SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 156 - Mandy

[Fergelmince]

For all the movie’s faults, the bathroom-vodka scene was an instant classic and had Nicholas Cage written all over it.

 

[the muntjac]

That's the wicked cruelty of destiny. After 100 weeks of exile (I'm pretty sure it was 100 weeks, right?) you return to us, and we're watching Mandy

I remember putting this movie on with great expectations, and then the following two hours were the sloggiest of all slog. I saw the Cheddar Goblin part beforehand, and I loved it, which is what made me want to watch the movie. And then, well...bleh...

Bring it Nintenboy!

Haha! I actually rewatched The Wizard last week for the first time since I was a kid, and I've gotta say for being something that's a giant hammy commercial for Nintendo and Universal Studios, the flick hits all the right cheesy notes. Thumbs up!

Well, to be fair, Fear and Loathing is better than this film. Partially because, as you say, it has a lot of punchy lines that are quotable. But overall, it's just to delirious for me.

Yeah but now you're just being unfair.

You're comparing movies with monkies in them vs movies that don't have monkies.

They're two entirely different classes of film! One is inherently better than the other.

I'll never forgive Mr Mcclure for how he slandered them.

Seriously though, that avenging monkey in Phenomena was pretty badass. That's how you do a true Deus Ex Machina

♫ Oh, you finally made a monkey out of meeeeee ♫

The avenging monkey in Phenomena is one of the most hilarious things of all time, and I'm not even sure if it was meant to be funny. I get the same feeling from the Hot Dog Vendor in Inferno. Argento just might be certifiable, but he brings the yuks.

 

[Tufts]

@FrontNicholasCage checking in. last minute. for my own week.
Better late than never..?

First impressions:
I like the music so far. Some cool shots & great transitions.
Kinda has a demonic psychedelic vibe. I'm into it.

Mandy just looks like she's gonna stab somebody.
And why is one of her eyes bigger than the other?

This is even stranger than I expected.
This Jeramiah guy lookin a lil possessed.
View attachment 579119
He's got the Gangrel look down though

Spoiler

Pretty well done in some regards, but I certainly haven't been scared thus far.
And I scare easily.

This is definitely one of the stranger things I've watched..
I feel like it's trying a little too hard to be different, though.

These weirdo cults are always about bangin.


I hope this bald geezer gets diced up at some point.

Spoiler

(We should have watched The Shining)

Halfway through this movie, and my hopes are not high for the second half.
I don't know why, but I expected to really like this one.

Okay Cheddar Goblin is the scariest thing about this movie so far <Lmaoo>
(We really should have watched The Shining)

Ahh, there it is. The Nicholas Cage freakout.
I knew this movie was missing something.
View attachment 579159

That throat slash scene


Definitely picking up in the second half.
I was never really intimidated by the monsters, though.
I mean, they are all getting fucked up by Nicholas Cage..
(who has turned full psycho, as expected).

I do not like the anime, comic book dream shit.

I feel like this movie is very disconnected from itself.
One minute I'm interested and it seems intriguing.
The next it's gone back to boring or stupid.
Could just be my ADHD, hard to tell.

Overall Assesment :
Some brilliant individual shots.
Some tense scenes and interesting lighting/effects
Wayyy too all over the place
Not sure if actual movie or horror spoof.
Couldn't take it seriously outside of some visuals.
Apart from Mandy and Nicholas Cage,
none of the other characters really did it for me.
That last death was ridiculous. This movie was ridiculous
In conclusion, I find the whole thing unnecessary.

Interesting enough to watch once, but not twice.
Maybe I'll stick to nominating movies I've seen

I had the "should have watched the shinning" thought multiple times. My thoughts pretty much mirrored yours. I found the film annoying and not very entertaining. But glad I watched it so I could see what all the fuss was about.

 

[the muntjac]

I had the "should have watched the shinning” thought multiple times. My thoughts pretty much mirrored yours. I found the film annoying and not very entertaining. But glad I watched it so I could see what all the fuss was about.

The Shinning, eh?

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

I had the "should have watched the shinning" thought multiple times.

 

[Zer]

I thought this was pretty outstanding in terms of aesthetics. It was a right orgy of sound and visuals. At times it was kinda hypnotic, and one or twice kinda nightmarish. The ambient music is a huge driving force and it gotta be one of the most effective films in terms of sound. Pretty much everything the film tried in terms of aesthetics worked for me big time.

The performances were fine. It wasn't really a high tier Nic Cage performance but the character didn't really have much material behind it. I really liked how the cult was handled and the whole angle with their demon summons. Linus Roache was interesting as Jeremiah. I loved the whole air of perversion around the cult. It was very Slaanesh (40k bros will get that reference). I would've preferred if it was supernatural all the way and they really did have demon lackeys. But drug-blitzed psychos works as well.

Even when the film was at its strongest though (In the first half) I found my mind drifting off. Definitely some pacing issues, and a lot of scenes overstay their welcome. I didn't like the second half with Cage picking everyone off. It reminded me of District 9 where they had an awesome gimmick for the first half, but then it just turns into a pretty generic action shooter in the second half. Aesthetically the films lacks a lot when we're with Red and it's like they shot a lot of the film while the lighting guy was on holiday. The combat is run of the mill stuff. It was kind of schizo in how it could be so special at some points and then so completely plain at others.

 

[-Magua-]

I thought this was pretty outstanding in terms of aesthetics. It was a right orgy of sound and visuals. At times it was kinda hypnotic, and one or twice kinda nightmarish. The ambient music is a huge driving force and it gotta be one of the most effective films in terms of sound. Pretty much everything the film tried in terms of aesthetics worked for me big time.

The performances were fine. It wasn't really a high tier Nic Cage performance but the character didn't really have much material behind it. I really liked how the cult was handled and the whole angle with their demon summons. Linus Roache was interesting as Jeremiah. I loved the whole air of perversion around the cult. It was very Slaanesh (40k bros will get that reference). I would've preferred if it was supernatural all the way and they really did have demon lackeys. But drug-blitzed psychos works as well.

Even when the film was at its strongest though (In the first half) I found my mind drifting off. Definitely some pacing issues, and a lot of scenes overstay their welcome. I didn't like the second half with Cage picking everyone off. It reminded me of District 9 where they had an awesome gimmick for the first half, but then it just turns into a pretty generic action shooter in the second half. Aesthetically the films lacks a lot when we're with Red and it's like they shot a lot of the film while the lighting guy was on holiday. The combat is run of the mill stuff. It was kind of schizo in how it could be so special at some points and then so completely plain at others.

Nice take Zer.
Roache as Jeremiah was brilliant.
I also dug his psychic lsd Jedi mind trick. I felt a symbolism there as well of how cult or persuasive leaders can operate... seductive resonance.

I do feel there was a psychic supernatural element, Controlling nature and manipulating psychic of the repressed deficient needs. ie witchcraft or black magic.

I do believe Jeremiah had lower tier psychic ability of persuasion, strongest on those resonant with him.

That flaccid penis shame was epic. Weinstein epic... lol.

 

[MusterX]

I thought this was pretty outstanding in terms of aesthetics. It was a right orgy of sound and visuals. At times it was kinda hypnotic, and one or twice kinda nightmarish. The ambient music is a huge driving force and it gotta be one of the most effective films in terms of sound. Pretty much everything the film tried in terms of aesthetics worked for me big time.

The performances were fine. It wasn't really a high tier Nic Cage performance but the character didn't really have much material behind it. I really liked how the cult was handled and the whole angle with their demon summons. Linus Roache was interesting as Jeremiah. I loved the whole air of perversion around the cult. It was very Slaanesh (40k bros will get that reference). I would've preferred if it was supernatural all the way and they really did have demon lackeys. But drug-blitzed psychos works as well.

Even when the film was at its strongest though (In the first half) I found my mind drifting off. Definitely some pacing issues, and a lot of scenes overstay their welcome. I didn't like the second half with Cage picking everyone off. It reminded me of District 9 where they had an awesome gimmick for the first half, but then it just turns into a pretty generic action shooter in the second half. Aesthetically the films lacks a lot when we're with Red and it's like they shot a lot of the film while the lighting guy was on holiday. The combat is run of the mill stuff. It was kind of schizo in how it could be so special at some points and then so completely plain at others.

I found this to be pretty cool. During the film you will see Mandy reading these different fantasy books and the titles of the books are the tracks on the sound track by Johann Johannsonn. For example, the first track on the sound track is called Seeker of the Serpent's Eye, which we see as the title of one of Mandy's books.

 

[JayPettryMMA]

I'm almost long enough removed from this to go over it again, but I must really once again object to new movies from the last year (This was released September 2018) being part of the club, in terms of availability and cost purposes, not to mention that many of us had just seen these new films in theater. There are already recent threads on those films so it really does lose some of its luster. Watching a film twice in a year doesn't allow me at least to give a watch a fresh pair of eyes. I'm not normally the kind of guy that goes to see a movie more than once in a theater. Back when I was a projectionist in what seems like a lifetime ago, I used to, but that was because I would bring multiple people to see a film upon its release. I saw Bad Boys II eight times in theaters because people kept asking me to bring them, so I obliged. That is one of the few movies I'll never get sick of, but I feel like I could write a dissertation about that film. I won't. Let's talk Mandy.

Visually amazing; the cinematography was just fun. This film was just pure color, and every color meant something. The scene where where Jeremiah had his lengthy purple monologue, the way his face would transition back and forth with Mandy's was just beautiful. It reminded me of Persona in a way. And then he opened his robe and it reminded me of Roma.

This feels like the kind of role Cage was born to play. Think of all the crazy he's given us over the years. Face/Off. Wicker Man. Vampire's Kiss. Wild at Heart. Raising Arizona. The Weather Man (A different kind of crazy). Moonstruck (he fell in love with Cher). The list just goes on and on, but Mandy has to go right up near the top of that list. He sure didn't have to say much to convey his rage.

It's weird how this movie took a full hour to actually accomplish very little. We know Cage loves Mandy, there's a cultish biker gang, we know Jeremiah wanted the girl, she laughed at him and he set her on fire. That was one whole hour. This film is unquestionably a tale of two halves. I could see people coming into this getting a little bored with the pacing, only for it to go up to 11 really quickly.

Sign me up for Cheddar Goblin mac and cheese.

When he was drinking vodka and mourning and freaking out, I'd like to believe that really was vodka he was drinking. He's a true professional, not to mention a master blacksmith. That axe will keel. But why use an axe when you can have a chainsaw? You've played DOOM before, right? That's the ultimate weapon, not the rocket launcher or the BFG 9000. That is, until it doesn't start.

Sure they killed his girlfriend, but tearing his favorite shirt, that's when they went too far.

How many other films have featured chainsaw duels? Texas Chainsaw 2 had one with Dennis Hopper, were there any other battles between two chainsaw-wielding characters of note? I'm sure some cheap z-movie horror flicks had some.

This is the kind of film you can lose yourself in. The score is all-enveloping, the visuals hypnotic and the blood a-flowin. I'm relieved I enjoyed it as much this second watch as I did the first, but when I saw it the first time I didn't think I'd be revisiting it any time soon. The silence at the end was just deafening.

8/10, with a side of