Respond to the last movie you watched

[1SO]

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguezm, 2014)         ⁶/₁₀


"I'm a selfish slut who threw away the only man she ever loved. But I was wrong."
"Good one. I was born at night, but it wasn't last night.


I would nominate that for best line. I think it's a fun one and it's good in the moment.

It's hard to put my finger on what makes this movie less than it's predecessor but it is. Oh well, still not a bad experience. The style looks better here than it did before... I think they found fun new ways to use it and there were a lot of good characters. Marv has definitely lost a step since the last film.

The story was more tied together this go around, whereas before it was loosely stitched segments. I think that hurt it a bit, because any stories or characters you're not enjoying continue to recur until the ultimate conclusion. The worst bits ARE probably the characters that got carried over from the previous film. Everything that was new was more interesting.

This is what kept the film on my radar and smirnoff is right, the film's not bad. Definitely a step down, but I like the world and the style. The script is the main problem, but it's nice to see Rodriguez come up with images with having to follow Frank Miller's playbook. (I know Miller had a big hand here too, but not as much as the first film.) I was thrown by some of the recasting. Didn't realize for awhile that Brolin was playing the same character as Clive Owen.
★ ★ ½

p.s. I'm starting to wonder if Eva Green just doesn't like wearing clothes.

[tinyholidays]

* Lasseter's brand of nostalgia has always rubbed me the wrong way. And there's something perverse about using cutting-edge technology to express your yearning for the good ol' days.

Something that nags at me is that Lasseter is such a fan of Miyazaki, but seems to have little understanding of the filmmaker. I could be wrong, but Cars transforming nature into machinery - which I like on an artistic level - takes Miyazaki's theme of man finding harmony with nature and puts it through the looking glass.

This is a really good point. When I think about Lasseter's stories, he seems specifically uninterested in people, whereas Miyazaki is all about the human hand, has repeatedly stated that he loathes things take the humanity out of animation.

[smirnoff]

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguezm, 2014)         ⁶/₁₀

This is what kept the film on my radar and smirnoff is right, the film's not bad. Definitely a step down, but I like the world and the style. The script is the main problem, but it's nice to see Rodriguez come up with images with having to follow Frank Miller's playbook. (I know Miller had a big hand here too, but not as much as the first film.) I was thrown by some of the recasting. Didn't realize for awhile that Brolin was playing the same character as Clive Owen.

He was? What the? Did they care AT ALL about making him resemble Clive Owen's character, or am I just blind? Where were his red chuck's?



That is super confusing and weird. There was nothing wrong with Brolin, but still... he gives the character a totally different vibe.

I hope they do a third film. I miss the poetic bookends featuring Josh Hartnett in that first film. The whole film felt more poetic. Dame was missing that I think.

[FLYmeatwad]

Faces, Places - Kind of what one would expect, and in that sense it's light and fun. It's a French doc, so those are two things typically not up my alley, and it's about an art form that I don't much understand, but also if you think about it, I really liked Pina 3-D. This wasn't in 3-D though, and I live too much of a joyless existence to revel fully in the imagination and happiness of these two. But the parts where they explain things are fun, as are some of the conversations confronting mortality. And the pieces do look cool, especially the women and the one on the beach. But it's ultimately a French doc.

[smirnoff]

Faces, Places - Kind of what one would expect, and in that sense it's light and fun. It's a French doc, so those are two things typically not up my alley, and it's about an art form that I don't much understand, but also if you think about it, I really liked Pina 3-D. This wasn't in 3-D though, and I live too much of a joyless existence to revel fully in the imagination and happiness of these two. But the parts where they explain things are fun, as are some of the conversations confronting mortality. And the pieces do look cool, especially the women and the one on the beach. But it's ultimately a French doc.

I appreciate this review. I wanted to make seeing all the nominated docs a priority again this year... but this is one I don't really look forward to. I love the artwork (that I've seen in the trailer) but I don't know that I want to spend 2 hours with the artists. It just doesn't look like it's for me.

[FLYmeatwad]

Faces, Places - Kind of what one would expect, and in that sense it's light and fun. It's a French doc, so those are two things typically not up my alley, and it's about an art form that I don't much understand, but also if you think about it, I really liked Pina 3-D. This wasn't in 3-D though, and I live too much of a joyless existence to revel fully in the imagination and happiness of these two. But the parts where they explain things are fun, as are some of the conversations confronting mortality. And the pieces do look cool, especially the women and the one on the beach. But it's ultimately a French doc.

I appreciate this review. I wanted to make seeing all the nominated docs a priority again this year... but this is one I don't really look forward to. I love the artwork (that I've seen in the trailer) but I don't know that I want to spend 2 hours with the artists. It just doesn't look like it's for me.

I will say, the run time is a breezy hour thirty.

[smirnoff]

Oranges and Sunshine (Jim Loach... son of Ken Loach, 2010)         ⁷/₁₀

A surprising film. UK and Australian members might be familiar with the the story, but it was new to me. Another sad historical black eye... not unlike what's uncovered in Philomena, and also Spotlight, but with it's own set of CINECAST!ed up particulars. The storytelling is straightforward, confident and capable. When it stumbles, which is rare, the film is kept buoyant by the magnitude of the true story it is telling. The film features a strong cast, and they're not wasted. It finishes with a caption that hit me like a truck. I left thinking that if anything the film UNDERsold the issue.

[MartinTeller]

Pocahontas - One day I should research my entire top 250 list and see which film has the most writing credits. I did a cursory search of the dozen or so I suspected might have a lot, and Casablanca and In the Loop came out on top with 5 each. This movie has 27 writing credits. It took 26 guys -- and one woman -- to crank out this steaming pile of shit. I can't even deal with writing about how terrible this stupid movie is. I liked the raccoon and the hummingbird. There was some very pretty scenery. That's about it for positives. I feel like I need to watch The New World again to wash the stink of this picture off of me. Rating: Crap (24)

[oldkid]

Quick note on Night is Short, Walk on Girl.

I loved the trailer.  I can't wait to see it, but I'll have to prioritize Filmspot movies for right now.  I found it is playing on Amazon Prime as well.

[1SO]

I was thrown by some of the recasting. Didn't realize for awhile that Brolin was playing the same character as Clive Owen.

He was? What the? Did they care AT ALL about making him resemble Clive Owen's character, or am I just blind? Where were his red chuck's?

I didn't notice until they ran into the girls of Old Town, and when Rosario Dawson said Dwight, it clicked with me that this is the same guy. I get replacing the deceased Michael Clarke Duncan with Dennis Haysbert, though putting him in the same uniform they look like a before and after photo of Al Roker. As for switching Miho from Devon Aoki to Jamie Chung, you got me. It's not like the role required any special acting.

I hope they do a third film. I miss the poetic bookends featuring Josh Hartnett in that first film. The whole film felt more poetic. Dame was missing that I think.

The dialogue definitely lacked poetry, though I though the Joseph Gordon-Levitt poker story worked in a similar way to Hartnett.