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Haha, well I have to admit I've only been peer-pressured into basic film literacy via Mayberry over the last couple of years, but I like to think I'm slowly figuring out what's what.
Serious Movie Discussion XLII
- Thread starter Bullitt68
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Haha, well I have to admit I've only been peer-pressured into basic film literacy via Mayberry over the last couple of years, but I like to think I'm slowly figuring out what's what.
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Really?
I still haven't seen it.
Any issues you can outline? I don't care about spoilers really. As long as you're not literally like, "The butler did it bro...", I'm fine. Maybe spoiler tag them for the folks here at most.
It doesn't bother me you didn't like it (or Paterson for that matter, which I though was lovely and had the opposite opinion of re: the stakes: I thought the best thing about it was how it made such small stakes feel huge. I was legitimately worried for this guy's dog in what looked like difficult parts of NJ, especially when he'd leave the damn guy outside on a leash attached to a pipe! And thought his reaction to losing the book was good too; also "the sun still rises the next day" and some other stuff blahblahblah). I like to know what you have to say. One of my favorite things is how people have completely different feelings about a film. It fucks up my ideas about function and gives me little crises about everything I thought I knew. FUN!
Hope to see Baby Driver soon and be back with thoughts.
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Cool.
It's funny because I was so pumped to see this movie that I told a bunch of other people about it, and they all ended up going and loving it, whereas I was only mildly impressed with certain parts.
There were a lot of fun things about it, so don't get me wrong because I really don't mean to take credit away from those. The soundtrack was dynamite, not just in song selection but in how music was playing almost through the entire film without ever feeling like noise. Baby is a great character, there are no inherent flaws with the universe that were noticeable, and the driving and chasing scenes were great (with the minor weakness that no subsequent chase really returns to the level of excitement of the opening scene).
The first 10-15 minutes or so are pretty perfect, actually. And they aligned with my expectations as well - engaging action, fluid camerawork, the colours and sounds of a summer blockbuster but with a dose of sharp comedy and a bunch of heart powering it all from under the hood.
Everything really stuttered after that first heist though, all the way from the plot and dialogue to the character motivations and humour. You know I'm a dialogue guy, and this was certainly not Scott Pilgrim. It seemed like there was a lot of sitting and talking between action scenes that did no more than provide explicit exposition or push a cliched relationship. Not long in I started to hope Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm would shut the fuck up for the rest of the movie just to spare me from the gross hyperbole of their characters. Both women were horribly flat, though at least the angelic one could act. The humour was only light, with Kevin Spacey nailing a few early scenes and then a more forced piece later on, but it wasn't of the subtle or clever type we've seen from Wright in his movies with Simon Pegg and co.
I guess a little over halfway through I realized it was never going to develop into the movie I wanted it to be - and that was before a couple of key characters flipped and then the ending started to push my patience. The energy that I had in the beginning dissipated really quickly and I fell into that grumpy pattern of looking for more things not to like to justify my mood (action for the sake of action does nothing for me really, before people start asking how I could walk out of this one with less energy than I had coming in.)
I gave it a 6 in the main thread about it, when it probably deserved a little better, but it could have been so much more imo. I went home and watched The World's End with some friends afterward and had a way better time. I'd be curious to hear someone describe it from a genre perspective, because I felt like there was too much mixing relative to something The World's End where the bending does such a great job of scrambling your expectations mid-way and then knocking all the new ones out of the park.
There were a lot of fun things about it, so don't get me wrong because I really don't mean to take credit away from those. The soundtrack was dynamite, not just in song selection but in how music was playing almost through the entire film without ever feeling like noise. Baby is a great character, there are no inherent flaws with the universe that were noticeable, and the driving and chasing scenes were great (with the minor weakness that no subsequent chase really returns to the level of excitement of the opening scene).
The first 10-15 minutes or so are pretty perfect, actually. And they aligned with my expectations as well - engaging action, fluid camerawork, the colours and sounds of a summer blockbuster but with a dose of sharp comedy and a bunch of heart powering it all from under the hood.
Everything really stuttered after that first heist though, all the way from the plot and dialogue to the character motivations and humour. You know I'm a dialogue guy, and this was certainly not Scott Pilgrim. It seemed like there was a lot of sitting and talking between action scenes that did no more than provide explicit exposition or push a cliched relationship. Not long in I started to hope Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm would shut the fuck up for the rest of the movie just to spare me from the gross hyperbole of their characters. Both women were horribly flat, though at least the angelic one could act. The humour was only light, with Kevin Spacey nailing a few early scenes and then a more forced piece later on, but it wasn't of the subtle or clever type we've seen from Wright in his movies with Simon Pegg and co.
I guess a little over halfway through I realized it was never going to develop into the movie I wanted it to be - and that was before a couple of key characters flipped and then the ending started to push my patience. The energy that I had in the beginning dissipated really quickly and I fell into that grumpy pattern of looking for more things not to like to justify my mood (action for the sake of action does nothing for me really, before people start asking how I could walk out of this one with less energy than I had coming in.)
I gave it a 6 in the main thread about it, when it probably deserved a little better, but it could have been so much more imo. I went home and watched The World's End with some friends afterward and had a way better time. I'd be curious to hear someone describe it from a genre perspective, because I felt like there was too much mixing relative to something The World's End where the bending does such a great job of scrambling your expectations mid-way and then knocking all the new ones out of the park.
I won't even get into Paterson until I've watched something else from that director, because I just don't feel like I even have room to budge on that one lol. It's funny how different a perception can be depending what you're primed to see before you walk into a theater.
I might take my brother to Baby Driver again this weekend. Everyone is so happy with it I'm beginning to think I need to open up to a re-try.
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^^^
Ooof that's pretty brutal.
I get the feeling I'm going to like it based on its movieness. I'm not liking that you seem to have basic functional problems with it, though. That doesn't sound good. Will try and see it before the week is done. I'll be pumped one way or another.
The World's End is amazing. My favorite of the Cornetto trilogy is Hot Fuzz (example of a perfect movie), but The World's End really hit me emotionally.
Ooof that's pretty brutal.
I get the feeling I'm going to like it based on its movieness. I'm not liking that you seem to have basic functional problems with it, though. That doesn't sound good. Will try and see it before the week is done. I'll be pumped one way or another.
The World's End is amazing. My favorite of the Cornetto trilogy is Hot Fuzz (example of a perfect movie), but The World's End really hit me emotionally.
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I think you'll like it too; I wouldn't bet on anyone not liking it, which would be hard to do. But it could have been an exuberant, celebratory masterpiece and just didn't reach that level for me.
Hot Fuzz is my favourite of those three as well, but I was saving my re-watch of The World's End for a special night and it was so worth it. Liked it even better the second time - everything comes together so damn perfectly.
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Yo Cav,
You were right. I loved Baby Driver. Will try and get into it soon.
I do know why you didn't like it though. I understand why, I mean.
Also, not to politicise the thread in any way, but how prescient is Burn After Reading looking right about now? Fucking hilarious film. I realised recently I reach for it more often than The Big Lebowski.
And this has to be one of the funniest scenes in a political comedy:
You were right. I loved Baby Driver. Will try and get into it soon.
I do know why you didn't like it though. I understand why, I mean.
Also, not to politicise the thread in any way, but how prescient is Burn After Reading looking right about now? Fucking hilarious film. I realised recently I reach for it more often than The Big Lebowski.
And this has to be one of the funniest scenes in a political comedy:
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Cool, maybe you can explain it to me.
I have to say though, I had a strange experience when I went to see it a second time. The whole film seemed a lot smoother. I'm not sure why, but it made my first viewing feel like it was done in slow motion by comparison. I really must have been grumpy that day.
I think my first viewing was also informed by two incorrect assumptions: one, that the genre would primarily be comedy, and two, that Baby would be an elite, unstoppable driver for most of the film.
When I sat back and accepted that there wouldn't be much comedy, and that the story was really more "coming of age" than anything else, it made for a much better ride.
I never wanted to talk shit about Baby Driver and now I don't feel any compulsion to do so at all. That said, it's no Scott Pilgrim, and I do think some of my previous criticisms remain legitimate.
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American Gods was really fucking great. Most intriguing first season of a show I might have ever seen. Couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Love Bryan Fuller.
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Honestly tried to watch The Handmaid's Tale and really like it, but I just didn't appreciate it at all. I made it halfway through ep2 after almost stopping ep1 a bunch of times and finally gave up on it to rewatch American Gods again. On rewatch AG was still great, although I least appreciated Laura Moon's segments. Still, I loved the show... and I appreciate that it's not really something that you're supposed to figure out, so to speak, it's more of an experience. You don't know enough to figure it out, which is a really cool point and we're all watching as the character Shadow Moon. When I read the background for all the gods and tried to put it together, I felt like it just took away from the experience so I ignored it and enjoyed the aesthetics and dialogue.
Another point I really enjoyed was the refusal to let characters or the audience try to extract obvious general principles from the stories, it's always something you wouldn't expect or something very specific... like the story about needing a queen, that was really well done. This idea was introduced right away with the advice for dealing with "them airport bitches" -- very funny.
Another point I really enjoyed was the refusal to let characters or the audience try to extract obvious general principles from the stories, it's always something you wouldn't expect or something very specific... like the story about needing a queen, that was really well done. This idea was introduced right away with the advice for dealing with "them airport bitches" -- very funny.
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YOu guys still use imdb, or have you switched to letterboxd?
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No, it's an epic battle between two massive armies, I saw a clip the other day and it didn't say what the film was.300?
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You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling
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Have you seen The Hunt for the Wilderpeople yet?
I think Taika Waititi is kind of a love child between Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson in terms of style.
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Got Stalker in the mail today. Insanely pumped to watch it again. I own it on regular DVD and have watched it several times, but look forward to a cleaner, crisper picture and the updated translation. Gonna watch it tonight.
Been looking forward to this Criterion Collection release for a while now. Never in my life have I pre-ordered a movie before.
Been looking forward to this Criterion Collection release for a while now. Never in my life have I pre-ordered a movie before.
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Got Mad Max: Fury Road on in the background right now... man I fucking love this movie. All the characters are so serious and determined, it's fucking motivational. Haven't watched it in a while but, for me, it's the 2nd best/most enjoyable watch film that's been made since 2010, with Black Swan obviously being first. I feel like other movies I would say are better, but this movie is so captivating, IDK, I love it, maybe I wouldn't rank those movies higher and that's my inner snob trying to suppress my love for this film that's so over the top... but it's so good and it's so intense. Love it.
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I'm not going to lie, never saw The World's End. I re-watched Hot Fuzz though for the first time in damn near a decade and man was it funny. I forgot a lot of things so it was absolutely great to see it again.
I was dying at:
the moment when the Shakespeare cast breaks into that Cardigans song and Pegg's facial reaction to it.
"The Greater Good.." repeated over and over hahah
and Nick Frost re-enacting the Point Break moment.
Among many other funny scenes.
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