Raul's Film Thoughts

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2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
The Florida Project SPOILERS



This is a case of a film showing us that happiness can mean different things to different people. Most would think this would be living the low life, but for Brooklyn Princes character, she feels like she's on top of the world. And her mother is just as comfortable with her life in this weekly rent hotel. Moonee gets to go about the area and basically do whatever she wants unsupervised, while her mother can just veg out and do whatever comforts her so. As time went on I began to feel sorry for Moonees character despite all the trouble that she has been up to. It's really a realistic and staggering performance from Prince and yes a supporting actress nomination would have been quite neat. The hotel they stayed at was nothing special but for some reason the trashy world just draws you in watching it. Despite what they've gone through Moonee and Halley have a great mother daughter bond as evidenced by those ending scenes.

Dafoe is great too as the hotel manager. The scene with him running the pedo off the property was a memorable scene, as was him talking to Moonee at the end. The only thing I wish is that he became her caretaker, I really thought that maybe it would have gotten to that point and I think it would have been fitting, although maybe too obvious. I do wonder what happens next certainly, so that's the sign of a pretty decent film in my opinion. This one is sitting in my top 5 of the year and I will certainly look forward to watching it yet again.




2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Phantom Thread SPOILERS



We all know just how leery I am of PTA. The first films of his I saw were The Master and Punch Drunk Love and I absolutely despised both of them. I saw Magnolia and thought it was ok. Then I saw There Will Be Blood and I thought it was an outlier of his work, as I actually thought it was really well done.

Sean told me last night to see Phantom Thread, and that he wouldn't hold it against me if I didn't like it. Swan also warned on his page if you don't like his other films, chances are you won't like this one. And here I am to buck that trend.

It gets off to a slow start certainly but it's interesting to meet Woodcock, Alma, and Cyril. We see how obsessed Woodcock is with his work and it begins to translate with how he feels about Alma, whom he met as she waited on him and he then asks her out on a date that would forever change his life. His obsessiveness of life became even stronger, roping her into his world without really changing anything else about it.

I was a pretty big fan of the score, the camerawork, and the cinematography. I especially like the very small scenes where we saw Woodcock and Alma driving in the car, those were excellently executed albeit short scenes. The atmosphere created in the film gave the film a setup for a lot of tension in the second half of the film.

The acting was just as good as advertised. Daniel Day Lewis was magnificent. If this was indeed his last role he is surely going out with a bang. But I was stunned that an actress I've never heard of, Vicky Krieps, went scene by scene with Day Lewis and was equally as impressive. The relationship and the bond that the two have creates a very interesting bond between the two. I couldn't help but compare parts of the film to the obsession theme that Hitchcock used in Vertigo. People may think I'm strange but it felt sort of like the James Stewart/Kim Novak type of relationship. Then throw in Manville who I wasn't a big fan of in the first half but came on strong in the second half and you have quite the trio.

That second half was insane, honestly some of the best filmmaking of this decade. Yup, I can't believe I said it. I was completely shocked when Alma was looking at the poisonous mushroom papers. I was even more shocked near the end that he was so obsessed with her that he was willing to let her beat him down so she could take care of him.

If it weren't for a slow moving first half, it might be even more of a big hit for me. But crazy to think about 40 minutes in I was thinking to myself here we go again and then as the end credits roll being wowed, it's one of those cinematic experiences that is tough to explain. I've never felt that way in a theater before. Not to mention I was the only one in there, so that made it even more awesome.

It's a
but it honestly could grow. It's in my top 5 for the year for sure.



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”
There was plenty to rave about, but the car scene at night was my favorite image. The way everything behind them was lit up was an impressive sight.

p.e.

Now that I think about it, that would be a great still to have framed on the wall.



That's awesome Rauldc. So PTA great director, or the greatest director of all time?

Seriously glad you enjoyed it though. I had a feeling the accessibility of the narrative would be a difference maker for you with Thread.

Very cool you saw the Hitchcock link. I did not despite already knowing Rebecca was a pretty big influence on this one. I have heard Vertigo mentioned a couple times since as well. My favorite critic even mentioned Psycho because of the peep hole scene. That's what we call reaching.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
@seanc Yeah I made the Vertigo connection on here but I did legitimately think about Rebecca as well. At one point I wondered if Cyril was going to go all Mrs. danvers on us.

It's a heavy film and one that I look forward to rewatching, surprising as it is to say that.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
I am having a hard time mentally sorting through my top 5. This year isn't as bad as I thought it would be, 2015 is easily the worst of the past 4 years now.



Raul!

I'll read your review after I've seen it myself, but the fact that you like a PTA film, must mean that it's a really good one.

Interested in seeing The Florida Project as well.
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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019



I am having a hard time mentally sorting through my top 5. This year isn't as bad as I thought it would be, 2015 is easily the worst of the past 4 years now.
Tough for me. Seems like I always have 5 I really love. The Revenant is probably still my favorite of the last 4 years too, and that was 2015. I don't know. Definitely need to get a 100 of the decade list going for the end of 2019.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Tough for me. Seems like I always have 5 I really love. The Revenant is probably still my favorite of the last 4 years too, and that was 2015. I don't know. Definitely need to get a 100 of the decade list going for the end of 2019.
I really like The Revenant too. But I think that and Brooklyn are the only 2 from 2015 that I truly really like. Force Awakens probably in the third spot.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
The Private Life of Henry VIII



Nothing special, but it had a decent start and then it sputtered away for me. I watched it to get another best actor Oscar winner film watched. I usually like Laughton's films but this one was less than satisfactory for me.

Arrival



Just as great on Blu Ray as on the big screen. The sound of the film gives it a great film watching experience in itself. The cinematography and the performance of Amy Adams just add to the experience of the film. I thought maybe the film would lose traction over time but it's still my number 3 from last year and I don't see it losing that spot.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Curve



This was awful. Aside from the bad performances I think the worst thing was the dialogue and also the fact that this "thriller" really had no thrilling moments at all. It was about as unrealistic as can be as well, which wasn't the end of the world, but made it worse with everything else that had gone wrong with the film.




I, Tonya



Really enjoyed Margot Robbie's performance and I thought Janney was pretty good although I would rather Metcalf get the award. The story is quite interesting to me as well as there's a lot of controversy surrounding it. But I absolutely didn't like Sebastian Stan as Jeff so that's the main reason why this won't be a true favorite. Another thing is that it strangely tried to act like Goodfellas at times and it just wasn't a film that should be comparable to it thematically. There were some direction issues as well. But overall, it wasn't a bad film but it certainly could have been made much better.



Sleeping Beauty



The second time in the past couple years I've seen this. I love the color palette of the film. I love the dark turns the film takes as it's probably Disney's darkest film. The character of Maleficent is pure evil probably why I was afraid of her as a kid. This one has certainly gotten stronger for me lately.




2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Are You Here



Not a good film, which was a little disappointing since I thought it had a chance to be funny with Owen Wilson and Zach Galifinakis. The coolest thing though is that one of the actresses who played a prominent role in the film named Laura Ramsey is actually from the county I live in! It's crazy! I liked her in this film, probably outplayed all the other big names! She is the one on the left of Galifinakis.




... I thought it had a chance to be funny with Owen Wilson and Zach Galifinakis.
Really? See, I feel the complete opposite.
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5-time MoFo Award winner.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Mother



Aronofsky how I hate you. I've now seen 3 of your films and I've hated them all. And it says a lot that this is my favorite of those I've seen, because this wasn't good either. I did like J Law in it and I thought Pfeiffer was good, but the rest of the film didn't do anything for me, from the screenplay to the performance of Bardem. Now I know why he was nominated for a Razzie, his character was weak in my opinion. Ed Harris is always solidly spectacular but Aronofsky ruined that too. The screenplay was dismal for me. Really? Eating baby flesh? How does one even come up with such a putrid idea as that. Sadly, this is my least favorite of the year so far, which is shocking since a lot of mofos have seemingly liked the film. The first fourty minutes it seemed like it could be a fun and interesting ride but that second half was a complete shamblefest for me.

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