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Author Topic: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More  (Read 2971 times)

pixote

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#615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« on: December 16, 2016, 11:59:19 AM »


There’s no such thing as a small Star Wars movie, but without a roman numeral anywhere in its title the new ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY promises something different. But does it deliver on that promise? This week, a review of the season's most anticipated movie. Plus - ahead of next week's Top 10 of the year roundtable - Adam and Josh throw an old school year-end blowout, sharing their favorite 2016 performances, music and more.

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Teproc

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Re: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2016, 12:26:34 PM »
"Lifeless", Adam ? Really ? Say what you want about the movie, but Isabelle Huppert is not "lifeless" in Elle, come on now !
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keith71_98

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Re: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2016, 03:52:08 PM »
Loved the episode, but the 90% negative review of Rogue One was interesting. I actually had a much different experience. I went in skeptical but left completely appreciating what they managed. I think the multiple comparisons between Felicity Jones and her character with Daisy Ridley and hers is a bit unfair. As for Jyn I felt I knew her very well. She's a young woman scarred by her past and hurt by feelings of abandonment. She's also someone initially used as a pawn but eventually moves to potential hero. I loved the juggling of emotions Jones pulls off. I also think its unshakable tie-in to the original Star Wars film required it to maintain some level of safety. I expected that. There will be plenty of opportunities for these Anthology pictures to take some wild chances. Don't think this was the right time. Anyway, I'm a big fan of it.
« Last Edit: December 16, 2016, 03:59:41 PM by keith71_98 »
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Adam

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Re: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2016, 03:33:54 PM »
"Lifeless", Adam ? Really ? Say what you want about the movie, but Isabelle Huppert is not "lifeless" in Elle, come on now !
She's a pretty detached character as written, and Huppert plays that with precision - so that's what I was mainly trying to describe there. She's a brilliant actress and is very fine here so I'm probably just setting the bar too high for her to surprise me. But I think Brody is onto something:

As a display of virtuosity that infuses an empty shell of a movie with a semblance of humanity, Huppert’s work in “Elle” is impressive. As an actual performance that gets to the essence of a character or a drama, there’s no evidence—because there’s no character or drama for her to develop, just a symptomatic collection of traits and a jigsaw-puzzle of indicative incidents.
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Re: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2016, 01:18:36 AM »
A STAR WARS war movie? HOW?! WHY?! WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?!

MattDrufke

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Re: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2016, 09:18:48 AM »
Adam, loved what you said about Gillian Jacobs in "Don't Think Twice". With this, and her role in the Netflix series "Love", she really made this her year. Each of the characters she plays is just so layered and nuanced- just seeing the amount of hurt lying underneath the surface. And to have that in "Don't Think Twice", to see her trying so desperately to hold on to this group as it is just crumbling under her feet (but trying to do it all with a smile on her face), is just so heartbreaking. She's perfect in this role.

"Don't Think Twice" is my #1 movie of the year (left a voicemail saying as much). It's such a perfect little adult comedy/drama, and I hope to see it on some lists next week.
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Re: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2016, 12:46:33 AM »
A STAR WARS war movie? HOW?! WHY?! WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?!
It's funny - I saw this floating around social media on Friday and just had to shake my head, mainly in response to the Vox review headlined "Rogue One review: this is the first Star Wars movie to acknowledge the whole franchise is about war." All it did was prove how eager people are to jump on folks on social media for the slightest perceived mistake, and how unwilling they are to actually read and consider the case being made. Todd articulated quite well how different the approach is to this Star Wars movie vs. all the others, war in all of the titles or not. So, uh, yeah - I'm sticking by what I said.
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Adam

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Re: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2016, 12:48:01 AM »
Adam, loved what you said about Gillian Jacobs in "Don't Think Twice". With this, and her role in the Netflix series "Love", she really made this her year. Each of the characters she plays is just so layered and nuanced- just seeing the amount of hurt lying underneath the surface. And to have that in "Don't Think Twice", to see her trying so desperately to hold on to this group as it is just crumbling under her feet (but trying to do it all with a smile on her face), is just so heartbreaking. She's perfect in this role.

"Don't Think Twice" is my #1 movie of the year (left a voicemail saying as much). It's such a perfect little adult comedy/drama, and I hope to see it on some lists next week.
Awesome! I just wish the whole movie grabbed me the way her performance did.
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Totoro

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Re: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2016, 04:12:55 AM »
A STAR WARS war movie? HOW?! WHY?! WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?!
It's funny - I saw this floating around social media on Friday and just had to shake my head, mainly in response to the Vox review headlined "Rogue One review: this is the first Star Wars movie to acknowledge the whole franchise is about war." All it did was prove how eager people are to jump on folks on social media for the slightest perceived mistake, and how unwilling they are to actually read and consider the case being made. Todd articulated quite well how different the approach is to this Star Wars movie vs. all the others, war in all of the titles or not. So, uh, yeah - I'm sticking by what I said.

What case is there to be made? Is there a STAR WARS movie that doesn't take place amidst a war?

The other STAR WARS films glorify wars, focusing squarely on GOOD VERSUS EVIL - Finn is horrified by the violent massacre taken by the First Order, then gleefully kills his own former Stormtrooper brethren a half hour later. We don't wince because GOOD VERSUS EVIL blah blah blah. Everyone is fighting, there are plenty of dogfights, many deaths. It's a relatively simple, extremely prejudiced ideology that drives the plots of these films.

I, for one, love that the Rebels aren't only killing what they perceive as bad guys, that they are shown as flawed in their judgments, that an Imperial can betray the Empire but also stand up to take the blame in effort to save the other Imperials that were staffed beneath him that gave genuine shock at the news that someone possibly betrayed them.  Yes, that moral ambiguity exists here, but it was always there, the creators just didn't open the universe enough to allow the audience to see it.

Teproc

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Re: #615: Rogue One / 2016's Best Performances and More
« Reply #9 on: December 19, 2016, 04:16:04 AM »
Isn't that exactly what that Vox article was about ? That Rogue had an approach that emphasized the "Wars" part of the title in a way that other movies hadn't before ? Not that, you know, they're so dumb that they hadn't noticed it was in the title...
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