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gromit
Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:41 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I think the right approach is just let the mood and feel of the film wash over you (mostly because the themes are half-baked and the dialogue weirdly poor).

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bartist
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:22 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Thanks. I had to bail after a hour (I think George Clooney's dildo machine in Burn After Reading got retrofitted for this film) - more due to fatigue from shoveling seventeen inches of snow (you heard that right) than unwillingness to continue. Will let it wash over me again tonight. Uck.

Later: Well, pretty much what the mouthless dog reported. There were a few interesting moments in the second half (that managed to, briefly, not be about body fluids) interspersed with nonsensical science and character interactions that stirred no sympathy or really any interest in these interstellar guinea pigs. A lot of indecipherable dialog and events and then, maybe 15 years later, a sort of interesting movie begins, concerning a father and 15 year old daughter confronting the mystery of a black hole. This movie lasts about 15 minutes and makes no pretense of plot resolution or explaining their ultimate fate as they traverse a shining yellow band of plasma or whatever it is.

Watching Cleo tonight to, I hope, get the taste of High Life out of my cinematic mouth.

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gromit
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:25 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Yeah, High Life is just a mess and a muddle and basically a poor film.
I think Claire Denis is a poor (or at least very flawed) filmmaker.

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gromit
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Cahiers Top Ten of the ending decade we reside in.

1. Twin Peaks : The Return de David Lynch (2017)
2. Holy Motors de Leos Carax (2012)
3. P’tit Quinquin de Bruno Dumont
4. Oncle Boonmee d’Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2010)
5. Le Livre d’Image de Jean-Luc Godard (2018)
6. Toni Erdmann de Maren Ade (2016)
7. Mia Madre de Nanni Moretti (2015)
8. Melancholia de Lars von Trier (2011)
9. Under The Skin de Jonathan Glazer (2013)
10.L’Étrange Affaire Angélica de Manoel de Oliveira (2010)

I've only seen half (with #'s bolded above).

I thought Uncle Boomee was comically bad.
And Toni Erdmann not far behind. Really disliked TE.
Found Holy Motors a big yawn
Petit Quinquin was fairly average, but not memorable.
Melancholia had potential, but squandered it and became tedious and boring.

Terrible list.


Last edited by gromit on Tue Dec 24, 2019 11:19 am; edited 2 times in total

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gromit
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:34 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Here's another list mainly of films I didn't see:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/10-best-films-decade-1260056/item/1-carlos-2010-10-best-films-decade-1260057

Social Network was fine enough. But I can't remember a thing about it.

Only Lovers Left Alive was a complete vacuous snooze.

Inside Llewyn Davis is a genuinely good film (if a little slight).
That could make a list of mine.
I must have such a list around here.
Think I posted it last month ...

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gromit
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:41 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I'll need to check if it needs to updated, but this is what my computer tells me were my favorites of the 2010's:

1. Rabbit Hole
2. Margaret
3. Birdman
4. The Artist
5. Nader and Simin, A Separation
6. Paterson

7. Boyhood
8. The Wind Journeys
9. Katalin Varga
10. Young Adult
11. Teddy Bear
12. 5 Broken Cameras


Mine goes to 11.
I wanted to squeeze in a doc which happened to be residing at 11.
Should be other docs on my list (which in full goes up to 24).

Edit: Added in Paterson, so now mine goes up to 12 . . .

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billyweeds
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 10:38 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
gromit wrote:
Here's another list mainly of films I didn't see:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/10-best-films-decade-1260056/item/1-carlos-2010-10-best-films-decade-1260057

Social Network was fine enough. But I can't remember a thing about it.

Only Lovers Left Alive was a complete vacuous snooze.

Inside Llewyn Davis is a genuinely good film (if a little slight).
That could make a list of mine.
I must have such a list around here.
Think I posted it last month ...


This list includes my favorite film of the decade and what is probably my least favorite. What are they? Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood and Mad Max: Fury Road respectively.
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bartist
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2019 4:12 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Getting back briefly to the list of meilleure realisatrices, finally saw Cleo de 5 à 7. Outstanding Left Bank school slice of life, beautiful camera work (the use of mirrors in the hat shop and elsewhere, showing how her shallow preoccupations over how others see her plays out....then shifts away from the reflected images to greater existential awareness of her real self...), and substantial reflection on how we are led by others, like doctors who (neatly paralleled by Tarot card reading at the opening of the film) give tests and feign an authoritative certainty over our choices and fate. Or the pianist (Michel LeGrand cameo!) who seems confident there's no need to teach Cleo to read music. Varda finds clever ways to mock the complacency of men who seem to think they know what's good for women. The scene where Cleo (with her new Algerian soldier pal) arrives at Salpetriere, and gets a "drive by" test result and diagnosis ("a couple months of chemo and you'll be fine") is darkly comic and strikingly fresh even in 2019. And, one other observation - a skilfully shot drive through Paris, which further proclaims Varda's liberation from a studio and backlot milieu. A film that reminds of the photographic excitement that the FNW brought to the film universe.

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Syd
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:38 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Cleo is one of my favorite films. I love how her friendship with the Algerian soldier develops.

I'm watching Amazing Grace, the Aretha Franklin gospel concert film from 1971 that was not completed due to technical problems you can see in the film. Mostly sound mixing problems and people complaining about film credits. Still valuable as a historical record, and she has some powerful performances. It's great to see Aretha at the peak of her powers. They finally get straightened out around 1:20 point and she blew me away.

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gromit
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2019 11:33 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Been re-watching a ton of films from various eras and genres.

Really enjoyed Chaplin's Modern Times last night.
There's just a lot going on and he's really at his peak.
It's fun that he made a silent film but used a number of recorded voices, so sound technology keeps interrupting and forcing its way into a silent film.
There were a couple of scenes that reminded me of Harpo Marx. When Chaplin goes berserk in the factory and then starts chasing the secretary. And when he relinquishes the large oil can he's been terrorizing people with, but then pulls out a small oil can and gives the cop a last squirt.

The pace is for the most part really good. I think my favorite bit is with the cocaine in the prison. Just the way he wipes his face and there's this big white powder smear across his mustache and cheek. Then his facial and later body reactions are great. Had me laughing out loud, and I've seen the film a handful of times at least.

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gromit
Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:28 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a real solid Ford-Wayne Western from 1949. It starts off shoehorning in the title song a fair amount and there's a rivalry for the lone young beautiful female at the remote SW Calvary post.
Making the film seem like it might be light and fluffy. But instead the film presents a real vision of life in a frontier post. There are rivalries and drunken brawls and worries about post-army life, along with military duties and concerns.

John Wayne is reluctantly set to retire in a few days. And he has to keep everything humming. News of Custer's wipeout has just reached them, so the local Indians are more threatening than usual. Wayne is in real good form, blustery and growling at his men, but also gentle with his orderly and concerned about what he'll do in civilian life.

I really enjoyed Ben Johnson as Sgt. Tyree. He's super-competent, but tries to maintain a humble arrogance. He's also a former Confederate captain, so his knowledge and ability is really equal to Wayne's commanding captain, despite the large difference in rank. And Sgt Tyree keeps reminding Wayne of his Yank status. But there's a mutual respect and the men, here in the West at least, have a mutual respect with the bitter Civil War receding in the distance. (This is around the time when reconstruction got sold out so Hayes could be president, and the South rejoined the Union in full on a non-slave but distinctly unreconstructed basis).

Some of the comic relief is pretty good, mostly related to Ford's favorite pastime -- drinking. Near the end, Wayne is about to retire and his orderly Victor McLaglen will too in another two weeks. But Capt. John Wayne has been enabling his old friend's drinking on duty. So Wayne gets his buddy to try on his civilian clothes and sends him to the bar with some drinking money. Then tells the enlisted men to arrest McLaglen for being out of uniform and drinking. The purpose is two-fold. It gives his Irish pal a going away gift of a drunken brawl. But also gets him thrown in the brig for two weeks until his retirement date, so he can't get in trouble for drinking and imperil his pension. The brawl itself - 1 on 6 - is pure Hollywood, but fun and funny. I like when they pause mid-brawl to all drink a toast to Capt. John Wayne, then go right back to pummeling each other.

Good film. Terrific Wayne. Nicely balanced script.

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gromit
Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 3:10 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Also, if anyone hasn't seen Little Fugitive, shame on you.
I think this was my 4th go-round, and it's still impressive how this whole thing just works and sucks you in. The low-budgetness makes it seem more real and documentary-ish. It's a great story of a childhood adventure. But it's also a record of Coney Island in the 50's.

The thing I noticed most this time how most of the hokey/humorous music is from a harmonica of the sort newly minted 12 year old Lenny just got for his birthday. Also, the pony handler is great. Really has a way with kids and seems to enjoy his work.

Has anyone seen Morris Engel's last film, I Need a Ride to California (1968). A hippie film, where things don't work out so well. It played at MoMA back in October. Sounds like another great period look at NYC, this time late 60's Greenwich Village. But in this adult world things are not as easily resolved as the childhood of Little Fugitive.

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carrobin
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 1:20 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
Last week I was in South Carolina, and my hotel TV included Showtime. I caught several movies that I had either missed or never heard of. Among the latter was "Peppermint," a nonstop action film that begins with an ominously happy family taking the kid to a carnival for her birthday; the father had connections with a drug gang, and he and the daughter are killed by drive-by gunmen. The mother, Jennifer Garner, is injured and hospitalized for weeks, but once out, she disappears--and reappears years later as a mysterious avenger whose expertise and agility put her right up there with Batman. I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. The other one I'd never heard of was "Everybody's Fine," with Robert De Niro as a father who decides to visit each of his three (surviving) scattered children; he's excellent of course, and the children--whom he keeps seeing as both small and in grown-up reality--are some well-known actors who probably jumped at the chance to work with De Niro. But although it was intelligent and thoughtful and had some moving moments, I felt it was basically a well-designed actors' showpiece.

The ones I was happy to catch at last were "Spotlight," the one with Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo as Boston Herald journalists who broke the big expose of the pederast priests cover-up. I like journalism movies, partly because they have to be very well scripted and directed to overcome the handicap of being mostly about people sitting at desks and talking on phones, and of course the actors were adept at making their scenes compelling. (I was a little annoyed that the one female reporter happened to be a gorgeous blonde, although I'll admit that the men were unusually good-looking as well.) And I saw "Green Book," which was totally predictable but somehow all the more satisfying for that; I liked it a lot. And then there was "A Bad Moms Christmas," which was hilarious, sentimental, and occasionally obscene; every time I accidentally flipped into it I would stop and watch for a while and laugh some more. The Moms were Susan Sarandon, Cheryl Hines, and Christine Baranski; the daughters were great too, as was Wanda Sykes in her one scene as a slightly unconventional therapist. Much fun-loving comic talent among those ladies.

Besides those, I saw "Year of the Dog," with Molly Shannon as an office worker who slides over the edge after her beagle suddenly dies, becoming an obsessed animal rights crusader. It was a bit odd but consistently interesting, and I loved the ending. Along the same lines, I watched "Best in Show" again just because I clicked into it about halfway through and couldn't turn it off. And between interactions with relatives, I caught half an hour of "The Loudest Voice," in which Russell Crowe is fascinating as Ailes, although I'm not sure I would devote time to watch it all the way through. So many films, so few hours in a day.


Last edited by carrobin on Fri Jan 17, 2020 11:33 pm; edited 1 time in total
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billyweeds
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:47 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
carrobin--Molly Shannon and John C. Reilly are brilliant in "The Year of the Dog," which I agree is highly eccentric filmmaking but which I adored.

People have been urging me to see "The Loudest Voice in the Room" as an antidote to the interesting but curiously uninvolving "Bombshell," about the same subject and well acted but somewhat static and, may I say, dull.

Margot Robbie is the film's biggest saving grace. She has a mostly silent scene with John Lithgow as Roger Ailes which is a master class. Robbie also does wonders with a no-dialogue scene in a movie theater in "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood." She's a truly great actress who has to battle against the fact that she's drop-dead gorgeous.
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bartist
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 10:40 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Beauty can be a distraction sometimes (I had to bail on GoT after six episodes because I had trouble following any dialog spoken while Emilia Clarke was in the frame), so it's up to a good actor to overcome that and draw you into the character as a person. Robbie was excellent in OUATIH and her looks fit the part. Putting her in a bubble bath in TBS, however, seems to have not worked for some viewers. Heh.

We plan to see Bombshell, but it was only here for the two weeks we were gone, so it'll be on small screen. The Loudest Voice in the Room is a great title, instantly makes me want to see it.

ps: JK about Emilia Clarke, and it's impressive that she had a nearly fatal aneurysm when she was 24, right before shooting started on GoT, and managed a lot of scenes while in a state of crushing exhaustion. I think she wrote about it in NY Mag a while back. I bailed on Thrones because it's just not my thang. But I would watch her read a phonebook.

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