love

Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684508 times)

MartinTeller

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 17864
  • martinteller.wordpress.com
    • my movie blog
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #5450 on: January 11, 2021, 11:27:49 AM »
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, but even better

I see you trying to bait me.

Bondo

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 23082
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #5451 on: January 11, 2021, 11:53:54 AM »
The comparison, and praising them, is baiting me to point out that plays about people being awful to each other are in fact bad. Throw Closer into the mix.

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #5452 on: January 11, 2021, 11:54:26 AM »
I'm not, unless I'm baiting you to read the play.

As films, I would go...
The Boys in the Band (1970)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Closer (2004)
The Boys in the Band (2020)

Boys has a larger cast, but the 1970 version is just as intense and I don't find myself asking "why don't they just leave?"


The comparison, and praising them, is baiting me to point out that plays about people being awful to each other are in fact bad. Throw Closer into the mix.
The 1970 Boys hits me much like They Shoot Horses...
« Last Edit: January 11, 2021, 11:56:22 AM by 1SO »

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #5453 on: January 11, 2021, 02:46:38 PM »
I’m Your Woman (2020)
★ ★
This morning, David Ehrlich released his always wonderful end of the year video, which added this to my Watchlist. The film focuses on the wife of a criminal who stays at home while the husband leaves for most of the day in constant danger of being caught or killed. Going by this movie, the good reason crime movies don’t focus on the wife at home is that their story isn't compelling. (The script goes out of its way to never dip more than briefly into the pulp of Widows.) Even with Rachel Brosnahan as the wife and even with the husband screwing up and bringing the danger to her home, this Woman packs little punch.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2021, 02:48:09 PM by 1SO »

Sam the Cinema Snob

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26795
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #5454 on: January 11, 2021, 02:59:49 PM »
I feel like he always has a few odd picks I don't particularly understand but so it goes.

Edit: Oh yea, now I remember this movie. My dad watched it and I saw a few scenes and he said it was like a 30 minute TV episode scraped out over the runtime of a film.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2021, 03:28:46 PM by Sam the Cinema Snob »

Sam the Cinema Snob

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26795
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #5455 on: January 11, 2021, 08:04:51 PM »
On the Rocks (2020)

I thought about writing a long piece about this but I've got other writing I'm working on now plus one day I will be rewatching all of Sophia Coppola's films.

After hearing people say how underwhelming this is, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. Certainly liked it more than The Bling Ring and Somewhere. Is it as good as The Beguiled, Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette or The Virgin Suicides? Probably not, but I think we put unrealistic standards on lauded directors to make great films every time. Sometimes it's enough to make an interesting film, and this film is interesting.

To me, what makes this movie work is that it's so clearly about conveying the various elements of being a woman: a wife, a mother, a daughter, a professional, and a cook just to name a handful come into play as we follow the life of Laura (Rashida Jones), an upper-class New York City mom. But she also has that dread that she's no longer sexually desirable to her husband and he might be having an affair. Exacerbating this is her womanizing father, Felix (Bill Murray), who is almost certain that this is the case and gets her to progressively do more and more ridiculous things to find out if her husband is having an affair.

This sounds like the setup to the typical three act structure and that there would be some tense, dramatic moments but most of the film is simply Rashida Jones and Bill Murray talking through their past, the nature of relationships between men and women, and trying to figure out if there's such a thing as a faithful man.

I thought that was an interesting idea for a movie. The core relationship is interesting because Laura thinks her father is a pig and Felix probably thinks he's doing her a favor but doesn't realize how much of a toxic force he is in her life. I think a lesser writer/director would make this relationship more dramatic or tense but they bicker with each other much like parents and children do when they are adults, the parents still feeling like they're imparting wisdom the child doesn't know and the child frustrated at how much the parent fails to see his/her own hypocrisies and flaws and how that informs who they (the child) are and their insecurities.

That's all good stuff. Yes, the film is slow and understated, but I think that's been the case for a lot of Sophia Coppola's films. I take umbrage at the sentiment of critics and people on the Internet who dismiss this as a rich people film about rich people problems. If you can't see the common human element in the parent child relationship here that transcends class and race I think you've got a distinct lack of empathy.

Also Sophia Coppola grew up with a father who was one of the most creatively lauded people at the time. I think she has a right to tell these kids of stories and I never felt like she asked us to pity these characters or show how they have awful lives. They get to do lots of great things but that does not mean they are happy, and that's an important distinction to make. There's totally a scene where Laura calls out Felix's privilege so I think Sophia is extremely aware of how these characters fit into society. That doesn't mean we can't connect with them as characters or finding an hour and a half in their shoes fascinating.

Eric/E.T.

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3830
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #5456 on: January 11, 2021, 09:51:53 PM »
On the Rocks (2020)
This sounds like the setup to the typical three act structure and that there would be some tense, dramatic moments but most of the film is simply Rashida Jones and Bill Murray talking through their past, the nature of relationships between men and women, and trying to figure out if there's such a thing as a faithful man.

For how smart Jones' character is, though, don't you think the lengths Murray's character gets her to go to find out if her husband's cheating are a bit unbelievable?

I like the movie for some of the aspects you mention. I think it's a way to examine the era of our grandfathers and the type of men they were, that society allowed them to be, and also maybe to even somewhat forgive them, which seems pretty radical at the present.

This one just doesn't have the Sofia Coppola atmosphere or environment, there's no dreaminess, no real audiovisual splendor. That was a letdown for me. I still like it a lot, though, if mainly because of Murray.
A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #5457 on: January 11, 2021, 10:42:47 PM »

The Fastest Gun Alive (1956)
”Trouble collects around a fast gun. There's a certain kind of scum
that'll go 100 miles out of their way for a good fight.”


I’ve been trying to not spend much time writing reviews for older movies (except Marathons) unless I think I can stir up some passion for them. Because of that, I have about 50 titles for the wife and I to refresh our memories. Most are films I’ve rated well on Letterboxd/IMDB, most are Westerns and Noirs with generic titles. So, while this post may be just to remind me, I also want to thank Antares who’s been the sole constant advocate of this title. And I enjoyed it even more than my initial Rating. In fact, it’s now in my Top 10 of 1956.

The script is structured like a 1950s television play. It boils down to 3 long sequences. Vinnie Harold (Broderick Crawford) has a psychopathic desire to gun down alleged fast draws. He demonstrates this and makes his escape. We then meet George Temple (Glenn Ford), meek and mild until he hears about Harold and is driven to demonstrate to the town why Harold will seek him out. Sure enough, Harold arrives and there’s a debate before the inevitable showdown.


The story is childishly simple, but within there’s surprises, wrinkles and conflict about what makes the reputation of a town and a man. George seems always on the verge of a panic attack, not the cool quick-draw you usually see. It’s an oddly constipated and sweaty performance by Ford, but it’s right for this character. 1950s Crawford is too lumbering to be believable as a fast gun, but he has a nice menace and isn’t the usual young squirt you’d think to cast. I also love that the script gives him psychological motivation instead of just being an unstoppable force.

There are small decisions that keep this from being a bona fide Western classic. For example, there’s an incredible dance by Russ Tamblyn full of Jackie Chan style interactions with objects and spaces. It’s way out of place, but jaw-dropping on its own. The conservative gender politics of the time make George’s relationship with his wife (Jeanne Crain) more sexist than intended. It’s also silly that she keeps talking about being pregnant while wearing skin-tight outfits around her tiny waist.
★ ★ ★ – Very Good

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 #5458 on: January 11, 2021, 11:01:44 PM »
The title makes it sound like a Bob Hope or Don Knots movie. I see it is on YouTube at the moment.

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36129
  • Marathon Man
Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #5459 on: January 11, 2021, 11:13:20 PM »
On the Rocks (2020)
 Sometimes it's enough to make an interesting film, and this film is interesting.
*RECORD SCRATCH*

Not a word I would use, but we all see films differently. For me, this was a return to the subject of ennui, more like Somewhere than Marie Antoinette, but Coppola's blissful mood and chill vibe were absent, which only made it blander than her usual. I don't think Coppola makes great films, but she has a wonderful visual touch that enhances how personal it all feels that I found largely absent here. Rather than have Murray fill in the father character, I wished he was either closer to Francis Ford or that she just remade Toni Erdmann, which could result in something unique under her usual eye and give Jones and Murray more to do.

 

love