Films Recently Watched

[usagi]

 

I liked it.

a good insight into a formative period in modern terrorism.

[Squee]

The Void - Shlock!/10

I thought it was perfectly fine. It was dumb. Didn't make any sense. And it was gory and nasty. Perfect for a Friday night.

[eugene]

nah, if you don't got the budget i think you shouldn't even bother with a creature horror flick. most of the things looked like bloody rags, and even that had to be covered up with the cliched flashing lights/red flares.

Edited April 8, 2017 by eugene

[cwmbrancity]

when the gun jammed, delete, although its discussion here has prompted an alternative viewing later.....

 

Possession (1981) did something transcendental with a tiny budget although Isabelle Adjani is a force of nature nevermind a force of wtf, complete bias but that filem is beyond words, the plot isnt even that strong & yet its deeply deeply disturbing still, Heinz Bennent is the cherry on top

 

 

granted The Void was aiming elsewhere, but it'd be F8 to be taken into that realm of Possession's strange intensity again, no guns, straight for the fear triggers

[Bodhidharma]

taxi driver

 

i wanted to see what all the fuss was about seeing as its apparently one of the greatest films of all time, but it was just so fuckin boring. basically nothing happens until he meets young jodie foster, he's not a likable character at all and he comes across as a bit of a creep when talkin 2 women. couldn't really get into it, might try more scorsese films to give him another shot though

[doublename]

damn that's my favorite joint i mean damn

 

edit - damn, thanks to you I've just discovered that Taxi Driver is playing in theater near me 

edit 2 - and mean streets and raging bull and goodfellas and heat and casino  

Edited April 9, 2017 by doublename

[keanu reeves]

the wailing was surprisingly good. dare i say it... wails

[usagi]

taxi driver

 

i wanted to see what all the fuss was about seeing as its apparently one of the greatest films of all time, but it was just so fuckin boring. basically nothing happens until he meets young jodie foster, he's not a likable character at all and he comes across as a bit of a creep when talkin 2 women. couldn't really get into it, might try more scorsese films to give him another shot though

read the fuckin' rules.

[keanu reeves]

"he's not a likeable character"

 

lol

 

bait harder next time

[Bodhidharma]

i got some lovely gulp! or some sumptuous hemp!! whaddya wanna go 4 mr. man!

are u saying hes not meant to be a likable character? coz if im honest mate it took me 4 days to watch it in 30 minute increments coz that was the pretty much the max i could stand, so i might be 4gettin some details here and there. u seem 2 have a good box between ur ears about this film though so id like 2 hear what u have to say about it 

edit: man thats a big pic, surely theres a way to get it smaller

Edited April 10, 2017 by Bodhidharma

[keanu reeves]

no ur right the main failure of taxi driver is that we don't want to be friends with travis bickle

[dr lopez]

lol 

[AJW]

This movie escalated into a dramedy the likes of which I've never seen

It was quite enjoyable, satisfyingly awkward and kind of sweet & charming

[cichlisuite]

Allied

Well... I was really looking forward to this and it looked very promising. I'm a sucker for ww2 drama like Casablanca and stuff. Turns out this really feels like a homage to Casablanca in some weird way, which is OK, but at the same time still weird because the script just... I don't know. I honestly have no idea what is missing in today films. They seem to have all the necessary ingredients (some) but either the ingredients are some GMOs or the cook doesn't really know how to cook that well. For instance, there is this senior outranking officer, a boss of Brad Pitt's character, but of course, he is more like a slacking father. OK I get it, Brad Pitt is some badass Wing Commander (RAF - although a Canadian), so full of manly features that you just have to step aside no matter what. The suspense is there but it could be so much more! They are spies in the middle of the hornet's nest for christ sake. How much more suspense-friendly environment can you ask for? But no, the film of course focuses on Marion Cotillard's character and how her methods inevitably make Brad Pitt fall in love with her. Because "wow, I get to kiss this gorgeous lady so that I don't blow my cover. Man, I love my job." So there you have it. Again, films to cater the real-life actors. I think that could be a problem with today films (or at least one of them). They are tailored to the actors. The characters are all about the actors and enhancing their real-life manufactured personas, sometimes going as far as making a certain film or a character just to please the vices of some actors that just have to play a role that will somehow more cater to their real-life ego more than make any sort of art form... Anyways, the chemistry (or the illusion of it), between Marion and Brad in the film is beautiful and for a brief moment there I thought I'd make my life mission to marry Marion Cotillard myself, but let's be real.

sniffing coke at a party in 1943?/10

[Bodhidharma]

no ur right the main failure of taxi driver is that we don't want to be friends with travis bickle

glad we managed 2 reach an agreement so fast! i love u

[cwmbrancity]

 

taxi driver

 

i wanted to see what all the fuss was about seeing as its apparently one of the greatest films of all time, but it was just so fuckin boring. basically nothing happens until he meets young jodie foster, he's not a likable character at all and he comes across as a bit of a creep when talkin 2 women. couldn't really get into it, might try more scorsese films to give him another shot though

read the fuckin' rules.

 

 

 

chuckle vision & all too true

[sunshine recorder]

the neon demon- enjoyed it,reminded me of suspiria and also cronenberg,keanu was a nice surprise too,the scene when someones being attacked in the next room was super creepy--good soundtrack also

8 eyeballs out of 10

Edited April 11, 2017 by sunshine recorder

[tec]

the wailing was surprisingly good. dare i say it... wails

That exorcism scene was class and I'm a pussyfoot vegetarian.

[Auditor]

 

Third viewing and it remains fuckin amazing

[Suffocate Peon]

Live By Night

Ben Affleck's passion project with a leading turn by him (as Joe Coughlin) whereby he delivers a performance that's so lifeless it gives the impression he doesn't want to be there. It's almost bizarre, he showed more signs of life playing an autistic psychopath in The Accountant.

I think he was going for stoic, understated, and cool. A man who says a lot without saying anything at all, but to do that it needed to be played by an actor who is interesting to watch such is their intensity and ability to appear deep in thought that you're engaged by just wondering what they're thinking. Ben Affleck isn't that.

The film is beautifully shot and has a fair few tense moments but it never becomes anything more than just an okay episode of Boardwalk Empire. But i love that show so that's fine by me. The 35% Rotten Tomatoes critic score is verrry harsh.

It doesn't really work as a character study - i only realised it was meant to be that after reading reviews. I never figured Coughlin out but i never tried; he always sounded like someone trying to act tough but coming across as naive and quite stupid doing it, rather than someone who'd been around and was streetwise enough to know what he was doing.

The film's visual beauty kind of strangles it because Affleck, neither with his camera work, editing or performance breathes enough life into what is trying to be an epic story...i think. Certainly people die, and there is drama, but it happens around Affleck's Joe Coughlin even when he's at the center of it and affects him. Coughlin barely reacts to any of it with anything more than bored indifference, or moderate sadness. I think it needed a central performance that expressed some of the inner conflict at making his way through this gangster life that came with consequences. Affleck's character is neither good man nor vicious thug. He is ruthless in some moments but doesn't sell it. He is genuine and compassionate in other moments and sells that more. Ben Affleck always plays good guys doesn't he? I think it might have benefited from using someone like Steven Graham in the lead. He played a tortured soul in This Is England effectively and gave depth to Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire while also giving energy to the scenes he's in, always seething. Affleck can't do anger, and come to think of it never tries. He has so much to be angry about in this film yet is about as nonplussed as one can be. Everyone else is acting brilliantly too, there's some great turns in here. It's definitely worth watching.

This is Affleck's least good film, but i don't think there's a vast difference in quality. And maybe he needs to just concentrate on directing his films if he wants to develop more of a personality and be more expressive and bold. I generally just think he directs the story as is, usually good stories too, and that's enough. The story here doesn't translate and his performance lets it down.

There is one moment that kind of summed up the film, and it's when the scene is set for an almighty showdown between main villain Albert White and Joe Coughlin (Affleck), that the film has been heading towards from its beginning, and within seconds Affleck catches White in the face, and while its as undramatic and sudden as death is in real life it felt underwhelming. The shoot out has just begun and who else has Affleck to take on ? It felt real, but was unsatisfying. The rest of the shoot out involving the two sides looked superb though, cinematography wise. There's nothing Affleck is doing shot wise, editing wise that makes the scene stand out as memorable. There's nothing striking action-wise in the film.

After it all ends Affleck's character says, as a quip: 'I haD so much I'd prepared to say to White as we'll...' I think everyone would be thinking the same too. And it kind of speaks of the character's apparent flippancy that he's not bothered about murdering at all really. It's obvious he's not, but he could try and show some semblance of a conscience and regret at what he was forced to do.

 

6/10

 

 

The Founder

When you make the occasional trip to McDonald's you don't naturally consider that at the beginning of its inception its owners weren't entirely all about profit over quality, that they had a vision that while speed of service was at its essence it wasn't about the commercialism of the product they were selling.

 

Very early on, when Michael Keaton's Ray Kroc is attempting to build his first McDonald's to the brothers set standards, he offers up the idea of selling the food menu space to Coca Cola, and argues it'll be so small you'd barely see it. They say no, it cheapens it, once you sell out there's no going back. Kroc can't understand the objection, he's driven by money and they're driven by delivering a decent service. It's a bit more complicated, because to expand as quickly as he was doing Kroc needed to raise easy money and cut costs. The brothers were happy with him expanding their brand, but not happy with him diluting it.

 

While it isn't a great film, it's very enjoyable. Tom Hanks turned the role of Kroc down and it's hard to imagine how he'd cut out the humanity required to play this character. Keaton has an affable way of speaking that I find so easy to watch.

 

I heard/read a film critic say something like; who wants to watch a film about fast food hamburgers, and your interest in the birth of the biggest most iconic brand probably will say much for your interest in popular culture in general. But I am the type to watch this film then read imdb trivia and the Burger King wikipedia, before jumping to YouTube to waste time watching their adverts from the 70s. It's just a reveal of a story you've never considered, that few really know about. It's more generic than the Danny Boyle Steve Jobs film but that is a story everyone is already familiar with, that's been told in film and print numerous times, and covers two decades we've all lived through.

This is fresher, it takes you back to the 50s, an entirely different time when McDonalds wasn't associated with happy meal toys and Ronald McDonald, but a simple family friendly restaurant that just tried to be different.

 

I don't care for the cynicism that will write this film off as just more marketing. A pointless story that didn't need telling. Business is interesting, design decisions, advertising, balancing values with cost, and more so with brands that cover so many decades of change, that are so ubiquitous now you can't imagine them never having existed such is their impact on the popular culture you grew up consuming, but which all started with a few people with big ideas.

 

(If nothing else, Fallen Angels wouldn't be the same without McDonalds)

 

I'd like a film about the birth of WWF wrestling, that I watched growing up and played the games but have never considered how it all began and the central figures behind its growth.

7/10

[Nebraska]

 

the x from outer space is a 1967 kaiju sci-fi film that begins a little like alien: a group of scientists are headed to mars (i believe to start a colony) when they're suddenly intercepted by a ufo that seems to observe them and interrupt their communications and navigation. they're forced to land on a moonbase where they, surprisingly, don't mention this ufo. 

 

after a partying with the moonbase crew they try heading to mars again (this time replacing their previous doctor with another winey one who keeps going on about how he misses his wife) when the previous ufo fucks things up again and..... attaches some kind of honeycomb to the back of their spaceship.

 

two of the crew go outside to get samples of the alien honeycomb matter but upon returning, they realize they're nowhere even close to mars. they radio back to the moonbase and are advised to go back to earth- it seems they may have evidence of alien life anyway so why make the extra trip? once on earth, they realize whatever they have is some kind of alien spore, but everyone's tired so time to party again and do science again the next morning.

 

one problem: during party time, the alien escapes by burning a hole through the table and science lab then escaping to town. what is it? welp, i don't want to spoil things, but let's just say it's called guilala and it's unstoppable.

 

yeah, the rest is basically an orgy of miniature city destruction before the inevitable "kill it with that stuff" conclusion.

 

honestly, not bad, but kinda cheesy. i don't know how, but criterion seem to think this is worth owning

[tec]

Shin Godzilla - besides one bit when he shoots lasers out his back this was quite dull.

 

Your Name - daytime soap opera mixed with bad sci-fi. This bloke is not the new studio ghibli.

[Echolalia]

Started to watch The Wailing and was disappointed so turned it off. Then watched The Company Men which is propaganda for capitalism. Affleck wanders around Boston whilst an oil engineering company machine gun redundancy packages to people who live in houses the size of a small hamlet. Costner appears blue collar, and to type is living life honest, dedicated and obedient. It's got Deakins' subtleties like reflections, lighting, colours that bling this corporate world into life more than it deserves.

 

Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk

[tec]

When did you turn it off?

[Echolalia]

10 mins in when his wife pulls up her kecks in the back of the car. Worth persevering?