Films Recently Watched

[Squee]

Roma

 

Man, that was boring. It had its moments - some pretty good ones actually - but for most of the time I was bored out of my mind.

[Nebraska]

 

an okay made documentary- the problem is, if you have no new information, what's the documentary for? it's basically a VH1 profile of jam master jay with "what killed him?" tacked on at the end with the conclusion: who knows? great. thanks for wasting an hour and some change on nothing

[Nebraska]

 

amazing piece of filmmaking. wish it had more of a hand from oson wells, but oh well- loved it still. weird to say, but they make him out to be this indie filmmaker even though technically- here's nowhere even close to be. unless you were thinking box office at which case, it's more about the audience. thanks dipshits.

 

amazing film. i'd give it a 9 alcoholic filmmakers out of 10

[TRiP]

 

amazing piece of filmmaking. wish it had more of a hand from oson wells, but oh well- loved it still. weird to say, but they make him out to be this indie filmmaker even though technically- here's nowhere even close to be. unless you were thinking box office at which case, it's more about the audience. thanks dipshits.

 

amazing film. i'd give it a 9 alcoholic filmmakers out of 10

 

 

yea I absolutely loved it too!

 

I felt it was rather mind bending, I hadn't heard anything about them finishing the film which the documentary follows, 'The Other Side of the Wind', and when i saw both of them suddenly on Netflix I started to wonder if there was some catch or trick behind it all

 

Towards the end of the docu I thought maybe it was all going to be an elaborate posthumous fuck-you by Orson, sort of like 'F is for Fake' - all the years leading up to make a fake documentary within a documentary about a fake film within a film... close but not exactly, still cool though and looking forward to seeing the actual film

Edited December 10, 2018 by TRiP

[Silent Member]

I watched the night comes for us. About an hour too long, some good gore, but there are attempts at drama and acting. Boo!

[Guest Ovitus]

^^ I thought the same about the plot, turned it off after just a few minutes. Gave it a second shot and some of the action scenes were kewl. chick fight was hot in a weird morbid way

[Nebraska]

https://youtu.be/Tamyk5XUnx0

 

ron bonk is back with another masterpiece of garbage cinema. 

[eugene]

the house that jack built - a lot of it went over my head but nevertheless it's still a lot of fun to watch von trier go wherever the fuck he wants with his ironic misanthropy and depravity and juggle lots of interesting ideas along the way.

[cwmbrancity]

cheers for that Awesome Welles "They'll Love Me" link up, put a silver lining on a punishing week & found F For Fake on an olde drive too.

 

Dogman - unlikely mafiosa/dog groomer negotiates cocaine chicanery + problem colleagues. Licks of humour & charm, just the right levels of violence & a wicked finale.  Probably too Euro-fag for Eugene.

 

[Nebraska]

the house that jack built - a lot of it went over my head but nevertheless it's still a lot of fun to watch von trier go wherever the fuck he wants with his ironic misanthropy and depravity and juggle lots of interesting ideas along the way.

 

just watched this.

 

i really thought this guy had a lot of potential back when he started his career, but more and more of his personality overflows into his film- almost like he's trying to tell you how he wants you to think about him rather than letting the viewer judge for themselves who the filmmaker is. in this case, he has a lot of explaining to do (to the tune of 2.5 hours) but it's plodding and i really thought the interesting stuff happened in the "epilogue".

 

if you don't like the man, you may not like the film- and for me this is what has happened. regardless of what i wanted to think- i felt like the character of jack. removed, cynical and somewhat ho-hum about everything i was watching despite the directors many attempts at presenting ideas that could justify his leading man's thought process- or wait- i mean the directors own thought process.

 

four jacks that don't work out of ten

 

p.s. see matt dillion's face on the poster? that's my face after realizing i just wasted an entire afternoon watching this bloated ramble

 

[hello spiral]

Saw Sorry to Bother You in cinema. Pretty fun for the most part, falls apart in the last 30mins though.

[usagi]

^ exactly how I felt. the horse-men uprising thing just killed it, it became too stupid for its own good. but there were some really funny bits before it.

[hello spiral]

^ exactly how I felt. the horse-men uprising thing just killed it, it became too stupid for its own good. but there were some really funny bits before it.

 

 

 

I didn't even mind that too much. My problem is there were so many different directions they coulda taken to sew it up, and what they did instead is just kinda damp squib 'will this do' out.

Possible things I was expecting to happen: 

- horse man thing was all part of an unconscious fever dream he sustained after getting hit on the head with the coke can

- a gotcha at the end where he's been being the rich guy's 'MLK' anyway, and the rich guy tells him as such. All part of his plan, kafkaesque kinda thing

- tied in with the last one: turns out the 'squeeze' guy is also working for the 1%ers being that MLK type for them. woulda been a good reveal. as it was, that character and "I got your girl" storyline went nowhere.

 

yeah that ending was just lazy af

 

 

 

[usagi]

 

I really thought they were going to go in that direction with Squeeze. his character seemed too greasy to be sincere, so it was kind of puzzling they didn't go there.

 

kafkaesque ending would've been cool. but it probably wouldn't have been positive enough for what I think this film is trying to be, which is (for better or worse) an uplifting r e l a t a b l e black (African-American "black") comedy for 2018.

 

[whosebrian]

^ I reside in Oakland, so I might need to see this, I recognize a gas station from the preview.

[hello spiral]

 

I really thought they were going to go in that direction with Squeeze. his character seemed too greasy to be sincere, so it was kind of puzzling they didn't go there.

 

kafkaesque ending would've been cool. but it probably wouldn't have been positive enough for what I think this film is trying to be, which is (for better or worse) an uplifting r e l a t a b l e black (African-American "black") comedy for 2018.

 

 

Yeah and fuck that tbqh. Maybe a thing that reveals me more than the movie but I def prefer a downer ending that rings true over the opposite.

[ghOsty]

Watched Overlord for $3 at the discount theatre on Saturday, it was good but not great... I was hoping it would lean a bit more towards action and nazi-zombies en masse than the suspense/horror angle it kinda went for, it seemed undecided of what genre it wanted to be at times. But, despite that for what it was it was a fun watch. Can't complain too much for $3

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by ghOsty

[usagi]

Can't complain too much for $3

 

you ain't from around here, are ya

[italiceyeball]

Storytelling

 

no Happiness but Giamatti and the exploitation of teenage angst by him was great. Loved it. 

 

Great alright! I spotted that Giamatti's cameraman in that is Mike from American Movie. brilliant casting there.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181288/

 

[auxien]

 

Can't complain too much for $3

 

 

you ain't from around here, are ya

lol Edited December 17, 2018 by auxien

[T3551ER]

This weekend watched a pair of films I'd put in the "surprisingly good" horror/sci-fi category:

 

Stephanie 

Whenever I see the name "Akiva Goldsman" I tend to vomit in my mouth a little but . . . totally competent directing here. This movie wouldn't work without the spectacular acting of the three (just realized, it legit is only three) actors. Standout is the actress playing the titular Stephanie who fucking OWNS this shit and who probably should be getting 15 movie deals based on the performance here alone. Anna Torv (of Fringe fame) appears. There is a scene where she walks into a room and takes off her nightgown to change in to something else which provides the director the opportunity to ogle her ass and show some sideboob. I'm not complaining, but it's, like, a petty moment in an otherwise completely non-petty film. 

 

A excellent example of restraint. The mystery of what's going on is meted out slowly, and gained via inference rather than direct exposition. The "thing" is never really seen directly (there is a moment late in the film when a potential reveal cuts directly to the next scene instead. Any lesser film would have used it as an excuse to show the monster, thus cheapening it. Again, I can't believe Goldsman directed this). Whoever wrote these characters lends an air of realism to both the parents and the kid (again, who owns this role - but credit to the writers for writing a completely believable character). The best horror/sci-fi uses the supernatural to help draw out themes of the natural. As a parent to be, this film has an added weight (I'm speaking vaguely on purpose here - best to go into this one knowing as little as possible). 

 

Subtle. That's the word that'd been evading me. This film is subtle, and rewards your attention. Less of a "slow burn" than a tight, well crafted, well-written, well acted piece that ultimately ends up being a meditation on family, sacrifice, love, darkness, and the end of the world. 

 

8.5 Anna Torv sideboobs/10

 

Seven in Heaven

Probably good to go into this one knowing that it's PG-13 and set your expectations accordingly. I.e., don't expect Anna Torv sideboob in this one, and no gore. However, there is violence here (and not just of the physical kind). The main characters are all high school aged (again, PG-13 rating so aiming for a younger audience here) - don't let that deter you. The characters are well rounded, and the film (thankfully) doesn't paint teenagers as mono-minded idiots who can't intuit/logic out complex situations.  Oh, right, for American Vandal fans, the lead is the same guy who plays Kevin McClain in S2. 

 

This movie plays out sort of like a compacted season of Channel Zero. Some similar themes involved, including a particular species of dream logic that asks the viewer to maybe not try and pay attention to figuring out the rules too much and just "go with it."  Not to say it's bad or that it doesn't make sense - it's more that it's not ever really exactly spelled out, and allowing your mind to accept that what your seeing isn't necessarily "real" is a good rule of thumb. Think more on the Lynch side of things. Basically, I'm saying you should smoke out before this one. 

 

There are some things that I'm not sure I am ok with (under spoilers below) but I really kind of loved this one. All the characters felt very believable, it brought back some weirdly nostalgic feelings about being young, confused, adrift, hopefully romantic, and terrified about the world. It's a tight film, that has excellent pacing, tension, some moments of genuine levity, interesting and believable characters. 

 

7/10 Heavens

 

• • Ok, guidance counselor/Guy from the Office. Is he the "constant" in all realities and, if so, does that mean the reality we're viewing at the beginning of the film is not reality at all? I would be inclined to think that this is just lazy writing, but I actually did a little research and it sounds like there were actually incredibly strict rules laid out in the mind of the writer before he tackled this. Either way, his presence and purpose perplexes me. 
  • The playing cards. Given that we can't be sure our characters actually understand the rules, is the card actually a "passport" back to the base reality? If so, why does the mother in the other reality recognize it?
    • Why is he supposed to show it to his mom when he gets back? 
    • If the playing cards are not from this reality, but from an adjacent one, how did they get here? 
  • Did chickerdoo try and suffocate her sister with a pillow IRL? Is that why the sister went away? Or was it vice versa? Did the chick try and kill herself at some point (bloody scratches on arm)? 
  • Is his dad really there in the "hell" reality? 

   

[Squee]

Uh, Anna Torv!

[Silent Member]

Roma

 

Man, that was boring. It had its moments - some pretty good ones actually - but for most of the time I was bored out of my mind.

I thought this was brilliant ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Squee]

 

Roma

 

Man, that was boring. It had its moments - some pretty good ones actually - but for most of the time I was bored out of my mind.

I thought this was brilliant ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

 

In retrospect, I had just finished 3 weeks of nonstop working, so that might have added to my impatience.

 

Cold War on the other hand. Pretty good.

[Eggs]

tree of life
phantom thread
mother!
 
my review