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If you're anything like me you watched this trailer thirty times before the movie finally came out so we'll skip the synopsis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTfJp2Ts9X8 I don't think I've ever seen a movie that captured the rush of gambling so powerfully. This movie is 2.5 hours of that lovely, uncertain, heart-rate-jacking-adrenaline-rush agony you feel in the moment between when the bet is made and when the chips finally fall: the knowledge that you've done something really loving stupid, combined with the dread that you'll have to face the consequences - even though you don't know yet what those consequences are, and you're praying with every atom of your being that they won't be the bad ones. As somebody who mostly stays away from casinos because of my predilection for placing big bets I really shouldn't, I was on pins and needles the whole loving time watching Howard toss up Hail Mary after Hail Mary. And, on that note, Sandler has never been better. He fully embodies every nuance of a character who is, for all his obnoxiousness and stupidity and rashness and greed, essentially a dreamer who just repeatedly allows himself to have his heart broken when his starry-eyed schemes don't come to fruition. He manages to find that heart, buried deep underneath all the shittiness and self-loathing. The script is unbelievably dense, and the ferocity and complexity with which the Safdies - and by extension, Howard - spin more and more plates is nearly overwhelming. Editing this movie must've been an incredibly involved affair. The dialogue is absolutely breakneck, and they're also not afraid to let their actors speak and shout over each other in an Altman-esque manner (if Altman was a speed freak). I have to imagine this movie would be an incredibly bad time for people that suffer certain forms of social anxiety, in particular. Credit also to the incredible Oneohtrix Point Never score, which is like needles under your skin, anxious and jittery and nerve-wracking in all the best ways; and also the cinematography by Darius Khondji, which is so intensely claustrophobic it feels like you're breathing down Howard's neck most of the time. He spends almost the entire film being boxed in: by crowds, thugs, his cramped and cluttered office, and not least Kevin Garnett, who has been shot to appear even more insanely huge and intense than he is in real life (and if you're not familiar with KG, the guy might be the most psychopathically intense player the NBA has ever seen). I wasn't sure how the Safdies were going to double down on the intensity of Good Time, but they loving managed it. Pretty much ready to hand over 90% of the big awards to this movie, although I don't think I can quite put it above The Irishman for my favorite of the year. But it's a thought.
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Dec 26, 2019 06:00
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Intense is the word for this movie without question. I don’t think I’ve felt as much literal heart pounding anxiety in the final 20 minutes of a film in a long time, even though, as an extremely casual basketball fan, I knew exactly what was about to happen. Thats good filmmaking. I think at this point we also just have to credit the Safdie’s as casting geniuses - Sandler isn’t showing new range here, he’s just absolutely perfectly cast as a dark funhouse mirror or the persona he’s spent 30 years developing - intense, short tempered, Jewish, volatility is a lane that he doesn’t need to stretch to find and it pays off, and we even see it in smaller cameos like Mike Francesa as a low rent bookie and also this dude who I had to look up after the film: https://pagesix.com/2019/12/25/garment-district-legend-wayne-diamond-sparkles-in-uncut-gems/amp/ Because of course he’s a loving Mafia dressmaker with no real acting experience who just looks like that. More casting genius: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/style/julia-fox-uncut-gems.html?smid=tw-nytstyles&smtyp=cur And of course, of course, they cast Sandler’s kids by literally wandering the diamond district and talking to kids hanging out in shops on 47th street Chevy Slyme fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Dec 26, 2019 |
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Dec 26, 2019 15:36
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quote:This may be the most accurate sports movie I have ever seen. Whereas a conventional sports movie throws what feels like insurmountable challenges at the protagonists, only to resolve them neatly, in Uncut Gems, the outcome is unnecessary. The point is that you’ve become an emotional hostage. And you don’t have to be a degenerate gambler to know the feeling; any sports fan understands, because what is our favorite sports team if not our very own lying, philandering scumbag who we’ve tethered ourselves to arbitrarily and imbued with unearned loyalty and hope that may never be repaid, and whose feelings we’ll never feel reciprocated? Yeah, that just about nails it. https://www.sbnation.com/2019/12/24/21028750/uncut-gems-review-sports-movie-adam-sandler
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Dec 26, 2019 16:54
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CaptainPsyko posted:Intense is the word for this movie without question. I don’t think I’ve felt as much literal heart pounding anxiety in the final 20 minutes of a film in a long time, even though, as an extremely casual basketball fan, I knew exactly what was about to happen. Thats good filmmaking. I came to say the same thing. Those last 20 minutes or so I was totally wrapped up in the movie, heart pounding. Not too many movies get that sort of reaction from me.
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Dec 26, 2019 22:40
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Holy poo poo. Watching this, as a person with anxiety, is like a straight up injection of the purest medical grade amphetamines after a decade of the smoking shittiest crack. I haven’t felt this way leaving a theater since I saw Crank 2 in 08. The funniest part is watching it the day after Christmas in a suburban theater—so many people looking for Grown Ups 3 and getting...this. I get the feeling 90% of people hated it and 10%, like me, fell in love.
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Dec 27, 2019 03:28
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I didn't know this movie existed, and now checking the reviews I see the film and Sandler's acting there in are critically acclaimed? Have I fallen into a mirror universe? Is that why he's wearing a goatee?
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Dec 27, 2019 03:58
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Charlz Guybon posted:I didn't know this movie existed, and now checking the reviews I see the film and Sandler's acting there in are critically acclaimed? Have I fallen into a mirror universe? Is that why he's wearing a goatee? He’s not so much showing range as he is perfectly cast - imagine the prototypical short tempered volatile manchild character Sandler has played a dozen times. Now remove every joke from the script. It works.
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Dec 27, 2019 04:02
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I mean, let's not go too far. Sandler is, and always has been, talented. He's just also, admittedly, perfectly content to get paid stupid amounts of money to fund what are basically vacations for him and his friends to make lowest-common-denominator garbage that will rake in millions. That being said, yes: he is perfectly cast, and the Safdies really do have a gift for that.
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Dec 27, 2019 04:34
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Criminal Minded posted:I mean, let's not go too far. Sandler is, and always has been, talented. He's just also, admittedly, perfectly content to get paid stupid amounts of money to fund what are basically vacations for him and his friends to make lowest-common-denominator garbage that will rake in millions. Never said Sandler isn’t talented! I arguably said he doesn’t have range. But what I really meant was that even if he does have range, this film isn’t showing it - he’s working in a very well defined -for him - lane and he just happens to be driving a different vehicle down it.
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Dec 27, 2019 04:41
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Fair enough. I'm not sure, honestly; I haven't seen all of his dramatic work (e.g. The Meyerowitz Stories), so I'm not comfortable judging.
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Dec 27, 2019 04:43
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If you have any doubts on if this movie is successful and haven't seen Good Time, go out of your way to see it. I'm decidely not a Sandler fan, but had confidence that this movie was going to rule after watching Good Time and goddamn it, they pulled it off. Though I got to admit I always say that I love pure excess in my movies (the Crank: High Voltage comparison is pretty apt), there was a solid 20 minutes up front where I wasn't sure if I could hang - this movie is an assault on the senses that you have to acclimate to, especially the sound design. In fact, give this movie an Oscar for it. Also: I do have to admit that I read an interview with the Safdies about how in an alternate universe Rodney Dangerfield would have been the perfect actor for Howard and I would really love to see that version of the film.
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Dec 27, 2019 04:53
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Adam Sandler is a great actor, but also a deeply lazy actor most of the time. And I just realized something about the ending—Gooey probably isn’t getting his $190k back 
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Dec 27, 2019 05:38
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loved the beautiful inanity of the John Amos cameo
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Dec 27, 2019 05:49
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What a movie. One of the best I’ve seen in years. Just phenomenal across the board.
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Dec 27, 2019 09:22
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caligulamprey posted:there was a solid 20 minutes up front where I wasn't sure if I could hang - this movie is an assault on the senses that you have to acclimate to, especially the sound design. In fact, give this movie an Oscar for it. You aren't kidding. I took my parents to see it and we all were talking about how the beginning was like an anxiety attack. I'd be interested in watching a whole movie like that. The credits song being this took me way back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w15oWDh02K4 Groovelord Neato fucked around with this message at 13:11 on Dec 27, 2019 |
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Dec 27, 2019 13:01
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Just literally sat down in my car after seeing it HOLY gently caress
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Dec 27, 2019 21:39
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It really didn't strike me until I had some time to think about it just how cruelly ironic the entire film is: Sandler wins every stupid loving bet and scam he runs, except he was betting against having pissed off the one guy enough to shoot him in the face. At least he died doing what he loved: taking suicidally stupid risks with other people's money
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Dec 27, 2019 21:42
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Saw it this morning. Awesome movie. Was a bit worried about the intensity at first, but got used to it and loved it. Thought it captured the diamond district perfectly.
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Dec 27, 2019 21:50
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Criminal Minded posted:It really didn't strike me until I had some time to think about it just how cruelly ironic the entire film is: Sandler wins every stupid loving bet and scam he runs, except he was betting against having pissed off the one guy enough to shoot him in the face. At least he died doing what he loved: taking suicidally stupid risks with other people's money I love that he's stupid and euphoric from winning the bet that he lets them in instead of buzzing them out which would be the logical move.
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Dec 27, 2019 21:53
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Groovelord Neato posted:I love that he's stupid and euphoric from winning the bet that he lets them in instead of buzzing them out which would be the logical move. I also think that he's the kind of idiot who genuinely can't imagine a world where everyone else isn't as euphoric and excited as he is. I think in that moment he pictured everyone rushing in and hoisting him into the air, shouting "you did it! you did it!".
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Dec 27, 2019 22:03
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CaptainPsyko posted:Intense is the word for this movie without question. I don’t think I’ve felt as much literal heart pounding anxiety in the final 20 minutes of a film in a long time, even though, as an extremely casual basketball fan, I knew exactly what was about to happen. Thats good filmmaking. More! https://twitter.com/JOSH_BENNY/status/1210665659564208133?s=20
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Dec 27, 2019 22:07
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is this available to stream anywhere? or are you guys in the SAG
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Dec 27, 2019 23:07
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It came out in theaters on Xmas. Every single person in my theater had their hands on their faces for basically the entire film. In my theater everybody especially knew how Game 7 ends so I agree it really speaks volumes how much it takes you on a ride in that final 20 minutes. You feel as euphoric as he does at that buzzer so it made it that much more impactful when they just loving shoot him in the face. Everybody in my theater gasped. Only thing I wish is they didn't show the clip of the guy smashing his jewelry store in the trailer because I knew it was happening at some point. The nightclub argument scene, all the phone calls at once scene. Scene after scene of pure anxiety attack. Sandler gets best actor this year for sure. Also the Safdies should make a Hotline Miami film. Tim Whatley fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Dec 27, 2019 |
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Dec 27, 2019 23:07
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actuallysanta posted:is this available to stream anywhere? or are you guys in the SAG It got a wide release on Christmas. Had a limited release about two weeks prior.
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Dec 27, 2019 23:26
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actuallysanta posted:is this available to stream anywhere? or are you guys in the SAG Off work today and saw the 9:05am showing. 
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Dec 27, 2019 23:46
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Criminal Minded posted:It really didn't strike me until I had some time to think about it just how cruelly ironic the entire film is: Sandler wins every stupid loving bet and scam he runs, except he was betting against having pissed off the one guy enough to shoot him in the face. At least he died doing what he loved: taking suicidally stupid risks with other people's money I like that the movie does a kind of twofold move here. The first is, of course, it's uncut gems: they're in a stage of potentiality. They could be anything. And anything really is anything; remember what Howard says about being able to see the whole universe in the black opal. But then, second to that, what's really there, at the end of the day, is something that rests upon tremendous violence. I think that's why we have the film start the way that it does, with the rock coming out of colonial exploitation. And when the final bets come through, and the potentiality is gone, we're left with what's actually there. Which is a lot of violence. With that said, I'm starting to think that the film would pair pretty well with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
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Dec 27, 2019 23:46
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CaptainPsyko posted:He’s not so much showing range as he is perfectly cast - imagine the prototypical short tempered volatile manchild character Sandler has played a dozen times. Now remove every joke from the script. One of the things that I really like about this movie is how Howard keeps on getting undercut on how big a deal he thinks he is in his own mind. I'm not sure what the balance is between him blowing smoke and him believing his own hype, but it's really funny as his bravado keeps running into people who just don't give a poo poo.
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Dec 27, 2019 23:48
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https://twitter.com/MoviesSoGood/status/1210681912936869888
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Dec 28, 2019 00:09
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loving amazing film. At first I saw it as a step down from Good Time because Howie's character felt less likeable and more cartoonishly scummy than Connie, but I think it works really well as a character study about addiction. It's really brilliant how the film constantly makes you want to root for Howie to get his poo poo together only to get frustrated when he does more stupid poo poo, as if you were dealing with an addict in your own life. Howie never changes or learns his lesson because the film is only covering the very end of his downward spiral, and it's heavily implied that things were bad years before the events of the film and he's way past the point of no return. All the people in Howie's life who hold open contempt for him were likely in the audience's shoes at one point, until they couldn't take the cycle of frustration anymore. Eric Bogosian's exhausted face in the last scene mirrored my own thoughts about Howie by the end of the film
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Dec 28, 2019 00:59
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Criminal Minded posted:It really didn't strike me until I had some time to think about it just how cruelly ironic the entire film is: Sandler wins every stupid loving bet and scam he runs, except he was betting against having pissed off the one guy enough to shoot him in the face. At least he died doing what he loved: taking suicidally stupid risks with other people's money
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Dec 28, 2019 01:03
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Coaaab posted:Howard thrived off the high of winning gambles, not the money in & of itself, and he just made the biggest score of his life. But that bodyguard finally understood that Ratner would only parlay those winnings into bigger & bigger gambles and he & his posse would never see a cent of it or that Ratner would actually pay but he'd be shaking him down for the rest of his life, so the bodyguard probably felt like he was doing Ratner a favor by cutting him down at the peak of his euphoria/life and also because he hated him I think he was just pissed off.
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Dec 28, 2019 01:06
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Groovelord Neato posted:It got a wide release on Christmas. Had a limited release about two weeks prior. So weird I haven't seen a single TV ad for this yet, for some reason I assumed its a netflix or indy/straight to ondemand release.
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Dec 28, 2019 01:09
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It's really strange to me as someone who has had issues with panic and anxiety attacks the two films I have seen that came the closest to capturing that feeling are both Adam Sandler movies, this and Punch Drunk Love
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Dec 28, 2019 04:55
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I haven't made it even halfway through this loving movie yet but holy gently caress I'm screaming at the loving screen at what a goddamn loving moron this loving idiot rear end moron is being update: nice BLADE you loving IDIOT JESUS gently caress Taintrunner fucked around with this message at 07:26 on Dec 28, 2019 |
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Dec 28, 2019 05:31
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I liked this movie a lot but it didn’t quite live up to the level of hype I had built up in my head. Solidly third this year behind Parasite and the Lighthouse for me. Also maybe an unpopular take but I wasn’t that stressed out by it? I felt more anxiety during Good Time. Maybe because the main character in that movie was somewhat sympathetic and the closest person to him was his brother with developmental disabilities, whereas Howard is just irritating and one of the only people that cares about him is his ditzy mistress. Kevin Garnett is perfectly cast for this. Athletes are superstitious but KG believing he gets basketball powers from a magic opal is indistinguishable from real life. Apparently they wanted Joel Embiid originally and would’ve set it in the present, which would not have worked nearly as well. Dude doesn’t have the intensity or anything as valuable as a championship ring. Edit: also me and both of my friends had to pee the entire time but independently decided to hold it in because a) it was enthralling and b) it felt like it added to the atmosphere. Judging by the bathroom line after I think most of the audience did the same. Henchman of Santa fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Dec 28, 2019 |
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Dec 28, 2019 16:20
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Henchman of Santa posted:I liked this movie a lot but it didn’t quite live up to the level of hype I had built up in my head. Solidly third this year behind Parasite and the Lighthouse for me. I mean, after those two masterpieces, this coming up right behind it... that's incredibly high praise.
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Dec 28, 2019 19:42
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Taintrunner posted:I mean, after those two masterpieces, this coming up right behind it... that's incredibly high praise. (I also don't watch many movies so it doesn't mean much)
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Dec 28, 2019 19:58
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Christian movie review website Plugged In gave Uncut a an incredible blurb
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Dec 28, 2019 20:42
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Mmmm. Crudités. Did this movie even have as much profanity as that says? It doesn't feel like that. Maybe I missed it because so much of the dialogue is piled on top of each other.
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Dec 28, 2019 21:59
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caligulamprey posted:Mmmm. Crudités. I think on TV Tropes (lol) it said the word “gently caress” was used over 300 times. Also thinking about it, the funniest part of the movie is when those bumbling guys show up at the shop during the climax and Howard just goes “oh not these guys!”
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Dec 28, 2019 22:01
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