Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| October 2016

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Kingsman: The Secret Service

Good movie.
Great actors (except Sam Jackson, didn't really like him and his character here), and finally a spy movie with actual violence!
The plot (and some of the characters) was a bit sketchy and it has some flaws, but the actions scenes and directing were on point. (the chruch scene is amazing)
Really didn't like the ending...all in all - a good action movie to watch and have a fun time, not to be taken seriously.
 
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Enjoyable, squeaky-clean, suspenseful and non risk taking. The movie seemed really short, seemed like it may get a sequel. Nothing too surprising or impressive but I'd recommend it.
 
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I thought this was very well made. You barely see any kills in this but you'll hear them and see the after effects which are usually pretty brutal. This isn't your standard home invasion either. These guys are in this for kicks and the games are violent.

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I liked Ginger Snaps. Thought it was a pretty original idea for a werewolf flick. Ginger Snaps 2 brings both girls back and the
dead
one was kind of a surprise that worked well. This movie is just as dirty and gritty as the first except the ending threw a whole new twist into things which I kind of like though it was a bit dark.

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Moonlight will probably sweep the critics award, and probably be #1 on the most Critic Top Tens
, but I suspect it'll be too small, too black, and too gay for the Academy tbh...maybe a supporting actor win or Best Screenplay(although I'd be surprised if Lonergan doesn't win that)

The #1 thing you want for a BP winner is consensus. Near universal appeal. Something that crosses demographics. A movie that even if its not a #1 on your preferential ballot, its certainly in your top 2 or 3 somewhere.

I think out of all the potential movies this year, La La Land seems like the biggest consensus grabber. Its played at all three big festivals, and all the press and audiences love it. It's got good-looking stars singing and dancing, with beautiful visuals and camerawork. It's a love letter to Hollywood, but refreshingly modern and intelligent. It has a stunning ending that sends people out on a cloud. It's seemingly irresistible, undeniable. Free from any controversy, or overlong runtimes, or 3D 120 fps technology. Damian Chazelle is already a formidable name that gets people who arent normally interested in musicals to buy tickets, and the word of mouth gon be lit. And I think the Academy loves to promote movies they think they should make more often, which is why the big technological blockbusters like Avatar, Gravity, or Life of Pi would never win cuz it reminds them too much of modern Hollywood. They wanna promote films like Spotlight and Argo and the Artist, done in a vein of studio moviemaking that was popular long ago, in the hope they can come back in fashion. They would love nothing more than the name a great screen musical like this Best Picture, to send a message.

Saying this all sight unseen, but it pretty much has all the tangibles and intangibles of a BP winner. And in a year covered with so much toxicity due to this WOAT political election, it'd be nice to award BP to something colorful and romantic, free from cool irony or trend cynicism.
It wouldn't be a surprise that Hollywood would pick La La Land as their Oscar winner. White bankable cast, big musical, LA, nostalgia, old Hollywood. It'd be a boring as fuck choice, though.

Moonlight is too small of a scope (it's just about two friends over a long period), introspective, black, and not particularly feel good for Hollywood. I don't even know if the Moonlight team have a big enough budget to campaign out their film to the industry. Once in a while, Hollywood likes to pick a film to stop the accusations that they nominate and make films win based on big money and like to sometimes give the hint that they're socially progressive, so who knows :P
 
It's probably just stress, anyway.
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Christine
This is definitely more conventional than Antonio Campos' past films (Afterschool, Simon Killer). Like, there's normal dialogue, the camerawork is not wandering, there is humour :P There is still an element of disconnection in the protagonist and a focus on video voyeurism, though.

But damn if Rebecca Hall doesn't absolutely kill it. It brilliantly transforms a character study into a period examination of when the sensationalism of news from local human interest stories were dropped in favour of flashy negative national stories, sexism in workplace was (and still is) rampant, and how everyone is less open about mental illness. Each character other than Christine have figured out their coping mechanisms. Her deadpan humour and stubbornness on journalistic standards is a delight amongst all the more conventional people. In a sense, she's still just a child who hasn't figured out how to socially navigate the world. It's not even obvious at first that her roommate is actually her mom. There's an emotionally devastating moment between Christine and her mom about needing help to figure out the adult life. Even when people are willing to help Christine with her mental and physical problems especially the fellow news anchor, George (Michael C Hall), she's not open to it ("I can shut people out, even when I don't want to"). It's really a tragedy about not opening up.

It's entertaining to see how news stations worked back then, and how big their equipment is. The filmmakers had to get some hardcore collector for the actual equipment of the time, and only he could operate it!

It ends in a very understated manner, and shows that not every coping mechanism is fit to work
(Jean's ice cream)
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I didn't know the original case was inspiration for Network, but it makes sense now after watching this. If you like Network and Nightcrawler but want a more humanist story, you should check this out.
 
Watched The Accountant. Solid film and I could see them making a The Accountant 2 if they haven't already done it. If you like Batman with a gun meets no country for old men than go go go see it
 
Oh hey look. Another one of these films. One of those films that make all the transformers esque sludge and general rubbish in the cinema worth it. We don't get as many of these films as I'd like of course, or as many people would like, but maybe thats better, cos it means we appreciate them more. Maybe.

American Honey is absolutely magnificent from start to finish. Doesn't set a foot wrong far as I'm concerned, and is so good, its one of those films I struggle to be as articulate about it as I'd like to be.

Has an amazing soundtrack, including use of songs I usually wouldn't like. I love the cinematography, the imagery, the kinda portrait mode way its filmed. Gripping and somewhat grim narrative, although tinged with hope and something damn near profound at the centre. It's not a tight narrative that has a destination per se, but thats kind of the point from my perspective, and shows us a tiny snapshot of someones life, where maybe things don't get resolved or fixed or the person has some transcendent mind changing experience. And thats ok.

And the acting is amazing. Shia Lebouf does a great job proving he's more than a transformer brat yet again, but its the newcomers that steal the show for me, specially the lead Sasha Lane, as our lead character known only as Star, a young girl looking for something, we don't know what, but we know she's desperate enough to jump in a van in a car park to sell magazines on commission with a crew of travelling salesmen.


So yeah, I loved it. Like I say, stuff like this compensates for a lot of the other rubbish we get in the year. Can't recommend it more highly.
 
Anyone on the fence, go see Shin Godzilla if it is playing near you.

No joke, when G finally unleashes the atomic breath, it might be the single best moment in film this year.
 
I didn't know the original case was inspiration for Network, but it makes sense now after watching this. If you like Network and Nightcrawler but want a more humanist story, you should check this out.

Dammit, this too? Why can't people make crappy movies that I won't feel compelled to waaa-aaa-aaa-atc... whyyyyyy

Or: the alternate approach to "movies are shit now". Too bad it's true for the summer blockbusters though.
 
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Combat Shock. I've never actually watched a Troma film before. I tried the Toxic Avenger but it was too awful. So this actually surprised me. Probably not exactly horror but its on Shudder so whatever :) I was surprised at how good this was. Yea its got low budget written all over it but the story it tells is pretty good. This doesn't even gloss over anything it just keeps hammering you with how shitty things are for this soldier in post Vietnam life. The ending was pretty brutal too. Overall I liked this a lot.

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This was on last years mandatory list but I couldn't finish it. I hadn't watched many silent films at that time and this didn't hold my interest at all back then. Now I had a good time watching it. The day and night scenes divided by yellow and blue color was a nice touch. The angular doors and oddly shaped rooms was pretty cool. I mean you can almost see the plywood used to make the sets but it all worked very well.

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Cabinet of Dr Caligari holds up so well, especially if you're a fan of psychological thrillers. For some reason, I thought ambiguous endings back then weren't even allowed.
 
I watched Santa Sangre last night. Definitely felt like Jodorowsky's attempt at a horror movie and I really enjoyed it. A psychedelic horror film from Mexico about circus performers, whats not to love? Oh and the soundtrack was fantastic.
 
The Innocents (1961): Henry James' The Turn of the Screw is a hard story to adapt to film, given how much it relies on the subjective perceptions of the heroine, but this film does a very good job, aided by a great performance by Deborah Kerr. Though Kerr is probably a little too old for the part.

An American in Paris (1951): Golden age musicals tend to have a lot of numbers that exist for no particular reason other than to show off the skills of the performers, which I don't care for, however well-done they are. The other major Gene Kelly musical from the early 50s, Singin' in the Rain, has more of a story, though both contain huge sequence that stop the plot cold. This is definitely inferior in other ways, particularly the way the love story makes Kelly, normally among the most affable screen presences around, look like a huge creep in how he pursues Leslie Caron's character.
 
Train to Busan (2016)- Pretty much exactly what I thought it would be like and it delivered. I thought the way they used the location and dealing with various situations involving the tight spaces was well done. Characters didn't bother me either. This was a damn fun movie that knew exactly what it wanted to be.

The Wailing (2016)- Wow, what a fascinating movie this was. Quite glad I din't read up on it at all or watch any trailers because
going in I knew nothing about there being a supernatural element and enjoyed how gradually things were revealed. Which I hear the trailer spoils the shit out of.
Essentially about a police officer in a small rural town in South Korea who has to investigate some strange violent murders. It had a nice mystery that kept me invested for the whole 2 and 1/2 runtime and the story sure did go places. As someone who also enjoyed the director's other movie "Chaser" this was of the same caliber for me.

Can't wait to re-watch because this was a pretty dense movie that I am sure I will pick up on new things.
 
Decalogue I: 8/10. I don't know if I can do this 9 more times.
My 6 week old son was laying on me while I was watching this.
. I mean what the fuck man.
Decalogue II: 6/10. Has Kieslowski never made a mix tape? You start out strong but then you have to take it up a notch. But you don't want to blow your wad early so then you take it down a notch. There are many rules. I liked this less, more distant and ambiguous.
Margaret: 5/10. Prepping for this Manchester movie that supposed to be good. Are you guys sure? Way too long, and apparently he wanted to make it even longer? I was annoyed with nearly everyone in this, and could not care less about them or their stupid problems. There's also a French person in it but it's Jean Reno so I'll allow it.
Possession: 6/10. WHY IS EVERYONE YELLING?! This was something, like Scenes From A Marriage directed by Cronenberg. Sort of fun to watch but it mostly just stressed me out.
 
Anyone on the fence, go see Shin Godzilla if it is playing near you.

No joke, when G finally unleashes the atomic breath, it might be the single best moment in film this year.
This, 100%. You could hear all of the wind being sucked out of the room with all the gasping going on.

The rest of the film is pretty goddamn great, too, but that whole scene is an utter masterpiece.
 
Enjoy the absurdity of our world. Our world is a lot less painful than the real world.
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Nocturnal Animals
I don't have an issue with films that aren't subtle. I love satires and films where the message is obvious. I don't know if this is because this is only Tom Ford's sophomore feature film, but tying the novel that the main character's ex-husband is writing, to her relationship troubles (her husband played by Armie Hammer is too distant and is obviously cheating) is too on-the-nose. The film is about the problem of not fixing something when you have it, but there's not much else to it. The film has got style, which makes sense from someone who used to be in fashion. The opening is arresting (naked obese women dancing as American cheerleaders). Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent as a man with little control when his family is abused Deliverance-style by Aaron Taylor Johnson's road posse and then is on a lawless quest for revenge. Michael Shannon is the best part about this film as an imposing law figure who's willing to bend the rules to get justice, and he's only in the neo-noir. The problem with this film is one part is engaging but the frame is boring to get back to. Amy Adams does well here (although she's better in Arrival), but her and Armie Hammer's relationship is bland, and frankly I just wanted to punch Armie's face in (thankfully, he's way better in Free Fire). I did like that the film acknowledges Isla Fisher and Amy Adams look very similar. There's one great jump scare involving an iPhone with a sarcastic quip about how disposable everything is nowadays is probably the best moment in the film, and I wish the rest of the film was as biting. I have to give mention to a brilliant match cut between a punch and a book falling. However, just as a neo-noir thriller, Neon Demon from this year was far more interesting.

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Certain Women
A vignette story that doesn't work for me. The only connective tissue between these threads is that all the protagonists are women and they live nearby, but they don't quite intersect. The acting is great all around, but the only story that works emotionally is the last one about an unrequited rural-urban love between the characters of Lily Gladstone and Kristen Stewart. I can't believe I'm pointing this out as a negative, but it feels like a documentary. It's too slice-of-life, there's no peaks or troughs of a drama. Reading up later that they're all based on short stories, that makes sense why I felt a disconnect. At least I can say I finally saw a Kelly Reichardt film and one with three female protagonists (one a native American lesbian!), but that's too surface of an appreciation. Hopefully, her next film connects. Then again, it won best film at LFF, so others might appreciate it more.

Can we be clean white trash?
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American Honey
Not as good as Andrea Arnold's previous films (Red Road, Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights) and its length suffers (2hr43min) due to repetition (could be the point) along with obnoxious characters with little character development. American Honey still is beautiful and full of kineticism (regular collab'ing DP Robbie Ryan) like when the camera acts as a physical person running towards the characters or gets down low to the ground for intense close-ups. I appreciated the Peter Pan-ish look at these young kids who seem like low-to-middle class runaways where no adults are in display, so there's an amoral streak of not judging their actions as they're still kids. This does become infuriating with the main character (played excellently by first timer Sasha Love) who can't seem to shake off the badboy (played by Shia LaBeouf who doesn't hold back) despite all the red flags. There's still something watchable to the film with it focusing on "clean white trash" kids on a road trip with the weak excuse of selling magazines so they can sustain this new lifestyle. It's like a mix of Harmony Korine, Larry Clark, and a bit of Terrence Malick. If that mashup is intriguing, it's worth a watch.

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The Red Turtle
Stunningly animated, wordless surreal life journey of a man marooned on an island. Some of the story beats are familiar for a survivalist tale but the overall theme of the ebb and flow in life is pretty interesting. Where sometimes you need to stay and be content with what you have or leave when the opportunity arises. Shares not only Ghibli's naturalistic tendencies but also the bittersweet mood especially in Isao Takahata films. Shoutout to the crabs as best comedic relief in a film this year.

Some insights from the Q&A. They were approached by Studio Ghibli to collaborate with, which in itself is surreal when you're the one being pitched by the best animation company in the world. Secondly, Takahata doesn't draw at all, which is rare for animation directors.

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Psychonauts, The Forgotten Children
Leave it to an animated film to be the most imaginative, disturbing, and depressing film to see this year. It paints a very surreal post-industrial future dystopia with mouse gangs, fireflies as spirits of the dead, drug addiction, demons, and mental illness. If you're a fan of Angel's Egg, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Watership Down, keep it on your radar.

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Manchester By The Sea
For a film about grieving, this sure is hilarious. Comedy makes for coping bedfellows with tragedy, but I wasn't expecting it to this level. Particularly enjoyed the scenery and attention to the detail with the location, made me appreciate small town snowy America more. It's another film about men not being able to open up and connect which leads to self-destruction, and Casey Affleck really kills it here as a short-tempered, flawed uncle who's struggling to move on from the loss of his family and to start a new one. It feels weird to say, but this was one of the most entertaining films I saw from this LFF.

You're fucking bewitched!
Layla M.
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For some dumb reason, I was expecting a no-frills muslim romance film. Didn't realise I had just seen one of the most honest portrayals of the struggle for young, disillusioned, diasporic muslims who through various factors (such as misunderstanding parenting) go down the road to radicalisation. Director Mijke de Jong and writer Jan Eilander do a fantastic and very well-researched job at understanding the struggles that young "woke" muslims are facing these days. Layla (Nora El Koussour) is a political young muslim who is in touch with her religion far more than her family who are too Westernised for her. The very first issue is about the burqa ban. However, being young, she's gullible, and falls into the trap of radicalisation through romance. If you've ever seen the British TV drama Britz (with Riz Ahmed), this path might seem familiar, but otherwise it's important filmmaking and something particularly muslims should watch.
 
I watched this for the wrong reason but M is fucking incredible. It's a 1930's German thriller about a child serial killer of all things and the cops and crooks trying to capture him. First off, 1930's German film seems a bit strange to be watching much less the serial child killer part. The entire cast was awesome and these people love to smoke their cigars. Holy shit they probably died from lung cancer on set. Now I'm stoked for Metropolis.

M. I'm not sure how I got this on a horror list but a serial child killer movie should seem to fit however this aint that. Yea it has a serial killer but the film is more about the police trying to apprehend him and in the process crack down hard on the local gangsters thinking he's among them. So they in turn try and find the killer to get the cops off their ass. For whatever reason I thought this wouldn't be much fun but as soon as I hit play I was engaged. I'm counting it anyway since it was on my list and I've already pretty much watched my fill anyway. If you get a chance, hit this up, its bad ass.

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Blue Steel: Kathryn Bigelow action noir where Jamie Lee Curtis and Ron Silver fire revolvers at each other and everyone else, in slow motion with an airy synth droning away.
 
You should be, Metropolis is awesome.

It's been on my list for a while but I haven't had a reason other than I heard it's cool and I have to be excited about something to jump in, but that said if it immediately sinks it's hooks in like M did then it won't be a hard watch. Even after all the foreign and silent films I've watched in the last year I still find it hard to dive in sometimes.
 
I did a double-feature at the movies last night.

The Girl on the Train: The premise really intrigued me, and a friend said she loved it when she watched a pirated copy. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I did find it to drag and that it wasn't as strong during its mid-portion.

The movie is decent, but unspectacular.

The Accountant: Given the reviews, I liked this more than expected. I'd been wanting to see it before the reviews, though, because the trailers really intrigued me.
 
Some stuff I've seen recently:

Holy Motors: Really loved this. The opening moments are a bit weak but the film really blossoms into something amazing. It's only grown in my estimation in the past couple of days, I keep returning to some of these images again and again. Highest praise for this one.

Senna: 3 hour documentary about a Formula One racer who I had never heard of before...somehow it really gripped me, I recommend this to anyone interested in sports or who just wants to understand an interesting little flashpoint in world culture from the mid 80s to early 90s.

Warcraft: Missed this in theaters because of the bad reviews, thought I'd check it out for a laugh. It's pretty bad. It felt oddly small scale, considering the franchise...very few locations, no characters from the many different races - no elves, dwarves, goblins, tauren, etc.? Really? - and the whole thing just seemed like low-rent LOTR. Shockingly bad CGI at parts, though the CGI characters were often better actors than their human counterparts.

Shin Godzilla: I appreciated the basic joke that Japan will overcome this existential threat through Bureaucracy, Hot-Blooded Politics, and Trains, but ultimately it was a bit too dry and character-less for me.
 
Hopefully everything works out and I can see American Honey tonight since my local art house theater decided to only play it for 1 week. Really don't want to have to trek into NYC just to see it.

Oh I also saw The Birth of a Nation which was not anything special and not nearly as powerful of a film than I thought it was going to be. Still well made but nowhere near the likes of 12 Years a Slave. 6/10

I've also been real bad and haven't written about any of the 31 Days of Horror stuff I watched. This month has been absolutely insane and I haven't had the time...
 
An American in Paris (1951): Its technical merits are considerable, but I confess that I am not a fan of the tendency for older musicals to include lengthy sequences that exist for no reason other than the showcase the mastery of song and dance of its stars. Both this and Gene Kelly's vehicle for the following year, Singin' in the Rain, at times stop the story cold solely to allow Kelly to dance. Singin', overall, has a stronger story in between the gratuitous numbers. As well, while it is far from unusual for a simple story to be carried out effectively, in this case the love story of An American in Paris is hampered by some dubious gender politics. Kelly's pursuit of his love interest, Leslie Caron, is extremely pushy (at one point, he jokes that she's "acting like the police [are] after you", and remarks that he thought he had only accepted the date in the hopes that it would make him go away, before noting that it wouldn't have). It all makes the normally charming and affable Kelly seem like a creep, particularly when paired with his rude and insensitive attitude towards his would-be female patron.

Hell or High Water (2016): The first shots of Hell or High Water pass by a graffiti'd gas station that complains about the artist having spent three tours in Iraq, but not getting a bailout -- immediately raising the fearful prospect that this will be a rerun of Andrew Dominik's painfully dull and unsubtle Killing Them Softly, a film that tried and failed to make a crime drama with socio-political allegory. Happily, that is not the case here. Director David Mackenzie and writer Taylor Sheridan have crafted a strong, lean thriller set amidst the economic blight of small-town west Texas. The film is devoid of the hyperkinetic editing that has become the default for contemporary thrillers, and the style favouring long takes is both perfect for the setting and used to great effect to build suspense at key moments. There are obvious parallels to the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men here, though this is certainly the more down to earth production.

Ninotchka (1939): Many classic screwball comedies are quintessential comedies about nothing beyond people tossing off witty lines and contorted romantic entanglements. Ninotchka has all that, but, as with some of screenwriter Billy Wilder's later work (e.g., A Foreign Affair) there is deeper and more serious content. This is an at times bitter political satire of the Soviet Union, strewn with references to its dictatorial and murderous character. At the same time, despite featuring a number of White Russian characters, it allows the communists to get in some good shots at the old Russian regime, lest it be overly nostalgized. The early scenes with Garbo are perhaps a little too extreme in the gimmick of making Ninotchka an almost Vulcan-like ideologue, but once the character is allowed to show greater range, Garbo gives a great performance. She is well-matched with Melvyn Douglas, an actor I was only previously familiar with from 1979's Being There (one of his final roles, and the second of his two Oscar wins).
 
I had the same thought about Hell or High Water, it felt like what was Killing Them Softly was trying to do but succeeded. Neither are subtle about their contextual framing, but HoHW still is crafted as an entertaining crime film with shades of Heat especially on the relationship between Chris Pine's and Jeff Bridges' characters.
 
Currently watching through the Bourne movies. I watched them years ago, but honestly can't really remember much. Saw the first one last night, and i'm about to jump into Supremacy.
 
Opera was my 365th film this year...counting shorts of course.

One Body Too Many. This was from 1944 and came in a 50 movie DVD set I picked up for cheap just for the 31 day marathon. So far this is the second film I've watched out of it and it was quite good. This particular copy wasn't very well done because the dark sections were overly dark and there was some weird triangle thing blipping on the screen here and there but that did not detract from the comedy or the story. Some old dude dies and leaves his fortune to the family he couldn't stand. They just have to follow some rules. As his will is setup he will give one of them $500,000 and on down to the worst of them who only gets $1.50 cab fare to return home. This insurance salesman gets mistaken for someone else and hilarity over who hid the body ensues. Pretty fun and actually pretty funny. It didn't exactly end very strongly but considering I didn't think this would be any good, I'll take it. Bela Lugosi was the butler but he almost feels tacked on for his name.

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The Stuff. Ever piss off a marshmallow? This shows you what happens should you ever do that. I really liked the first half of it but once the nutjob militia guy comes in this gets b rated quickly...not that it wasn't before but it felt like they just tossed things together for the latter half and then it's over quickly which didn't make much sense if so many people were brainwashed but that's probably putting too much thought and effort into this thing.

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Argento's Opera. This started off very good but kind of wore me down or maybe I was just tired. The opera singing was loud as hell but made sense, the rock music...not so much. I feel like the first half or two thirds of this was really good but that last part just didn't work for me.

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Say what you shall about O Brother, Where Art Thou? but that intro is pristine in its marriage of humor-serious social symbolism-music that the rest of the film was this close -- *lifts two fingertips* -- to continuing so tautly!! There's plenty of charm in between its folly never the 'ol lass though.
 
Certain Women is a wonderful return to form for Kelly Reichardt after the badly calibrated Night Moves. All her movies (whether based on literature or not) have felt like great short stories. Certain Women feels like reading a great short story collection. Without any real overlap the tales play off each other in a lyrical way, they bleed together and expand beyond their small scopes. This was the first time I sat up and took notice of the musicality of Reichardt's editing, her films have always had a hypnotic rhythm and I haven't paid enough attention to how that's owed to her work cutting.
Bevy of good movies sure to come as we head into prestige season but at the moment this is my favorite theatrical release of the year alongside Everybody Wants Some!!, which is a very different movie but not as different as the letterboxd contingent that staunchly believes only white male chauvinist racists can like EWS would have you think
 
I wish I liked Certain Women but it felt too slight for me. The stories just end. It was too documentary -ish, and outside of the last sorry there isn't much interesting going on. I've almost forgotten the second one, something about rocks lol.
 
Terse but not slight. I thought the characters were rich and full of dimension, and each of the stories was interesting. Does seem like the second is the least favored but I thought each improved upon the last. Take that second story: the stresses that Michelle Williams faces stay under the surface but you can see how being regularly cast as the villain by her daughter, receiving barely halfhearted support from her
cheating
husband who silently and petulantly resents her for being the breadwinner, and feeling like an outsider/colonizer no matter how hard she tries to source her new home from local resources and ingratiate herself with the neighbors would weigh on her heavily.
I don't see too much of a connection to documentary—like other Reichardt films there's a durational, observational element. people going about their days. But there's a distinction between depicting the quotidian and evoking documentary. Certain Women never feels like nonfiction and definitely never looks like a doc.
While the stories end without traditional resolution I don't think they're incomplete, especially with the epilogues. The third epilogue in particular has about zero additional plot but speaks volumes about the inner state of the character.
The abrupt ending of an intense one-way crush hanging over every silent action.
From beginning to end these aren't conventional narratives, they're structured and detailed in the way that short stories or portraits are. That's a great thing, I think.
 
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I Saw the Devil. Words kind of fail me right now. I just finished watching this and I'm torn between thinking it was stupid to not end the story early and just be done with things vs letting it play out to the end we got. Basically this is a tale about how revenge can ruin someone and basically everyone around them. I can say that the film is immensely brutal and extremely well done and acted. Just an incredible film to watch.

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American Honey is a mesmerizing masterpiece. Each shot seems painstakingly chosen to make maximum impact, full of brimming meaning and striking subtlety. Andrea Arnold directs with a powerful touch, knowing just when to look directly into Star's gaze or look at those Star affects. Her script is smart too, making several complicated characters that are always fascinating to watch, and putting them in situations that are outright unforgettable.

Shia LaBeouf has gotten a lot of buzz for his role as Jake, and he lives up to the hype. The performance feels lived-in, world-weary and yet in love with what he's seen in the world. This is Sasha Lane's movie though, and rightfully so. From the first shot, the audience will know exactly who she is and what she's gone through. She's world-weary in an incredibly inexperienced way, but fascinatingly so, and as she progresses through the story and regresses in maturity, we want to feel her dream come true. Lane's subtle expressions or change in body language makes Star an even more fascinating character than she would be on the script page.

The editing is phenomenal. The film feels simultaneously like a six-hour-long epic and a short 120-minute coming-of-youth story. Immensely watchable, the film also benefits from some incredible cinematography aided a ideally cramped aspect ratio of 1:1.33. Perfectly utilized, it helps us join Star in her alienation from those around her, but also realize when there's more than enough room for this Star to shine. The soundtrack also deserves a shout-out, with every radio hit picked with precision in meaning and in sound.

American Honey is delightful. It revels in putting us right in the film with the protagonist, but never loses sight of both the fun and misfortune of her discovering America's beauty and ugliness for the first time. Arnold writes and directs the film to be an absolute triumph, aided by her stellar crew and cast. American Honey is just an outstanding piece of cinema that should be - no, must be - viewed by anyone who claims to love the art form.

Kevin Hart: What Now? has a really fun opening. The Bond parody is pitch-perfect and more inspired than the entirety of Hart's other spy-comedy this year, which makes it a shame that the actual routine doesn't live up to that level of fun. Don't get me wrong, the stand-up concert is funny, but inconsistently so. There were long stretches where this viewer didn't crack a single smile. That said, Hart deserves props for giving it his all, and judging off the crowd at my showing, I'm probably in the minority opinion on its humor substance. Kevin Hart: What Now? is probably worth checking out if you're a fan of the titular comedian, but otherwise, you should probably just skip it.

It's not surprising at all to see Lorne Michaels' name in the credits of Masterminds. Unfortunately, it's for the worst possible reason: the film feels like an overlong, unfunny SNL sketch. Playing as the broadest possible parody of Fargo imaginable, it's excruciating to watch for most of the runtime. It's a downright criminal waste of all the comedic talent in the film - no pun intended. The only one who really has fun with his role is Jason Sudeikis, who actually really immerses himself in the role of a psychotic hitman. That role culminates in the best parody of the infamous "NO MARTA WILL DIE TONIGHT" scene yet, which is rather impressive, considering this was filmed in July 2014. Masterminds is another forgettable comedy that's more painful than enjoyable to watch.

Max Steel is incredibly generic. It's designed as a commercial for toys and it feels like a cheesy live-action spot extended to ninety minutes. It's got some neat effects though that are always cool to watch despite the low budget. Andy Garcia goes completely hammy as the villain of the piece which is always fun. However, it has a major issue with both cliches of the origin story and "chosen one" archetypes that are much more annoying than charming. It's also rather frustrating how powers show up as the film demands it. Also, the main character being revealed to be sixteen-years-old is one of the biggest laughs I've had at the theater recently. Max Steel is a rough watch, but it has some redeeming moments in its otherwise boringly broad storytelling.

Ouija is very boring. Strongly derivative and lacking in scares, it fails as a film in every aspect, but especially in horror terms. One of the most bothersome aspects has to be the generically attractive cast, where everyone looks like an Abercrombie and Fitch model. It's distracting in a very distancing way. The scares are poorly telegraphed, and the effects are bad. The score is also overbearing in a distracting way. It's hard to say anything positive about Ouija except that it's watchable, but that's not enough to be actually worth watching.

Godzilla. An icon born in the aftermath of nuclear horror. The monster brings forth dread wherever he goes, which is true more so than usual in the original classic. Serving as a haunting parable on the dangers of nuclear war and developing new weapons, the film finds a silent terror and tragedy in the monster's first awakening. So many scientific advances could come from it, but instead only death and destruction arrive, both to Japan and the monster itself. The script is sharp and the film is perfectly paced. Godzilla himself is a spectacular effect, at points even still convincing today. Godzilla is a truly epic film, a tragedy of mythic proportions and one that still resonates with great power today.

I also watched Sling Blade along with rewatching Broadcast News, Velvet Goldmine, and Network. No comments on them.
 
Batman vs Superman (Extended edition)
Walked into this one with a lot of negativity since i heard many people saying it sucks.
Found myself actually enjoying the movie quite. Obviously some parts i felt where really lame, for example becoming friend with your nemesis in like 1 second (okkkaaaay), but other then that i felt i was a pretty cool typical-marvel-popcorn-movie. Probably a 6/10 on my scale, and this was much better than the latest Captain America in my book. Yes i think they could have made the movie 1hr shorter , (extended edition is almost 3hrs long).

13 soldiers of benghazi
Good movie, really liked it. Casting was great across the boards here, and the directing from Michael Bay was beautiful aswell. Solid 7/10 in my book.
 
Captain Fantastic (2016) - I was very much excited to see this, as it had gotten great praise...but I was disappointed. The film has some good and even enjoyable stuff, I laughed a couple of times and I did find the kids great (especially the middle son). However, I must say the movie had the potential to be much better and more memorable, like Hunt for Wilderpeople or Dogtooth (I don't know why these two popped in my mind but I feel it's relevant to mention them here). Perhaps because Captain Fantastic felt like a mixture of half-baked ideas that didn't quite translate well on screen; something to be expected from a directorial debut. I don't wanna shit on the movie because it's really not nearly as bad as the shit I've watched those past two weeks, but it was just trying too hard to be smart and ended up being too "cookie-cutter", unfortunately. Was feeling like an 8/10 but as I had time to think about it, I'd say it's a 7/10


What We Do in the Shadows (2014) - Just great. It is as good as you probably heard already...it's one of those movies where by the end I felt I wanted to spend more time with these character, which I think is particularly important for such a film. 9/10
 
I haven't even seen Everybody Wants Some, but looking through negative reviews on Letterboxd, I see perhaps the most formulaic, dogshit Leftist "criticism" of a film I have ever seen, the kind of thing that embarrasses me to identify as left-wing, myself.
 
The White Ribbon - wonderful movie. Amazing acting from everyone, especially the child actors. Great story and premise, great cinematography, great messeges. Loved it!

Slow West - Good. The directing and dialouge were really good, the characters and plot seemed to get lost a bit but it was a good movie overall.
 
I've been sitting on a bunch of reviews, so here's a few:

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years
I'm not sure if this will reveal any bombshells for people who are overly familiar with The Beatles, and the time they spent on tour and why they ultimately stopped performing live. But it's a nice roundup of interviews and footage around those years nevertheless, and even though Ron Howard's doc isn't breaking a lot of new ground, it's still pretty fun to watch. Some of the concert footage edited into this movie looks really great, too. Plenty of grainy, black-and-white, shitty audience shots, of course, but then there's also color footage of a show that the band played in Manchester that just looks stunning. I listen to their later albums way more often than the pre-Rubber Soul stuff, but watching this or A Hard Day's Night makes me appreciate those earlier tracks more and more.
7/10

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders
A solid return to the 60s Batman continuity. Adam West and Burt Ward still sound pretty good; Julie Newmar unfortunately sounds too old for this, though. The Frank Gorshin and Burgess Meredith imitators are close, but Caesar Romero's stand-in sounds way off (curiously, the same voice actor also does the narrator's voice, which sounds absolutely spot on). The animation is fine. The pacing is pretty sluggish; the movie is only 80 mins long but feels like it's north of 2 hours. I don't think I liked the
evil Batman
plot, which takes up about a third of the movie, but there are some fun in-jokes and callbacks along the way. A nice throwback to the Adam West era.
6/10
 
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