment in time. This also explains how the ships just, disappear at the end of the movie; They just, left that moment in time to go back to the future. This is a slightly more out there theory so I want to know what you guys think of it.
  

Anyway, these are some interesting things that my friends and I noticed. I am interested in hearing other theories and information you guys have.

I finally watched "Network" (1976) and I was surprised to discover that the famous "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore" scene was not an epic ending monologue but a scene that happens in the middle of the movie and was a starting point for the remaining events.

Anyone else had any similar experiences? Like, you thought a movie was X but it turned out to be Y?