Serious Movie Discussion XXXVIII

[Matt M]

Cross of Iron
Jesse James
High Plains Drifter

I've ended up watching the Hostel trilogy :redface:

I thought the first one was pretty bad, the second one was much better, onto the third now which I imagine is going to be pretty bad.

 

[Ricky13]

While Selma is incredibly well-made, its greatness will be a function of its timeliness as opposed to direction. All that is communicated is in the text as speeches, protests and their various aftermaths, and perhaps most adeptly, upper echelon backdoor lobbying. Empathy earned is thus proportionate to how much one is swept up in the fervour of these activities, rather than subtextual suggestion. DuVernay's timing is perfect, her hand firm. Brutal moments play like horror. When relief comes in the form of redemption, inspiration or tender reflection, it is welcome and easy to get drawn into.

The acting is solid, and King is written with nuance rarely reserved for studio biopics. The choice to jump to the voting protests allows us to see the toll his life has taken on all concerned, establishing character "wants" vs "needs" right off the bat. The movement can thus be viewed through the prism of King's already established style of civil disobedience, i.e. one for the cameras - explained through dialogue in an astonishingly frank scene between factions within the movement. Wilkinson plays President Johnson well, as a man who wants to do the right thing, but can't quite seem to grasp what this is - a problem central to the the lack of understanding of the movement among the well-meaning at the level of the corridors of power.

It's a compelling watch from start to finish, whichever side of the current debate one is on. Think of it as a procedural

 

[Bullitt68]

Made it to the UK. Wales is pretty cool so far, except that the school network I'm on blocks porn. I guess I'm going to have to investigate what else is on the Internet besides Sherdog and porn :icon_chee

I loved both movies, but as far as TDKR goes, the one real problem I had with it (aside from the shoddy dialogue) was Bane's whole plan of draining Gotham city of hope before he was going to destroy it. Always felt too cartoonish for a movie trilogy that took pride in rooting itself in grittiness for the genre. Of course, in cliched fashion, he revealed all of this to Bruce before he successfully executing it knowing full well that he could escape the pit because he had already witnessed a child do it before.

Shoddy dialogue? Compared to the previous two movies, The Dark Knight Rises is like fucking Tarantino, but even in general, I thought the script was great.

As for the Bane plot, it worked well enough allegorically for me to be able to overlook its implausibilities.

House is fun.

I watched the first season or two a long ass time ago. I enjoyed it a lot but never went back to it. I'll have to remember to do that down the road as I did get a kick out of watching Hugh Laurie.

Louie is great and probably the most underrated show on TV.

Can't stand him and that show is God awful.

Fargo is friggin AWESOME.

Still on my list.

What's the beef with Rosenbaum? I haven't read him too much, but I do know he's big into Welles and Parajanov, which makes him ok in my book

No beef, it's just similar to the way I felt watching Warrior with Kurt Angle playing the Fedor-esque bad ass MMA fighter. I respect Kurt Angle, but they couldn't have gotten an actual MMA fighter?

What I've read from Rosenbaum hasn't been bad or anything (I especially love his write-up on Eyes Wide Shut) he's just not David Bordwell or Tom Gunning or D.N. Rodowick, and those are just scholars currently based in the Midwest.

falling in love with The Birds (10/10)

Glad you enjoyed that one. It really is an amazing movie.

Scarlet Street was pretty great

my next to watch is You Only Live Onc by Fritz Lang

Neither are very high on my Lang list, but like I said, you really can't go wrong with him. Don't forget about The Woman in the Window. And if they have House by the River, don't sleep on that one. The ending is a letdown, but everything before it is a fucking outstanding 10/10 exercise in suspense.

The drowsiness of Fincher's style

Great description. Never heard it put that way but it's spot on.

Lawless was alright.

I was really excited to see that but I thought it sucked.

Lawless was one of the most frustrating movie experiences I've had in a while. The premise was great, the cast was great, but the entire script is nothing but bad decisions. Every way they could've botched a character or a plot point, they not only succeeded in botching it, but they botched it as badly as anyone could've imagined in their worst nightmare. First off, they made Shia (who bulked up for the role so he could better fit in alongside Tom Hardy) a whiny little wannabe bitch, which was a retarded dynamic, and second, they made the ultimate revenge payoff one of the dumbest scenes in contemporary cinema. Hardy's character was consistently cool, but even his character got royally fucked by the film's end. I was so infuriated by the end of it, what was at the start one of my most anticipated movies became by the end an entirely forgettable crapfest.

Once Upon A Time In America
Touch of Evil
Demolition Man
The Night of the Hunter
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
A Streetcar Named Desire
Battleship Potemkin / Drifters
Spartacus
The Birth of a Nation

Very different movies but all A-listers in their own realms.

Sorry Bullitt68 - I swear I'll get to Burn Notice this year, lmao.

Soviet montage is GOAT film movement

Hollywood studio era > Universe

 

[ufcfan4]

I was really excited to see that but I thought it sucked.

:

Glad to hear you're in the UK and enjoying it thus far.

I liked the movie overall, I just felt like it meandered and never really clicked the way I wanted it to. I still thought there were positives to it.

I agree with you that there were some bad decisions made. But I don't know if I had that much trouble with Shia getting his ass whooped by Guy Pearce, for instance, and being a wannabe in the early going. That seemed to me to be logical- he was all gung-ho and had the fire in his belly to pursue the full on dangerous life of a bootlegger but he didn't have the killer instinct and mentality of his brothers so when he was faced with adversity, he buckled early.

I felt Hardy was one of the best elements of the film. Badass portrayal of a cool character. But I don't even know if I feel his character was bungled by the end. I think it was a pretty consistent portrait of someone who was ultra cool under pressure, tough as nails, but also someone who, to an extent, bought into his own hype. The movie goes out of its way to stress how vulnerable Forrest (and everyone involved in that lawless scenario) was despite all the talk of his invincibility.

Clarke had some pretty cool moments. I didn't even know he was the other brother until I started watching.

Oldman was a glorified cameo.

I like that Mia Wajikowska chick a lot.

Chastain was sexy and gave a solid performance as per usual.

I'd say I found more positives than negatives but my expectations werehigh and it didn't deliver what I hoped it would.

 

[ufcfan4]

I kind of figured The Fault in Our Stars would be a sappy chick flick but I ultimately thought it was good stuff after watching it with some relatives this past weekend. It is very emotionally resonant. I do object to certain aspects of dialogue and certain character behaviors that I felt didnt ring true. But I thought the actual performances and the emotional relationships between characters were very, very credible. This was the first time I ever saw a Shailene Woodley performance, as far as I can recall, and she really was damn solid in this role.

I've told you guys I'm far more vulnerable to moving elements in films now than I was in my teen years and this was no exception. I maintain my stoic composure while watching but on the inside I know I'm getting kicked in the f'ing feels.

 

[Wolveswithkeys]

Anyone in here seen The Poughkeepsie Tapes? I love a good horror/thriller that strays from the norm but I'm reading mixed reviews on this one. Is it worth a watch?

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

I gave up on horror. Thought i was a horror fan, but recently came to terms with the fact that only about 1% of them aren't terrible.

I usually wait for rumblings of something being really good before i watch it and am ultimately disappointed. I'm probably not gonna watch another one until the internet loses its shit over how amazing it is, and then maybe it'll be pretty good.

 

[Matt M]

I gave up on horror. Thought i was a horror fan, but recently came to terms with the fact that only about 1% of them aren't terrible.

I usually wait for rumblings of something being really good before i watch it and am ultimately disappointed. I'm probably not gonna watch another one until the internet loses its shit over how amazing it is, and then maybe it'll be pretty good.

I like all kinds of it. Even the Italian giallo stuff, the majority of the films are fairly bad overall but a few are superb and even the generally bad ones have a few moments in them which are great.

I think with horror, it's pretty much all been done, everything has been done, so I guess it's just the way it's done now. It's incredibly hard to make a fresh horror movie these days.

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

I like all kinds of it. Even the Italian giallo stuff, the majority of the films are fairly bad overall but a few are superb and even the generally bad ones have a few moments in them which are great.

I think with horror, it's pretty much all been done, everything has been done, so I guess it's just the way it's done now. It's incredibly hard to make a fresh horror movie these days.

I think part of the problem is that the focus hasn't been on "the way it's done." they keep going with gimmicks or crossing genres or trying to be more disturbing...but no one is making horror where you don't even care whether it's fresh or scary because it's just plain old good.

Im gonna have to go all the way back to The Ring to find an example, and even that wasn't amazing.

There's been a couple that have been decent since then, but not many and none that were straight up good movies regardless of genre.

 

[ufcfan4]

Finally got around to Looper two-plus years later and I thought it was awesome. It moved so briskly that I found myself wanting more at the end. But yea it pretty much delivered in every facet. Very cool story, good performances, action, and some thought-provoking use of the time travel gimmick.

With time travel movies, I often find i have trouble with the chicken and the egg-ness of the endless loop. You can go cross-eyed (Austin Powers style) trying to grapple with it in terms of narrative cohesion and logic. But the best time travel movies use the conceit in an entertaining and intriguing manner and I think that's definitely true of this film.

The film certainly had some semblance of debt to The Terminator. Willis looking for all the children born in a certain hospital on a certain day and planning to kill each of them was very reminscent of Arnold showing up at every Sarah Connor's place, systematically killing all of them. And Willis cut through Jeff Daniels' crop of gat men about as easily as Arnie walked through the police precinct in Terminator.

But aside from that I thought it was an original story. I liked how they set up the TK power thing as almost a throwaway only to make it an integral aspect of the plot within the last third of the film. I thought the dynamic between the two Joes was very cool. The scene where they confront one another in the diner is probably one of the best in the movie. And the film added an aspect that I thought made a lot of sense and yet don't recall seeing in many time travel themed films. Namely, that when Young Joe does something in the present, Old Joe immediately is aware of it. I liked that because it highlights the fact that Old Joe can have memories and awareness that's not privvy to Young but not the other way around.

JGL and Willis were both very good. Levitt obviously had the more screen time and did solid work throughout. At first I found what they did with his mouth to make him look more Willis-esque a bit distracting but ultimately I applaud it. I think it was a nice touch. I also respect that Levitt didn't try to overly channel Willis in his performance, but still managed to capture certain mannerisms and delivery. In fact, I thought the first scene between Joe and Cyd was the standout one in terms of Levitt resembling Willis in facial reactions and manner. Great scene and great work from both. Almost had a Willis talking to Cole Sear type vibe to it.

Cool to see Jeff Daniels as well. Great work in his first scene. The kid who played Cyd was really good- wise beyond his years type of performance. What struck me as soon as it was clear that he was the rainmaker was that the kid seemed too gosh darn adorable to be any type of sociopath but I think that's what made it all the more effective when he did start revealing his darker side. The contrast was unsettling.

Blunt is beautiful and did a nice job with a critical role. I found her accent to be spotty at times (often sounded very southern but in certain scenes it just struck me as morestandard non-regional American).

I have a lot more positive things to say about it but I think i'll stop there adn try to read up on some of your guys' posts back from two years ago regarding this film.

 

[ufcfan4]

Also makes me real curious to see what what Rian Johnson does with the post-Abrams Star Wars movies.

 

[Matt M]

I think part of the problem is that the focus hasn't been on "the way it's done." they keep going with gimmicks or crossing genres or trying to be more disturbing...but no one is making horror where you don't even care whether it's fresh or scary because it's just plain old good.

Im gonna have to go all the way back to The Ring to find an example, and even that wasn't amazing.

There's been a couple that have been decent since then, but not many and none that were straight up good movies regardless of genre.

I don't know much about really new horror films because I tend to just buy loads of blu-rays so in terms of the really new stuff i'm usually months behind.

But some horror does surprise me - Rob Zombie's 'Halloween' remake, The Evil Dead reboot, the two I Spit on Your Grave reboots were all surprisingly good.

Depends what you term horror too.
I used to only use it to refer to films that included the supernatural, monsters, unkillable enemies etc, but I guess it can be used to apply to films like Kill List too.

 

[HUNTERMANIA]

I've never liked horror movies because they fucking scare me, lol! They also aren't generally very good, but I don't like being scared, ESPECIALLY in a movie theater. I can't do it, haha!

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

I don't know much about really new horror films because I tend to just buy loads of blu-rays so in terms of the really new stuff i'm usually months behind.

But some horror does surprise me - Rob Zombie's 'Halloween' remake, The Evil Dead reboot, the two I Spit on Your Grave reboots were all surprisingly good.

Depends what you term horror too.
I used to only use it to refer to films that included the supernatural, monsters, unkillable enemies etc, but I guess it can be used to apply to films like Kill List too.

Didn't like any of those.

I liked about 45 minutes of The Strangers. I liked the Dawn of the Dead remake a little bit. Paranormal Activity 3...Can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

If Let the Right One In counts, that's an amazing movie, but i usually don't count it as horror and its also 9 years old already.

 

[Bullitt68]

I know this is reverting back to MMA, but. . .Mirko/Gonzaga II? I still haven't fully recovered from that first loss. If Mirko loses to him again, I won't be able to deal, I will completely lose my shit.

[YT]qIJ00Py9Q5Y&start=170&end=187[/YT]

The vid is also a nice segue as I watched Cop Out today. The PhD process in the UK is so different from the US. I have no real coursework. All I'm doing for the next three years essentially is writing my dissertation. I pretty much have three years to write 80000 words, present at a couple of conferences, and teach a course or two at the BA/MA level. No classes, no tests, no bullshit busy work at all. I fucking love it, and now that I'm getting a clearer picture of what my time here is going to be like, I'm trying to work new movies back into my rotation. I went back to the humungous list I made last summer of movies from 2010 to the present that I need to see and I'm just picking off titles at random. Today I watched Cop Out, Pain & Gain, and Date Night.

Cop Out was kind of flat. I wasn't expecting much with Kevin Smith, but it exceeded my expectations primarily due to Seann William Scott, who I didn't even know was in it. I was cracking up when he gets the drop on Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis tries to get to him and falls down the stairs but then denies it once he gets into the next room with Scott and Morgan. Other than the scenes with Scott and a few funny lines from Morgan, the script just didn't crackle the way buddy cop movies should.

Pain & Gain was much better although still no great feat. It felt like Bay ran out of moves inside the first 10 minutes. He milked all he could (which is not to say that he milked all there was, as I felt there was a lot left untapped with Wahlberg's character) real fast and beyond the kidnapping, it really all fell to The Rock, who was fantastic in his role. I also enjoyed seeing Ed Harris, who I didn't expect to show up. Every once in a while there'd be something funny that would catch me by surprise and get a laugh, but overall, I wish it would've been funnier and/or smarter. Still, I was very impressed by the three leads and I enjoyed watching them shoot themselves in the foot over and over.

Lastly, Date Night was the best of the bunch. What Stanley Cavell called the comedy of remarriage (on the basis of classic romantic comedies like It Happened One Night, The Awful Truth, and Adam's Rib) has had a crazy Renaissance in action comedies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Knight and Day, and Date Night is very much in this category. Carell and Fey were great together, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ray Liotta, I thought Wahlberg was wasted, Olivia Munn looked hot as always as the restaurant hostess, and I thought James Franco stole the show ("Why don't you zip up your vagina, Raymond Burr?" :icon_chee). It never really felt like a legit action movie, so I wouldn't put it quite on the same level as Mr. and Mrs. Smith or Knight and Day, but it was a lot of fun to watch. Lastly, I could not stop laughing at seeing Bill Burr as a cop. I loved him bitching about Liotta making fun of him ("Nice suit, skippy"/"I don't look like a 'skippy,' do I? I got a gun, for Christ's sake").

Now I'm fixing to watch Bachelorette (hated Bridesmaids but this cast seems better, especially Lizzy Caplan, who I love) and then after that I'm considering Hot Tub Time Machine to keep the comedy thing going.

 

[HUNTERMANIA]

Hot Tub Time Machine was fucking HILARIOUS.

 

[mac16]

That list from 2010 sounds interesting, where can I find that?

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

I know this is reverting back to MMA, but. . .Mirko/Gonzaga II? I still haven't fully recovered from that first loss. If Mirko loses to him again, I won't be able to deal, I will completely lose my shit.

[YT]qIJ00Py9Q5Y&start=170&end=187[/YT]

The vid is also a nice segue as I watched Cop Out today. The PhD process in the UK is so different from the US. I have no real coursework. All I'm doing for the next three years essentially is writing my dissertation. I pretty much have three years to write 80000 words, present at a couple of conferences, and teach a course or two at the BA/MA level. No classes, no tests, no bullshit busy work at all. I fucking love it, and now that I'm getting a clearer picture of what my time here is going to be like, I'm trying to work new movies back into my rotation. I went back to the humungous list I made last summer of movies from 2010 to the present that I need to see and I'm just picking off titles at random. Today I watched Cop Out, Pain & Gain, and Date Night.

Cop Out was kind of flat. I wasn't expecting much with Kevin Smith, but it exceeded my expectations primarily due to Seann William Scott, who I didn't even know was in it. I was cracking up when he gets the drop on Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis tries to get to him and falls down the stairs but then denies it once he gets into the next room with Scott and Morgan. Other than the scenes with Scott and a few funny lines from Morgan, the script just didn't crackle the way buddy cop movies should.

Pain & Gain was much better although still no great feat. It felt like Bay ran out of moves inside the first 10 minutes. He milked all he could (which is not to say that he milked all there was, as I felt there was a lot left untapped with Wahlberg's character) real fast and beyond the kidnapping, it really all fell to The Rock, who was fantastic in his role. I also enjoyed seeing Ed Harris, who I didn't expect to show up. Every once in a while there'd be something funny that would catch me by surprise and get a laugh, but overall, I wish it would've been funnier and/or smarter. Still, I was very impressed by the three leads and I enjoyed watching them shoot themselves in the foot over and over.

Lastly, Date Night was the best of the bunch. What Stanley Cavell called the comedy of remarriage (on the basis of classic romantic comedies like It Happened One Night, The Awful Truth, and Adam's Rib) has had a crazy Renaissance in action comedies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Knight and Day, and Date Night is very much in this category. Carell and Fey were great together, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ray Liotta, I thought Wahlberg was wasted, Olivia Munn looked hot as always as the restaurant hostess, and I thought James Franco stole the show ("Why don't you zip up your vagina, Raymond Burr?" :icon_chee). It never really felt like a legit action movie, so I wouldn't put it quite on the same level as Mr. and Mrs. Smith or Knight and Day, but it was a lot of fun to watch. Lastly, I could not stop laughing at seeing Bill Burr as a cop. I loved him bitching about Liotta making fun of him ("Nice suit, skippy"/"I don't look like a 'skippy,' do I? I got a gun, for Christ's sake").

Now I'm fixing to watch Bachelorette (hated Bridesmaids but this cast seems better, especially Lizzy Caplan, who I love) and then after that I'm considering Hot Tub Time Machine to keep the comedy thing going.

you take your filthy fucking eyes off Lizzy. She's been my obscure celeb crush since since Cloverfield.

 

[weed]

Taken 3


why?

 

[theskza]

Laurence Fishbourne in Mystic River has some of the worst dialogue I've seen in a while.