Films Recently Watched

[Danny O Flannagin]

10 minutes ago, Nebraska said:

this film is an epistolary of wes anderson obsessions

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when i was growing up, i distinctly remember the adrian mole books. the main character was a very interesting kind of nerd because he treated every little thing that happened in his life as though it was some important historic event that needed to be catalogued for futures benefit. eg when the family dog is taken to the vet, the date, time and manner of the dog's treatment is recorded and observed. it insisted on this kind of data collection and i see this film (and most wes anderson films) as sharing that characteristic. 

everything from the dialogue to the art direction to the collection of "things" in the film and of course- the characters. 

 

I found this film very hard to watch. Loved it until after the first short but felt overwhelmed with all the minute detail. During the last short, I closed my eyes in the theater for a bit because I couldn't keep up. I think this would work a lot better watching each short on their own instead of watching the movie as a whole in one sitting.  Wes has reached peak Anderson

[chronical]

Watched Last Night In Soho the other day. Loved the first half, the latter was alright, had some gripes with the story like

Spoiler

why wouldn't you realise the ghastly hallucinations of men are fake after the first time? Almost stabbing someone because of "Oh this is it now" was such a stupid scene like wtf?

Also can't help but see the doctor here with Matt Smith

Edited December 16, 2021 by chronical

[MadameChaos]

20 hours ago, chronical said:

Watched Last Night In Soho the other day. Loved the first half, the latter was alright, had some gripes with the story like

  Reveal hidden contents

why wouldn't you realise the ghastly hallucinations of men are fake after the first time? Almost stabbing someone because of "Oh this is it now" was such a stupid scene like wtf?

Also can't help but see the doctor here with Matt Smith

This film had me wriggling in my seat and wanting to leave, the performance McKenzie was soooooooo cringe it hurt my eyes.

The rest of this film is pretty entertaining (production design is great and Taylor-Joy was spot on) but Tamsin was terribly miscast.

[Rubin Farr]

Spider-Man: No Way Home - better than the other 3 MCU movies this year, fan service turned up to 11.

[Nebraska]

this was pretty intense- as in imagine watching a violent uprising within a country in real time.

[marf]

On 12/16/2021 at 11:55 AM, Danny O Flannagin said:

I found this film very hard to watch. Loved it until after the first short but felt overwhelmed with all the minute detail. During the last short, I closed my eyes in the theater for a bit because I couldn't keep up. I think this would work a lot b/etter watching each short on their own instead of watching the movie as a whole in one sitting.  Wes has reached peak Anderson

Why did e chose black and white? The color master goes black and white. bummed

[Squee]

Watched Spencer last night. 2 hours of Princess Diana saying "why don't they turn up the heat?" and being late for dinner.

[raljax]

On 11/29/2021 at 10:46 PM, frankixus said:

Melancholia (2011) Lars von Trier: 4/5

Sweet Thing (2020) Alexandre Rockwell: 5/5

Climax (2018) Gaspar Noe: 4/5

Love (2015) Gaspar Noe: 4/5

Lost in Translation (2003) Sofia Copolla's only good film: 4,5/5

I really like Somewhere by Sofia Copolla - give it a chance if you haven't seen it.

[raljax]

Just now, raljax said:

I really like Somewhere by Sofia Copolla - give it a chance if you haven't seen it.

Isn't there a sense of diminishing returns with Noe though? i'll always want to watch his work and it's not like he shat the bed a la Aronofsky did on Noah but imo he needs to work with the best acting talent - get Vincent Cassel back somehow or kidnap the actors Audiard finds/uses.

[Nebraska]

spike lee has technically been making the same film over and over again for many years, so you will not be surprised to learn you've already seen this film (if you've ever seen any of his films). basically, an affluent black dude realizes the racism that surrounds his community and spends the next 2hrs harping about it while spike lee occasionally chimes in by having all characters talk directly to the screen about what his main character is harping about.

when he first did it in do the right thing it seemed new and interesting. but now it's a little repetitive and tired. unless you're spike lee in which case, thank god somebody said it again

[Rubin Farr]

19 hours ago, Nebraska said:

spike lee has technically been making the same film over and over again for many years, so you will not be surprised to learn you've already seen this film (if you've ever seen any of his films). basically, an affluent black dude realizes the racism that surrounds his community and spends the next 2hrs harping about it while spike lee occasionally chimes in by having all characters talk directly to the screen about what his main character is harping about.

when he first did it in do the right thing it seemed new and interesting. but now it's a little repetitive and tired. unless you're spike lee in which case, thank god somebody said it again

Girl 6 was a weird one, but he’s been coasting for decades.

[Silent Member]

I was just going to post something positive about one of his recent movies, Summer of Sam, googled it and that fucker is from 99. Depression set in.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Silent Member

[Nebraska]

^^^ i enjoyed get on the bus a lot. thought the chemistry amongst the cast was tops. also, absolutely loved his documentary nyc epicenters 9/11→2021½

i thought, given the films obvious reference to early minstrel shows and the piccaninny freeze sign, spike would "release the kraken". he did not.

[Nebraska]

can't believe how bad they fucked this up

Spoiler

the entire film is a table read of the episode that's supposed to air after lucy and desi are accused of being communists. clearly this film is more interested in the technicalities of the actors- direction etc rather than telling any kind of "story"

 

[Squee]

1 hour ago, Nebraska said:

can't believe how bad they fucked this up

  Reveal hidden contents

the entire film is a table read of the episode that's supposed to air after lucy and desi are accused of being communists. clearly this film is more interested in the technicalities of the actors- direction etc rather than telling any kind of "story"

 

Apparently, the biggest issue with the movie (according to the internet) is that Javier Bardem is from Spain. NOT from Cuba. They can't do that. They can't do that!

[Nebraska]

terrible. and i mean- TERRIBLE

Spoiler

wtf? this film is like a $50 remake of the first film with budget actors except for the 3 returning cast members. everything about this was terrible- from the TERRIBLE costumes, cheesy dialogue, sfx, lighting, stunts, fight choreography- what the hell was that terrible low frame rate crap they tried to pull with the bullet time conversations? and how many times did they have to repeat neo stopping bullets? wtf was this? oh and jada pinkett? really? she's the entire elder council for io? really? her? oh- and how bad was her acting? and some of the machines are pets? wow

 

[Rubin Farr]

14 hours ago, Nebraska said:

terrible. and i mean- TERRIBLE

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wtf? this film is like a $50 remake of the first film with budget actors except for the 3 returning cast members. everything about this was terrible- from the TERRIBLE costumes, cheesy dialogue, sfx, lighting, stunts, fight choreography- what the hell was that terrible low frame rate crap they tried to pull with the bullet time conversations? and how many times did they have to repeat neo stopping bullets? wtf was this? oh and jada pinkett? really? she's the entire elder council for io? really? her? oh- and how bad was her acting? and some of the machines are pets? wow

 

It started out like it was going to be really meta, with some mind blowing twist or even psychological horror, but it quickly descended into a generic remake of The Matrix 1. 100% shot on soundstages and back lots, with super cheesy slo-mo yelling, "Triniiiiityyyy!!!", "Neeeeeeeo!" what the fudge.

[Satans Little Helper]

yeah. it went meta and cringe at the same time. it felt like it might have been an interesting story if it explored the coexistence with the sentient ai's. would have been interesting to explore that direction. instead, it's mostly cringeworthy fan fiction. but that's the meta. the sheeple want it that way... i guess.

o, and there's a good bunch of cynical references to 911. but that could be me. if you've seen the movie, you prob understand what im talking about.

[hello spiral]

It is straight hot garbage. I cringed 37 times in the first 25mins.

[YangYing]

idk guys that new spiderman was phenomenal for what it is. Is like twice as complicated as the new james bond but 50 times more understandable idk how u pulling it off marvel gg

[Brisbot]

New Matrix was really good. I was expecting it to be bad after reading these comments, but it's one of those 'you'll really like it, or really hate it' kind of movies. I think I like it more than even the first one.. well actually I like reloaded a lot more than the first one too though, but I need to watch it again to see. Half my family hated it and the other half really liked it. It's kinda jarring actually to see the seething hate and like of it right now. I feel Matrix 2 - now 4 really isn't for everyone and the reactions I am seeing prove it.

I don't think it overplayed the meta aspect. I was expecting to cringe at the meta but I thought it was done well. The criticism comes off as hyperbole given what I just watched. I do think they should have changed the humans from being an energy source to like an intuitive hive mind they can weaponize against the other Ai the film mentions. I'm surprised that wasn't retconned.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Brisbot

[Rubin Farr]

This had some lols, if you like The State, or Arrested Development type comedy. They make fun of pretty much everything you’d expect.

[markedone]

On 12/21/2021 at 4:10 AM, Rubin Farr said:

but he’s been coasting for decades.

Re Spike Lee, kinda agree, but blackkklansman actually really surprised me with how good and fresh it was

[Rubin Farr]

After reading some reviews of Matrix Resurrections, here is my opinion on what went wrong:

Spoiler

I wanted this movie to go full Jacob's Ladder, they had a novel approach that they wasted almost immediately: do a reboot movie about an actual reboot in this universe, not just an "upgrade". Why make Keanu be Thomas again? Trinity was someone else, so why not make Keanu a random nobody, a real stalker who is convinced Trinity is somehow his soul mate? The walls of his sanity needed to close in on him, I wouldn't even have minded if almost the entire movie took place IRL, and he just had flashbacks of the Matrix, or why not have Keanu wake up in the Matrix and now HE is Agent Smith? Maybe the Matrix is a recurring nightmare he keeps having. Lean into the blue pill/red pill addiction angle, it seemed like a dig at big pharma anyway. Have Neil Patrick Harris be a real analyst, and have Keanu go A Scanner Darkly, and not know what's real and what's fiction. Maybe even Trinity is his real wife, and she's trying to break thru his psychosis and pull him out of it? It could end with Neo realizing he's a real life schlub, going to the daily grind he did every day before he was awakened, then he could have the idea to write a game called The Matrix. The End. 

you're welcome 

 

[Nebraska]

9 hours ago, Rubin Farr said:

After reading some reviews of Matrix Resurrections, here is my opinion on what went wrong:

  Hide contents

I wanted this movie to go full Jacob's Ladder, they had a novel approach that they wasted almost immediately: do a reboot movie about an actual reboot in this universe, not just an "upgrade". Why make Keanu be Thomas again? Trinity was someone else, so why not make Keanu a random nobody, a real stalker who is convinced Trinity is somehow his soul mate? The walls of his sanity needed to close in on him, I wouldn't even have minded if almost the entire movie took place IRL, and he just had flashbacks of the Matrix, or why not have Keanu wake up in the Matrix and now HE is Agent Smith? Maybe the Matrix is a recurring nightmare he keeps having. Lean into the blue pill/red pill addiction angle, it seemed like a dig at big pharma anyway. Have Neil Patrick Harris be a real analyst, and have Keanu go A Scanner Darkly, and not know what's real and what's fiction. Maybe even Trinity is his real wife, and she's trying to break thru his psychosis and pull him out of it? It could end with Neo realizing he's a real life schlub, going to the daily grind he did every day before he was awakened, then he could have the idea to write a game called The Matrix. The End. 

you're welcome 

 

i watched a few interviews with lana wachowski and...

Spoiler

i got the feeling this is more of a commentary of the hollywood system of reboots/remakes i.e. a commentary of how we do things again and again and to mock the that cycle and how it's NEVER the same thing or successful.

my problem with this is how badly even this was done- especially in the fx department. did they purposely have to make those scenes terrible, or is there also a point about not being able to catch lightening twice because everyone involved is not "as good as they were before"? also, was it just me or was keanu more cliche keanu than normal? i think this was a matter of effort and clearly, when lana wachowski says "it wasn't planned. it wasn't orchestrated in any way."