Iro's One Movie a Day Thread

I can kinda understand not liking Garden State if you consider it just as drama, but it's probably as much comedy as anything. Did you find it, ya' know, funny? I found it pretty funny. The diploma on the ceiling gets me every time.

It nailed a lot of relationship stuff, too, down to the way he tried to reassure her at the airport. That's kind of what's nice about it: the juxtaposition of the insane things happening with the high level of detail to the human moments that keep cropping up. I'd probably give it a low rating, too, if I were just considering things like character arcs and dramatic tension, but I like it because of the other things, like how much it made me laugh and how often I was forced to nod my head at something perceptive.

From the review:

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

I guess I didn't take "amusing" to be the same thing, exactly, but okay then.

Anyway, you certainly seem more preoccupied with it as a dramatic work, and while that's perfectly fine, I doubt I'd think much of it if that were my general angle, too. I think of it as an offbeat comedy with dramatic elements, and from that angle, I like it a lot. It's almost like a satire of people.

Apart from the diploma thing, I think the way people are constantly giving us tidbits of this movie role he's had (and how cliched and awful it sounds) is pretty great. "Oh, and the part where your dad gives you the thumbs up!"

At this point I'd just be reduced to listing funny moments, though, but there ya' go. If you find/found this stuff funny, it really ripples throughout the rest of the film, I think.

It's both comedy and drama, but since there's only so much you can flesh out "I didn't find it funny" then you focus on the drama and how that doesn't work for you either.

So just like almost every other use of split screen in cinema history, then.

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Finally had a chance to sit down and read through your last few reviews...

Though I understand someone not liking Superbad, I think it's one of the better films of its kind. I personally like it and find it rather funny. That's mainly because the movie feels so cofident with its humor and jokes. I agree about the penis drawing thing though, but apart from that I'm pretty laid back and think it's a good comedy and even well written, despite of having a "d*ck", "f*ck", "sh*t" in pretty much every line. I know it has flaws but I have too much of a fun time to care about them much. One of the better American comedies in my opinion.*

Taken (the first) was pretty good, the sequel was about what I expected, while the third film was indeed beyond bad. I hated the *shaky cam and quick cuts and the poor attempt at keeping the franchise going. I mean, I still see Taken 3 as a poor joke to Neeson's statement when he said he would only do another Taken movie if no one got taken. To me that sounds like "hah, there's no way they can come up with a TAKEN movie where no one gets TAKEN". But they did and it sucked in almost every way. Good thorough review.*

I wasn't a fan of The Homesman, it was quite average, though the cinematography and acting was great. The story was too dull, forced and at times very weird... The Searches I have wanted to see for the longest time ever, maybe it has to be soon... Sicario is one of my most anticipated movies of the year!

Do you count film shorts?

#605 - Short Term 12
Destin Daniel Cretton, 2013



Centres on the lives of the people who live in or work at a residential treatment facility for troubled youths.

Short Term 12 is a fairly low-key independent dramedy set in a residential treatment facility. All the patients are juveniles, with one patient (Keith Stanfield) preparing to leave once he turns eighteen in a few days' time. Most of the orderlies are in their twenties and aren't much older than their charges. The main one is Brie Larson, who is the de facto leader of the orderlies but is also dealing with her own problems, the most prominent of which being an unexpected pregnancy by her co-worker and live-in boyfriend (John Gallagher Jr.). The introduction of a new staffer (Rami Malek) serves as a good audience surrogate who can have the facility's day-to-day business explained to him, plus he operates from a position of somewhat oblivious privilege and thus struggles to know how to handle the often unruly patients. In addition to the impending departure of Stanfield's character, the facility also takes on a new arrival (Kaitlin Dever) who is extremely standoffish and unwilling to go along with the program. What follows is a feature film that focuses on the day-to-day conflicts that emerge as the wildly emotional patients do anything from quietly going along with the program to getting into all sorts of troublesome situations involving attacking others, trying to escape, self-harm, and so forth.

Short Term 12 is pretty solid as far as dramas go, managing to fill out its loose narrative reasonably well. A cast of familiar and not-so-familiar actors give some very believable performances that add weight to some fairly familiar conflicts (especially the ones that take place outside the facility, such as Larson's sub-plot). As such, the best moments tend to be clearly-defined individual moments; Gallagher Jr.'s embarassing anecdote from the beginning of the film, Stanfield's extremely heartfelt a cappella rap, Dever's attempt to express her inner turmoil through a hand-drawn fairytale, and so forth. That being said, everything flows into each other reasonably well as the characters have good chemistry with one another and things almost feel like a documentary at times. The technique is understandably simple, using naturalistic use of hand-held cameras to good effect. While the camerawork is good for an American indie film, this also means that the film's actual score consists mainly of straightforward acoustic guitar, which isn't bad so much as just...there. Short Term 12 is a pretty good film and, while it doesn't do anything too out of left-field and occasionally falls prey to the odd narrative cliché, it is a worthwhile film that does work wonders at engendering sympathy and empathy for its characters.

#606 - Pitch Black
David Twohy, 2000



A spaceship is marooned on an alien planet that is inhabited by a vicious alien species that only attacks in the dark.

Pitch Black is sort of spoiled by the presence of two cinematic follow-ups starring Vin Diesel as the goggle-wearing renegade Riddick. This does undercut the fact that the first act of the movie involves the crew and passengers of the crashed ship trying to keep track of the extremely dangerous Riddick. Of course, it's not long before Riddick and the others have to deal with a new problem - namely, that of the nocturnal winged creatures that live underneath the planet's surface and have no problem tearing any creatures that aren't like them into shreds. On a planet with three suns, this would seem to be a relatively minor problem...that is, until the planet undergoes its first total eclipse in twenty-two years and the crew must not only survive the massive swarms of aliens but also find a way off the planet. Fortunately, the odds are tempered somewhat by Riddick becoming the group's unexpected saviour thanks to his sharply-honed survival instinct and the fact that his eyes have been altered to allow him to see in the dark.

The film is a fairly unapologetic B-movie kind of deal and deserves to be treated as such. Performances are generally serviceable - Diesel's gravelly delivery and imposing stature do make him a good fit for the role of anti-hero even as he undergoes a predictable character arc, while Radha Mitchell is decent enough as a more straightforward good character and Cole Hauser makes for an appropriately weaselly love-to-hate character. Character actor extraordinaire Keith David pops up in a supporting role and his presence is always welcome. The rest of the cast is unfortunately little more than poorly-developed prey for the creatures (with the exception of the youngest and most vulnerable kid who takes a liking to Riddick) and it shows. There are plenty of holes in the concept, especially the part about a perpetually sunny planet somehow having its only known lifeform be a species of flying cave-dwelling beasts whose main weakness is light, plus the film does fall prey to a lot of familiar horror tropes after it's finally spent enough time having its first act play out like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil in space. There's a decent enough atmosphere that I would not mind going through with watching the other Riddick films, but as far as being a great standalone film Pitch Black does fall awfully short.

#607 - Memories of Murder
Bong Joon-ho, 2003



In 1986, a volatile group of detectives must try to catch a serial killer operating in and around a rural Korean town.

On paper, the plot of Memories of Murder seems all too familiar. Two dead women are discovered within the area surrounding a rural town, appearing to have been killed in very similar ways. The local detectives are dedicated to catching the person responsible. A detective from the big city is sent to assist in the investigation since the murders are similar in nature to one that happened there. Though the contrast between city and country causes friction between not within the detectives' ranks but also among the townsfolk, the main characters still work together to chase down whoever is responsible. When put like that, it's pretty standard. In Memories of Murder, it's very different. The local detectives are corrupt and are not only willing to torture suspects during interrogations but also work to prompt them into making confessions regardless of their actual guilt (often using falsified evidence). The big city detective may disagree with the methods, but he's not staunch enough in his principles to take a huge stand against the locals' activities. The townsfolk don't fare much better as they prove to be constantly unreliable or obtrusive to the detectives, whether it's by driving tractors through crime scenes or apathetically throwing away pieces of evidence even after being contacted by the police. Against this kind of backdrop, how can anyone hope for the killer to be caught?

The only other Bong film I've seen is his international dystopian thriller Snowpiercer, which also demonstrates how well he can flesh out a seemingly simple premise with the right characters and developments. The main detectives slot into some fairly recognisable archetypes - the city guy's naturally more reserved in his attitudes compared to the much more impassioned locals (though one is harsh out of pragmatism while the other is harsh out of sheer brutality). Even seemingly minor characters get decent characterisation and carry it off well - of note is the case's prime suspect, a physically disfigured and mentally challenged young man who goes through more than his fair share of torment throughout the film. In addition to the compelling main narrative provided by the detectives constantly trying to close the case by tracing whatever leads they can (especially when the killer's modus operandi involves certain observable events), there are various smaller plots that are brought up and resolved throughout the film, which does make the film feel especially grounded as a result. It doesn't go on for too long and makes sure to earn its tension in the scenes that require it, plus Bong captures the proceedings with sharp camerawork that manages to deftly mix clinical coldness with fiery confrontation (especially during one of the film's many rain-swept sequences). Definitely recommended for people who can handle a grim murder mystery where the more graphic moments are powerful without coming across as needlessly sensationalised.

I saw Pitch Black when it came out and I think I've only seen it once since, but I remember liking it quite a bit. I've never had any interest in the sequels, the only reason I knew Pitch Black was coming out was because Radha Mitchell was in it (Neighbours alumni), but I've occasionally thought that I should look at it again.

I think I'm the only person not blown away by Memories Of Murder. I blind bought it without ever having heard of it and, while I liked it and thought it was good, I was slightly surprised when I started to hear people talking about it so well.

I liked Pitch Black as well. I think whenever Iro gives a film a negative review, it means I've given it a positive one.

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Suspect's Reviews

...as well as everyone else.

Poor ol' Iro. It's like he's become a version of me, but one who watches films and writes reviews.

I keep telling people they're better off mentally adding an extra popcorn box to whatever rating I give, but does anybody listen?

I tend to listen....then ignore.

I don't think it matters. Most of your ratings are so low that one extra popcorn box still won't make it a good review.

I thought Memories of Murder was pretty so-so. One of the reasons is that although it is basically a police procedural, it comes across as a Hardy Boys/Korean version of a police procedural. The whole thing seems so ridiculous but the implication is that Korea is a backwards country with little technology and a bunch of incompetent, immature, violent cops who live their professional lives based on how American cops beat the crap out of everybody in 1940s movies. The atmosphere made it watchable, but nothing more for me.

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So, I'm not alone.

It isn't ridiculous, because those kind of stuff actually happened back then, you know, cops beating the hell out of people using their authoritah. And I'm sure you know the murder is a true event, and is a case unsolved to this day. It's what makes it a great film, because a lot of true-story based films turn out to be a bit bland, but Bong uses a variety of filmmaking techniques and detail and avoids that route.