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Firsties!

Wanted to jump on here to echo Keith's endorsement of REBEL RIDGE, which I liked even more than he did. You just don't see genre filmmaking done with this level of old-school craft that often, and it feels so much like an updating-of/response-to films like FIRST BLOOD without skimping on the action.

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And it's on Netflix!!! What a coup.

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Super excited for this one. Loved BLUE RUIN but haven’t gotten around to GREEN ROOM yet.

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GREEN ROOM is the bomb. One of my favorites of the past ten years.

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Seconding the rec for GREEN ROOM. An absolute panic attack of a film, and a deeply unnerving performance by Patrick Stewart.

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No interest in seeing BEETLEJUICE^2, but I will admit to being curious as to how the writers explained the absence of the Maitlands, who should have about 70 years left on their confinement to the house.

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SPOILER! There's a throwaway line about the Maitlands "finding a loophole" that allowed them to finish haunting the house and "move on" to the afterlife.

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Watchmen, Dragged Across Concrete, Brawl In Cell Block 99 and now this. Johnson is making a late career out of scumbag lawmen and I couldn’t be happier about it. I liked Green Room a lot but it didn’t feel like the movie that paid off the promise of Blue Ruin, which convinced me that this guy was going to make a masterpiece someday (I think Green Room is very good, but that Saulnier is going to do even better). Been hoping this would be that movie, though I probably shouldn’t put these kind of expectations on anyone. I think he has all the right instincts about how to update genre for the real world and modern times.

I have to go see Beetlejuice on opening weekend because I have a child who loves the original, but Tim Burton hasn’t made a movie that I like in so long that I no longer believe he has one in him. Maybe my *low* expectations will lead to pleasant surprise on this one.

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Just caught Rebel Ridge this weekend and very happy to say that I think it absolutely pays off the promise in Blue Ruin. I liked Green Room but counter to most folks around here, I was a little let down with it after BR which I thought was really, really impressive - still very good, but felt more like a movie a lot of folks could make. And while Hold The Dark has lots of good stuff, the trajectory wasn't seeming promising to me. But, gotta say, RR takes the best parts of Blue Ruin, adds some of the tech polish that we got in these other movies and feels like a real culmination in the best possible way.

Realizing I think this means I probably need to watch Saunier's True Detective?

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I saw it today. I not only agree with your assessment of it, I agree with you across the board on Saulnier’s works. It’s almost like I wrote the post.

Having said that, you don’t need to see his True Detective. It’s fine. Much like season 2, a lot of it feels like a response to specific criticisms of the preceding season. It also feels very much of its moment in ways that detract from it and make it predictable (unlike Rebel Ridge). It’s not bad, it’s just not all that necessary if you’re like me and have a long list of things you need to watch.

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Don't forget Machete, the film that "introduced" him!

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founding

Also his other scumbags in Django Unchained and Knives Out!

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Other question about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is "why?", and me not can find more compelling answer than "Tim Burton's career is in toilet, and reviving his own IP might work better for him than reviving other people's." Original movie not exactly leave lot of unanswered questions, and fact that this one involve BJ wanting to force Lydia into marriage *again* suggests this is "Airplane 2: All Your Favorite Jokes From Airplane 1"-type sequel and not something with anything new to say beyond "let's put Jenna Ortega in something else before she outgrows deadpan teenager roles."

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It's funny -- Beetlejuice is one of those movies that many recognize but I doubt those recognizers will remember any real particulars. I'm definitely in that camp...outside of the Belafonte song and the moment where Beetlejuice's head shrinks to voodoo-doll-sized levels, I can't remember a thing about it. For some reason I thought Greg Kinnear was actually the husband in the old one, but turns out it's Alec Baldwin...

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I watched it fairly recently and had totally forgotten what a sex pest Beetlejuice really was.

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he's basically Pepe le Pew

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Yeah I watched it last fall after not having watched it since I was a kid and was surprised by that element, as well as the f-bomb they somehow got away with in a PG movie

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And some homophobic shade directed at Otho.

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I do remember someone calling him a "round boy" which I've adopted as a means of insulting my cat.

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I don't think it would have been odd to do a sequel back in the day, though. But with this requel cycle we're stuck in, like.... is there any doubt that this movie would show that Lydia grew up and had a daughter of her own that she also has a strained relationship with?

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I was already hyped for REBEL RIDGE but Scott and Keith's enthusiasm makes me want to invent a time machine to whisk myself to tomorrow.

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Loved Green Room, and I was genuinely wondering the other day "what's Jeremy Saulnier up to, it's been a while", without actually looking it up. I'll definitely go out and

> on Netflix

balls

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Exactly this. Can't we just let good directors show their movies in theaters?

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Sep 6Liked by Scott Tobias

I'd been really wavering on whether to go see BB in the theater after work today, but with the reviews so middling and Rebel Ridge available, I think I'll just watch that instead.

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author

The right choice. Ideally, RR would in movie theaters. But as beer-and-a-pizza Friday night entertainment goes, you can't do much better.

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Sep 6Liked by Scott Tobias

Now that I've seen Rebel Ridge, yeah it's the First Blood-meets-Reacher movie we deserve. As a bicycle-supremacist, I don't think it's possible for a film to have more quickly made me sympathize with a protagonist than how this movie starts.

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Huge fan of Blue Ruin, which was a random “let’s see what’s on Netflix” choice a decade ago, and Green Room, which was a “let’s see what’s leaving the local cinema this week” not realizing it was also Jeremy Saulnier. Really disappointed in Rebel Ridge, which is fine but didn’t have anywhere near the tenseness I was hoping for. Blue Ruin and Green Room were gripping and unexpected in ways that this one didn’t come close to achieving for me. I think I also prefer Hold the Dark. Still gave it a thumbs up in the app so Netflix will buy his next movie.

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Yea I was similarly disappointed in Rebel Ridge. I think the hype around it set my expectations too high. The investigation scenes really dragged, the cousin's death felt like an afterthought, and I really didn't buy David Denman's sudden reversal into hero cop mode after he showed no qualms about hitting Pierre with his car and stealing his money.

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Late to the party but just wanted to echo the disapointment at least a bit.

I actually liked the movie quite a bit on its own terms, but I was definitely left with a bit of a "let's get to the Fireworks factory" feeling in the last half. If I hadn't been primed by his previous movies to expect a bit more intensity and over the top violence I doubt I would have felt that way though.

He definitely outdid himself though on the "clumsy" violence that the Next Picture Show highlighted. I loved how nobody ever started laying out perfect martial arts moves and acrobatics and instead you just had a pretty realistic depiction of a guy who's simply pretty damn good at rough and tumble fighting when necessary.

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Just wanted to swoop in to back Scott and Keith's enthusiasm for REBEL RIDGE. I have a few quibbles — there's one technical point late in the game that seemed muddily described — but it combines visceral throat-punching with the soul of a '70s thriller; Its concern with the mechanics of corruption make it hit harder.

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Finally caught up with both of these this past week: REBEL RIDGE is the better movie but I enjoyed BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE for what it was: the gags, cast, and overall mean spirited nature of the whole thing won me over despite the incredibly scattershot plotting and screenplay (I've never seen a movie with this many subplots)

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