Films Recently Watched

[Suffocate Peon]

Star Wars Rogue One long rambling thoughts

 

 

I thought this was beautifully shot, with that purple hue in the centre of the frame really visible in some close up shots of characters like they were emanating a glow. The cinematographer's previous films are Killing Them Softly and Foxcatcher, I thought the look of those films was a big part of their identity and it was the same with this for me, it wasn't entirely engaging with its characters or story, but visually it was. I've not been so impressed by the seamless almost invisible use of cgi in a long time, because it's so rare in blockbusters, I found it so tonally different and refreshing to not be hit with an artificial sheen, bland smudginess of the awful digital cinematography kind, everything had a grit and realness. Not quite like the originals, but even though I didn't like TFA and think this has issues, it gives them a quality that something like Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull completely lacks when it takes the easier lazier option in every scene. I really appreciate their approach on this, and it raises my opinion of Gareth Edwards because Godzilla looked fantastic in moments but not throughout. 

 

So when this jumped from planet to planet within 5 minutes I didn't mind how confusing it was, I liked the different landscapes and cityscapes. 

 

I loved the opening, Mendelsohn vs Mikkelsen, the long grass blowing in the wind, time stopped in their stand off, it felt epic and serious without feeling pompous. I connected straight away to both characters, and I'd have preferred to have seen more of each, Mikkelsen's dilemma and plight interested me more and I'd have liked more of his scenes, but I think I might be alone in that because with the story the film is telling they'd be seen as redundant. I think they could have split it though, Galen involved in the creation of the deathstar and Jyn's upbringing. Don't skip it, that's the most interesting bit. Make it 3 hours so that Galen's death is more meaningful, as it is he just acts a means to push Jyn on to committing to the rebel cause, and that you predict this lessens the impact. I still wanted a reunion between them as i realised he'd just have the slowly dying-out mumbling his last words ending, so there was something there for me at least. 

 

They might make a separate film about the creation of the death star but they had the ingredients to do it here, they had the setup, and would have had the pay off. 

 

I wasn't excited by the trailer but now I'm disappointed that a lot of its best shots didn't make the film. Was the space action worth it to play homage to and be consistent with A New Hope? If these films are always going to be slotted into the Star Wars timeline it's just going to compromise the potential for each to be different and individual. 

 

Because of how convincing I found the cgi I too was thrown when Tarkin appeared. I don't think it was worth playing homage to break people's immersion. Leia brought me out too, but by that point i expected it. I find it creepy more than anything. 

 

Martin Scorsese will digitally 'de-age' Robert De Niro in The Irishman to the appearance De Niro had in The Godfather: Part II. Why not just hire a younger, better, hungrier actor and use prosthetics/make up to make him old ? Why go with the most complex option that can be the most impressive but which draws so much attention to itself, and becomes part of the artificial sheen..in a gritty portrayal of a murderer ? Depp was distracting enough in Black Mass because he looked strangely less human than the ordinary people around him. It was like cgi induced evilness. It's not just the eyes, but the skin for me, they can't do flesh. I'm always aware I'm looking at a digitally created head. I'd like to see the attempts but not in a film which hangs on it. 

 

I think there's disappointment in how it could have played out - when you think of a heist film and combining all these specialists to perform their individual skill. The people they recruit lack charisma, wit, and don't seem particularly skilled. I didn't warm to them at all. They all get their 'moment', but it's of courage rather than inspiring expertise or skill. I didn't care for their deaths. In the original cut as the trailer suggests Jyn is on the ground with the plans, running towards the AT-ACTs, so having her among the others would have increased how engaging it'd be for me.

 

The trailer definitely evokes a more passionate dramatic film than what we got, that captures the importance of stopping the threat. I think people can argue for the positives of how it's been edited but in the moment you aren't able to feel anything, for instance of Jyn's strong feelings of abandonment and betrayal at Saw leaving her behind, you just have her word against his and emotion/drama replaced by exposition. The scene where Saw has his tentacled creature caress the mind of Bodhi to read his thoughts and detect the truth, Saw says there is the possibility of losing your mind. After the film had ended I almost forgot about it because there's no call back to the scene, I couldn't recall what happened next.

 

The film could be longer, it didn't feel 2 hours 10 minutes at all. 

 

edit: I much prefer this to The Force Awakens, that was a step in the right direction in terms of the use of cgi aiming for a more robust tangible world but I think that film tonally was still in the modern blockbuster mould, of shunting characters from place to place, and forcing it. There's something so ordinary about it, so tired and banal. The difference in the two film's openings couldn't be more stark. TFA's is a mess of contrived danger, explosions, characters in jeopardy. Rogue One is so much more effective being simpler and purer, and visually just let's the scene play out.

 

The slow zoom and pause before you see Darth Vader's red light sabre in the scene at the end, it's more elegant than anything in TFA. Another step would be a longer pause, and the scene playing out in one long take. The editing as a whole was just serviceable and never stood out as bold. I can't remember if TFA had the swipe transitions from one scene to another that Lucas was fond of, which I kind of like as a part of the Star Wars style, and aided settling into one place then jumping to an entirely different place, planet or ship in space.

 

I'd like more of this style really than reverting back to repeating the formula. Ultimately they're just sci fi action films to me, I like the idea of there being one a year and using the churned out process to give directors and writers opportunity to carve their own worlds within the universe. 

 

My brother afterwards thought it'd dilute the series, but I think it could expand it. I always think hyping up a film after 5 years or whatever means it becomes The Movie to please everyone, because it has to. 

 

I think it'd be cool to have unconnected side stories that surprise and polarize people so after 10 of them no two people agree on their favs. I know Disney won't see it that way, but I'm encouraged they let Edwards make his 'war film' and i buy their assertion that the ending of this needed to 'fit'. 

 

Despite the re shoots, I think TFA felt more compromised. Rogue One just seems lost as to how to structure the story, tonally I found it consistent.

 

 

[Suffocate Peon]

David Brent: Life on the Road
This was agonizing to watch, it's basically 90 minutes of Brent being embarrassing and pathetic while everyone around him looks on with horror, interspersed with interviews of those people saying how much they hate him. The Office had the same dynamic, but I don't remember anyone openly saying they hate him, I think it was more subtle and had more balance. This was just nasty and unrealistic anyone would sink to such depths of insecurity that Brent does.

I never liked The Office originally because I found Brent too obvious, but rewatched it a few months ago and really appreciated mostly everything else about it. Brent has always had a crutch to fall back on, a person who is either as annoying as he is or someone so harmless they feel no hate, and here it's a similarly try hard funny guy in the office and the chilled out rapper he's funding, who take Brent's offensive language in his stride. Mostly..

Also in The Office, Brent talks to an interviewer, but essentially to camera, which is his moment to philosophize, but allows you to enjoy his deluded arrogance without the hatred from others piling on. It frames the show as he sees the world/himself, which informs what he does. I mainly found the other character moments funnier in The Office.

There is funny stuff in here, but I couldn't laugh, it just needed balance, maybe when he's around his band he isn't always embarrassing, and he can get on with them like a normal person 50% of the time rather than 0% and there's another way humour can be found without always going for the extreme angle. It's the same thing in every scene, there's no laughs without surprises...5/10

 

Mad Max: Fury Road

I was nervous, who wouldn't be? Going to my first MMFRA meeting. What if I was the only one there? What if it was just a setup and a pummelling awaited me rather than solidarity? Ear pressed to the door, maybe it wasn't too late to go back, maybe re-watch the thing again. I knock, quietly, hesitantly. My feet paralysed by fear. The door swings open. 'Come in'. I think to survey the room, but there's no need, it's packed. Not packed with thugs wielding bars, but people of all ages and shapes, and within the diversity was a similar anxious-ridden expression, pulverized by shame and regret, ostracized by their peers. Oh the sense of relief. The best case scenario I thought would be another lost soul to connect with. We'd hug and hold each other tightly like we were the last remaining humans in existence, feeling no need to share our criticisms, this would transcend that, an acceptance amplified by the silence of solidarity, and then we'd leave refreshed and possibly changed.

 

'You're a bit late and we've already spent 9 hours hearing everyone elses stories, but there's always space for another voice'. Emboldened, I skipped to the last remaining seat available, I think without my feet touching the floor. I paused, basking in this moment which felt mine...and, channelling my inner Ethan Hawke, my left foot followed my right on to the chair, towering above everyone. I turned and felt no embarrassment, and I just said it, no, announced with pride: 'I did not love Mad Max: Fury Road'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuck off, I said 'did not love'.

 

 

Tunnel

Often when I watch a Korean film I realise it isn't doing anything different but massively enjoy it anyway and then check out online opinions from film watchers on various film review sites, where the harshest critique will be that it's a sub standard by the numbers genre film, 5/10.

For me, and I've said this so many times I ought to copy and paste it to save time, Korean genre films are superb even when they're samey. They're manipulative but feel like they earn the emotional drama, they're stuck firmly in their genre but do it with real class and care, and thoroughly. Tunnel covers so much and throws up dilemmas every 10 minutes that for a film that could have felt claustrophobic and stifling, it knows when to employ a bit of humour and look at the collapse from another angle.

 

It's not even really a saturated genre for me, I know there's been a number of these but I've only seen Daylight with Sylvester Stallone, which is good as trashy later night viewing but that's about it.

 

Korea genre films quality isn't in the writing in terms of the dialogue, or colourful characters, its in the execution of how they construct a thriller, they're experts at it. They take the spectacle of Hollywood and feel good manipulation if need be, and establish this is a genre film meant for entertainment then do it with so much heart, sincerity, emotion. They bridge the gap of serious art-house drama and flimsy Hollywood throwaway trash. There are moments in Tunnel which don't make sense, such as reports coming out on the news which are fun to see as they shape the narrative but you have to wonder about the trapped character explaining away all the little incidents he encounters which allows the reporters to seemingly know so much. The film wants you to overlook the way it wants to streamline the experience and I did. In something like Buried, you'd hear ever word spoken, but this wants to cover different angles with speed and clarity, and not get bogged down.

 

I understand people not taking to Korean thrillers, but I'll never stop singing their praises when they're as enjoyable as this. 9/10 my film of the year.../easily pleased

 

Valley Uprising

Very enjoyable history of Yosemite and rock climbing's ascent (sorry) into the increasingly popular extreme sport that it is today (where it's being considered as an Olympic event for Tokyo 2020). I know little of rock climbing so I hope it's accurate, and the rivalry (always a rivalry) as depicted was between two contrasting personalities and not several, with individuals conveniently left out. Not that it'd alter my fondness for it, I love its presentation through footage, photographs and narrated by the climbers interviews. It's seamless and rips through the decades with ease. Perhaps a 9 rating is too high, but I think anyone would enjoy this. It covers the culture of the 50s, 60s and 70s without getting bogged down and covers the change in attitude of the park wardens on patrol, which make for accessories in exciting GTA-style escapes. Maybe at the start of the film some people are thinking that spending every waking hour climbing in death defying climbs is a bit crazy, but by the end it's the park patrol guys who appear mad and divorced from reality.

 

I love how it transitions too. I knew of Alex Honnold and was hoping for some of him in this, and wasn't disappointed. The way it covers the earlier forms which was more like engineering complex ways to scale a wall to pure climbing unaided to the same climbs that took years, weeks to do now being completed solo free in hours was very satisfying. The image of Alex Honnold meticulously manoeuvering up a vertical rock face 2500 feet up is still astounding to me after weeks of looking at his videos, and the way it's juxtaposed here with the earlier climbing makes it even more impressive, when it hits there's a moment coupled with an interview that's so hard to watch. You actually hear the struggle which with Honnold you never do, and the way he expertly and perfectly performs an action to move his body weight over is remarkable.

 

It's like watching the impossible, like an illusion. 9/10

 

Imperium

Reading the IMDb message boards of this after it ended, they're impenetrable, positing that the film is 'anti white'. I've never really understood it when people insinuate a film carries a message as based on simply what occurs in the film, in terms of the characters in the world. Like, people pulling back and suggesting that a director is racist because his films only feature white people. Or a director is a misogynist because his film features violence on women. Brian De Palma was accused of this..

 

Daniel Radcliffe can't slip into a role, he just stands out, and not in that star presence way, but the Keira Knightley incapable of coming across as human way. They're not even too pretty, because they both look odd, but can't help but seem so unconvincing and like her in Domino and him in this, a kind of grittiness is required. They're incapable of it, and he tries, he looks good with a skinhead. The digital cinematography really doesn't help, it's so soft and bland. This film wants to tell a story and thinks that is enough, when the very best films dealing with a subject will look to be far more powerful and extraordinary in their depiction. Imperium, it can and will be argued is scary in other ways, like the normalisation of white supremacy in middle class suburbia, that it's not confined to the underground. But it's the director's job to be striking. Romper Stomper allows you to live among neo Nazis and couldn't feel more real. It mostly rejects being clichéd or didactic with its dialogue, it's fluid and has so much more integrity, you don't for one second think you're watching actors in a production, it's grimy and horrible throughout. Imperium completely lacks the visual power to be effective. So it tells its story and comes out on the other side with a message, all neatly tied up in the end. None of it is remotely remarkable or memorable. But it flies by and is passable enough. 6/10

Edited December 23, 2016 by Suffocate Peon

[eugene]

american honey - a dumpster teen's tour of sociocultural degradation of america, not bad. really good camera and editing that's attentive to all the right details and makes it very immersive, good acting and all. if harmony korine wasn't shit he'd probably make something like that. but predictably it does feel overly long at almost 3 hours, some hollow and repetitive stuff could be cut off.

[Echolalia]

Finally watched Lost Soul the story about Richard Stanley filming Dr Moreau. Kilmer comes out of this pretty bad, Brando at this point in time has completely lost it and the rest of the crew are having a wild party in the jungle for months on end. Shame no contribution from David Thewlis who was in the middle of it all. 

 

[Echolalia]

Time to watch Tunnel then!

[tec]

Blair Witch - As someone who watches a lot of bad horror films I was still surprised by how exceptionally shit this film was. I've never been sure of Adam Wingard but I won't try his films again, this was my worst of the year.

[usagi]

^ avoided on principle.

 

for some reason I thought it was a good idea to watch The War Game at 1am and follow it with Threads, which I am watching right now.

[tec]

I really liked the Blair Witch Project but wasn't angry about this one in a 'Star Wars fan losing his mind about the prequels' way, it was just awful.

[Squee]

I really liked the Blair Witch Project but wasn't angry about this one in a 'Star Wars fan losing his mind about the prequels' way, it was just awful.

 

This. I don't think they knew what made the original Blair Witch Project good. Oh well.

 

tec - you should watch The Autopsy of Jane Doe. I just watched it. Fairly creepy, also kinda terrible in that horror movie way, but it's definitely one of the better ones to come out this year.

[auxien]

Finally watched Lost Soul the story about Richard Stanley filming Dr Moreau. Kilmer comes out of this pretty bad, Brando at this point in time has completely lost it and the rest of the crew are having a wild party in the jungle for months on end. Shame no contribution from David Thewlis who was in the middle of it all. 

 

That was a pretty interesting doc. Not particularly well done itself, but it was great to hear the behind-the-scenes gab.

 

Also in reference to Alien 3, which comes up about every year here, it's great. It's my favorite movie, period (I'm obviously no auteur), and I love it fully with all its flaws. Always recommend it when given the chance, so definitely give it a good try with an open mind knowing it's not perfect.

[usagi]

yeah but like... I've only seen the Special Assembly Cut and have completely avoided the original theatrical version.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe. I just watched it. Fairly creepy, also kinda terrible in that horror movie way, but it's definitely one of the better ones to come out this year.

 

curious about this.

[usagi]

well, that was great. dunno why I decided to do that to myself on Christmas morning. I'm going to bed now.

[tec]

 

I really liked the Blair Witch Project but wasn't angry about this one in a 'Star Wars fan losing his mind about the prequels' way, it was just awful.

This. I don't think they knew what made the original Blair Witch Project good. Oh well.

 

tec - you should watch The Autopsy of Jane Doe. I just watched it. Fairly creepy, also kinda terrible in that horror movie way, but it's definitely one of the better ones to come out this year.

Yup, there are many examples but a big one was how they chose to have it so time froze (?) so day never came. In the first their desperation to escape each day before sun down was a great tension builder. Nevermind.

 

I'll definitely give that one a go, glad you enjoyed the film, even if it were no good Brian Cox is usually worth a watch.

[Squee]

 

 

I really liked the Blair Witch Project but wasn't angry about this one in a 'Star Wars fan losing his mind about the prequels' way, it was just awful.

This. I don't think they knew what made the original Blair Witch Project good. Oh well.

 

tec - you should watch The Autopsy of Jane Doe. I just watched it. Fairly creepy, also kinda terrible in that horror movie way, but it's definitely one of the better ones to come out this year.

Yup, there are many examples but a big one was how they chose to have it so time froze (?) so day never came. In the first their desperation to escape each day before sun down was a great tension builder. Nevermind.

 

I'll definitely give that one a go, glad you enjoyed the film, even if it were no good Brian Cox is usually worth a watch.

It was ok but you know most horror movies will always have something stinky about it

[may be rude]

to weigh in on the arrival, i thought it was really great. i can see why some people would think it's just ok while others would think it's excellent. it got into some philosophical/metaphysical stuff that i think is really interesting, but many people wouldn't be as familiar with. it also conveyed some of that stuff cinematically in a way that i found really impressive and poignant, basically i think they pulled something off really nicely that i was surprised was possible to be pulled off.

[auxien]

 

 

yeah but like... I've only seen the Special Assembly Cut and have completely avoided the original theatrical version.

The original isn't that big of a change from what you've seen, IMO. On paper it may seem like there's big differences, but in actuality the tone and pacing is largely the same, at least where it matters.

[Nebraska]

 

i thought this was...... REALLY boring. wtf? i wanted to enjoy it so much but i hated all the fake accents and it also wasn't really funny. there are a few funny bits, but they're not funny enough.  also i feel like the story wasn't focused enough.

[Danny O Flannagin]

^Just rewatched this today. Humor is pretty dry and definitely got a few chuckles out of me. I agree on the story a bit all over the place, I think it's more of a collage/snapshot of what the film industry was like at the time. Not the Coen brother's best but still a worthwhile film for someone into film history. 

[usagi]

The Autopsy of Jane Doe. I just watched it. Fairly creepy, also kinda terrible in that horror movie way, but it's definitely one of the better ones to come out this year.

 

curious about this.

 

this was silly as shit. not all horror movies are supposed to be this bad.

 

 

the moment when they accidentally kill his gf was when I was like k peace dawg

 

[Squee]

 

 

The Autopsy of Jane Doe. I just watched it. Fairly creepy, also kinda terrible in that horror movie way, but it's definitely one of the better ones to come out this year.

curious about this.

this was silly as shit. not all horror movies are supposed to be this bad.

 

 

the moment when they accidentally kill his gf was when I was like k peace dawg

LOL

[Squee]

Nocturnal Animals - SOLID/10

[keanu reeves]

autopsy of jane doe was decent until the moment usagi pointed out. then it drove offroad, through a fence and tumbled over a cliff into an ocean of stupid.

 

watched american honey. i could have gotten this same experience talking to the homeless guy who asks for a dollar outside of wawa at two in the morning. tweakers take a road trip across the worst part of the country and listen to trap rap. wew lad kill me now.

[may be rude]

rogue one / 10

 

i hope i never watch a new star wars movie again

[doublename]

Rogue One was pretty unremarkable all round. Found myself nodding off in places.

[Amen Lare]

autopsy of jane doe was decent until the moment usagi pointed out. then it drove offroad, through a fence and tumbled over a cliff into an ocean of stupid.

 

I think it was actually very good until the earlier breaking lights scene. It had a distinct Hollywood horror feel (perhaps surprisingly for a norwegian director) yet very moderate and methodical flow. The setting, while not exactly fresh, is kinda risky to dwell in it for such a prolonged period. After the lights off it was typical paranormal bullshit with a bit of awkward acting - i guess they tried to make victims professional looking, the result was hardly authentic.

 

It lasted just a bit longer than usual horror. I wonder why nobody tried to at least go with it till the end, even sacrificing any kind of resolution and blurring the lines between thriller and horror for the sake of class. Trier's Antichrist is nice coz he couldn't do a normal horror despite kinda trying, i could also name No Country For Old Men as an example of demonstrative disobedience of dramatic laws in low genre in order to elevate the significance of resulted ruins.