Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684466 times)

Knocked Out Loaded

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3000 on: January 27, 2019, 03:41:42 PM »
I really like the brief dispatches people recently have posted on what they have seen. Below are the first capsules from the Göteborg Film Festival 2019:

Britt-Marie var här (Tuva Novotny, 2019)

Swedish feel-good movie starring Pernilla August, whose character decides to start all over after being confronted by her husband's unfaithfulness. Go watch 45 with Charlotte Rampling instead of this rubbish! 10°

Her Smell (Alex Ross Perry, 2018)

Elisabeth Moss plays a totally self-absorbed punk musician on the brink of a collapse. Once again she proves that she is among the most talented actors in her generation! The movie itself feels a little like a independent rock music equivalent to what Birdman was to the theaters on Broadway. At 134 minutes it outstays it's welcome a bit and I kinda zoomed out during the third act. A big plus to the unnerving way the sound is edited! 45°

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smirnoff

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3001 on: January 27, 2019, 06:57:04 PM »
I feel that in Interstellar, about 50% of Michael Caine's lines are exposition.  Same for David Gyasi.

I don't know if that's true or not (the exposition is part of the film's strength for me, so I'm not bothered about it), but since his name came up I just want to jump in to say how wonderful Gyasi's delivery is in this sequence.

You all right?
Mm. Yeah, I just need a minute.
We have some Dramamine in the hab pod, or maybe in the cryo-beds. I'll just be a sec.
....
Hey, Brand?
Yeah?
Bring a lot.

Anne Hathaway's laughs after he says it, and I like to think it's genuine. I know it never fails to crack me up. :))

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3002 on: January 27, 2019, 10:01:37 PM »

Fun on a Weekend (1947)

An unexpected rom-com delight built around a premise that should be taught to aspiring screenwriters. Two unemployed, broke people (Eddie Bracken and Priscilla Lane) wake up on a beach next to each other and hatch a plan to end the day looking down on the beach from the penthouse of a nearby hotel. With nothing more than his ideas and her brass, we watch them con their way up the ladder into high society through fast talk and the illusion of importance.

I've read a wide range of opinions on this one, mainly on the grounds of how funny it is (or isn't). For me, the script or execution of the punchlines never embarrasses itself, and the pace is pretty fast, enough to where I could maybe question a few narrow escapes but didn't care to because the hustles were good enough and I was really enjoying the cast. Bracken and Lane have definite chemistry, and the supporting cast includes inspired choices like Tom Conway and Allen Jenkins. A Discovery!
Rating: ★ ★ ★ - Good

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3003 on: January 28, 2019, 01:34:59 AM »
The Wife
★ ★ ★ - Okay

How do you all deal with this situation?

I had no interest in seeing The Wife. It's existence gave me flashbacks to The Reader, a blandly titled bland film that finally gave a great actress an Oscar she deserved to win many times over for previous films. Even though I didn't know what the film was about or who else was in it, I already had my personal favorites (Elsie Fisher, Toni Colette, Emily Blunt) and figured the Oscar will go to the very deserving Olivia Colman or the white hot L. Gaga. So not only do I have to try extra hard to give the film a chance, I can't NOT compare Glenn Close to my favorites.

The film is okay. A bit straightforward and simple. Christian Slater is outclassed, but Jonathan Pryce is at his best. His scenes with Close are the highlights, a wonderful portrait of a marriage many years in. Close is fine. I'd put her in my Top 10 but now I'm actively rooting against her winning because Olivia Colman is the most deserving nominee.

smirnoff

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3004 on: January 28, 2019, 02:05:04 AM »
The Wife
★ ★ ★ - Okay


The film is okay. A bit straightforward and simple. Christian Slater is outclassed, but Jonathan Pryce is at his best. His scenes with Close are the highlights, a wonderful portrait of a marriage many years in. Close is fine. I'd put her in my Top 10 but now I'm actively rooting against her winning because Olivia Colman is the most deserving nominee.

Oh yea, I actually watched this. Now I wish I'd written something about it at the time, but what you wrote sounds right enough. Bland and unmemorable film that I would not recommend... but it's not bad or anything either. I liked the basic premise and twist, but Pryce's character was so irritating to have to spend that much time with.

Quote
How do you all deal with this situation?

I wait for all the nominees to trickle out on streaming services over the next decade, so it doesn't come up. :)
« Last Edit: January 28, 2019, 02:07:25 AM by smirnoff »

Thief

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3005 on: January 28, 2019, 01:39:46 PM »
Since I'm new here, I'll post a small tidbit of the last four films I've seen.

Wild at Heart (B) - Overall entertaining, but a bit all-over-the-place. I still liked the "hamminess" in the performance and the overall tone of the film. Like most Lynch films, I feel that a second watch might help put things in focus. We'll see if I ever get to it.

An Accidental Soldier (C+) - Fairly well done and well acted Australian film, but feels a bit soap opera-ish. Slow paced, not very eventful, but somewhat charming.

Following (A-) - This one took me by surprise in more ways than one. First, because of the plot, and second, because I really didn't expect I would like it so much. Direction and editing was superb, with some echoes to what Nolan would do later in Memento.

Lawless (B) - Solid film, despite some glaring flaws. Well acted and directed, but either the script was a bit messy or the editing harmed the film. A lot of underdeveloped characters and subplots, but still worth a watch.


Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3006 on: January 28, 2019, 02:03:05 PM »
Welcome Thief. Where did you find out about An Accidental Soldier, I missed that it even existed until now?

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3007 on: January 28, 2019, 02:14:08 PM »
Welcome Thief. Where did you find out about An Accidental Soldier, I missed that it even existed until now?

I'm doing a monthly challenge by filling certain "categories", and I had one where I had to watch an Australian film. I tried some like Mad Max 2, Gallipoli, and The Tracker, but none of those were available on any streaming service. In the end, I just browsed Amazon Prime for Australian films, and it was one of the first that popped up.

Knocked Out Loaded

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3008 on: January 28, 2019, 04:28:12 PM »
Destroyer (Karyn Kusama, 2018)

In the early 90s I sometimes discussed with friends who the better actor of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro was and when they finally shared a scene in Heat (1995) everyone got excited, to say the least. A few years later Pacino's yelling had diminished his charisma and De Niro retracted into a recliner with his cardigan. I got a feeling that Nicole Kidman has arrived to a similar stage in her career as I watched Destroyer. It has a thin script that survives mainly because of a broken timeline structure. Kidman's character too, is thin and shallow as she walks around in LA like a loose canon, often with her mouth half open. Contemporary noir is not what it used to be. 20°
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jdc

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3009 on: January 28, 2019, 06:24:38 PM »
Mission: Impossible - Fallout

While it could be easy to just roll your eyes about how over the top it is, this really kept me more engrossed than took me out of the experience. Maybe it was partially due to a great soundtrack and sound design. The only place where I started to get distracted by the internal thoughts in my head was when it was building to the climax scene.  Almost any film that has a sequence with a countdown has to somewhere event some impossible tasks that managed to complete within that time. Usually those scene never take the time of the event, a 20 min count down doesn't take 20 mins in the film. I am tempted to go back and time the scene in MI: Fallout, but it had to be longer than the count down in the film as well as the number of things accomplished, well, it would have just been Impossible...

But still, enjoyed this quite a bit, more than the others 
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