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The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

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As far as this one goes, I loved the first half, but then there were parts of the second half when I wondered what the point was.
Just finished it and i largely felt the same. Loved the first half, even just the weird way the characters spoke to each other so unnervingly openly. The second half started to lose me though. Still thought it was very interesting and i want to see his other films now even though i didn't love this.



Tangerine Dream is just like Vangelis, they make the soundtrack a character.
Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised when I watched The Keep that it was them. I also like their score for Legend.

I was watching Monsters again recently and Jon Hopkins' score for that is comparable to the artists mentioned. There's so much individual character to the music that it stands out beyond most film scores and it's impossible to imagine the film without it. I would say Toto's/Brian Eno's music for Dune is exactly the same. Another example is Michael Mann's Heat, though it's a combination of several artists' work alongside Elliot Goldenthal.



Song For A Raggy Boy (Aisling Walsh, 2003)
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One can only hope that as ye sow so shall ye reap



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
The Greatest Showman (2017)

(Insert title-based pun here.)

Possibly the shallowest film I’ve watched in a long time; The Greatest Showman has all the depth and nuance of a pepsi advert. Now, I have a soft spot for musicals, however cheese-tastic, so I’m willing to cut it a little slack, but only a little.

There’s wholesale rewriting of history going on here. Not just the facts of Barnum’s life and character but just the general way the world seems to operate. But even ignoring that it’s just pretty plotless; this is a fluff piece about a poor man who makes it big, neglects his family for a bit and then comes back home after learning a life lesson. The only subplot is the ham-fisted insta-romance between Zac Efron and Zendaya that looks as though it, as well as the actors, has stepped right off of a Disney show.

“No-one ever made a difference by being like everybody else.” is one of the lines from this film. Interesting, because it’s packed with cliches and they made the character of Barnum exactly like every other poor-boy-with-a-dream who grows up to be a workaholic-dad character you’ve ever seen on screen. It was impossible to take it even remotely seriously after the whole Queen Victoria scene. Which would be fine if I thought you weren’t meant to take it seriously but there’s such an absence of discernible irony that I really don’t know. It’s both blander and cheesier than a block of Asda smart price cheddar.

There’s another line in which the supercilious critic sits down next to Barnum and basically congratulates him for including people who look different in his show. I got the feeling that this was a bit of a self-congratulatory moment, that the film makers are honestly patting themselves on the back for including them. As minor characters in a film which is basically all about Hugh Jackman. You know, 80 odd years after Freaks. (There’s a scene in a bar when they all crowd in to offer Barnum emotional support after he’s basically screwed everything up and made them all homeless and penniless when for a second I thought they were all going to start banging their cups on the table and chanting ‘one of us’. Alas not.) None of the minor characters are allowed their own personality. They emote en masse - the group is angry, the group is supportive, the group is laughing, there’s no internal conflict or different perspectives.

The songs are all modern pop types that seem almost like pastiches of pop artists. I don’t mind anachronistic music at all, but it just didn’t work for me here. They’re not too bad if you like that sort of thing. Which I don’t, really. (Although I know even writing this that I’ll probably have one of them stuck in my head tomorrow.) The dancing is even worse. The good bits are third rate Moulin Rouge rip-off and the bad bits are third-rate Rihanna video.

The whole premise of the film seems built around the idea that Barnum is creating something fun for the mass that stuffy critics just don’t get because they don’t know how to have fun and I think the makers of this film firmly believe that’s what they are doing with this film. And you know what, maybe they are. At time of writing this has an 8.0 average on imdb. Maybe I’m just one of the stuffy critics who care about all those boring things like plot, characters, the way a film looks and original ideas and I need to lighten up. Although personally I had more enjoyment watching 12 Years A Slave.

Having said that, I did laugh a lot. But you know the difference between laughing with something and laughing at it? Yeah, it was the laughing at it. Maybe in the end, it’s almost so bad it’s good. I can see it having a cult appeal I suppose.

Worst moment: Toss up between the elephants sadly watching the building burn down and the whoosh sound whenever someone kicks their legs in close up in a dance scene.

Wait, no, it’s when the character who is supposed to be an opera singer lip synchs badly to a bland pop ballad and gets a standing ovation. Made worse by the fact that this is clearly meant to be an Emotional Moment for several of the characters.




The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

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My feelings are similar to the director's Dogtooth and The Lobster. I don't quite love these movies, but I have a certain fascination with the style. As far as this one goes, I loved the first half, but then there were parts of the second half when I wondered what the point was. I think the movie would seem silly if it weren't for the superior mood created. It's something different for sure.
This is my favourite by the director but I agree. I also had a problem with how he "satisfies" the curse.



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The Greatest Showman wasn't really good by any stretch of the imagination, but I still had fun with it and thought Jackman gave a solid performance as per his normal.







Enjoyed this but I more or less guessed who the 'Limehouse Golem' killer was from the start, it was going to be either
WARNING: "Limehouse" spoilers below
one of the two female lovers of John Cree due to the use of poison in his death and then the placing of a severed penis on the book that belonged to the Jewish victim.



This is my favourite by the director but I agree. I also had a problem with how he "satisfies" the curse.
Haven't seen it but curses that can't be satisfied are the most scary .





I have zero interest in punk music (how do these movies get into my Netflix Q?), but I enjoyed this documentary. Never heard of Kathleen Hanna, but her story is compelling & she’s a very interesting woman.
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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.





A fantastic spectacle. I can never resist a play. The costumes and sets were total eye-candy. I loved Edmondson in The Young Ones and Bottom, so seeing him in this was brilliant. It was interesting to see Luscombe’s interpretation of the gay relationships, he’s great at making the actors show sexual tension. The ending took a very dark tone, which I was not expecting. I absolutely adored all the song and dance numbers, there’s just something about posh men acting like children that’s so entertaining. The lines are delivered brilliantly. The physical comedy (And dirty jokes!) were the highlight of the whole thing, it never failed to make me laugh. The short film that accompanied the cinema broadcast was super interesting aswell.

If you live near Stratford-Upon-Avon, you should totally see this If you have the time.




Registered User
Neighbors - 5/10



Berkeley Square (Frank Lloyd, 1933)

All about endurance really



Most interesting man in the world
The Wild and the Innocent 1959 7 / 10



"In Wyoming, mountain trapper Yancy goes to the nearest town to
trade his pelts but gets into trouble when he tries to save runaway
saloon girl Rosalie from her shameful job."


-fun movie,sandra dee looks exactly like Jennifer tilly in this



The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015)
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Not enough meat in the claws for me