Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684066 times)

St. Martin the Bald

  • Lurker
  • Global Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 11205
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2630 on: August 18, 2018, 09:42:09 PM »
Cruising...?
Hey, nice marmot!

jdc

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 7799
  • Accept the mystery
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2631 on: August 19, 2018, 01:27:45 AM »
Bug isn't Essential, but it sure is interesting, especially if you like a good Michael Shannon performance. I'm a huge fan of The Boys in the Band, but it's very different from these other Friedkin films.

I'd say the same for Killer Joe, both are a bit over the top but I liked it in Killer Joe but didn't quite buy it in Bug. But I think both are worth a watch
"Beer. Now there's a temporary solution."  Homer S.
“The direct use of physical force is so poor a solution to the problem of limited resources that it is commonly employed only by small children and great nations” - David Friedman

Teproc

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3529
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2632 on: August 19, 2018, 05:15:16 AM »
BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018)

My first Spike Lee joint (yes yes I know I should watch Do the Right Thing at the very least), though I had some idea of what to expect. Specifically, I knew not to expect subtlety, be it in content or in style. BlacKkKlansman conformed to these expectations in most ways, including a scene that might as well have "DONALD TRUMP" written across the screen (and I'm not talking about a scene in which we actually hear or see him, those are at least not pretending to be about characters speaking to each other rather than directly winking at the audience while exaggeratingly mouthing off "DO YOU GET IT ?"), certainly the lowest point of the film for me... and I'll get to the ending, but for the most part I was pleasantly surprised by the nuance that was present in certain places. The montage towards the end of the film (White Power/Black Power) is an example of this: while it is very clear which side is entirely despicable and which one is morally justified, they are nonetheless put side by side and I don't think Lee simply intends us to see it as simplistically as, well, D.W. Griffith did in The Birth of a Nation.

The whole film centers on John David Washington as this black cop at a time where being a black cop meant a permanent identity crisis (though I suppose this is still true today, as with many things this film adresses), and by the end I'm not sure if we're supposed to see his attempts at changing the system from the inside as foolish or admirable. Both, probably, and I'm not sure we're meant to see Patrice (played by Laura Harrier in what is the only mediocre performance in a film filled with great ones) as being entirely right or wrong either. This, I didn't expect from a Spike Lee joint, and I don't know if this is because his reputation is exagerrated or if this film represents something new for him, but either way I like it a lot.

Let's get back to those performances, starting with Washington in the main role. He's a revelation (to me anyway) in a very tricky role that requires charisma, comedic timing and still carry the internal struggle that the film doesn't spend that much time on after the first 20 minutes, but stays there in his performance. The film is very tricky tonally, and it's a credit to him, Lee's direction and Blanchard's score that it doesn't feel like a mess at all. Driver also does very well here, with a role that is slightly underwritten but never feels like it thanks to him. And finally there's Topher Grace: he's in a cartoon but, well, he's playing a real-life cartoon character so that's fine with me, and he manages to be entirely ridiculous and unnerving at the same time, though he's undoubtedly helped by his character's name recognition. I'll also mention that I kept squinting in this film, wondering if the third cop was Steve Buscemi with a lot of makeup or what the hell was going on there... turns out it's Michael Buscemi, his brother. Well, that makes sense.

Most importantly though, it's a film that deals with these heavy subjects in interesting ways while still being a very fun time, which is quite something to say for a film that's basically 60% racist rhetoric. In a way, that could feel wrong, and maybe this is why Lee chose to end it the way he did, which is undoubtedly powerful. I don't love that ending, partly because I think the film had made that point rather clearly already (even forgetting the scene I mentioned earlier, people screaming "America First" and David Duke being a character means it'd be hard to miss the point) and partly because it's incredibly exploitative (I can only assume the family authorized it but still), but it does keep in line with the content of the film and the score is excellent - as it is throughout - so it ends up working for me. It's an imperfect ending to an imperfect film, but an effective one.

8/10
Legend: All-Time Favorite | Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Poor  |  Bad

Letterbox'd

Smoke

  • Junior Member
  • *
  • Posts: 61
    • band website
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2633 on: August 19, 2018, 03:52:39 PM »
^nice review - makes me want to see it even more.




Orson Welles' The Stranger is streaming on Netflix right now, believe it or not, and I got to watch it this morning. I'm surprised this movie isn't better known; while it may not be Citizen Kane or even Touch of Evil, it's a very well-constructed thriller about a Nazi (Welles) on the run and hiding in small town America, who is being pursued by none other than Edward G Robinson. That's a hard poker hand to lose with and Welles doesn't blow it, in fact there are wonderful Wellesian shots, shadows and pans throughout and a great set-piece ending. Loretta Young does a really nice job with her role as well. The film is briskly paced with a fine supporting cast and I can easily recommend it as an excellent if "commercial" film from the legend himself.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2018, 04:32:07 PM by Smoke »

Smoke

  • Junior Member
  • *
  • Posts: 61
    • band website
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2634 on: August 19, 2018, 04:47:45 PM »
nice article on Wikipedia, including this:

Editor Ernest J. Nims was given the power to cut any material he considered extraneous from the script before shooting began. "He was the great supercutter," Welles said, "who believed that nothing should be in a movie that did not advance the story. And since most of the good stuff in my movies doesn't advance the story at all, you can imagine what a nemesis he was to me."

I guess that explains the tight pacing!!
« Last Edit: August 19, 2018, 04:55:16 PM by Smoke »

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19044
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2635 on: August 19, 2018, 04:55:23 PM »
I just watched this film.  Very well done.  The lighting and pacing are certainly highlights.  Wells makes the best likable bad guys.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Dave the Necrobumper

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 12730
  • If I keep digging maybe I will get out of this hol
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2636 on: August 21, 2018, 07:17:21 AM »
El Charro de las Calaveras (1965 Alfredo Salazar) (aka The Rider of the Skulls)
"The dawn! I must return to my coffin. Sunlight is deadly to me."

This is a Mexican anthology horror film. Although the horror is mainly from the acting and costumes. El Charro de las Calaveras's parents were killed by bandits and now he rides around in a mask fighting evil. In this 3 parter, he deals with a werewolf, a vampire, and a headless horseman. Each monster has a bad papier-mâché and rubber mask, plus as a bonus the vampire turns into a rubber bat on a string. While the story is meant to be set at night the bulk of the outdoor action takes place in broad daylight. In one scene the vampire fights The Rider, looks to have him beaten, but a rooster crows and the vampire stops and says "The dawn! I must return to my coffin. Sunlight is deadly to me."

Even by myself I had fun with this, but it would be even better with the right group of people.

Rating: 45/100

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36128
  • Marathon Man
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2637 on: August 21, 2018, 08:46:04 AM »
I looked this one up on IMDB to see the odds of it popping up on one of my lists. Chances are low, though I just watched  EL Barón del Terror (1962) which seems like a similar Mexican horror experience. In my limited experience, Mexican horror seems to operate on two levels, wildly clever (Alucarda, El espejo de la bruja) and laughably cheap.

Dave the Necrobumper

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 12730
  • If I keep digging maybe I will get out of this hol
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2638 on: August 21, 2018, 03:39:42 PM »
Definitely in the laughably cheap category. I have a few others I will be watching over the next while, I will have to see if I find a wildly clever one.

smirnoff

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26251
    • smirnoff's Top 100
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2639 on: August 21, 2018, 10:31:00 PM »
Pandorum (Christian Alvart, 2009)        7/10

Nothing about this film's ratings, or its cast, or its premise, or its box office results would indicate that its worth watching, but actually it's quite a solid film in the space/thriller genre. Far more stimulating than, say, the recent string of Netflix films in the same genre (Extinction, Spectral, ARQ, Mute, Cloverdale Paradox...). Despite playing with VERY familiar ingredients Pandorum always managed to keep its head just above the surface. It was never so good that I stopped doubting it (at it's peak it's still only an 8 out of 10)... it just managed not to peter out. It's no Sunshine or The Descent, it's more like a good Paul WS Anderson movie. I'm not mad I watched it.


 

love