Thoughts on some of the other films mentioned:
Onibaba - Haven't seen this in the longest. I remember loving it upon my first watch, I even put it somewhere in my ballot for the most recent horror list, but a re-watch is surely due to at least confirm my feelings on it.
Sophie's Choice - I surprisingly liked this a lot despite some of the cheese and melodrama its got. Streep is fantastic, and her character's choice in the end is truly an iconic movie moment of all time.
True Romance - I like both Tarantino and Scott, and wish they collaborated more. The latter's debut feature The Hunger is super underrated and so is the director himself. This felt like a Tarantino film minus the obnoxious aspects that draw attention to themselves, so yeah this felt way more subdued which I liked, while also maintaining the strongest and more likeable elements of a Tarantino script.
Zodiac - It's great to see more discussions in this thread, too bad it's about the one Fincher film I have the least to say about. I partially agree with CR, the film is mostly boring and fails at its attempts of being contemplative. I usually love Gyllenhaal, he's probably in my Top 5 personal favorite actors, but this performance of his is easily the weakest and feels the most replaceable. I actually tribute a lot of what I found dull about the film to not only his performance but also how his character was written. It tried to convey the regular shmegular detective slowly turning dangerously obsessed kind of character, but it did it in the most tame lame and unchallenging way possible. It felt like nothing truly came of it, nor did it even feel like there was ever a character change. And as for the cinematography, that was also a huge negative for me. It was cinematic which goes against what the film was trying to accomplish.
Onibaba - Haven't seen this in the longest. I remember loving it upon my first watch, I even put it somewhere in my ballot for the most recent horror list, but a re-watch is surely due to at least confirm my feelings on it.
Sophie's Choice - I surprisingly liked this a lot despite some of the cheese and melodrama its got. Streep is fantastic, and her character's choice in the end is truly an iconic movie moment of all time.
True Romance - I like both Tarantino and Scott, and wish they collaborated more. The latter's debut feature The Hunger is super underrated and so is the director himself. This felt like a Tarantino film minus the obnoxious aspects that draw attention to themselves, so yeah this felt way more subdued which I liked, while also maintaining the strongest and more likeable elements of a Tarantino script.
Zodiac - It's great to see more discussions in this thread, too bad it's about the one Fincher film I have the least to say about. I partially agree with CR, the film is mostly boring and fails at its attempts of being contemplative. I usually love Gyllenhaal, he's probably in my Top 5 personal favorite actors, but this performance of his is easily the weakest and feels the most replaceable. I actually tribute a lot of what I found dull about the film to not only his performance but also how his character was written. It tried to convey the regular shmegular detective slowly turning dangerously obsessed kind of character, but it did it in the most tame lame and unchallenging way possible. It felt like nothing truly came of it, nor did it even feel like there was ever a character change. And as for the cinematography, that was also a huge negative for me. It was cinematic which goes against what the film was trying to accomplish.
__________________
"A film has to be a dialogue, not a monologue — a dialogue to provoke in the viewer his own thoughts, his own feelings. And if a film is a dialogue, then it’s a good film; if it’s not a dialogue, it’s a bad film."
"A film has to be a dialogue, not a monologue — a dialogue to provoke in the viewer his own thoughts, his own feelings. And if a film is a dialogue, then it’s a good film; if it’s not a dialogue, it’s a bad film."
- Michael "Gloomy Old Fart" Haneke