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| bartist |
 Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 11:01 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6944
Location: Black Hills
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| Saw "Split," which Weeds et al warned me off, but then my inner geek learned the film is in the "Unbreakable" universe so I had to discover how dissociative identity disorder can render a person superhuman. It is not top tier Shyamalan, for sure, but I liked the cast and the photography and it definitely had some satisfyingly chilling moments. Shyam does have a way of sinking questions into your brain, like nasty little hooks, and I can see why it did so well at the BO. Good supportings from Betty Buckley and Anya Taylor-Joy who had that notable debut in The Witch. This is not a parole breaker (ref. past 3EF jokes about M. Night going to Director's Jail)... but I think Philly might ask for a short stint of community service. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 8:18 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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bartist wrote: Saw "Split," which Weeds et al warned me off, but then my inner geek learned the film is in the "Unbreakable" universe so I had to discover how dissociative identity disorder can render a person superhuman. It is not top tier Shyamalan, for sure, but I liked the cast and the photography and it definitely had some satisfyingly chilling moments. Shyam does have a way of sinking questions into your brain, like nasty little hooks, and I can see why it did so well at the BO. Good supportings from Betty Buckley and Anya Taylor-Joy who had that notable debut in The Witch. This is not a parole breaker (ref. past 3EF jokes about M. Night going to Director's Jail)... but I think Philly might ask for a short stint of community service.
IMO the ironic thing here is that The Visit, which was treated rather meh-ly by most critics and audiences, is Shamalongdong's best since Signs, which I loved, goshdarnit. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 2:06 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Terence Davies' "A Quiet Passion" is an intelligent and admiring portrait of Emily Dickinson from her college days to her death. Much of the dialogue is based on her own written words and is full of wit and life in the beginning but turns to bitterness and cantankerousness towards the end. Cynthia Nixon in the role of the poet is extraordinary. Beautiful photography.
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 2:23 pm |
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Location: Upstate NY
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Mira Nair's "Queen of Katwe" is set in Uganda and is the true story of a girl living in one of the slums in Kampala who is discovered to have a remarkable talent to play chess and who goes on to win several prizes in chess tournaments. In spite of a somewhat predictable script, the movie depicts African slum life well and holds one's interest.
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| yambu |
| Posted: Mon May 29, 2017 2:12 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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I Am Not Your Negro - For me, James Baldwin was the missing piece as we lurched toward full sovereignty. He scared me at times, more than Malcolm.
This movie fills him out. He makes errors of judgment and of fact, but they are couched not in hatred, only anger, and so we stay with him. Oh how I would love to have heard him speak. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 1:23 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Watched The Message, a 1976 film about the founding of Islam. They actually filmed two versions, English and Arabic, with two different casts. It's quite long at 3 hours. Also rather uneven, with some cheesy and preachy scenes, but others well done. Mohammad isn't seen or heard, so often the camera adopts his POV. At times this is effective, but can be awkward folks talk to Mohammad, pause and then talk some more. So while it's a history of fledgling Islam, there's very little of Mohammad's personal life or very close associates. You wouldn't even know that he was married from this film.
The costumes are good, the Libyan and Morocco locations superb, and the music impressive. The acting is uneven. Anthony Quinn has a strong presence as Hamzi, M's uncle. And he's really the star of the film. The film goes out of its way to say how much Islam is in favor of gender equality, treats blacks well -- big issues in the mid-70's-- while considering Jews and Christians equal to Muslims. Most of those moments and the extended scenes depicting how persecuted the small Muslim band group is are among the weakest parts of the film.
There's a good deal to like, but if it had been edited down, toned down the equality and benevolence angle, it would have been a better epic. 2 hours or 2'15" should have been enough. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 9:58 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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| Saw "Lion," whose simplicity of plot has been noted here, IIRC. I have to agree that it is difficult to extract much drama from a man using Google Earth, but I salute the effort since it's in service of a true story. The young man's forgetting of Bengali made me wonder if I would forget English if I had stopped speaking it at age 5. Would depend on so many factors, I guess. There are a number of what-ifs in the film that leave you with something to mull over that's possibly more interesting than the film itself. What if the boy hadn't been quite fast enough to outrun the pedophile pimp? What if he'd been a couple years older and not so flexible with regards to his new Tasman parents? What if someone with a good ear had decoded his mangled version of his home village name? etc. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 11:09 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| What if Eleanor Roosevelt could fly?? |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 6:17 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12890
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| What if his mother had sewn his name into his clothes? |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 10:21 pm |
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Ghulam wrote: .
Mira Nair's "Queen of Katwe" is set in Uganda and is the true story of a girl living in one of the slums in Kampala who is discovered to have a remarkable talent to play chess and who goes on to win several prizes in chess tournaments. In spite of a somewhat predictable script, the movie depicts African slum life well and holds one's interest.
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It's helped by having three very good actors in the lead roles. Oddly, Lupita Nyong'o, who is the actress who got me to the theater, is overshadowed by the novice actress who played her daughter, and David Oyelowo, who I think is better here than in Selma.
It suffers a bit because any realistic chess film is going to be compared with Searching for Bobby Fischer, which is a genuinely great film, but Queen of Katwe is certainly worth checking out. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 11:09 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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gromit wrote: What if Eleanor Roosevelt could fly??
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 11:37 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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NYT makes their list of Top 25 Films of the 21st C.
Most I either largely forgot about or disliked.
Think I haven't seen four and like about 5 or 6.
Wendy & Lucy? Death of Mr Lazerescu?*
This stuff really bored me. L'Enfant was also completely forgettable.
White Material was sloppy and mediocre at best.
Disliked Three Times, A Touch of Sin, Million $ Baby, and Dead Mr L.
* they want a Romanian film how about 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
I liked Boyhood, The Gleaners & I, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,
Inside Llewellyn Davis, I'm Not There, Spirited Away were reasonably good, but unlikely to make any list I'd make.
Not much of a fan of There Will be Blood or Yi Yi, but at least can see what folks might like in them. |
Last edited by gromit on Fri Jun 09, 2017 12:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 11:55 am |
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Here's my list which contains none of the NYT 25.
I didn't worry terribly much about ordering and somehow went up to 33, since I thought the 26-33 range was more interesting and lesser known. I guess the Top 20 looks good and thereafter it's more of a jumble orderwise.
1. Memento
2. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
3. Werckmeister Harmonies
4. Margaret
5. Little Children
6. Rabbit Hole
7. Saddest Music in the World, The
8. Mary and Max
9. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
10. I Heart Huckabees
11. High Fidelity
12. Juno
13. Capturing the Friedmans
14. Nader and Simin, A Separation
15. Brand Upon the Brain!
16. Triplets of Belleville
17. My Winnipeg
18. Sita Sings the Blues
19. Moolade
20. Machinist, The
21. Katalin Varga
22. The Wind Journeys
23. Paper Will Be Blue, The
24. When The Levees Broke
25. The Artist
26. Kontroll (2003)
27. Royal Tenenbaums, The
28. Shadow Kill
29. Believer, The
30. Facing Ali
31. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary
32. Three Monkeys (Üç Maymun)
33. Blind Shaft
3 documentaries plus Maddin's mockumentary. 3 animation.
17 of 33 foreign films (though Canada [4] isn't terribly foreign) |
Last edited by gromit on Sun Jun 11, 2017 9:54 am; edited 1 time in total
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:31 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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I'm not good with lists and rankings, as I've said before. I could go with about half of the NYT list - There Will Be Blood, yes. Million $ Baby, no. Their favorite from the Coens was not mine, I would have picked A Serious Man or No Country for Old Men over Inside Llewyn Davis.
Gromit, several on your list I preferred to many of the Darghis/Scott picks, like Memento, Margaret, A Separation (Darghis + Scott = totally insane, in this regard), Sita Sings the Blues, et al. I have to admit I have not seen Brand Upon the Brain! (just wiki'd this, oh I must see this!) or Paper Will be Blue, but that's what lists are for, to pique interest, so now I'll look for them.
And here I cannot resist the science joke: "The Paper Will be Blue passed Gromit's litmus test for fine film." |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2017 5:18 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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Lion is not about lions, rather a young Bangladeshi boy who gets separated from his older brother at a train station. It takes him twenty-five years to reunite with his family.
The boy quickly learns to follow his wits, at one point narrowly escaping a prostitution ring.I love such films because they can pile on the coincidences that are necessary for such a plot. |
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