Movies You’ve Seen Recently |OT| October 2017

More_Badass said:
It's almost uncanny how well it balances the high-concept premise and humor with the heartbreaking drama
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That's what I really enjoyed as well. It's got some really fantastic slapstick comedy all over the place, and I was usually laughing throughout, but there was an underlying discomfort that I had through almost the entire movie, and there are enough emotional beats here and there to keep it from being vapid like, say, Evan Almighty. Very similar to Charlie Kaufman's work, in the sense that it's not all goofiness and it's not just a genius concept; it's relatable and the execution is pretty much flawless.

On another note, I should just take a moment to respect the music used in this film. Philip Glass is ace.

And now I understand the origin of this gif:

pOyJGmT.gif
 
Icolin said:
That's what I really enjoyed as well. It's got some really fantastic slapstick comedy all over the place, and I was usually laughing throughout, but there was an underlying discomfort that I had through almost the entire movie, and there are enough emotional beats here and there to keep it from being vapid like, say, Evan Almighty. Very similar to Charlie Kaufman's work, in the sense that it's not all goofiness and it's not just a genius concept; it's relatable and the execution is pretty much flawless.
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I mean, give the same concept to Lynch and you get a terrifying existential horror movie. That they take a utterly dehumanizing and mind-bending premise at the core of the Truman Show and make it an effective comedy and an effective drama is really impressive
 
Saw both Tommy Wiesau's The Room and his new film Best F(r)iends last night at a screening.

Best F(r)iends was actually okay, pretty watchable and Wiesau's portrayal of a mortician was hilarious. At best I'd say this was a decent student art film lol

The Room was great fun seeing it with a live audience, highly recommend seeing it in theater if it ever comes to town.
 
Heh, thanks for the shout out in the OP.



Saw Wind River a few days back. Been sitting on it for a while trying to figure out how I really feel, and though its not far from being a movie I can really love, it falls short enough to just be a solid recommendation in this crime thriller neo-western mystery procedural sub sub sub genre. Taylor Sheridan's really taken the scene by storm over the last few years with Sicario, Hell or High Water, and now this, but with Wind River being the first of these scripts he's directed, it's really his own style on full display here. Unfortunately though, Wind River was less than the sum of its parts for me. Ultimately I think it comes down to the climax which takes what was, to that point, a pretty tense and low key affair, and runs through some pivotal scenes in a way that loses the rigor, emotion, and atmosphere of the rest of the movie. In an uncharacteristic move, I think the script actually spells out too much, then the movie trips over itself with a contrived succession of "payoff" scenes. Sheridan does bring it back around for the very end, but all that pressure the movie was building sort of leaked and took me out of it. And those scene transition sounds? Nah fam, don't do that.

But ehhhhhhh, that sounds a bit more negative than I intended to be. I really did love the atmosphere and characters here. Easily the best part of this is the portrayal of the land and its people, with the harsh realities of living in these flash-blizzard conditions turning everyone into a wonderful shade of bitter. I could watch everyone just talk, and Jeremy Renner gear up to brave the storm for 2 more hours.
 
Immortals
There was some cool stuff, but overall it was a bit underwhelming.

The Girl With All the Gifts
Really good for the most part, but I didn't really like the third act.
It's Zombies too, so check it out if you're doing the horror month thing.

e.
And Calvary, Calvary is awesome.
 
MidnightCowboy said:
3 Women - Now this is my shit. You ever watch something and know it's one of your favorites of all time before it even ends? That's how I felt watching this. It pretty much checked every box on my personal taste list. Dreamlike structure and surreal imagery? Check. Desolate Southern California desert setting? Check. Robert Altman's penchant for perfect dialogue? Check. You get the picture. Sissy Spacek is absolutely brilliant in this movie, some of the finest acting you'll find, and she's not even the best part of the movie! I'm not kidding when I say that Shelley Duvall in this movie is my favorite performance from an actress ever. Like maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but the only challenger I can think of is Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence. And that ending! Anyway, this movie is perfect.
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Right after watching this and the director's commentary, I watched Persona because that was his main influence, since they're both about identity confusion. Both are really special films.
 
Watched Lone Ranger yesterday, because of Disco's "subtle" propaganda.
It's essentially Pirates of the Caribbean in the Wild West, and it's got those Verbinski qualities i appreciate, ever since Mouse Hunt; namely, very interesting shots, good slap stick, visual gags with tight timing, and some rotten looking folks, to sell ye olden times.
As well as some of the same bullshit PotC also had, mostly the absolute fucking bloat, at 2 hours and 30 minutes, 40% are superfluous scenes.
Also, the cgi set pieces are just as silly as they were in his previous movies, but they feel stupider here, because of the more grounded setting and tone, right from the start.
The colors are also awfully drab, for what he's going for.

Finally, Depp pls stop.

Hambulance said:
And Calvary, Calvary is awesome.
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2005's or 2014's? (Haven't seen the second one).
 
Spider-Man: Homecoming

Maybe it's just the immediate after watch hype, but I think this is my favorite comic book movie ever now. Like, damn, just a remarkably well put-together film. This is, in my opinion, the best Spidey movie of them all, and Vulture is one of the best villains in the MCU so far. Really, really glad Sony and Marvel worked out that deal.

--

10/10
 
UrbanRats said:
Watched Lone Ranger yesterday, because of Disco's "subtle" propaganda.
It's essentially Pirates of the Caribbean in the Wild West, and it's got those Verbinski qualities i appreciate, ever since Mouse Hunt; namely, very interesting shots, good slap stick, visual gags with tight timing, and some rotten looking folks, to sell ye olden times.
As well as some of the same bullshit PotC also had, mostly the absolute fucking bloat, at 2 hours and 30 minutes, 40% are superfluous scenes.
Also, the cgi set pieces are just as silly as they were in his previous movies, but they feel stupider here, because of the more grounded setting and tone, right from the start.
The colors are also awfully drab, for what he's going for.

Finally, Depp pls stop.



2005's or 2014's? (Haven't seen the second one).
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Lmao. Sorry bro. It definitely suffers from the massive bloat his pirates movies had. But at the same time I really like Hammer in it and that final 30 minute setpiece set to William Tells Overture.

Man is great at thinking big with his action scenes but he might be even worse than Peter Jackson when it comes to superfluous scenes imo
 
Watched Moonrisde Kingdom. I can't ever get enough of Wes Anderson.

Watching Blade Runner this week too.

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Discotheque said:
Lmao. Sorry bro. It definitely suffers from the massive bloat his pirates movies had. But at the same time I really like Hammer in it and that final 30 minute setpiece set to William Tells Overture.

Man is great at thinking big with his action scenes but he might be even worse than Peter Jackson when it comes to superfluous scenes imo
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I'd honestly watch a 90 minutes, full on slap stick comedy from him, i wish some producer arm wrestled him into one.
I want to watch Cure for Wellness one of these days, but that also looks bloated just from the trailer, i can feel it.
 
Over the Garden Wall: This charming, funny, and eerie episodic adventure is the perfect way to usher in fall. I'm still surprised by the emotional heft the structuring reveals itself to have, as I would have certainly been okay with even utterly non-sequitur jaunts through this autumnal, American gothic take on Spirited Away.
 
I gotta wrangle everyone in front of the 4K TV at some point this w/e to watch the original Blade Runner. Sons haven't seen it, and it's been decades since the wife and I watched it. I bought the 4K Final Cut on Google Play about a month ago.

I'm assuming it's pretty important to have the original watched before going to see 2049.
 
I watched the original Blade Runner for the first time tonight on Blu. Really enjoyed the style and seeing the noire influences.
I feel like there are a lot of little things to be explored in the film.. does anyone have a good link to a write-up/video that discusses the themes/choices/hidden meanings?
 
EverydayBeast said:
Spider-Man - TV SERIES 1994-98, 5 Seasons - Love that intro

Great set of villians,
GIPQ1DJ.jpg
, and heroes,
NKT6V78.png


9/10 Really just a great series to binge watch, with each season being 10-15 episodes
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I think we have a thread for this.

Nice to see that you liked it that much. I loved it growing up but unfortunately I haven't seen much of it since my childhood. Maybe I should peak back in.

From the horror thread:
1. The Fog (1980) - ★★☆☆☆
I didn't know what this was going into it, but I noticed one of the names, probably a few more during the intro credits and see John Carpenter is the director of The Fog. I only know him as the guy who made some Pixar (Incredibles?) movie and two Disney bombs, so my expectations towards him were rather indifferent going in. The premise sounds great, and I gotta say, the atmosphere was soothing, tense and yet you felt like you wanted to belong in Antonio Bay. Probably a high part of that have to do with the story connecting the people, and the light tower "attending" to you during night. It's so sweet for some reason. I just didn't like the whole curse story of the dead coming back to take what is their in the fog, and at no point was it really scary in any way. I would say it's more of a mystery film with some small parts of horror. There wasn't anything surprising in the plot, and I don't feel like any of the characters were well developed other than the broadcaster, but I liked the sets, atmosphere and general feel of the movie if anything.
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Flatliners was the definition of rubbish, and boring, felt much longer than it was rubbish. Appalling acting, weird plot with no resolution and incredibly obvious twists and path right from the start, can't keep a theme or tone or decide what it wants to be, looks awful too, a vaguely interesting premise turns into... don't play god! Repent for your sins, whatever.
Do not resuscitate this.

Also Ellen Page is much too old to be playing a 16/25 year old. It's bizarre.
 
Messofanego said:
Right after watching this and the director's commentary, I watched Persona because that was his main influence, since they're both about identity confusion. Both are really special films.
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Yeah I saw Persona like 4 years ago and while I liked it, it didn't have quite the same effect on me, but I don't remember it at all, so I'm for sure going to rewatch it. I think you could definitely make an unofficial trilogy of sorts between Persona, 3 Women, and Mullholand Drive.
 
MidnightCowboy said:
Yeah I saw Persona like 4 years ago and while I liked it, it didn't have quite the same effect on me, but I don't remember it at all, so I'm for sure going to rewatch it. I think you could definitely make an unofficial trilogy of sorts between Persona, 3 Women, and Mullholand Drive.
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swap performance for drive and start off with that abba video and you got a night ahead of you.
 
The Girl in the Photographs (2015) - ★★☆☆☆
Oh boy, this was much worse than I had hoped for. It had a cool, title, a pretty okay premise and I thought I had heard some buzz of it at some film festival a while ago. Anyway, it wasn't good. There wasn't any suspense, no scares, no tension, the characters didn't grow or were presented in any way so you would care about them, and the movie's "secrets" were revealed too soon. They played their cards way too quick, and one character - the photographer himself played by Kal Penn, was badly written and came across as incredibly annoying. The one thing the movie does have going for it is how it looks, and it was pretty well shot to be honest.
 
Saw Chasing the Dragon today at AMC (thanks MoviePass), didn't know they screened new Asian movies so that was very cool.

It stars Donnie Yen (IP Man, Rogue One) and Andy Lau with the description: An illegal immigrant from Mainland China sneaks into corrupt British-colonized Hong Kong in 1963, transforming himself into a ruthless and emerging drug lord.

Was a bit weird, I haven't seen a ton of hong kong movies so it kinda reminded me a bit of Sleeping Dogs or Infernal Affairs but nowhere near as rich or interesting as either one. The story was sort of all over the place, and you could definitely tell the Chinese government had its influences on the story and setting in the way the bad guys were very muted and how mustache twirling the British were presented. The characters all felt incredibly unrealistic and weird. Most of the action scenes were just not very good. I think I'd rather have watched a 80s classic Hong Kong movies that is in my massive Netflix queue, but it was pretty cool seeing Hong Kong in the 1960s, don't really get to see that aesthetic in most movies nowadays.
 
Eddie the Eagle

Getting caught up on some missed flicks from last year. I really dug this one. Sure, we've seen this formula before, and boy is it by-the-books, but the performances really carry it. Plus I love the pacing and editing especially towards the end that really hit a good emotional beat. It is, sadly, kind of forgettable because it really goes through that beatsheet.

3/5



Going to try and get some horror in this month. Might be the first year where I really don't focus on it as much as I used to.
 
Linklater's Last Flag Flying is getting mixed early reviews from its premiere, but I liked it. It's mid-tier Linklater; nowhere near Before Trilogy, Boyhood, Dazed, or even Everybody Wants Some, but it's got heart and great performances. Carrell gives a quiet and understated yet very effective performance while Cranston goes all out. He could be a little over the top at times but it mostly worked for me. Lots of unexpected humor in probably one of Linklater's saddest movies.

Anyone else planning to see any NYFF selections? I'm hearing great things about Sean Baker's The Florida Project, and Haynes' Wonderstruck looks good.
 
Blade Runner (1982): In anticipation of the sequel, I decided it was time for a rewatch of the original, which I watched once a few years ago and I don't recall being overly impressed by, beyond the aesthetics. This is the Blu ray "Final Cut" edition, for the record (there are so many out there). This time around, I found myself liking the film much more. Beyond the remarkable visual effects, the atmosphere and characterization is very strong, even in the midst of an overall very straightforward story. People often joke about how Raiders of the Lost Ark would have had the same outcome whether Indiana Jones had gotten involved, and you could say that's even more true here, really. The only weak point is
the creepy scene involving Deckard and Rachael, which Ridley Scott admitted on the audio commentary didn't work as he intended
.
 
Messofanego said:
Rango is 107 minutes, but it's close enough!
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More Rango love is good. Seems like me and Disco are the only ones who even mention how great that movie is. I adore that movie. Sucks that we'll probably never get another animated movie in the vein of Rango from ILM.
 
47 Meters Down (2017) - full of contrivances and every cliche in the book. Throws a decent curveball late to keep it from being a complete waste of time. We also get repetitively stunning dialog such as "Oh my God!" and "We're going to die!" and "I'm so scared" and "We're going up!" and several other obvious things said just to fill dead air. There's also the challenge of your two actresses essentially having their faces covered by breathing masks, thus making facial emoting useless. Couple that with weighing these lovely ladies down with oxygen tanks and scuba paraphernalia and you lose some of what made The Shallows so watchable (namely, Blake Lively in a bikini).

2.5 / 5
 
Changed avies in honor of one of the favs, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, of horror month specialty.

MidnightCowboy said:
I think you could definitely make an unofficial trilogy of sorts between Persona, 3 Women, and Mullholand Drive.
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YEP yep you can. I've enjoyed a run through them once or twice in that order as well... great sister flicks.
 
JTripper said:
Linklater's Last Flag Flying is getting mixed early reviews from its premiere, but I liked it. It's mid-tier Linklater; nowhere near Before Trilogy, Boyhood, Dazed, or even Everybody Wants Some, but it's got heart and great performances. Carrell gives a quiet and understated yet very effective performance while Cranston goes all out. He could be a little over the top at times but it mostly worked for me. Lots of unexpected humor in probably one of Linklater's saddest movies.

Anyone else planning to see any NYFF selections? I'm hearing great things about Sean Baker's The Florida Project, and Haynes' Wonderstruck looks good.
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Not surprised the new Linklater didn't turn out that great.

I've got a ticket to see The Florida Project at the London Film Festival (4-15 October), can't miss out on Dafoe, but skipped on Wonderstruck cause of disappointment from critics who are fans of Todd Haynes, especially after Carol.
 
Birdemic: Shock and Terror: Watched with Rifftrax Live. The best word to describe this movie is dull. So dull you almost forget there's supposed to be killer animated .gif birds out there. Lots of pulling out of driveways, driving, and parking. The environmental message is about as subtle as a Captain Planet episode. Be sure to buy solar panels, electric cars, and watch An Inconvenient Truth. Oh, right, there's birds in here too. You've seen the terrible effects. Then they leave a gerry can full of gas that they need behind after an attack. Too much playing to the camera.

This movie sucks.
 
Top 5 New Watches of September

1. 택시운전사 - A Taxi Driver
2. Brad's Status
3. Baby Driver
4. The Big Sick
5. 소셜포비아 - Socialphobia
 
Watched 14 new movies in September and had 4 re-watches.

1) I Am Not Your Negro - 9.25/10
2) Lost City of Z - 8.75/10
3) Wind River 8.75/10
4) Their Finest - 8.5/10
5) Wakefield - 8/10
6) Win it All - 8/10
7) Band Aid - 7.75/10
8) The Rainmaker - 7.75/10
9) The Hero - 7.5/10
10) Colossal 6.75/10
11) Free Fire - 5/10
12) Mother! - 4.5/10
13) IT - 4/10
14) In a Valley of Violence - 4/10

Re-watches

1) Inglorious Basterds - 9.25/10
2) Jackie Brown - 8.75/10
3) Murder on the Orient Express 8.75/10
4) Megan Leavey - 8/10

Also my Letterboxd account is...

https://letterboxd.com/boogs31/
 
Inland Empire (rewatch)
AHHGH! AHHGH! Monkeys.
BAAH! Tomorrow!?
WHATTAHHH! Someone's there! Someone's there!!
AHHG! AHHG
I'm quiet.
You're holding a handheld camera? Come on! COME. ONNN!
I'M HAPPYY!
Who is this girl? (Kim jest ta dziewczyna?)
I'M SCARED!! AH YOGI! AHH Women, Women!!
Forgive my trespasses, as I will forgive my trespassers... and you will bear the fruit of my
DANCE
NUUMBERRR!!
NO MORE PARTIES... IN Los A!!

no rating/10
 
TissueBox said:
Inland Empire (rewatch)
AHHGH! AHHGH! Monkeys.
BAAH! Tomorrow!?
WHATTAHHH! Someone's there! Someone's there!!
AHHG! AHHG
I'm quiet.
You're holding a handheld camera? Come on! COME. ONNN!
I'M HAPPYY!
Who is this girl? (Kim jest ta dziewczyna?)
I'M SCARED!! AH YOGI! AHH Women, Women!!
Forgive my trespasses, as I will forgive my trespassers... and you will bear the fruit of my
DANCE
NUUMBERRR!!
NO MORE PARTIES... IN Los A!!

no rating/10
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Exactly.
 
Thanks to the GREAT Movie Pass, I've seen like 4 movies over the last week LOL.

Think American Made is the best on the bunch for my taste. I'm sure it's guilty of many of the same flaws as most any other "based on a true story" scripts, but as a movie, it was a really fun ride.
 
I really fucked up yesterday. I watched coverage of the Las Vegas shooting for like 6 straight hours, and then for a break I drove to the theater and saw the next movie playing which was American Made, which is basically about how cool Tom Cruise looks while he's smuggling guns. Maybe I would have enjoyed it another day, but I was just not having it.


Fast Forward said:
Thanks to the GREAT Movie Pass, I've seen like 4 movies over the last week LOL.

Think American Made is the best on the bunch for my taste. I'm sure it's guilty of many of the same flaws as most any other "based on a true story" scripts, but as a movie, it was a really fun ride.
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lol I didn't read this post before I posted mine. I swear I wasn't trying to completely nullify your opinion.
 
Battle of the Sexes felt like it was trying to tell three different stories at once, and each story suffered for it. Emma Stone and Steve Carrell were fantastic in it, but the supporting cast was pretty meh in comparison. Enjoyed my time with it, but it could have been better if there was a clearer story. 6/10.
 
For those who have seen American Made, is it essentially Tom Cruise's Wolf of Wall Street? I kinda got that vibe from the trailers that it would be OTT insane in that kind of way.
 
The F Word (2013): Also called What If, which is the title used by the IMDb and Wikipedia, but I'm going with what Netflix calls it.

I recall seeing generally favourable reviews of this from the festival circuit back when it came out, but I only saw it now -- aided by my desire to focus on movies running under two hours during weeknights, which means I'm picking from a narrower selection. Anyway, I didn't have much in the way of expectations, but I was really impressed by this. The romantic comedy is pretty much a mouldering corpse of a genre these days, with the only sign of life coming on the indie fringes -- as with this year's The Big Sick (more of a dramedy), which also starred Zoe Kazan; here's the female lead opposite Daniel Radcliffe, who gives the best screen performance I've seen from him to date.

Plotwise, this isn't anything outside the ordinary (boy meets girl, she's got a boyfriend, she asks him to be her friend anyway, things proceed from there), but the execution is stellar. At times the dialogue is perhaps trying a bit too hard to be ribald, but the comedy and the more heartfelt moments land consistently. There's one hilarious slapstick bit in the early going that is perhaps a bit outlandish compared to everything else, but I loved it so much on its own terms that I'm fine with it.

It's also great to see films that, in addition to being filmed in Toronto, are actually set there -- even if it's a Toronto populated mainly by English and American actors. In addition to Radcliffe and Kazan, the supporting cast includes Adam Driver and Mackenzie Davis, and, in smaller parts, Oona Chaplin and an uncredited Sarah Gadon (the latter was kind of distracting, because I watched this right after the new episode of Alias Grace, which Gadon stars in).
 
The Big Sick
Really great, way better than the cookiecutter Apatow imitation I was expecting. Loved the cast, and thought Ray Romano and Holly Hunter were especially good. I guess my only issue with it was that the nature of the story means Zoe Kazan is out of action for much of the film, which is a shame. Hopefully this movie opens doors for bigger parts for both her and Kumail.
8/10


Best watches of September
1. Lawrence of Arabia (70mm rewatch)
2. John Wick: Chapter 2
3. Mulholland Drive (rewatch)
4. The Big Sick
5. Paris, Texas (rewatch)
6. The Shootist
 
Rhomega Beta said:
Birdemic: Shock and Terror: Watched with Rifftrax Live. The best word to describe this movie is dull. So dull you almost forget there's supposed to be killer animated .gif birds out there. Lots of pulling out of driveways, driving, and parking. The environmental message is about as subtle as a Captain Planet episode. Be sure to buy solar panels, electric cars, and watch An Inconvenient Truth. Oh, right, there's birds in here too. You've seen the terrible effects. Then they leave a gerry can full of gas that they need behind after an attack. Too much playing to the camera.

This movie sucks.
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I dunno. This message in particular was muddled -- Rod made so much money of his company's billion dollar buyout (even with the employees offering 50% discounts) that he quit, and instead of retiring, used that money to create a new solar panel company selling nanotechnology-based panels at such an efficient rate (40 times more cost effective than silicon-based solar panels) that he was funded by a VC for $10 million dollars... it seemed like this whole endeavor could be misconstrued as a scheme to generate even more money, as opposed to saving the planet. I wonder how Scorsese would have handled this.
 
I watched a whole bunch of movies in September, so I guess I have something to rank.

personal-shopper-kristen.gif


New Watches:

1. Personal Shopper
2. Talk to Her
3. All About My Mother
4. The Hunt
5. mother!

Worst Watches:

Song to Song - This is the kind of film that makes you question if maybe everything that came before it was a fluke.
Gremlins
Two for the Road

Bonus - Almodovar Ranked (from what I've seen, all last month)
1. Talk to Her
2. All About My Mother
3. The Skin I Live In
4. Volver
5. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
6. Broken Embraces
 
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