Raul's Film Thoughts

Alright, it's time for me to give a little log thread for my movie watches. Don't expect long reviews, rather thoughts and impressions or critiques on my watches.

I'll have one today for sure, maybe two if I have time to watch another film.

Nanook of the North



This felt like a very important piece of film history and I'm glad that I was finally able to watch it. To me it felt like the birth of a documentary, which is a genre that I really don't care for but I feel like I can appreciate the time put into some of these after watching this film.

I read that when Flaherty first attempted to make his documentary, his film tape burned. I give the guy a lot of credit for re-doing his work and staying after it. He had to be so exhausted about the whole process.

The film itself was shot splendidly. I felt like I learned a lot about the culture of the Eskimo. They faced harsh conditions which I can appreciate even more. My two favorite parts of the film were the catch of the walrus and then the making of the igloos.

This film is paramount to film history and it is something that needs to be seen by everybody. The overall enjoyment of the film isnt truly extraordinary, but it's importance may be unparalleled for films from the 1920s. Very well made.

Nice, I think that's a great film and I would agree with your two favourite parts, those are two fantastic scenes that stood out to me too.

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Their culture really amazes me now, I'm looking into the history of it as we speak.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas



A quick and simple watch but potentially one of my favorite cartoons of all time. My favorite thing about this film is the Dr. Sides dialogue but I really like the Grinch character and of course his dog Max. This is something that is definitely watched every year in my household and it definitely never gets old. The animation of Dr. Suess' worlds have always been pretty cool to me too.

You know most of the doc is fake, right?

Grinch is awesome

Feels real

In all seriousness, most of the fiction is probably because so much of his captured film was literally burned like I said.

I've not seen it so can't really say. All i know is that during a scene the director told them to hunt with spears when they would usually use guns, and there's a scene where he shows one of the Inuits a record and he is amazed with it as if he had never seen something like it before. The Inuit knew what records were it was because the director told him it was a comedy scene and he had to pretend like it was astonishing. He also told a story about one of them starving to death the next year when he really died of illness years later.

Basically he tried to paint a picture that these people were alot more primitive than they actually were to wow the public. It's a very important film though and i imagine it's pretty great, looking forward to it.

Yeah, it was staged, but whatever.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Arrival

There is a lot to digest with a movie like this. I'll start off by saying that the visuals were amazing and perfect. This alone was enough to make it a very interesting movie but it doesn't stop there. The sound is flawless and should be a shoo in for some academy awards. I know it seems strange to call visuals and sounds the strengths of a film, but it helps to set up the story and the atmosphere of this film for me.

Amy Adams gives a great performance as well. Not necessarily her personal best, but I hope she is in the running for some awards with this movie. She is always interesting to watch and always give it her best. She has certainly become one of my favorites.

I like how Villeneuve slowly reveals to his audience key components to his story. Nothing is cut and dry and there is a lot to be interpreted. It reminds me of the way Nolan is used to directing. This was the first of his films I've seen and I'm intrigued to see more.

I definitely enjoyed the first half of this film. It lost a bit of luster in the second half, but then roared back with perhaps one of the best endings I've seen to a film in a long time. It's really hard to rate this film right now. I feel like it has a chance to go down in history as a film very much like 2001 or Gravity. It's definitely thought provoking and it is certainly something that needs to be seen again. As original a concept as I've seen in a very long time.

+

Glad you liked it Rauldc. Surprised you haven't seen his others. I think there is a good chance you will like Sicario and Prisoners. Enemy not so much. I haven't seen anything before that. So far I like his stuff, but have yet to love anything. Arrival is good. 3.5 for me and hanging on to the number ten spot for the year on my ranked list.

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Letterboxd

Hopefully it's eligible for the Sci Fi list. Would easily make it for me. Arrival is my number one this year but of course I have seen, like, nothing.

I want to see Allied soon as well.

I saw Allied Saturday. It's pretty good. First half drags but it really picks up from a certain scene on. I won't give it away but if you have seen the trailer you know.

I really want to see Arrival, especially after reading Raul's review, it sounds like something I would like. What do you guys think? You know my taste.

Yet to see Arrival. My collegue grabbed the press screening. Really wanna see it when it hits theaters here.

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I think you will like it. Allied as well.

Thanks Sean, I think you know my movie taste pretty well, so I added Arrival and Allied to my Netflix Queue. I do have to wait a long time until they are released on DVD.

Okay Raul, consider me sold. Hope it comes out in theatres over here.

Moana

Really liked it. The animation was some of the best that I've ever seen from a Disney movie. The islands and the oceans looked absolutely gorgeous and the design of the characters (especially the villainous ones) were very well drawn out. I really liked the main character of Moana and that was a plus because often times Disney can draw up female characters who become rather annoying (ones like Elsa for example). The best scenes were certainly drawn up on the ocean, especially the ones in the dark and particularly the Sting Ray scene.

The story was pretty good and i really liked the story connection with Moana's grandma. It felt very sincere to me. The character of Maui was pretty good and he made me chuckle a few times. And I found the chicken to also be pretty funny. I enjoyed all of the voice acting as well.

The songs were just ok for me, the thing that probably held me back from loving it the most. The crabs song was rather horrendous but not enough to ruin the film. It's visual appearance like I said is its biggest positive and I've always been a fan of Hawaiian culture so it's a film that appeals to me. One of the better Disney non Pixar films in awhile.

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Don't know anything about Arrival. I'm in Sweden so it hasn't "arrived" here yet.(sorry) It's not based on the Arrival Charlie Sheen was in, is it? That was actually a pretty good film.