Nope's 2017 Movie Diary

This is just a thread where I want to log and write thoughts on every film I watch in 2017. Hopefully I will be able to keep this updated.

Index:
1. Divorce Italian Style
2. Withnail and I
3. Silence
4. Y Tu Mama Tambien
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey

I might still write reviews in my review thread when I feel like it, but this might just replace my review thread for now since I haven't posted there in a while.

Divorce Italian Style

Divorce Italian Style is a fun and humorous look on murder, cheating, and incest, along with that Italian charm no one can help but love. This film probably had the most laughs of any foreign film I've seen, and it is one of the most enjoyable films I've seen from any country.

The highlights of this film are the acting and the writing. The dialogue is witty and funny, and the film even won best original screenplay at the Oscars. The films black humor is incredible, and way ahead of its time. The main character is played perfectly by Marcello Mastroianni, and it is probably my favorite performance I've seen from him. This is probably the first time that I've ever watched a film and rooted for the character who wanted to murder his wife.

The reason that I think this film is overlooked is because it can get lost in translation. The taboo of divorce and being a cuckhold doesn't really translate to America, and could be one of the reasons it was never hugely successful in the states. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone, and I had a blast watching it.

It took me a while to watch my first film of 2017 due to going back to school, but I finally watched one!

Withnail And I

Withnail and I is a delightful comedy about two out of work, broke, and often drunk actors who decided to spend a vacation at a house in the mountains. As you can expect, hilarity ensues. There is a poacher who the two believes is trying to kill them, Withnail's homosexual uncle who makes sexual advances towards the main character, and my personal favorite, a drug dealer and his mostly silent friend "Presumin' Ed".

Overall I really enjoyed this movie. The characters were all very eccentric and entertaining, and there were some really genuinely funny moments. All of my favorite parts occurred with the aforementioned drug dealer. I thought he was hysterical, and wish the film had more of him. My biggest problem with the film was its slow start. The movie didn't pick up until they actually went to the mountain house, which was about 30 minutes in. After that however, I found myself very amused until the end of the film.

I think that the acting in this film was great, and the writing was very clever. This film almost reminded me of a classier Dumb and Dumber with significantly better writing, acting, and directing. This is one of those movies that doesn't have a straightforward plot, so if you like movies like that, you will love this film. This was the first film that I watched for the 12th HoF, and so far it is off to a good start.

Silence

This film is practically the definition of an epic. All of the shots are huge and breathtaking, the story is intense, and even overwhelming at times, and the themes that are dealt with are intense and personal. It is clear that this was a passion project of Scorsese, and he really gave it his all. According to the internet, this film was first written in the 90s, and has been stuck in development hell ever since. I'm glad that Scorsese was finally able to make his dream film, but I think it is far from his best.

Silence is much larger than any film Scorsese has ever made. This film follows to priests who travel to Japan (where Christianity is outlawed) in order to find out what really happened to their mentor who allegedly denounced god. The film mainly follows Andrew Garfield's character, and the success of the film was largely held on his performance. For the most part, I think that Andrew Garfield did a very good job with the role, and I'm glad he was able to quickly break out of his Spider-Man reputation, something that Toby Maguire still hasn't managed to do. I am still planing to see Hacksaw Ridge, but I've heard he is very good in that too. I thought that Adam Driver's performance was a bit overrated, but it didn't bother me too much. Liam Neeson really dissapointed me however, and all I could see him as was Qui Gon Jinn.

The obvious strong suit of this film was the directing. Every single shot in this film was absolutely beautiful, and it really helped with the emotion of the film. The film however was very slow and meticulous, unlike the faster pace in some of Scorsese's newer films. My biggest problem was that there were some scenes and moments that I couldn't take seriously because of how goofy they were, mainly involving the picture of Jesus that they kept using. I found that the film started to get much less intriguing towards the end, and it suffered from a Return of the King ending that just wouldn't end. Overall I would recomend this film to any Scorses fan, but don't expect anything at all similar to Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, or Goodfellas.

Divorce Italian Style was a big surprise for me. I watched it for one of the HoFs and I thought it was great.

Scorsese is my favorite director, but at least as of now, I have no interest in Silence.

Y Tu Mama Tambien

When I first started watching this movie, I mistook it for another road trip movie about "finding yourself and relationships, but I soon realized that it was much more than that. Y Tu Mama Tambien is one of the deepest most thought provoking films I've ever seen, and I really had to stop for a while after I saw it just to think about what I watched.

The film follows two high school boys who go on a road trip to a made up beach with an older woman. At first glance this film may seem stereotypical and clichéd, but it isn't at all. The film deals with many complex themes and subject matters, and not in a way that you feel like it is being shoved in your face. Throughout the film, the characters are constantly unaware of their surroundings, and focused on their own selfish needs. This is something that I found incredibly powerful, and I think this film features one of the best uses of narration.

I don't want to get into spoilers, but the end of the film really stuck with me. It put the entire movie into a whole new perspective with only a single line of dialogue. The ending of this film was definitely a highlight for me, and I was thinking of how much different the movie could have been had they just cut out the very last scene. The acting in this movie was really fantastic, and I did not realize that Diego Luna was in the film until his name appeared in the credits. This film was great, and I think everyone should take the time to see it.

It is definitely an outlier in his films repertoire. After Hours is another outlier, but for very different reasons.

2001: A Space Odyssey

I was lucky enough to get to watch this film in the theater, and it was an incredible experience. I view the movie with a completely newfound respect and appreciation, and view the movie in a whole different way now. This film is incredibly hard to review, because I just don't know what to say. The film has so many parts to it that it is impossible to completely summarize or review. This movie is about change, most importantly evolution. This film tells the story of human's evolution into a greater and more intelligent being, whether that be a computer, a monolith, or just a bunch of monkeys.

2001: A Space Odyssey does not limit itself to one theme, story, or main character, it cycles through, and this is its genius. The film seamlessly travels from story to story and literally takes the audience on a trip through time and space. I think my personal favorite scene in the film is the one of the moon when the scientists are viewing the monolith. Every single shot is brilliant. This film invented the phrase "every frame a painting" and for good reason. The one thing that no one can disagree on about this film is that it is absolutely beautiful. It is possibly the most gorgeous movie I've ever seen, and it is nearly 50 years old.

I have refused looking up the meaning behind the film, and I stand by that. I think that this film has no meaning. It means whatever you want it to. For me, it is the story of the evolution of intelligence and technology. The "Jupiter Mission" section of this film is probably my favorite of the film's four chapters. HAL 9000 isn't introduced for about an hour of the film, but he is still the most memorable thing about it. The human characters play second fiddle to the overarching story, and no human character in this film gets much more than 30 minutes of screen time.

People criticize this film for putting in too much unnecessary stuff, but I completely disagree. Sure you could probably cut this film down to about an hour if you wanted to, but it would ruin the whole point. Space is slow and tedious. Watching the calm and dull just makes everything else that much more exciting and brilliant. I could probably praise this film for a lot longer, but I don't think I can say anything that everyone doesn't already know. So I'm gonna just end it here.

Good, long write-ups, great layout too.

2001 is a masterpiece indeed!

__________________
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

I've seen 2001 a couple times and so far I have not enjoyed it at all. I'm going to watch it again for the Sci-Fi countdown, the last movie I'm planning to watch before I send you my list.

I appreciate 2001 for its craftwork and it's technical merits.

Good review . It took me a while to get into 2001. The first time i hated it; thought it was incredibly dull, the second i liked it a bit more but still found alot of it boring then the third i loved it. Glad i did or i probably wouldn't have tried it again for at least a decade.

This is the same with me. I didn't really love the movie very much until I saw it in the theater.

I would really recommend watching it on the biggest screen you can get a hold of.

The biggest in my house is 70" and that's the biggest I've ever had. Probably next Saturday afternoon.

Nope...that's a fine review! of 2001. Well written, well said. I can tell you love the movie and after reading your review I feel like watching it again!
Amen to that! I too really loved the scenes on the moon, they are art.

Wise, I like that.

Thanks, I appreciate it.