Pussy Galore's movie thread

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I enjoy reading the movie threads from other members so I thought I'd create mine as well.


Also, it practices my writing in english which is a skill I try to improve.


I won't do review for each movie I talk about, just some quick impressions.
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I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages



Game Night (2018)


I was pleasantly surprised by this film I didn't expect anything more then a forgettable entertaining film I wouldn't remember in 2 weeks. Actually, it was one of the best comedy I've seen in a long time, Jesse Plemons is absolutely hilarious, everytime he speaks I laughed.

Also, I liked that the movie actually had some writing in it, it wasn't just a plotless comedy, it was a well thought out concept which worked very well.




Seven Days in May (1964)

(There might be minor spoilers)



That was a rewatch, I remembered enjoying the film, but I didn't remember anything specific about the plot of the film. I find this kind of situation the best in order to watch a film because you know you will like it, yet you still can be surprised at situations that happen in the movie.


I believe that John Frankenheimer is one of the best directors of the sixties, he made in a row: Birdman of Alcatraz, The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days in May, The Train and Seconds. 5 excellent movies, my favorite among them is The Train, but Seven Days in May and Birdman of Alcatraz are close.


What I like about this film is that there is not an absolutely evil character who looks for personnal gain, fame, power, etc. Frederic March and Burt Lancaster have opposing world views and believe in them strongly, some might side with Lancaster (not me), some might side with March (I tend to agree more with him), but botch man I would say have some merit, some courage, some genuine beliefs. Also the Kirk Douglas character is quite interesting because even though he admires Burt Lancaster and seems to agree politically with him (even though it's never explicitely said in the film) he can't admit the way he plans to disregard democracy.



The film also asks moral questions, does the end justify the mean? The film seems to say no and I'd say in a quite compelling way (even though I think that generally the end justify the mean). I think the film makes a compelling point because he is successfull in solicitating some moral intuitions that we have which see as immoral the idea that the end justify the mean (these intuitions might be mistaken, but they still are part of us and the movie effectively triggered them).


Overall excellent film, I'd recommend it.


8,3/10



A Man Escaped (1956)


That is an other rewatch of a movie I remember liking, but not really remembering why. The reason why is quite simple, it's the style. The story is quite simple, a french guy who seems to be in the resistance is in prison in 1943 (the prison is in France, but most of the officers are german since France was occupied by Nazi Germany at the time). We see how he tries to escape the whole film and also how he feels about it.

That's the part I found the most interesting, the narration of the prisoners own life in prison while we see him living it. There is a realism in this prison film that I don't find in most other prison films, it might make the film slower, some might even say boring, but to be it achieves what it intends to do, which is create a realistic atmosphere. Also, the score is very good.

I am not a fan of Robert Bresson generally, I really hated Au hasard Balthazar and Pickpocket, but I am a fan of this and Diary of a Country Priest.

80/100



Force Majeure (2014)

I enjoyed this movie very much. It is often time unconfortable to watch, there is lots of awkeardness, yet moments afterwards Oslund (the director) makes us understand a point about social interaction that makes the awkwardness worth it.

It's one of the more intelligent movie I've seen in a long time. By intelligent I mean a movie that subtly tells us things about life, about human beings by showing it to us. What I found most interesting about this movie is how it talks about the couple in a broad term, how as a social institution the idea of a man and a woman being together in a monogamous kind of way is being taught to us like it's a fact of nature, we don't really know why, but we have the intuition that it is how we ought to live.
Also, it talks about the idea of men as a protector of his family and how we expect it from every men without really knowing why.


I had many other intuitions like that while watching the movie, it is excellent.
85/100


La lectrice (1988)

That's a movie that isn't really well known outside of France I'd say. I really enjoyed it, it's very sensual, lots of nudity, but it also has something to say about life I'd say.
The plot is the following: A 30 year old woman who thinks she has a nice voice and loves reading puts an add in the journal to be a personal reader, which means she'll go to anybody's house and read to the person a book of the person's choice. Thorugh the film we see her go through diffrent clients, some have sexual fantasies, some are lonely, etc. I liked the idea and it was well executed.


80/100



I enjoy reading the movie threads from other members so I thought I'd create mine as well.


Also, it practices my writing in english which is a skill I try to improve.


I won't do review for each movie I talk about, just some quick impressions.
I could lift my movie views from the Rate Last Movie You Saw thread to here if you like as it appears you need some support here.



Here is one.
The EDGE:





This is a top shelf pyscho thriller adventure. Orchestrating the show are two fine actors in Anthony Hopkins and Alex Baldwin. I love the tension between the two after they become marooned in the wilderness when their planes crashes. It then becomes obvious that Baldwin is having an affair with Hopkins wife ( the delectable, Aussie eye candy Elle McPherson) and has planned to kill him while on a photographic assignment.. Things, however, do not go to plan as they have to rely on each other for their survival.. specially against a rogue bear that wants both for dinner. There is an even mix of suspense, adventure, tension and magnificent sceney, not to mention a great rapport between the two leads..
..





Watched a spook last nite called The Quiet Ones.. Wish i had not wasted my time. The plot was bewildering and convoluted while I had trouble sympathizing with the characters..made up of a university parapsychologist and a group of his students conducting an experiment on a young girl. And just who were "the quiet ones"? Sorry.. this is a sad effort from those that gave us the truly terrifying Woman In Black. I will not waste any further time on this.



I don't feel like writing reviews, but here are my appreciation of the last films I've seen.


(Rewatch) The Name of the Rose (1986, Jean Jacques Annaud) 8,1/10
Trop Belle pour Toi (1989, Bertrand Blier) 6/10
I Tonya (2017, Craig Gillespie) 7,6/10
(Rewatch) Zero Dark Thirty (2012, Kathryn Bigalow) 8/10
The Square (2017, Ruben Ostlund) 5/10
The Taste of Others (2000, Agnes Jaoui) 7,4/10
American Made (2017, Doug Liman) 7/10



Lawrence of Arabia (1962)



That was a rewatch, but I didn't remember much from the film. I think the beggining is really strong, the way they present Lawrence as this atypical military men, more intellectual then most of the other soldiers. The images are beautiful and the whole first hour where we see Lawrence in the desert and going to Akaba is cinematic genius, entertaining, beautiful visuals, beautifully cinematic. However, I have some issues with the film

Weaknesses: I was interested in how Lawrence continuously stressed the point that Arabia should come together against the turks, that the different arabian groups shouldn't be divided and fight against each other, but unite. What I found was lacking is to explain why the turks themselves can't be considered arabs. Among the different people of the middle east, which can be classified as arabs and which cannot? It's a question which I would have liked to be answered.

I really disliked the fact that white actors played arabs, even if Alec Guinness is an excellent actor it would have been a more immerscive experience if the arabian king was played by an actual arab actor.

The biggest weakness I'd say is the character of Lawrence himself, I just didn't get him, his personality. At one time he has this very high image of himself as this sort of new messiah that will give the arabs their freedom, at other times he has sudden flashes of modesty and thinks himself merely as a man (and he interchanges between these 2 visions of himself throughout the whole film). Also he's a pacifist throughout most of the film, at the beggining he prefers to walk in the desert then to take the lift of a murderer, then toward the end he willfully chooses to massacre turkish troops then to just ignore them (they weren't attacking). I just didn't get the character.

Still overall beautiful movie, the desert is almost a character in it, which I love, but it has it's flaws. Also, the movie could be an hour shorter.
78/100

The Lady Vanishes (1938)


One of the rare Hitchcock I hadn't seen yet and it was delightful. Super entertaining, short, thrilling, a great Hitchcock. I don't have much more to say, just an excellent Hitchcock film.

84/100