Cobpyth's Film Reviews

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The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)



I've seen all of Wes Anderson's other films and while he's not amongst my ABSOLUTE favorite directors, I still very much appreciate his unique cinematic voice. Therefore, I was very excited to see his most recent picture at the theater today. They didn't play it in the big cinema, so I went to a more vintage theater, situated in the outskirts of the city I live nearby. I'm very glad I watched it there, as it fits this film's atmosphere perfectly!

The film's story is told in many layers. We start seeing a girl read a book called "The Grand Budapest Hotel" on a cemetery, then we see the writer of that book tell us about how it is based on a story that he picked up somewhere and then we see the writer in his younger years (played by Jude Law) visiting a 'decayed' hotel. There he meets the owner of the hotel, Zero, who wants to tell him about the early, glorious days of the hotel, when he was still a simple lobby boy.



Then we finally get to our main story, which stars Ralph Fiennes in one of his most eccentric roles to date, as the charming, but unorthodox concierge of the hotel, Monsieur Gustave. It's soon clear that Zero is very fond of him and considers him his mentor.
M. Gustave has a few questionable hobbies (he sleeps with most of his older female clients) and while he has a very clean exterior facade, it's still clear that he's a human being with many flaws.

When one of his mistresses dies, he visits her, but he soon gets accused of murder by her greedy family when it seems that his exremely rich older mistress left him one of her dearest possessions, a very famous and expensive painting. In a wild ride, full of absurd comedy and brilliantly composed scenes, we see how the adventurous plot resolves...



Next to the superficial plot, there is also the overarching, melancholic theme of 'decay' that can be found throughout the whole story. This film's sophisticated, nostalgic style makes that theme come through in a very effective way. I won't give away too much, but I think the very ending is one of the film's stronger parts. It gives the grotesque, wild and hilarious adventure we just witnessed some kind of gravitas and poignancy that I very much appreciated.

Overall, I think this is one of Anderson's better efforts. Expect some good laughs, an entertaining and engaging story, a few minor 'shocking' moments and a whole bunch of awesome performances from a killer cast!
Needless to say, this film is also REMARKABLY well made. More than any Wes Anderson film (except perhaps Moonrise Kingdom), every frame is constructed with such skill and such artistic passion, that it's simply a delight for the eyes. I couldn't turn my eyes away from it for a second.

Be sure to watch this new, ambitious Wes Anderson picture. This is without a doubt the work of a director in his prime! I'm looking forward to his next picture already...

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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019



So jealous. Not open anywhere near me yet. Good review Cobpyth. One of my most anticipated movies this year.
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The Double (2013)



Richard Ayoade's second film definitely confirms the promise and talent he showed with his debut film, Submarine. In his first film, he showed us that he wasn't afraid to do some pretty ambitious visual stuff. Submarine was a wonderfully playful dramedy and Ayoade just knew how to present a story like that in a visually interesting and refreshing way. If some people thought he'd do another Wes Anderson-like melancholic love story like Submarine though, they were VERY wrong.

In The Double he sure keeps his visual playfulness, but this time he uses it at the service of a much darker and surreal tale about a lonely young man (played by Jesse Eisenberg), who feels like he doesn't really exist and who lives in a gloomy, dystopian world. He has no real connection whatsoever with other people (not even his own elderly mother can offer him any real love), everyone behaves unfriendly towards him and at work he gets no recognition at all for what he's doing. The worst thing is that his personality isn't strong enough to do anything about it and he kind of lets everything and everyone walk over him. In a speech he compares himself to Pinocchio in the sense that he feels like a wooden boy, pulled around by strings, not like a "real boy". Suddenly his exact physical double (but also his mental opposite) starts working at the same company and he finally needs to confront his attitude of living.
Some situations and dialogues are funny (a few even hilarious), which makes this dark and surreal story about the search for identity and the struggle to avoid complete repression oddly comical and therefore easier to digest.



The film is based on the novel by Dostoyevsky, but towards the end it goes in a complete different direction. I'm not going to spoil anything, but the third act might also be the most "slippery" part of the film for me. The surrealism escalates, the pace gets more volatile and everything flows into really ambiguous territory. I was personally fine with it (although not completely satisfied yet), but I can see why some people wouldn't like the conclusion. Some other people will absolutely love it, though. I'm still thinking about it for the moment and I'd love to discuss it with other people who've seen the film.

This film's "universe" and visual atmosphere reminded me of Gilliam's Brazil (which is one of my favorite films of all time), Lynch's Eraserhead and also a little bit of Hitchcock's Rear Window. I recommend this film ESPECIALLY to Gilliam and Lynch fans! It's an ambitious little flick that really works as an hommage to those two directors.



All in all, I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't quite put this on par with masterpieces like Brazil or Eraserhead just yet, but Richard Ayoade definitely established himself as one of the most intriguing upcoming directors of our time (in my opinion). I don't care if his next film is a vintage-looking, stylized melancholic romantic teenage dramedy, like Submarine, a Lynchian/Gilliamesque Russian novel adaptation full with retro Japanese music, like The Double or something completely different, but I'm already looking forward to it! He's a refreshing new director and I hope he'll get the recognition (and the film budgets) he deserves.

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Finished here. It's been fun.
Excellent review Copbyth. I'll be viewing the film today, so I'll be writing my thoughts on it some time tomorrow. Looks like a film worthy of much discussion.



The Double (2013)
So Tongo's the third wheel?

Great write-up. The Double sounds interesting. I really enjoyed Submarine, so I'll have to check this out when I get the chance.



Just a short impression of the last four films I've seen:

The Gambler (1974)



This is a great character study about a college professor, called Alex Freed, who is severely addicted to gambling. The film gives us interesting insights about our main character's motives. We learn why he does what he does and we get to observe why he doesn't learn from his past experiences. The problem with this man simply is that he doesn't want rest. He's afraid of balance and he's unable to settle down. He wants to feel alive and therefore he needs risk and he welcomes danger. Self-destructive behavior is the only option for Alex to get some sort of short-lived satisfaction. Intrinsically he doesn't want to win (even though he superficially seems to). He wants to lose, in the hope of being confronted with something that makes him realize a certain truth about life. He's a romantic that can only find some sort of peace of mind through uncertainty, threat and the redemptive and strangely liberating sensation of losing it all.
James Caan is phenomenal in the main role and the ending is wonderfully poignant and telling. DEFINITELY see this if you're interested in the subject of gambling addiction!

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Farewell, My Lovely (1975)





This is pretty much how a film noir should be like. It contains a complex, twisty and engaging plot, a heavy voice-over, a charismatic and hard-boiled main performance (in this case by the legendary Robert Mitchum, who plays the equally legendary detective character, Philip Marlowe) and a strange emotional resonance that floats to the surface at the end of the picture.
The main reason why I wanted to see this film and why I ended up liking it so much, though, is because of its FANTASTIC visual atmosphere. The cinematography is close to perfection, the film has a wonderfully soft and colorful look to it. This quality makes the classy sets seem even more glamorous and it upgrades every shot with an additional touch of sheer stylishness.
If you're a fan of the film noir genre, this is an absolute must see! It's also a great film to just hang out with. The audience follows a story that leads them to a rich amount of very interesting looking places, characters and situations. There's always happening something on the screen that keeps the attention!



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The Driver (1978)





This is a fun, little crime film and an interesting exercise in "cool". It kind of reminded me of a Melville picture in terms of atmosphere and plot, although this movie does lack the perfect execution of Melville's visuals and untouchable style.
Beside that, it is pretty similar in tone, though. The film is based around two characters, a cop (played by Bruce Dern, who's always entertaining to look at) who is extremely determined to wipe out crime, and a "driver" (played by Ryan O'Neal), who isn't particularly the talkative type and who is determined to not be caught by the cop, while still taking a few interesting risks, purely for the enjoyment of winning.
The film evolves into a classic cat and mouse game, with a few interesting subplots in between, featuring a gangster who is out for revenge and a gorgeously looking woman (played by the stunning looking Isabelle Adjani) who doesn't care about morals because she's in desperate need for money.
Over the course of the movie, we get a few clever microscopic insights on how a life in crime works and we are treated to a few thrillingly exciting action scenes (mainly featuring well executed car sequences).
The ending is painfully, but also fittingly ironic and forms a great conclusion to a solid 90 minutes of entertainment!



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Get Carter (1971)





This film shows what every modern gritty crime film should actually aim for! Get Carter truly has it all. There's a simple but effective premise, a cool but morally disjointed main character (in this case Jack Carter, played by Michael Caine), a whole bunch of outstanding and memorable supporting characters, cool locations, thrilling action scenes, a bunch of shocking twists, some psychopathic violence and a couple of non-emotional, but highly erotic sex scenes featuring a broad variety of naked women.
I LOVE eventful films like this! The film isn't afraid to shock and it's also not afraid to show every single story development. It's a typical early '70s films, in the sense that it's so excitingly free-spirited! It just feels so delightfully fresh, both story-wise and visually (the director isn't afraid to make some unorthodox cuts or transitions). Everything is possible and that can sometimes lead to surprising and very dark twists.
Get Carter is yet another movie that makes me realize why I appreciate this decade of cinema so very very much...

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Out of those four, the only one I've seen is Get Carter, which I didn't particularly care for. Your write-ups for the other three definitely make me interested in watching them, especially the one for Farewell, My Lovely. How would you compare it to The Long Goodbye?
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Out of those four, the only one I've seen is Get Carter, which I didn't particularly care for. Your write-ups for the other three definitely make me interested in watching them, especially the one for Farewell, My Lovely. How would you compare it to The Long Goodbye?
Farewell, My Lovely is much more traditional. It's more plot-oriented, although Mitchum's Philip Marlowe is still very interesting to follow around everywhere and has that vintage noirish detective aura around him.
It does have the same "errant" feeling to it as The Long Goodbye, though, but that's because it's a Raymond Chandler story. There's a lot of stuff happening and Marlowe is right in the middle of it all, without knowing fully well what to make of it all. Despite that, he's still being the coolest guy in the room.

I personally like The Long Goodbye a bit more, because it has all those typical Altman characteristics, it has more personality. I still enjoyed Farewell, My Lovely thoroughly, though, and like I said, it's a real visual threat!



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Farewell, My Lovely was made to try to duplicate the success of Chinatown, and it came out quite well yet fell far short of its predecessor. I like it better than the second film version of the Chandler story (the first being The Falcon Takes Over), the B&W Murder, My Sweet, which changed Dick Powell's career from a crooner to a tough guy. They're all legit noirs, unlike the Altman jokey thing.

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Farewell, My Lovely was made to try to duplicate the success of Chinatown, and it came out quite well yet fell far short of its predecessor. I like it better than the second film version of the Chandler story (the first being The Falcon Takes Over), the B&W Murder, My Sweet, which changed Dick Powell's career from a crooner to a tough guy. They're all legit noirs, unlike the Altman jokey thing.

Were there any other neo-noir pictures like those two made in the seventies that are of a similar quality of Farewell, My Lovely in your opinion?



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Mitchum made a bad version of The Big Sleep after Farewell, My Lovely, Have you seen Night Moves, The Late Show, Last Embrace, The Long Good Friday or The Drowning Pool yet? Holden likes them better than me, but they're certainly better than The Big Sleep. There are dozens more with major elements of noir.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I never use the phrase neo noir. It's obviously a gangster film AND from the '80s, so I decided to namedrop it, but I'll delete it and never mention it again. Its title is definitely noir.



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
Why never use neo-noir? There's even something like neo-western. Pretty handy to describe films. ^^
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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.