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| bartist |
 Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:55 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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| Bohemian Rhapsody is a tidy sweetened confection that offers the usual historical errors and hagiography that tend to afflict a lot of biopics, but is ultimately enjoyable due to strong performances and recreation of concerts that do convey Freddie's stage presence and audience rapport. My main reservation is that, after seeing the recreated Wembley Stadium Live Aid gig, I can't help feeling I'd rather they just put those 23 minutes of actual footage up there instead. Don't get me wrong - Rami Malek is terrific - but he really is not Freddie Mercury. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:59 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:50 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Thank God A Star is Born didn't make the cut. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 8:09 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Only saw one of the top 10, ("BlacKKKlansman") which is not surprising because only one has made it here. Saw "Black Panther and "A Star is Born" among the also-rans. |
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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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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 10:24 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| What did you think of BlacKKKlansman? I still haven't seen it. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 1:05 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Joe Vitus wrote: What did you think of BlacKKKlansman? I still haven't seen it.
About the best movie I saw this year though it goes over the top a few times. Really good performances by Adam Driver as the agent who plays Ron Stallworth when he has to actually show up at KKK meetings, and Topher Grace as David Duke. Harry Belafonte has a nice cameo. I think Lee might have left out the coda, but I understand why he included it. |
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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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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 1:13 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Thanks! |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:20 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham, 2018)
I found it rather familiar and without much to say.
One issue I had was the lead character Kayla was likeable and it seemed pretty clear that she just needed another year or two to grow into her self and her convictions. That is, she was likely to make friends and do well, she just wasn't there yet. It'd be more challenging to take a kid that was a genuine misfit and was never going to fit in. So I thought the film took somewhat of an easy tack, a kid who was a bit awkward but likely to bloom, and we see manifestations of that mixed with her present nervousness and awkwardness.
I also thought the Father character was poorly written and badly acted. Watching the extras explained the choice of actor. It would be hard to find an actor who looked and sounded more like the director. Especially when we see the director interacting with the kids in the film. But couldn't well-meaning Dad actually come up with some useful ideas -- book reading, joining a sports team or some other activity, etc -- instead of just super-sincerely repeating that he thinks she's great. He never even manages to move on to saying it's just a phase and you'll outgrow it, which is at least believable.
Positives: The sound design was interesting throughout.
There were some good ideas such as students talking to their future selves. The "shadow" high school students. Using her vlogs as voiceover, even though I grew tired of that after a while. Elsie Fisher has a nice voice and handles her part well.
But a lot of the film felt kind of phony. I'd also be surprised if kids today actually said "cool" every 6th word. For a Growing Up Today film, I'd much prefer the more ambitious Florida Project. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 8:26 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Has anyone seen Juliet, Naked?
A Nick Hornsby adaptation.
I love High Fidelity.
This seems to be a similar kind of riff. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 8:36 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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I see it's been released on DVD for a couple weeks. Will watch soon, have heard some positives.
It did not land in theaters here. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:03 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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| Bohemian Rhapsody was fun to watch, but sort of shallow, and the omission of what might have been interesting clues to Freddie's character seemed like missed opportunities. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:02 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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knox wrote: Bohemian Rhapsody was fun to watch, but sort of shallow, and the omission of what might have been interesting clues to Freddie's character seemed like missed opportunities.
This movie has gotten some of the most polarized reviews I can remember. Here are two that provide evidence.
https://tinyurl.com/ya37e7g2
https://tinyurl.com/y8k6qp24 |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:25 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| Gromit.....I haven’t seen Eighth Grade but if you liked Florida Project you’d probably like Shoplifting. This Japanese movie about kids and their unusual family was the best movie I’ve seen all year. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 4:50 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Will look for it.
I was concerned it would be too much of a quirkfest, centered around the title criminal activity. But a friend said that shoplifting isn't a big part of it really. And that it's well done. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 11:53 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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billyweeds wrote: knox wrote: Bohemian Rhapsody was fun to watch, but sort of shallow, and the omission of what might have been interesting clues to Freddie's character seemed like missed opportunities.
This movie has gotten some of the most polarized reviews I can remember. Here are two that provide evidence.
https://tinyurl.com/ya37e7g2
https://tinyurl.com/y8k6qp24
Wow, Richard Roeper really didn't like BR at all. But he did catch things I missed, like the fact that the clueless record exec was Mike Meyers - and the resulting meta joke, where Wayne of Wayne's World is basically saying that teenage boys will never rock out to the song in their cars.
I was also unaware that Brian May and Taylor were producers of the film, which somehow makes it now more awful to me. |
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