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Scorsese Shorts (Blu-ray) Italianamerican (1974) What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963) It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964) The Big Shave (1967) American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (1978) Criterion released a Blu-ray of newly restored short films by Martin Scorsese. Three student films and two docs. His student work is astonishing, with just as much energy as his feature work to come. The crown jewel of this set is Italianamerican, which is just his parents talking about their family and the immigrant experience. And Mama Scorsese's sauce and meatballs. It's easy to see why Marty would cast his parents often, especially his mother, since they're natural in front of the camera. American Boy is interesting, though it's kind of creepy. All of these are new 4K restorations and holy poo poo the blood in The Big Shave is bright.  Paper Moon (1973, Peter Bogdanovich) [Criterion Channel] - 4.5/5 Escape from New York (1981, John Carpenter) [Blu-ray] - 4.5/5 Gloria (1980, John Cassavetes) [Blu-ray] - 2/5 - worst of his films I've seen, even if Gena Rowlands is good with a gun 1776 (1972, Peter H. Hunt) [Blu-ray - director's cut] - 4.5/5 Witness for the Prosecution (1957, Billy Wilder) - 4/5 Abraham Lincoln (1930, D.W. Griffith) - 3/5 Inherit the Wind (1960, Stanley Kramer) - 4/5 Bound for Glory (1976, Hal Ashby) - 3.5/5 TommyGun85 posted:Lawrence of Arabia It really is one of the all-time greats. Even with the epic scale, it's still a film about a man. Peter O'Toole is just incredible in it, though Anthony Quinn manages to steal every scene he's in.
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Jun 9, 2020 00:04
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Blue Ruin - 4/5 Green Room - 3.5/5 Hell or High Water (rewatch) - 5/5
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Jun 9, 2020 01:44
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TommyGun85 posted:Lawrence of Arabia It gets replayed in 70mm once or twice a year at a local theater and I want to see it for the first time like that but something always comes up.
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Jun 9, 2020 05:32
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First half of June: The Fate of the Furious The Vast of Night Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey August 32nd on Earth Annabelle: Creation Spies in Disguise The Willoughbys Inside Man Surf's Up 2: WaveMania An American Tail: Fievel Goes West The Iron Giant Fritz the Cat Quest for Camelot Kill Bill: Volume 2 Abominable Maelstrom I disliked Denis Villeneuve's first two films, but I especially hated Maelstrom. Luckily I already know I like his later films a lot, because woof, what a miserable film. Here's the plot of Maelstrom: A woman has an abortion (the fetus pulp is shown on screen), then drink drives and hits an old man, then drives off. She later meets the grieving son of the man and proceeds to lie to him and have sex with him. The son finds out she's a liar and that she killed his father, but he still loves her anyway. End. The movie is narrated by a talking fish. Literally. There is an animatronic fish that narrates the film while being repeatedly chopped up by a fishmonger. It was just entirely offputting and had utterly unlikeable characters My favourites of this set of movies were: The Vast of Night - A low budget period-set UFO film that nails the perfect balance between the creepiness of early X-Files and the wonder of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It also has creative camera work and great fast-paced dialogue between the two leads, which made me wonder if there's such a genre as "screwball drama". Kill Bill vol. 2 - I really liked it, probably more than the first. I especially liked the flashback training sequence with Pai Mei. Every segment of the film had something fascinating. The Iron Giant - Very good, not much more to say. and weirdly enough, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West - A delightful slice of my childhood that actually held up. I think I also like this more than the first American Tail. John Cleese's cat villain was a highlight.
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Jun 15, 2020 23:36
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Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988): 6/10 That might seem generous, but I thought it was alright, all things considered; I was entertained enough once things got started and it's not like this really tries to be anything more than a standard slasher/horror movie with an invincible nigh-supernatural maniac (the usual stuff then) so there's little room for it to stumble and completely fall apart. Didn't do much new in that regard but there were definitely some creative kills (stabbing someone with a shotgun!), the characters weren't all just a line of unlikeable pincushions waiting to be filleted, and it was definitely better than a lot of what else 1988 was offering for this sort of mindless thing. Ending was a bit stupid, but little Danielle Harris' performance during the movie easily puts her on the list of "kids in movies that don't loving annoy me", which is probably worth a point alone. ZogrimAteMyHamster fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Jun 16, 2020 |
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Jun 16, 2020 22:31
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Meet the Feebles: wh- 
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Jun 17, 2020 08:47
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Meeting People Is Easy (1998): 90 Plácido (1961): 80 Viridiana (1961): 85 Diferente (1962): 85 Los Tarantos (1963): 70 Please Give (2010): 55 Computer Chess (2013): 85 (rewatch, was 85) Madeline's Madeline (2018): 85 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003): 100 (rewatch, was 100) ¡Bienvenido, Mister Marshall! (1953): 85 Brimstone & Glory (2017): 90 (rewatch, was 90) Death of a Cyclist (1955): 90 I'm on a hell of a streak right now. Spanish movies got really good in the 50s.
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Jun 18, 2020 14:59
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Thoughts on Madeline's Madeline?
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Jun 18, 2020 16:42
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TychoCelchuuu posted:Thoughts on Madeline's Madeline? I don't think it's speaking out of turn to suggest that Madeline's Madeline is a movie for film nerds, forging a classical split in reception between those who think it's a loose, esoteric mess and those (like myself) who find it so viscerally satisfying as an experience that the rest of the details are close to irrelevant. It doesn't help that it's a story about creative process, adding another layer of potential perceived pretentiousness to a film that is already indulgent in style and audience expectations. Having said all that, I fell completely into it. At the center of the film is a triangle of performances by exceptional actresses playing with dynamics of power and family in subtle, emotionally riveting ways. While they're putting it all out there emoting like nobody's business, the camera is totally loving manic, just dancing around this crazy bonfire of pain and manipulation and elevating the intensity of the intimate scenes it depicts. And the movie was made for peanuts, which is a quality not to be ignored. Josephine Decker's vision heartily amplifies the film's production values, utilizing its constraints to deliver lots of raw theatrical power. It's a rad movie that indie fans should not ignore. Meanwhile, I'm worried it's real easy to ignore when the poster/thumbnail is this bad:  Like, what the hell is that? It looks like "Jean Pierre Jeunet presents Children's Theater" and that's so far from capturing what kind of a movie is.
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Jun 18, 2020 20:20
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Kull the Conqueror posted:I don't think it's speaking out of turn to suggest that Madeline's Madeline is a movie for film nerds, forging a classical split in reception between those who think it's a loose, esoteric mess and those (like myself) who find it so viscerally satisfying as an experience that the rest of the details are close to irrelevant. It doesn't help that it's a story about creative process, adding another layer of potential perceived pretentiousness to a film that is already indulgent in style and audience expectations. The poster was real bad
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Jun 18, 2020 22:25
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Subscribed to Mubi recently, here's some stuff I've watched. I don't really like putting arbitrary number scores to movies but I will if it's required by the thread. Metropolis (1927) My first time watching a silent film, I really dug it. It was very dream-like, and while the story was fairly predictable it was still engaging, though that may be due to me being enchanted with how silent movies were done. The special effects were very very impressive for a movie almost a hundred years old. Definitely dragged in some places though. I know like half the movie has been lost to time for most of its life, and only recently has been restored, so it's ironic I felt like it could probably use a bit trimming down in places as I was watching it. Looking back though I think it's important that it's paced so slowly to build an appropriate atmosphere, so I'm glad it's mostly back to its original state. However, I would say you need to be in the right mood to watch it. I was surprised going into it that the movie's message wasn't TECHNOLOGY / CITIES BAD, which was what I was expecting based on what little I knew about it from cultural osmosis. The message is strong too, if a bit heavy-handed, and it's hilarious/depressing that it still hasn't sunk in to society after all this time. August at Akiko's (2018) Speaking of slow atmospheric films! This feels kind of like sitting in a Hawaiian suburb for an hour, just watching the wind blow through the trees. Not a lot happens, but it's intentionally so. I don't regret watching it, but I don't really have any urge to watch it again, or really recommend it to anyone, unless they want that specific feeling I described. The Stranger (1991) I love movies where basically the entire thing takes place in one small setting (in this case, a family's house). Some great dialogue, and a neat mystery that unfortunately kind of falls a bit flat in my opinion. Also has a bit of a confused message, in my opinion? It has a good message of valuing more "tribal" societies and cultures, but also kind of implies "technological societies are worse than tribal ones" which I'm not sure I agree with. Overall I enjoyed it, but not super dying to rewatch it. Babylon (1980) My favorite of the mubi films I've watched so far, I found this really fantastic. Especially with all the poo poo happening irl right now with regards to race. This also does a fantastic job of ramping up the tensions of the setting, it begins with friends jammin' out to dub music and escalates to literal murder. Does a good job of showing that while society seems fine on the surface, there's a lot of hate going on under the hood. The later, more intense scenes also do a good job of re-contextualizing the earlier, more "carefree" scenes. The soundtrack is amazing too, with almost every scene choreographed around it in subtle ways. However, if you're not into reggae / dub / first-wave ska, you're probably going to hate it. Overall a really phenomenal movie, I look forward to rewatching it.
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Jun 18, 2020 22:36
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Accepted (5/10) Teenage 'college' comedy with a premise so ludicrous you cant help but just suspend your disbelief. Its poorly written, but very well acted with Justin Long, Blake Lively and Jonah Hill. It has some really funny moments, but the premise is just so so dumb even for a movie of this type.
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Jun 19, 2020 16:45
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You say all that but my mom is a therapist and she told that one one of her adult clients had a son who faked not just getting into the local tech school, but also graduating and getting a job. He managed to keep up the charade for [I]years[I] all the while he was actually going over to a friend's house and playing video games.
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Jun 19, 2020 18:43
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Bottom Liner posted:The Autopsy of Jane Doe - 3/5 This was a lot of fun mainly because I went in thinking it was inspired by a true crime story??. Third act was kind of weak but overall a good time. I mean technically it was inspired by a true crime, a very old one, but still a crime.
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Jun 19, 2020 19:06
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David D. Davidson posted:You say all that but my mom is a therapist and she told that one one of her adult clients had a son who faked not just getting into the local tech school, but also graduating and getting a job. He managed to keep up the charade for [I]years[I] all the while he was actually going over to a friend's house and playing video games. did he also enrol 300 other students in his fake school at 10k a pop?
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Jun 19, 2020 19:25
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TommyGun85 posted:Accepted (5/10) I have no idea how I’ve never even heard of this one. Sounds like exactly the kind of dumb crap I sometimes enjoy, thanks!
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Jun 20, 2020 01:00
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Fight Club is not that great
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Jun 21, 2020 12:57
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Hedrigall posted:Fight Club is not that great
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Jun 21, 2020 13:34
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Oh yeah I’ve seen it before. I just don’t like it as much anymore. All grit and grime with no real point. And seeing how it basically influenced a generation of toxic white men who didn’t get it really puts a stinker on it for me
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Jun 21, 2020 13:41
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Also the first time I watched it was on DVD, I’d heard there was a twist but didn’t know what it would be. Then I kept seeing little one frame flashes of stuff in the opening 15 minutes so I paused and went frame by frame to catch the little glimpses of Brad Pitt standing there, which immediately made me think it would be a “all in his mind” type deal
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Jun 21, 2020 13:43
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Ah, saw it in the theater, was enjoyable and different back then. I don't recall knowing Pitt was in one of those, just but the dick at the end was quite visible. Curious how other fincher movies hold up, specifically The Game, which I loved.
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Jun 21, 2020 13:51
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falz posted:Ah, saw it in the theater, was enjoyable and different back then. I don't recall knowing Pitt was in one of those, just but the dick at the end was quite visible. I’ve been watching them in order! Alien 3 - saw the assembly cut for the first time, thought it was fantastic Seven - I remembered this in my head as really gruesome like Saw/Hostel but this time realised you don’t really see the deaths at all. Much more of a hardboiled/procedural but still a bit bleak for my tastes. The Game - Used to watch this all the time as a kid (I had it taped off TV) and still liked it this time around although I did spend 2 hours afterwards reading reddit threads about how contrived it all is and nothing about it made sense, which is true, but it’s still a fun ride I’ve seen all of his films before except for Gone Girl. I’m looking forward to watching the rest again, especially Zodiac.
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Jun 21, 2020 14:03
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Hedrigall posted:
that ending, though...
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Jun 21, 2020 14:14
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Matrix trilogy rewatch - 4/3/2.5 in that order. First holds up the best (not surprising) and it’s amazing how many sequels mess up everything by spending time on the political struggles of the world they create instead of more word building or exploring said world. The first 30 minutes of Reloaded is a slog and should have been gutted.
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Jun 21, 2020 16:36
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O Brother Where Art Thou - so so so good, Tim Blake Nelson is a goddamn treasure I’m watching all the Coen Bros movies in order. I haven’t seen any after this apart from Hail Caesar and Buster Scruggs. My favourites so far are Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo and O Brother
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Jun 22, 2020 15:11
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Ad Astra - Ugh. I don't need my sci-fi to beat you over the head with attempts at realism or anything like that, but man this movie just botched every single thing they could have possibly made cool. The way they show apparent gravity vs weightlessness is crazy inconsistent. Ship under thrust, no apparent gravity. Which I guess helps if you decide to catch a ride on a rocket that's in the middle of launching. And just the whole plan in general was ridiculous. "That much anti-matter could annihilate all life on Earth if it detonates! You know what? gently caress it, let's nuke it" Brad Pitt's performance was alright though, I guess I'll give him that. It also had some nice visuals. In the end I feel pretty much the same about Ad Astra as I did with Gravity. Decent performances, nice to look at, but ultimately kind of crap.
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Jun 24, 2020 01:10
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Inspector 34 posted:Decent performances, nice to look at, but ultimately kind of crap. Pretty much my take. Its worst sin is the narration that never lets an otherwise contemplative presentation breathe. Brad Pitt will be sitting silently in some vast, weird futuristic room and before you can appreciate it his inner voice goes "I am here because I have a difficult relationship with my father and that's the story of this movie."
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Jun 24, 2020 16:19
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Kull the Conqueror posted:Pretty much my take. Its worst sin is the narration that never lets an otherwise contemplative presentation breathe. Brad Pitt will be sitting silently in some vast, weird futuristic room and before you can appreciate it his inner voice goes "I am here because I have a difficult relationship with my father and that's the story of this movie." I honestly have the feeling the narration was ordered in at some point in post production a la Blade Runner. The picture clearly doesn't need it.
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Jun 24, 2020 19:21
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Maxwell Lord posted:I honestly have the feeling the narration was ordered in at some point in post production a la Blade Runner. The picture clearly doesn't need it. Oh the movie had a major overhaul at some points because the studio hated it. Liv Tyler wasn't even originally in the movie but they added her in reshoots ...granted this is all half remembered by me and I could be way off
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Jun 24, 2020 19:27
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last night I watched The Vast of Night on prime. 3/5 (good / worth watching once) the plot is a micron thick but the two main performances are great, and the cinematography was wonderful minus two times when the video just CUTS out during the scariest part of the movie? I almost thought it was a glitch in my stream. I liked what I got, but I wanted more. it's 91 minutes long, I wanted 20 more minutes with a real story.
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Jun 27, 2020 21:13
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Hedrigall posted:Oh yeah I’ve seen it before. I just don’t like it as much anymore. All grit and grime with no real point. And seeing how it basically influenced a generation of toxic white men who didn’t get it really puts a stinker on it for me I dunno, as far as anti-corporate films go it's one of the more scathing... and I appreciate that. Hedrigall posted:
Gone Girl is good. Zodiac is his best film, and one of THE best films. Inspector 34 posted:Ad Astra - Ugh. I don't need my sci-fi to beat you over the head with attempts at realism or anything like that, but man this movie just botched every single thing they could have possibly made cool. The way they show apparent gravity vs weightlessness is crazy inconsistent. Ship under thrust, no apparent gravity. Which I guess helps if you decide to catch a ride on a rocket that's in the middle of launching. And just the whole plan in general was ridiculous. "That much anti-matter could annihilate all life on Earth if it detonates! You know what? gently caress it, let's nuke it" I thought Ad Astra was pretty bad, but I had a friend who was 18 when his dad died and he found the film really moving. Takes all kinds. Gravity felt like a better film to me, but only by a small margin, it was pretty videogamey imo. axelblaze posted:Oh the movie had a major overhaul at some points because the studio hated it. Liv Tyler wasn't even originally in the movie but they added her in reshoots That's interesting. I'd be willing to watch an alternate cut if it made some big changes.
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Jun 27, 2020 21:36
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AKA Jane Roe is worth seeing if Jane Roe is just sort of a name you always heard but never really knew the story of the person. Fight Club seems a bit trite now since most of its ideas are now fairly mainstream, and most of this stuff was not that original to begin with, but it might be worth watching to see what in many ways was the entry point for many of these ideas into Gen X minds in the late 90s. Adventures in Babysitting is a completely different movie than I remembered. It is more racist, more classist and the super hero scene is way less significant than in my memory. But, it is a charming movie and you can turn your brain off and not think about it too hard if you want, or, you can see it to see what the fears of upper middle class America were of the cities in the late 80s, early 90s. Hedrigall posted:Oh yeah I’ve seen it before. I just don’t like it as much anymore. All grit and grime with no real point. And seeing how it basically influenced a generation of toxic white men who didn’t get it really puts a stinker on it for me I wrote my mini gimmick review before reading this but I definitely agree with this 100% Rick fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Jul 8, 2020 |
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Jul 8, 2020 22:09
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World A directorial masterpiece in that it captures exactly what a real life comic book / anime / video game adaptation could be stylistically with its split screens, motion effects, etc. The problem is that it was very uninteresting and not very funny. Having not read it, I'll blame the source material since the direction, acting (except Cera), editing, music is all fantastic. I do greatly appreciate that, for once, a movie shot in Toronto actually takes place in Toronto. Although it showcases Casa Loma, I actually liked that they didnt attempt to showcase any landmarks or anything like that. The movie simply just takes place there, which is nice to see. I read online that a lot of people thought Pizza Pizza was a made up brand for the movie. Nope, its a real pizza chain and quite hilarious. I remwmber they used to offer free slices of pizza if the Raptors scored more than 100 pts in a game, which they have obviously backtracked on since they became NBA Champs. 6 / 10
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Jul 8, 2020 22:37
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The new Andy Samberg movie Palm Springs has probably been my favorite thing released in the post-covid hellscape. Don’t watch the trailer, but if you’ve already seen it it’s no massive deal. It’s just funny and nice and well paced with no slump. So 4.5/5, gently caress it.
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Jul 11, 2020 02:15
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We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story (1993; an Amblimation production) and Polytechnique (2009; dir. Denis Villeneuve) A perfect double feature, the films have far more in common than they have different
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Jul 11, 2020 04:50
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Born in Flames (1983): 90 Knives Out (2019): 80 1776 (1972): 75 La prima Angélica (1974): 80 Novio a la vista (1954): 65 El anacoreta (1977): 65 First Cow (2020): 75 Palm Springs (2020): 75 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019): 35 An uneven stretch; Spain in color has so far been less appealing than the B&W works, but I have a lot of classics to get to, with Almodóvar just around the corner and much, much more Carlos Saura.
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Jul 13, 2020 14:56
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The new Invisible Man falls into whatever the opposite of sweet spot is for me. The movie’s title gives the game away, so most attempts at suspense or misdirection on the Invisible Man front feel pretty flat. It’s humorless and dry to the point that all you’re left with is watching people suffer. Even that can be entertaining if the monster or the horror is inventive enough, but this didn’t do much more than the usual invisible evil gags. The movie’s big idea is clever, Moss is great as usual as a woman coming apart at the seams, and the suit design is cool. The final twist is good if derivative, but I think the movie as a whole could have stood to be like 50% twistier. I was mostly just waiting for it to end
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Jul 23, 2020 04:31
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I thought the gimmick worked extremely well. It was even worth a rewatch to enjoy the scenes where you don't know if he's there or not. And the movie would be a huge  if you didn't know you were watching a movie about an invisible man. That's not a case of giving the game away, it's setting up the entire premise that wouldn't work or let you empathize with the protagonist otherwise. Shifting the focus of the narrative off of the man was a brilliant decision for this reboot too.
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Jul 23, 2020 05:05
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The scene where she dumps the paint or whatever and his suit is revealed for the first time was a loving nightmarish image, fantastic scare in a fantastic movie
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Jul 23, 2020 12:17
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morestuff posted:The new Invisible Man falls into whatever the opposite of sweet spot is for me. The movie’s title gives the game away, so most attempts at suspense or misdirection on the Invisible Man front feel pretty flat. It’s humorless and dry to the point that all you’re left with is watching people suffer. Even that can be entertaining if the monster or the horror is inventive enough, but this didn’t do much more than the usual invisible evil gags. What did you want the film to be titled? “The man who couldn’t be seen”? Invisible can mean a lot of things.
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Jul 23, 2020 12:40
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