Movies Serious Movie Discussion

[Rimbaud82]

Merry christmas SMD!!

 

[HenryFlower]

Merry christmas SMD!!

I think I’m gonna need to buy that Herzog collection. I never think to check out the BFI selection for some reason

 

[Yotsuya]

Merry christmas SMD!!

Wake in Fright just might be the most hard core Christmas movie ever.

 

[Sigh GunRanger]

Words cannot express how bad Mile 22 was. My god

 

[ufcfan4]

Words cannot express how bad Mile 22 was. My god

Kind of a shame because the Berg-Wahlberg collaboration had been solid up to that point. I thought Lone Survivor was one of the more intense war films I've ever seen. Patriot's Day was quite good as well. I've heard Deepwater Horizon is quality too.

They should probably stick to adaptations of true stories.

 

[ufcfan4]

If Beale Street Could Talk was solid. It's a visually interesting film where the camera lingers on the faces of the actors and emotions are readily conveyed often in pauses and silences. I also liked the way the narrative unfolded. It's nonlinear and characters come in and out of focus in a way that likely won't appeal to everyone but that I thought was well done. It is a sad and thought-provoking film with some very naturalistic performances. It's a bit slow-paced but I found it engaging throughout.

Vice- and speaking of nonlinear films, Vice was entertaining. It's in that good/not great category and I'm sure some will see it as The Big Short-lite but I liked many elements of it. One of the things I feel did not work out well was some of the humor. It had the same sort of energy and occasional outrage/irreverence that The Big Short had, but there are moments where it works and moments where it just falls flat. Because the movie is mostly played straight, one would expect that the jokes and asides that do come into play hit effectively, but it's not always the case. Bale was great in my opinion. His voice, his demeanor, the physical transformation- all spot on elements of the film's success. He could have easily went into caricature territory, but, to his credit, he always keeps things on the level and legitimate. One thing I found though was that the film offers little insight into Cheney as a man. They try to establish certain key elements- an early pledge to his future wife that he will never let her down again after getting a DUI, for instance, as an indication of the transition point from shiftless individual to ambitious climber. But the film continually stokes the outrage at Cheney's decisions as motivated by unbridled desire for power and money. But they keep Cheney largely inscrutable.

It never really hits as hard as McKay and co. probably intended because the narrative at times loses cohesion. There are moments where the film seems to mainly just be dropping facts to stoke the ire of the audience rather than to continue to lay out the story. But it certainly sticks to its theme. Aside from a couple of humanizing moments, it has nothing but derision and anger toward most of the principals.

Stan and Ollie was very endearing. If you're a fan of Laurel and Hardy, it's a must see. Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly both expertly embodied the cast to the extent that when there is a sequence in which Stan envisions the two making a prospective film about the Robin Hood legend, it almost looks like found footage of an actual Laurel and Hardy picture. It's an endearing film about a friendship and a creative partnership. Very much enjoyed it.

 

[MacDuffle]

If Beale Street Could Talk was solid. It's a visually interesting film where the camera lingers on the faces of the actors and emotions are readily conveyed often in pauses and silences. I also liked the way the narrative unfolded. It's nonlinear and characters come in and out of focus in a way that likely won't appeal to everyone but that I thought was well done. It is a sad and thought-provoking film with some very naturalistic performances. It's a bit slow-paced but I found it engaging throughout.

Vice- and speaking of nonlinear films, Vice was entertaining. It's in that good/not great category and I'm sure some will see it as The Big Short-lite but I liked many elements of it. One of the things I feel did not work out well was some of the humor. It had the same sort of energy and occasional outrage/irreverence that The Big Short had, but there are moments where it works and moments where it just falls flat. Because the movie is mostly played straight, one would expect that the jokes and asides that do come into play hit effectively, but it's not always the case. Bale was great in my opinion. His voice, his demeanor, the physical transformation- all spot on elements of the film's success. He could have easily went into caricature territory, but, to his credit, he always keeps things on the level and legitimate. One thing I found though was that the film offers little insight into Cheney as a man. They try to establish certain key elements- an early pledge to his future wife that he will never let her down again after getting a DUI, for instance, as an indication of the transition point from shiftless individual to ambitious climber. But the film continually stokes the outrage at Cheney's decisions as motivated by unbridled desire for power and money. But they keep Cheney largely inscrutable.

It never really hits as hard as McKay and co. probably intended because the narrative at times loses cohesion. There are moments where the film seems to mainly just be dropping facts to stoke the ire of the audience rather than to continue to lay out the story. But it certainly sticks to its theme. Aside from a couple of humanizing moments, it has nothing but derision and anger toward most of the principals.

Stan and Ollie was very endearing. If you're a fan of Laurel and Hardy, it's a must see. Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly both expertly embodied the cast to the extent that when there is a sequence in which Stan envisions the two making a prospective film about the Robin Hood legend, it almost looks like found footage of an actual Laurel and Hardy picture. It's an endearing film about a friendship and a creative partnership. Very much enjoyed it.

I worked

Spoiler

B camera and locations for Beal St

and it was a really smooth shoot all-around. Very patient and professional actors and extras, long days of shooting and several hours sitting around waiting for traffic to stop f*cking up all the audio pick ups

 

[moreorless87]

If Beale Street Could Talk was solid. It's a visually interesting film where the camera lingers on the faces of the actors and emotions are readily conveyed often in pauses and silences. I also liked the way the narrative unfolded. It's nonlinear and characters come in and out of focus in a way that likely won't appeal to everyone but that I thought was well done. It is a sad and thought-provoking film with some very naturalistic performances. It's a bit slow-paced but I found it engaging throughout.

Not seen it yet but what put me off in the trailers is that every line is such a clichéd bit or romance/drama dialog, not the kind of stuff people actually say to each other if your going for naturalism. Hopefully just a case of trailer makers picking out certain lines?

 

[breadfighter]

I want to watch the classic westerns but they're all so godamn long. I've started Once Upon a Time in Mexico like 3 times now.

 

[Plutoburn]

Saw Vice tonight. (Movie about Dick Cheney)

The cast is stellar with Christian Bale with his trademark body transformation starring as Cheney, Steve Carell as Rumsfeld, Sam Rockwell as W and Amy Adams as Mrs. Cheney. I was in university studying political sci. during the W administration and 9/11 so I knew the politics fairly intimately going into it. I was expecting a retelling of the events that everyone knows and this was supposed to be a public flogging of sort for Dick Cheney. But what I thought the movie did a really good job of personalizing everyone (with the exception of Rumsfeld, who I feel remains a caricature in this movie and Carell was so good at depicting that aspect of him)

 

[lostdog000]

green book was great
i lol'd a bunch and cared about the characters
i hope it wins all the oscars

 

[Tycho- Taylor's Version]

^ also enjoyed Green Book a lot.

Very "feel good" given the weight of the issues addressed. Fat Viggo was a riot.

 

[chickenluver]

I want to watch the classic westerns but they're all so godamn long. I've started Once Upon a Time in Mexico like 3 times now.

That one's only about 1 hour 40 minutes bro.

Also, is 2003 really old enough to be a classic?

 

[breadfighter]

That one's only about 1 hour 40 minutes bro.

Also, is 2003 really recent enough to be a classic?

LOL. I meant 'Once Upon a Time in the West'. My bad. Any recommendations?

I watched 'Open Range' yesterday based on Sherdog reviews.

 

[chickenluver]

LOL. I meant 'Once Upon a Time in the West'. My bad. Any recommendations?

Stagecoach, Winchester '73, Shane, Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy starring Clint Eastwood, Django, The Wild Bunch, El Topo, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Blazing Saddles.

I watched 'Open Range' yesterday based on Sherdog reviews.

How was that?

 

[breadfighter]

How was that?

It kinda wanted to be like 'Unforgiven' but nowhere near as polished. Coulda been shorter and I didn't really dig how they played out the romance aspect. But still good and worth the watch if you're craving a Western. Beautiful cinematography if that's your shit.

I'd give it a 7.5 but the cinematography bumps it up to a 8.

 

[moreorless87]

Watched The Favourite a couple of days ago, one thing that really stood out for me was the difference between it and the trailers shown before it. Adult film in awards season ment it was wall to wall Oscar bait being advertised, none of which looked in the least bit interesting to me. Here though you have an excellent example of what representation should be, a film with three female leads that isn't out to score cheap political points but actually make them interesting characters.

Probably the most accessable of Lanthimos's films thus far, less of the poking at social mores and less harrowing drama but more wit and focus on visuals, obviously with a healthy dose of Barry Lyndon influence. Weisz and Coleman especially are great in this, the former especially seems to have discovered her inner Bill Murray and the latter playing a tragic oddball as well as I'd hoped. The Kubrick influence is as obvious as ever but not to the degree it feels like its actively ripping him off and you do have a lot of individual touches as well. If I was being critical I would say that the flipside of the above is that it does feel a little more slight than his previous work.

 

[Yotsuya]

I just finished watching Zinnemann’s The Day of the Jackal. What a laconic masterpiece. 2,5 hour long thriller

Spoiler

with ten seconds of action in prologue and another ten seconds in the end followed by less than sixty second epilogue before the credits.

In between it’s just mostly talking and moving from one place to another. The movie is hardly stylished at all. There’s no witty dialogue or existential staring to the distance. There’s hardly any suspense built in the scenes, only the cumulative suspense of the plot. Still it all works towards the end like a clockwork. Pretty incredible. 4/5

 

[Rimbaud82]

Today I watched Les Unwanted de Europa (2018).

I loved it, I thought it was a brilliant and fascinating film. A warning of course....it belongs to the sub-species of film known as "slow cinema" and as such will not appeal to everyone (or even to many). As befits slow cinema, there is barely any dialogue and natural sound prevails, the camera lingers for long periods on shots when everything in conventional cinema is screaming that a cut should happen. It can be "boring" at points. However, as also befits (good) slow cinema, what is left is much more interesting than more truly boring conventional films (am I snob or what, who cares...).

In terms of a plot it deals with the journey of the philosoper Walter Benjamin through the Pyrenees in an attempt to escape collaborationist France. However with very little in the way of contextual information it is no biography, rather it is a rumination on the nature of human existence in the face of (implied) suffering - linked to Benjamin's own philosophy of time and History of course; much is implied, hinted at, the audience knows why Benjamin must escape across the mountains, but it is never explicitly said (and if they know what happens to Benjamin later in his life they will also understand the implication of the ending). Fitting with Benjamin's own philosophy the film also considers the nature of time, of History itself and the role of us human beings within that. In 1939 the Catalan republicans were escaping to France, but a year later foreigners, Jews and anti-fascists (including Benjamin) were trying to escape in the opposite direction from France. Of course history is even wider than this. Despite a few shots of Paris and it's great Library, most of the film takes place in the rugged mountain paths; the characters are framed by the immensity of nature, often appearing as small specks, or emerging, rustling out of the bushes. A really great film.

"The universe repeats itself endlessly and fidgets in place." - Blanqui (a French revolutionary quoted obliquely in the film, another connection between past and present).

 

[moreorless87]

RIP Albert Finney