I am a huge fan of Lehane adaptations so I was really looking forward to this. Where do I start with the disappointments? The tag on the poster above is a good start. The story actually says Joe is a good guy, but past not killing a couple people his boss wanted him to, we never see any evidence of it. On the other hand he seems to have no real reason to be a hardened criminal either. He has a police officer father that he appears to love. An estranged brother that he seems to respect, but we never get any indication of why they are estranged. The characterizations here are just a mess. If anyone can put the puzzle together here let me know.
All the Joe is a good guy stuff seems to be in service of a point of view the film desires to have. We are supposed to be seeing the shades of grey in criminals but this movie just left me feeling everyone is a horrible person. The film wears its heart on its sleeve in a couple of scenes but these scenes have no weight because we are not seeing these themes in the actual characters.
My other big problem with the character of Joe is I never believe for a moment that he became the powerful crime boss that he becomes. There is nothing in the film that shows you he could do what he does. Just a mess of a movie. Not the worst 2016 movie I have seen, but definitely my biggest disappointment.
No Country for Old Men (Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, 2007) -
TRON (Steven Lisberger, 1982) - Gandu (Qaushiq Mukherjee, 2010) - + Rush Hour 3 (Brett Ratner, 2007) -
__________________ "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room."
The Verdict (Sidney Lumet, 1982) - Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek, 2010) - Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc Godard, 1964) - Paprika (Satoshi Kon, 2006) - Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007) - Crank (Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, 2006) - Crank: High Voltage (Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, 2009) - Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, 1952) - The Immortal Story (Orson Welles, 1968) - I, Robot (Alex Proyas, 2004) -
Proxy War (Kinji Fukasaku, 1973) Cheyenne aka The Wyoming Kid (Raoul Walsh, 1947) + Selma (Ana DuVernay, 2014) I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach, 2016)
Carpenter Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) tries to use the “new-fangled” computer to fulfill his legal obligations to qualify for some state-sponsored living benefits even though he doesn’t even want them anymore – he just wants approval from his doctor to go back to work, but the British dole system won’t even allow that without an overdose of bureaucratic BS. Glimpses of Washington State (James A. FitzPatrick, 1940) + Pelé: Birth of a Legend (Zimbalist Bros., 2016) - Les dames du Bois de Boulogne (Robert Bresson, 1945) La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016) -
When the print of Rebel Without a Cause they’re watching at the Rialto Theatre breaks at the Griffith Park Observatory scene, struggling actress Emma Stone and jazz pianist Ryan Gosling go to the observatory itself to continue their date. Private Property (Leslie Stevens, 1960) - Fortress (Stuart Gordon, 1992) Rupture (Steven Shainberg, 2016) Arrival (Denis Villeneuve, 2016) +
Linguist Amy Adams is a member of one of twelve teams worldwide which tries to communicate with aliens when they arrive on earth in order to try to learn their intentions. War on Everyone (John Michael McDonagh, 2016) + Hidden Figures (Theodore Melfi, 2016) Jeepers Creepers II (Victor Salva, 2003) Patriot’s Day (Peter Berg, 2016)
Exciting, suspenseful account of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, investigation and pursuit of the terrorists involved which is led by FBI special agent Kevin Bacon, experienced sergeant Mark Wahlberg and Commisioner John Goodman. A Decent Man (Emmanuel Finkiel, 2016) You Got to Move: Stories of Change in the South (Lucy Massie Phenix & Veronica Selver, 1985) Cold War (Longmond Leung & Sunny Luk, 2012) Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016)
Sensitive young Alex Hibbert is safeguarded by progressive drug dealer Mahershala Ali who acts as a father figure to him.
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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden My IMDb page
A solid movie with a great performance from Bogie. I simply loved the whole strawberries intrigue, but the film didn't blow me away the way I thought it would given its place on the list.
やわらかい生活 [It's Only Talk] (2005) -
One of the most depressing movies I've ever seen. Originally rated it four stars, but then felt really downhearted and uneasy the whole day, so I decided to increase the rating. Dont't watch it if you're depressed! It will make it even worse! After seeing this and Vibrator I have to say Shinobu Terajima is an amazing actress.
スターヴァージン [Star Virgin] (1988) -
Straight-to-VHS, cult, no English subtitles. Well, there's no need for them. One helluva enjoyable little flick, even though it makes no sense and isn't always good. But when it's good it's very good as long as weird monsters, robots, cute heroines and vaporwave aesthetics go.
The Ten Commandments (1956) -
Quite a problematic movie. It's both epic and theatrical. It's monumental, alright, but when it tries to be grandiose, it ends up in bathos. It's pretty long, too and not always engaging enough to justify this length. I liked Ben-Hur so much more as long as Hollywood blockbusters on ancient times go. The costumes and special effects were great, though. All in all, I don't regret watching it, but I can't say I liked it.
Notable shorts:
Spiegel van Holland [Mirror of Holland] (1950) - - not much here, but the watery effects are breathtaking; Notturno (2009) - - wonderful atmosphere, field recordings in a film form; Farewell 1999 (2004) - - a woman can't cope with her mother's death, she makes a movie; A Journey That Wasn't (2006) - - one of its kind mood that is hard to compare to anything else (saying it's Lynchian would've been quite a stretch) plus a metaphysical penguin antichrist lured by pulsating light orbs! Hynningen (1974) - I had a poor VHS copy, but even so this has an otherwordly feeling of somebody masturbating my pineal gland, I never saw so many superimpositions in one movie; Fugue (1998) - - paint-on-glass animation with an unparalleled feeling of space; Kick-Heart (2013) - - what a weird flick involving wrestlers, this made me want to watch Mind Game!
Party przy świecach [Party by Candlelight] (1980) - Pan Twardowski (1936) - Nie będę cię kochać [I Won't Love You] (1973) -
The first one is a comedy spoof on 'typical' Polish marriage. The second one is a great adaptation of a popular, heavily Faustian Polish fairy tale directed by Henryk Szaro. The last one is a Nasfeter film on a girl that has to cope with her dad's alcoholism as well as her own adolescence.
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.
What did you think of I, Daniel Blake and Moonlight, Mark? Which part (meaning the actual parts not any specific scene) of Moonlight did you think was best? Just saw your Moonlight post in Movie You're Watching Tonight and came to see if you had posted about it.
Great choice of pic for I, Daniel Blake i thought that scene was hilarious.
Say, that was pretty good. Rock Hudson is indeed a giant with his 193 cm, but James Dean was a crude oil giant, too. He seemed like the most interesting character, too and his downfall was a nice one to watch. He was hardly recognizable in those shades and with moustache. I like how the racial discrimination is portrayed here. And (even though Dean apparently fancies giving somebody two punches from time to time) the "final" fight after three hours of slice of life epic was a nice refreshment.
The Last House on the Left (1972) -
Wow, that was pretty intense (especially the woods scenes). I love how the music is all happy even though the flick is brutal and sick. The police in this is portrayed just like in these contemporary South Korean flicks (in a comedic way, those guys are useless!). A nice turn of events after the psychos decided to lodge in that house! Also, the soundtrack was composed by David Hess who also composed some Elvis hits AND played one of the psychos in this film (as well as in Deodato's follow-up I've written about before).
People Will Talk is the only movie from the MoFo 50's List I still haven't seen. I wanted to watch it today, but didn't feel like watching comedy, so I will save it for later. Either way, I guess it's safe to say I've finished the list.
haha, Haven't seen either of those but it is great and hilarious that you actually lived up to your promise and watched all of them in a very short time.
Actually I was slacking with watching these. I could've finished watching them months ago already.
But since I always watch movies I feel like watching any given day, I didn't want to force myself. I think the way it turned out was great, though. Yes, it didn't take me THAT long plus I had a lot of fun watching these, even if some of these flicks I'd call weak in my opinion.
Actually I was slacking with watching these. I could've finished watching them months ago already.
But since I always watch movies I feel like watching any given day, I didn't want to force myself. I think the way it turned out was great, though. Yes, it didn't take me THAT long plus I had a lot of fun watching these, even if some of these flicks I'd call weak in my opinion.
I've enjoyed the posts of yours i could actually read for once since i had seen the films and while i didn't always agree with you i like that you have seemed to be alot more forgiving/into Hollywood films than you used to be. Well i think you were usually joking before because you rarely watch them but whatever.
Yeah, I got into Hollywood/American movies, but that was already 2 years ago AT LEAST, if not more. I loved some American movies from the very beginning, but I kind of struggled with some classics (especially ones with a lot of talking in them) and prefered Asian or European cinema. I think I still prefer these, but now I'm more open-minded and can enjoy flicks from all over the world and of all styles. Then again, back then I was basically watching most of the greats and my favourite directors ever, so after I watched a Tarkovsky flick, then a Tarr film and finished it off with a Bergman film for a good measure, watching Casablanca after this left me underwhelmed, even though it's a great film in its way.
I also changed my rating system. I used to be a lot harsher on movies out of my comfort zone. Moreover, I reserved the highest rating of 5 stars for Werckmeister Harmonies only and then a 4.5 for all the masterpieces, so usually movies rated 4 by me were flicks I already wholeheartedly loved and thought were close to masterpieces. Now I'm taking it easy and don't really think much before assigning a rating, but at times it still bugs me that I gave a movie too low a rating and it doens't let me off until I increase it. In terms of enjoyability not much has changed, since I still give a 4 star rating to flicks I loved, but it is me who have changed as now I enjoy a vaster spectrum of movies, genres etc.
I get alot of that. Seriously, i can't rate anything anymore my ratings in the Rate The Last Movie You Saw thread are just kind of because the title asks for it. I don't stand by any of those the next day and also i know that films have went drastically down (or up) with rewatches or even further thought for me. I never rate anything more than + on a first watch anymore and rarely more than +. Mostly because i'm not confident enough in my initial judgments haha.
1984 (1984) – I guess this has unfairly high standards to meet for most. It’s a close adaption, but I think it’s good on its own too. I love the grit and despondency of the setting, and the subject matter wasn’t overblown or disserviced by clichés or histrionics.
Man on Fire (2004) – Someone give the editor some Ritalin please. I think I found some more of his work:
Xtro (1982) – A briefly seen rubbery H.R. Giger rip off spawns a killer alien in human skin. It’s kinda boring, but there are some fun and weird gross out effects. This seems to be where Gozu borrowed the ‘birth’ scene!
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! (1968) – Good hippie movie balancing comedy and drama. Great performance from Peter Sellers.
He Never Died (2015) – Far from perfect, but I looove this. Henry Rollins isn’t too good of an actor, but as a hopelessly biased fan, I think he made his part so much more unique than most could. His Aspergers-influenced character was more interesting than any of the supernatural bits, and I think the movie realized it and had no trouble milking it. I know this rating seems unrealistically high; it personally appealed to me more than I would expect it to for others, and it had more than a few subtly hilarious bits.
Spread (David Mackenzie, 2009) Parisienne (Danielle Arbid, 2016) Doin’ Time (George Mendeluk, 1985) King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (Sidney Lumet & Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970) +
Several Hollywood personalities marched to Washington in 1963 with Martin Luther King Jr., including James Baldwin, Steve Cochran, Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis Jr., Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte (and not pictured - Paul Newman, Dianne Carroll, James Garner, Tony Bennett). Jail Busters (William Beaudine, 1955) Bone Bandit (Charles Nichols, 1948) Trucks (Chris Thomson, 1997) - Zero Days (Alex Gibney, 2016) +
Chilling documentary about the Stutznet malware, super secrecy in government, and internet hacking seems to be even more current now than when it was released six months ago. It could also possibly explain Putin/Drumpf, Obama/ Netanyahu, Obama’s latest pardons/commutations and the constantly evolving cyber war at hand. Jumpin' at the Boneyard (Jeff Stanzler, 1992) Thick as Thieves (Scott Sanders, 1999) + Préjudice (Antoine Cuypers, 2015) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (David Yates, 2016)
70 years before Harry Potter, the adventures of wizard Eddie Redmayne with a suitcase full of fantastic creatures in NYC also involve clumsy baker Dan Fogler and dark wizard hunter Colin Farrell. The Spy Next Door (Brian Levant, 2010) Melody Cruise (Mark Sandrich, 1933) - The Hot Flashes (Susan Seidelman, 2013) A Monster Calls (J.A. Bayona, 2016)
While English schoolboy Lewis MacDougall deals with the cancer of his mom (Felicity Jones) and bullies at school, he begins having nightmares of a monster (Liam Neeson) who will tell him three stories and expect a fourth from him in return. The 9th Life of Louis Drax (Alexandre Aja, 2016) Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Edward Zwick, 2016) + Freedom on My Mind (Connie Field & Marilyn Mulford, 1994) A Street Cat Named Bob (Roger Spottiswoode, 2016)
Trying to get clean while on a methadone program, busker Luke Treadaway is aided by his adoptive cat Bob.
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