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Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684349 times)

goodguy

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3740 on: September 02, 2019, 09:43:26 AM »
The Strange Little Cat (2013)

Every year there is at least one film, embraced critically and among a certain very serious set of cinephiles, that upon watching it makes me feel like I've been punked.
Thank you, Bondo.

With respect to MartinTeller and Goodguy, I didn't get what this film was doing at all. Every time it cut to the mom looking quietly pained I thought of Jeanne Dielman. This is different because we get a monologue at the beginning detailing her quiet suffering as part of her character, but that made the close-ups of sorrow more funny than intriguing. The more I think about the film, the more I'm convinced I could make an argument for it being a bad movie, but that would be disrespectful to my friends and if I bothered to read some article about what it's doing conceptually I'd end up looking foolish.

I couldn't hope to come up with something as open and inviting as MartinTeller's review of the film, so I just link it here as a counterpoint to the one you quoted.

« Last Edit: September 02, 2019, 09:45:25 AM by goodguy »

MartinTeller

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3741 on: September 02, 2019, 10:19:24 PM »
Thanks goodguy :)

I still need to see it again.

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3742 on: September 03, 2019, 12:45:11 AM »
The Night Comes for Us (2018)

First 30 minutes are really rough. Poor characterization, storytelling, and lacking anything to help you connect with any of the characters. The couple fights are very brutal, but nothing to write home about. Was really excited for this one, but not sure I'll bother with the rest.


Featuring a lot of the same cast and crew from The Raid: Redemption. The big difference is instead of writer/director Gareth Evans this is from Timo Tjahjanto, who co-directed "Safe Haven" from VHS 2 with Evans and made the wicked short film "L is for Libido". Tjahjanto is more of a horror director and The Night may be the goriest action film ever made. Instead of the choreographed cool of bats, knives and hammers, Tjahjanto lingers on each slice and smash. Like The Raid, it's mostly filmed in wide, long takes, which lets you see the blood spilling everywhere. While the fights are clear (and practically non-stop), the story is muddy nonsense. I wasn't sure who I was rooting for, and the action would cut away to somebody else being texted to join in the brutality. Violence for the sake of violence, which is too bad because a lot of it seemed pretty cool and creative.
★ ★

smirnoff

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3743 on: September 03, 2019, 03:18:02 PM »
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019, Alex Gibney)        8/10

A pretty solid deconstruction of the Theranos case. It's interesting to watch the fear of missing out come into play, even among billionaires. Also how the size of the scam camouflages the idea that it could even be a scam. "Surely one of the billionaire investors has already done the due diligence". They even got Errol Morris suckered in producing a flattering profile of Elizabeth Holmes. The whole doc is a string of embarrassing and damning interviews. Holmes managed to be an even worse person than her idol Steve Jobs.

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3744 on: September 03, 2019, 09:39:06 PM »
Midsommar: Director's Cut
★ ★ ★ - Good
The first 10-15 minutes are the best directed cinema of the year, every shot choice, the sound mix, the way it all builds like a cruel joke with a brutal punchline. I felt certain the shorter version started with the police (Fire Dept?) inside the garage because that's how you convey the plot but lose all the texture. I also guessed wrong that their first stop was part of the longer version, and I still don't know why it wasn't cut. Not that I was bored, it just doesn't say anything we don't learn later. Overall, the almost 3-hour running time was a great benefit. I felt like I was living through the 9 day ritual instead of merely observing it. The way key scenes would be dragged out were earned, and so full of dread. (I spent about 40 minutes uncertain if one guy was going to have sex with a teenage redhead or get raped by a bear, and I didn't think the character would be aware of which was happening either.)

I loved the way the script would weave uncomfortable relationship comedy between the ceremonies, but to take from the comments above about Hereditary, I found the last 15 minutes deeply silly. The costumes went from Wicker Man 1973 to Wicker Man 2006. I also feel like for the great leap Ari Aster has taken as a director - and his skill with drawing out a moment bears comparison to Leone - Ari Aster the writer needs to cut away a couple of ideas and fully develop what he has. In the interest of telling about that one unforgettable Summer, we lose Florence Pugh's trauma to the flowers.

1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3745 on: September 04, 2019, 12:12:02 AM »
Ready or Not
★ ★ ★ - Okay
Turns out I had a Double Feature of Relationship Horror Comedy with men who don't realize how terrible they are to their women. The dynamics between the dinner guests reminded me of You're Next, but that ramps up the fun with surprises while this is happy to play the hand it was dealt to the bloody end. I came for the Samara Weaving, but really enjoyed the woman who kept injuring her own family. Much as I like to support little films, I would've been happy waiting for a home release on this one.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2019, 12:27:34 AM by 1SO »

philip918

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3746 on: September 04, 2019, 01:49:16 PM »
It (2017)

A whole lot of movie for very little story or emotion. The CGI enhancements to Pennywise just made him look cartoonish instead of creepy or scary. It takes a very long time for the young actors to actually feel like a group of friends. An extended scene of children wearing only their underwear is just icky. I wish I could find it innocent and simply true to life, but it was off-putting.

Junior

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3747 on: September 04, 2019, 01:54:08 PM »
If you thought that scene with the underwear was uncomfortable, you shouldn't read the book.

I think one of King's best qualities is how great he is at building worlds and putting characters in it. IT might not have the most compelling story when its first and second parts are split as this version does, but it does build the world and the characters' relationships within that world quite well, I think.
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philip918

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3748 on: September 04, 2019, 02:31:57 PM »
If you thought that scene with the underwear was uncomfortable, you shouldn't read the book.

A book is an entirely different thing. This is more about the children in the scene.

Junior

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #3749 on: September 04, 2019, 02:59:01 PM »
I understand that. It's just that there's an even more inappropriate scene in the book that would be basically impossible to film.
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