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Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684568 times)

IDrinkYourMilkshake

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #530 on: February 20, 2017, 06:14:32 PM »
My Scientology Movie

I don't know if this has even been released in America, or how well known Louis Theroux is over there, but I have to vent this somewhere....

I wonder if I'm the only one who's a little puzzled by Louis Theroux's success. I recall the first time I saw one of his documentaries, around 15, 20 years ago - I thought it was some kind of Spinal Tap spoof, or that he was an actor, punking the subject of his films by playing some kind of Alan Partridge-style savant documentarian.

There's a moment in this where he asks ex-Scientologist Marty Rathbun if Rathbun thinks Theroux's questions are "inane"... and I wanted to be there, in the car with them, to say "I DO! I FREQUENTLY THINK YOUR QUESTIONS ARE INANE, LOUIS!!! NOT JUST TODAY, BUT GOING BACK NEARLY 20 YEARS!!!!! WHEN I FIRST SAW YOU ON TV I HONESTLY THOUGHT IT WAS A BIG JOKE!"

There are at least two moments in this where he spends what feels like an eternity simply staring silently at his subjects and then, when the silence is finally broken, he says something utterly pointless, and I just think "You're asking that? Now?"

I've heard him try to justify his style as letting the film do the talking, so that he doesnt become to subject or the focus, but God-damn it the two can at least meet halfway somewhere... and, for me, he becomes the focus by being such an odd presence in all of his films. Ned Flanders said of Woody Allen "I like his movies, but I can't stand that nervous, little fella who's always in them." Well... I like some of Theroux's documentaries, but I can't stand that awkward, gangly fella who's always in them... and you can sense Marty Rathbun become increasingly frustrated with Theroux as the documentary continues. You can certainly sense the moment Rathbun calls Theroux a "f*cking asshole".

The funny thing is that he seems to give great interviews, he just doesn't seem to know how to conduct them. I've listened to him a couple of times on various podcasts and he's always more interesting being interviewed than he is in any of his films.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, I found this an underwhelming, incredibly frustrating 100 minutes. Nothing I didn't already 'know'... cheap shots taken at an easy target.


The Brothers Grimsby

Not good. Sasha Baron Cohen does a lot of his writing with Peter Baynem, whose career in the UK began with Chris Morris, Steve Coogan, Patrick Marber and Armando Iannucci on a Radio 4 show called 'On the Hour', which became 'The Day Today' and which produced Alan Partridge, and which went on to become 'Brass Eye'. I remember watching 'The Day Today' as a 13 year old and laughing until I cried, but I always thought Baynems stuff was the weakest, or that he was the least funny presence.

That feeling is justified by this. Increasingly diminishing returns. 'Borat' was funny, 'Bruno' a bit less so, 'The Dictator' less still, and now this. I can understand Mark Strongs involvement - I can imagine there'd be at least some fun to be had for an actor in making a film like this, but I genuinely feel embarrassed for Penelope Cruz. Whatever possessed her to do this?

Not good.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2017, 06:35:32 PM by IDrinkYourMilkshake »
"What should have been an enjoyable 90 minutes of nubile, high-school flesh meeting a frenzy of blood-caked blades, becomes instead an exploitational and complex parable of the conflicting demands of agrarianism and artistry. I voted a miss."

chardy999

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #531 on: February 20, 2017, 07:14:24 PM »
Louis Theroux's success comes from his non-American sensibility. A lot of his focus is American and they are unable to figure him out. I think it isn't too much more complex than that.
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Bondo

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #532 on: February 20, 2017, 11:24:44 PM »
Girl Asleep (Rosemary Myers, 2015)

I'd label this film as Alice in Wonderland by way of Sing Street. Greta (Bethany Whitmore) is on the cusp of 15 and just moved to a new school, with all the things both of those changes signal. Aside from the period setting and costumes, this earns its Sing Street comparison from a couple fairly joyous musical scenes (soundtrack, not performance) and its general scrappy attitude. The Alice comparison comes from its dive into the surreal to express Greta's social and psychological concerns. Of course, it also is distinctly Australian via its humor, which is what I had to fight through the most. I've not historically been a big fan of Australian (and generally New Zealander) humor, though there's some top notch dad jokes to be had.

So yeah, a perfect sort of Best "Debut" Film pick where you enjoy the time and hope the future holds more precisely pitched films. Though I realize that category generally just becomes Best Film that is a Debut and in that sense I can't imagine this being in my top 5.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #533 on: February 21, 2017, 03:31:36 AM »
The Brothers Grimsby

Not good.
..., but I genuinely feel embarrassed for Penelope Cruz. Whatever possessed her to do this?

Not good.

The same thing that possessed her to do Zoolander 2 in the same year (and apparently The Queen of Spain, which has a huge 4.7 on IMDB). Not a stellar year for her.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #534 on: February 21, 2017, 06:51:03 AM »
Moonlight
Barry Jenkins (2016)


I cannot help but compare Moonlight to the love child of Brockeback Mountain and American Honey. Jenkins' languorous pace and stylized shots assisted by careful choices of music resemble Arnold's treatment of another underprivileged teenager ; the theme of repressed homosexuality is similarly present in the Western, where masculinity rules in the same tyrannical way as in Chiron's suburb. There is another, more personal similitude to American Honey. The movie does not allow me to relate to its main character, to nurture any amount of sympathy that would make me care about what happens to him. Moonlight is just a well filmed - despite some jarringly out of focus awful shots in the beginning of the movie - succession of things that happen.

Some people argue that movies like this one are important because they talk about things rarely talked about and remind us that these stories, these people exist in real life - and in fact, abound in some places - and we need such movies to reignite our empathy towards them. I don't think we need movies to remind us that poor people, alienated people, tormented people are out there. I know they are. You have to give me more than that.

7/10
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Teproc

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #535 on: February 21, 2017, 06:53:39 AM »
Lumière! L'aventure commence.
Thierry Frémaux (2016)


This movie is a treat for a film lover and a necessity for everyone. I cannot imagine a better introduction to the inception of cinema. It is a history lesson about the birth of an entire art form. You witness the progress of the brothers as they explore the world of possibilities afforded by their invention: the first slapstick comedy, the first camera moves, the first experimental shots...Lumière! is a unique case of an art form documenting itself, in real time, as it grows. It is its own testimony and the impression it makes is unlike any visit to a museum.


Seconded.
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Bondo

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #536 on: February 21, 2017, 07:23:39 AM »
I found Moonlight effortless in its exploration of masculinity...how society pushes boys to excise the vulnerabilities and built up a performative shell. I could relate to that, even if I'm just an observer to the more specific black experience aspect of this intersectional work.

MattDrufke

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #537 on: February 21, 2017, 07:35:51 AM »
I found Moonlight effortless in its exploration of masculinity...how society pushes boys to excise the vulnerabilities and built up a performative shell. I could relate to that, even if I'm just an observer to the more specific black experience aspect of this intersectional work.

Yes. This.

The line about defining a certain term as a word people use to try and hurt homosexual's feelings is so perfect and elegant and that scene has stuck with me. I hope if my son asked me that same question that Chiron did, my answer would be just as elegant.
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philip918

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #538 on: February 21, 2017, 12:37:57 PM »
The movie does not allow me to relate to its main character, to nurture any amount of sympathy that would make me care about what happens to him.

I mean, I'd try to argue, but if this is the place you're coming from I don't even know where to begin.

Bondo

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #539 on: February 21, 2017, 01:04:24 PM »
Usually I'm the one that is failing to empathize with characters and making everyone throw up their arms...but here it was deep and immediate. Like, if the film started in Act III I could see not empathizing but I don't really get how the early part is isolating.

 

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