Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was really well done, but it didn't bowl me over like X-Men or Edge. Mainly as the story unfolds like you guessed it would. It looks gorgeous, and the special effects are really impressive. I had always thought that Rise looked somewhat cheap. They need to do whatever they need to do to get Serkis an Oscar nomination for this.
Blue Ruin a tight, impressive thriller. Great atmosphere. Kind of has an arty feel, but it isn't up its own ass.
I'm super late on this, but am I the only one who think the spelling should be Ceasar and not Caesar? I don't know, it makes more sense to me that way.
Just got back from Transformers: Age of Extinction.
Holy shit, hands down the worst movie I've ever seen. The amount of pure cringe-worthy and "...really. REALLY? WHO THOUGHT THAT SHOULD MAKE THE CUT??" moments was unbearable. And it was almost 3 fucking hours long. Jesus H...
Only redeeming part was the gorgeous female lead. Other than that it was a total shit-show, and I actually kind of liked the first one!
Did you like how they made a number of statutory rape jokes, including the boyfriend knowing the statute that allows him to plow a 17 year old while in his 20s because they dated in high school? Not only knowing the statute by heart, but having a copy he keeps on him at all times should anyone question him? And then they still doing all of those lingering ass/legs shots of a girl they went out of their way to point out wasn't legal?
Holy shit. It became one of my favorite movies ever. I really enjoyed the first one and is a cult classic but with the second one they went fully insane with the action scenes and fights.
So booked tickets for Giovanni island and Tales of Princess Kaguya on the 9th of August and The Mother and the Whore for the 16th of August from the Melbourne International Film Festival..
Unfortunately tickets for Boyhood were sold out by the time I went to the place that sells them.. should have booked online.. HOWEVER they sell a final batch of tickets the night before it screens, so I'll try and book it then.
Still want to see if I get some money for We are the Best! The Salt of the Earth and Goodbye to Language and maybe the 400-blows as well.. so many good movies.. yet so little time and so little money.
Just saw Boyhood. The film was introduced by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette before it started which was pretty cool. It doesn't really have standout scenes in the way that the Before trilogy does, but taken as a whole it is a very unique and amazingly crafted experience. And I do mean "experience" because there's not a lot of plot or drama to speak of, it's more a nicely woven pastiche of moments over the course of twelve years. It's that kind of scope that contributes to its beauty.
Sabotage was crazy disappointing. The dialogue between the two leads in End of Watch could've carried that movie, but the dialogue here between... everyone tries way harder and isn't as natural. The dudebro interactions are just kinda obnoxious without being endearing at all. Everybody is basically a goddamn child for the first half of the movie. Also, "Guy looks like Mario. From Donkey Kong." is def the dumbest line in any movie this year. Who the heck has to specify that Mario is from DK. There's a death scene where
one of the DEA agents' mobile home is stuck on train tracks, where it gets hit by a train.
That's a pretty convoluted plan just to kill a dude considering another guy
just gets shot a bit
. Oh and Sam Worthington's accent slipped a ton, but I didn't expect anything from him anyway. But the action is competent, and Arny's still cool, especially in the end. So, 2.5/5, i guess? Biggest disappointment of the year for me, I was actually pretty hype for this one
The Zero Theorem. Not as good as I was hoping for. It has it's moments but it drags on for too long and doesn't offer much, apart from the girl in the nurse's uniform. That was great. Watch that bit then put something better on.
Easy Rider - what a weird movie. I really did not like it at all, if it wasn't for Jack Nicholson'a performance and the ridiculously good soundtrack I would have hated it.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Whoa. Talk about a huge misfire. I can't believe how much I disliked this, especially since I've enjoyed all the other Jarmusch films I've seen. I think there was about 10 minutes total here that I enjoyed watching. What a surprising disappointment :\
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Pretty good, like just about everyone else has said. The human characters were mostly pretty flat save for Gary Oldman, who gave some nice depth to what could have otherwise been an extremely cliched role. The apes were great though, I was impressed with how fleshed out and distinct their personalities were. Serkis and WETA were working on another level here, the apes acted circles around the humans. Anyway, an overall interesting, surprisingly thoughtful summer blockbuster, and one that denounced rather than glorified the use of violence.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Whoa. Talk about a huge misfire. I can't believe how much I disliked this, especially since I've enjoyed all the other Jarmusch films I've seen. I think there was about 10 minutes total here that I enjoyed watching. What a surprising disappointment :\
The 1959 adaptation of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth definitely isn't going to win points for getting off to a rollicking start, but it's no less an imaginative and worthwhile adventure film. Surprisingly good effects work for the time, even in the scenes involving actual lizards being made to look substantially larger than they were (even some rather terrific-looking costuming for them, if you can believe it) are combined with excellent set and production design, and having James Mason around never hurts when he's having fun with a role. I would imagine that his character's kinda-sorta-really misogynistic attitudes probably don't play so well these days, but at least Arlene Dahl is up to the task of putting him in his place when he's feeling especially whiny about the presence of A WOMAN! on this crazy expedition of theirs. Pat Boone generally isn't sure what kind of accent he's putting on at any given moment, but he's got an easygoing charm that makes it somewhat endearing all the same. Hardly the stuff of high art, but it knows exactly what it needs to do, and it does it with a good sense of accomplishment.
World War Z - Really enjoyed it. Glad they started the action right off the bat and really liked the fast and aggressive zombies. The ending and conclusion were weak for me though.
Easy Rider - what a weird movie. I really did not like it at all, if it wasn't for Jack Nicholson'a performance and the ridiculously good soundtrack I would have hated it.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
What an incredible film. The usage of aspect ratios to show different points of view, the pitch-perfect casting, the incredible atmosphere, the stop-motion elements, and the genuinely lovable characters and clever dialogue they spout. I'm in love with this film. I especially enjoyed Willem Dafoe's character Jopling, as well as the cameos from Anderson regulars. This film makes me wish that Anderson would direct a film based on a Discworld novel because he would be perfect for it.
The Raid 2
Dat action and choreography. Also one of the goriest films I've seen in some aspects, I think, and I've seen some bloody-ass movies. The
hammer and baseball bat
fight sequence especially gripped me, but my favorite part was the fight surrounding Prakoso, who was arguably the films most sympathetic character.
Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
I've decided to delve into every single film Hitchcock ever made, and I started with his fourth, and his first thriller: The Lodger. There are some incredible techniques on display in this silent feature, and you can definitely tell a master was at work even in this early picture. My favorite shot comes when you see a man's feet pacing back and forth through a ceiling into an upper floor. So many wonderful narrative devices, such as a shaking ceiling light to signal upstairs activity, and a lot of great suspense.
Alfred Hitchcock's The Pleasure Garden
Again: definitely early signs of what was to come in Hitchcock's second feature. From spiral staircases to viewing voyeuristic imagery from within binoculars, Hitch's style is plainly evident here, even though the film isn't even a thriller. Very, very interesting early film in the master's career.
The Conversation is really, really good. Can't believe how little I've heard about this movie. It's both an interesting character study as well as an effective mystery/thriller. Harrison Ford was also quite good in a non-typical role. Coppola was really on fire in the 70s, and this movie is no exception.
I read somewhere females under the age of 18 hate on this movie too. I thought it was fantastic, and that soundtrack! Would watch again.
I watched Romano Scavolini's Nightmare, an 80s slasher flick with some interesting ideas, but a whole lot of unneeded characters and padding, this could have been a cult classic if they had kept the whole thing a bit tighter.
The Sacrament was also disappointing, didn't really see the point of this as it is in effect a less scary version of the real life events
surrounding People's Temple
. A real bummer, especially since I loved Ti West's previous output, The House of the Devil was a perfect low-key emulation of an early 80s thriller.
Need for Speed was pure shit, hardly any racing, a lot of whimpering characters that I didn't care two shits about, a horrible miscast Imogen Poots, and what was Michael Keaton doing exactly? Fuck, this was the worst in a long time.
Which means it was worse than Fortress, a movie that's also pretty bad, but at least in a fun and cheesy Stuart Gordon kinda way.
Heh, they might not have the best execution but who else is making that kind of bonkers visual sci fi with metaphysical stuff in it right now. Fifth Element is ages ago. There's Cloud Atlas but it's more a genre mashup. The costumes and space opera in Jupiter Ascending looks cool. They aren't as psychedelic, though. Beyond the Black Rainbow is close but oh boy is it painful to sit through compared to a Wachowski flick.
James Cameron, no too familiar. Ridley Scott could have done it with Prometheus if it focused more on the engineers and human civilisation rather than the Alien prequel stuff.
Maybe Shane Carruth with Upstream Color.
Apparently, Refn is on tap to adapt The Incal :O That could be great, would love to see what he does with a bigger budget.
Someone should try to make The Compleat Moonshadow into a movie. That is the Boyhood of sci fi, except more messed up.
Watched Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Friday. Thought it was an extremely well made blockbuster. Human elements are still a bit lacking (luckily there was less time spent on them and no Franco), and there was a few moments where it slowed down. As a whole though, it was thoroughly entertaining and extremely well crafted. Great CGI and some excellent mocap performances. Solid writing.
Followed that up on Saturday with Badlands. The 2nd Malick movie I've seen (Tree of Life being the first). Had some similar elements; nature being the true power/beauty in the world, narration.. probably other things I didn't notice immediately. Pretty dense in examination of celebrity status/obsession and coming of age. The discussion between Kit/Holly made there seem to be nothing but a crush there and a relationship filled with pointless, shallow murder. Do I just go to Days of Heaven from here? What did you guys think of Badlands compared to his other work?
I finished the weekend with the fantastic Boyhood, some thoughts here and here. Spoilers are tagged.
Heh, they might not have the best execution but who else is making that kind of bonkers visual sci fi with metaphysical stuff in it right now. Fifth Element is ages ago. There's Cloud Atlas but it's more a genre mashup. The costumes and space opera in Jupiter Ascending looks cool. They aren't as psychedelic, though. Beyond the Black Rainbow is close but oh boy is it painful to sit through compared to a Wachowski flick.
James Cameron, no too familiar. Ridley Scott could have done it with Prometheus if it focused more on the engineers and human civilisation rather than the Alien prequel stuff.
I do own Thin Red Line, so I should have figured that was the next step. Going to sit down and watch it pretty soon here, I also own High and Low and haven't seen that.
Plan on building my collection with that great Criterion sale at B&N.
Really enjoyed this and thought Brit Marling was terrific. Surprising to see Ellen Paige in such a tertiary role however. A good thriller with some solid - if somewhat predictable - plot developments which keep things exciting. Great atmosphere throughout, love the cinematography and score too. Well worth watching if you haven't seen it.
The Family - 2/10
Luc Besson proves again that Léon - one of my favourite films of all time I might add - can only have been a complete fluke. This was terrible on so many levels. Dull, predictable, no laughs, no decent action. Just completely lacking in anything worth your time watching. If someone said this was a McG movie, I'd have believed them. What on Earth happened to Luc Besson after the 90s!?
Philomena - 9/10
A superbly crafted piece of film-making. Incredibly moving too, and Judi Dench's surprisingly effortless, understated and natural performance - along with a perfect Irish accent - was one of her best of all time. Great writing from Steve Coogan too, with plenty of stand-out moments from the witty to emotional to anger and frustation. Such a sad story but also one about forgiveness even for the most unforgivable acts.
The Railway Man - 8/10
A sublime - and somewhat quirky - performance from Colin Firth about a man struggling to move on from his past. What follows is quite extraordinary. Was totally gripped right to the very end.
So, 3/4 ain't bad and one of my best movie viewing streaks for a while.
They Came Together is the best rom-com I've seen in recent memory. Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd have amazing on-screen chemistry, and the cameos throughout were fantastic. Loved the
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