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Post by mhynson27 on Oct 24, 2022 5:48:52 GMT
A Mighty Wind
Don't know why, but I think this might be my fave of the 3 from Guest I've seen.
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Post by Martin Stett on Oct 24, 2022 23:53:30 GMT
2015 Scavenger Hunt #4
Victoria (Director: Sebastian Schipper) There's a moment late in this movie when Victoria (Laia Costa) says that she'll invent a story to somebody to get out of a certain mess she's in. She walks into the background and all of it happens out of earshot, before she comes back and says she succeeded. Which just goes to show that Schipper's tale of moronic criminals doing moronic things and having predictable consequences isn't because he has any clever commentary about his characters. It shows that he's too stupid to write characters being smart, so he has to make it happen offscreen. This is such a bog-standard, moralistic crime drama about idiots that botch a heist planned for them by an even bigger idiot, and there is not one thing about it that makes it stand out. Oh, there's the much talked about SINGLE SHOT that everybody loves so much (the entire movie was filmed in one shot over 2+ hours), but Schipper doesn't do anything interesting with it. It's a gimmick without a purpose. There are no moments of beauty or careful choreography, just shaky cam following the actors all the time. It's a big fat nothing of a movie that is so minor that I can't even hate it. Any toddler could write a movie this smart, but at least the movie doesn't seem to think it's smart. It thinks that it is content that some people may get a kick out of if they turn their minds off. I'm not one of them, though.
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Post by stephen on Oct 24, 2022 23:59:03 GMT
Bullet Train: I really liked the tone and whimsy of this one, but I dunno, most of the characters were kinda intolerable (Pitt and King especially). Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were really the only ones I could stand.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Oct 28, 2022 1:51:20 GMT
My internet was out for a while during a service upgrade so got thru some Netflix stuff I downloaded to my iPad.
The Luckiest Girl Alive. Meh
Hustle. Was really good tbh. Sure it was a cliched sports underdog movie, but I eat those up and this was no exception.
The Stranger. Great slow burn with wonderful performances by Harris and Edgerton,
The Good Nurse. Pretty decent, liked both Redmayne and Chastain. Could have more buildup and tension.
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Post by mhynson27 on Oct 31, 2022 20:08:13 GMT
Scream 3 (re-watch)
"YOU'RE OBSESSED WITH HER, AND YOU'RE OBSESSED WITH HER DAUGHTER!"
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Nov 2, 2022 18:53:20 GMT
Blacklight. I’m the target audience for Liam Neeson B-action movies, I absolutely love them. Even by those standards this was pretty terrible.
Significant Other. Really liked this for about the first half. That is all
Crimes of the Future. Still deciding how I feel about the one.
All Quiet on the Western Front. Really good.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Nov 3, 2022 17:16:52 GMT
See How They Run. Entertaining light murder mystery. Thought it’d be more fun tbh. Still enjoyable enough.
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Post by Pavan on Nov 4, 2022 19:12:30 GMT
Prey (2022)-
Does the basics right and offers some good kills and thrills. Lead actress did good- 7/10
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Post by Martin Stett on Nov 5, 2022 0:11:55 GMT
2014 Scavenger Hunt #1
Zero Motivation (Director: Talya Lavie) An officer in the Israeli military who is much hated by those under her is retiring. At her farewell party, all of the other officers have to leave suddenly because of an urgent and important situation arising that requires their immediate attention. As they leave, she clutches a book about "great women in history" to her side and urges everyone to take some quiche with them: "My mother made it." Zero Motivation is a tricky movie to talk about. It is essentially a sitcom about soldiers feeling that they are wasting their lives in the bureaucratic purgatory that they have been assigned to. They try to distract themselves by beating their Minesweeper records or getting laid or anything but their jobs, because those jobs are soul-crushingly dull. It's pretty much I Love Lucy goes into active service. And there is a lot of that DNA here, certainly: a moment involving one soldier cleaning up a dirty room and hitting upon a genius idea to do so would feel right at home in that show. But there is a sad, dark, bitter thread of humor in this movie, in the push and pull between officers trying to get their underlings to do better (and thus make their lives easier) and those same underlings rebelling because they don't have the same ambitions or cares, and thus they make each other's lives miserable and go to sleep crying. It is that thread of hopelessness and bitterness that makes this film stand out. I'm stamping this as recommended.
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Post by DeepArcher on Nov 5, 2022 1:28:36 GMT
Stars at Noon (2022): After being pretty bored by Both Sides of the Blade earlier this year, I was starting to wonder if my Claire Denis fascination from a few years ago was just some sort of phase and/or if she was starting to lose her touch. But this was really good! Has that intoxicating, tactile, bizarre atmosphere that she's so great at conjuring, and Margaret Qualley is really, really good, a manic and volatile performance that never veers into being too overbearing or unbelievable. The John C. Reilly and Benny Safdie appearances are both great. I'm pretty surprised by the extent to which this has been hated on when it's, arguably, her most traditionally "accessible" film? Likely people are just getting fed up. I thought I was too. But perhaps not yet!
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Post by Joaquim on Nov 5, 2022 3:07:20 GMT
Air Force (1943): 5/10
It’s not just bad filmmaking, it’s bad propaganda. Battle scenes were pretty cool tho, whole screen was shaking at every explosion. Good effects for the time
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Nov 5, 2022 15:29:48 GMT
Causeway. Small movie but pretty decent. A bit slow but Lawrence and Henry really carry every scene they’re in. Lawrence is pretty great in her most restrained performance since Winter’s Bone.
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Post by stephen on Nov 5, 2022 16:09:27 GMT
See How They Run: Saoirse Ronan's best performance and she deserves a zillion movies based on this character alone. Rockwell was fine. Harris Dickinson's Dickie Attenborough was best in show and had me in stitches. "Ah, Dennis!"
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Post by Pavan on Nov 5, 2022 19:33:18 GMT
Barbarian (2022)-
Thought it was interesting and creepy at first and then it changes into a totally different flick and then comes a couple of jump scares and then it becomes weird and gross but oddly moving for a moment. It's also unintentionally funny at times. Not sure i liked it as a whole but there is much to appreciate and some to like in this weird trip down the rabbit hole- 7/10
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Nov 5, 2022 20:16:23 GMT
Barbarian (2022)- Thought it was interesting and creepy at first and then it changes into a totally different flick and then comes a couple of jump scares and then it becomes weird and gross but oddly moving for a moment. It's also unintentionally funny at times. Not sure i liked it as a whole but there is much to appreciate and some to like in this weird trip down the rabbit hole- 7/10 Intentionally funny
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Post by stephen on Nov 6, 2022 13:47:05 GMT
The Good Nurse: Eddie Redmayne's career-best performance, and Chastain is also very good in it.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Nov 8, 2022 15:45:22 GMT
Ingrid Goes West. Late to getting around to this one but really dug it. Kinda a dark comedy version of Single White Female. Plaza is pretty great and just racking up great performances in these smaller films. Happy to see her with some nice TV roles but would love to see her land a juicy role in a major movie.
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Post by DeepArcher on Nov 10, 2022 3:48:10 GMT
Tenebrae (1982): Interestingly lurid (the De Palma comparisons I kept seeing feel pretty apt) and at its best *gloriously* bloody. Maybe not as visually dazzling as some of Argento's other works - but has one of the best scores. Probably pairs nicely with a personal favorite of mine, In the Mouth of Madness, both films where masters of horror engage with the consequences of their work in a metatextual way. Though this feels more subtextually deliberate than Carpenter ever was (to his credit, tbh), full with Argento's usual fascinations of voyeurism, Freudian whatever, etc. - though probably works best as an exploration of the endless loop of violence - the first killer being a horror fanatic obsessed with Neal's books & his own interpretation of them, the second killer being Neal himself enacting that fiction - there is something of a chicken/egg paradox to it. At least one kill scene (gif below), near the end, is undoubtedly one of the best giallo/slasher kills ... ever ... and goddamn, what a haunting ending too!
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Nov 11, 2022 18:26:32 GMT
Weird: The Al Yankovich Story. Pretty damn hilarious. Spiritual sequel to Walk Hard
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Post by stephen on Nov 12, 2022 21:38:23 GMT
Amsterdam: Jesus Christ. Okay, this movie is beautifully costumed and designed, and Chivo's cinematography does rise above the frenetic editing. And the Business Plot is a sordid little wrinkle of American history that deserves to be explored, especially in today's climate... but David O. Russell just turns it into an erratic headache of a movie. Christian Bale's really the only one of the film's primary trinity who works (but that's grading on a mighty curve), and I think there is a decent kernel of an idea of his character's interactions with his WASP-y in-laws. Washington and Robbie are unfortunately very dull and don't have much chemistry with one another, and everyone else feels like they're little-better than walk-ins on a variety show, most of which feel incredibly superfluous and unnecessary. Also, the flashback de-aging effects were hysterically bad. It's not quite as aggravatingly stupefying as American Hustle, but it ain't too far off that mark.
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Post by Miles Morales on Nov 13, 2022 12:33:01 GMT
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - 9.5/10
Ryan Coogler has got to be one of my favourite directors working today. Absolutely insane how he pulled this off in the middle of horrible circumstances. A beautiful and moving tribute to Chadwick and just a supremely well-made blockbuster in general.
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Post by Joaquim on Nov 13, 2022 14:18:35 GMT
Beauty and the Beast (1946): 7/10
This is spectacularly directed by Jean Cocteau but I just don’t think it hits those highs in other areas. Might be grading it a bit harshly with the 7/10
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Post by countjohn on Nov 14, 2022 1:49:18 GMT
Once Upon a Time in the Revolution/A Fistful of Dynamite/Duck, You Sucker/Whatever else it's called
Really underrated. Not as good as TGTBATG, but on par with all the other Leone westerns, would put it ahead of the first two Dollars films to be honest. Really sharp and funny dialogue and Steiger/Coburn have fantastic chemistry. A real downer of an ending that makes you feel something which a lot of these kinds of movies don't have either. I'd link this together with TGTBATG and OUATITW as a trilogy before I'd link them together with the earlier Dollars films which to me feel a lot more small scale and don't have the dark irony and humor as much.
8/10
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Nov 14, 2022 6:54:09 GMT
The Good Nurse: Eddie Redmayne's career-best performance, and Chastain is also very good in it. Agreed on Redmayne, who feels chillingly real here, and Chastain's performance is surprisingly multifaceted – convincing as an experienced professional who is compassionate, while also playing a strapped, but loving mother... also has to convey the character’s Cardiomyopathy condition, and has to play someone fearful but conflicted while also trying to hide that fear... I wouldn’t rank it among her best performances, but it’s still very strong work, and a nicely subdued, contrasting follow-up to her Oscar-winning role.
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Post by Pavan on Nov 19, 2022 11:33:46 GMT
Smile (2022)-
I wish the poster girl was more in it. Her smile is really creepy. An okay-ish horror with couple of good scares but the final scene is what gets you and you have to endure the rest of it to get to that point- 6/10
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