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Maxwell Lord posted:M3gan: manages to walk a really fine line where it’s goofy and wild and darkly funny but also still kinda tense. The cinema is alive and well. Saw this yesterday. Agree, funnier than you think but also way more interesting than the campy trailer would have you believe. Can't believe they managed the tightrope act
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Jan 28, 2023 21:33
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Innerspace. There's a bit too much going on in this sci fi flick, and I think that's leading to some plot holes. It also has that weird 80s children's media campiness when it comes to the villains. At least the box was right in that the effects are mostly pretty decent?
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Jan 29, 2023 06:56
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Broadcast News: some great performances, but sign of the times I was a bit confused at first when they called news anchors 'journalists'. Made me do a double take and actually think about it! Also great performance, but the script for Albert Brooks is like proto-incel. Not sure why he's given a pass for that poo poo.
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Jan 29, 2023 07:56
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The Fabelmans - This one kind of peaks in the middle for me but drat if that final scene, hell the final shot, isn't great. Charming reminder of why we love Spielberg in the first place. 8/10
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Jan 29, 2023 11:34
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The Pale Blue Eye on Netflix. Second-most entertaining portrayal of Poe I've seen. The best was Jeffery Combs in a one-man stage show. Overall it was fine, but really should have ended 20 minutes sooner. Congratulations, Brolin, your character didn't gently caress his own daughter this time, but there was still an unnecessary twist.
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Jan 29, 2023 16:56
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Layer Cake: A miserable soap opera look at British gangland when drug deals go wrong. Edit: Double header today with Megaforce. It's better off as a gif on the internet, since that gif has more plot in it than the rest of the movie. Most of which is just a reeeeeeally expensive crashing together of off brand 80s action figures. Turbinosamente fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Jan 29, 2023 |
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Jan 29, 2023 21:30
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A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies Pt.2 Cool stuff, not sure who the host is but he's reasonably knowledgeable enough Living Glad the little girl from that gif is getting work, movies mid though. Girl and Neighy are the only actors pulling weight, and the whole films budget to hell and tries to make up for it with some truly awful cgi
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Jan 30, 2023 04:50
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show some respect, it's the pufferfish from shark tale Scenes from a Marriage (2021) - This is the American remake with Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain, who do a good job but let's face it, there's no replacing Liv Ullman. Like you would expect from an American production, the emotions are a lot more intense than the original, there's more of an emphasis on pathos, although it never slips into melodrama. The original SFAM had that unique quality of feeling like you were a voyeur watching a real couple and also watching a play at the same time, this one doesn't have the monologuing and is more conventionally Hollywood drama i suppose but it does start every episode with a fourth wall break that is an interesting addition and suggests that the entire marriage itself is a kind of performance, and it's only in the limbo the characters find themselves, divorced yet not entirely separated, that they can find some authentic connection. This version also mixes up some of the character traits, it's now the wife who explodes the marriage and leaves for a younger lover. She's even less likeable than the husband in the original, there's something about the PMC language of self-actualization or whatever being used to explain cruel and selfish behavior that really gets under the skin. Overall entertaining, ,but obviously not as good as the original. But what is? 7/10 Marriage Cinematic Universe Ranked: https://letterboxd.com/smayta/list/the-mcu-ranked-marriage-cinematic-universe/ Might move Marionettes up on a rewatch, but I'm in no hurry to do that. E: The Menu - If you're a regular CineD goon then you're a Tyler and will be punished accordingly. 6/10 Mantis42 fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Jan 31, 2023 |
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Jan 31, 2023 20:35
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East of Eden Dean has just got it, that ineffable charisma of the true movie star, you never take your eyes off the lad when he's on screen. The movie is beautiful to look at as well, with great set designs and some fascinating camera movements. Cutting Lee, Sam Hamilton and the whole of the first part of the novel really guts a lot of the emotion though, and it's only partially made up by Dean's performance. Adam especially comes off way more strict and cold than he does in the novel, where he's caring but aloof. Kate too is well acted but doesn't really come across as the truly malevolent entity she is in the novel in this film, still a good watch though.
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Feb 1, 2023 06:47
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Claire's Knee First off, Rohmer is by far the best of the New Waveists at making a beautiful film, I'd have never called it from his early short works, but this film is gorgeous. Verdant green fields, rolling blue waters, and gigantic peaks. And Brialy's wardrobe is beyond reproach, would that I could look as dapper as that. For the film itself, we got ourselves an even more conceited and perverted person than the previous ones. On one hand I do somewhat believe him when he says that if not for Aurora's prompting he'd have done nothing to mess with the young girls, on the other hand, as a wager or not, pursuing young teenage girls is not something one should be doing. And then to delude yourself that you're lifting the veil of innocence from their eyes to wash your hands of your own perversion, it's repulsive, utterly repellent, and a very honest look at the male psyche. Groundhog's Day I usually don't go in for the Murray bits but he does quite a good job in this. A man finally being broken into humbleness and appreciation of life through being forced to live it through hundreds of times, a bit of smoking the whole pack as learning device, but it works.
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Feb 3, 2023 04:22
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Turbinosamente posted:Jeez I dunno if I should ruin it for you by posting the context. it's the ski chase. One of my favorite tracks as well as the tense atmospheric music leading up to it. That chase I'd way more slapstick than I remembered. Bond has a lot of dad energy in it
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Feb 3, 2023 13:02
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Safe movie wants to be Hard Eight so much it's unreal.
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Feb 4, 2023 00:07
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distortion park posted:That chase I'd way more slapstick than I remembered. Bond has a lot of dad energy in it They actually downplayed the comedy too. When Bond skis through the restaurant balcony some guy takes a cake to the face but it's done so fast you barely notice, and the guy with the glass of wine who was in the previous two movies only gets a split-second cameo.
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Feb 4, 2023 00:48
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Lady Bird Thought I would like this more than I did. It should've been more heightened, it's got this idea of being realistic and down to earth, but then certain moments will take you out. The scene with Saorise begging her mom to talk to her for instance, I'm sorry but that's a director writing what they wished they'd done in a fight with their mom not what a teen would do. The ending was a little too cute too, cutting between her and her mom driving was a lot. I think I would have just had her talking over the phone and then end. The emotional climax already happens iwth her mom driving around the airport, we already know the mom loves her, we just need to make sure LB isn't going to get chewed up and spit out by NY and has made peace with her upbringing.
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Feb 4, 2023 06:24
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Die Hard (1988) it’s a fun time but psychotic by todays standards. Rip Alan, you were the best
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Feb 4, 2023 17:17
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Thief (1981). Watched Heat a few days ago and was interesting to see how much was already there in Mann's first movie, including the entirely hollow female characters. This one didn't really justify the running time but was still a good watch, loved all the shots of the heists and the entirely gratuitous explosions at the end (what even was that bar that got blown up?) e: second reaction is that the heists and the start of the shootout at the end feel 100x more authentic than in other films. distortion park fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Feb 4, 2023 |
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Feb 4, 2023 22:17
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distortion park posted:Thief (1981). Watched Heat a few days ago and was interesting to see how much was already there in Mann's first movie, including the entirely hollow female characters. This one didn't really justify the running time but was still a good watch, loved all the shots of the heists and the entirely gratuitous explosions at the end (what even was that bar that got blown up?) It was the bar he was always hanging out at, he used it to help launder his money along with the car lot.
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Feb 4, 2023 23:48
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That’s a real bar in Chicago, the green mill. Notorious for hosting organized criminals over the decades. It’s a cool spot
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Feb 4, 2023 23:55
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Knock at the Cabin Anyone got Shyamalan's Address? Gotta send 'em a copy of Fear and Trembling
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Feb 5, 2023 04:37
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Some quickie reviews: Infinity Pool - I'm curious as to what was cut from the R-rated cut and I'm going to find out as soon as the Blu-ray drops. A great existentialist trip for fellow psychos who believe White Lotus was mild Lifetime fare. Women Talking - SO BRAVE SO BRAVE SO BRAVE *CLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAP* Jesus loving Christ this thing was just 100 minutes of the Mennonite Vagina Monologues. Knock At The Cabin - I liked it up until the 3rd act where it totally poo poo the bed in classic Shyamalan fashion. Bautista's officially the best wrestler-turned-actor. Rupert Grint gives a pretty chilling performance too.
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Feb 5, 2023 19:07
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The Visit (2015). Welp first time for everything -- I saw a Shyamalan joint that I didn't find astonishingly stupid and terrible. This was genuinely fun and apart from a few bizarre musical choices (no idea what the hell was up with that old-timey musical song during the police rescue at the end) the whole production -- acting, directing, photography, everything -- was pretty excellent. YAHTZEE!!!
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Feb 6, 2023 01:45
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[b]Free Guy[/g]: it was fine! I expected it to be worse, but I didn't hate it. It really didn't need to be so long, it felt like there was a better movie in there, one that felt less baggy, but I like Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi and this delivers them pretty well.
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Feb 6, 2023 03:41
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JUNG_E on Netflix was a pretty good dystopian cybernetic romp. Some totally believable scenarios, like making people sign away the rights to their brains to pay for medical treatment. Also how the security bots are programmed to choke people to death, since their training would be based on actual cops. I do have to question whether it's a good idea to program your soldier-bots to feel pain, fear, and existential horror, when you can clearly turn those off.
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Feb 6, 2023 04:54
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Snake Eyes This movie owns, easily the best De Palma I've seen. More than even Blowout which unfortunately lives in the shadow of Blow Up. Distilling all the conspiracy thriller energy down into a few hours in a single location is pure genius. Cage is perfect as a sleazy scumbag cop and Sinise is also excellent casting for a straight laced Naval officer, and as a corrupt sociopath. Only poor choice was the awful sound effect for the Phantom Punch.
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Feb 6, 2023 07:12
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Happened to watch Tár with a Filipino friend of mine, and she went from super excited when we got to the ending, to confused and mildly grossed out when we got to the fishbowl prostitute scene. Can't show Southeast Asia without finding some hookers I guess. Cate Blanchett was perfect, but I felt pretty underwhelmed by the movie overall. Really static camerawork, dull pacing and predictable editing - every cut fell on exactly the same beat you'd expect for the entire film. Felt like a standard by-the-numbers Oscar bait "character study" to me.
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Feb 6, 2023 19:41
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Last of the Mohicans (1992) Weird film, super stylised, almost cartoonist at times, but feels like it also has a lot of accurate details. Bold to have a pivotal scene in multiple non English languages. I feel like it's a lot less offensive than it could be for a 1995 film by a white director but don't know enough to say for sure. Daniel Day Lewis is smoking throughout, even when pulling silly faces.
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Feb 6, 2023 21:17
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Gunpowder battle scenes were great - that initial set of shots of the siege from a distance was phenomenal, as was the wide shot of the start of the ambush E: Mann also sells the relationships in this more than his others I've seen so far, albeit with a really minimal amount of dialogue distortion park fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Feb 6, 2023 |
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Feb 6, 2023 21:19
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distortion park posted:Last of the Mohicans (1992) Weird film, super stylised, almost cartoonist at times, but feels like it also has a lot of accurate details. Bold to have a pivotal scene in multiple non English languages. I feel like it's a lot less offensive than it could be for a 1995 film by a white director but don't know enough to say for sure. That whole ending with hardly a word spoken and the soundtrack blasting is amazing on its own.
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Feb 6, 2023 22:02
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Tom Guycot posted:That whole ending with hardly a word spoken and the soundtrack blasting is amazing on its own. Yeah that was cool. Love that FDL wasn't the one to take out the "bad" guy
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Feb 6, 2023 22:14
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Trainspotting I think I missed seeing this in the right decade. I’m definitely not as high on it as many. Ewan is great. And Boyle directs the hell of it bringing tons of energy and some wonderful shots. But the story is just kind of dumb for me and not one I connect to. There’s a counter culture aspect with the choose life speeches that doesn’t really seem much bigger than gently caress the system. And the whole thing seems to be Renton is an rear end in a top hat who really suffers no consequences. He steals and does lots of heroin, has sex with an under age girl repeatedly, and screws over his friends, and ends it all with a he’s good to be better speech even though we saw him shoot up in a bus bathroom 15 minutes ago. Tommy is probably the most real depiction as his apartment turns to squalor not the cool party house of the others. Also the baby scene was a bit long but I guess the shock was important at the time. I can see how this has influence on many films like requiem for a dream and fight club. I probably just prefer those to this one.
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Feb 8, 2023 01:40
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It feels very dated now I think. The new one was such a depressing view onto British life. Baby Boy (2001). Weird but I think I liked it? The spectre of domestic violence looms large and (authentically perhaps) is never really resolved. I thought the conclusion was going to be that to become a man Jody needed to learn to make a sandwich, but it was actually to shoot Snoop Dog? or maybe that was a dream and he was actually just dead, idk. Most unambiguously fun scene was when he's selling clothes in the flirtiest way imaginable
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Feb 8, 2023 08:53
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Viking Wolf (2022) on Netflix. Remember Ginger Snaps? That was 22 years ago! I know, can you believe it! Anyway, the title of this movie is very misleading. A better title that represents the actual proportions of Viking and Wolf in this movie would be Vi- Woooooooolf COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP. Of course, the real monster was the veterinarian's mustache all along.
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Feb 10, 2023 01:47
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Nightmare Cinema posted:Knock At The Cabin - I liked it up until the 3rd act where it totally poo poo the bed in classic Shyamalan fashion. Bautista's officially the best wrestler-turned-actor. Rupert Grint gives a pretty chilling performance too. it was an absolutely absurd, poorly justified choice to not have Andrew shoot both Sabrina (at first, I mean) and Leonard. That character, in that situation having gone through what he's gone through and with what he believed, would have had zero compunctions about doing so. It was especially odd with regard to Sabrina since he does so extremely soon afterwards
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Feb 10, 2023 03:52
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Amigos (2023) Absolutely unhinged movie. A man finds his dream girl, but she doesn't want him unless he can pass her tests; if three men steal her purse, phone, and necklace in turn, which do you run after to confront. The answer being to get all three. Hopeless in his quest the man finds a website to find Doppelgangers, he finds two others who look just like the lad. And they manage to gaslight the women into engagement, however it turns out the third double is actually "India's Pablo Escobar" and is trying to clear his crimes by framing one of the others and fleeing to the US. The second half of the movie shifts fully from goofy romantic comedy to thriller, with one in police custody, and the other two trying to outwit the others into falling into the hands of the police. Would I have loved it if I didn't love all media relating to Doppelganger e.g. The Double by Dostoevsky or The Double by Richard Ayoade, probably not. But I do and this movie managed to climb itself out of it's goofiness in time to make something interesting; it does however completely fail to say anything about the concept of having a double or ones fate in life.
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Feb 10, 2023 03:53
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Knock at the Cabin: Boring and predictable. Some good performances though
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Feb 13, 2023 00:33
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Collateral (2004). It's really weird having Cruise in this. He does a fine Cruise performance but it gives the whole film his energy. Jamie Foxx is great. Some of the effects in the cab are not
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Feb 15, 2023 20:46
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Did a doubleheader at the theatre yesterday evening... Living - This is a 6/10 movie boosted to an 8/10 for me thanks to it feeling like a spiritual sequel to The Remains of the Day, which I just read last month. For a film that initially seems slow-paced, it admittedly flew by. Women Talking - A good premise (based on a true story) that's well-acted with strong dialogue. 7/10. I don't regret seeing it, but, uh, it's a real downer and I won't be revisiting it. Also, there's a 1000000% chance that the men are gonna murder August like five minutes after the movie is over and chase after them. But that's not really the point, I suppose. surf rock fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Feb 16, 2023 |
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Feb 16, 2023 14:39
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The Earrings of Madame De...eez nuts. Rarely do you find a movie that so utterly surpasses what you assume it will be. I thought, a well put together, if stiff period romance would be my viewing. Instead I get an absolute whirlwind of emotions and camera work through the galleries and halls of opulent pre war Paris. Stunning film. Titanic Gonna sound like a dick, if you don't want that stop reading. I saw this with my Mom, which is a plus, but also in 3D, which was a huge miss. First off I think Rose and Jack work, despite the truly awful dialogue that hangs over the film. Winslet says she feels as if she's screaming and nobody can hear her, and she sells that existential dread at every waking moment that she isn't with Jack; that thousand yard stare could be Vitti's in an Antonioni. Jack is also putting in work, the way he mentally shifts when he starts sketching her, the exuberance at getting the tickets, he's got charm but never so much that you feel it's unearned or due only to the writing saying he does. Nearly everything else does not work; movie is too drat long for one. Wanna know how to take the drama out of a ship sinking, make it take an hour on film and multiple climaxes of plot. Dialogue as said above is atrocious, everyone talks the same way; the mom or the fiance might put more mustard on it, but their actual method of speaking is the same as jack or the irish kid. I can't help think about a movie like Age of Innocence or Metropolitan where the upper crust actually talks in the annoying, self centered, egotistic, tautological, and overly circuitous manner that I one day hope to achieve in my own rhetoric. Cgi is also very bad, and there's a lot of it. Bodies with zero weight falling and hitting fake objects with foley working double time trying to convince you it's not a sham. Bringing the diamond up at all in the ending was a miss, anyone watching and paying attention should've realized she had it. And then making that the lead in to the ending, shining but actually a good time ending was just nonsense. I care so much about Madame De's Earrings because what they represent to her and her love for the count. The diamond means nothing to me, and she didn't even realize it existed until she was on the lifeboat. It's not Jacks parting gift, those are his words, it's just a trinket that she happened to make off with. I honestly think the ending would've been better if she'd jumped. It would be a callback to Jack thinking she wouldn't, it would show he is no longer there to stop her but conversely be the thing that brings them back together. And while I don't love suicide endings in general, the woman has lived a full life, she's 100 going on 101, embracing death face first is hardly a bad end for her. Especially when it would bring her back to where she truly felt the most loved. The Talented Mr.Ripley 
Gaius Marius fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Feb 17, 2023 |
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Feb 17, 2023 02:32
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A double bill of: Shakespeare in Love: not good! Really just bizarre. The jokes aren’t very funny, it’s weirdly self-important, the plot is very weirdly paced. It starts with a couple of obvious comic anachronisms (the therapist’s couch, haha!) but then they just drop that schtick after like 10 minutes, never to return. Judi Dench and Imelda Staunton are fun. William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet: liked this way more than I expected to. My favorite Baz, I think (not generally a fan)—does a good job of balancing his crazy neon zooming with the moments of just sitting in the language. That’s how you show how cool Shakespeare is, imo, not by having your characters say “wow, this is the best thing ever and now I understand what True Love is.”
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Feb 18, 2023 05:35
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Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Still doesn't manage to quite hit the highs of the first one. Pegg's Peggness is set way too high, Lea Seydoux is wasted, the final fight between Cruise and the Baddie was alright but the dude was like sixty and then killed himself for no reason. Just a lot of weird issues with the plotting. Renner is absolutely awful just like he is in everything. Dude constantly looks like he's playing his own personal version of don't poo poo yourself; and he's not a skilled gamer. No charisma, no screen presence, the dead pan humor doesn't work at all, he can't even sell the action. Dude should stick to the minor leagues. What saves it is primarily the setpieces, the prison fight and the abu dhabi building climb are exquisite, and the dust chase is alright despite how wonky it looked. Le Plaisir Two adaptions of Maupassant and one of Kraftwerk. The movie is pretty light and fun with the primary action being mostly contained in the second story; a madame and her girls returns home for her nieces confirmation and all the hijinks and romance that ensues. All in all a nice, but slight movie which is just what Maupassant demands.
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Feb 19, 2023 03:17
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