Messofanego
Banned
Pretty excited to see Baby Driver this evening and hopefully ask Edgar Wright a question for the Q&A. I might ask about action filmmaking. It'd be awesome if there was enough time where I could get a pic taken with him!
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Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| June 2017
- Thread starter Divius
- Start date
Pretty excited to see Baby Driver this evening and hopefully ask Edgar Wright a question for the Q&A. I might ask about action filmmaking. It'd be awesome if there was enough time where I could get a pic taken with him!
b&jy77VjiKn$#F
Member
Can't wait to hear your impression!
It would have been funny to see them try a more faithful adaptation of that novel, which had Prince Charles and Diana as prominent supporting characters.
Pretty excited to see Baby Driver this evening and hopefully ask Edgar Wright a question for the Q&A. I might ask about action filmmaking. It'd be awesome if there was enough time where I could get a pic taken with him!
How dare you.
Hope you love it, and action filmmaking questions are perfect!
Crimson Tide
Oh my god. Why has it taken me this long to watch this? Such a fantastic film. It is full of tension, full of superb performances, and full of Tony Scott and Hans Zimmer going to town. More movies like this, please! But the true standout is the confrontations between Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington. Everything stops when they square off, and it's great.
Once you know that Tarantino did a bit of script doctoring for that movie, the seams around his portions of it are impossible to miss.
Yep, I definitely noticed his little touches peppered throughout. Also interesting is the mini-feud Tarantino and Washington had behind the scenes because of the rewrites.
Cripplegate
Member
I'm jelly of everybody going to these Baby Driver screenings.
Wonder Woman (8/10) - Okay, so, this has a lot of problems, chief among them the rote narrative structure culminating in third act CGI showdown with dumb villain who threatens the world OMG but he's gone now, wave goodbye... I'm sure this has been covered a million times over... but holy fuck, it's Wonder Woman, folks. They did it. They put Wonder Woman on the big screen and it was amazing. Big picture stuff is sloppy (Justice League framing device, LOL) but the small moments here are beautiful. Gal Gadot has actually impressed me. The best material is the opening act, especially the scenes of young Diana running around the island, imitating the female Amazon warriors training around her, wanting to grow up and be a warrior herself. It was inspiring. It was so beautiful I almost had a tear in my eye. I had little to no faith in the DC movie universe but this is a surprising ray of hope... of LOVE. I needed this movie. I want more.
Alien: Covenant (2/10) - I think I hated this more than Prometheus. I said before that the more we delve into the backstory of the aliens and the universe in general, the dumber this shit gets and... I just can't anymore. I can't with this franchise. My coworkers said the Fassbender scenes were really cool but I didn't even like those. David was such a terrible character in this, not even peak Fassbender could have saved this material (and it wasn't peak Fassbender, we've seen much better work from him; but, to be fair, it wasn't Assassin's Creed Fassbender, either, so there's that). It was so fucking boring, goddamn. I can't believe there's still like two more prequels of this shit in the works. I did not need this movie. I do not want more.
Wonder Woman (8/10) - Okay, so, this has a lot of problems, chief among them the rote narrative structure culminating in third act CGI showdown with dumb villain who threatens the world OMG but he's gone now, wave goodbye... I'm sure this has been covered a million times over... but holy fuck, it's Wonder Woman, folks. They did it. They put Wonder Woman on the big screen and it was amazing. Big picture stuff is sloppy (Justice League framing device, LOL) but the small moments here are beautiful. Gal Gadot has actually impressed me. The best material is the opening act, especially the scenes of young Diana running around the island, imitating the female Amazon warriors training around her, wanting to grow up and be a warrior herself. It was inspiring. It was so beautiful I almost had a tear in my eye. I had little to no faith in the DC movie universe but this is a surprising ray of hope... of LOVE. I needed this movie. I want more.
Alien: Covenant (2/10) - I think I hated this more than Prometheus. I said before that the more we delve into the backstory of the aliens and the universe in general, the dumber this shit gets and... I just can't anymore. I can't with this franchise. My coworkers said the Fassbender scenes were really cool but I didn't even like those. David was such a terrible character in this, not even peak Fassbender could have saved this material (and it wasn't peak Fassbender, we've seen much better work from him; but, to be fair, it wasn't Assassin's Creed Fassbender, either, so there's that). It was so fucking boring, goddamn. I can't believe there's still like two more prequels of this shit in the works. I did not need this movie. I do not want more.
Infernostew
Member
Hot take: I really hope the full film of Baby Driver is better than the trailer because unfortunately it looks like shit.
Infernostew
Member
I've loved Wright's stuff before this but Baby Driver just doesn't look good. I really hope there's something more to it than the trailers let on but I'm not excited.
This is just an awful terrible opinion regardless but: which trailer did you watch? First trailer I saw was ok, the one with the "Tequila" remix was much much better.
Discotheque
Banned
I saw a baby driver clip in front of Kimmel with Jamie Foxx and God damn you can tell the script is gonna be so tight with this set of charismatic criminals
The non action parts are looking a lot like Wrights own witty take on Reservoir Dogs from the looks of it
The non action parts are looking a lot like Wrights own witty take on Reservoir Dogs from the looks of it
Fancyarcher
Member
Jules & Jim - 8.5 / 10
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
Fuck. I didn't know about this! £13 as well, that's cheaper than the Picturehouse I frequent.Pretty excited to see Baby Driver this evening and hopefully ask Edgar Wright a question for the Q&A. I might ask about action filmmaking. It'd be awesome if there was enough time where I could get a pic taken with him!
Cripplegate
Member
Discotheque
Banned
Yeah. There's a lot of really cool stuff coming up this summer: Apes, Dunkirk, Logan Lucky, Valerian, Beguiled etc.
But I have a feeling Baby Driver will be my favorite among all of them. Wright is amazing and has only been improving with every movie too imo
But I have a feeling Baby Driver will be my favorite among all of them. Wright is amazing and has only been improving with every movie too imo
Warm Machine
Member
Just finished watching Hush. 7/10. Maybe even approaching an 8/10. Just curious why he didn't break the windows to start with but I assume he just enjoyed fucking with her. For a version of Panic Room for 1/20th the price they did a good job. Don't know if I'd call it a horror movie as it has far more i common with a thriller.
Quite possibly Tony Scott's best movie. Glad you liked it.
Quite possibly Tony Scott's best movie. Glad you liked it.
TissueBox
Member
Pretty excited to see Baby Driver this evening and hopefully ask Edgar Wright a question for the Q&A. I might ask about action filmmaking. It'd be awesome if there was enough time where I could get a pic taken with him!
I WISH YOUR SHOES WERE IN ME
Messofanego
Banned
I don't think people are ready for how experimental and much of an action musical Baby Driver really is. Most of the scenes are choreographed to an inch of their life. Gunshots, walking, every little thing is set to a beat. Absolutely incredible!
Ansel Elgort is brilliant, along with the rest of the cast. He is just having so much fun.
Easily the best action film of 2017.
Ansel Elgort is brilliant, along with the rest of the cast. He is just having so much fun.
Easily the best action film of 2017.
Fbh
Gold Member
John Wick 2
Much like the first one, it was awesome. I love how they built on the lore of the first one and gave us a deeper look into this society of assassins, and once again this had some of the most fun and best looking action in american cinema.
Power Ranger
Saw this with a childhood friend since we both loved Power Ranger when we were kids.
It wasn't great but was surprisingly not as bad as I expected. The team was pretty cool (the new Billy in particular is great) but I do think that instead of embracing the cheese it became a bit corny at times and it's a shame that, like many modern movies, the cost of CGI forces them to concentrate all of the action into the last 20 minutes.
Much like the first one, it was awesome. I love how they built on the lore of the first one and gave us a deeper look into this society of assassins, and once again this had some of the most fun and best looking action in american cinema.
Power Ranger
Saw this with a childhood friend since we both loved Power Ranger when we were kids.
It wasn't great but was surprisingly not as bad as I expected. The team was pretty cool (the new Billy in particular is great) but I do think that instead of embracing the cheese it became a bit corny at times and it's a shame that, like many modern movies, the cost of CGI forces them to concentrate all of the action into the last 20 minutes.
Messofanego
Banned
The Q&A was excellent. Edgar loves talking in depth about everything, he doesn't keep many secrets which is why his audio commentaries on home release are great. I was the first to raise my hand and asked a question about how the insane editing and transitions are done in relation to the location shooting and shooting script. Cause there are moments where the location plays into the song, such as the trumpet bit of a song tied to Ansel blowing on a graffitti wall trumpet in the opening musical moment when he's just walking in downtown. There are a lot of match cuts, a frequent one is using circle buttons such as on the elevator. Lots of planning had to happen, so none of that coverage-find-it-in-the-editing-bay stuff but then that's how Edgar Wright works anyway. The challenge wasn't how to shoot the script, but how to put his ideas actually down onto script. They did animatics and storyboards for most of the sequences so the crew and specifically stunt crew knew what to do and how to keep the rhythm when it came to actually shooting. They had a choreographer (Ryan Heffington, who did Sia's videos) and stunt coordinator (Darrin Prescott, Drive and other car chase films) working together. They'd use silly bang-bang sound effects as stage direction for the actors, so like gunshots had to be on rhythm.
He got some ideas from actual ex-bank robbers like Joe Loya and incorporated one of the lines Joe said, to Bats (Jamie Foxx) in the film about whether they use songs in the drive to or away from the heist ("I got enough demons in my head making music").
Since he got two Oscar winners in his film, whenever there was a scene between Jamie Foxx and Kevin Spacey, Edgar would whisper "double Oscar shot" just before filming.
They had cleared music licenses for 35 songs, and he also mentioned the collab he did with RTJ, Danger Mouse, and Big Boi "Chase Me" that is in the film. The funny thing is the DP Bill Pope would sometimes say a song is too short to be edited with a longer action sequence. So Edgar puts that into the script that when the song ends, Baby has to rewind the song to the final verse and keeps going. Composer Steven Price (Gravity) did the score but there's only 25 minutes since most of the film is about the soundtrack. A lot of composers would balk at a film that's more about the licensed songs and often there's that mismatch between the songs and the score, there's a joke made at the expense of Suicide Squad of how badly it's done in that which sends everyone laughing. However, between songs, he's matching the score to flow with the songs in the same tone.
The cars are set on trailers or pods as they're called so that the actual driver is in a sidecar-like position outside of the shot. The actual actors are there in the car, reacting to the crazy driving. This way you don't have to use CGI or green screen when it comes to editing the actors like in most other movies.
Someone else asked about colour contrast, since each of the characters have their own colour schemes which make it easier to track them in the gray concrete jungle that is Atlanta, and he lamented that so many action movies just choose dudes wearing black which don't stand out especially if the villains are wearing black, too. He mentioned how well Mad Max Fury Road did in this regard.
The film has been 22 years in the making. The idea was inspired by listening to the first song in the movie (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion "Bellbottoms") and him imagining a film out of it. Everyone by now knows he tested this out with the Mint Royale "Blue Song" music video, but he didn't feel he used up his idea cause there hasn't been a feature film made of the same idea. It's just now that he has the clout to make it happen. His first draft of the script was 7 years ago. Then he made a film in between.
The original idea was to have it set in LA. Instead of making Atlanta play LA as is usual because everyone is filming there since it's cheaper, he had Atlanta play itself. When he was living in LA, he asked some Atlanta writers who moved to LA about how to do some of the scenes in Atlanta. He didn't want Baby Driver to be compared to other LA heist/car chase films (Heat, Drive, and many others). He joked about how easy it is to get caught on the I-85 fi you've ever seen Atlanta high speed chases. Nearly every diner or location is real, the only thing that was a set was Baby's apartment. Also, LA is all about Priuses, while Atlanta is a bit more old school with the muscle cars, so that worked out in their favour to get the old-timey feel. He wanted the film to feel timeless, that's why only one smartphone is ever seen. He found it funny that one critic remarked it being the first film to be nostalgic about iPods.
Fancy Clown
Member
Awesome, that's for all the details, Mess. Can't wait to see this thing for myself.
xrnzaaas
Member
Kristy was a really bad movie. The premise featuring a cult that organizes manhunts and records everything was okay, but that's about it. They casted a crappy actress from the main role. Also doesn't help that she quickly transforms from an innocent college girl to
killer MacGyver. That last part actually made me laugh hard, because her boyfriend in the movie was Lucas Till and he's the one playing the new MacGyver in the CBS series.
Shadowhelper
Banned
Great! I'm going to get some drugs and definitely watch it
AngmarsKing701
Member
I'm thinking this is my "hey you turned 50 you old fart" birthday movie on July 1.
You know, I think I will post the reviews of the various horror shorts I've seen this month. Despite some clunkers, Shudder has a pretty solid eye for talent!
He Took His Skin Off For Me: A short film that answers the long burning question: what if Hellraiser's Frank and Julia had a more loving relationship free of literal demons? The idea here is played just cute enough to not be totally repulsive, but it has just enough edge to it to prevent it from being too light for its own good. The thematic intrigue is strong enough to support a longer feature, and honestly, this one does have an abrupt enough ending that I would have loved to have seen more than what we got. Not that it doesn't make its point pretty well, but the relationship dynamic at play here will leave you wanting more. Since it is a low budget short, the makeup is perhaps not as convincing as it needed to be, but I'm sure most won't mind the details that it does flub because hey, he still looks like a walking pile of meat at the end of the day.
Venefica: Even witches have got to start somewhere! I liked the idea of a witch-in-training on the day of her initiation into the more powerful supernatural world, complete with frustrations over the more mundane tasks she has to perform, the unease around the darker aspects of the ritual and the anxiety that stems from expectations from those closest to her, and I think this would have been rather killer as a 15-20 minute film to really explore the gamut. Unfortunately, at barely 7 minutes long minus the credits, there really isn't enough time to go into any depth, and what we're left with is the kernel of good ideas that never pop like they should. I do like the visual ambition on display here that does rather well to spite the non-existent budget, and the surprisingly upbeat personality of the heroine (villain?) makes for a nice change of pace. I just really wished that it went further with just about everything else!
Consommé: Who on earth would make a short version of a rape-revenge film...
...oh...
...oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh...
...OK, this was shockingly fun and entertaining! At less than 5 minutes long, the film takes its subject and executes it about as well as you could ask for, not wasting any time at all and keeping up the suspense of what transpires before getting to its nasty yet satisfying twist. The lack of dialogue was a superb choice to make here, keeping the focus on the evolving situation itself without any bloat to halt the momentum. This is the rare kind of horror short that's both a good idea and executed rather well!
The Puppet Man: With how poorly lit this short film is, one can put John Carpenter's Lost Themes on random play while keeping your eyes closed and achieve the same effect. Otherwise, this is a borderline incompetent nostalgia grab that understands nothing of the strengths of its influences and desperately hopes that the mere presence of Carpenter in a bit role is enough to give it the credibility it thinks it deserves. It does not.
I Want You Inside Me: A fun little bit of feminist horror that might seem a bit obvious from the onset, but it does surprise with how far it's willing to go in terms of what it shows. Unsurprisingly for me, I really dug how much it focused on CJ's reactions to the world around her, as she goes through a very believable range of confusion and trepidation in her post-virginity world, not realizing what's really going on until the final scene. It's a nicely believable performance from Abigail Wahl, though the entire cast here is pleasantly believable. I'd be curious to see if the filmmakers here want to try and make this into a feature-length film, since I get the feeling that it would draw some perhaps unflattering comparisons to a particular indie horror film, though I do think that this being made by a female director gives it a strong appeal that its closest point of comparison doesn't enjoy. In any event, I did like what we had here and would like to see more from both this cast and crew in the future!
In the Night: A well executed glimpse into the impressionable mind on the literal graveyard shift. This makes the most of its limited setting, that being a van in a vacant lot, to really capture what it's like to be all alone on a job that makes it easy to have the mind wander into dark territory. There's a lot of appeal in the organizing principle, as the viewer is right in the same shoes as the hero: a story so unbelievable that it has to be a prank, but what if it isn't? From there, the film draws out a solid amount of tension and suspense as it goes through the checklist of all the things you really don't want this to be, heightening both the claustrophobia and isolation of the setting to highly effective degrees. It's a great use of its limited time, and while I can see some complaining about the ending being what it is, the short is nevertheless effective simply because of how great a job it's able to pull off with how easy it is to convince oneself of the things that it could be. Really cool stuff!
He Took His Skin Off For Me: A short film that answers the long burning question: what if Hellraiser's Frank and Julia had a more loving relationship free of literal demons? The idea here is played just cute enough to not be totally repulsive, but it has just enough edge to it to prevent it from being too light for its own good. The thematic intrigue is strong enough to support a longer feature, and honestly, this one does have an abrupt enough ending that I would have loved to have seen more than what we got. Not that it doesn't make its point pretty well, but the relationship dynamic at play here will leave you wanting more. Since it is a low budget short, the makeup is perhaps not as convincing as it needed to be, but I'm sure most won't mind the details that it does flub because hey, he still looks like a walking pile of meat at the end of the day.
Venefica: Even witches have got to start somewhere! I liked the idea of a witch-in-training on the day of her initiation into the more powerful supernatural world, complete with frustrations over the more mundane tasks she has to perform, the unease around the darker aspects of the ritual and the anxiety that stems from expectations from those closest to her, and I think this would have been rather killer as a 15-20 minute film to really explore the gamut. Unfortunately, at barely 7 minutes long minus the credits, there really isn't enough time to go into any depth, and what we're left with is the kernel of good ideas that never pop like they should. I do like the visual ambition on display here that does rather well to spite the non-existent budget, and the surprisingly upbeat personality of the heroine (villain?) makes for a nice change of pace. I just really wished that it went further with just about everything else!
Consommé: Who on earth would make a short version of a rape-revenge film...
...oh...
...oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh...
...OK, this was shockingly fun and entertaining! At less than 5 minutes long, the film takes its subject and executes it about as well as you could ask for, not wasting any time at all and keeping up the suspense of what transpires before getting to its nasty yet satisfying twist. The lack of dialogue was a superb choice to make here, keeping the focus on the evolving situation itself without any bloat to halt the momentum. This is the rare kind of horror short that's both a good idea and executed rather well!
The Puppet Man: With how poorly lit this short film is, one can put John Carpenter's Lost Themes on random play while keeping your eyes closed and achieve the same effect. Otherwise, this is a borderline incompetent nostalgia grab that understands nothing of the strengths of its influences and desperately hopes that the mere presence of Carpenter in a bit role is enough to give it the credibility it thinks it deserves. It does not.
I Want You Inside Me: A fun little bit of feminist horror that might seem a bit obvious from the onset, but it does surprise with how far it's willing to go in terms of what it shows. Unsurprisingly for me, I really dug how much it focused on CJ's reactions to the world around her, as she goes through a very believable range of confusion and trepidation in her post-virginity world, not realizing what's really going on until the final scene. It's a nicely believable performance from Abigail Wahl, though the entire cast here is pleasantly believable. I'd be curious to see if the filmmakers here want to try and make this into a feature-length film, since I get the feeling that it would draw some perhaps unflattering comparisons to a particular indie horror film, though I do think that this being made by a female director gives it a strong appeal that its closest point of comparison doesn't enjoy. In any event, I did like what we had here and would like to see more from both this cast and crew in the future!
In the Night: A well executed glimpse into the impressionable mind on the literal graveyard shift. This makes the most of its limited setting, that being a van in a vacant lot, to really capture what it's like to be all alone on a job that makes it easy to have the mind wander into dark territory. There's a lot of appeal in the organizing principle, as the viewer is right in the same shoes as the hero: a story so unbelievable that it has to be a prank, but what if it isn't? From there, the film draws out a solid amount of tension and suspense as it goes through the checklist of all the things you really don't want this to be, heightening both the claustrophobia and isolation of the setting to highly effective degrees. It's a great use of its limited time, and while I can see some complaining about the ending being what it is, the short is nevertheless effective simply because of how great a job it's able to pull off with how easy it is to convince oneself of the things that it could be. Really cool stuff!
Cool! Good read. I shall patiently await the movies release.
Yes they do. Check these out if you haven't. The last is a bit longer but its worth it.
Invaders
The Stylist
Lake Nowhere
I saw The Stylist earlier in the year, and I did like that, though I wasn't over the moon with it.
Damn, can't wait to see Baby Driver...
I've been really bad about watching movies lately, between being on vacation and just being busy, but I made time for a couple this weekend.
I'm probably the last person in the world to see La La Land. Wasn't quite sure what to expect, I'm not a huge musical person, but I really enjoyed this. The story and characters didn't do much for me but the visuals, music, and choreography were amazing. I loved the use of color, and how dynamic the camera was in following characters around etc.
I'd like to watch it again when I'm sober and see if I like the story any better. I had a bunch of beers before watching and was having trouble keeping up with some things lol.
4/5
Also caught I Friday morning screening of Wonder Woman. The theater was still fairly full, which was nice to see. This was easily the most enjoyable DC film so far, and I really enjoyed watching Gadot and Pine together. Aside from that, this film didn't do anything too novel. I'm glad to see the first female superhero movie is doing well, but I think I'm just kinda jaded with DC/Marvel films. Other than Logan, none of the recent ones have been super memorable to me. I have yet to see GOTG2 though.
3.5/5
I've been really bad about watching movies lately, between being on vacation and just being busy, but I made time for a couple this weekend.
I'm probably the last person in the world to see La La Land. Wasn't quite sure what to expect, I'm not a huge musical person, but I really enjoyed this. The story and characters didn't do much for me but the visuals, music, and choreography were amazing. I loved the use of color, and how dynamic the camera was in following characters around etc.
I'd like to watch it again when I'm sober and see if I like the story any better. I had a bunch of beers before watching and was having trouble keeping up with some things lol.
4/5
Also caught I Friday morning screening of Wonder Woman. The theater was still fairly full, which was nice to see. This was easily the most enjoyable DC film so far, and I really enjoyed watching Gadot and Pine together. Aside from that, this film didn't do anything too novel. I'm glad to see the first female superhero movie is doing well, but I think I'm just kinda jaded with DC/Marvel films. Other than Logan, none of the recent ones have been super memorable to me. I have yet to see GOTG2 though.
3.5/5
Assassin's Creed (2016)
This movie doesn't deserve much thought or analysis. The plot is muddled, nonsensical trash and the action scenes are confusingly shot and edited, in such a way you rarely know or understand what's going on. So pretty much pure garbage. Video game adaptations are pretty much irredeemable at this point. I watched this out of morbid curiosity and because I was once an AssCreed fan. I hear Fassbender had a large amount of input/control over the movie's production. I guess he has shit for taste.
On a curious note, what the hell is the deal with this movie's credits? They're sixteen minutes long. Seems Ubisoft can help themselves when it comes to the length of their credits sequences, whether they're making games or movies.
This movie doesn't deserve much thought or analysis. The plot is muddled, nonsensical trash and the action scenes are confusingly shot and edited, in such a way you rarely know or understand what's going on. So pretty much pure garbage. Video game adaptations are pretty much irredeemable at this point. I watched this out of morbid curiosity and because I was once an AssCreed fan. I hear Fassbender had a large amount of input/control over the movie's production. I guess he has shit for taste.
On a curious note, what the hell is the deal with this movie's credits? They're sixteen minutes long. Seems Ubisoft can help themselves when it comes to the length of their credits sequences, whether they're making games or movies.
Warm Machine
Member
The VVitch, aka The Witch aka a Pilgrim family acts like assholes and screams for an hour thirty. 4/10
Fancy Clown
Member
Boooo this man
AngmarsKing701
Member
I didn't think that poorly of it, but I wasn't a huge fan either.
Insane Metal
Member
Yup, me neither.
I like the photography, it's incredible, but other than that... meh
I also watched "Life" today. It was okay.
I'm a part of this crowd too. Cool atmosphere, gorgeous cinematography, solid lead performances but really redundant and unimpressive story-wise. Certainly not the saviour of horror films that many made it out to be.
Net_Wrecker
Member
New page pls.
The Wizard Of Lies: 4/10. Christ this was dull. I'd rather have spent 120 minutes reading a balance sheet. Slant magazine called it a book report which is a pretty good description. Hank Azaria's 10 minutes of comparing pussy to cars falls flat in the most cringey way imaginable. I thought Michelle Pfeiffer was great as Ruth.
Casting JonBenet: 7/10. Really neat way of telling the story, might have ended up like Wizard of Lies if not for that. I was only vaguely familiar with the story so it was interesting hearing all of that stuff too. So the mom did it.
Only God Forgives: Rewatch but yep I'm still right and it's great, 8/10. I almost gave it another point just as a fuck you to GAF but the scene with the hair pins in the guy... too far man, too far. All this awesome ultraviolence, and the weirdo Karaoke, and the momcest is hot af, all set to a synthwave soundtrack, I don't know what more you people want.
Casting JonBenet: 7/10. Really neat way of telling the story, might have ended up like Wizard of Lies if not for that. I was only vaguely familiar with the story so it was interesting hearing all of that stuff too. So the mom did it.
Only God Forgives: Rewatch but yep I'm still right and it's great, 8/10. I almost gave it another point just as a fuck you to GAF but the scene with the hair pins in the guy... too far man, too far. All this awesome ultraviolence, and the weirdo Karaoke, and the momcest is hot af, all set to a synthwave soundtrack, I don't know what more you people want.
How to Steal a Million (1966): Audrey Hepburn became a star and won an Oscar for William Wyler's 1953 Roman Holiday, which is also, at least from my viewing, the only really good film she made in the 1950s, which she otherwise spent bogged down as the love interest of men twice her age. Every other really notable entry in her filmography comes from the 1960s where, among other things, she started to get paired with guys who were actually age-appropriate. This is her other film with Wyler, a heist romantic comedy where Hepburn stars opposite a very charming Peter O'Toole. Wyler directs fairly energetically; indeed, in a lot of ways this feels like him trying to copy Stanley Donen's Charade from three years earlier, even down to a particular plot twist toward the end. The actual heist portion of the film is competent, even if not a stellar example of the genre (though from 50 years' distance, it's almost charmingly low-tech), but the interactions between Hepburn and O'Toole make the movie.
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
Gifted comes across from its posters/trailer as a typical generic story of its type, a trite tear jerker, but upon further watching is elevated by its excellent performances, script, and some superb shots. Neat. In particular the little girl played by McKenna Grace and Chris Evans as the leads knock it out of the park. It sure is designed as an emotional heartstring puller, but such a thing could easily have fallen into sickly sweet sentimentality and became repellant, but the performances from the cast and the script save it from such a fate. It's narrative won't blow your mind and you'll be able to tell the ending from the first ten minutes.
But its easy to overlook such flaws when you're nearly blubbering like a child. Gifted is way better than it should/could have been, and sometimes you just need to feel emoshuns.
But its easy to overlook such flaws when you're nearly blubbering like a child. Gifted is way better than it should/could have been, and sometimes you just need to feel emoshuns.
Meeting People is Easy
Rewatch. My impression of this is the same as I when saw it about 5-6 years ago: great behind-the-scenes material, early performances of songs that were released much later (or not released at all), and candid footage of the band at their peak social anxiety period. But, the filmmaking itself is totally atrocious and reeks of film school undergrad amateur. For someone to have this level of access to Radiohead on their OK Computer tour and produce footage this shitty, that's often more concerned with slow-mo shots of cars and skyskraper lights in the rain because whoa so deep, is just really annoying. An otherwise bad documentary that can be salvaged by anyone who is a big Radiohead fan. Anyone else should avoid.
7/10 if you like the band, 4/10 if you don't
I Confess
A man commits a murder and confesses his crime to a priest. The priest then has to shoulder the guilt of knowing a murderer is walking around free, and being bound by the confessional to not give it up. Even worse, the priest is then accused of that same murder, but can't exonerate himself! Great idea for a story that's buried in a whole lot of nonsense about the priest's forbidden romance with Anne Baxter, and her whole failed marriage/blackmail subplot. Too bad. On the good side: the last 10 minutes; Montgomery Clift's restrained and simmering performance, which, despite constant clashes with Hitchcock, is probably one of the better lead turns in one of his films; and Karl Malden as a detective in Hitchcock movie, how cool is that. Overall, an okay film, but a lot of wasted potential.
6/10
The Raven (1963)
My final Corman/Poe film, and a fairly okay one, but not the worst of the lot. This is probably the best cast Corman assembled for one of these: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff (who, as a fat old man in a wizard's robe, has lost every bit of menace he had 20-30 years prior), and a young Jack Nicholson, who looks like he just walked off stage from a high school play. Corman and screenwriter Richard Matheson make the curious decision of adapting the Poe story as a wizard vs. wizard sort-of comedy, with basically no relation to the original text other than that there's a raven on screen sometimes and Price ends the movie with "Quoth the raven, nevermore", apropos of nothing. Price and Karloff are okay in this, but the standout is Lorre; the movie isn't really that funny, but Lorre gets all the best bits. Production design is probably on the higher end of these movies, but like nearly all of them, it ends with the same stock footage of a house burning down. I've seen this same house catch fire and collapse about seven times now.
6/10
The Driver
Superb chase sequences. A lot of the character work is underwritten to the point of nonexistence, but it doesn't really matter. I think this has got to be one of the last times I see a movie on 35mm though. The print was so faded that there was a purple tint cast over the entire movie. I don't understand how someone like Nolan or PTA can be okay with the idea that, 40 years from now, people will see their movies completely distorted from how they were meant to look (Tarantino, on the other hand, I'm sure loves that idea).
7/10
Rewatch. My impression of this is the same as I when saw it about 5-6 years ago: great behind-the-scenes material, early performances of songs that were released much later (or not released at all), and candid footage of the band at their peak social anxiety period. But, the filmmaking itself is totally atrocious and reeks of film school undergrad amateur. For someone to have this level of access to Radiohead on their OK Computer tour and produce footage this shitty, that's often more concerned with slow-mo shots of cars and skyskraper lights in the rain because whoa so deep, is just really annoying. An otherwise bad documentary that can be salvaged by anyone who is a big Radiohead fan. Anyone else should avoid.
7/10 if you like the band, 4/10 if you don't
I Confess
A man commits a murder and confesses his crime to a priest. The priest then has to shoulder the guilt of knowing a murderer is walking around free, and being bound by the confessional to not give it up. Even worse, the priest is then accused of that same murder, but can't exonerate himself! Great idea for a story that's buried in a whole lot of nonsense about the priest's forbidden romance with Anne Baxter, and her whole failed marriage/blackmail subplot. Too bad. On the good side: the last 10 minutes; Montgomery Clift's restrained and simmering performance, which, despite constant clashes with Hitchcock, is probably one of the better lead turns in one of his films; and Karl Malden as a detective in Hitchcock movie, how cool is that. Overall, an okay film, but a lot of wasted potential.
6/10
The Raven (1963)
My final Corman/Poe film, and a fairly okay one, but not the worst of the lot. This is probably the best cast Corman assembled for one of these: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff (who, as a fat old man in a wizard's robe, has lost every bit of menace he had 20-30 years prior), and a young Jack Nicholson, who looks like he just walked off stage from a high school play. Corman and screenwriter Richard Matheson make the curious decision of adapting the Poe story as a wizard vs. wizard sort-of comedy, with basically no relation to the original text other than that there's a raven on screen sometimes and Price ends the movie with "Quoth the raven, nevermore", apropos of nothing. Price and Karloff are okay in this, but the standout is Lorre; the movie isn't really that funny, but Lorre gets all the best bits. Production design is probably on the higher end of these movies, but like nearly all of them, it ends with the same stock footage of a house burning down. I've seen this same house catch fire and collapse about seven times now.
6/10
The Driver
Superb chase sequences. A lot of the character work is underwritten to the point of nonexistence, but it doesn't really matter. I think this has got to be one of the last times I see a movie on 35mm though. The print was so faded that there was a purple tint cast over the entire movie. I don't understand how someone like Nolan or PTA can be okay with the idea that, 40 years from now, people will see their movies completely distorted from how they were meant to look (Tarantino, on the other hand, I'm sure loves that idea).
7/10
xrnzaaas
Member
Get Out was good, somewhat overrated after hearing about so many super positive reviews, but it wasn't a huge disappointment like It Follows. I liked the cast (Rod was awesome!) and I enjoyed the movie until the
reveal, I feel like it started to fall apart after that
PS. Oh, and the Microsoft product placement was super annoying (all that it was missing was the "I bing'd it" line). I wouldn't mind that in a CW tv show, but in a "big" movie it's unacceptable. ;p
transplantation
both in terms of the white family losing their professionalism as well as the entire storyline trying to be believable
PS. Oh, and the Microsoft product placement was super annoying (all that it was missing was the "I bing'd it" line). I wouldn't mind that in a CW tv show, but in a "big" movie it's unacceptable. ;p
you got me hype with this, I should have never read that !
Warm Machine
Member
Gods of Egypt 4/10
I think what my take away is once again that there are some directors that understand blue screen and effects and some do not. Some directors that get production design and mood and some that do not. Alex Proyas does not. He obviously just got lost time and time again without a background to shoot against. The editing suffers and the shoot suffers. As well, most everything is shot wide because of the expectation that millions of dollars of effects will fill the background, whatever that will be, later on. Not only does drama lose its edge but the movie gets far more expensive to constantly have to fill the BG. Then, as a result the budget must have been stretched so thin that animation of CGI characters took a huge hit.
A simple A to B against Exodus simply displays the craft of sets, production design, lighting, costuming, and restrained post that movie had in comparison that grounded it and made it far more believable with the same budget.
The actors, who are great in everything else they have been in, look embarrassed and embarrassing. So about the casting, yeah these actors were the wrong ones. They don't even look close to Egyptians and they didn't even try to justify or rationalize that the gods are gods of the world to sneak past their casting mistake. When you drop a white person into these aesthetics of Egypt it looks the kind of cheesy cheap you'd expect of a So Cal metal band that has an album with songs like "Pyramids of the Dead" and "Hieroglyphic Incantations" where the closest they have been to Egypt is hole number 9 at the local mini golf.
You can watch it like a silly Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, or Clash of the Titans style film and pull some enjoyment out of it, but it doesn't near equal those mostly because the craft behind it is so poor and often mastrabatory.
I think what my take away is once again that there are some directors that understand blue screen and effects and some do not. Some directors that get production design and mood and some that do not. Alex Proyas does not. He obviously just got lost time and time again without a background to shoot against. The editing suffers and the shoot suffers. As well, most everything is shot wide because of the expectation that millions of dollars of effects will fill the background, whatever that will be, later on. Not only does drama lose its edge but the movie gets far more expensive to constantly have to fill the BG. Then, as a result the budget must have been stretched so thin that animation of CGI characters took a huge hit.
A simple A to B against Exodus simply displays the craft of sets, production design, lighting, costuming, and restrained post that movie had in comparison that grounded it and made it far more believable with the same budget.
The actors, who are great in everything else they have been in, look embarrassed and embarrassing. So about the casting, yeah these actors were the wrong ones. They don't even look close to Egyptians and they didn't even try to justify or rationalize that the gods are gods of the world to sneak past their casting mistake. When you drop a white person into these aesthetics of Egypt it looks the kind of cheesy cheap you'd expect of a So Cal metal band that has an album with songs like "Pyramids of the Dead" and "Hieroglyphic Incantations" where the closest they have been to Egypt is hole number 9 at the local mini golf.
You can watch it like a silly Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, or Clash of the Titans style film and pull some enjoyment out of it, but it doesn't near equal those mostly because the craft behind it is so poor and often mastrabatory.
xrnzaaas
Member
I'm in the minority when it comes to It Follows and I know that.
The premise was excellent, exactly like the stuff from my childhood nightmares. But yeah that was about it. Hated pretty much all the rest in It Follows.