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It was all done on a budget of $3 million as well. Loved those motion tracking shots, which apparently was achieved by hiding an iPhone in the protagonist's pocket and using the gyro output to move the motion controlled camera in sync.
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Jan 4, 2024 18:15
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That's so clever  what a good movie.
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Jan 4, 2024 19:07
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John Wick: A man in a $10,000 suit walks into a hardware store. He approaches the service desk which is staffed by another man in a $10,000 suit. "I'm in need of your...cleaning service." He hands the clerk a solid gold washer. The service agent asks whether he's on a job. "No, just taking care of some...personal messes." He walks out with a leaf blower, a rake, a wheelbarrow, ten hand-trowels, and a stack of lawn bags.
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Jan 5, 2024 17:28
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Maestro: this was kind of a weird one. Its structure is almost typical music biography style in some ways, but at the same it doesn’t explain much at all about events. The film seems to expect the viewer to have some knowledge of Bernstein and has life, but I really knew little about him beyond being a composer/conductor. So as it just jumps through time with little to orient me, it made me want to pause and read a wiki article. Still it’s really well made and everyone’s giving great performances. Cooper is making lots of choices as director, not sure they always works, but some of the long shots and match cuts were great.
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Jan 5, 2024 20:20
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Bottoms: Finally got around to watching this & it was... fine? Very much the sort of movie that would've been in constant rotation on VH1/USA/FX back in the day. The enthusiasm of the cast did a lot of heavy lifting, but couldn't disguise the fact that the script prob needed like two more revisions - Carrie Fisher would've script doctored the hell out of this - and a more experienced team behind the camera. What keeps coming to mind is that there's very little in this movie that GLEE S1 & S2 didn't pull off way better, whether thematically or visually or whatever. Maybe a more experienced director could've landed it IDK but Seligman didn't do herself any favors here. Elizabeth Banks as the main producer should've been a clear quality tell unfortunately. I chuckled enough at Lynch and Ayo to avoid turning it off but there were some stretches where it was a close thing. Fully acknowledge that as a millennial cishet guy maybe this is just one of those "not the intended audience" things but I doubt it. Mat Cauthon fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Jan 6, 2024 |
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Jan 6, 2024 05:48
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Any Number can Win Henri Verneuil An odd French crime caper starring Alain Delon and someone I should know the name of. Bitter and strecthced out. An older man gets out of prison after a five year stint to his wife who has remained totally loyal and loving and wants him to put the crime behind him only for him to shut her down and go do "one last job". Meanwhile a layabout 27 year old without a job is being berated by his mother for doing nothing and never paying rent, after he cons money out of her to go buy cigarettes he gets a call from the old man letting him in on the job. There's no great desperation here like in many crime films, nor any philosophical soul searching. The older man is looking forward to a comfortable retirement and the younger man has a whole life ahead of him that he could enjoy. But both are driven by so much resentment that others have what they don't that they go to rob a casino and cash out big time. The movie takes it's time to that point establishing characters and takes it's time as Delon masquerades as a gentleman of means seducing his way into the back stage areas of the casino. There's few things as great as watching a young Delon enjoy the nightlife of Cannes along with beautiful women and gambling, when they get to the heist you're almost let down. Needless to say Delon almost blows it by getting hung up on a woman and they don't make a clean escape like they should ending up in a situation where moving or staying still could both get them caught. All in all, a good film but lacking in the vitality and drive of something Melville would make. It does compare favorably to another film set in the Riveria, To Catch a Thief considering Delon can actually do physically feats convincingly and the pressure to tone down the sexuality is less in a French film.
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Jan 6, 2024 20:21
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The Boy and the Heron - mixed feelings about this one. I've got to admit I'm not a massive fan of Miyazaki, most of his films I need to see a few times before I like them, perhaps this is no different. Forty minutes in and I was thinking this was an absolute masterpiece, everything about it is so beautifully crafted, *everything*, and I've rarely, if ever, been so drawn into a world and wanted to go there and explore it. But the last hour or so felt a bit like 'and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened' etc, and while everything ties up nicely, it hasn't left me with the feeling of being on a journey like some of his other films, it didn't really leave me with anything, tbh, and I'm not sure what to take away from it.
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Jan 6, 2024 20:42
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Been on a streak of foreign thriller films Celda 211 (aka Cell 211), 2009 Spanish movie concerning a prison riot and a guard trapped inside; he must use his wits to survive. Very good, the prisoner ringleader guy stole the show, but the other performances were great as well. A few plot turns that felt a little contrived, but the escalating stakes and fast moving plot made it enthralling. Definitely recommend Mientras Duermes (aka Sleep Tight), 2011 Another Spanish movie (some cast carryover including the lead prisoner I liked in Celda 211), this one follows a loving creep/psycho as he endeavors to make everyone around him miserable, because he is incapable of feeling happiness. This one is pretty nuts, lots of close calls and high tension. And the ending was a huge gut punch where you just sort of dwell on it for a while. A little violence and gore, but the biggest thing in this movie is the cruelty you see. A tough watch at times, but a very good movie Tell No One, 2007 French thriller movie. I'd love to loving watch it but amazon prime video's subtitles are delayed by several seconds, what a loving piece of poo poo. I'm so glad they're implementing ads soon for this outstanding service
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Jan 7, 2024 02:51
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Maestro Cooper is not a good enough actor to carry this bland script. This is the worst kind of biopic: a suffocating air of importance with nothing of substance to say underneath. Cooper did not convey what it was he found interesting about Bernstein or his story that compelled him to make this movie. It looked nice though, and Cooper’s performance certainly was…committed. 2/5
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Jan 7, 2024 06:27
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Asteroid City I don't get it. Also I don't think that's my fault.
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Jan 7, 2024 08:51
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cant cook creole bream posted:Asteroid City Totally not your fault, but as someone who loved this movie I'm curious what you thought about the little girls?
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Jan 7, 2024 11:23
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Carillon posted:Totally not your fault, but as someone who loved this movie I'm curious what you thought about the little girls?
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Jan 7, 2024 11:52
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Beau is Afraid Three hour runtime negates anything good about this movie. Phoenix's performance is spectacular, but an hour could be cut without losing anything. Editor dropped the ball.
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Jan 7, 2024 12:23
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Carillon posted:Totally not your fault, but as someone who loved this movie I'm curious what you thought about the little girls? 
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Jan 7, 2024 12:38
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Flight of the Intruder - It's rare to find a Vietnam movie that isn't at least ambivalent in the moral stance it takes about the US's role and culpability, but I don't know if I've seen one that is this utterly cynical and hopeless in its attitude, while still apparently somehow being attractive to dull military types who treat it as "the other Top Gun". I watched it with someone who's prone to saluting flags on-screen and flipping off the scenes of Vietnamese people in Hanoi celebrating over a downed fighter plane in Hanoi, and I was utterly baffled at how someone like that can even stomach the movie's relentless drumbeat of statements that "we're just bombing useless targets, there's nothing there but trees" "Don't cheer those 37 deaths, they were probably just farmers", "we're having yet another memorial service at 10:00, oh hi welcome new recruits", etc. Basically all but grabbing the audience by the shoulders and screaming WE ARE THE BAD GUYS. WE ARE THE AGGRESSORS. WE ARE IN THE WRONG. Yet when the camera drops to ground level and shows the NVA SAM operators firing missiles at the planes invading their homeland he somehow manages to scream "assholes!" at them. The movie itself has some plot issues and the whole ending seemed implausible as to how a couple of guys downed in enemy territory surrounded by NVA on all sides could get rescued in a leisurely helicopter ride (reading up on it it seems most reviewers had this same issue, and the pat saccharine ending was a mess of reshoots), but mostly what I was fascinated by was just the clarity with which the movie takes its stance politically. It's not done in an artistic existential way like Apocalypse Now or Platoon, or an ironic tongue-in-cheek way like Forrest Gump or Good Morning Vietnam, which a pro-war pro-military viewer might be able to enjoy as "just the movies". This one just looks you dead in the eye and says "you're the rear end in a top hat" and somehow misses
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Jan 7, 2024 13:59
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Licorice Pizza Wow, the movie really did end on “pedophilia isn’t that bad” as a take, huh? Like, the weirdest thing is the movie had several scenes of characters stating “it’s weird you hang out with a 15 year old”/“this kid you like has the undeveloped brain of a child” but then still ended with romantic music and slow-mo and the female love interested admits their love for the male lead with bright beautiful colours and laughter It’s a shame the movie is really well made and a fun watch because… pedophilia okay? I really don’t buy “the movie isn’t condoning anything” as a defence when the music swells when they kiss and the final line of the flick is a gleeful admittance I’d love to happy music
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Jan 7, 2024 15:44
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Speaking of, Léon: The Professional - somehow never saw this before. I wasn't sure what to expect from it going in; I knew it had a "reputation", but I was steeling myself for a whole lotta weird. Ends up it's just generally pretty entertaining and full of fun directorial choices and shots, stuff I could definitely see informing the playful visuals of Fifth Element. High-speed camera truck-ins down a street and onto a storefront, a sudden close-up of a clock, that sort of thing. The weirdness at the center of it of course is the relationship between Leon and Mathilda, which... ultimately isn't really too eyebrow-raising I guess. Mostly because it's lampshaded away by her precociousness and the inherent absurdity of a 12-year-old whose family has been murdered and decides to become a hitman. You don't see that kind of dynamic every day, most writers/directors would shy right away from it. But I guess that in itself serves to obscure the grosser aspects of the relationship? It's one thing to have a Bart Simpsons/Brendon Small/etc precocious kid figure who is basically just a small (and particularly intelligent/mentally agile/devious at that) adult and who everyone underestimates and that's where their superpower comes from, that's Mathilda's bag. But adding in the relationship with Leon just sort of makes it read like pedophilia fanfiction. Like this is what someone imagines a 12-year-old in their fantasy world to be. I feel like I missed something plot-wise that may or may not make this whole angle all the weirder: when she tells the hotel receptionist that she's Leon's lover, which leads to them getting kicked out of the hotel. Why did she even do that? Unless she was literally trying to get them evicted, which,  Why even include this scene? I feel like it didn't even figure into the plot meaningfully. Is Besson just stunting on us, bragging openly about what he can get away with?At any rate Oldman is hella fun to watch, worth the price of admission. No wonder Besson stuck with him. Data Graham fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Jan 7, 2024 |
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Jan 7, 2024 17:21
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There are a handful of scenes cut from the theatrical version which make the weirdness of the dynamic between Leon and Matilda way more explicit. Like you said, there's some precociousness that obscures things a bit but it's pretty clear what Besson is going for once the additional scenes are added back in. Also part of the reputation of the movie comes from the stuff that happened outside of the movie. IIRC the way that weirdos fixated on Natalie Portman after this movie came out led to her parents keeping her out of movies for a few years. Also Besson was already a notoriously sketchy guy known for grooming/preying on young girls and only got more flagrant about it as the years went on.
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Jan 7, 2024 17:29
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Jean Reno is supposedly responsible for refusing some of the more hosed up poo poo Luc Besson wanted to do. Apparently Besson was pushing for Matilda to be the aggressor and initiator becase it would make it more acceptable. To him at least. And Besson married Maïwenn Le Besco when she was fifteen and got her pregnant at sixteen. Then he cheated on her with Milla Jovovich during the filming of Fifth Element, quickly divorcing her and marrying Jovovich for eighteen months. And wouldn't you know it, a whole bunch of rape accusations over the last six or seven years. Pope Corky the IX fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Jan 7, 2024 |
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Jan 7, 2024 17:42
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Data Graham posted:Speaking of, I don't know what cut I saw of Leon, but it always came across as Leon being very uncomfortable and freaked out with her advances, so the relationship never seemed creepy to me. Shes a hosed up kid who saw her whole family butchered and is acting out for attention. Perhaps there are scenes I didn't see that change that  Besson is 100% a creep though.
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Jan 7, 2024 18:05
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It's one of those cases where its difficult to separate the artist from the art because the art is the director's creepy fetish.
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Jan 7, 2024 20:15
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isn't leon supposed to be mentally stunted which is part of what makes the dynamic more "ok" and why he is always nervous/weirded out by any hints of romance that occur?cant cook creole bream posted:Asteroid City do you like other wes anderson movies? what about the girls was annoying?
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Jan 7, 2024 21:39
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ShoogaSlim posted:do you like other wes anderson movies? what about the girls was annoying? Grand Budapest Hotel was cool. It had an actual plot and things happening. Also those Netflix short films were nice. As for the other question "Sort of annoying" is the default for small girls in movies unless they do something to convince me otherwise, which those girls did not.
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Jan 7, 2024 21:43
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ShoogaSlim posted:isn't leon supposed to be mentally stunted which is part of what makes the dynamic more "ok" and why he is always nervous/weirded out by any hints of romance that occur? I don't think he's stunted or challenged. His handler just purposely kept him uneducated and isolated to make him easier to use.
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Jan 7, 2024 21:58
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Maestro First act is a silly and to arty for its own good but once it hits the 2nd act the film gets substantially better IMO. Great performances and interesting characters but that first act holds it back from being great.
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Jan 7, 2024 22:18
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Gaius Marius posted:I don't think he's stunted or challenged. His handler just purposely kept him uneducated and isolated to make him easier to use. right. which causes someone to be mentally and emotionally stunted. cant cook creole bream posted:Grand Budapest Hotel was cool. It had an actual plot and things happening. Also those Netflix short films were nice. i don't like movies centered around children, but this take sounds like you have some personal issue with girls specifically. not gonna say it's a "problem" but idk maybe bring it up with your therapist or something.
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Jan 7, 2024 23:27
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Nah it's only the common representation in movies and tv series. And no, little boys tend to be awful in those too. Also it's not even a significant thing. I wouldn't even have given those girls in that movie a second thought, if that other person there didn't specifically ask me about them for some weird reason. Still don't know why that's the topic. Is the argument that they were such phenomenal characters that they made the film watchable for them?
cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 23:37 on Jan 7, 2024 |
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Jan 7, 2024 23:33
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they didn't stand out to me as hugely significant, but i think there are theories/takes floating around that they're like the witches from macbeth or are a symbol of grief somehow or something. i thought they were cute/funny idk. i have to watch the movie again bc i forgot a lot of it. e: decided to pop it on. im 45 min and idk. this is ok i guess. i agree it doesn't feel like it has much of a point. im tempted to turn it off but i'll soldier on. ShoogaSlim fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Jan 8, 2024 |
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Jan 7, 2024 23:41
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Speaking of terrible children, The LIttle Prince (1974) - I liked the book when I was young, but this was awful. I know I'm punching down, but it's not surprising the kid did not have an acting career after this. It's a shame they couldn't get Timothée Chalamet to play the prince, which might have been more interesting. Gene Wilder was his charming self, but not enough to save this. Giving every character their own tepid musical number also did not add anything.
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Jan 8, 2024 00:52
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cant cook creole bream posted:Nah it's only the common representation in movies and tv series. And no, little boys tend to be awful in those too. Also it's not even a significant thing. I wouldn't even have given those girls in that movie a second thought, if that other person there didn't specifically ask me about them for some weird reason. Still don't know why that's the topic. Is the argument that they were such phenomenal characters that they made the film watchable for them? I asked because they helped make the movie for me. Their interactions with Tom Hanks and Jason Schwartzman formed a chunk of the emotional core about loss and grief that is part of what the movie is tackling. I was curious as well because I know folks who didn't like the movie but were charmed by those performances. You don't have to like the movie!
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Jan 8, 2024 05:09
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Le Samourai (1967) - Alain Delon walking simulator.
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Jan 8, 2024 06:40
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Fate Accomplice posted:Le Samourai (1967) - Alain Delon walking simulator. Reading this as an extremely positive review
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Jan 8, 2024 15:10
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No other way to read it
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Jan 8, 2024 15:31
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The Holdovers : from the first title card, it's obvious Payne is doing a whole 70s pastiche and the looming threat of these young guys going to (and dying in) Vietnam is ever-present, yet hardly spoken of save for 2 or 3 scenes. Other than that, this movie could have taken place at any time at any place, but it feels right that it's the 70s in New England and it feels right that Paul Giamatti is the lead here. Save for the very distracting lazy eye, he's the same Paul G we know and love and his subtle performance really makes the whole thing work
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Jan 8, 2024 18:29
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Jenny Agutter posted:Reading this as an extremely positive review Gaius Marius posted:No other way to read it
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Jan 8, 2024 19:37
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Iris Hal Hartley I didn't get it, at all The Yards James Grey Much more subdued performance than I expect from Mr.Wahlburger. Caan turns in one of his best performances I can think of, having practically become a Robert Prozky himself. Grey has a way of shooting scenes as both intimate and alienating simultaneously that gives what could be a rather standard film of an excon failing to turn straight a level of power. You can feel fuses being lit, but there's never a true explosion, even in it's most heightened and dramatic moments Grey maintains a sense of reserve. It serves the film well, this is Bresson without the music swells and emotional flooding. It's ordinaryish people making decisions, good or bad, and then being forced to deal with the consequences in a system that is so corrupt that even a person coming with confession is the subject to haggling and horse trading. Grey is one of the best doing it and we need to start giving him the credit he deserves.
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Jan 9, 2024 04:20
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Jeanne Dielman: I avoided this movie for years because although I don't mind a slow, contemplative movie (I love Tsai Ming-liang, for example), the premise and length of this one were just too much. My fears were unfounded though: I wasn't bored at all. My experience of watching this was like a meditation session where all the external noise is removed and every small disturbance ripples through and can be felt. I don't know about greatest of all time but I think I get the Sight & Sound hype now, can definitely see it being a completely transformative experience for filmmakers.
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Jan 9, 2024 11:29
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Data Graham posted:Flight of the Intruder - It's rare to find a Vietnam movie that isn't at least ambivalent in the moral stance it takes about the US's role and culpability, but I don't know if I've seen one that is this utterly cynical and hopeless in its attitude, while still apparently somehow being attractive to dull military types who treat it as "the other Top Gun". I watched it with someone who's prone to saluting flags on-screen and flipping off the scenes of Vietnamese people in Hanoi celebrating over a downed fighter plane in Hanoi, and I was utterly baffled at how someone like that can even stomach the movie's relentless drumbeat of statements that "we're just bombing useless targets, there's nothing there but trees" "Don't cheer those 37 deaths, they were probably just farmers", "we're having yet another memorial service at 10:00, oh hi welcome new recruits", etc. Basically all but grabbing the audience by the shoulders and screaming WE ARE THE BAD GUYS. WE ARE THE AGGRESSORS. WE ARE IN THE WRONG. Yet when the camera drops to ground level and shows the NVA SAM operators firing missiles at the planes invading their homeland he somehow manages to scream "assholes!" at them. To me the movie has always seemed to pretty clearly take on the "lost war" mythos of Vietnam. Basically, the idea that we would have won the war if left to the troops, and not those politicians back in Washington. I think that's the disconnect you're finding, because the movie isn't anti-war in the slightest. It's just actively cheerleading a different kind of war.
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Jan 9, 2024 16:54
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Fair, that seems solid.
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Jan 9, 2024 17:19
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Rebel Moon: All in all a pretty solid space opera, with a strong central story and enough fun bits along the way to keep it engaging. Starts a little slow and the main villain is a little dull (not so much his performance as the fact that every scene of his is ask questions, kill someone dramatically), and I will say I was slightly disappointed by all the major characters being human. (You figure there'd be something to do with the noble robot knight order but I guess that's for Part 2.) Still once it gets moving it delivers all the hot lasers-and-spaceships action you expect. My needs are simple.
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Jan 10, 2024 04:52
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