Shell
Premium Platinum
We Need to Talk about Kevin.
You can say that again.
7/10
You can say that again.
7/10
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Finished this last night too and you summed it up perfectly. The main actor is great. Watch A Prophet if you haven’t seen that.Just finished The Mauritanian on Amazon Prime.
Two things:
1) Decent enough film with compelling lead performances from the Guantanamo detainee and the two lawyers - even if Benedict Cumberbatch's accent was mediocre at times
2) It is based on a true story and it is f***ed we allowed Guantanamo to happen. Why on earth is it still open, and why are we not rallying harder against this?
7/10
I believe the city was evacuated just in time.About Endlessness - the Swedish director Roy Andersson's fourth feature in twenty years featuring the same style of visual poetry, each adding up to an overall theme, is possibly his most beautiful yet. Each scene is a static shot of what could pass for a stillwork in a gallery, with performers filling the frame for a range of different vignettes, with a range of different characters and only a handful ever returning for what could possibly be called a plot. The tone of each scene varies dramatically, from the comedic to the cathartic to the surreal to the disturbing, and some of the jumps to the next scene are startling. From the priest struggling with his loss of faith to the grudges held between two middle aged men reunited after falling out decades earlier, there is much in this that will stay with me for some time. Only 76 minutes long, there was a lot to take in, and Andersson remains one of the truly unique film makers today.
Godzilla vs Kong - way too much exposition and boring storylines that I didn't care about, the film takes far too long to deliver on its promise of a fight between two of cinema's most iconic monsters. When it finally happens it's pure popcorn, and the visuals are legitimately impressive (even if the Hiroshima-level event that this brawl dishes out on the city of Hong Kong, with surely a death toll in the hundreds of thousands if not millions amid all the destruction, is breezily skimmed over). Why they decided to attach so much storyline to this I have no idea, especially given how outright uninspired the story was. I also have no idea why these movies hire the strong character actor cast that they do and then have them barely act, but then it's not my production budget.
I believe the city was evacuated just in time.About Endlessness - the Swedish director Roy Andersson's fourth feature in twenty years featuring the same style of visual poetry, each adding up to an overall theme, is possibly his most beautiful yet. Each scene is a static shot of what could pass for a stillwork in a gallery, with performers filling the frame for a range of different vignettes, with a range of different characters and only a handful ever returning for what could possibly be called a plot. The tone of each scene varies dramatically, from the comedic to the cathartic to the surreal to the disturbing, and some of the jumps to the next scene are startling. From the priest struggling with his loss of faith to the grudges held between two middle aged men reunited after falling out decades earlier, there is much in this that will stay with me for some time. Only 76 minutes long, there was a lot to take in, and Andersson remains one of the truly unique film makers today.
Godzilla vs Kong - way too much exposition and boring storylines that I didn't care about, the film takes far too long to deliver on its promise of a fight between two of cinema's most iconic monsters. When it finally happens it's pure popcorn, and the visuals are legitimately impressive (even if the Hiroshima-level event that this brawl dishes out on the city of Hong Kong, with surely a death toll in the hundreds of thousands if not millions amid all the destruction, is breezily skimmed over). Why they decided to attach so much storyline to this I have no idea, especially given how outright uninspired the story was. I also have no idea why these movies hire the strong character actor cast that they do and then have them barely act, but then it's not my production budget.
For fear or derailing the thread, i watched this and was not convinced that Allen was actually guilty. It was very one sided in its telling and one of hte sons was who was on Woody's side was made to be discredited which i found weird. FWIW I am not a Woody Allen fan at all as i find his humor not for me and always found him unlikeable.Little off kilter for the thread but
Allen v Farrow (four part doco looking at Mia Farrow and Woody Allen’s relationship and the claims of sexual abuse one of Farrows children, Dylan, made against Allen).
Real tough sit and fascinating to look at the protection of Allen that at the time (early 90s) was pretty standard fare. Fwiw the doco is not exactly a “balanced” look at the events but given Allen, Soon Yi and Moses (the 2 of farrows children who are Allen’s supporters) refused to be interviewed, that was always gonna be difficult.
Weird little side bar, he has written 81 screenplays and directed 55 films in his 50 odd year career, most of his contemporaries have half that or less, I can name about 10 and have watched probably 6 (I’d say I’ve enjoyed maybe 1). I’m not really convinced he’s the genius some laud him as, throw enough darts even the worst player hits a bullseye eventually.
I took the total opposite out of it but to each their own.For fear or derailing the thread, i watched this and was not convinced that Allen was actually guilty. It was very one sided in its telling and one of hte sons was who was on Woody's side was made to be discredited which i found weird. FWIW I am not a Woody Allen fan at all as i find his humor not for me and always found him unlikeable.
Weird little side bar, he has written 81 screenplays and directed 55 films in his 50 odd year career, most of his contemporaries have half that or less, I can name about 10 and have watched probably 6 (I’d say I’ve enjoyed maybe 1). I’m not really convinced he’s the genius some laud him as, throw enough darts even the worst player hits a bullseye eventually.
Yep, great film this. Really enjoyed it.The Map of Tiny Perfect Things - I am probably not in the right demographic for it as it's essentially a teen time loop movie, but I found it cute and endearing with enough freshness to keep it interesting. The two leads pull it off and have real chemistry. Yes, you can point out the logical flaws in any time loop premise but suspend your cynicism for this one and be embraced by the warm and fuzzy feeling this movie gives you.
8/10
I think most prolific directors (or artists generally) tend to be pretty inconsistent with their work, and knocking every second film out of the park is a pretty good strike rate (even less prolific ones such as Terrence Malick can be afforded their To the Wonder and whatever the name of the trash that followed it was). Not everything Hitchcock put out was a classic either.
Allen was a pretty undeniably great film maker through the 1970s and 1980s, with a pretty good consistency rate (Love and Death, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose, Hannah and Her Sisters, Husbands and Wives all being stand outs) and having a pretty fascinating cinematic journey from his earlier screwballs to the melancholic mid-career films. For whatever reason he began to run out of steam coinciding with the scandal, and this century has only really had Midnight in Paris truly reach that top tier magic, and had a lot more fall into the trash column that was practically unheard of pre-1990.
Similarly Jean-Luc Godard is considered one of cinema’s greatest directors for about a dozen movies made between 1960 and 1967 and then only a handful made since then.
I think it’s just you. Great comedian. Take Money, Sleeper, Play it again Sam, Love and Death, The Front, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Zelig, Broadway ..all been acclaimed and not just by intellectuals which is a silly statement. His comedy has never been too high brow.Im clearly not in the right demographic to have properly appreciated his stuff, truthfully the dialogue laden, nuerotic comedy stuff seems like a long version of the big bang theory to me.
Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanours, Everything you wanted to know about Sex, Manhattan, Cafe Society, Scoop, Match Point, Husbands and Wives and Midnight in Paris ive seen.
Annie Hall was charming, Match Point was good and Midnight in Paris was great, the rest... meh, take or leave personally.
It seems to me that it was more the arts/film industry lauding him and thus the intellectuals also laud him, i suppose i just never "got it".
I cant think of too many directors who have made that volume of films and still been hailed as great directors?
Kubrick has like 16 films in a similar time period, Scorsese is the only one close from my count and he has 30.
It feels like quantity over quality to me and a desperation to keep himself in the public conscious.
I think it’s just you. Great comedian. Take Money, Sleeper, Play it again Sam, Love and Death, The Front, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Zelig, Broadway ..all been acclaimed and not just by intellectuals which is a silly statement. His comedy has never been too high brow.
I’ve seen some horrific top 100 lists, they mean nothing.Yeh, im clearly not the demographic but consider that Tarantino for example has 8 movies. 4 or 5 of those are probably in the top 100 US films ever made.
Allen has 50 films and maybe 1 or 2 would be in that same convo.
Haha we watched the exact same two films over this weekend it seemsThe Map of Tiny Perfect Things - I am probably not in the right demographic for it as it's essentially a teen time loop movie, but I found it cute and endearing with enough freshness to keep it interesting. The two leads pull it off and have real chemistry. Yes, you can point out the logical flaws in any time loop premise but suspend your cynicism for this one and be embraced by the warm and fuzzy feeling this movie gives you.
8/10