Films Recently Watched

[logboy]

la moglie piu bella / the most beautiful wife by damiano damiani (1970) - social drama illustrating machismo in young male mafia member as he unsuspectingly selects strong and intelligent prospective wife, with little concern or respect for her desires and interests but naively far too much for his own face and reputation amongst peers. what follows is an intelligent exploration of the impacts and pressures between imbalanced status of genders, outcomes for individuals and families, society. damiani might make films that are not necessarily inspiring to look at, though not bland (but everyday) in settings, but the clarity of how ideas are explored deeply through dialogue is impressive and engaging.

[Hail Sagan]

Furiosa in IMAX. Damn I feel bad for George Miller, this 79 year old man cinematically dunks on all of his underclassmen only to barely beat out fucking Garfield and rake in less than 1/5th of what it cost to make the film. Went as a group of 4 and we all thoroughly enjoyed it in a disappointingly empty theater. I was a little skeptical naturally with it being a prequel but upon watching it I’m excited to rewatch Fury Road now. 
 

Chris Hemsworth was great in this. It was refreshing to have a villain that came across as incompetent instead of the usual insurmountable force of pure evil. He was more of an impulsive dirtbag who rose in the ranks and you really get to see the consequences of his leadership throughout the film. Furiosa herself is great as well (both the girl and ole anime eyes herself, Anna Taylor-joy). Honestly I really appreciated all of the smaller roles in this film as they were all very distinct and memorable in their own way. 
 

As far as the action is concerned it is still damn good in parts though not as relentless was the case in Fury Road. There is some wonky cgi here and there that was a little distracting but I’m forgiving it all as there was an abundance of other really fun and exciting shit going on. Being more story-centric also meant that the dialogue here was way more interesting than anything in Fury Road. It’s a shame it bombed at the theaters because George said if it did well he would write one last chapter but at this point I don’t see it happening

 

 

Edited May 29 by Hail Sagan

[chim]

On 4/16/2024 at 6:45 PM, auxien said:

i watched The Hunted this weekend and it was okay. a bit better than expected based on the poster, but also worse. good pacing & decent action, but also it all felt a bit neutered & rushed in ways. every aspect of the plot, dialogue, shots, etc., all was almost right, but nothing was very good. could’ve been better, would make for a good 1 season TV series thing.

6.5 knife fights out of 10

I enjoyed this a lot at the time, an early prototype of that new breed of ultrarealistic dark action thriller that's so popular today. Speaking of which, I really enjoyed Sicario 2.

[o00o]

12 hours ago, Hail Sagan said:

Furiosa in IMAX. Damn I feel bad for George Miller, this 79 year old man cinematically dunks on all of his underclassmen only to barely beat out fucking Garfield and rake in less than 1/5th of what it cost to make the film. Went as a group of 4 and we all thoroughly enjoyed it in a disappointingly empty theater. I was a little skeptical naturally with it being a prequel but upon watching it I’m excited to rewatch Fury Road now. 
 

Chris Hemsworth was great in this. It was refreshing to have a villain that came across as incompetent instead of the usual insurmountable force of pure evil. He was more of an impulsive dirtbag who rose in the ranks and you really get to see the consequences of his leadership throughout the film. Furiosa herself is great as well (both the girl and ole anime eyes herself, Anna Taylor-joy). Honestly I really appreciated all of the smaller roles in this film as they were all very distinct and memorable in their own way. 
 

As far as the action is concerned it is still damn good in parts though not as relentless was the case in Fury Road. There is some wonky cgi here and there that was a little distracting but I’m forgiving it all as there was an abundance of other really fun and exciting shit going on. Being more story-centric also meant that the dialogue here was way more interesting than anything in Fury Road. It’s a shame it bombed at the theaters because George said if it did well he would write one last chapter but at this point I don’t see it happening

 

 

Couldn’t agree more. Did also see it in a empty theatre and it was quite a nice movie for the budget they had. Definitely would recommend watching 

Edited May 29 by o00o

[onecaseman]

6 hours ago, o00o said:

Couldn’t agree more. Did also see it in a empty theatre and it was quite a nice movie for the budget they had. Definitely would recommend watching 

Same experience as both of you. I dug the movie. Empty theater. Good action scenes. The lore and economy makes a lot more sense now given the terrain of the northern territory.

[Squee]

Wait, that new Kong vs. Godzilla movie made around $560 million dollars?!

Can't wait to see how well Megalopolis does at the box office.

[chim]

Megalopolis is going to tank if going by the Guardian article. Coppolla's ancient and out of his depth. 

I'm genuinely intrigued by Furiosa as people of distinction (like you gentlemen) keep lauding it while the mainstream press is being idiotic, especially hyped for the black & white cut. 

Edited May 31 by chim

[decibal cooper]

Civil War (2024) - directed by Alex Garland

I went into this not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised by how good and enjoyable the film making was. The film dramatizes a civil war in present day America, with a few big states designated 'western forces' on their way to Washington DC to try and depose the president. There is more or less zero discussion about what is at stake in this war, about what each side is fighting for, which I thought initially was strange. Often times in art, discussions about present day political issues and ideologies wind up making films age poorly, makes them irrelevant or boring to future audiences, so I kind of understand why they did not talk about politics from this standpoint. Might also have made the film more complicated than it needed to be.

With that being said, the movie for me was more about wartime photojournalism, both the work itself and the product of this work (the photos), how they can be considered art and how they are artifacts for people far away from the front lines to understand and form their own beliefs about specific wars and war generally speaking. That was what I liked most about this film and this theme plays out through the Kirsten Dunst character and the younger woman who wants to become a photojournalist, played well by Cailee Spaeny. Their relationship develops into a master/apprentice kind of relationship, and it develops in short dialogue scenes between them but also in an unspoken way when they are shooting photos together in very, very close proximity to brutal combat.

The film uses a very simple editing technique during the action sequences which I rather liked. A character is shown snapping a photo, and then we quickly cut to the still photograph that they just took (in black and white in contrast to the color of the rest of the movie). The sound cuts out and we hold on the still photo for a moment before the action and moving pictures resume. Very simple technique, but it works beautifully, and the technique itself develops throughout the film until its final use, which is quite startling. Definitely recommend this to people who enjoy war and action movies. Some scenes reminded me of the journalist character Joker from Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. There is kind of a detached and irreverent attitude toward war by the journalists, but the horrors and realities of war continually creep in. The acting, sound design, and cinematography was on point too imo.

Edited May 31 by decibal cooper
photo formatting

[Nebraska]

On 5/29/2024 at 2:58 AM, Hail Sagan said:

Furiosa in IMAX. Damn I feel bad for George Miller, this 79 year old man cinematically dunks on all of his underclassmen only to barely beat out fucking Garfield and rake in less than 1/5th of what it cost to make the film. Went as a group of 4 and we all thoroughly enjoyed it in a disappointingly empty theater.

 

[Hail Sagan]

30 minutes ago, Nebraska said:

 

Lol. Is that you? If so goddamn, I thought the theater we were in was barren. Also shout out to your lady/friend/photographer on the ICEE selection. Probably haven’t had one of those in like 20 years, kinda want to give it a try next time.

[Nebraska]

1 hour ago, Hail Sagan said:

Lol. Is that you?

negative. 

just noticed a lot of ppl posting themselves solo in the theater during opening wkend for furiosa

[YEK]

 

[J3FF3R00]

33 minutes ago, YEK said:

 

[Squee]

1 hour ago, J3FF3R00 said:

[Rubin Farr]

Finally on Netflix

[Boxus]

with clustro casual and splesh as the soundtrack

[Squee]

22 minutes ago, Boxus said:

with clustro casual and splesh as the soundtrack

The version that's on Mubi?

[ignatius]

On 5/31/2024 at 6:08 AM, decibal cooper said:

Civil War (2024) - directed by Alex Garland

I went into this not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised by how good and enjoyable the film making was. The film dramatizes a civil war in present day America, with a few big states designated 'western forces' on their way to Washington DC to try and depose the president. There is more or less zero discussion about what is at stake in this war, about what each side is fighting for, which I thought initially was strange. Often times in art, discussions about present day political issues and ideologies wind up making films age poorly, makes them irrelevant or boring to future audiences, so I kind of understand why they did not talk about politics from this standpoint. Might also have made the film more complicated than it needed to be.

With that being said, the movie for me was more about wartime photojournalism, both the work itself and the product of this work (the photos), how they can be considered art and how they are artifacts for people far away from the front lines to understand and form their own beliefs about specific wars and war generally speaking. That was what I liked most about this film and this theme plays out through the Kirsten Dunst character and the younger woman who wants to become a photojournalist, played well by Cailee Spaeny. Their relationship develops into a master/apprentice kind of relationship, and it develops in short dialogue scenes between them but also in an unspoken way when they are shooting photos together in very, very close proximity to brutal combat.

The film uses a very simple editing technique during the action sequences which I rather liked. A character is shown snapping a photo, and then we quickly cut to the still photograph that they just took (in black and white in contrast to the color of the rest of the movie). The sound cuts out and we hold on the still photo for a moment before the action and moving pictures resume. Very simple technique, but it works beautifully, and the technique itself develops throughout the film until its final use, which is quite startling. Definitely recommend this to people who enjoy war and action movies. Some scenes reminded me of the journalist character Joker from Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. There is kind of a detached and irreverent attitude toward war by the journalists, but the horrors and realities of war continually creep in. The acting, sound design, and cinematography was on point too imo.

spoilers - so don't read if you plan on seeing this. 

i fucking hated it. i don't even know why it's called Civil War since the war is essentially arbitrary and is only there because somewhere americans are thinking about killing other americans and it's a fantasy that can be cashed in on in america. the title is just bait for americans.  

I also don't really know what it says about conflict journalism.  the freeze frames and the "beautiful horror" of war in effect glamorize it. it's just more doubling down on glamorizing war and violence as if that's the only time people are capable of being important. the violence is scrubbed clean and presented almost as art or a commercial.  it's a thousand words that don't really say anything. yes, conflict journalism is a real buzz. cool. we know this about war and all that. the juices get going. oh.. the torch gets passed to the younger journalist (spoilers).. who gets saved by kursten dunst's character who dies in a flop (though wearing body armor she flops bloodlessly to the floor) after pushing the younger character out of the way then just stands there.. what experienced war corespondent doesn't run and tackle someone to get them out of the way and instead pushes them then stands in the line of fire? i'm not buying it. she's the main character in the film and her death is sort of meaningless. no one seems to care.. but just a few scenes ago people are losing their shit over the other people who die.. anyway.. the writing sucks.. the plot is ugh.. so many holes.. how is it that giant american SUVs suddenly become silent and spring out of nowhere when it's time to run over bad guys??? like a stealthy cat hiding in a tree.. the SUV somehow runs the bad guys over even though they are directly facing it.. 

apocalypse porn perhaps? it's a genre film in that regard..  the fantasy of killing the president who seems like an asshole and other than people not liking him very much... there's no real idea about the who/what/where/why of the civil war.  it's just lot's of imagery of different possibilities both big and small.. small scenes in small towns... trying to be surreal.. big fire fights.. blah blah.. 

there are actual good movies about conflict journalism based on real people. "Civil War" is just throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks. it's a bummer. the cast is excellent and there's good performances..

maybe in a year i'll think differently but i found it to be pretty weak sauce all around and generally kind of pissed me off.  ymmv of course. 

[logboy]

by a man's face you shall know him by tai kato (1966) - second from kato for me. naive and pretty badly acted oddity with post-war black market setting, zainichi koreans gangsters versus japanese locals. lots of tangles, connected disparate characters intertwined through violence and revenge. savings graces are fantastic set designs and photography for a cheap film that's ultimately probably most interesting as an attempt to cover a very short and strange period of history that will have been a key part of how defeat altered japanese characters and set conflicts in society, increased their frequency.

[Rubin Farr]

What a train wreck, Miller really tainted the Mad Max legacy here, but it does provide a little closure for hardcore fans, somewhat wrapping up the “Wasteland” series of movies. If you can make it past the eye bleeding CG compositing, the characters are generic, derivative of their own franchise, and the fan service is both half-assed and illogical. Looked like they built one narrow stretch of road, and kept redressing it, this movie also went on for 30 minutes too long. C+

[decibal cooper]

31 minutes ago, Rubin Farr said:

What a train wreck, Miller really tainted the Mad Max legacy here, but it does provide a little closure for hardcore fans, somewhat wrapping up the “Wasteland” series of movies. If you can make it past the eye bleeding CG compositing, the characters are generic, derivative of their own franchise, and the fan service is both half-assed and illogical. Looked like they built one narrow stretch of road, and kept redressing it, this movie also went on for 30 minutes too long. C+

have not seen but heard through the grapevine that it was not very good either

 

[Squee]

7 hours ago, Rubin Farr said:

What a train wreck, Miller really tainted the Mad Max legacy here, but it does provide a little closure for hardcore fans, somewhat wrapping up the “Wasteland” series of movies. If you can make it past the eye bleeding CG compositing, the characters are generic, derivative of their own franchise, and the fan service is both half-assed and illogical. Looked like they built one narrow stretch of road, and kept redressing it, this movie also went on for 30 minutes too long. C+

You're one of the first to mention what looks like absolutely awful compositing. If it's anything like what you see in the trailer then I'm surprised not more people have talked about this. The last Mad Max film had some really dodgy looking shit going on as well, but combine that with the same lighting as in LOTR: Rings of Power.

[Rubin Farr]

They played this before Furiosa yesterday, lol

 

[Nebraska]

this was great. reminded me a lot of early pedro almodóvar films

[beerwolf]

Couple of rewatches

The Ring (US) - very good

World War Z - Excellent