Reply to Topic
I'm with @aronisred here- people rate films to highly and take 2.5-3 as a snub. Also reviews aren't supposed to be a synopsis
That’s at least how I view it.
Movie Tab II
→ in Games and Tabs
That’s at least how I view it.
X
Favorite Movies
I'm with @aronisred here- people rate films to highly and take 2.5-3 as a snub. Also reviews aren't supposed to be a synopsis
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
American Made
The life story of pilot Barry Seal.
Tom cruise is the movie star. He was famous before the whole tabloid culture. He was famous around the time when lot of his peers were pushed to be famous along with him. But none of them stuck except him. So to a certain extent he is even more of a genuine movie star than Brad Pitt. Pitt used his marriage with Angelina Jolie to increase his profile and collaborated with George Clooney on Oceans 11 and in a way increasing his profile. But Tom Cruise is tom Cruise. He helped others increase their profile but never did it turn the other way around. Even will smith was forced to do commercial blockbusters. But tom cruise is putting out movies like Valkyrie and Last Samurai , which are essentially prestige ambitious movies and they make 400 million $. So thats the power of tom cruise.
The life story of Barry seal is very interesting and there is lot of dense material in his life. Lot of stuff happened. So the first thing I noticed about this movie is that it pulls no punches in terms of creating the atmosphere. You never see a city scape like New York or any familiar urban feel.Its all centered around his character. This guy basically lived in Rural America and in South America and government offices. They make sure that the movie is not made audience friendly by giving them some levity. This movie is also bit of a downer. You can see that all the people Barry Seal is interacting with are sharks. Any wrong movie and you are dead. The aerial shots are in tune with both Barry seal and tom cruises aesthetics. Both are pilots and the story central character is a pilot and the movie doesn't back down from the aerial shots. All the drama in the movie and the tensions and plot points in the movie are in real life. So nothing can be left to imagination. I liked the fact that tom cruise took chances and help make this movie.
I recently noticed a trend in Hollywood which should be attributed to Christopher Nolan. Somewhere around the time of the dark knight and inception he jolted Hollywood into an era of this dark, gritty, epic, ambitious and quite frankly transcendental filmmaking. In a way his movie sort of establish how fake and superficial marvel universe is. You can see the impact of his films in movies like fantastic four , DCEU, amazing spider man, dredd, robo cop, the great gatsby,exodus gods and kings and many other dark retellings of those stories. All these are failed attempts. But there were successful attempts as well. The huge budget for Inglourious Basterds , Django Unchained, Wolf of wall street, revenant, Logan and upcoming Ford V Ferrari and Once upon a time in Hollywood with budgets of up to 100 million are all the residual effects of Chris Nolan. Somewhere around the time of Inception DiCaprio noticed that he can make movies like that and people will come see this epic scale movies as long as they are well made. Studios took a wrong cue from it and they hired indie directors to make big budget movies which are not really the stories they wanted to tell. They just took them so they could get a head start in Hollywood like Colin Trevorrow and J A Beyona. But DiCaprio just gave the directors free reign but made sure that those are the best possible directors anyone could ever get. I mean no one can get a better director than the one's he got. The reason I am bringing this up is because this phenomenon in Hollywood made Tom Cruise slightly obsolete. Even his movies in early 2000's with Spielberg and others pale in comparison to the dark moody tone of movies like Nolan's , Logan , wolf of wall street, revenant etc. The modern epics need to have certain sense of perverse sickness to them. Chummy movies are not what audience want. Epic scale need to have certain doom and death attached to them.
So the problem with this movie is except for the fact that the circumstances in which the protagonist finds himself are deadly and more played out like fish out of water the movie has is no emotional punch or core. True story is cinematic but this movie comes in the long line of American dream based movies like gold, wolf of wall street, war dogs and so on where in people are trying to chase money and gold and it just doesn't cut it for a movie in 2017 to be just a series of unbelievable true story events. A suggestion would be to have a scene where his plane crashes in jungle and make a remarkable sub story there. By looking at wolf of wall street and revenant, I noticed that one of the more formulaic ways in the epic scale ambitious filmmaking is to have memorable and bonkers sub stories with in stories like the over dosed scene in wolf of wall street or bear attack or inside horse sleeping scenes in revenant. Audience need to have some memorable scenes to talk about after coming out of the movie rather than just the whole movie being a blur. I suggest having some sequences in the movie that are unlike anything else and make them for 10 million or 4 million.
So the 60 million $ budget shows on the screen. The fact that South Americans talk in non-english shows the balls of the filmmakers not to dumb down the story.The sweaty jungles and rural America are excellently portrayed. The whole cloudy atmosphere is very interesting choice for the story that is told. The pace of the movie is an interesting commercial choice by the director. To keep audience attentive, he can't make the story drag. But to really have a emotional undertone, you need to either weave the pace with emotion or establish it with few scenes.Its just lacking what I call the Chris Nolan flavor. Wow factor is very hard to get in a movie set in South America. Because jungle alone can't render themselves to that.
The life story of pilot Barry Seal.
Tom cruise is the movie star. He was famous before the whole tabloid culture. He was famous around the time when lot of his peers were pushed to be famous along with him. But none of them stuck except him. So to a certain extent he is even more of a genuine movie star than Brad Pitt. Pitt used his marriage with Angelina Jolie to increase his profile and collaborated with George Clooney on Oceans 11 and in a way increasing his profile. But Tom Cruise is tom Cruise. He helped others increase their profile but never did it turn the other way around. Even will smith was forced to do commercial blockbusters. But tom cruise is putting out movies like Valkyrie and Last Samurai , which are essentially prestige ambitious movies and they make 400 million $. So thats the power of tom cruise.
The life story of Barry seal is very interesting and there is lot of dense material in his life. Lot of stuff happened. So the first thing I noticed about this movie is that it pulls no punches in terms of creating the atmosphere. You never see a city scape like New York or any familiar urban feel.Its all centered around his character. This guy basically lived in Rural America and in South America and government offices. They make sure that the movie is not made audience friendly by giving them some levity. This movie is also bit of a downer. You can see that all the people Barry Seal is interacting with are sharks. Any wrong movie and you are dead. The aerial shots are in tune with both Barry seal and tom cruises aesthetics. Both are pilots and the story central character is a pilot and the movie doesn't back down from the aerial shots. All the drama in the movie and the tensions and plot points in the movie are in real life. So nothing can be left to imagination. I liked the fact that tom cruise took chances and help make this movie.
I recently noticed a trend in Hollywood which should be attributed to Christopher Nolan. Somewhere around the time of the dark knight and inception he jolted Hollywood into an era of this dark, gritty, epic, ambitious and quite frankly transcendental filmmaking. In a way his movie sort of establish how fake and superficial marvel universe is. You can see the impact of his films in movies like fantastic four , DCEU, amazing spider man, dredd, robo cop, the great gatsby,exodus gods and kings and many other dark retellings of those stories. All these are failed attempts. But there were successful attempts as well. The huge budget for Inglourious Basterds , Django Unchained, Wolf of wall street, revenant, Logan and upcoming Ford V Ferrari and Once upon a time in Hollywood with budgets of up to 100 million are all the residual effects of Chris Nolan. Somewhere around the time of Inception DiCaprio noticed that he can make movies like that and people will come see this epic scale movies as long as they are well made. Studios took a wrong cue from it and they hired indie directors to make big budget movies which are not really the stories they wanted to tell. They just took them so they could get a head start in Hollywood like Colin Trevorrow and J A Beyona. But DiCaprio just gave the directors free reign but made sure that those are the best possible directors anyone could ever get. I mean no one can get a better director than the one's he got. The reason I am bringing this up is because this phenomenon in Hollywood made Tom Cruise slightly obsolete. Even his movies in early 2000's with Spielberg and others pale in comparison to the dark moody tone of movies like Nolan's , Logan , wolf of wall street, revenant etc. The modern epics need to have certain sense of perverse sickness to them. Chummy movies are not what audience want. Epic scale need to have certain doom and death attached to them.
So the problem with this movie is except for the fact that the circumstances in which the protagonist finds himself are deadly and more played out like fish out of water the movie has is no emotional punch or core. True story is cinematic but this movie comes in the long line of American dream based movies like gold, wolf of wall street, war dogs and so on where in people are trying to chase money and gold and it just doesn't cut it for a movie in 2017 to be just a series of unbelievable true story events. A suggestion would be to have a scene where his plane crashes in jungle and make a remarkable sub story there. By looking at wolf of wall street and revenant, I noticed that one of the more formulaic ways in the epic scale ambitious filmmaking is to have memorable and bonkers sub stories with in stories like the over dosed scene in wolf of wall street or bear attack or inside horse sleeping scenes in revenant. Audience need to have some memorable scenes to talk about after coming out of the movie rather than just the whole movie being a blur. I suggest having some sequences in the movie that are unlike anything else and make them for 10 million or 4 million.
So the 60 million $ budget shows on the screen. The fact that South Americans talk in non-english shows the balls of the filmmakers not to dumb down the story.The sweaty jungles and rural America are excellently portrayed. The whole cloudy atmosphere is very interesting choice for the story that is told. The pace of the movie is an interesting commercial choice by the director. To keep audience attentive, he can't make the story drag. But to really have a emotional undertone, you need to either weave the pace with emotion or establish it with few scenes.Its just lacking what I call the Chris Nolan flavor. Wow factor is very hard to get in a movie set in South America. Because jungle alone can't render themselves to that.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Seen in June Pt.2
Something about the premise and camera quality makes the film seem like it’s gonna be a crappy Tv film, but it is most certainly not. The performances are brilliant, and Blethyn’s is utterly outstanding. The dialogue is very engaging and realistic. The wonderful direction really shows us that this isn’t a Tv movie: The long-shot in the café is just fantastic.
There's one gay joke that hasn't aged too well, but apart from that it's a solid-ass comedy. Some bits were soooooooo funny (Them sneaking into the train-car for example). Eddie Murphy gave off his signature fast-talking joker performance again. Very intense final scene.
-
Personally I don't feel that the film has enough suspenseful scenes to be considered a thriller or horror. Very cool to see a film from this period depict a dangerous, mentally ill main character with substance, instead of just labeling him a 'loony'. Brilliant use of lighting and colours. The scene on the filmset is extremely intense, you have no clue what's gonna happen or what our main character has up his sleeve. At first I didn't understand why their was an outrage upon the film's release, as the critically lauded Psycho was released the same year and was much more violent; but then I realized the film deals with very heavy topics that would've been unheard of back in the day (Child abuse, fetishism, sadomasochism etc.). Also it was the first British film to show BOOBIES!
+++++++++
Where the actual hell was this film my entire life, IT'S F*CKING PERFECT! That's all I have to say, every second you don't watch this film is a second of your life wasted.
I liked it, a fairly solid Hitchcock. One shot in the courtroom is very clever. The last bit of the movie after he leaves the courtroom felt like studio meddling: If it ended before that it would've given us a great ambiguous ending.
+
The marketing is a bit misleading (like every A24 horror), but the shot in the trailer of Toni Collette's screaming being blocked out by blaring gave me goosebumps.
The film itself feels more like a very dark drama with supernatural horror elements than a horror film. Toni Collette gives an absolutely awe-inspiring performance, and Gabriel Byrne's performance is great also. Very effective use of music and disturbing imagery. A good chunk of the horror comes from tragedies that effect multiple families. Has one of the most effective jumpscares in a horror movie to date. Some shots give the appearance of looking into a dollhouse.
+
I was expecting to not enjoy this that much as I can't stand Westerns, but this was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't half bad. Both of our leads were written and performed very well (Bale's character was really interesting). The action was pretty good (Especially at the ending). While alot of people are praising the scenery, something about it seems a little grey and boring to me. I much preferred the scenery of Mangold's Logan, which takes place primarily in the desert also.
Extremely similar to 'The Dirties'; It's more realistic than 'The Dirties' but I'm not too sure which film is better. It's very realistic, what with the subtle dialogue that hints at the main character's mental illnesses and isolation and a character randomly sneezing (Probably the first time I've seen that in a film!). I feel like the starting and ending credits REALLY don't fit with the tone of the film. The last 15 minutes are very horrific and disturbing: It's possibly amplified by the fact that you've possibly gotten to kinda like the characters through-out the course of the film, and you forget the fact that they are heartless people capable of pointless murder.
The film also has alot to say about the nature of school shootings. The main characters have an extremely detailed plan of what they want to do, saying they don't want to repeat the actions of 'attention seeking' shooters; But ultimately everything they didn't want to happen happens, making you wonder if this may have been the mentality of other shooters in the past.
For a comedy, it's actually a very disturbing view into the life of a stalker. It has one of the greatest final shots I have seen in a very long time: It provokes a ton of questions and has one little subtlety that could entirely change ones view on the film.
+
Danny Boyle is a very strange director, his films all feel like they come from completely different directors with completely different styles. The stakes are pretty good. The soundtrack is quite beautiful. You know you're a good director when you can make an everyday object like the sun look beautiful. Very effective use of creepy, single-frame imagery a la The Exorcist. Liked the way in which the villain was depicted. I will agree that the second half didn't feel as good as the first, but it was still great.
Something about the premise and camera quality makes the film seem like it’s gonna be a crappy Tv film, but it is most certainly not. The performances are brilliant, and Blethyn’s is utterly outstanding. The dialogue is very engaging and realistic. The wonderful direction really shows us that this isn’t a Tv movie: The long-shot in the café is just fantastic.
There's one gay joke that hasn't aged too well, but apart from that it's a solid-ass comedy. Some bits were soooooooo funny (Them sneaking into the train-car for example). Eddie Murphy gave off his signature fast-talking joker performance again. Very intense final scene.
-
Personally I don't feel that the film has enough suspenseful scenes to be considered a thriller or horror. Very cool to see a film from this period depict a dangerous, mentally ill main character with substance, instead of just labeling him a 'loony'. Brilliant use of lighting and colours. The scene on the filmset is extremely intense, you have no clue what's gonna happen or what our main character has up his sleeve. At first I didn't understand why their was an outrage upon the film's release, as the critically lauded Psycho was released the same year and was much more violent; but then I realized the film deals with very heavy topics that would've been unheard of back in the day (Child abuse, fetishism, sadomasochism etc.). Also it was the first British film to show BOOBIES!
+++++++++
Where the actual hell was this film my entire life, IT'S F*CKING PERFECT! That's all I have to say, every second you don't watch this film is a second of your life wasted.
I liked it, a fairly solid Hitchcock. One shot in the courtroom is very clever. The last bit of the movie after he leaves the courtroom felt like studio meddling: If it ended before that it would've given us a great ambiguous ending.
+
The marketing is a bit misleading (like every A24 horror), but the shot in the trailer of Toni Collette's screaming being blocked out by blaring gave me goosebumps.
The film itself feels more like a very dark drama with supernatural horror elements than a horror film. Toni Collette gives an absolutely awe-inspiring performance, and Gabriel Byrne's performance is great also. Very effective use of music and disturbing imagery. A good chunk of the horror comes from tragedies that effect multiple families. Has one of the most effective jumpscares in a horror movie to date. Some shots give the appearance of looking into a dollhouse.
WARNING: spoilers below
The death of the young girl is genius. The marketing makes her out to be some creepy-Damien-Omen child, so you are 105% caught off guard when she gets decapitated.
+
I was expecting to not enjoy this that much as I can't stand Westerns, but this was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't half bad. Both of our leads were written and performed very well (Bale's character was really interesting). The action was pretty good (Especially at the ending). While alot of people are praising the scenery, something about it seems a little grey and boring to me. I much preferred the scenery of Mangold's Logan, which takes place primarily in the desert also.
Extremely similar to 'The Dirties'; It's more realistic than 'The Dirties' but I'm not too sure which film is better. It's very realistic, what with the subtle dialogue that hints at the main character's mental illnesses and isolation and a character randomly sneezing (Probably the first time I've seen that in a film!). I feel like the starting and ending credits REALLY don't fit with the tone of the film. The last 15 minutes are very horrific and disturbing: It's possibly amplified by the fact that you've possibly gotten to kinda like the characters through-out the course of the film, and you forget the fact that they are heartless people capable of pointless murder.
The film also has alot to say about the nature of school shootings. The main characters have an extremely detailed plan of what they want to do, saying they don't want to repeat the actions of 'attention seeking' shooters; But ultimately everything they didn't want to happen happens, making you wonder if this may have been the mentality of other shooters in the past.
For a comedy, it's actually a very disturbing view into the life of a stalker. It has one of the greatest final shots I have seen in a very long time: It provokes a ton of questions and has one little subtlety that could entirely change ones view on the film.
+
Danny Boyle is a very strange director, his films all feel like they come from completely different directors with completely different styles. The stakes are pretty good. The soundtrack is quite beautiful. You know you're a good director when you can make an everyday object like the sun look beautiful. Very effective use of creepy, single-frame imagery a la The Exorcist. Liked the way in which the villain was depicted. I will agree that the second half didn't feel as good as the first, but it was still great.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Deadpool 2 - Funnier and more story-driven than the original, Deadpool 2 sends up superhero flicks while also adhering to the tropes of the genre quite faithfully. Ryan Reynolds brings the laughs and bloody ultraviolence as the indestructible mercenary, this time on a mission to save a plus sized mutant called "Firefist" from the time travelling bad ass, Cable. Hilarious, inappropriate, and insanely action packed.
Mr. Vampire II - another sequel, this time to a nutty Chinese comedy flick about hopping vampires. Mr. Vampire II is crazier, sillier, and weirder than the original, this time a trio of treasure hunters unearths a vampire family who are set loose on the streets of Hong Kong. The child vampire's adventure with a pair of cute children is the weirdo highlight of this one. It's like a Chinese version of E.T. except E.T. wasn't going to drink anyone's blood.
Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo - Despite it's subject matter, "man-whoring," this Rob Schneider flick is a lot sweeter than it sounds. In the end, it's all about accepting others for their quirks, and how kindness is the biggest aphrodisiac of them all. Plus it's stupidly funny. Great supporting parts from Eddie Griffin and Amy Pohler.
Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo - A sequel nobody asked for, but it's actually funnier than the original. Rob Schneider's hapless He-Bitch returns to man-whoring to clear the name of his former pimp (Eddie Griffin), accused of the murders of Amsterdam's most famous man-whores. The sequel amps up the gross, scatological humor, really earns it's R rating, and still manages to be a pretty harmless comedy.
Mr. Vampire II - another sequel, this time to a nutty Chinese comedy flick about hopping vampires. Mr. Vampire II is crazier, sillier, and weirder than the original, this time a trio of treasure hunters unearths a vampire family who are set loose on the streets of Hong Kong. The child vampire's adventure with a pair of cute children is the weirdo highlight of this one. It's like a Chinese version of E.T. except E.T. wasn't going to drink anyone's blood.
Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo - Despite it's subject matter, "man-whoring," this Rob Schneider flick is a lot sweeter than it sounds. In the end, it's all about accepting others for their quirks, and how kindness is the biggest aphrodisiac of them all. Plus it's stupidly funny. Great supporting parts from Eddie Griffin and Amy Pohler.
Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo - A sequel nobody asked for, but it's actually funnier than the original. Rob Schneider's hapless He-Bitch returns to man-whoring to clear the name of his former pimp (Eddie Griffin), accused of the murders of Amsterdam's most famous man-whores. The sequel amps up the gross, scatological humor, really earns it's R rating, and still manages to be a pretty harmless comedy.
__________________
"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson
https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/
"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson
https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short (1966) -
A Dutch classic. Polish actress Beata Tyszkiewicz plays a graduating pupil of a love-struck, deranged teacher. The pace is very slow but things get intense towards the end!
Mother (1952) -
One of Naruse's best! A paean to a mother. Any and every mother in this world in general, and Kinuyo Tanaka's character in particular. A woman who is able to live the lives of all her children at the same time. Also Kyoko Kagawa in this traditional wedding dress. *.*
Casino (1995) -
Was ready to hate it but ended up really liking it. I loved the free-flowing narration in this. I found the violence extremely explicit and truly disturbing. Time to rewatch Goodfellas?
The Chase (1966) -
The first hour is a little bit torpid but then they beat the sh*t out of Brando and things start getting interesting with an electrifying finale to boot!
Mikey and Nicky (1976) -
Surprisingly enough, this was not directed by Cassavetes but still is as Cassavetian as a film can be. Great performances from Cassavetes and Falk.
Notes of an Itinerant Performer (1941) -
Shimizu's weakest out of three of his 1941 films I've seen but still a pretty good film.
The Adventures of God (2000) -
%2001.jpg)
Now that's what I call surrealism. A majestic work of art from the Argentinian director. Hitchhiking Jesus > life.
The Possessed (1965) -
Quality proto-giallo with splendid cinematography. The plot weighs it down but still more than a worthy film.
Frost (1997) -
3,5 hours of pathology with an underlying layer of misery porn. Long takes are really impressive at first but quickly wear thin. The scene in the mist is outstanding.
Man Facing Southeast (1986) -
Another movie from the director of The Adventures of God. Not as great and much more Christian but offers an interesting parable about an alien Christ.
The Long Farewell (1971) -
My second Muratova. A great film that makes me confused. I don't know if I should be moved by bonds or annoyed by manipulation. The scene of letter writing is weirdly moving and I don't know why.
Utamaro and His Five Women (1946) -
A visual masterpiece. Even though it might no be the level of Ugetsu, Sansho or Yuki, I'm still dumbfounded by how well Mizoguchi's eye composes shots. The blocking is impeccable, camera movement sublime, mise en scene breathtaking. Plotwise the movie is thick. It's about an artist and his love for his art. It's about brushes winning over swords. It's about the passion for art that is as strong as the passion for love. When watching Mizoguchi films I have a feeling I'm watching something important, something truly great.
Icarus XB 1 (1963) -
A solid Czechoslovak sci-fi! I found the ending anticlimactic.
Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941) -
If we don't count his early silent flops, this is one of Ozu's weakest. Still a good film.
A Dutch classic. Polish actress Beata Tyszkiewicz plays a graduating pupil of a love-struck, deranged teacher. The pace is very slow but things get intense towards the end!
Mother (1952) -
One of Naruse's best! A paean to a mother. Any and every mother in this world in general, and Kinuyo Tanaka's character in particular. A woman who is able to live the lives of all her children at the same time. Also Kyoko Kagawa in this traditional wedding dress. *.*
Casino (1995) -
Was ready to hate it but ended up really liking it. I loved the free-flowing narration in this. I found the violence extremely explicit and truly disturbing. Time to rewatch Goodfellas?
The Chase (1966) -
The first hour is a little bit torpid but then they beat the sh*t out of Brando and things start getting interesting with an electrifying finale to boot!
Mikey and Nicky (1976) -
Surprisingly enough, this was not directed by Cassavetes but still is as Cassavetian as a film can be. Great performances from Cassavetes and Falk.
Notes of an Itinerant Performer (1941) -
Shimizu's weakest out of three of his 1941 films I've seen but still a pretty good film.
The Adventures of God (2000) -
Now that's what I call surrealism. A majestic work of art from the Argentinian director. Hitchhiking Jesus > life.
The Possessed (1965) -
Quality proto-giallo with splendid cinematography. The plot weighs it down but still more than a worthy film.
Frost (1997) -
3,5 hours of pathology with an underlying layer of misery porn. Long takes are really impressive at first but quickly wear thin. The scene in the mist is outstanding.
Man Facing Southeast (1986) -
Another movie from the director of The Adventures of God. Not as great and much more Christian but offers an interesting parable about an alien Christ.
The Long Farewell (1971) -
My second Muratova. A great film that makes me confused. I don't know if I should be moved by bonds or annoyed by manipulation. The scene of letter writing is weirdly moving and I don't know why.
Utamaro and His Five Women (1946) -
A visual masterpiece. Even though it might no be the level of Ugetsu, Sansho or Yuki, I'm still dumbfounded by how well Mizoguchi's eye composes shots. The blocking is impeccable, camera movement sublime, mise en scene breathtaking. Plotwise the movie is thick. It's about an artist and his love for his art. It's about brushes winning over swords. It's about the passion for art that is as strong as the passion for love. When watching Mizoguchi films I have a feeling I'm watching something important, something truly great.
Icarus XB 1 (1963) -
A solid Czechoslovak sci-fi! I found the ending anticlimactic.
Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941) -
If we don't count his early silent flops, this is one of Ozu's weakest. Still a good film.
__________________
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.
Last edited by Mr Minio; 06-28-18 at 12:15 PM.
X
User Lists
Paddington (Paul King, 2014) -
Still a charming little movie about a talking bear, though a second viewing does confirm that it's ever-so-slightly inferior to its sequel.
Ocean Waves (Tomomo Mochizuki, 1993) -
Probably the weakest Ghibli film I've seen yet, if only because its slight and mundane tale doesn't do all that much to work even by the modest standards it sets for itself. I'm still hoping it'll grow on me, though.
Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981) -
For a vanity project from the ass-end of the New Hollywood era, this one's actually rather remarkable in how it manages to pull off a rather decent (if lengthy) story that affords some predictably complicated sympathies to various 20th-century communists in a film that is shot through with Storaro's usual capacity for great cinematography.
Boar (Chris Sun, 2017) -
I remember not thinking too fondly of that other "giant Australian killer pig" movie Razorback when I first saw it, but I think I owe it a second chance after seeing this charmless attempt at rehashing it with a few Ozploitation icons old and new (plus a weirdly normal-looking Bill Moseley) thrown in for good measure. At least the practical effects look good.
Despair (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978) -
Fassbinder does a somewhat absurd psychological drama about a businessman's gradual mental breakdown in the last days of the Weimar Republic. There's something that's ultimately a little one-note about its take on fractured identity, but as with the bulk of Fassbinder's filmography it remains passable.
Lili Marleen (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981) -
Fassbinder does a wartime romance that is interesting mainly because of how utterly conventional it is compared to virtually every other film of his that I've seen, though it's still got enough of his fingerprints all over it to help it stand out from other films of its ilk.
Mala noche (Gus Van Sant, 1985) -
I've always considered Van Sant a more or less okay director and his debut, a ramshackle black-and-white indie about a gay slacker and his tumultuous acquaintance with a pair of Mexican immigrants, does nothing to dispel that notion in one way or another.
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008) -
First time re-watching this since release. It holds up well and some things play even better on re-watch.
Querelle (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982) -
Fassbinder does an exceptionally overblown story about the homoerotic misadventures of a sailor and the various individuals he encounters during shore leave. While not a deliberate attempt to create one, it is a remarkable swansong for Fassbinder that offers new twists on his favourite themes and subjects that are all wrapped in a lavishly-visualised package.
Twilight Zone: The Movie (John Landis/Steven Spielberg/Joe Dante/George Miller, 1983) -
I probably shouldn't have gone into this expecting it to be particularly scary (the lacklustre "wanna see something really scary?" bit at the start really should've been the tip-off). The segments themselves are pretty whatever as well - Landis's coasts on production value more than anything else, Spielberg's is so saccharine that it makes E.T. seem like Schinder's List, Dante's is an appreciably manic live-action cartoon, and Miller's is only just freaky enough to not count as boring. It probably doesn't help that I already saw the latter two segments as Treehouse of Horror episodes first, though.
Still a charming little movie about a talking bear, though a second viewing does confirm that it's ever-so-slightly inferior to its sequel.
Ocean Waves (Tomomo Mochizuki, 1993) -
Probably the weakest Ghibli film I've seen yet, if only because its slight and mundane tale doesn't do all that much to work even by the modest standards it sets for itself. I'm still hoping it'll grow on me, though.
Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981) -
For a vanity project from the ass-end of the New Hollywood era, this one's actually rather remarkable in how it manages to pull off a rather decent (if lengthy) story that affords some predictably complicated sympathies to various 20th-century communists in a film that is shot through with Storaro's usual capacity for great cinematography.
Boar (Chris Sun, 2017) -
I remember not thinking too fondly of that other "giant Australian killer pig" movie Razorback when I first saw it, but I think I owe it a second chance after seeing this charmless attempt at rehashing it with a few Ozploitation icons old and new (plus a weirdly normal-looking Bill Moseley) thrown in for good measure. At least the practical effects look good.
Despair (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978) -
Fassbinder does a somewhat absurd psychological drama about a businessman's gradual mental breakdown in the last days of the Weimar Republic. There's something that's ultimately a little one-note about its take on fractured identity, but as with the bulk of Fassbinder's filmography it remains passable.
Lili Marleen (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981) -
Fassbinder does a wartime romance that is interesting mainly because of how utterly conventional it is compared to virtually every other film of his that I've seen, though it's still got enough of his fingerprints all over it to help it stand out from other films of its ilk.
Mala noche (Gus Van Sant, 1985) -
I've always considered Van Sant a more or less okay director and his debut, a ramshackle black-and-white indie about a gay slacker and his tumultuous acquaintance with a pair of Mexican immigrants, does nothing to dispel that notion in one way or another.
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008) -
First time re-watching this since release. It holds up well and some things play even better on re-watch.
Querelle (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982) -
Fassbinder does an exceptionally overblown story about the homoerotic misadventures of a sailor and the various individuals he encounters during shore leave. While not a deliberate attempt to create one, it is a remarkable swansong for Fassbinder that offers new twists on his favourite themes and subjects that are all wrapped in a lavishly-visualised package.
Twilight Zone: The Movie (John Landis/Steven Spielberg/Joe Dante/George Miller, 1983) -
I probably shouldn't have gone into this expecting it to be particularly scary (the lacklustre "wanna see something really scary?" bit at the start really should've been the tip-off). The segments themselves are pretty whatever as well - Landis's coasts on production value more than anything else, Spielberg's is so saccharine that it makes E.T. seem like Schinder's List, Dante's is an appreciably manic live-action cartoon, and Miller's is only just freaky enough to not count as boring. It probably doesn't help that I already saw the latter two segments as Treehouse of Horror episodes first, though.
__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0
I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
X
Favorite Movies
I'm with @aronisred here- people rate films to highly and take 2.5-3 as a snub. Also reviews aren't supposed to be a synopsis
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Not a synopsis. But they should be about the film and not the general public or industry.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Not a synopsis. But they should be about the film and not the general public or industry.
I hated Blade Runner because of the on set tension between american and british crews.
There ya go lol
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Right.
I hated Blade Runner because of the on set tension between american and british crews.
There ya go lol
I hated Blade Runner because of the on set tension between american and british crews.
There ya go lol
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
As long as you are happy
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Blade Runner is one of my favorite films. I was just joking. Just trying to illustrate my point a little. Same advice to you, I guess. Peace.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
My recommendation would be the 2007 "Final Cut" (which is also the most widely available one anyway since Scott decided that, as the name implies, it would serve as the definitive version). The key difference is between the 1982 theatrical cut (which had serious studio interference that made it a lesser film) and the 1992 director's cut, which got refined into the Final Cut.
X
Favorite Movies
okay...I need an advice from you then...I heard that blade runner 2049 is very well received..so if I want to fully enjoy it which version of original blade runner do I need to watch ? apparently there are 100 versions.
The music, too.
Of course, this is 2018, and everyone has seen everything now. Nothing impresses anyone anymore, so...
Just pick a version and watch it. With a film like Blade Runner, if you can't get the power from any version, you'll never get it. It's a matter of preference.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
June, 2018 movies watched-
Annhilation (2018) It's good but I prefer the director's Ex-Machina.
Combat Shock (1984) Pretty good for a Troma film.
Waterloo Bridge (1931) Not sure which I like more between this and the 1940 version.
A Night at the Opera (1935) + My second Marx Brothers movie, and I'd rank it slightly behind Horse Feathers.
Terrifier (2017) Nothing special but worth watching for slasher fans.
The Petrified Forest (1936) Enjoyable thriller with early roles from Bogart and Bette Davis.
Atomic Blonde (2017) + Good fun with a couple of hot girls.
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) As far as road and car movies go, this is a new favorite.
42nd Street (1933) - Not necessarily my taste, but extremely well made.
Jezebel (1938) Director William Wyler strikes again.
Mr. Freedom (1968) Something different, and mostly successful. I just thought it started to wear thin.
Red Sparrow (2018) I thought it was ridiculous for awhile until it grew on me.
Pygmalion (1938) Great performances from Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller, I liked it much more than My Fair Lady.
Death Wish (2018) + Pretty run of the mill yet still plenty entertaining.
Shogun's Sadism: The Joys of Torture 2 (1976) + Split into 2 stories, both with plenty of shocks.
Pixote (1981) A look at juvenile delinquents in Brazil, and it's not pretty.
Hotel Du Nord (1938) Good flick even if I couldn't get totally into it.
Klass (2007) - Unpleasant story of school bullying and violence.
Entrails of a Virgin (1986) Easy to watch with a few decent moments, but overall a lousy movie.
Game Night (2018) - Good fun with a good cast.
The Green Elephant (1999) Low budget Russian shocker that is filthy, raw, and sickening.
The Killer is Still Among Us (1986) - Not a bad Giallo, but just not nearly enough action.
Electra Glide in Blue (1973) + A mixed bag with a lot of cool elements for a movie that was sometimes a bore.
The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) A very unique movie that has even more to offer than what I got out of it.
The Blue Angel (1930) A jarring turn of events made this movie one I'll remember.
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Repeat viewing I would rather not have the comedic element even though it works well much of the time.
Wait Until Dark (1967) Repeat viewing + Fabulously entertaining even if I also think it has plenty of stupidity.
Poison for the Fairies (1984) No real negatives or positives, just ok.
Total June viewings-28
Total 2018 viewings-160
Annhilation (2018) It's good but I prefer the director's Ex-Machina.
Combat Shock (1984) Pretty good for a Troma film.
Waterloo Bridge (1931) Not sure which I like more between this and the 1940 version.
A Night at the Opera (1935) + My second Marx Brothers movie, and I'd rank it slightly behind Horse Feathers.
Terrifier (2017) Nothing special but worth watching for slasher fans.
The Petrified Forest (1936) Enjoyable thriller with early roles from Bogart and Bette Davis.
Atomic Blonde (2017) + Good fun with a couple of hot girls.
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) As far as road and car movies go, this is a new favorite.
42nd Street (1933) - Not necessarily my taste, but extremely well made.
Jezebel (1938) Director William Wyler strikes again.
Mr. Freedom (1968) Something different, and mostly successful. I just thought it started to wear thin.
Red Sparrow (2018) I thought it was ridiculous for awhile until it grew on me.
Pygmalion (1938) Great performances from Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller, I liked it much more than My Fair Lady.
Death Wish (2018) + Pretty run of the mill yet still plenty entertaining.
Shogun's Sadism: The Joys of Torture 2 (1976) + Split into 2 stories, both with plenty of shocks.
Pixote (1981) A look at juvenile delinquents in Brazil, and it's not pretty.
Hotel Du Nord (1938) Good flick even if I couldn't get totally into it.
Klass (2007) - Unpleasant story of school bullying and violence.
Entrails of a Virgin (1986) Easy to watch with a few decent moments, but overall a lousy movie.
Game Night (2018) - Good fun with a good cast.
The Green Elephant (1999) Low budget Russian shocker that is filthy, raw, and sickening.
The Killer is Still Among Us (1986) - Not a bad Giallo, but just not nearly enough action.
Electra Glide in Blue (1973) + A mixed bag with a lot of cool elements for a movie that was sometimes a bore.
The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) A very unique movie that has even more to offer than what I got out of it.
The Blue Angel (1930) A jarring turn of events made this movie one I'll remember.
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Repeat viewing I would rather not have the comedic element even though it works well much of the time.
Wait Until Dark (1967) Repeat viewing + Fabulously entertaining even if I also think it has plenty of stupidity.
Poison for the Fairies (1984) No real negatives or positives, just ok.
Total June viewings-28
Total 2018 viewings-160
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
★
Requiem for a Killer (2011) Le Gris
She is a state of the art contract killer specializing in poisons (she botches every attempt) coaxed out of retirement for one last job. He is a burnt-out a secret agent pulled out of an administrative leave (he has a tendency to shoot first then ask questions later) to protect the famous baritone targeted for assassination. Both killers can double as world class musicians and are programmed as headliners at a classical music festival; she shrieks on stage and he strums beside her, while they play their mouse and cat game back stage … Sheesh.
On Chesil Beach (2017) - Cooke
A 110 minute PSA why sex education should be a mandatory high school course.
★½
Hotel Artemis (2018) - Pearce
The logic of the film quickly crumbles where the rules of the hotel (and film) are plastered all over the walls then are immediately broken by the very personnel who posted them. There is something really odd about having the foresight to keep your premiums paid up on a clandestine state-of the art trauma center for GSW’s (the hotel advertises itself prominently in the Los Angeles skyline) then engaging in behaviors that will get you riddled with bullets. Jodie Foster was nice here as a weary, alcoholic nurse with a heart of bronze.
★★
In Your Eyes (2014) Hill
This is romantic comedy? Essentially this is two characters that giggle and engage in long conversations with themselves in public for the entire film. The film hides this by cross-cutting and avoiding any establishing shots. The truth is that their lives were completely ruined by this psychic connection. This same idea would have worked much better as paranoid horror film where two schizophrenic patients begin to understand the voices in their heads are actually real; because at the end of the movie, that’s where they are. He is going back to prison for a very long time and she is going back the looney bin as a violent inmate with some very serious chemical restraints.
The Seagull (2018) - Mayers
The key moment in the film is when the famous writer looks at the ingénue then jots down in his notebook: She will rue the day. The film quickly dissolves to two years later when her ruin is complete but she still follows him around begging for a crumb of affection. Maybe her suffering was justified because she was a skanky little home wrecker way back when this was written, but certainly not now. I would have thrown out everything in the source material but kept the dissolve, that’s the movie; then got James Toback to direct and Harvey Weinstein to produce this tale of radiant, sadistic misogyny.
★★½
In another Country (2012) Sang-soo Hong
This is three light variations of the same basic story of four or five characters meeting and interacting at a sea-side resort. There’s a delicious moment when Isabelle Huppert (playing a movie director) stops by a road and does this strange yodel, then cuts to the couple of perplexed goats in a field. She’s so ba-d-d-d-d. On the other hand, the whole thing could be just the scribbles of a chambermaid writing a scenario in her spare time.
First Reformed (2017) - Schrader
This seems less about a character making choices about his life, but simply laying the losing hand he has been dealt over the last couple of years. At the beginning of Schrader’s career god’s angry man was a taxi-driver looking for trouble, now he is a holy man who stands at the pulpit in an almost empty church simply mouthing the words no one will hear, no longer believing in anything and decides to go out in a blaze of glory as a renegade priest clearing the church of the money changers.
Gauguin: voyage in Tahiti (2017) - Deluc
Vincent Cassel has the perfect face, lined and creased with worries to play a permanent marginal in the world; the artist living only to follow his lonely bliss (to be ironically commodified after his death and turned into gold---his tribulations becoming the selling points), His last hurrah is escaping to a tropical paradise; itself in the process of being dismantled and destroyed, The natives are slowly losing their way of life and their minds are being colonized; the greatest dream for his young beauty is to afford the white dress for the parade to and from church on Sunday. At the end, he becomes what he despises most, a petty bourgeois locking away his greatest possessions.
Voyage of the damned (1976) Rosenberg
The escaping ship is merely a floating PR exercise for the Nazi’s who know in advance the steamship is going to be rejected in every port and eventually return to Germany. Hope is cruelly dangled before the passengers; the cruise then becomes an elegant pressure cooker as certain people slowly understand the horror of their situation. Malcolm McDowell is probably the oldest cabin boy in history.
High Hopes (1988) Leigh
Larger than Bleak Moments, Leigh’s second theatrical release (17 years later) has more moving parts than his first. Thatcher has cleaved British society into the haves and the have-nots. An elderly lady still lives in the flat she grew up in, but she’s about to be pushed out by the sky rocketing rents by Yuppies snapping up prime real estate for a song. The film is doesn’t seem to be constructed with plot points but works through comparison; revealing how the different couples and characters interact, relate and contrast to the various situations.
Take out (2012) Baker & Tsou
Little bit of a hump to get over the first act, because getting information from our hero is like pulling teeth. But you begin to root for him once the second delivery guy shows him how to goose his tips with a nice thank-you and a beaming smile, then watch painfully as he doesn’t even meet their eyes or even mumble an audible goodbye to his customers. The second delivery man senses he needs to make some serious bread, so he takes a sick day and volunteers all the rainy day deliveries he can handle to help out. A film simply following a recent immigrant delivering Chinese food in downtown New York becomes strangely compelling; what is going to be on the other side of those doors?
Neighbour no. 13 (2005) Inoue
Although the cover art makes this manga inspired story look like a slasher film, this is actually a keen mediation on the ripple effects of violence. A young boy is being ruthlessly bullied at school, and we see the moment when his psyche splits off a vengeful wraith who will take over his body later as an adult when the world begins to overwhelm him. This is interesting in that it establishes sympathy for the victim and hatred for the bully then, over the course of the film slowly tries to reverse this identification. The climax of the film is one of breath-taking simplicity.
Spring (2014) Benson & Moorhead
This is a nice romance in an Italian village with a dash of science fiction /horror. I liked that the young woman wasn’t identifiable as a movie type---she has her own specific pathology to her … evolutionary fits. There’s a nice open ended conclusion---especially if you favor the guy’s point of view as a penniless fugitive (who won’t be missed) hooking up with gorgeous, million dollar girlfriend. That she actually cares about him is shown how she goes out of her way to offer him endless outs. Although this is clearly the praying mantis romance … the odds on him keeping his head after the wedding night are pretty slim.
Last Four Songs (2007) – Joseph
Another film that benefits from a great location; a Mediterranean island where you sleep naked under the stairs, tool around the village on a Vespa, and play piano at night in a sea-side restaurant. Larry’s mid-life crisis forms around the idea of orchestrating a tribute concert to the island’s most famous resident, the world class composer who lived in the villa up the hill. Although his crotchety widow has always refused these concerts in the past, she agrees to it when he gives her complete veto power over everything. The film shows the different kinds of love. Plus, they play the hell out of Beim Schlafengehen.
★★★
Bound * (1996) - Wachowski
The best thing about this Film Noir is that they actually leave the film before the final sequence, and it’s still all happily ever after and lovely-dovey between one of cinema’s most photogenic lesbian couples. There is inspired type casting for Jennifer Tilly as Violet, she usually plays dim witted, baby talking bombshells---here she suggests Machiavellian depths. Her bedroom is just on the other side of a thin wall and Corky can hear her boisterous fakery each time she beds a different Mafioso. Of course, on this side of the wall Violet is totally monogamous and totally in love with her. The guy who stole the 2,176 million dollars was waiting for Violet to say yes and run away with him but then this hot chick started renovating the apartment next to hers, and a neon sign went on over Violet’s head. The happy ending is impossibility in a Film Noir and Corky is the classic fall guy who will never imagine Violet simply tying up all the loose ends ( as a femme fatale is wont to do) until it’s too late.
I am Love * (2009) Guadagnino
The first time I saw this, I thought Tilda Swinton was the matriarch of this great industrial family risking it all on love, but this time, I was struck how out of place and marginal she was in that great mausoleum of a house, an outsider merely pretending to be the trophy wife and how she didn’t really belong there.
3:10 to Yuma (1956) Daves
Out on the frontier, Justice is still a vague abstraction and life is one of pragmatic practicality---so if you stumble across a robbery in progress, you count the guns and join the right side or you put a chaw of tobacco in and wait for it to be over. Although once life becomes more than just a matter of survival, Justice will become the foundation of any healthy community. A nice little reverse about capital punishment sending a clear message to the miscreants, here the outlaws are the ones broadcasting their message to the town’s folk. Glen Ford was a great silver tongued villain born just a little too early, a few years later he would have been the sheriff.
Maggie’s plan (2015) Miller
Miller’s films tend to be dramatic slogs, so I wasn’t expecting this quirky comedy / romance. The director has a nice, visual shorthand like where a sperm donor gives his lady to be, a jar full of pickles, or the story shifts to Canada with the an insert of a moose head---oh yeah! We are now in the wilds of Canada where life grinds to a halt with a couple of snowflakes. Gerwig and Hawke are good, but I think Julianne Moore steals the film as the neurotic intellectual with an outrageous Scandinavian accent.
Lucid (20o5) Garrity
Things are kind of off from the outset, the shaky single parent and therapist looks like he belongs with his patients instead of leading the group session on the road to better mental health. I kind of liked how their individual problems are slowly revealed all to be related to PTSD then converge on the single traumatic event.
Love & Friendship (2016) Stillman
We are a long way from the powerless Jane Austen’s heroines struggling to survive in a man’s world; Lady Susan Vernon pursues and attains her goals reckless abandon. She may also be a kind of unreliable narrator; the action at hand is never really what is going on. Like when her daughter is expelled from school---not because of anything she did, but Lady Susan doesn’t think she has to pay her daughter’s school fees. She always excuses her bad behavior with mental gymnastics, like how she justifies not paying her servant because it would be loathsome for the both of them. Her husband is a delightful loon.
What have I done to deserve this? (1984) – Almodovar
This is a black comedy about a much put upon, addicted to caffeine pills, overworked and underpaid charwoman. The film begins at one of her endless part-time jobs; a Kendo dojo and watching them train, she fantasizes about taking a big stick to her own problems. Cleaning the changing rooms moments later, a naked hunk invites her into his shower stall (she is also loved starved---her taxi driver husband’s only demand is that his food be ready on the table when he arrives home). Unfortunately, the stud has an equipment malfunction and their bout of lovemaking quickly fizzles out. Almodovar throws the kitchen sink at this---it would take three more paragraphs just to describe all the sub- plots.
★★★½
Frantic * (1988) – Polanski
This is a black comedy disguised as a thriller. There is something absurd about an action hero at every turn has to immediately turn and ask someone: uh, could you translate what he just said to me? Plus he really takes a beating in the film. This is certainly a double spoof on the Parisian dream vacation; the romantic couple’s getaway and the debauched executive version of the same stay, like when he wanders into the hotel lobby in the morning completely pooped and barefoot with a black leather mini skirt in tow young enough to be his daughter—not a random occurrence at this swanky hotel. I remember re-watching Payne’s Election not too long ago and I though the garbage trucks were overdone, but here the same visual motif is just right, the seedy underbelly of the Paris has to have garbage men cleaning up every morning, otherwise the stink would become too much. Industry wide surveillance now standard, a film like this would be impossible to make now.
Dead Man’s Bluff (2005) – Balabanov
In a phrase, this Russian gangster spoof would be Reservoir Dogs meets Dumb and Dumber. The title is another name for Russian roulette.
Requiem for a Killer (2011) Le Gris
She is a state of the art contract killer specializing in poisons (she botches every attempt) coaxed out of retirement for one last job. He is a burnt-out a secret agent pulled out of an administrative leave (he has a tendency to shoot first then ask questions later) to protect the famous baritone targeted for assassination. Both killers can double as world class musicians and are programmed as headliners at a classical music festival; she shrieks on stage and he strums beside her, while they play their mouse and cat game back stage … Sheesh.
On Chesil Beach (2017) - Cooke
A 110 minute PSA why sex education should be a mandatory high school course.
★½
Hotel Artemis (2018) - Pearce
The logic of the film quickly crumbles where the rules of the hotel (and film) are plastered all over the walls then are immediately broken by the very personnel who posted them. There is something really odd about having the foresight to keep your premiums paid up on a clandestine state-of the art trauma center for GSW’s (the hotel advertises itself prominently in the Los Angeles skyline) then engaging in behaviors that will get you riddled with bullets. Jodie Foster was nice here as a weary, alcoholic nurse with a heart of bronze.
★★
In Your Eyes (2014) Hill
This is romantic comedy? Essentially this is two characters that giggle and engage in long conversations with themselves in public for the entire film. The film hides this by cross-cutting and avoiding any establishing shots. The truth is that their lives were completely ruined by this psychic connection. This same idea would have worked much better as paranoid horror film where two schizophrenic patients begin to understand the voices in their heads are actually real; because at the end of the movie, that’s where they are. He is going back to prison for a very long time and she is going back the looney bin as a violent inmate with some very serious chemical restraints.
The Seagull (2018) - Mayers
The key moment in the film is when the famous writer looks at the ingénue then jots down in his notebook: She will rue the day. The film quickly dissolves to two years later when her ruin is complete but she still follows him around begging for a crumb of affection. Maybe her suffering was justified because she was a skanky little home wrecker way back when this was written, but certainly not now. I would have thrown out everything in the source material but kept the dissolve, that’s the movie; then got James Toback to direct and Harvey Weinstein to produce this tale of radiant, sadistic misogyny.
★★½
In another Country (2012) Sang-soo Hong
This is three light variations of the same basic story of four or five characters meeting and interacting at a sea-side resort. There’s a delicious moment when Isabelle Huppert (playing a movie director) stops by a road and does this strange yodel, then cuts to the couple of perplexed goats in a field. She’s so ba-d-d-d-d. On the other hand, the whole thing could be just the scribbles of a chambermaid writing a scenario in her spare time.
First Reformed (2017) - Schrader
This seems less about a character making choices about his life, but simply laying the losing hand he has been dealt over the last couple of years. At the beginning of Schrader’s career god’s angry man was a taxi-driver looking for trouble, now he is a holy man who stands at the pulpit in an almost empty church simply mouthing the words no one will hear, no longer believing in anything and decides to go out in a blaze of glory as a renegade priest clearing the church of the money changers.
Gauguin: voyage in Tahiti (2017) - Deluc
Vincent Cassel has the perfect face, lined and creased with worries to play a permanent marginal in the world; the artist living only to follow his lonely bliss (to be ironically commodified after his death and turned into gold---his tribulations becoming the selling points), His last hurrah is escaping to a tropical paradise; itself in the process of being dismantled and destroyed, The natives are slowly losing their way of life and their minds are being colonized; the greatest dream for his young beauty is to afford the white dress for the parade to and from church on Sunday. At the end, he becomes what he despises most, a petty bourgeois locking away his greatest possessions.
Voyage of the damned (1976) Rosenberg
The escaping ship is merely a floating PR exercise for the Nazi’s who know in advance the steamship is going to be rejected in every port and eventually return to Germany. Hope is cruelly dangled before the passengers; the cruise then becomes an elegant pressure cooker as certain people slowly understand the horror of their situation. Malcolm McDowell is probably the oldest cabin boy in history.
High Hopes (1988) Leigh
Larger than Bleak Moments, Leigh’s second theatrical release (17 years later) has more moving parts than his first. Thatcher has cleaved British society into the haves and the have-nots. An elderly lady still lives in the flat she grew up in, but she’s about to be pushed out by the sky rocketing rents by Yuppies snapping up prime real estate for a song. The film is doesn’t seem to be constructed with plot points but works through comparison; revealing how the different couples and characters interact, relate and contrast to the various situations.
Take out (2012) Baker & Tsou
Little bit of a hump to get over the first act, because getting information from our hero is like pulling teeth. But you begin to root for him once the second delivery guy shows him how to goose his tips with a nice thank-you and a beaming smile, then watch painfully as he doesn’t even meet their eyes or even mumble an audible goodbye to his customers. The second delivery man senses he needs to make some serious bread, so he takes a sick day and volunteers all the rainy day deliveries he can handle to help out. A film simply following a recent immigrant delivering Chinese food in downtown New York becomes strangely compelling; what is going to be on the other side of those doors?
Neighbour no. 13 (2005) Inoue
Although the cover art makes this manga inspired story look like a slasher film, this is actually a keen mediation on the ripple effects of violence. A young boy is being ruthlessly bullied at school, and we see the moment when his psyche splits off a vengeful wraith who will take over his body later as an adult when the world begins to overwhelm him. This is interesting in that it establishes sympathy for the victim and hatred for the bully then, over the course of the film slowly tries to reverse this identification. The climax of the film is one of breath-taking simplicity.
Spring (2014) Benson & Moorhead
This is a nice romance in an Italian village with a dash of science fiction /horror. I liked that the young woman wasn’t identifiable as a movie type---she has her own specific pathology to her … evolutionary fits. There’s a nice open ended conclusion---especially if you favor the guy’s point of view as a penniless fugitive (who won’t be missed) hooking up with gorgeous, million dollar girlfriend. That she actually cares about him is shown how she goes out of her way to offer him endless outs. Although this is clearly the praying mantis romance … the odds on him keeping his head after the wedding night are pretty slim.
Last Four Songs (2007) – Joseph
Another film that benefits from a great location; a Mediterranean island where you sleep naked under the stairs, tool around the village on a Vespa, and play piano at night in a sea-side restaurant. Larry’s mid-life crisis forms around the idea of orchestrating a tribute concert to the island’s most famous resident, the world class composer who lived in the villa up the hill. Although his crotchety widow has always refused these concerts in the past, she agrees to it when he gives her complete veto power over everything. The film shows the different kinds of love. Plus, they play the hell out of Beim Schlafengehen.
★★★
Bound * (1996) - Wachowski
The best thing about this Film Noir is that they actually leave the film before the final sequence, and it’s still all happily ever after and lovely-dovey between one of cinema’s most photogenic lesbian couples. There is inspired type casting for Jennifer Tilly as Violet, she usually plays dim witted, baby talking bombshells---here she suggests Machiavellian depths. Her bedroom is just on the other side of a thin wall and Corky can hear her boisterous fakery each time she beds a different Mafioso. Of course, on this side of the wall Violet is totally monogamous and totally in love with her. The guy who stole the 2,176 million dollars was waiting for Violet to say yes and run away with him but then this hot chick started renovating the apartment next to hers, and a neon sign went on over Violet’s head. The happy ending is impossibility in a Film Noir and Corky is the classic fall guy who will never imagine Violet simply tying up all the loose ends ( as a femme fatale is wont to do) until it’s too late.
I am Love * (2009) Guadagnino
The first time I saw this, I thought Tilda Swinton was the matriarch of this great industrial family risking it all on love, but this time, I was struck how out of place and marginal she was in that great mausoleum of a house, an outsider merely pretending to be the trophy wife and how she didn’t really belong there.
3:10 to Yuma (1956) Daves
Out on the frontier, Justice is still a vague abstraction and life is one of pragmatic practicality---so if you stumble across a robbery in progress, you count the guns and join the right side or you put a chaw of tobacco in and wait for it to be over. Although once life becomes more than just a matter of survival, Justice will become the foundation of any healthy community. A nice little reverse about capital punishment sending a clear message to the miscreants, here the outlaws are the ones broadcasting their message to the town’s folk. Glen Ford was a great silver tongued villain born just a little too early, a few years later he would have been the sheriff.
Maggie’s plan (2015) Miller
Miller’s films tend to be dramatic slogs, so I wasn’t expecting this quirky comedy / romance. The director has a nice, visual shorthand like where a sperm donor gives his lady to be, a jar full of pickles, or the story shifts to Canada with the an insert of a moose head---oh yeah! We are now in the wilds of Canada where life grinds to a halt with a couple of snowflakes. Gerwig and Hawke are good, but I think Julianne Moore steals the film as the neurotic intellectual with an outrageous Scandinavian accent.
Lucid (20o5) Garrity
Things are kind of off from the outset, the shaky single parent and therapist looks like he belongs with his patients instead of leading the group session on the road to better mental health. I kind of liked how their individual problems are slowly revealed all to be related to PTSD then converge on the single traumatic event.
Love & Friendship (2016) Stillman
We are a long way from the powerless Jane Austen’s heroines struggling to survive in a man’s world; Lady Susan Vernon pursues and attains her goals reckless abandon. She may also be a kind of unreliable narrator; the action at hand is never really what is going on. Like when her daughter is expelled from school---not because of anything she did, but Lady Susan doesn’t think she has to pay her daughter’s school fees. She always excuses her bad behavior with mental gymnastics, like how she justifies not paying her servant because it would be loathsome for the both of them. Her husband is a delightful loon.
What have I done to deserve this? (1984) – Almodovar
This is a black comedy about a much put upon, addicted to caffeine pills, overworked and underpaid charwoman. The film begins at one of her endless part-time jobs; a Kendo dojo and watching them train, she fantasizes about taking a big stick to her own problems. Cleaning the changing rooms moments later, a naked hunk invites her into his shower stall (she is also loved starved---her taxi driver husband’s only demand is that his food be ready on the table when he arrives home). Unfortunately, the stud has an equipment malfunction and their bout of lovemaking quickly fizzles out. Almodovar throws the kitchen sink at this---it would take three more paragraphs just to describe all the sub- plots.
★★★½
Frantic * (1988) – Polanski
This is a black comedy disguised as a thriller. There is something absurd about an action hero at every turn has to immediately turn and ask someone: uh, could you translate what he just said to me? Plus he really takes a beating in the film. This is certainly a double spoof on the Parisian dream vacation; the romantic couple’s getaway and the debauched executive version of the same stay, like when he wanders into the hotel lobby in the morning completely pooped and barefoot with a black leather mini skirt in tow young enough to be his daughter—not a random occurrence at this swanky hotel. I remember re-watching Payne’s Election not too long ago and I though the garbage trucks were overdone, but here the same visual motif is just right, the seedy underbelly of the Paris has to have garbage men cleaning up every morning, otherwise the stink would become too much. Industry wide surveillance now standard, a film like this would be impossible to make now.
Dead Man’s Bluff (2005) – Balabanov
In a phrase, this Russian gangster spoof would be Reservoir Dogs meets Dumb and Dumber. The title is another name for Russian roulette.
X
Favorite Movies
Seen in June Pt.3/3
-
A very interesting look into the roles of women in Japan. I was all in this for the nasty scenes at the end but I gotta say, the sense of mystery and drama during the first part was very enjoyable. The nasty scenes at the end did their job very well, I couldn't stop cringing. I’m not sure if it’s me or not but I thought the film had fairly bad lighting: It was hard to make out a lot of stuff. I was very confused near the end when our main character starts drifting in and out of hallucinating and seeing events that are actually occurring without being near those locations at the end. It could be interpreted as people’s paranoia’s of their new partner’s dark secrets, or it could just be a mistake.
Quite nice. I liked the theme of a boy born in post WWII seeing colours in a bleak landscape. That being said, the colours are lovely aswell. I liked the relationship between the boy and the balloon and all of the balloons human-like traits. Really nice music. I felt there were too many scenes of the balloon trying to enter buildings. One of two scenes would’ve been fine, but leaving out the rest would’ve allowed the audience to get to know the boy and the balloon more.
Goofy B-movie fun. The scene where they have the door very well barricaded and the monster just casually opens it because it’s a ‘pull’ door was just hilarious. Really liked how they went to the effort of having real cold breath. Haven’t seen the remake in quite some time so I should probably do that.
One of the weirdest films I have ever seen (And I enjoyed every second of the weirdness). I went in expecting a serious film, then five minutes later I see a group of posh 19th century men singing Nirvana. After that I settled myself in for a goofy romance, but then it gets completely serious and sad during the second half. STOP PLAYING WITH MY EMOTIONS! Ewan McGregor has the most amazing singing voice, please give him more singing roles Hollywood: I’ll be SO EXCITED, I WILL LOUDLY STOMP AND CHEER! SO EXCITING, I WON’T STOP DANCING FOR FIFTY YEARS!
I have to thank my friend for introducing me to this legend. Ip Man is so awesome, every time he did something cool my friends and me would go ‘Gwan Ip Man!’. The action is awesome and Ip Man is a brilliant character. Donnie Yen gives the character so much likability.
Even better than the first one! Possibly due to being more lighthearted. I will say that the British people were hilariously bad actors.
-
A very interesting look into the roles of women in Japan. I was all in this for the nasty scenes at the end but I gotta say, the sense of mystery and drama during the first part was very enjoyable. The nasty scenes at the end did their job very well, I couldn't stop cringing. I’m not sure if it’s me or not but I thought the film had fairly bad lighting: It was hard to make out a lot of stuff. I was very confused near the end when our main character starts drifting in and out of hallucinating and seeing events that are actually occurring without being near those locations at the end. It could be interpreted as people’s paranoia’s of their new partner’s dark secrets, or it could just be a mistake.
Quite nice. I liked the theme of a boy born in post WWII seeing colours in a bleak landscape. That being said, the colours are lovely aswell. I liked the relationship between the boy and the balloon and all of the balloons human-like traits. Really nice music. I felt there were too many scenes of the balloon trying to enter buildings. One of two scenes would’ve been fine, but leaving out the rest would’ve allowed the audience to get to know the boy and the balloon more.
Goofy B-movie fun. The scene where they have the door very well barricaded and the monster just casually opens it because it’s a ‘pull’ door was just hilarious. Really liked how they went to the effort of having real cold breath. Haven’t seen the remake in quite some time so I should probably do that.
One of the weirdest films I have ever seen (And I enjoyed every second of the weirdness). I went in expecting a serious film, then five minutes later I see a group of posh 19th century men singing Nirvana. After that I settled myself in for a goofy romance, but then it gets completely serious and sad during the second half. STOP PLAYING WITH MY EMOTIONS! Ewan McGregor has the most amazing singing voice, please give him more singing roles Hollywood: I’ll be SO EXCITED, I WILL LOUDLY STOMP AND CHEER! SO EXCITING, I WON’T STOP DANCING FOR FIFTY YEARS!
I have to thank my friend for introducing me to this legend. Ip Man is so awesome, every time he did something cool my friends and me would go ‘Gwan Ip Man!’. The action is awesome and Ip Man is a brilliant character. Donnie Yen gives the character so much likability.
Even better than the first one! Possibly due to being more lighthearted. I will say that the British people were hilariously bad actors.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Rush
This movie is about F1 racing rivalry between James Hunt and Nikki Lauda and how the rivalry helped them to be better drivers.
I was watching this movie only to see and anticipate how James Mangold's Ford V Ferrari movie will differ from and be superior to it.Race movies are far few in-between.The reason is simply because they don't make lot of money in the US. It has decent international market but nothing blockbuster level. This movie was made for 50 million and it made around 26 million US and 70 million abroad. So there is international audience for the movie.The movie starts with voice over exposition that introduces lead characters. This is where the movie lost some of its points. Ron Howard is what I call a journey men director. He is a middling director. His movies are just average.One movie which kind of worked is a beautiful mind and that's because he is dealing with an obsessive character.So the problem with exposition is that its a safe choice. People have gotten smarter to the trick.Director doesn't have the balls to take a bolder approach to film making and so he uses exposition at the beginning to establish how dangerous the sport is , what kind of people get into it, what kind of person Nikki Lauda is and how he got into auto racing sport. After sometime we have voice over by James Hunt doing the same from his point of view.These things pissed me off.
Race movies have some challenges they need to get across like making laymen interested in something they don't know. The problem with these types of movies that take place in different worlds is that you can either take an approach that dumbs it down or take a much more complicated approach to it. The other challenges are that the concept of race is much more interesting than race itself. You get to see the exciting races live, then why need a movie to show. As the movie went along , some of the directorial decisions helped with it. Director uses the forward momentum of race to tell the story. So speed and progress in car race also progresses the story. Depicting the personalities of the racers is where the director falters. They are just a little deeper than cardboard cut outs. This is where Ron Howard falls way short. He has no distinct voice. He is just servicing the story and the end product could very well be made by any other director. It just felt like a little expensive race movie. I can clearly believe why the movie was not appreciated by Oscars at all. Because there is no risk in the movie. Absolutely zero risk. The movie is entertaining but not extraordinary. Not even good. This kind of movies pisses me off. The approach of the director is by and large very cheap. The director wants to try something different than what he has done before. He is too afraid to fail. So he follows the safe route and then all of a sudden tries to jump the sharks in the safe route and tries to act like the movie is risky. But its not. The race scenes get boring after a while. Camera can't follow cars that are moving at 200 miles per hour. So you either get fast cuts or long shots with wide frames.Director tries to make them interesting by either changing the locations of the racing which is follow the true story and by changing the weather of the races altering between rain and sunny. Even those are based on true story. So there is nothing the director has brought to the table that is his own vision in terms of distinguishing the race. The director leaned into the sex life of James hunt which is okay. Among the racers , One is a hard partier and the other is meticulous.
If I let my imagination run wild, then one of the ways the director can make a movie about racing interesting is to bring in different points of view. Making it an ensemble piece. Caricatures are not accepted.This movie has tons of those. Men with long hair and side split hairstyle. Champagne cocks popping after each win. But I think the movie has to be more character oriented. The tone has to be cerebral. Nothing on screen has to feel safe. When they are not on track, this movie falls into all the cliches it can think of. People dissing one another or family troubles or self doubts in the most cliche manner. One of the things the movie is lacking, is the ticking clock. Each race feels like just a race. Over the course of 10 races the championship is determined, so each race has no urgency cinematic-ally. The movie needs to make them cerebral. I think the director needs to capture the uncertainty of the risk involved in race. No one watching the race is safe. That's the tone the director needs to capture. I think the upcoming Ford V Ferrari movie can do that more effectively because safety was still an issue when the movie takes place, which is 60s. This movie takes place in the 70s when safety was enforced.
The worst aspect of the movie is cinematography. What kind of lifeless Spielberg lens flare inspired cinematography is this ? That's just awful. The whole movie has this glossy look to it. Shinny or raining. The supporting characters are stereotypes for the most part. The unstable wife or many women hunt gets it on with or the calm loving and understanding wife of Nikki lauda. There is painfully cringe-worthy scene where Nikki Lauda meets his future wife and then they meet few locals who happens to recognize him. That scene is supposed to bring the badassness of calm, by the book,methodical Nikki Lauda to the surface. But its just a very stereotypical portrayal of Europeans.Director seems to think he is clever by using news reporting to progress the story. But none of them add up-to the auteur-ship and skill set needed for a epic and cerebral racing movie.
If you had asked me half a decade ago as to how should this movie be, I wouldn't have had an answer. But after seeing wolf of wall street and the revenant, I have a clear idea of how a movie like this should be. You see, critics generally expect a movie to have some levity and some emotional punches and some well thought out story-lines. This movie have those and it got 90% critics rating. But, take the aforementioned movies, they had less than 90% on rotten tomatoes. After 5 decades, no one will remember rush but the chances of remembering those 2 are high. So, how to make a timeless masterpiece at the same time pleasing critics to a certain extent. You don't want 90% + critics rating but you need somewhere between 75 and 90. Well, the first thing is to spend a lot of money.Upwards of 100 million $. The second thing is that, this kinds of movies can be green lit by only 5 actors in Hollywood. DiCaprio, Brad Pitt , christian bale , Tom Cruise and Matt Damon. Johnny Depp is out of the question because of his poor career choices. Now, the main thing is the kind of movie. I am a male. I am not interested in La la land. I remember God father , Goodfellas, taxi driver more vividly than any woody Allen movie. I don't remember singing in the rain but I do remember psycho or vertigo or rear window or north by northwest or ben-hur. In order to take the male bias out of this judgement lets look at few movies loved by female audience. I am not talking about garbage like fifty shades because for every garbage that females love, there is also fast and furious that males love. Something like Terms of endearment is loved by females but no one remembers it like goodfellas or godfather or even French connection. The reason being, female voice in film preservation community is very low. If the critics doesn't promote a movie for generations, then the movie will be forgotten. Every decade or so when mostly film buffs or film critic community puts out list of movies, a movie should be in that list. If not it will be forgotten. Or make a movie with legendary filmmaker and his boxset should contain your movie. Fortunately or unfortunately , highest grossing movies are always about masculinity. Avatar or The dark knight are about maleness. Wolf of wall street or revenant or any Quentin Tarantino movie is about maleness.
So, you need a movie that has masculine element and also the movie need stakes. People need strong stakes to connect with characters. Audience need a reason to see the movie in theater. Scale of the movie is very crucial. One of the key elements is to have a believable scale. Scale can be massive but it needs to be believable. In Rush there are scenes where it feels fake. There are long overview shots to races with name and score of the race displayed graphically on screen which just takes the audience out of the movie. You don't need any of those. All you need is just to let audience know where they are in the movie and even that sort of takes them out if you use it a ton of times. Rush had f1 races in different parts of the world. Ron Howard used the lame way of displaying the name of the place and who won it on screen graphically.That is dumb. Imagine in inception if when each character appears on the screen there is a text saying this is so and so. Audience should be on a need to know basis. One of the better ways is to just shoot in those countries with shots very unique to them. France means Eiffel Tower or something like that. One of the reasons inception did so well internationally is because its partially shot in Europe with its architectural marvels. So if you want a movie to do good internationally at box office then shoot it in Europe. Because that news will spread like wildlife in that country.
Keeping it real and giving audience something never before seen but at the same time having a seal of approval that the movie is good and worth audience time is really important. One of the colossal mistakes of blade runner 2049 is that it just overestimated the size of blade runner's fanbase. People not interested in the first one are not going to go see the second one. Oscar nomination is a Seal of approval that can never be beaten. As your movie is rolling out into theaters and all the news articles are praising the movie and reporting about its Oscar nominations then that a damn good seal of approval. Because, during Oscar season there is a billion dollars of market involved. Audience all over the world are willing to spend a collective billion dollars. If everyone is telling that your movie is the one, then that will be what audience will be watching. Until recently I have thought DiCaprio has a posse of directors he goes back to. But from what I see , its somewhere around the time of 1997 that older generation and studio heads in Hollywood decided that the next generation will be ruled by Matt Damon and DiCaprio. Because one emerged as a very good actor in good will hunting and the other is this unstoppable box office superstar. But Mira max couldn't land matt damon as a movie star and then he had a life support in terms of Bourne identity and the one two punch of that and oceans series sort of set matt damon as a box office draw. Then you have DiCaprio who is loved by studio executives and share holders because of the money. He made a deal with Scorsese which helped him immensely. Scorsese didn't want to be bogged down by budget and here he has this offer to cast this actor and make the movie however he wanted. So he agreed to work with DiCaprio. So the biggest challenge for any actor right now is to find that director who can really deliver and then make him consistent. The only reason we are excited for a Tarantino movie and not a William Fredkin movie is because only one is consistent. I think among the existing directors the only ones who are available are James Mangold , Denis Villeneuve and David Fincher.
Villeneuve taking a cue from Nolan tried to create his own little fanbase that will get addicted to his filmmaking style and thought he can carry them around to his other movies through Blade Runner.With it bombing lets see how it will turn out. The only way you can cultivate a fanbase is by attracting fans of franchise to your movies. Nolan morphed a batman movie into his movie and that impressed fans so much that they just followed him into his other movies for the directorial style. To give me nightmares, a Nolan-DiCaprio collaboration is waiting to happen. Because I can see Nolan matching exactly what DiCaprio needs in terms of budget and box office and meeting audience expectations. So he is taken. Same with Fincher. He is held hostage by Brad pitt. Spielberg is scrambling for a epic size commercial success and he will either cast tom hanks or DiCaprio for that. So, for an actor like Christian Bale, the only choice he has got is to work with either David O Russell or Adam McKay or James Mangold or Michael Mann or he has to right for a role in a movie directed by Nolan or Scorsese or Spielberg or Tarantino or Fincher . It is really hard for the latter group to cast christian bale if christian bale doesn't prove that he is a box office draw. At this point those legends like tarantino/scorsese/spielberg/Fincher are not looking for just securing the budget which casting christian bale can easily provide . They are looking for getting a hit movie. The quality of the movie is long decided even before they roll camera. Thats how good they are.They don't want the movie to be a flop at box office. That forces these directors to work with DiCaprio. This is such an unknown secret to audience but its the contrary in Hollywood. Everyone knows it. That is precisely the reason why Oscars are hard on movie stars. Because 9 out of 10 times they are cast because of the box office draw. And also one of the thing that pisses me off about the passion projects of movie stars is that they say "I have been working on this for 8 years" but the reality is that they are doing other movies when poor screenwriters have been spending months drafting the scripts. One more way to get an auteur reaction by a normal collaboration is to get lucky by working with a consistent director on his passion project. Bale in a way launched David O Russell and Adam McKay into auteur level because he worked on their passion project. Right now the stocks of them are sky high.
So all in all this review points out the inferiority of this movie as an art and also gives an insight into how an actor that is a movie star but not in marriage with an auteur can achieve the same result but in a round about fashion.
This movie is about F1 racing rivalry between James Hunt and Nikki Lauda and how the rivalry helped them to be better drivers.
I was watching this movie only to see and anticipate how James Mangold's Ford V Ferrari movie will differ from and be superior to it.Race movies are far few in-between.The reason is simply because they don't make lot of money in the US. It has decent international market but nothing blockbuster level. This movie was made for 50 million and it made around 26 million US and 70 million abroad. So there is international audience for the movie.The movie starts with voice over exposition that introduces lead characters. This is where the movie lost some of its points. Ron Howard is what I call a journey men director. He is a middling director. His movies are just average.One movie which kind of worked is a beautiful mind and that's because he is dealing with an obsessive character.So the problem with exposition is that its a safe choice. People have gotten smarter to the trick.Director doesn't have the balls to take a bolder approach to film making and so he uses exposition at the beginning to establish how dangerous the sport is , what kind of people get into it, what kind of person Nikki Lauda is and how he got into auto racing sport. After sometime we have voice over by James Hunt doing the same from his point of view.These things pissed me off.
Race movies have some challenges they need to get across like making laymen interested in something they don't know. The problem with these types of movies that take place in different worlds is that you can either take an approach that dumbs it down or take a much more complicated approach to it. The other challenges are that the concept of race is much more interesting than race itself. You get to see the exciting races live, then why need a movie to show. As the movie went along , some of the directorial decisions helped with it. Director uses the forward momentum of race to tell the story. So speed and progress in car race also progresses the story. Depicting the personalities of the racers is where the director falters. They are just a little deeper than cardboard cut outs. This is where Ron Howard falls way short. He has no distinct voice. He is just servicing the story and the end product could very well be made by any other director. It just felt like a little expensive race movie. I can clearly believe why the movie was not appreciated by Oscars at all. Because there is no risk in the movie. Absolutely zero risk. The movie is entertaining but not extraordinary. Not even good. This kind of movies pisses me off. The approach of the director is by and large very cheap. The director wants to try something different than what he has done before. He is too afraid to fail. So he follows the safe route and then all of a sudden tries to jump the sharks in the safe route and tries to act like the movie is risky. But its not. The race scenes get boring after a while. Camera can't follow cars that are moving at 200 miles per hour. So you either get fast cuts or long shots with wide frames.Director tries to make them interesting by either changing the locations of the racing which is follow the true story and by changing the weather of the races altering between rain and sunny. Even those are based on true story. So there is nothing the director has brought to the table that is his own vision in terms of distinguishing the race. The director leaned into the sex life of James hunt which is okay. Among the racers , One is a hard partier and the other is meticulous.
If I let my imagination run wild, then one of the ways the director can make a movie about racing interesting is to bring in different points of view. Making it an ensemble piece. Caricatures are not accepted.This movie has tons of those. Men with long hair and side split hairstyle. Champagne cocks popping after each win. But I think the movie has to be more character oriented. The tone has to be cerebral. Nothing on screen has to feel safe. When they are not on track, this movie falls into all the cliches it can think of. People dissing one another or family troubles or self doubts in the most cliche manner. One of the things the movie is lacking, is the ticking clock. Each race feels like just a race. Over the course of 10 races the championship is determined, so each race has no urgency cinematic-ally. The movie needs to make them cerebral. I think the director needs to capture the uncertainty of the risk involved in race. No one watching the race is safe. That's the tone the director needs to capture. I think the upcoming Ford V Ferrari movie can do that more effectively because safety was still an issue when the movie takes place, which is 60s. This movie takes place in the 70s when safety was enforced.
The worst aspect of the movie is cinematography. What kind of lifeless Spielberg lens flare inspired cinematography is this ? That's just awful. The whole movie has this glossy look to it. Shinny or raining. The supporting characters are stereotypes for the most part. The unstable wife or many women hunt gets it on with or the calm loving and understanding wife of Nikki lauda. There is painfully cringe-worthy scene where Nikki Lauda meets his future wife and then they meet few locals who happens to recognize him. That scene is supposed to bring the badassness of calm, by the book,methodical Nikki Lauda to the surface. But its just a very stereotypical portrayal of Europeans.Director seems to think he is clever by using news reporting to progress the story. But none of them add up-to the auteur-ship and skill set needed for a epic and cerebral racing movie.
If you had asked me half a decade ago as to how should this movie be, I wouldn't have had an answer. But after seeing wolf of wall street and the revenant, I have a clear idea of how a movie like this should be. You see, critics generally expect a movie to have some levity and some emotional punches and some well thought out story-lines. This movie have those and it got 90% critics rating. But, take the aforementioned movies, they had less than 90% on rotten tomatoes. After 5 decades, no one will remember rush but the chances of remembering those 2 are high. So, how to make a timeless masterpiece at the same time pleasing critics to a certain extent. You don't want 90% + critics rating but you need somewhere between 75 and 90. Well, the first thing is to spend a lot of money.Upwards of 100 million $. The second thing is that, this kinds of movies can be green lit by only 5 actors in Hollywood. DiCaprio, Brad Pitt , christian bale , Tom Cruise and Matt Damon. Johnny Depp is out of the question because of his poor career choices. Now, the main thing is the kind of movie. I am a male. I am not interested in La la land. I remember God father , Goodfellas, taxi driver more vividly than any woody Allen movie. I don't remember singing in the rain but I do remember psycho or vertigo or rear window or north by northwest or ben-hur. In order to take the male bias out of this judgement lets look at few movies loved by female audience. I am not talking about garbage like fifty shades because for every garbage that females love, there is also fast and furious that males love. Something like Terms of endearment is loved by females but no one remembers it like goodfellas or godfather or even French connection. The reason being, female voice in film preservation community is very low. If the critics doesn't promote a movie for generations, then the movie will be forgotten. Every decade or so when mostly film buffs or film critic community puts out list of movies, a movie should be in that list. If not it will be forgotten. Or make a movie with legendary filmmaker and his boxset should contain your movie. Fortunately or unfortunately , highest grossing movies are always about masculinity. Avatar or The dark knight are about maleness. Wolf of wall street or revenant or any Quentin Tarantino movie is about maleness.
So, you need a movie that has masculine element and also the movie need stakes. People need strong stakes to connect with characters. Audience need a reason to see the movie in theater. Scale of the movie is very crucial. One of the key elements is to have a believable scale. Scale can be massive but it needs to be believable. In Rush there are scenes where it feels fake. There are long overview shots to races with name and score of the race displayed graphically on screen which just takes the audience out of the movie. You don't need any of those. All you need is just to let audience know where they are in the movie and even that sort of takes them out if you use it a ton of times. Rush had f1 races in different parts of the world. Ron Howard used the lame way of displaying the name of the place and who won it on screen graphically.That is dumb. Imagine in inception if when each character appears on the screen there is a text saying this is so and so. Audience should be on a need to know basis. One of the better ways is to just shoot in those countries with shots very unique to them. France means Eiffel Tower or something like that. One of the reasons inception did so well internationally is because its partially shot in Europe with its architectural marvels. So if you want a movie to do good internationally at box office then shoot it in Europe. Because that news will spread like wildlife in that country.
Keeping it real and giving audience something never before seen but at the same time having a seal of approval that the movie is good and worth audience time is really important. One of the colossal mistakes of blade runner 2049 is that it just overestimated the size of blade runner's fanbase. People not interested in the first one are not going to go see the second one. Oscar nomination is a Seal of approval that can never be beaten. As your movie is rolling out into theaters and all the news articles are praising the movie and reporting about its Oscar nominations then that a damn good seal of approval. Because, during Oscar season there is a billion dollars of market involved. Audience all over the world are willing to spend a collective billion dollars. If everyone is telling that your movie is the one, then that will be what audience will be watching. Until recently I have thought DiCaprio has a posse of directors he goes back to. But from what I see , its somewhere around the time of 1997 that older generation and studio heads in Hollywood decided that the next generation will be ruled by Matt Damon and DiCaprio. Because one emerged as a very good actor in good will hunting and the other is this unstoppable box office superstar. But Mira max couldn't land matt damon as a movie star and then he had a life support in terms of Bourne identity and the one two punch of that and oceans series sort of set matt damon as a box office draw. Then you have DiCaprio who is loved by studio executives and share holders because of the money. He made a deal with Scorsese which helped him immensely. Scorsese didn't want to be bogged down by budget and here he has this offer to cast this actor and make the movie however he wanted. So he agreed to work with DiCaprio. So the biggest challenge for any actor right now is to find that director who can really deliver and then make him consistent. The only reason we are excited for a Tarantino movie and not a William Fredkin movie is because only one is consistent. I think among the existing directors the only ones who are available are James Mangold , Denis Villeneuve and David Fincher.
Villeneuve taking a cue from Nolan tried to create his own little fanbase that will get addicted to his filmmaking style and thought he can carry them around to his other movies through Blade Runner.With it bombing lets see how it will turn out. The only way you can cultivate a fanbase is by attracting fans of franchise to your movies. Nolan morphed a batman movie into his movie and that impressed fans so much that they just followed him into his other movies for the directorial style. To give me nightmares, a Nolan-DiCaprio collaboration is waiting to happen. Because I can see Nolan matching exactly what DiCaprio needs in terms of budget and box office and meeting audience expectations. So he is taken. Same with Fincher. He is held hostage by Brad pitt. Spielberg is scrambling for a epic size commercial success and he will either cast tom hanks or DiCaprio for that. So, for an actor like Christian Bale, the only choice he has got is to work with either David O Russell or Adam McKay or James Mangold or Michael Mann or he has to right for a role in a movie directed by Nolan or Scorsese or Spielberg or Tarantino or Fincher . It is really hard for the latter group to cast christian bale if christian bale doesn't prove that he is a box office draw. At this point those legends like tarantino/scorsese/spielberg/Fincher are not looking for just securing the budget which casting christian bale can easily provide . They are looking for getting a hit movie. The quality of the movie is long decided even before they roll camera. Thats how good they are.They don't want the movie to be a flop at box office. That forces these directors to work with DiCaprio. This is such an unknown secret to audience but its the contrary in Hollywood. Everyone knows it. That is precisely the reason why Oscars are hard on movie stars. Because 9 out of 10 times they are cast because of the box office draw. And also one of the thing that pisses me off about the passion projects of movie stars is that they say "I have been working on this for 8 years" but the reality is that they are doing other movies when poor screenwriters have been spending months drafting the scripts. One more way to get an auteur reaction by a normal collaboration is to get lucky by working with a consistent director on his passion project. Bale in a way launched David O Russell and Adam McKay into auteur level because he worked on their passion project. Right now the stocks of them are sky high.
So all in all this review points out the inferiority of this movie as an art and also gives an insight into how an actor that is a movie star but not in marriage with an auteur can achieve the same result but in a round about fashion.
X
Favorite Movies
X
