Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684793 times)

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6850 on: December 12, 2022, 07:04:42 AM »
ECCO (2019 Ben Medina)

This film I found on Prime Video, I am not sure how I made it too the end. Take a few catalogue models, a high school wannabe composer, and a script that worked hard to be confusing for the sake of being confusing. Mix them all up with someone who appears to hate to shorten a scene, what you get is over 2 hours of pretentious twaddle. Oh it thinks it's smart, but it is deluding itself. Boy did this film love a flashback and to slowly film yet another love scene (don't worry there is almost no nudity), or come back to one to show you it again, I assume it was to show how wonderful the protagonist's life was. The one hand to hand fight scene showed a lead actor and a fight correographer who did not know what they were doing. Fortunately there was only one such scene.

Just stay well away from this one.

Rating: 15 / 100

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6851 on: December 23, 2022, 01:23:33 PM »
Glass Onion
★ ★ ★ ˝


There's something to the structure of Knives Out's initial murder that also held me back. Feels like a cheat though overall I love the movie. This is even more in my tempo in the way it twists back onto itself playing into expectations while subverting them at the same time. It gets silly for about 3 minutes at the end, but even with that it's one of the greatest cinematic whodunits of All Time.

A non-spoiler question for those who have seen the film. When Norton explains the Disruptors, did you see it as Norton commenting on his own reputation or Johnson commenting on The Last Jedi?

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6852 on: December 25, 2022, 11:25:43 PM »
Matilda: The Musical
★ ★ ★ - Good


I watched this twice today. The first time I had to wrestle with comparisons to the theatrical version. "The Alphabet Song" and "Revolting Children" are among the best scenes of the year. Two others point up a problem the film sometimes has with tone. Roald Dahl's fantasy has always worked well before and it does here more often than not, but when it doesn't it's like Rob Marshall mounting a live action version of Nightmare Before Christmas.

jdc

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6853 on: December 27, 2022, 05:43:12 PM »
Glass Onion
★ ★ ★ ˝


There's something to the structure of Knives Out's initial murder that also held me back. Feels like a cheat though overall I love the movie.

This was how I felt except for the love part. It is one thing to hold information back from the audience when the characters also don’t know what is happening, but it irks me when movies go back to scenes to reveal more info either by pulling the camera back to reveal another character was there or extending the same scene for 15 more seconds to know what actually happened vs what the director wanted you to think what happened.

I am sure a lot of films circle back to prior scenes to reveal more information but it seems a bit of a cheat.  Still enjoyed it ok, still laughed a few times and liked how the Norton character developed. 

"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

jdc

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6854 on: December 27, 2022, 05:50:28 PM »
I can definitely see it becoming a jdc favorite. Has the right mix of dark philosophy and unhinged actions/behaviors. And layers.

Doubt it will make my top 100 but near top favourite of the year though I haven’t seen that many.  Some the the actions/behaviors may not make sense outside of the larger allegory that maybe playing out in the film but that is not an area I have very knowledgeable.  When it comes to larger conflicts, a lot of what we see happening in the world can seem completely irrational.   
"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

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6855 on: January 02, 2023, 07:47:58 PM »


Hell on Frisco Bay (1955)

I spent a week deciding whether or not to watch Hell on Frisco Bay. This 1955 noir was filmed in Cinemascope, but has never been released to DVD. It only exists in an cropped, crummy-looking VHS. Not even Pan-and-Scan, so some shots are just a pair of arms talking to each other from the edges with empty space in between. My wife finally made the decision that this will probably never get a proper release in our lifetime, it's already in the house, and she wanted to see Edward G. Robinson take one more late-carrer whack at playing a gang boss.

Funny to find this post from 8 years ago, having just watched the film in HD Cinemascope. What a difference to see not just the full performances but the visual compositions that frequently place San Francisco in the background. (Even when it's rear projection or painted backdrops the city takes up most of the image.) The exteriors here reminded me of the way Michael Mann shot Los Angeles for Heat. The interiors have a darkness that made me think The Godfather was a short time away, but the general flatness of the direction and writing reminded me how much of a game changer that film would be to the gangster genre.



The draw remains Robinson, who even this late in the game delivers his lines with bite, conviction and occasional comic timing when he drips his lines with contempt. Paul Stewart is also a standout, but it's one of my favorite Alan Ladd performances too. He's so sure and committed to his vengeance he becomes the immovable object to Robinson's irresistible force.
RATING: ★ ★ ★ - Okay

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6856 on: January 08, 2023, 01:54:12 AM »

M3gan (2023)

This film had a pretty low chance of being good. From the trailer, I expected it to eventually cross over into silly/stupid, but unlike the mean-spirited and tonally unwieldy Malignant, this film knows how to play the joke straight so that I'm laughing and I'm tense at the same time. I've seen a number of reviews comment this isn't really a Horror film, but there are many, many scenes where it is definitely a Horror film. I've also seen to many comparisons to Child's Play, when this is so much more a dark and twisted version of Big Hero 6. The two films a thematically the same and processing the same emotions, but M3gan's approach is the exact opposite, and probably more truthful as to how a protector learning robot would behave.

I assumed this was a feature debut, perhaps a 1st AD who worked for James Wan, but M3gan director Gerard Johnstone previously helmed Housebound (#530), and I'm now looking forward to whatever he's up to. Also, the soundtrack gave me an instant earworm called "Walk the Night" by Skatt Bros. It's a slow thumper, with a vocal style similar to "People Are Still Having Sex".
RATING: ★ ★ ★ - Good enters the H/T 1000 at #378

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6857 on: January 09, 2023, 01:07:35 AM »
Inspired by the recent best of the year show I caught up with 3 this weekend:

Athena
The Wonder
Marcel The Shell with Shoes On

I thought they were all good, easy to see why they'd be on such lists. My wife remarked towards the end of Athena that the take on our world it presents was bad for her (or anyone's) mental health, the next day Marcel the Shell acted as a perfect counterbalance. Are there even humans who wouldn't smile watching that movie? They would make a great double feature.

I did a very poor job keeping up this year so looking forward to some heavies: After Yang, Tar, Banshees, Aftersun...all unseen, and many more.

I also saw The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence last week...John Ford directing James Stewart, John Wayne, Lee Marvin etc. It was every bit as good as it would simply have to be, but despite a pretty good story didn't make a big impression on me.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6858 on: January 11, 2023, 04:31:03 AM »
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021 Dean Fleischer-Camp)

Sweet, plain and simple, sweet.

Rating: 75 / 100

See How They Run (2022 Tom George)

Dull, very very dull. I particularly enjoyed Saoirse Ronan's performance, but that was the only highlight.

Rating: 60 / 100

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #6859 on: January 12, 2023, 02:23:22 AM »
The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022)
Great shell of a movie.
Grade: C+

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