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Post by alexanderblanchett on Nov 30, 2019 21:26:34 GMT
A very interesting and shocking lesson in history. It does not disclose anything we did not know before but it is shocking to see how much it was tried to be hidden. We got a lot of disclosure movies like this in the part and this is one of those that can be perfectly put in line with many classics off its kind. The acting was great. Adam Driver put so much energy into his role. It really shows. And even though not much back ground information or special character traits were developed for his role, he portrayed it on such a human and realistic way. Hands down one of the best best lead performances of the year so far. Annette Being was similar powerful. What made her performance was so special was the subtleness of it... not one of Bening's specialities as she is a very theatrical actress, but here she showed her calmer side and shows the same intensity as usual. I also enjoyed Jon Hamm and many of the other supporting players, there was not one weak performance. The screenplay was great, I only had some issues with the different time lines all the time, but it was effetely solved by working with colors. A really good lesson in recent history. Not dry at all, although it looks like it. Recommended.
Current nominations for:
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Annette Bening Best Original Screenplay
Rating: 8/10
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morton
Based
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Post by morton on Nov 30, 2019 21:53:22 GMT
A very interesting and shocking lesson in history. It does not disclose anything we did not know before but it is shocking to see how much it was tried to be hidden. We got a lot of disclosure movies like this in the part and this is one of those that can be perfectly put in line with many classics off its kind. The acting was great. Adam Driver put so much energy into his role. It really shows. And even though not much back ground information or special character traits were developed for his role, he portrayed it on such a human and realistic way. Hands down one of the best best lead performances of the year so far. Annette Being was similar powerful. What made her performance was so special was the subtleness of it... not one of Bening's specialities as she is a very theatrical actress, but here she showed her calmer side and shows the same intensity as usual. I also enjoyed Jon Hamm and many of the other supporting players, there was not one weak performance. The screenplay was great, I only had some issues with the different time lines all the time, but it was effetely solved by working with colors. A really good lesson in recent history. Not dry at all, although it looks like it. Recommended. Current nominations for: Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Annette Bening Best Original Screenplay
Rating: 8/10It feels very much like a made for television movie, not that I think that's a bad thing, because I actually do think that maybe it could have been expanded to a miniseries like Chernobyl, but then again it works very well because of how lean it is. If it was expanded, I would be afraid that it could turn into another The Laundromat situation where I appreciated what Burns was trying to do, but hated most of what he did because there was just too many bizarre storylines. I don't know if I would watch it again, but I think it's a solid film debut from Burns. I think he handled the torture sequences well and perfectly captured that time after 9/11 where everyone was scared, and how that kind of fear lead to torture being approved so easily. Maybe it was a little too dry for me though? I don't know it was very good, but missing something to take it to a higher level. I'd probably give it a 7/10, but bump it up to 8/10 because of the difficulty of adapting the material. I still can't believe Amazon bought this for so much money, and then decided to bury it. Same with The Aeronauts which they must have spent even more on making. I don't know if this would have got much traction because the torture scenes are so intense that it might have flopped if released theatrically, but Bening at the very least would have gotten some traction given how barren Supporting Actress is. I think she really nailed Dianne Feinstein, and even with limited screentime was able to show that she wants to do her best but unfortunately her hands are tied a lot of the time. Driver still would have been gotten more attention for Marriage Story, but he's also excellent here even though he doesn't get to have a lot of loud moments. He says so much with a facial tic and other body language though. My favorite moment of his is probably his reaction to seeing the advertisement for Zero Dark Thirty. His face said so much.
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Post by Sharbs on Dec 2, 2019 5:44:36 GMT
If what I hear about The Laundromat are true then im glad Sodes disnt tackle this especially if he were in Adam McKay mode. This was solid, pretty sharp but immensely dry. Driver is great. - 7/10
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Post by pendragon on Dec 2, 2019 8:17:04 GMT
Adam Driver is riveting, but the film is really didactic and lacking in real drama. It seems to exist purely to make a point, a good point sure, but I would have preferred more depth and nuance. The characters are merely mouthpieces for ideas.
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Post by Mattsby on Dec 7, 2019 1:57:03 GMT
5/10. Like a lazy first-draft spew of facts - they forgot to carve out a coherent structure or any dimensional characters. Driver is okay but “mouthpiece” is right, he has one too many weightless tirades. I just didn’t buy him - one contrived scene of jogging to suggest he exists in the world isn’t enough. The filmmaking is as basic and trite as could be. Yawn.
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AKenjiB
Badass
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Post by AKenjiB on Jan 12, 2020 23:00:34 GMT
I was a big fan of a 2018 Hulu Miniseries called The Looming Tower, showcasing the events between U.S. intelligence agencies that led to 9/11. The Report feels like a successor to that series, showing how our intelligence agencies changed post 9/11 (FBI Agent Ali Soufan is a major character in The Looming Tower and a minor character in The Report, and Alec Station is also referenced).
This film has received criticism for being too clinical, but the approach didn’t really bother me. It’s not a character-driven story but Daniel Jones (Adam Driver) makes for a protagonist I could root for and sympathize with as this investigation has clearly destroyed anything resembling a personal life. Driver’s strong work helps solidify his character. Things do get a little weak at the end, when the clinical nature is suddenly replaced by more righteous fury. Admittedly, I’m someone genuinely fascinated by these topics already, so the film is able to grip me just by its subject matter. This is a disturbing movie but something I highly recommend to anyone interested in the subject matter. And seriously, this would be ideal to watch right after The Looming Tower.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jan 12, 2020 23:17:24 GMT
oh, there's a thread for this.
Saw this a few weeks ago and have already forgotten practically everything about it, and I love these kinds of political fact-based movies (even the must-dismissed The Post), especially investigative ones. Unfortunately, The Report is as didactic as it is lifeless. I think, from what I can remember and there's not much because this movie was forgettable af, is that the clunkiness of the nonlinear structure. Burns shows the contents of the protagonist's research as flashbacks for the viewer's sake, so all those scenes amount to 20-30 minutes of purely inorganic exposition (imagine if Spotlight had similar flashbacks to the priests' crimes).
The movie also has a character problem. Driver's angry protagonist was one-dimensional to the point of being a non-character, defined entirely by his disgust and disbelief. I don't know anything about this man except that he doesn't like torture--that's his only trait. In contrast, Bening's confident and measured take on Dianne Feinstein is actually really effective by virtue of her talent and restraint, so when she finally puts her foot down you can sense the electricity of her indignant resolve. Wouldn't mind seeing her get nominated although that's incredibly unlikely. Otherwise I'm happy to shuffle this away into obscurity. If there's more material to be eked out of the Bush Administration's warcrimes, just let Soderbergh or Bigelow direct it. Hell, even Ben Affleck might have done some nice things with this material. And I'll repeat, there's nothing wrong with telling story (it should be told), but Burns imbibes it with all the energy of a Wikipedia article, delivers it at one ringing monotonous note, and reduces his protagonist to a talking head.
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