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I usually avoid the boilerplate historical dramas but I didn't know a ton about Bobby Fischer, so I gave Pawn Sacrifice a shot. Worth a watch for the Bradford Young photography and performances from a murderer's row of Dudes I Like: Michael Stuhlbarg, Liev Schreiber and Peter Sarsgaard (and occasionally Tobey Maguire). The direction is hammy as hell, though, with some really obnoxious soundtrack choices (Fischer has a freakout scored by White Rabbit) and not much depth to the writing. Was hoping for something more interesting from Steven Knight (wrote Eastern Promises, wrote/directed Locke) but about what I expected from Edward Zwick (Glory, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond). 2.5/4 It's up on Prime.
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Mar 10, 2017 15:31
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Nerve - concept has some promise, and all the exaggerated lighting + youth culture overload is fun for a while — but it unfortunately never builds to much. Part of the issue is how tame the "horror" is, but I don't think they'd need a hard R and megagore to really sell it. Giving the characters more depth beyond dead brothers and liking the Wu-Tang Clan would help The Dead Zone - has a lot going for it, especially a great lead performance by Walken, but plays like a Greatest Hits version of the book without fitting the pieces together into a satisfying story. Weird mix of a quick pace, jumping from episode to episode, without anything really driving the plot. Could have been significantly better if it chopped one or two of the subplots and just focused on Johnny's weird life for a while
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Aug 8, 2017 15:57
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I appreciated Logan going for something different but there's still so much lazy blockbuster writing like the magic third-act goo that it didn't move the needle much for me Good Time - 3.5/4 Lenny Cooke - 3/4 Annihilation - 2.5/4 Allied - 3/4 Logan Lucky - 2.5/4 Michael Clayton - 3/4 Chris Rock: Tamborine - 3/4 Valerian and the City of 1000 Planets - 3/4
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Mar 5, 2018 18:49
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Bottom Liner posted:More on this one? Looked like a wild ride with lots of spectacle which I'm kinda in the mood for. It just went up on Prime, so it's there if you have it. It's a mess, and the leads are unfortunately pretty stiff, but if you're looking for a sci-fi grab bag I think you'll like it. It's at its best when it runs off on tangents and ignores the plot, which it does pretty often. Besson's still good at what he does, the deadpan way he treats his most out-there ideas in this (and The Fifth Element, and Lucy) go a long way towards making them work. It's a CGI showcase but the action never feels too plasticky and it's always mixing up the style in interesting ways. There's a set of photorealistic aliens that try to do a lot of the movie's emotional heavy lifting, but there's also a race of dumbass monsters that look and act like Aardman characters brought to life. Not everything works, most of it probably doesn't, but it zips around so quickly that there's still a dozen scenes, and characters, and moments that I loved. I basically watched it back to back with Annihilation, and they're an interesting contrast. Annhilation is a lot more focused but felt like it was constantly straining against Alex Garland's limits as a stylist when he really wanted to impress. Valerian is Besson noodling around and I liked it a hair more.
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Mar 5, 2018 20:16
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It's been a bit since I've seen it but I really didn't think of Road Warrior as a direct sequel
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Jun 12, 2018 21:04
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Rick posted:It's more a situation of judging those people by some of their most crazed fans rather than actually by the movies. I will eventually check those out, though (although Shaun of the Dead was week 1 in my local theater's Edgar Wright series so I'll have to catch that on my own). Each movie of his is just a little worse than the one before it, so you can basically start with Shaun and hop off wherever he loses you
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Sep 13, 2018 17:45
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Samuel Clemens posted:Whether you prefer Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz probably comes down to which one you saw first and whether you're more interested in horror or action films. Maybe the first part but I don't know about the second. Shaun's just a lot leaner in a good way
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Sep 13, 2018 19:41
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Samuel Clemens posted:Leaner in what sense? Because one of the things I admire about Hot Fuzz is the incredible efficiency of its screenplay. There's not a single wasted scene in the film, every part comes with a clear payoff. Part of the issue for me — basically everything in the movie is a setup for a punchline, which makes it a really dense two hours. The second act also does so much heavy lifting for the mystery that it gets bogged down, and having eight or nine endings is a good joke but gets tiring on a rewatch. Shaun has pretty much all the elements I like from Fuzz, it's just a lot more straightforward once the action kicks off
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Sep 13, 2018 20:16
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Bad Times At The El Royale: a pretty good movie that needed someone with a chainsaw in the editing room
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Oct 15, 2018 04:10
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Leave No Trace is one of the year's best and you shouldn't overlook it
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Dec 27, 2018 17:56
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got any sevens posted:A bit more seconds of gore in some other parts In general I think airtight movies like Die Hard hold up way better with new viewers than a shaggy but inventive movie like Robocop
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Dec 30, 2018 02:47
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Watched A Cure For Wellness and Apostle within a few weeks of each other and they ended up being basically identical movies. I’ve loved that basic structure before but both felt like they needed to be 45 minutes shorter and 50% more hysterical
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Jan 9, 2019 00:13
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DeimosRising posted:Apostle could stand to be less restrained but Cure For Wellness is already loving bonkers The ending gets to a nice Dr. Phibes zone I like but before that it's like two hours of eels
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Jan 10, 2019 22:41
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TrixRabbi posted:The Favourite (2018) -- B I'd lowered my expectations pretty far after people seemed lukewarm on this but I finally caught it the other day and it rules
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Jan 30, 2019 18:30
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I thought I’d seen Police Story before, but apparently Supercop is the third one. The original is basically perfect Jackie Chan — what little story there is works, the supporting cast is great, even the straight comedy bits land 100%. Love a lot of Chan’s stuff but this is maybe the only one I wouldn’t fast-forward to the action. Police Story II is a pretty big letdown afterward. All the business with his superiors around the station is still fun but the set pieces are a major step down. The new prints are amazing, might pick up the blu. Had a surreal moment at my screening when an extremely hosed-up woman got carted off on a gurney while the audio from a big fight scene played over a blank screen.
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Feb 3, 2019 06:17
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I thought Tully was a mostly interesting domestic drama, with a really good performance from Theron, before it flies completely off the rails in the last 20 minutes. I honestly can’t believe I hadn’t heard about this completely dumbass twist ending but I guess zero people are interested in anything from Reitman and Cody at this point
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Feb 20, 2019 05:20
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My to-do list is still longer than the the list of stuff I've seen, but I only saw one 2018 release that I kind of hated. Leave No Trace: 4/4 The Favourite: 4 Under The Silver Lake: 4 Burning: 3.5 Can You Ever Forgive Me?: 3.5 Eighth Grade: 3.5 Hereditary: 3.5 If Beale Street Could Talk…: 3.5 Roma: 3.5 Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse: 3.5 Support The Girls: 3.5 The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs: 3.5 The Rider: 3.5 Annihilation: 3 First Reformed: 3 Game Night: 3 Isle of Dogs: 3 Mission Impossible: Fallout: 3 Ralph Breaks The Internet: 3 Shirkers: 3 The Commuter: 3 The Endless: 3 Unsane: 3 Widows: 3 Ant-Man and the Wasp: 2.5 Avengers: Infinity War: 2.5 Bad Times At The El Royale: 2.5 Black Panther: 2.5 Incredibles 2: 2.5 Tully: 2.5 You Were Never Really Here: 2.5 A Futile and Stupid Gesture: 2 Apostle: 1.5
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Feb 25, 2019 16:26
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piratepilates posted:What's with a stupid and futile gesture being so far down I didn't like it. Felt sloppy even for Wain, and not particularly funny. I love a lot of the cast, and Forte is good in it, but you're better off just watching Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead morestuff fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Feb 25, 2019 |
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Feb 25, 2019 20:32
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Just rewatched Akira after reading the manga for the first time. I’d always heard that because the anime was severely cut down that the comic “made more sense,” but I didn’t really find that to be accurate at all. The metaphysical stuff is mostly nonsense in both, the movie’s just a much tighter (and better, I think) retelling. It loses a few characters and scenes I liked a lot but cuts a whole lot of repetitive flab at the same time. The art is stunning in both versions, though. I’m going to have to pick up the blu-Ray at some point, the animation looks like it could have been done yesterday.
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Feb 28, 2019 03:40
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If you didn't love Cairo I wouldn't bother with Rio
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Jun 11, 2019 04:20
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The Report isn’t much special but Adam Driver is good in it, the supporting cast is stacked with ringers and there’s at least one structural flourish that’s interesting. It’s on Amazon Prime if you want a lot of dramatic shots of Annette Bening/Dianne Feinstein
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Dec 25, 2019 07:26
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Bottom Liner posted:Right, but I’m asking if the studio will even bother submitting it for consideration (and the financial campaigning required for all that). I assumed it’ll get slotted in for an easy win in best foreign film. Neon spent money on I Tonya a few years back and I don't think they have anything else they can push this year
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Dec 30, 2019 19:41
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I've seen Hail, Caesar! three times now and still don't really know what to make of it. Maybe the Coens' shaggiest movie? I'd be fine if it was just an excuse to do a few classic Hollywood setpieces but even those feel a little half-assed.
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May 18, 2020 21:31
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I'm an optimist
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May 18, 2020 23:57
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Egbert Souse posted:NO DAMES It’s the best gag in the movie and even it feels better on paper
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May 19, 2020 04:59
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It sort of makes sense they went the anthology route for Buster Scruggs right afterward — Caesar feels like they had a lot of stray ideas they wanted to work in but couldn't really tie the whole thing together. A lot (most?) of their movies are overstuffed but they usually find a throughline that works a lot better.
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May 19, 2020 15:33
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The Vast of Night makes interesting choices throughout but doesn’t have quite enough meat or style to add up to something really impressive. The hep-cat dialogue gets kind of exhausting in the first 15 minutes but they fortunately crank it down a notch after that. Good debut but a little overhyped
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Jun 2, 2020 06:34
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fenix down posted:Agree! The Dude is truly the worst film noir detective, but at least in that moment he was trying. He just stole that move from North by Northwest, anyway
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Jun 4, 2020 19:04
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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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Even if you accept the possibility that it might mainly be a metaphor the movie does a poor job of building suspense along those lines. It gives away too much too early. The lingering shots in the basement, the references to optics — one the first hints that anything is out of the ordinary, the knife moving on its own and the kitchen fire, can’t really be explained away without the presence of an invisible man. The title is important not just because of the literal words, but also because of its direct connection to the original. Audiences will expect a literal invisible man in a remake of the movie about the invisible man. I would have loved it if everyone involved had been bold enough to do something drastic with the property, but they end up serving two masters here in a way that didn’t really work for me.
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Jul 23, 2020 13:05
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Bottom Liner posted:That’s exactly what they did IMO I like it in theory, but in the end it felt less like a drama about dealing with trauma and paranoia or more just about a superpowered abuser
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Jul 23, 2020 16:41
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CodfishCartographer posted:I liked the theming in Invisible Man much more than I liked the movie itself. The idea of using an Invisible Man to show the after-effects of an extremely abusive relationship is really smart. I buy that, but it also feels a lot closer to the way a more generic movie would treat the villain. quote:My problem with the movie comes in the second half and especially the ending. Spoilers I guess in case someone hasn't seen it but is interested in watching after this discussion: I wasn't a huge fan of how the theming kind of fell to the wayside in favor of light-weight action movie schlock of her trying to fight him off, even though there was some neat stuff done. I was alright with the twist of the Invisible Man being the brother, but the twist of the boyfriend still being alive and innocent really didn't stick well with me. It shows this horrible abuser in a very weirdly sympathetic light which completely goes against all the great theming set up in the first half. I'm guessing it was supposed to be a satisfying catharsis moment, but him being SO adamant about being innocent really fucks that up. If they had included even a quick scene of him going like "heh I can't believe she's buying it" would have worked fine, just SOMETHING to show that the dude's not innocent. But nope, instead the message winds up being "abusers become monsters and murderers" which is SUPER yikes. I think you're misinterpreting the ending. He's too controlling and careful to admit outright that he was the Invisible Man, but he tips his hand when he emphasizes the word "surprise". You can read that as an intentional giveaway or him slipping up, but it's clear that she knows he was guilty. That's why she throws the "surprise" back in his face while he's dying.
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Jul 23, 2020 17:40
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Red Oktober posted:he absolutely is admitting it but in a very careful way because he knows it’s all on camera. She can’t very well go to court and say HE ADMITTED IT THE WAY HE SAID SURPRISE BECAUSE HE SAID THAT PREVIOUSLY. And he knows that, and he wants her to know. That’s a perfectly valid read, but I think he’s trying to gaslight her by keeping it at least a little ambiguous. That she sees through it right away wraps up her arc
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Jul 23, 2020 19:08
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All The Right Moves - It's really strange how a horny teenage Tom Cruise vehicle from the 80s, which credits the synth-heavy soundtrack first in the closing credits, plays like an arthouse movie in the current climate. Low-key and well observed with great performances from Cruise, Lea Thompson, Chris Penn and Craig T. Ad Astra - What a weird movie. James Grey doing his thing on a sub-par Solaris riff with interludes where a badass-but-depressed Brad Pitt fights moon pirates and rabid space monkeys. The bad dad stuff didn't really hit for me but I can see it working for others. I think Pitt is really incredible in the role but overall kind of a misfire.
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Nov 16, 2020 19:00
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Taking of Pelham One Two Three really is the perfect movie. Insane New York accents, 70s cinematography, great workplace comedy, the crime thriller stuff is amazing, and Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw are in basically every scene
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Nov 20, 2020 02:04
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Haywire really is the perfect movie, just Gina Carano kicking the poo poo out of three of the biggest movie stars in the world
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Nov 21, 2020 00:29
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Underwater — was hoping badly this was an underrated gem but it’s just lazy and half-hearted. Stewart makes hay but they give her extremely little to work with. JT Miller had a gigantic green light to riff and he can’t get killed soon enough. Feels like there’s 20 or 30 more minutes that got sloppily cut out and you’re so happy they were.
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Nov 29, 2020 01:49
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I watched it back to back with the first one and they both seem like basically the same movie, for better and (mostly) worse
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Jan 3, 2021 18:04
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The Little Things — Rami Malek brings such a weird energy to every role he plays but not in a way I’ve ever liked
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Feb 3, 2021 02:45
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General Dog posted:A movie so boring and inert that when Jared Leto showed up and started doing goofy Jared Leto stuff, I was like, "well, at least I'm feeling something and remember I'm alive now." 2/5 Yeah, it really sucks. Feels like a movie cobbled together out of deleted scenes cut for being too boring and redundant
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Feb 3, 2021 20:14
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