Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| March 2017

Status
Not open for further replies.

Borgnine

MBA in pussy licensing and rights management
Is Kristen Wiig getting her boobs out again? Back in 2007 I never thought we'd get the chance but now I'm just sick of them.
 
Shaun the Sheep Movie: I didn't think I would like this too much since I consider A Close Shave to be the weakest of the Wallace and Gromit shorts (note: I haven't seen A Matter of Loaf and Death). This is a cute movie that has a bunch of sheep searching a big city for their farmer who has amnesia. I like the mostly dialogue-free nature of the movie (and what dialogue there is is gibberish). There's some funny sight gags (and Shaun is rather skilled with chalk drawings). Plus the sheep are adorable too. Go see it if you like Nick Park's other stuff.
 

lordxar

Member
House of 1000 Corpses When I first watched this it was some time after seeing Devils Rejects and at that time I thought this was terrible. Watching it again though I kind of liked it. I honestly didn't feel the hillbilly horror vibe that some of his newer stuff has but maybe this just caught me at the right time. I saw some mention in other Letterboxd reviews about this being like Texas Chainsaw and I would agree with that. This definitely has the feeling that you got invited to their house for a meal you weren't coming back from. Now I need to dig up my DR disc and watch that again.
 
Carlito's Way: De Palma is working at his most emotionally mature here, backed by a great, world weary performance from Pacino as Carlito. The whole film has a noirish, elegiac sweep to it as Carlito keeps getting dragged back into the world he's trying to leave.

With the heavier subject matter De Palma is understandably more reserved thematically than some of his more personal projects. Although he does get in a nice scene of Pacino gazing longingly at a lost love through a window while he's on the rooftop in the rain. Leave it to De Palma to wheedle a touching moment out of vouyeristic stalking.

Stylistically and technically the movie, though more subdued than his red period works, is no less proficient. There's a nice shot of a knife wielding killer reflected in the sunglasses of a thug that recalls some of De Palma's more slasher oriented thrillers, and the climactic cat and mouse set piece that takes us seamlessly from a club, to a train, to a train station is one his most complex and suspenseful, able to go toe to toe with his best.

The sweeping, more restrained and classical tenor of Carlito's Way is less biting, layered, and taught than my favorites of his, but it's nice to see him acquit himself so well to something a little less pervy.
 
I'd put blow out, scarface and body double over it but yeah I love Carlitos Way

Shout out to Viggo being such a loser and Benny Blanco from the Bronx btw. Hilarious
 

Apt101

Member
The Neon Demon. Not Refn's best but interesting. Elle Fanning still looks like she's 15 which was disarming and uncomfortable, but I guess that was the point.

The best part was
Keanu Reeves
. He is so awesome when he plays an asshole badguy. I guess he revels in portraying the polar opposite of his actual self.
 
Now you need to check out the prequel Rise to Power :D

Uh is it actually any good?

I'd put blow out, scarface and body double over it but yeah I love Carlitos Way

Shout out to Viggo being such a loser and Benny Blanco from the Bronx btw. Hilarious

Yeah I still like Blow Out, Carrie, Dressed to Kill, and Body Double better. I still remember Scarface being hot trash from when I saw it years ago...

Lol yeah I saw Viggo in the credits and kept waiting from him to pop up as some
menacing gangster. This was better.
 

TheFlow

Banned
The Neon Demon. Not Refn's best but interesting. Elle Fanning still looks like she's 15 which was disarming and uncomfortable, but I guess that was the point.

The best part was
Keanu Reeves
. He is so awesome when he plays an asshole badguy. I guess he revels in portraying the polar opposite of his actual self.

Elle fanning is 18 in real life who has to play a
17 year high school student in the film
I think that was the intention. Super young innocent lamb.
 
I still remember Scarface being hot trash from when I saw it years ago...

giphy.gif
 
neon%2B18.gif

tumblr_o5pl4wxtsn1s2ftfvo4_540.gif

tumblr_o8tjdagm2a1vvaceuo4_r1_500.gif

The Neon Demon. Not Refn's best but interesting. Elle Fanning still looks like she's 15 which was disarming and uncomfortable, but I guess that was the point.

The best part was
Keanu Reeves
. He is so awesome when he plays an asshole badguy. I guess he revels in portraying the polar opposite of his actual self.
I think it's his best looking work yet, can't help but love it. I also had its soundtrack on loop for months.
 

Blader

Member
I hated Carlito's Way, but the only reasons I can remember why are revealing the ending at the beginning (I don't think this recontextualizes anything in the movie, it just needlessly spoils the ending) and Pacino's ridiculous accent. Fancy, I'd recommend giving Scarface another shot. I was in the same boat as you and thought it was pretty terrible first time I saw it. I enjoyed it more on rewatch; whether that's because my expectations were different from first viewing, who knows.


All the Way
Pretty good, much better than I was expecting. Cranston's LBJ is terrific; Anthony Mackie's MLK seems pretty phoned in. I've become increasingly more interested in LBJ over the past year, so a story around his wheeling and dealing and browbeating of Congress and various intraparty interests, and ultimately held everything together -- shockingly so, because it looks like the party is about to come apart at the seams at any minute -- is pretty interesting, not to mention supremely timely.
7/10
 
I hated Carlito's Way, but the only reasons I can remember why are revealing the ending at the beginning (I don't think this recontextualizes anything in the movie, it just needlessly spoils the ending) and Pacino's ridiculous accent. Fancy, I'd recommend giving Scarface another shot. I was in the same boat as you and thought it was pretty terrible first time I saw it. I enjoyed it more on rewatch; whether that's because my expectations were different from first viewing, who knows

Maybe in terms of tension the bookend hurts the movie, but I think it helps sell that sort of feeling of ennui, and also sets you up to expect that
Carlito goes back to his mobster ways, rather than still getting killed despite trying to resist at every turn
.

Pacino's accent was one of the reasons I hated Scarface lol, so I appreciated how much it was restrained in Carlito's Way (even disappearing for large stretches...). But yeah, I'll give Scarface another go. I don't think a younger me would have vibed on most of De Palma's stuff in the way I do now.
 

Borgnine

MBA in pussy licensing and rights management
As I've said before, Carlitos Way is my favorite De Palma, which is a pretty stupid pick for favorite De Palma.

Also did the grenade launcher really look that bad in the movie? Looks like they drew on a cartoon muzzle flash.
 

Pachimari

Member
Anyone seen Copenhagen (2014)? Randomly loaded it up on Netflix last night and was pretty blown away. Not usually into romance films so much but this really resonated with me. They did a fantastic job of building up the relationship between the two main characters and dealt with a kinda touchy subject in a really sweet and mature way.
The to leads were fantastic, especially the actress playing Effy. There was so much subtle detail to her performance. Soundtrack was great too. Can definitely see myself watching this one again.
Easy 4/5.

Not quite. I'd recommend going in with as little information as possible. The film is shot beautifully, really makes me want to visit your city. Please post after you watch it, I'm interested in hearing other opinions!

Just finished watching this one, and I wasn't too fond of it to be honest. The subject matter was very interesting, and the lead actors did a good job. I just didn't find the execution or presentation to be enticing for the whole movie. I'm glad this was a short one. It didn't make me change my mind either as to how boring my city really is.

Copenhagen (2014) - ★★☆☆☆
 
Three Colors: Blue: Note to those who haven't seen this: the movie doesn't use as much blue imagery as the first few scenes suggest. Also, throughout the movie, the scene will randomly fade out with a musical cue, then fade back in to the same scene. This is supposed to represent time standing still for Julie after an important line of dialogue.

So begins my marathon of the Three Colors trilogy. This is an interesting movie that deals with grief, finding a new life, and also dealing with a loved one's legacy. What use of blue (following the opening scenes) there is is important The music is good, and I like how it follows the sheet music shown. I like how she deals with her husband's secret near the end of the movie. Otherwise I don't have much to say about this movie. On to White.
 

kevin1025

Banned
Call Me Lucky

A rather good documentary about comedian Barry Crimmins. He's big, he's loud, he's angry, and he smokes and wears an ill-fitted suit. But as time passes by, it's revealed why he's so angry, and becomes something more. What he did in his later life is really fascinating, and the documentary dives deep into the epidemic he helped fight against, all while comedian friends and colleagues comment on what makes him a good man, and what makes him tick. Well worth a watch.

Coherence

I had heard a lot of good things about this one, and the idea behind it is fantastic. I ended up really, really liking it, but the shoestring budget and one-location setting felt a little too stilted for me based on what the movie was going for. But by working with what they had, it turned out better than it should have. Some good stuff!
 
Maybe in terms of tension the bookend hurts the movie, but I think it helps sell that sort of feeling of ennui, and also sets you up to expect that
Carlito goes back to his mobster ways, rather than still getting killed despite trying to resist at every turn
.

Pacino's accent was one of the reasons I hated Scarface lol, so I appreciated how much it was restrained in Carlito's Way (even disappearing for large stretches...). But yeah, I'll give Scarface another go. I don't think a younger me would have vibed on most of De Palma's stuff in the way I do now.

It's a really trashy violent cartoon gangster movie and I love it. The soundtrack and Pacino and DePalmas signature techniques really put it over for me.

Hammy as fuck but the push it to the limit montage is so good too. I can see why some would hate it, shit fully commits to the 80s cheese lol.

Man thinking of how fun his movies were it's a damn shame how shit he's been this century aside from femme Fatale

A movie adaptation like black dahlia would have been smooth sailing for the guy back in the day.
 
Three Colors: White: An interesting enough tale of revenge. I'm surprised Karol was able to get back to his hometown considering what happens along the way. One would think he'd just settle down and go back to being a hairdresser and dealing with the people in his town, but no, he decides to stick it to his ex who took everything from him. Decent enough.

Three Colors: Red: I've read that this is interpreted as an anti-romance movie, and I agree with it. I also agree that this is the best of the Three Colors trilogy, due to the friendship between Valentine and Kern, him dealing with his own past, as well as the seemingly unrelated story of Auguste and Karin. Also surprised at the final scene.

I can't recommend the Three Colors trilogy to everyone. There's a lot of symbolism that people might not catch on to, and I don't think they're movies for everyone. If you love them, that's fine. if you don't, that's fine too.

Red>Blue>White
 

Sean C

Member
Gangs of New York (2002): The first collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio is a raucous and visceral but rather slight bit of historical fiction. The setting, a Civil War-era New York where numerous immigrant groups and nativists are running into conflict, really invites a more interesting tale than the one told. None of the characters are all that interesting -- Bill the Butcher is tremendously watchable, of course, but this is the shallowest Daniel Day-Lewis performance I've seen outside of perhaps Nine.

Kong: Skull Island (2017): Discussed more in the review thread, but a pretty fun, stylish film. The characters are thin, but this isn't that kind of movie anyway, and the actors are charismatic enough to be watchable.

My Cousin Rachel (1952): Richard Burton's Hollywood debut, where he was bizarrely nominated for Best Supporting Actor despite his character being the clear lead. This is a Daphne du Maurier adaptation, and has some similarities with Rebecca, though the film is not up to the calibre of Hitchcock's film version of that. Olivia de Havilland is very strong in the title role (she was only 36 at this point, but her career as a leading lady was already starting to wind down), and Burton is an intense, commanding presence. The
purposeful ambiguity of the ending, and the way Burton in effect gets away with causing her death, even if he's tormented by it, is quite unusual for a studio film made under the Hays Code.
 
Logan: Fuck me what an awesome movie! I think it really, really helped that I went in blind, not seeing the trailers or reading about it with the extent of my knowledge being "it's Hugh Jackman again as Wolverine and there's a little girl" because so many things caught me by surprise. It has this rock solid emotional core and a plethora of emotional moments that hit really hard - particularly the ending - that I think elevates it above the previous Xmen films and above most superhero films in general. It's a good story, with a strong heart, and absolutely wrenching by the end and I thoroughly enjoyed it, finishing the film thinking it was one of the best superhero films I've ever seen.

Really loved it. An exceptionally fitting and emotional send-off for the character. Also of note is the child actor playing
his daughter was just perfect, in that she looked and acted so much like him. It made the film really believable.

If you haven't seen it I highly, highly recommend it. 5/5 easily.
 

Toothless

Member
Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie is an awesome introduction to the TV series. It never transcends its appropriately episodic feel, but Tartakovsky directs a very cinematic style to this show, and it really allows me to look forward to marathoning the rest of it over the coming month. Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie is really cool introduction to a presumably unique TV show.

This Is Spinal Tap is extremely funny. It nails the rather difficult mockumentary style by having a variety of amusing characters to follow. More importantly, there's not a weak character in the huge cast, although there will certainly be favorites. Reiner directs with a restrained style that fits with the documentary tropes on display here, but he along with his editing team knows exactly when to cut to make a joke sing. This Is Spinal Tap is shockingly enjoyable, thanks to a tremendous cast while amusingly playing with established filmmaking styles.

Get Out is the first horror film I've ever seen that got funnier and tenser on a rewatch, even with a screaming baby and constant talkers in the audience. It's really a remarkable film that should be commended more than the already pretty huge accolades it's been getting. Fantastic.

Split works well enough as a film. Shyamalan clearly feels more comfortable directing than he has in years, giving scenes the appropriate amount of tension and knowing when to let the atmosphere grow. Taylor-Joy is a pretty good lead, being vulnerable enough to sympathize and with a decent character arc too. McAvoy is excellent as expected, although at points it feels more like a demo reel of his acting rather than full performances as the multiple personalities.

However, it's really hard to outright really appreciate Split thanks to its exploitative elements. This is not to say exploitation is inherently bad, but this film plays around with abuse cycles, mental disorders, and overt sexualization in a way that just feels dirty for a lot of the movie. One might argue the twist of the film re-contextualizes the problematic elements, but I find that hard to see. The fact is that this film demonizes those with mental disorders, frequently feels the need to make its minor (in both age and story function) female characters come off as "sexy" plot devices, and although its hero comes from a cycle of abuse, so does its villain. The last of these three elements could be explored well in a film, but Shyamalan does not have interest in that; he merely wants to make a horror film that ends up a much more particular genre film than one might expect.

It's hard to imagine someone seeing Split and not getting enjoyment out of it. It's a very entertaining watch thanks to tense sequences anchored by strong performances (also worth mentioning: the downright righteous opening credits). However, I personally cannot watch it without being bothered by all the subtle messages Shyamalan accidentally pushes forward. Judging off my knowledge of him and also the film's ending, I cannot believe these were all entirely intentional, but that does not change the fact that they are there. Split is a mixed bag that's still worth seeing, but Shyamalan still has quite a way to go to become the director he once was. Hopefully, he makes it there.

Fist Fight is pretty generic, but it features a decent amount of chuckles. Day and Cube have excellent chemistry, and both deliver some of their best comedic performances yet in the film. As for the side characters, Norris and Morgan are fun, but sadly, the women in this movie are given the worst material. Christina Hendricks and Jillian Bell are decent with what they're given, but when all they have is the most unfunny jokes and characters, they can't elevate it much. The direction is disappointingly average, and this comedy falls into the all-too-common "lacks a real story structure" problem. Although it is worth mentioning that what the film is saying about underfunded schools is actually pretty neat. It's not saying anything surprising, but the fact that the film acknowledges it in such a major way is way more than expected. Fist Fight is a typical forgettable comedy that's worth seeing once if you like the stars in it, although perhaps not in theaters.
 

Magus1234

Member
So I watched Handmaiden, since I am a big Sarah Waters fan and everyone on here was talking about it; it was entertaining. How they handled the spin was cool, but does not do a justice to the book. Either way it was fun, but damn that sex scene really took me out of the movie. It felt so unnecessary and long, but besides that I liked it.
 
The Untouchables sees Brian De Palma fully in classical Hollywood styled crowd pleaser mode here, which although diminishes his edge and ups the hokey factor, certainly delivers on the crowd pleasing side of things thanks to some solid Mamet zingers, Sean Connery's indefatigable charisma, and De Palma's unmatched talent at creating sequences of sustained suspense.

It's not the homerun it should be given all the talent that's involved (De Palma, De Niro, Connery, Mamet, Morricone, are you kidding me?) in large part thanks to Kevin Costner at his most whitebread as the poorly chosen leading man. Aside from Connery, pretty much all the characters feel one-note or cartoonish to be honest, and when taken with the fact that the movie feels pretty glib with how the prohibition enforcing cops are slaying so many for a cause that seems little more than a punchline to them, it largely lacks any sort of emotional weight to get behind.

But when all the elements come together, as they do when we watch through a mobster's eyes as he stalks Connery throughout an apartment building, or in the Odessa steps inspired train station set-piece (De Palma loves him some trains and train stations, doesn't he?) the movie is a hell of a lot of fun.

It's a really trashy violent cartoon gangster movie and I love it. The soundtrack and Pacino and DePalmas signature techniques really put it over for me.

Hammy as fuck but the push it to the limit montage is so good too. I can see why some would hate it, shit fully commits to the 80s cheese lol.

Man thinking of how fun his movies were it's a damn shame how shit he's been this century aside from femme Fatale

A movie adaptation like black dahlia would have been smooth sailing for the guy back in the day.

He's probably the director I'd most like to see do a late (end of?) career slam dunk after Carpenter.
 
After seeing the Goodnight Mr Tom film, I think I'm just going to hate every film of a book adaptation I see, cos I really didn't like this film, bordering on hating it.

It's not a great film anyway, but it really butchers the original story and removes a lot of what made it a good story. Context is everything, and this film really butchers it.

The story is pretty simple, young boy is evacuated to the countryside at the beginning of the second world war, taken into by a grumpy old man, boy has been abused by his overly religious mother, cared for by not so grumpy old man he begins to flourish, makes friends, more trauma, more tragedy, war, etc.

Pretty simple plot. The film really wrecks, by messing up so much of the story's chronology (the time frame makes no sense) but it removes so much of the context and exposition that made everything make sense, that if I hadn't read the book, I'd have had no clue what was going on in that story. It's like they tried to strip away all the charm and heart of the book and just make the most boring generic story possible.

The casting of every character is also not only bad, but they didn't give anywhere near enough time or context (again) to make any of them appealing or likeable. It also looks hopelessly generic (its filmed in the same place as the vicar of dibley apparently, which didn't surprise me)

Possibly I was always going to dislike this film, cos its a not 100% faithful adaptation of a book I love. On the other hand, I've significantly warmed to the Harry Potter films, so thats not really a valid excuse. This film is just rubbish.
 

Pachimari

Member
Ghost in the Shell (1995) - ★☆☆☆☆

I understood nothing of this movie. It was confusing and hard to follow. I didn't get the whole political game and what the goal was. The only thing I understood was there's a Section 6 and 9 of the police force who doesn't trust each other, and some foreign nation have asked the Puppet Master to hack into Japan's ghosts. I can see it's a special movie but I need to read a synopsis and rewatch it.
 
Morricone's music for Untouchables was pretty tight, really suited the crowd pleaser adventure film vibe this was going for

https://youtu.be/0fda0ziav7E?t=4m44s

and its one of those movies, as well as The Rock among others, that makes you miss Connery's charisma on screen. Dude was a huge presence.

while I think DeNiro's cartoony Al Capone worked for the movie considering how pulpy it is I think Stephen Graham is miles better as Capone in Boardwalk Empire. I don't think Tom Hardy will be able to beat that performance either.
 

Jigorath

Banned
Finally got around to seeing Doctor Strange.

It was alright I guess. Visuals were super cool. The awesome cast was kind of under-utilized. Rachel McAdams was just there to be a bog standard love interest. Poor Michael Stuhlbarg only had like two lines of dialogue. Story was kind of rushed too. But man, some of those action sequences were pretty striking.
 

Ainsz

Member
The Man Who Wasn't There Maybe the best film, if not a close second I've watched this year.

Even in their poorest films, The Coen Brothers always inject their absurd, otherworldly feeling in to their work. Like it's an inevitable byproduct of their writing and film making. The Man Who Wasn't There is one of their strongest films and their brand of weirdness is teamed with a bleak, unsettling noir aesthetic and a script that takes hold of your attention from Billy Bob Thorton's opening monologue.

Like The Dude from The Big Lebowski, Ed Crane is man who stands a few feet away from the story. Although instead of being pulled in and pushed around the plot by chance, Ed has some desire to partake and pull some levers himself. Only with each pull, he only manages to make things more twisted and chaotic. The little influence he has on the story also manages to pull in everyone around him in to the chaos and he is able to step back a few feet and watch everyone scramble to take control of the situation. From a distance, he and the audience are the only ones able to have any real clarity. When things slow down, Crane steps back in to make another damning choice and another until his actions comes back around in an ironic twist.

It's gripping, it's thought provoking and it's enlightening. And it's oozing in that familiar, yet unfamiliar Coen Brothers' feel in one of their best outings. 9/10
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom