Zotis' Film Watching Diary

→ in
Tools    





Sorry to hear you say that ScarletLion. I was thoroughly gripped the whole way through. I think I took one or two breaks, but watched the whole series in two days.



Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Drama/Thriller


I'd heard it said from several sources that this was Tom Cruise's best performance ever, brought out by Kubrick's direction. After watching the movie I'm inclined to agree. The movie had an interesting cast. I really liked Rade Serbedzija's appearance, and was surprised to see a young Leelee Sobieski. The movie's measured pace gave me the impression of a mystery detective story, but with an intense sexuality that I found quite sinister in an almost horror sense. I liked the way they handled conversations between characters. Kidman's dialogue was especially gripping because of the way I could see her thinking during her pauses, and how intense her emotions were. Overall it was an interesting movie, but I can't see myself watching it again or talking much about it. The cinematography did absolutely nothing for me, and the music was a bit too repetitive. I have those two piano notes stuck in my head now. I liked the time signature of that piece, but after the fifth consecutive scene with it I found it distracting simply because it was the only music playing. It might not have been the only music playing. Those five times might not have been consecutive. But for the second half or third of the film it was the only music I was hearing whatsoever. If other music played I didn't notice. Overall a decent movie, but I didn't feel like I needed to have watched it. Of course I've watched lots of worse movies, but still, it felt a little too normal and not artistic enough. I've enjoyed every other Kubrick movie at least twice as much. The cinematography never caught my eye, and Cruise's forced smiles probably should have elicited a few less favorable responses during his "inquiries."




You studied Warhol in film school a bit right HK?
No. Warhol has always been a private interest of mine. I love his art (and I separate his paintings and his movies), but I do like that he, essentially, recreated the history of film/Hollywood over about 5 or 6 years. Going from one reel movies and screentests to fully rounded feature films with the movie stars he'd created. Honestly, I find him and his 'world' far more interesting than any of his work. If you want to get all arty and pretentious, I feel he was his greatest creation.
__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.



You studied Warhol in film school a bit right HK?
No. Warhol has always been a private interest of mine. I love his art (and I separate his paintings and his movies), but I do like that he, essentially, recreated the history of film/Hollywood over about 5 or 6 years. Going from one reel movies and screentests to fully rounded feature films with the movie stars he'd created. Honestly, I find him and his 'world' far more interesting than any of his work. If you want to get all arty and pretentious, I feel he was his greatest creation.
Interesting. Well, I'm sure you know more about him then I do. I couldn't have told you who he even was four years ago. But since then I have had some interest in him and bought one art book focused on him.

What do you find most compelling about Warhol?



No. Warhol has always been a private interest of mine. I love his art (and I separate his paintings and his movies), but I do like that he, essentially, recreated the history of film/Hollywood over about 5 or 6 years. Going from one reel movies and screentests to fully rounded feature films with the movie stars he'd created. Honestly, I find him and his 'world' far more interesting than any of his work. If you want to get all arty and pretentious, I feel he was his greatest creation.
I suppose you could also say that about Marilyn Monroe.



No. Warhol has always been a private interest of mine. I love his art (and I separate his paintings and his movies), but I do like that he, essentially, recreated the history of film/Hollywood over about 5 or 6 years. Going from one reel movies and screentests to fully rounded feature films with the movie stars he'd created. Honestly, I find him and his 'world' far more interesting than any of his work. If you want to get all arty and pretentious, I feel he was his greatest creation.
Never thought I'd read this from honeykid, but I like it.



Interesting. Well, I'm sure you know more about him then I do. I couldn't have told you who he even was four years ago. But since then I have had some interest in him and bought one art book focused on him.

What do you find most compelling about Warhol?
I can't remember who it was, but someone once said of him that he's the only genius with an IQ of 89. Or something like that.

I like the contradictions of his life and personality. I like how he changed a lot yet stayed the same. I like how no one is ever sure just how much he meant anything he did or how much was serendipity, made all the more confusing because he told people different things, depending on his audience. He'd fit in really well in the current world and yet would be a relic., which is kind of how he was back then as well. He's timeless yet very much of his era. But only because he created his part in it.

As for his art. I like the portraits, which were just his way of paying the bills, (or bringing home the bacon as he'd often say) but that's not a concern of mine and each one is another piece of evidence which points at the man himself being the art.

I like the flower prints, but in a way, much of what I like about him can be found in this series.



Is the shadow of the skull looking like a baby intended or not? Depends on who you ask and which day Andy told them what he thought.



Destroyer (2018)


A cops versus robbers detective mystery crime thriller starring an almost unrecognizable Nicole Kidman, this movie wasn't the female action hero cliche of the current Hollywood trend I thought it was going to be. After Jennifer Garner did Peppermint in the same year, it looked like Destroyer was going to be along the same vein. At least, that's what I thought when I first saw the trailer, but I saw the trailer again recently and thought it looked better than a cheep action thrill. Very quickly into the movie I could tell it was going to surpass my expectations. Destroyer is actually an intelligent mystery with intense atmosphere, powerful authentic emotion, rich multilayered characters, and gritty realism. Kidman plays a burned out LAPD detective pursuing criminals from her past as an undercover agent. The narrative moves along two trajectories, one in the past, and one in the present, and does a really good job of blending them together and jumping around a little in some other areas. I especially enjoyed the way it was all tied together at the end. The cinematography had two distinct styles that I noticed, one was a kind of gritty shakier look that felt very realistic, and the other was a more aesthetic look with picturesque composition.




Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Drama/Thriller

I find this movie fascinating...I don't think it's Cruise' best performance but it's in the top five...I do think it's Kidman's best performance.



I find this movie fascinating...I don't think it's Cruise' best performance but it's in the top five...I do think it's Kidman's best performance.
I do really like the ending, after everything he digs up searching to uncover the mystery, and when he finally finds out... Well, I don't want to give away a spoiler, but I thought it was realistic the way they handled it.



Keeping Up With the Joneses (2016)


A comedy starring one of my favorite comedians, Zack Galifianakis, alongside the lovely Isla Fisher. Galifianakis and Fisher play suburban parents happily married when new neighbors move in across the street played by Gal Gadot and John Hamm. The seemingly perfect couple, it soon becomes apparent that the Joneses have secrets. Patton Oswalt also has a cameo as a goofy arms dealer trying to act sinister without giving away that he's a total dork. Although Galifianakis is a favorite comedian of mine, I love his stand-up, but not so much his movies. Since Hangover this was the first of his movies I enjoyed. There were some hilarious scenes and overall it was entertaining and fun.




I'm just going to update some movies I've seen since my last update. I have barely been posting on Movieforums for a while now. I don't have much drive to post here anymore. There were some things that frustrated me and some personality clashes. I'm just posting these for myself. It's nice to have a place where I can reflect on my observations and keep track of what I've been watching. It's nice when other people poke their heads in too.



Mountain Patrol (2004)

This wasn't as artistic as I was hoping. It was a little boring. The acting the was good, and they captured some pretty amazing things on camera. It was very realistic and based on a true events that did happen. One scene broke my heart a little when a guy dies in quicksand. They captured it so well. Something I really love about realistic movies is the way things just don't always work out the way we hope. We hope for the best, we fight and struggle, but life is not that simple. It's not clear cut good guys versus bad guys with the good guys always winning. This movie did a really good job of showing the complexity of life, and the suffering. The ending was terrific. I suppose I was a little bored because it was a very slow movie, but it was a really good movie overall.



This one scene of everyone dancing was really sweet. The guy in the army cammo just started dancing, and then everyone else joined in. It was a little goofy, but he was actually a pretty good dancer. I loved this scene. The movie had a nack for portraying simple pleasures in life, even amidst hardships, there was joy and comaraderie.



All of the characters had personality and individuality to them. They paid attention to detail in many subtle ways, and I really appreciate any movie that does that. Over the course of the movie I was recognizing a lot of the background characters. Even if they weren't focused on, I felt like I was getting to know them all. When characters suffered or died, I could feel their pain and sorrow.






Anna (2019)

This is basically everything I hope for when I go to see an "action" movie. An action movie should be fast paced and exciting to give you that thrilling feeling, but it also needs to have characters you care about, and a well-told story. This movie had it all. It was realistic enough to absorb me into the movie. That being said, I try not to get my hopes too high with action movies. I'm hoping to have a good time and be entertained. I'm not expecting an artistic masterpiece. Anna surpassed my expectations, but my hopes were not fully met. Even if I don't expect an artistic masterpiece, I still always hope for one.



Luc Besson is a director I have mixed feelings about. La Femme Nikita and Leon: The Professional were phenominal, but other work of his was either mediocre or down right aweful. I mean, even for kids movies his Arthur movies look horrible. Lucy and Valerian were pretty mediocre, and while The Fifth Element has a cult following, it's pretty cheezy in a lot of ways too. Anna felt like he was trying to get back to La Femme Nikita, but the art just wasn't there. The cinematography, writing, and acting were not at the arthouse level. Overall I enjoyed Anna, and even if I hope for artistic mastery I'm not asking for it. I'm happy with a movie like Anna, because even finding an action movie this entertaining is difficult.






Atomic Blonde (2017)

Another explosive Russian Spy action thrill ride, I was surprised to find this a little more exciting than Anna. I felt that this movie was more realistic and had better espionage intreague. What really set this movie apart was how Charlize Theron wore the physical strain of getting beaten up. Theron is gorgeous for her age, at 44 years old she's still smoking hot. This movie also had a pretty awesome heartbreaking scene. I am an emotional masochist. I love horror films that actually scare me because I love facing my fears. I love depressing movies that make me cry, and I love gruesomeness that wrenches my guts. I suppose it's because they make me feel a lot of emotions, and it makes me feel alive accepting and confronting the things that we naturally want to reject and run away from. I don't want to give a spoiler, but there was one scene that made me bask in its tragedy. I'm not sure about how I feel about the way that the story was told for the first half fo the movie, from the perspective of Theron's character being debriefed, but towards the end it started to feel like the right perspective. Overall it was very entertaining with lots of exciting action. The martial arts had a level of clumsiness that was pretty realistic, and in a lot of other ways it was realistic. It wasn't a masterpiece, but it was a great action movie.






Between Two Ferns (2019)

I was really excited when I heard Zack Galifianakis was doing a movie of this. His Between Two Ferns youtube videos are so hilarious, I've watched them all twice. Unfortunately this wasn't quite as funny as, but it was still pretty solid comedy. I enjoyed it, but it didn't excite me as much as I had hoped. It didn't quite meet my expectations, but it was better than most of his movies. Will Ferrell's role was pretty decent. One of my favorite parts was when they stole Peter Dinklage's Faberge Eggs.






Clash of the Titans (1981)

My best friend had been trying to get me to watch this for a while. He really loves this movie. I thought it was pretty good. For the time, the special effects were really good. I much prefer stop motion over CGI. The acting was pretty good and the story was well told. This was way better than the modern remake.






Jo Pil-Ho: The Dawning Rage (2019)

Korean movies love melodrama, revenge, dirty cops, and arrogant thugs, and this movie was no exception. It had everything you might expect, but it also had some very interesting unique aspects. A lot of the movie consisted of your tipical anti-hero crooked cop who's still a decent guy despite that. Caught in between the Internal Affairs and the Criminals makes it hard to fight the worst evils because no one will back you up. The protagonist certainly found himself in that dilema, and I've seen it quite a few times already, but I welcome more of it because it's a delightful scenario if a bit cliche. However, this movie also brought something really cool to the table that I loved. A troubled teen with a tragic past feels like the sentimental thing that a lot of depressed teenagers wish they actually had so they could justify their depression. It's another cliche, but I thought it was done very well here. Sorry, I still haven't gotten to the unique parts. When a story has a character like this the author is always trying to find a believable and interesting tale of tragedy to give the character the motivation to be that sympathetic role. I think it's something that many of us want to see, and I particularly long for it myself. So I was really glad that they did an awesome job of making this troubled teen character, and the actress they chose for it, Jeon So-Nee, was really pretty and carried herslef well in that cool rebelious way with a lot of angst. I suppose what was unique was just the combination of these two cliches, and the way that the characters were done. Sorry, it's hard to explain without giving spoilers. I don't want to go into too much detail or give anything away. I'll just say that without her the movie would have been a cool crime action thriller, but with her it added the coming of age aspect with depression and angst. I think the movie had a four act structure. At the end of the third act there was a really heart breaking moment. It really climaxed the depression, and paved the way for the hero to overcome the obstacles. This is the kind of movie I love to watch because it combines two things that I love, thrilling action and coming of age. But for me the coming of age with angst and depression was what I enjoyed the most and what I feel they did in the most interesting way, however the cop was the main focus so there wasn't as much of it as I would have liked.






The Big Short (2015)

One of my very good friends had been telling me about this movie for a while. It was on Netflix so I finally got around to watching it. I must say in spite of Netflix's generally terrible selection, I have built up a pretty decent to watch list on there. This movie was about the housing market bubble, and Wall Street corruption. It's amazing to me that so many people spend so much time persecuting people for vaguelly offensive comments and homophobic/sexist/racist jokes when millions of people's lives get devastated and there's barely a whisper about it. How many celebrities have their careers ruined for lewd behaviour while crooked bankers get to live freely in the shadows ruining people's lives on a daily basis. It makes me sick, but I think it's just the way of the world. We live in a really screwed up world, and this movie sheds a light on that. It's not a particularly well shot movie or a particularly well written story, but it was entertaining and educational, and all based on real events with some liberties here and there. It's neat in it's use of breaking the fourth wall too.




Ad Vitam (2018)


This was a six episode Netflix miniseries about a near future world in which regenerative technology has enabled people to live longer. The longer life spans resulted in people being considered minors until the age of 30. In this world an old detective teams up with a troubled young woman to uncover the mysteries hiding beneath a wave of mass suicides. I liked Yvan Attal's thoughtful patient character, Darius, who is the detective leading the investigation. But it was Garance Marillier who really caught my eye. I have a soft spot for pessimistic angsty young women, and Marillier looks like someone who's career I'm going to want to keep my eyes on. Her character, Christa, is a strong silent type who herself was involved in the first wave of mass suicides that spurred the events of the series. Marillier carries herself with a slouch that weighs into a burden of sadness and anger that I feel I can relate to a lot. The aspects revolving around Suicide took quite a different twist from another film I couldn't help but be reminded of, Suicide Club. I won't spoil the mystery, but one of the things that really sold this series for me was that it wasn't very predictable. The show dealt with some pretty intense elements, like drugs, suicide, and murder, but it also showed its characters' lives more as a whole with their relationships and personal struggles. Some elements felt like a coming of age drama, others bordered on horror. One scene in particular was quite shocking towards the end of the series, in either the last or second last episode. I don't want to spoil it, but it gives me chills when I think about what almost happened. The cinematography, acting, and writing stood out the most to me as excellent.






Raw (2016)


So, I went looking for more of Garance Marillier, and this was pretty much the only other thing I could find. Her latest movie Pompei had its festival tour and we'll have to wait until its theatrical release. Two other movies she's done are in post-production, Warning and Madame Claude. This movie wasn't as interesting as I was hoping, relying mostly on graphic visceral imagery, but a little lacking for content or subject matter. Marillier plays Justine, a fairly typical freshman enrolling at a university studying to become a veterinarian. Visually everything looks nice, from the camera work to the sets, props, and make-up. There are some pretty messed up things that happen, but nothing really horrific, and nothing is explored in much depth. Some things are hinted at, like that Justine is the top student in her class, but this and many other things don't have any real bearing on the minimalistic story. There is some sexual content, but this too is treated as visceral and not explored further. The ending was pretty dull and predictable.








Noi Albanoi (2003)

Left basking in the sense of awe that engulfed me like an avalanche from the impact of its final scene, I remembered why I love cinema so much. This sensation didn't dissipate until long after the credits and music stopped. This is the kind of movie I always long for. This award-winning Icelandic film perfectly captured the isolation and desire to escape of living an imprisoned life. An imprisoned life can take many forms. In this particular case it's living in a remote fishing village on an island country in the middle of the ocean and certain ties like family and school. Noi himself has a kind of freedom in escape and rebellion, a care-free attitude and a sense of independence that others seem to find a little threatening. One thing that I think marks this movie as great is its ability to communicate so much about life indirectly and without words. I got the sense that the director understood a lot about life and many things in the movie must have layers and layers of personal meaning that could never be articulated. Director Dagur Kari said that he deliberately kept objects like cell phones out of the movie to give it a timeless aspect, like it could be set in any time. He also said that he preferred working with actors who weren't full-time professional actors, but people who also did other things like work as a carpenter. He talked about how he would rather listen to someone who's bad at playing the piano than a great pianist playing a famous piece flawlessly. In one scene Noi's father is playing the piano very poorly and the piano is out of tune, so he gets frustrated and smashes the piano to pieces with an axe. There was also a deliberate attempt to make the audience wonder if Noi is a genius or an idiot. A scene that made it too obvious he was a genius was cut from the film but included in the special features, still there is a scene where he very quickly solves a rubik's cube. And he solves it in an unconventional way, not starting with the white cross. I loved this movie, and I think it will be a personal favorite of mine.






Rebels of the Neon God (1992)

I thought this was a gritty film from the early 2000's, but I'm actually a lot more impressed with the cinematography now that I just found out it's from 1992. Rebels of the Neon God was very realistic and the camera work accentuated that. I don't like the feeling I get from watching a movie that follows industry standards because of how superficial everything looks and feels. These kind of camera angles make me feel more like a spectator who is actually there and it's just real life that I'm watching. What stood out to me the most about this movie though was its plot. Someone once criticised me for something along the lines of liking anything with an unconventional plot, and they weren't far off. The movie focuses on two characters who's lives intersect, but never fully connect. I felt like the whole time I was waiting for the two plots to join and become one, but it ended without ever doing so. At first I was a little perplexed, but in its realism it made perfect sense. This was just a chapter in some people's lives. It didn't feel like watching a movie, but more like being a ghost and watching people's lives.






Bliss (2007)

A young woman was found on the beach after being raped. The small town she lived in gossiped. In the Islamic culture she was to blame and sentenced to die. On the verge of taking her own life, she instead decided to fight to survive. This is a movie that doesn't shy away from the darker sides of humanity, but ultimately celebrates life. This movie understands religion and the deeper motivations that drive people. There is a lot of intense emotion on the verge of death, and silences that say more than words could ever possibly express. I bought this movie at a second hand store not knowing anything about it. I just got a good vibe, and it was worth more than thrice every penny that I spent.





The Boxer (1977)

This movie is a great movie to go into blind. All you need to know is that director Shuji Terayama is a wizard, and this is arguably one of Japan's top ten greatest films. If you love artistic cinema and realism, then read no further until you've seen the movie. Don't read a synopsis or anything, just go in blind and you'll love it.


Bunta Sugawara looks a lot like Sonny Chiba and plays Hayato, an ex-boxer. Kentaro Shimizu plays Tenma, a young boxer aspiring to achieve greatness. Hayato was a champion boxer who quit abruptly for reasons hinted at, but not fully divulged. Tenma is an amateur with a weak foot who accidentally kills Hayato's brother. When Tenma is rejected by his boxing gym he asks Hayato to train him. I actually swelled up while watching them train. When I saw Tenma's determination I thought, "How incredible." The scenes of him training were so amazing. No cliches like in Hollywood, just reality in its pure raw form. Sometimes a child is with them involved in such an obscure way, the child is a relative that appears from time to time, often in the background with very few lines. This movie feels so real because it dispenses with stylistic melodrama and formulaic plot structure and instead has characters that seem little more than extras yet have an intangible significance. You never know when some background character will suddenly have a chunk of dialogue and influence on the more central characters, and you never know which minor characters will suddenly reappear. There was one scene in the middle of their training montage which involved an amateur boxing match, and I thought that the training boxer would participate and win the match. There was such subtle attention payed to characters there, like a tiny short film on its own, and then they subverted my expectations and simply moved on. I felt like so much was said without words. I understood why they didn't participate. They were just passing observers on their own journey.

With the realism of this film many of the shots don't seem artistic, but every now and then there is such a beautifully composed shot that captivates me. The one I chose for this post is probably the best shot in the entire movie in terms of artistic composition. And it's very mysterious in the movie as it doesn't have anything to do with boxing, and is very surreal and subtle in it's implications towards the plot.

On asiancult.com they called this one of Japans ten best films. And I think it lives up to that reputation. Although I don't know if I would consider it one of Japan's ten best films, I wouldn't dismiss it as a contender. About an hour and ten minutes into the film I was suddenly impressed on another level, the boxing. This is a boxing movie. I remember early on the boxer was really determined going into a match, yet got obliterated. He stared in the mirror with such incredible sorrow and defeat, but the unflinching desire to continue on his path, yet others scoffed at him and told him to quit boxing since he wasn't particularly good. The make-up was great, he was all bruised up and bleeding, and a long shot of him looking into the mirror breathing intensely impressed me. Then at the hour and ten mark there was an incredible fight where he was struggling yet managed to land a knockout punch. It was such an incredible display of boxing. For anyone who watches real boxing, forget about all other boxing movies, it felt like an actual fight, it was so real. I can't describe that feeling, but it's not a feeling that any martial arts movie has ever given me, it's only a feeling that a real fight has given me. This was the first time a movie gave me that feeling. And it gave me that feeling again in the finale. I was laughing with excitement and joy, swollen with pride, when the credits began to roll.