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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 9, 2024 16:16:40 GMT
About Dry Grasses - My first Ceylan. Such a harrowing, immersive experience. Let's just say I will be watching the rest of his filmography. 8.5/10.
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Post by mhynson27 on Feb 10, 2024 11:05:34 GMT
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
That 40 mins FLEW BY.
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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 10, 2024 12:55:16 GMT
Monster - I guess Koreeda just isn't my thing. I like this about as much as I like The Shoplifters, aka I don't. It's like discount Close. The whole time I wanted to slap the bejesus out of that little shit because he's so fucking annoying.
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Post by Brother Fease on Feb 11, 2024 16:40:25 GMT
Sound of Metal (2020) - 9/10. Highly entertaining. Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci were excellent. Very well deserving of its Oscars for Editing and Sound. Now that I have seen all five Best Actor performances from the 2020-2021 Oscar season, my vote would have gone to Ahmed.
Prometheus (2012) - 9/10. I actually saw the Alien: Covenant before this one. This one quite impressed me from all angles -- writing, directing, acting, makeup, special effects, production values.
Nimona (2023)- 7/10. Well-deserving of its Oscar nomination for animated feature. Not a big fan of its animation style, but the story packs a lot of heart and hits on modern day themes about being isolated from society for being LGBTQI.
All good ones.
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Post by TylerDeneuve on Feb 12, 2024 4:22:47 GMT
Young Toscanini, or Il giovane Toscanini (1988): This has to be one of Zeffirelli's most intriguing productions - a meditation on art and politics, it poses the (very timely) question: are artists obligated to use their platforms to bring about important social change? In this instance, the abolition of slavery in Brazil, an institution which shocks and horrifies the Italian cellist Arturo Toscanini on his tour of South America. I understand that this was a massive flop upon its release, and I can understand why... It's not for everyone. Zeffirelli certainly recalls his mentor Visconti in that no lavish detail is spared in design - the entire film is almost indecently beautiful - and the camera lingers lovingly at a staid pace. I personally love this kind of filmmaking, but it typically isn't fit for mass consumption. I found the gorgeous Brat Packer C. Thomas Howell very charismatic in the eponymous role - he's totally convincing in his big conducting scenes - and of course Elizabeth Taylor is delicious as a fading opera diva. This could make for a fun entry into the "Young Love" sub-genre of film, too. Pretty Sophie Ward, who plays a novitiate from an upperclass Milan family, has to re-think becoming a nun when she meets Howell's Toscanini. Because... obviously.
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tylosaur
New Member
Posts: 204
Likes: 110
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Post by tylosaur on Feb 12, 2024 8:11:49 GMT
Malena. Boy, between this and Irreversible, Bellucci really went through it in the early 2000s. Would make for a psychotic double-feature
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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 12, 2024 8:16:21 GMT
Come Back, Little Sheba - Not much to write home about narratively, but Shirley Booth is brilliant here.
The Insider - It's fine.
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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 12, 2024 19:12:30 GMT
A City of Sadness - I am ashamed to say that this was my first watch as a Taiwanese, lol. It really is as good as people say, exhaling tragedy with every breath it takes under incredible restraint, which further emphasises the oppression folks back then were forced to live through for decades, and it's universal because most of the world are still under severe political oppression and events implied/expressly described in the film remain daily occurrences. Really powerful stuff.
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Post by sophiefox on Feb 12, 2024 19:28:20 GMT
Pushover (Richard Quine, 1954) crime drama film-noir 7/10
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Post by mhynson27 on Feb 15, 2024 5:04:45 GMT
Anatomy of a Fall
Triet deserved her director nomination just for the fact that she directed one of the best child performances, AND one of the best dog performances ever.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Feb 15, 2024 13:17:14 GMT
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). Lower tier Hitchcock. I’m sure this worked much better at the time but it doesn’t hold up nearly as well as most of his other work. Didn’t think either of the lead performances worked too well and the tension I’d expect throughout was severely lacking.
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Post by stephen on Feb 16, 2024 2:11:24 GMT
The Beekeeper: Goofy in all the right places. Jeremy Irons having to deal with whatever Josh Hutcherson is doing scene to scene must've given him Jared Leto in House of Gucci flashbacks. It's basically all three Equalizer movies remixed together with a dash of John Wick.
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rhodoraonline
Badass
Your Generosity Hides Something Dirtier and Meaner
Posts: 1,028
Likes: 507
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Post by rhodoraonline on Feb 16, 2024 23:54:03 GMT
Empire of the Sun: 9/10 A masterpiece. Shouldn't have taken me this long to finally watch this American Fiction: 8/10 Successfully surprised me by ditching cliches. Heartfelt turns from everyone. Suprisingly good to great supporting actors not featured in the trailer at all. Still, NOT seeing SKB nom justification. Moonstruck: 8.5/10 Why isn't this taught to all the screenwriters of today?? THIS is how you write dialogue!!!!!!!! What a force Cher and Nic Cage both individually and together! Very very swoonworthy both of them. Too bad BTS drama of this totally sucked. Wonka: 8/10 What a delight of a movie. I didn't like the song too much, but the movie did bring tears to my eyes by the end. This should have gotten more attention for production design. TC sure wins you over in this movie. Bank of Dave: 7/10 Nice enough to pass some time. The artificial Hollywoody ending was total letdown and Def Leppard weren't even properly featured it seemed like, visually I mean.
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Post by Martin Stett on Feb 17, 2024 4:00:49 GMT
2007 Scavenger Hunt #5
Om Shanti Om (Director: Farah Khan) I'm gonna complain about this movie being overlong and poorly paced, but I've gotta hand it to India... when they make a movie that is bloated, it is bloated with goofy musical numbers that make me smile, even if they're narrative disasters. Even though Om Shanti Om is a 160 minute musical comedy/supernatural thriller that doesn't make an effort to blend those two sides together, it is still good fun. The plot - about a two-bit supporting actor who falls in love with the leading lady before they're both murdered by her evil boyfriend and then ghosts and reincarnations and gaslighting and shirtless scenes and silly pop songs and a guy that sticks a pistol in his belt buckle and shoots guys by thrusting his hips forward... Does this movie sound schizophrenic to you? Because it is. But it's fine. The songs are fun and the jokes are silly, and when we get sudden dark turns into thriller territory, it is just as committed (also just as stupid, but whatever). I'm okay with this.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Feb 17, 2024 5:28:26 GMT
Hot take time.
The Last Airbender was not all Shyamalan’s fault (mismatched as his for-hire direction was, and as horrible as the exposition was). As a property, I don’t think Avatar should ever have left animation. That’s the medium where it thrives, and where it should stay, because when you have to bring this imagery to live-action, that’s when it feels truly goofy.
Dev Patel tries so hard though.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 17, 2024 21:39:28 GMT
Coup de Chance (2023)Not at all what I was expecting - very watchable, quite entertaining, although quite light, and not particularly much like Match Point as I was lead to believe .........with an unbelievably sexy lead performace bu Lou de Laâge - an (even) more desirable Margaret Qualley here........who is quite good at acting when she is not the focus of a scene ......certain to annoy you by posting her in the Celebrity Crush thread for years to come.......this performance is a fashion tour de force of jeans, turtlenecks and overcoats
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Post by Brother Fease on Feb 17, 2024 21:49:27 GMT
Dumb Money (2023) - 6/10 for me. I hold accounting and business administration degrees. So movies about finance and stock market corruption are up my alley. There was nothing "wrong" with the film itself. Very nice cast. It was interesting to see a Covid-Era take on the stock market. But as far as movies about finance, this one feels secondary to The Wolf of Wall Street, Wall Street, and The Big Short. It's not bad. Just wasn't blown away by the presentation.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 18, 2024 20:37:40 GMT
Secrets (1977 - Directed by Michael J. Murphy) - One of AT LEAST 3 movies called "Secrets" from 1977 .um........this movie is on a technical level.....awful....and yet on a plot level, it is kind of awesome.........staged in clunky amateurish scenes - in an interesting setting (sunny Greece) - with a cast (uniformly terrible) struggling to sell this wacky stuff: Secrets - an inheritance mystery with gothic horror stylistic trappings - in the last 1/3rd throws so many plot twists into a blender it becomes so bad it's (kinda) good........kind of like Devil Miss Jones crossed with the implausibilities of My Name is Julia Ross without the hot sex scenes of the former or the giddy suspension of disbelief of the latter........ This film has a completely unusual and puzzling flash forward in it - that telegraphs the ending (itself foretold in brief dialog early on) that is maddening and not even close to being the most maddening thing in it............the EXACT kind of bad movie that should be remade tbh.....
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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 21, 2024 18:16:23 GMT
Perfect Days - I felt really disassociated with this for the most part ... until that final driving sequence. Astounding 5 minutes or so delivered by Yashuko. Still, I wish the rest of the film had been more engaging.
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Post by Pavan on Feb 21, 2024 18:19:01 GMT
Elemental (2023)-
Took me three installments to finish this. I think i'm no longer enamored by Pixar's "concepts". Hope they start telling stories like they used to do back in the day.
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Nikan
Based
Posts: 3,212
Likes: 1,596
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Post by Nikan on Feb 23, 2024 1:19:23 GMT
My Darling Clementine (1946) - hard 8. some of yous name-dropping Tombstone every two months while this beauty exists? pff.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Feb 25, 2024 5:13:25 GMT
All Of Us Strangers. Pretty big miss for me, not surprised it never got any awards traction. Performances were all very good, but not enough to make up for everything else.
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Post by Pavan on Feb 25, 2024 19:40:45 GMT
Maestro (2023)-
It started as this biopic about a great musician's journey from point A to point B. I sat and wanted to learn about this music genius but the film quickly becomes a relationship drama and even does a half-assed job at it. I appreciate that Cooper gave his all but he was very physical and i could only the physicality of his performance and not what he emoted in key scenes. On the contrary Mulligan came out with flying colors with a strong performance. Technically solid but the film as whole is mostly vapid- 5.5/10
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Post by Martin Stett on Feb 27, 2024 2:46:02 GMT
2007 Scavenger Hunt #6
Mad Detective (Directors: Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai) Bizarre and unsettling. The plot follows an brilliant ex-detective named Bun who is brought back for a murder case when an admirer of his named Ho asks for his help solving the case. The trouble is that Bun is insane. Not cutesy insane like you'd see in some movies - no, he's he kind of insane that got fired from his job because he cut off his own ear as a gift for his boss and seemed to think that was totally normal. Whether or not he's still the brilliant man he once was, his illness has clearly gotten worse over time, and it becomes clear that even if he can offer insight into the case, there is danger to Ho in giving him too much free reign... both professionally and possibly physically. It's all treated with a dead seriousness. We see most of the movie from Bun's point of view, but there's no way of telling if his accusations have any substance to them (he possesses almost psychic powers, and like psychics, there's no way to verify anything he spouts out as truth). But since we're getting his view, it instantly taints any evidence to follow because we're being conditioned to see him as correct. I'm sure medical professionals would take issue with this film's portrayal of mental illness, but it's all quite intriguing in the moment. I find it a solid thriller. To and Wai seem more interested in the inner psychological workings of the characters at expense of the narrative (there are some really huge jumps Bun makes in his investigation that don't make sense), but those inner psychological workings and the nihilistic view of humanity they represent are interesting.
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Post by themoviesinner on Feb 28, 2024 7:03:11 GMT
2007 Scavenger Hunt #6
Mad Detective (Directors: Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai) Big fan of this film. Yeah, it's bizzare and illogical at parts, but it's such a unique and interesting take on the police procedural that I can't help but love it. Top 10 Johnnie To film for sure. Wai Ka-fai's Detective vs. Sleuths from 2022 is very similar to this and worth watching as well, with Sean Lau again in the role of the insane detective (which he portrays so well in both films).
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