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Post by wilcinema on Nov 13, 2018 22:52:29 GMT
I've always thought Shutter Island had a very good first half, but by the time the investigation takes a twist and the movie moves to the lighthouse, it derails spectacularly.
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Post by stephen on Nov 13, 2018 22:54:53 GMT
Not halves, but thirds: A Place Beyond the Pines. The first third with Gosling is immaculate from start to finish. The second act with Cooper is still strong, but feels very compressed, like there was an entire film's worth of content squeezed into 45 minutes. Then we're left with the final act, which really should've been its own movie. Cianfrance needed to go Godfather: Part II with this film and do one film about the fathers, the second about the sons. The story we got was too big for one film.
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Post by finniussnrub on Nov 13, 2018 23:33:01 GMT
Man in the Glass Booth is pretty stagy before you know where it is going, glorious madness once it gets there.
Don't know if this is divisive, as I don't know how many have seen it, but An Average Little Man is a particularly extreme example of a tonal shift from a warmhearted comedy to a brutal revenge thriller.
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Post by SeanJoyce on Nov 16, 2018 23:51:38 GMT
Joy Ride is the supreme for me when it comes to this topic.
The 1st half is beautiful stuff; two estranged brothers bonding to evade a psychotic trucker (voiced by the wonderfully menacing Ted Levine) is pitch-perfect in pacing, thrills, and atmosphere.
Everything changes once Leelee enters the picture. The plot becomes incoherent, the chemistry is sabotaged, and the well-earned tension is shattered. Worse yet, the decision to reveal the antagonist is not only jarring (this is clearly not the Mr. Lotion we all know fondly), it serves to dissolve the pungent air of mystery around his character. Had this movie stuck with the brothers while relegating Rusty Nail to just some deranged, detached voice on a CB radio, we'd have a near classic on our hands.
I like Joy Ride as is, but it could have been so much more.
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Post by pupdurcs on Nov 17, 2018 6:42:50 GMT
Not halves, but thirds: A Place Beyond the Pines. The first third with Gosling is immaculate from start to finish. The second act with Cooper is still strong, but feels very compressed, like there was an entire film's worth of content squeezed into 45 minutes. Then we're left with the final act, which really should've been its own movie. Cianfrance needed to go Godfather: Part II with this film and do one film about the fathers, the second about the sons. The story we got was too big for one film. Never have truer words been spoken. This film was too epic in dramatic scope for it's own good. It's frustrating because there is clearly a masterpiece level multi-generational movie somewhere in there, but it got lost in all the wrong choices. |
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 17, 2018 9:07:13 GMT
Not halves, but thirds: A Place Beyond the Pines. The first third with Gosling is immaculate from start to finish. The second act with Cooper is still strong, but feels very compressed, like there was an entire film's worth of content squeezed into 45 minutes. Then we're left with the final act, which really should've been its own movie. Cianfrance needed to go Godfather: Part II with this film and do one film about the fathers, the second about the sons. The story we got was too big for one film. It's because Cianfrance can't write, period really. Blue Valentine was filled in by the actors (spectacularly so) but that was a Cassavetes like film in how it revealed each character - the acting and the writing were of a shared piece - APBTP isn't that same project at all but he applies the same technique anyway. It is really a synthesis of City of Hope and Prince of The City in what it's trying to do but those films had dense, labyrinth screenplays not merely outlines of one. There's nothing wrong with just hiring a major writer to flesh out your major ambitious story - Richard Price would love to help out - but Cianfrance thinks he's Cassavetes and thinks his (minor, nobody) writing partners are good enough to make him Lumet or even Sayles. They're not even close to that. A man's got to know his limitations ....... |
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Post by wilcinema on Nov 17, 2018 9:15:05 GMT
My main problem is APBTP is Cooper, whom I find terribly miscast.
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AKenjiB
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Post by AKenjiB on Nov 17, 2018 19:46:54 GMT
I think the second half of Mudbound (once Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell start sharing scenes together) is far superior to the narration-heavy first half.
Funny People is an entertaining deconstruction of Adam Sandler’s career until the main plot is resolved and the plot shifts to winning back Leslie Mann.
Hancock begins as a mildly entertaining superhero comedy then takes a stupid turn in the second half once it starts taking itself super seriously.
I greatly prefer the first half of Sleepers focused on the kids over the second half focused on the adults.
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Post by notacrook on Nov 17, 2018 23:42:20 GMT
A current example - Widows. The first half I was absolutely loving - McQueen's direction was sharp and alert, the cast was fantastic across-the-board, and Flynn's script felt rich and sophisticated, with all these seemingly strong and compelling subplots slowly merging together and building towards what I'd hoped would be a phenomenal finish. Unfortunately, the second half sees the film steadily lose its way thanks to an irritating, totally unnecessary plot twist, important topics such as police brutality being shoehorned in for the sake of it, and an ending that feels altogether too predictable and easy.
I liked the film overall, and would give it somewhere in the 6-7/10 range, but it was a shame to see something so good become so average as it went on.
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Post by bob-coppola on Nov 18, 2018 7:37:47 GMT
I really dislike the second half of The Sound of Music, and I love the first one.
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