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Post by Martin Stett on Aug 13, 2018 20:16:05 GMT
Life of Brian (1979) -- It gets off to a rocky start, but once this gets into a rhythm, this never stops. A lot of classic gags here, especially the ending. 8/10Wreck-It Ralph (2012 rewatch) -- This one dropped on a rewatch. It is still marvelously fun, but the pandering is showing more and the humor dates quickly. There's still a solid dramatic core, and this is one of the sweetest Disney movies out there. 8/10Colossus and the Headhunters (MST3K version) -- This is too dull to make fun of. 5/10Phantom Thread (2017) -- It's carefully composed, pretty to look at, and intellectually interesting. But PTA fails to give the movie a soul. It's a fun one time watch, but too dry to be any more than that. 7/10Samsara (2011) -- There is little consistency here, but when Fricke hits, HE HITS HARD. There are some stunningly beautiful pieces, some scary ones, and some that I can't remember because there's 30 minutes of this movie that just seemed randomly tossed together instead of building a crescendo. 7/10Ernest & Celestine (2012 rewatch) -- Gosh, this was so beautiful. Even better than I remembered. Putting aside that this is one of the funniest films in recent memory (Ernest chasing birds around his house is some GOAT slapstick), I'm struck by how optimistic this movie is. For all of the nastiness that Ernest & Celestine endure, there's a sweetness to their relationship that just gets more heartwrenching with every passing second. "I am not your nightmare."  10/10 and as much as I like Loving, this is what that movie should have been.
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Post by notacrook on Aug 13, 2018 20:47:42 GMT
Pretty big, and overall solid, week:
Bridget Jones's Diary - 6/10
Michael Clayton - 7/10
A Prayer Before Dawn - 3.5/10
In the Bedroom - 10/10 (unsung masterpiece)
Unfaithful - 6/10
Requiem for a Dream (re-watch) - 8/10
Avengers: Infinity War (re-watch) - 7/10
Rise of the Footsoldier - 1/10
Dolores Claiborne - 7/10
The Wolf of Wall Street (re-watch) - 8/10
Tully - 7.5/10
Paddington 2 - 8/10
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 13, 2018 20:57:40 GMT
L’Enfer (1994) - 7.5/10
> Very well acted by Cluzet & Béart, a tightly stylized post-Hitchcock piece of psychological unraveling.
Racing with the Moon (1984) - 7/10
> Watchable, kind-of endearing, Penn & McGovern are very good; yet the whole thing isn’t very deep or clever and the abortion subplot is a dud. (Same era and locations used in the slightly better Summer of ’42)
The Music of Chance (1993) - 6.5/10
> Very aware of its Beckett and Sisyphus influence, keeps you at a distance, but worth seeing for Spader’s performance, he singlehandedly gives the movie energy and humor.
Marvin’s Room (1996) - 6.5/10
> Easily heartbreaking stuff, sloppy use of music and fade-to-blacks, but the acting is strong and carries the whole thing. Keaton is very good but Streep, and her deeply felt arc, is MVP.
Dinner with Friends (2001) - 6ish/10
> Despite the awful flashback scene, a mostly solid HBO pic about marriage and the ideal suddenly uncomfortably confronted; also a possible career-best Dennis Quaid, expressing total apprehension thru bottled proper etiquette.
Beyond Therapy (1987) - generous 5/10
> Occasionally witty dialogue, but can’t overcome the sloppy, stupid, hectic whole.
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 13, 2018 21:05:16 GMT
In the Bedroom - 10/10 (unsung masterpiece) I have a friend who once said In the Bedroom was Bergman meets Ozu. And there's also a critic who mentioned those two names as well. I mean, when do you hear those names in reference to an American film? It's such a great debut from Todd Field and somebody (cough, Netflix) needs to put a briefcase of money in front of him and say 'Have at it.' |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2018 21:13:12 GMT
I saw: Mission: Impossible (1996) - 5/10 Yeahhh. The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) - 9/10 Near masterpiece. The second half isn't as compelling as the first but it's still quite well crafted. A new favorite, easily. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) - 8/10, rewatch So much better than I remembered it being. Maybe my favorite horror film of the 30's, or at least second favorite behind Vampyr. You guys: Wreck it Ralph was kind of terrible IIRC. Phantom Thread is fantastic and I think it had plenty of "soul". I still feel that the scene where Day-Lewis hallucinates the ghost of his mother is possibly the best scene PTA has directed yet, and I'm a pretty huge PTA fan. Michael Clayton I remember enjoying. Requiem for a Dream is extremely dumb. Aronofsky  Infinity War is definitely one of the better Marvel movies. Not saying much, but yeah. Wolf of Wall Street is great. I think I slightly prefer Silence though. |
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Aug 13, 2018 21:47:35 GMT
Christopher Robin - It's a very nice film. It's nothing groundbreaking, and won't but for a kids / family film I really enjoyed it, and even got quite teary-eyed. Plus I find it impossible to hate Winnie The Pooh - 7.5 / 10
Book Club - Surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It's harmless, but charming and solidly funny at points. The cast plays off each other as well. - 7 / 10
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Aug 14, 2018 1:37:07 GMT
The Client
Heat
Lost in Translation
Proud Mary
The Ref
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Post by mhynson27 on Aug 14, 2018 2:14:37 GMT
Logan (re-watch)
Inception (re-watch)
Lady Bird (re-watch)
Begin Again
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Post by Pavan on Aug 14, 2018 7:15:14 GMT
Happy Together (1997)- 6.5/10
Enchanted (2007)- 7/10/
Iruvar (1997) (re-watch)- 8/10
The Meg (2018)- 5.5/10
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Post by urbanpatrician on Aug 14, 2018 11:50:09 GMT
Silence (2016) - I don't have anything I particularly don't like, I just don't think it's exactly the type of film I hear some people say it is. Some critics have said that it's like Tarkovsky and Dreyer, but I think it's closer to Gangs of New York. Not that that makes it bad, but I think Scorsese is mostly making an epic about a historical period. I don't think he's taking the same approach Tarkovsky or Dreyer takes. 7
Shampoo - Very fun. Very 70s. In 1975, this type of ensemble piece were being done a lot. But still, I liked it. It's not Altman, but it's the type of film I like. I like Beatty. I like Goldie, and I think Lee Grant's nomination actually makes the most sense of all of them, since Beatty and Goldie while solid are playing a typical Beatty and Goldie character. 7.5
Planet Terror - I like the style a lot. It's really cool, and I like the look of it. It feels like a Raimi at times with the off-the-wall randomness. But there's something dragging it down, maybe I felt some scenes didn't make a whole lot of sense with each other. Definitely not the experimental galore of Tarantino and Death Proof, but it's not amateur either. 7.5
Hail Caesar! - Some Coens' play on absurdism aside, there's some moments that just felt a bit generic - that's sometimes how I feel when they try to do a 50s period piece on a Hollywood set. Not sure why The Hudsucker Proxy got horrible reviews because this is equally as meh in their overall filmography - if not worse. I'm not that fond of them doing period movies because I know their intent is sometimes misinterpreted, and they can sometimes just feel a bit tiring. 6
Paris, Texas - What can I say? I think I got a little slightly less interested during the scenes when Stanton takes off to Houston with his kid, but before that and that final scene was just bliss. This film works well alluding to Jane. It makes her a character before she even shows up. All this alluding to Jane in the beginning, and in those homemade videos they show her in just brought up some beautiful images. And those images are what the viewer has to work with, building up for her to be the primary interest. And this broken family past brought to light. Just a sense of tender beauty. Wenders does a terrific job of making the final scene distinct. You don't think of Paris, Texas without thinking of Kinski in the final scene with Stanton in that booth. Because Wenders directed that scene so distinctly, that's why it feels like a iconic cinematic entity all to itself, among other distinct things about it. You can argue that it reads like simple girly poetry at times, but while I think I agree with the simplicity of it all, I do think it's really poetically profound too. A young man, a young woman. Once in love. Broken past. Fell out of love. Disillusioned. Separated. Too young to raise a kid in their situation. Both don't have enough means to support him. Father disappears. Mother tries to get out in the world. It's definitely very simple coming down to that. But it all just feels perfect, everything is just paradisaical. I can see why fans of beat culture and blues music likes this. 9.5
Heaven and Earth (1983) - That trademark shot of a boy on a swing which is the shot everyone uses for this film, this film isn't interesting enough to really go where Mekas can go with it. It's just not even close to As I Was Moving Ahead... 7
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Aug 14, 2018 21:24:11 GMT
Dressed to Kill (1980) - the first 30 minutes are amazing. They combine De Palma's vulgar sensibilities with hypnotic, operatic sequences (the opening shower scene, that wordless museum sequence that just kept going and going and going). Unfortunately, the first act behaves as prelude to the real story instead of participating in it. And in hindsight, the first act feels like it belongs in a different film altogether. The movie essentially takes a 180 going into the second act and becomes totally different film with much less interesting characters (the bland hooker, the sleazy police detective, the boy scientist). There are myriad issues with this part of the film, but Nancy Allen's front-and-center performance encapsulates much of them. She is a terrible actress and no one can convince me otherwise. She's totally stiff and wooden and amateurish, and it's not because of bad writing. There are hundreds of actresses that could have recited these same lines with even a modicum of involvement. Allen plays everything flat and dull, and she almost single-handedly ruined this movie for me. 6/10
High Art (1998) - This one was lovely. Very intimate and emotionally accessible without ever feeling disingenuous or manipulative. Radha Mitchell and Ally Sheedy are so charismatic together I couldn't stand it, and Patricia Clarkson is the last word on coked-up lesbian German actresses. Love it love it love it. 8.5/10
Evil Angels (1988) - Hmmmm. This is one of those films where you're watching it and you think "yeah, this is an important story" and "yeah, what happened to these people is awful," and "yeah, public opinion can be a powerful and dangerous force," and "yeah, Meryl Streep is incredible," but...it just isn't a very interesting film. It's one of those films that feels like a list of bullet points. This keeps the two main characters at a bit of an arm's length because we often don't get a good sense of what's going on in their heads--the film just doesn't bother to express it most of the time. Conversely, the movie doesn't have much tension because we immediately know what's going to happen. We know from the beginning that Sam and Meryl are innocent, we know that public opinion is going to ebb and flow but mostly be against them, we know that they're going to be found guilty and punished for something they didn't do. I get that this was a much-popularized case, and you couldn't really surprise the audience with any twists or conspiracies a la JFK but I feel like the script could have done more than just check items off a list. 6.5/10
Rabbit Hole (2010) - Wonderful little film. Hit all the right notes for me. Kidman is phenomenal, Wiest is heart-breaking (and so underrated), Teller is very strong in a complex role. The writing was fantastic. 8/10
Bad Timing (1980) - psychological thriller by way of soap opera. I'll take a side of rape with my melodrama, thank you very much. 5/10
End of Watch (2012) - Very enjoyable buddy cop action flick if you can forgive the kooky camerawork. The found footage format is mostly an obnoxious gimmick, and that's certainly the case here where a lot of the camera placements make absolutely no sense. It's forgivable in this case because the movie does an amazing job drumming up tension and keeping the action taut, surprising, and brutal. The movie shines most when Gyllenhaal and Pena, both totally convincing as cops, are in frame together. Their chemistry is unbelievable. You feel like you're in that car with them getting a fly-on-the-wall perspective of these two cops' day-to-day lives on the streets of LA and it's kind of fascinating. There is some stuff that should have been trimmed. These two characters' love lives are not very interesting. I simply didn't need ten minutes dedicated to Jake G's love affair with Anna Kendrick. Also all the stuff with the Sureños gang-bangers was dumb and totally throwaway. 8/10
Seven Psychopaths (2012) - Rockwell and Walken are the only two good things about this godforsaken, messy-ass film. It wants sooooooo bad to be meta, but it's just pretentious and dull, and far less entertaining than the films it tries so painfully to spoof. 5/10
The Shining (1980) - yup, I guess this is a masterpiece after all. 9/10
Brubaker (1980) - I'm probably not gonna remember much about this in a week, but it's good for what it is (a serviceable and very brutal prison drama that's still relevant). 7.5/10
Maniac (1980) - Woah. That was an experience. 8/10
My Brilliant Career - It's so fitting that Judy Davis's own brilliant career started with a film entitled 'My Brilliant Career' 8/10
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10/10 and as much as I like Loving, this is what that movie should have been.
