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| gromit |
 Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 1:32 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Rebel in the Rye didn't do much for me. Seemed like something you'd catch on cable and watch half of. And after watching the whole film, I still felt like I didn't have much idea about Salinger. The film gets weaker as it goes along. It also tries too much to explain Salinger's reclusive nature -- feeling rejected by his father and post-war trauma.
I watched about 4/5 of Detroit, which is pretty well-done and powerful. But overlong. I liked the way is set up the riots and the lives of the people who wound up being terrorized by police at the Algiers Motel. Police brutality and racism and arbitrary abuse of authority are certainly timely issues. It's basically a 4 part film -- the riots and lives leading up to the incident; the Motel brutality; trial and aftermath. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 1:44 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6944
Location: Black Hills
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Detroit might be a good followup to seeing I am Not Your Negro - viewed it last night, the 2016 best doc winner from the Academy. It really transmitted the incisiveness of Baldwin, his knack for getting at the heart of America's racial woes, and the fantasy that so many white Americans lived in. Really gave me the sense of a man who has been watching the dominant culture, and listening, and hoping his alertness is enough to survive. PBS ran it again last night, on their excellent Independent Lens series.
I'm sure our President watched it, eager as he is to expand his consciousness on such matters. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:02 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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I come from journalists, worked briefly in a newsroom myself, freelanced later, and generally feel the rush of hot printers ink pounding in my veins when I watch a film like this. Streep reminded me why she's often spoken of as the doyenne of American film. I forget how great she is and then she goes and climbs another Himalayan acting peak and I am reminded. Very fine perfs from everyone as Syd and Ghulam note ( and I loved the meta casting of spy-dad from "The Americans" as Daniel Ellsberg ) and as much emotionally intense drama from typewriter pounders as you could ever hope to find in this universe. As Ghulam observes, it is a timely film in being a paean to freedom of the press and keeping the integrity of the 1st amendment. The respect this film shows to an honorable profession, and the wondrous interior shots of pressrooms and newsrooms as I remember them in my youth, had me tearing up on multiple occasions.
Yes, collation is thrilling. Ellsberg and his helpers at the xerox machine didn't have a pen handy to jot the page number on there after the bottom was cut off? |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:50 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| It's a tricky transitional time for news media these days. The return of partisan news sources. And the internet killing off traditional revenue sources. I try to look at it as all the paper saved and trees not killed for daily information. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:55 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Dunkirk surprised me by being relatively short. I was expecting a 3rd act, or at least a final coda showing something of the scale of the operation, or leading to the British army regrouping and getting ready for Normandy or something.
It was mostly well done, and managed some suspenseful moments. Also a bit cheesy here and there. Solid but somehow lacking. I found myself wondering how much they spent on costumes, and how they managed to stage an oil slick in the water. Which means my mind wandered. I didn't really have much reaction. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:44 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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I think I have seen all the 2017 movies that I wanted to see so here is my list of "The Ten Best" in descending order:
(1) Phantom Thread
(2) Call me by Your Name
(3) The Post
(4) Lady Bird
(5) The Florida Project
(6) Get Out
(7) A Quiet Passion
( ) Columbus
(9) The Shape of Water
(10) Dunkirk
(Runners up: Mudbound, I am not Your Negro, Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri).
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:13 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12890
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I've only seen "The Post" and "The Shape of Water" and "Lady Bird"among your top ten, but the first two (and "Coco") are my favorite films of the year. Your top 2 just arrived in town. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 2:38 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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gromit wrote: Dunkirk surprised me by being relatively short. I was expecting a 3rd act, or at least a final coda showing something of the scale of the operation, or leading to the British army regrouping and getting ready for Normandy or something.....
Like no other film, including Saving Pvt. Ryan, this had terrifying German 80mm guns firing point blank against the Brits. the sound was horrifying.
With German planes just over the horizon, I liked how the Tommies would line up for meals, for everything. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 2:46 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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I don't really like top ten lists. This year had some REALLY good films and they all brought something different to the table. I'll start by those specifics:
Phantom Thread......exquisitely beautiful. I've never been as moved by DD Lewis. His intensity. His volubility. His interactions with the young woman. The path the movie takes is not predictable. There will be questions when it's over.
The Florida Project......I've never seen kids act so alive. The dismal setting can't take hold of them. This is an uncommon film with uncommon energy.
The Big Sick.....when a film comes out early in the season it's easy to set it aside. But this was a personal love story that really rang true. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 6:52 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12890
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Back from Call Me by Your Name, which is a quiet movie set in Lombardy, where a Jewish archaeology professor takes in an assistant each summer to help with a dig--or actually a unsinking, since the artifacts are at the bottom of a lake--to live with his family, which consists of his wife and 17-year-son Elio. This year, the assistant is a handsome American, Oliver, (Armie Hammer), who attracts the interest of the local girls as well as Elio. It must have something to do with all those statues with naked penises.
Elio actually has a girlfriend, the delectable Mariza, but is at the age where his sexuality is developing and confusing him. He's a music prodigy, as shown by a delightful scene which can be called variations on a theme, one of which involves an awful lot of hand crossing.
Relationships are developed patiently by the director, Luca Guadagnino, who occasionally will drop away from an emotional scene to show us pretty mountains or a long, intimate view of a tree. There's really no action and the plot is light for more than two hours. Fortunately, Lombardy is absolutely gorgeous. If you're into looking at old buildings, this is your movie.
This is part of a thematic trilogy by the director called "Desire", the first two volumes being I Am Love and A Bigger Splash. This one is based on a novel by André Aciman and impeccably adapted by James Ivory. I should mention that a lot of the dialog is in French and Italian, and characters often switch between languages in a single conversation. I mostly enjoyed it, especially as a change of pace. |
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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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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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Fully agree with Befade's take on The Florida Project.
I thought Call me by Your Name was more substantive than what Syd said but I agree that the North Italian countryside was gorgeous. No wonder the locals looked so happy.
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 9:00 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12890
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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The relationships between the characters were really well drawn. Not just Elio and Oliver, but Elio and his father (the father has a great speech at the end), Elio and Mariza, Oliver and Elio's parents. And everybody was so clean! (There are a lot of swimming and bathing scenes in the movie.)
Timothée Chalamet is building a career for himself. He not only played Elio, but he was Kyle, the rock musician who seduces Lady Bird. I knew I'd seen him before. He's going to have a major role in Hostiles, and starring roles in several films. He's a fine actor, so I'm looking forward to his future roles. |
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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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| Befade |
| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| I think Call Me is a vacation I’ve always wanted to take. Where you have interesting conversations with intelligent French or Italian people. Where you sit outside at a table for wine and delicious food. And where sometimes you venture into your host’s country home to enjoy the European tastefully appointed rooms. The lush life. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 9:05 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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1. The Florida Project
2. Detroit
3. I Am Not Your Negro
4. Marshall
5. Dunkirk
6. The Big Sick
7. The Other Side of Hope (Kaurismaki)
8. Rebel in the Rye
9. The Glass Castle (the book was a fairly good read)
10. Wonderstruck
It's kind of a BS list, since that's pretty much all I've seen so far.
First trio I really liked, next 3 were solid, and the last 4 were just okay.
Any thoughts on Mudbound?
I've been thinking of picking that up. But know next to nothing about it.
While I've never heard of Phantom Thread. Will need to investigate. |
Last edited by gromit on Mon Jan 22, 2018 12:01 am; edited 1 time in total
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:45 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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| Confess I hadn't heard of PT, so when it arrived this week in local plexes and my eye passed over the what's showing list, I misread it as Phantom Threat and assumed it was another Star Wars or Marvel franchise flick. Now I see DDL claims it's his swan song, but am bearing in mind he's Irish. It looks a bit claustrophobic, but will be dragged to it by the not-so-phantom threat, so hoping for the best. |
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