Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684126 times)

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1850 on: January 10, 2018, 04:20:56 PM »
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
* * ½

Dwayne Johnson's two best characters are confident Dwayne and insecure Dwayne. I love confident Dwayne, one of the few movie stars who can say "trust me, I won't let anything bad happen to you" during a natural disaster and you believe it, but I LOVE insecure Dwayne, who looks sounds like The Rock, but is constantly unsure of what he's doing. That's where Jumanji is strongest.

I'm surprised to learn the two main writers also headed up The LEGO Batman movie and Spider-Man: Homecoming, because the jokes here lean heavily on the cast to make it work. Kevin Hart has an easy time of it because the kid inside him is a blank page and he gets to have fun with the cliches of being a sidekick. Jack Black has the best opportunity, with his inner character being a shallow pretty girl, but that humor only breaks the surface. It never gets into something inspired.

Worst of the bunch is Karen Gillan, and I don't blame Gillan for it. It's just the character of ass-kicking babe is sadly out of date. You can sense Jake Kasdan trying to be polite about the sexism built into such a role and Gillan appears game, but not excited, mainly because again there's no subversion to the role. Instead the script asks her to embrace her hotness, making her section of the movie awkward and kind of sad.

Bondo

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1851 on: January 10, 2018, 04:58:40 PM »
I interpreted it as AliceGuy having my back against absurd notions that minimize female films, and that you continue to be wrong about Lady Bird.

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1852 on: January 10, 2018, 11:14:48 PM »
Molly's Game
* * * - Good


To save time, let's start at the place where I believe Aaron Sorkin is the best screenwriter working today and pull down from there. Molly's Game is Sorkin's most indulgent script and while that means it's going to be fun to revisit scenes where the dialogue is so thick I know I didn't get most of the nuance, the lengthy scene at the ice rink is the worst Aaron Sorkin ever. The dialogue is bad in its directness and worse in it's purpose within the film. Sorkin the director is great at highlighting moments he loves, but when he's trying to downplay elements, particularly Molly's drug use, the skimming makes it stick out. So that's why the film is Good, but not Great.

The only thing else I'd like to add is that Sorkin's other secret talent may be casting. Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba and Michael Cera are doing some of their best work and there are a number of small roles that make a lasting impression.

Teproc

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1853 on: January 11, 2018, 04:18:48 AM »
Molly's Game
* * * - Good


To save time, let's start at the place where I believe Aaron Sorkin is the best screenwriter working today and pull down from there. Molly's Game is Sorkin's most indulgent script and while that means it's going to be fun to revisit scenes where the dialogue is so thick I know I didn't get most of the nuance, the lengthy scene at the ice rink is the worst Aaron Sorkin ever. The dialogue is bad in its directness and worse in it's purpose within the film. Sorkin the director is great at highlighting moments he loves, but when he's trying to downplay elements, particularly Molly's drug use, the skimming makes it stick out. So that's why the film is Good, but not Great.

The only thing else I'd like to add is that Sorkin's other secret talent may be casting. Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba and Michael Cera are doing some of their best work and there are a number of small roles that make a lasting impression.

I wouldn't go so far as to say the ice rink scene is the worst Aaron Sorkin scene ever - partly because The Newsroom exists (and has great things in it as well, to be clear), but also because I do think Letts and Chastain do what they can with it, and it kinda works emotionally even though it's way, way overwritten.

The drug use is handled weirdly, I agree. It might be intended as commentary on Molly being an unreliable narrator, but there's nothing else in the film suggesting that, so I don't know.
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1854 on: January 11, 2018, 05:30:10 AM »
It's Easy A for people that liked Frances Ha.

I'd rather have Easy A for people who liked Easy A.
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Teproc

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1855 on: January 11, 2018, 07:06:25 PM »
Bienvenido Mister Marshall (Luis Garcia Berlanga, 1953)

I was wondering how a film made under Franco would look like, and I suppose this is basically what I expected. I've seen some refer to this as satirical... I don't really see it. It pokes fun at small town dynamics yes, but mostly, it's all about how you should not worry about Spain not getting the Marshall Plan because taht's not what matters in life anyway, what matters is the spirit of the town coming together in anticipation. Which is fine, but not exactly subversive. Fernando Rey is fun as the narrator, and this altogether a pleasant watch, but not a particularly memorable one.

6/10
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smirnoff

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1856 on: January 11, 2018, 08:53:02 PM »
Bright (2017, David Ayer) - 5/10

Horcruxes, infinity stones, rings of power... those items the villains desire and which the heroes must prevent from having. Are there good and bad magic movie items or are they all dumb? To be honest I don't really know. I think they might all be dumb but depending on how much we are enjoying ourselves we give them a pass. But even as central magic items go the 3 magic wands in Bright were pretty stupid. I mean could they not at least have a magic sounding name? "The Shards of Chrono-something or other".

Clever names aside, every movie with an item like this has to carve out some chunk of the movie to explain what the item is and why it matters. Quick and painless is usually the best you can hope for... like pulling off a band-aid. Fellowship is unique in that I actually look forward to it. Contrary to the norm, it wasn't quick at all. It was darn near a short film within a film. Very much an exception I believe though. A more normal example, "The Collector's" explanation in Guardians is not a high point in the film by any means (these moments so rarely are), but it is at least brief, and intercut with the odd humorous line or meaningful reaction. There's nice visuals and if you mentally squint it's pretty easy to get on board. But Bright really struggled here. The plain jane names for the items did nothing to help capture my sense of imagination, and a day later I couldn't really explain their origins.

I liked getting plopped down into the world of Bright. It was a bit like Constantine in how the fantasy elements exist in a modern urban environment, except with Bright it's right out in the open and everyone knows about it. It's fantasy veneer is no thinner than most and what's there is looks good. It's just too bad the core character story was so bland. I could've done without the social commentary too, but it's kind of intertwined with the story of the two characters so there was no getting away from it. As the film explores the social issues it's heart is in the right place I guess, but it's a weak exploration. It would do better to simply exist in the world rather than try to make a point about it. There's just not enough time to get into the weeds, and a surface level exploration is worse than none at all imo.

It's hard to think of a standout aspect of the film. It's equally hard to think of any way in which it is exceptionally poor. There are a handful of chuckles in the film thanks to the banter between the two leads. Overall not worth seeing.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2018, 08:55:29 PM by smirnoff »

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1857 on: January 11, 2018, 09:42:57 PM »
Bienvenido Mister Marshall (Luis Garcia Berlanga, 1953)

I was wondering how a film made under Franco would look like, and I suppose this is basically what I expected. I've seen some refer to this as satirical... I don't really see it. It pokes fun at small town dynamics yes, but mostly, it's all about how you should not worry about Spain not getting the Marshall Plan because taht's not what matters in life anyway, what matters is the spirit of the town coming together in anticipation. Which is fine, but not exactly subversive. Fernando Rey is fun as the narrator, and this altogether a pleasant watch, but not a particularly memorable one.

6/10
Uhhh, it's been a while but I don't think that's what the film is saying. Or rather, it's saying that but clearly sarcastically, like "ha ha the rest of the Europe gets to rebuild while we slowly drift into a third world country, but it's totally ok because we have our petty village problems to keep us company, and also all these new expenses we spent to get aid we're not going to get" The film certainly gets its swipes in at the US and its international meddling and all the attendant diplomatic bureaucracy, and part of the implication is that the Spanish are going to have to fend for themselves because no one's coming to the rescue (including, implicitly, the Franco government), but that's a condemnation of international policy not a celebration of the small town's strength. At most it's a call to what the Spanish should do, but certainly not celebration of what the Spanish were doing, which was ignoring the outside world and getting mired in their petty local problems and selfish desires.

Placido and El Verdugo are a bit more overtly vicious, maybe those will work better for you.

MartinTeller

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1858 on: January 11, 2018, 10:50:31 PM »
I'm with PA. Bienvenido Mister Marshall is pretty blatantly satirical IMO. I second his recommendation of Placido, my favorite Berlanga.

aewade90

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #1859 on: January 12, 2018, 02:38:55 AM »
I will say that Lady Bird is a really, really good film...but I honestly think The Edge of Seventeen did the modern coming of age so, so much better.

I don't see the need to compare the two. More than one can exist, and they speak to extremely different thematic points.

Bondo! Didn't you know?!?!?! WE CAN ONLY HAVE ONE COMING OF AGE COMEDY ABOUT A TEENAGE GIRL WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY A WOMAN PER DECADE!!!!! Get with it bruh.
I hope this is being looked at as a joke response. Sometimes, it's hard to tell with all the capitalization.

Edge of Seventeen honestly isn't a film that occupies too much real estate in my brain, but as I was watching Lady Bird there was a sense of having watched a film that tackles similar issues recently. With the generous participation of Saoirse Ronan I expected better and from Greta Gerwig I hoped for better. Instead I got something closer to equal, but with a east coast sensibility. It's Easy A for people that liked Frances Ha.

Oof.

While different thematically and having a much closer storyline to my own life that I thought I might sympathise with better, it bounced off of me. Even though I'm male, my relationship with my parents is much more similar to Lady Bird, my education path was similar, and even the social echoes, but it never rang true of the teenage experience. Edge of Seventeen didn't have any parables that I could relate to, but I feel it captured the teenage frustration in a much better way; Lady Bird feels like it has very little repercussions for those characters' futures while having them stay very placid, while Edge had a growth for characters that mirrored the situation.

As far as comparing two contemporary films directed by women, about women coming of age with tumultuous family and social issues, it's hardly an attempt to minimalise women's roles within film. I think I maybe watched the first ten minutes of Dazed and Confused this year and that might be the only other "coming of age" film that I watched in the last twelve months since Edge of Seventeen, so I'm not sure what else I should use as my reference point? I don't see how comparing it to, say, The Shape of Water because they have a tenuous thematic link via feminine sexuality because they're both in theatres and were directed by opposite genders helps, because they're two entirely different films.

But hey, that's just my opinion, and because this is the internet, saying that I preferred something over the other means that Lady Bird is totally and utterly invalidated and obviously a gigantic piece of shit.

(For what it's worth, on Letterboxd I have both Lady Bird and Edge of Seventeen at 4 stars and think Lady Bird is a fine film; certainly Gerwig's better example of writing considering how much I disliked Frances Ha, the understated direction is really, really assured, and the performances are great. It didn't resonate with me personally, though, but apparently that's enough to paint me as sexist and invalidate my opinion?)