Author Topic: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019  (Read 17237 times)

Teproc

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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #50 on: March 05, 2019, 04:00:43 PM »
I regret that we didn't lay down a universal scheme years ago. Everyone does it a bit differently now. :)

Well, mine is still pretty close to the norm. It's mostly unified, the only one whose colour-coding I'm always confused by is roujin.
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MartinTeller

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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #51 on: March 05, 2019, 04:11:38 PM »
Yeah, roujin did something completely different with his color-coding, it always throws me off. He's such a contrarian.

I just adjusted my Criticker levels/colors to match my normal ratings (e.g., all "Good" should be lime green), so I'll probably have to edit like every time I ever posted a score on the forum. And I just noticed that Criticker now has the option to switch from "Tiers" to "Percentiles" which makes a lot more sense. Nice!
« Last Edit: March 05, 2019, 04:13:11 PM by MartinTeller »

Antares

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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #52 on: March 05, 2019, 04:31:51 PM »
I remember when you started the color coding, and I decided to follow your lead when you added the Teal level for masterpieces. I was always disappointed that Criticker only allowed four color choices, for such a broad range of rating. I'm pretty sure I added the Brown color for the crap at the bottom of the movie heap. So you brought the top, and I brought the bottom.  ;)
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #53 on: March 05, 2019, 08:02:59 PM »
Yeah, roujin did something completely different with his color-coding, it always throws me off. He's such a contrarian.
I always thought it was just the colors of the rainbow in order. Red-violet in order of quality and uncolored for stuff he doesn't like.

Thief

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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #54 on: March 11, 2019, 10:52:09 PM »
Some quickies on what I've seen so far...

Fire in the Sky (1993, rewatch) Remembered seeing this in theaters back in the day, even though I didn't remember much about it. It wasn't as good as I remembered, but still a solid film. Some shaky performances and dialogue, and you get the sense that the filmmakers are stretching the story as much as they can. Good, creepy effects, though.

Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (2019) Not great, but still a compelling watch. Interesting to see a "clusterCINECAST!" in the making while the social media "zombies" and wannabe-socialites wallow in the consequences of their wants.

Chi-Raq (2015) Lots of impressive things done here, with lots of things that just feel too heavy-handed. But when has Spike Lee been subtle? I don't know, I was never bored, but I'm still trying to figure out precisely how I feel about this.

You Were Never Really Here (2017) Pretty good film with a slow, deliberate pacing and a great performance from Joaquin Phoenix.

Mandy (2018) Such a weird mess of schlock, but that's the fun of it: seeing how the film revels in its own excesses. Nicolas Cage is great, but so is Linus Roache, who has become one of my favorite character actors.


Potential next films: Metropolis, Imitation Game or Hidden Figures, maybe rewatch High Fidelity for the salesperson one.

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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #55 on: March 11, 2019, 11:25:04 PM »
Hidden Figures isn't great, but it's about 50 times better than The Imitation Game
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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #56 on: March 11, 2019, 11:54:01 PM »
Mandy (2018) Such a weird mess of schlock, but that's the fun of it: seeing how the film revels in its own excesses. Nicolas Cage is great, but so is Linus Roache, who has become one of my favorite character actors.
Put me down as "I don't get it" and the dialogue given to Linus Roache is a good reason why. It's really bad dialogue based on the broadest stereotype about cult leaders - it's really about sexual dominance and gratification. I've read fans saying that's the point and that the dialogue is meant to be taken as excess, just like the sound and cinematography, but I think Pan Cosmatos backed into that excuse to cover for his inability to write good dialogue or characters.

Thief

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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #57 on: March 12, 2019, 08:07:24 PM »
Mandy (2018) Such a weird mess of schlock, but that's the fun of it: seeing how the film revels in its own excesses. Nicolas Cage is great, but so is Linus Roache, who has become one of my favorite character actors.
Put me down as "I don't get it" and the dialogue given to Linus Roache is a good reason why. It's really bad dialogue based on the broadest stereotype about cult leaders - it's really about sexual dominance and gratification. I've read fans saying that's the point and that the dialogue is meant to be taken as excess, just like the sound and cinematography, but I think Pan Cosmatos backed into that excuse to cover for his inability to write good dialogue or characters.

I did like his lines, but probably for the same reasons you didn't. I mean, I don't think his dialogue is meant to make much sense or be that "impactful", for lack of a better word. They make it more or less clear from the beginning that he's a phony, so I think it goes with that. His words are hollow. What I like about Roache is his delivery, because he makes it feel precisely like the kind of guy that's trying hard to sell something, even if it's a dud.

Thief

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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #58 on: March 23, 2019, 07:33:06 PM »
Some quickies on the last 5 films...

Triple Frontier (2019) Very average and mediocre film. The more I think of it, the less I like it. It really brings nothing new to the table, checks all of the cliché boxes, and ultimately doesn't know what to be.

Experiment in Terror (1962) Fairly effective thriller at the moment. However, for some reason, it just didn't stick. I saw it about a week ago, and I'm struggling to remember what happened. That's never a good sign.

Bloody Sunday (2002) One of Paul Greengrass' first films. I really liked it. Like United 93, it takes a quasi-documentary approach that doesn't allow for much emotional connection to what's happening, but it's still effective.

Final Destination 3 (2006) I won't deny it. I had a lot of fun with this, A LOT. It delivered exactly what I was expecting, thrills and gore, at the exact moment.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Just saw this one last night and, although I know it's a good film in terms of story, performance, direction, I really didn't get into it. Not sure why, but I was never caught in the plot and was never grabbed by the characters.


Potential next films: Metropolis, Spring (2014), maybe a rewatch of Interview with the Vampire. Not sure about the math or sales one.

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Re: Thief's Monthly Film Challenge 2019
« Reply #59 on: March 23, 2019, 10:53:39 PM »
Experiment in Terror (1962) Fairly effective thriller at the moment. However, for some reason, it just didn't stick. I saw it about a week ago, and I'm struggling to remember what happened. That's never a good sign.
The photography is really moody, but it draws out nearly every scene. That's an unusual approach for a thriller and not unsuccessful, but the pace is why I'll probably never watch it again.

Bloody Sunday (2002) One of Paul Greengrass' first films. I really liked it. Like United 93, it takes a quasi-documentary approach that doesn't allow for much emotional connection to what's happening, but it's still effective.
You think Greengrass is making it work by focusing on the moment-to-moment recreation of events. Then he gets that final scene and you see that he understands the power of dramatic storytelling quite well.

 

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