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Old 04-13-2017, 12:15 PM   #211
Trotskilicious
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Originally Posted by teh b0lly!!1 View Post
on a final note, i really hated the multiple occasions in this film that indirectly legitimized animal abuse. Royal Tenenbaum is portrayed as a good sport who loves dog fights, and it's even insinuated that he takes he grandchildren there - seriously what the fuck? that's just not cool. also, a dog gets run over, and is promptly literally replaced in a couple of minutes by a (5000$ store bought pure breed) dog. then you have a hawk that is carried around from place to place with a cover on its head and eyes, etc. but mainly the dog fight thing portrayed as a juvenile joy, that just really rubbed me the wrong way.
i don't think chaz & margot even know what happens on these little outings, the dogfights was just one of the things too. Royal only ever takes Richie and thats why they're so envious. i mean i don't think you're supposed to like everything about royal, he lies about having colon cancer to get in the house and he calls a black man "coal train" for example, and he's kind of supposed to be an old school hemingway man's man which is problematic and taking a boy to dogfights is part of this contradictory package. he's not a good father or not even really a good man, but he's sorry about it & he dies.

the falcon with the cap on is just how people do falconry, its abuse if you think it is, but its been done for generations

 
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Old 04-15-2017, 02:27 PM   #212
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Gotta bump this, really great review.

Reminded me I've yet to see Blue is the Warmest Color.

 
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Old 04-15-2017, 11:00 PM   #213
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thanks lari.
v. happy to see you back <3

also, make it a point to watch Blue is The Warmest Color. i won't say anything about it as to ramp up your expectations except you need to see it. it's good.

 
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Old 04-15-2017, 11:12 PM   #214
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She watched and reviewed it!

 
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Old 04-25-2017, 10:07 AM   #215
teh b0lly!!1
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Paterson

https://www.cinematerial.com/media/p...g?v=1477551231

i love me some Jim Jarmusch. he's so unique in his filmmaking and has such a distinct voice in what he does. it's been a while since i watched a Jarmusch flick, and they've all been 1999 or earlier. so i was thrilled when i found out he had a new film out, and even though i knew nothing about it i was intrigued to see where it would go.

well, after watching it, i still kinda don't know.

for starters it's a really, really beautiful film to look at. i love how Jarmusch knows how to play with his colour schemes and palettes, just to tilt you a little bit without you even realizing it. the film feels so warm and sunlit and breezy but yet you can't help but feel an undercurrent of desolation under it. perhaps because of Adam Driver's constantly mournful expression.

the entire film, to me, is an exercise in extreme nuance (not unlike other Jarmusch films). it's only ever really about the subtleties in life, which is only fitting because it's not only a movie about poetry, but about contemporary postmodern poetry. so like one review i'd read said quite nicely - much like the poetry in it, the film itself also doesn't rhyme, and doesn't beautify its subject matter with ornaments - but is just... is.

so in other words, there's essentially no real 'plot' to this film. it's about a guy waking up in the morning, going to work, driving a bus, overhearing conversations and writing poetry.

so understandably it's not an 'entertaining' film. it can get glacial, and doesn't really command your attention at all times, but much like other Jarmusch films, it has a strong spiritual core and it leaves you those 'spaces' in the film that allow you to reflect about your own life.

one of the best aspects of this movie to me was it's depiction of the city it was shot in (New Jersey). it was so masterfully shot and orchestrated, that i felt like i could almost smell the streets and feel the breeze against my skin. the coarse buildings, the streets, the mixed population, the rugged beauty of it all. and it really is beautiful when you look at it the way the film suggests you to. it seemed to me like Jarmusch had filmed this movie exclusively (or almost exclusively) using natural light, which gives it a very, very earthy, warm feel. lots of 'magic hour' shooting. the only other movie i can think of that made me get such a vibe and connection to the city it was set in, was He Got Game. and that was such a different story with a different vibe.

like i said before, there's an undercurrent of desolation to the whole thing. it works on several levels, and never really resolves at all, or provides relief. throughout the whole film you're walking that tightrope, not knowing if Paterson genuinely deeply loves his wife & dog & house & routine he has for himself, or if he's just grinding through it. you really can't tell if he's perfectly content with the life he has with his wife, or if he's feeling downcast in it. when every day opens the exact same way and each day echoes the other, you can't help but get that desperation in it, but it's all so beautifully delivered. so like in life, i suppose it skillfully captures that contrast between appreciating the beautiful things in life, and dealing with the real shit too.

the lead character is very stoic, very expressionless. it's an interesting filmmaking choice, because basically all stimuli that's to bounce off this lead character, just gets drowned in his lack of expression. having such a timid protagonist reminded me of The Lobster, where Colin Farrell also had to navigate in his acting on a very limited emotional scale. Adam Driver is pretty good in this though, and he has that look in his eyes that makes this whole story, and world built around him for this film, believable.

his wife is especially beautifully portrayed by Golshifteh Farahani - she captures such a fine balance between being this angelic person who's all about pure goodness and naivety, yet somehow being inexplicably insufferable and annoying. btw this might be the place to say i found all those sequences of Paterson and Laura waking up together and immediately bursting into chatter kind of fake and annoying. who the hell wants to have a close up goddamn face to face chat when your breath is still all dank from a long night of sleep?

another thing i didn't like so much was how Jarmusch incorporated twins into the film. i thought it was a cool surreal touch while i was watching it, but as the movie progressed it seemed to make less and less sense, and sure enough - after i finished watching it, i read online that Jarmusch just accidentally happened upon the idea while filming and decided to toss it in.

since this film is only very very faintly surreal, and mostly realistic, it feels like a strange touch, and fairly out of place - especially considering it doesn't mean anything. i mean to me it feels like billy corgan passing off one of the general stock machina songs as being 'part of teh big mystery'. can't say i understand what it was supposed to contribute, except throwing the viewer off.

holy shit this got long. no real "big conclusions" to be made about this movie; it's sort of profound and mundane at the same time. no big questions; no big answers. i can't say it was riverting, but it was beautiful, delicate, skillfully made and thought provoking.

 
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Old 04-27-2017, 09:33 PM   #216
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I had taken the multiple sets of twins to suggest that they'd simply begun standing out to him once the film's opening lines of dialogue had revealed his partner's dream, effectively demonstrating the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

It's funny how differently we can perceive the same things, though, as I had actually thought to myself that their post-sleep pillow talk was more or less exactly how my weekends begin.

 
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Old 04-27-2017, 10:32 PM   #217
teh b0lly!!1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzard View Post
I had taken the multiple sets of twins to suggest that they'd simply begun standing out to him once the film's opening lines of dialogue had revealed his partner's dream, effectively demonstrating the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

It's funny how differently we can perceive the same things, though, as I had actually thought to myself that their post-sleep pillow talk was more or less exactly how my weekends begin.
omg you're one of those?
how come morning breath doesn't bother you?

 
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Old 04-27-2017, 10:45 PM   #218
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I have yet to observe any major changes to the oral bouquet upon waking.

What happens to your mouth between that last dance with the toothbrush and regaining consciousness, exactly?

 
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Old 04-27-2017, 10:48 PM   #219
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Perhaps it's all the dead spiders.

 
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Old 04-27-2017, 10:48 PM   #220
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bolls, looking forward to your forthcoming review of a ghost story

 
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Old 04-27-2017, 10:57 PM   #221
teh b0lly!!1
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googled it, sounds intense
can't wait to watch it

 
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Old 04-27-2017, 10:57 PM   #222
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googled it, sounds intense
can't wait to watch it

 
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Old 04-27-2017, 11:27 PM   #223
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Will Oldham will be in it, it seems, arguably giving me scope enough to point out that the following song sounds like something redbreegull would enjoy.


 
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Old 05-26-2017, 11:37 PM   #224
teh b0lly!!1
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Trainspotting 2: Judgement Day

http://www.heyuguys.com/images/2016/...-uk-poster.jpg

man oh man, i've been waiting to watch this movie for so long.
few works have shaped my life more than the original film did. i watched it when i was probably 12 years old, which is way too young for a film that fucked up, no question. but it affected me so deeply, juts really carved itself into my heart. i remember walking around with it for DAYS and days, playing and replaying in my head.

i'd watched it countless times, i remember every shot and recite every bit of dialogue, and i was really excited at the prospect of seeing and spending time with those characters again. this film has been like a good friend to me in a weird way, and so are those people. i grew up with them. but on a more grounded note, i knew there was no possible way any film they could come up with, would ever hold up to a film i had mythologized and idealized for some 20 years - even if it would be a colossal masterpiece. it's like developing an affinity for a damaged old sound recording, warbly tape and dropouts and distortion and all. or an old photo. seeing it all digitally cleaned up in 4K would only destroy the memory.

that is only one of the things that really bothered me in this new release: it is just too slick. it just doesn't feel like it is truly happening in the same universe as the original film, which was beautifully analogue - the very subtle grainy quality and the idiosyncratic color palette and the sorrowful, humid scotland air you got from it. this new film is much too generic looking - not costumes wise, not set wise, just the way it was shot. i was never one of those huge camera geeks so i don't know the technical terms to express exactly what it is i don't like - i just know it doesn't feel right to me. and very generous amounts of histrionic post production CGI did not help alleviate that sentiment.

i mean to be honest, when it first showed up, i thought the novelty CGI stuff was a cool little touch that almost rejuvenized that cool 90's feel Boyle achieved with the original - but then it was used again, and again, and again, until it was too much.

but here's the funny thing about all this. all my criticisms can sort of be nullified by the fact that this movie deliberately works on a very meta level. i mean it tells the story of four absolutely damaged individuals who suddenly find themselves still being the same fucked up people in their late 40's. the whole point is that what was endearing, sexy and attractive when they were a bunch of dysfunctional 20 year olds, is mostly offputting in their adulthood. thematically, the whole film goes for disenchantment - so in a way, one could claim that making a movie that is much less compelling, successful, driving, and moving, is simply about reflecting the fading and wearing of the characters it tells the story of.

but of course, this sentiment is relating to the general effect, or the 'outcome' of the movie - meaning that, it would have been ok to walk away from it a bit underwhelmed, or expecting to see something different.

so i guess, after much verbal trodding, i'm finally able to pinpoint to myself that the reason i didn't like it, is because i feel like i wasn't underwhelmed for the right reasons.

i was disappointed because the smug self referencing and glorifying the first movie within the body of the second movie, is fucking weak form, and it's everything i hoped it not to be. there are so many moments that are basically emulated replicas of great moments from the first movie, as if to say "HOW GREAT WAS THIS, EH?". and it does so in such a forced and cumbersome fashion. it might be something as tiny as the way renton convulses when he sees a filthy toilet at the dance club (you can almost hear Danny Boyle yelling in your ear: LOL REMEMBER THE TOILET SCENE? HE MADE THE SAME FACE THEN!), but it also applies to much bigger things that were so lazily hacked into the script.

a good example of that is the millenial version of the Choose Life monologue. i fucking hated it when i first heard it as a voiceover in the trailer, and i hated it now - BUT wit that said, i do sort of understand why they would want to include it in the film. but - and here is my point - the best way they could come up with to shove it in there, is have renton go to dinner with sick boy's gf, and have her say: "OH BTW WHAT'S 'CHOOSE LIFE'? I HEARD SICK BOY SAY IT, LOL WHAT IS IT?"

and then Ewan Mcgregor just launches into it, completely forced and crude as fuck, as the camera awkwardly stays on him. zero subtlety. same goes for a lot of other stuff, namely the film basically turning almost into a slasher film with a monstrously unreasonable Begbie chasing Renton with a bag of weapons in his hand, planning to murder him. it is so flat, so fake, so dumb and inconsistent with what we know about his (amazing) character from the first film. sigh. it was just so disappointing.

btw, another example of how they stitched in a scenario for the sole purpose of ripping off a moment from the first film, was to have Renton get hit by a moving car again, pause for a second and smile heartily. although this time around he waits juts a momenttoo long, as if to relish in applause and celebration of the first film - yet another sign of the smugness i was talking about.

another problem i made a quick note of before, is the actors themselves don't have much credibility going for them as aged version of the characters they played in 1996. Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle and even Ewen Bremner were very hit and miss, but who really dropped the ball big time on this was Ewan Mcgregor. here's what he himself had to say about reprising the role of Renton:

Quote:
Of all the characters I’ve played who’ve been Scots, Renton is the most Scottish of them all. And I suddenly thought, ‘Fuck! What if I can’t do it? What if I’m not Scottish enough any more?’”
Quote:
‘We just wanted to nail it. My nerves were about: can I find Renton again? Everybody knows him. People know who he is. I hadn’t tried to be Renton for 20 years. But in the end it was easy.’
"it was easy" my ass. it just means you weren't trying hard enough, cunt. he didn't even sound scottish anymore - it sounded like he was trying his hardest to sound scottish, when he's not anymore.

in fact, the whole film suffers from performances that are simply too self-aware. it really seemed to me like everybody on screen was trying to rev themselves up, but it just looks like they're all trying too hard. there are redeeming moments here and there, mainly very small moments where the actors 'slipped up' and just delivered a small, human gesture, without some ulterior motive or intention behind it. as if they did it without realizing it - and that's where the magic was at for me. that's when i felt at home again with these characters.

i'm sorry that this review is essentially endless bitching, but another thing i didn't like was the direction. it was unrecognizable from the thrilling, punch-packing, visceral, inventive direction that characterized the original. the music selection was fucking awful too, and it was especially noticeable because the original may be the one single movie with the strongest use of music i have ever watched. the sequel had not an ounce of that same flair.

in fact, this whole film and the direction behind it, felt to me like an old dinosaur rock band trying to write songs that emulate their most successful record. this is kinda the equivalent of Quasar or whatever the fuck that song is called. it's the same guy, it's the same guitar sound, the riffs are in the same vein, it's the same shtick, but the heart is just not there. it's sterile.

it could have been so great if they would cast aside all the homages, and winks, and nods, and references, and just try to make something completely independent of the original. just cut themselves loose creatively, and try to come up with something brilliant again, instead of placing all this self importance on themselves. because all those homages and self references, are ultimately there to make the crowds roar. Danny Boyle can tell tales about how he used it thematically to convey the futility of nostalgia, etc, but underneath all the word crust it's still the same thing as all those reboots and self celebrating sequels.

i'll definitely watch it again, i think, just to form a more solid opinion on it. but psychologically, i already find myself separating it from the original, just to keep it intact, and not 'harm' what it means to me. like everyone here calls whatever incarnation it is of sp, SP2 or 3 or 4.

i really miss the 90's sometimes.

 
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Old 05-27-2017, 12:06 AM   #225
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man that is so embarrassingly long i'm sorry. not my best work.
i didn't even hate the film THAT badly, it's not all bad. but i don't think writing any more is the answer. emotional attachment is a thing, turns out

 
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Old 05-27-2017, 09:04 AM   #226
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Damn that was a good read.
I am with you for the most part on your assessment of the film. It's like a self conscious cartoon version of the characters, it's a little off putting.

 
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Old 07-17-2017, 08:54 AM   #227
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Raw

https://horrorpediadotcom.files.word...ster.jpg?w=840


after hearing so much raving about it, i approached this film expecting some real cinematic candy. i think i might have processed it very differently if it just happened to come on TV and i only vaguely knew it was about a cannibalistic college chick - but i didn't, so it left me feeling pretty divided.

to start things off - i will admit that i don't really agree with all the praising and accolades all singing in unison. i think it would have been better if i was expecting something trashy - although i do wish to emphasize i'm not saying this is a trashy film at all.

to start from the upside, i think this film brilliantly sets out to fuse together a slew of very disparate and narratively distant genres. a cannibalistic vampire oddball outsider girl, goes into a strict schooling system with initiation rituals echoing the dehumanization of Full Metal Jacket, almost, and then develops her own sexuality and learns to come to terms with herself. like, it's horror, drama, coming of age, cannibalism/vampirism, love, family, sisterhood, gay overtones. self control. even anorexia. that's creative originality that i really respect. it's all tossed into this massive melting pot and at the very least, this is a very original film unlike other that i'd ever come across, and for that it's admirable, especially so for a debut effort.

it is also quite arresting visually and beautifully shot, and the cinematography was obviously much labored over. but, interestingly (or not, if you consider me a boring old fuck, in which case i don't blame ya) - those two upsides also leak into what i found disappointing about the film, as well. and by that i mean, that although it deals with a particularly diverse array of genres, plot arcs, and ideas, it somehow feels very dense, and yet quite lean at the same time.

it seemingly deals with such a large and great variety of ideas and themes, but in the end it ends up merely 'commenting' on most of them, and never really fully cease almost any of them. very few of all these really interesting angles and ideas were really fleshed out like i wished they had. not Justine's beautiful relationship with Adriane; not her maturing process and coming to grips with herself and her sexuality/frightening impulses; not her getting through this unbelievably dehumanizing initiation process. not her dealing with her seemingly complex/congested family situation.

in this regard, it feels somewhat like an exploitation film. it mostly focuses on shock factor moments, of which it has plenty, and arguably too many. the puking of a long string of hair, the bikini wax scene, the chicken/finger eating scene, etc etc.

another somewhat 'exploitative' dimension in the film that i thought was a bit lackluster, was how some sequences were tailored into it, seemingly mostly to indulge the director, rather than wholly and truly serve the story and the film. like, that shot of the new students crawling to the party like insects, or even that nice shot that referenced "A Clockwork Orange" -

it's not like they're super bad, distracting and unnecessary bigtime money shots or anything... but they are slightly offset to the rhythm of the film, i thought. some moments like that felt slightly displaced to me. like the story was being interrupted by occasional heavy handed set pieces, that although beautiful in their own right - don't allow for one continuous stream of unbroken storytelling.

the one aspect in the film i found most beautiful, was Justine's relationship with her sister, and that story delivered some of the most beautiful moments for me. learning to piss standing up on a deserted rooftop; having this sadomasochistic love-hate relationship with each other, that's ultimately rooted in real, deep love.

that one sequence where they fight like savage animals in the school yard, and sink their teeth into each others' arms, then gaze into each others' eyes, before walking away from the scene with their arms around each other, fending off people who came for 'help' (i.e separate them)-

that's quality acting. quality storytelling. that's filmmaking that makes you empathize with something so otherworldly, so depraved, so backwards of what is 'real'. and at that moment it just becomes a good story that moves you, regardless of the fucked up circumstances within which it was bred. that's the kind of beautiful subtlety i wish there was more of in the picture, and unfortunately i thought it missed a fair share of other opportunities for that.

one last thing that i found really cool and interesting about this film, is the staggering difference between what it is about on the surface, and what the symbolism stands for. of course, the metaphoric meaning runs parallel to it all along, hand in hand. like a transparent sticker on a new screen, that finally reveals itself fully and comes off in the very last scene of the film - with Justine's father revealing his mutilated, scarred chest, and telling his daughter she will find a way to get through it, just like himself and her mother did.

and only then it sort of hit me fully that even though it's a fucked up movie about cannibalism and violence and depravity, what it's really about is just learning to deal with life, and what you're given - be it your (fucked up) family, the world you live in, your sexuality, your natural inclination and demeanor, etc.

so all this basically boils down to a lot of praise i just typed up on a film that i basically really loved the idea of, but wish it was fleshed out more profoundly and in a more layered fashion. because as it stands, it is frankly, more than anything else, a stylish exploitation film with a distant layer of symbolism, that although it works quite nicely - is way underutilized within the context of the actual film imho.

it's been a while since i typed up one of those. i hope i didn't lose it. thank you for reading. i would also like to point out that i very seriously considered multiple times during the course of the film to stop watching it, because it had a LOT of very, very unnecessary scenes that depicted animal abuse that was absolutely unjustified, and that was shitty and made me feel shitty for watching this as entertainment.

ta!

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Old 08-02-2017, 10:55 AM   #228
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Melancholia

http://www.jposter.net/images/produc...elancholia.jpg

hell yea, a cool ass japanese poster for a european film.

i'm divided about Lars Von Trier. on the one hand, he's an obvious megalomaniac, presumptuous asshole that looks like he's got mad sexual deviations going on in his filthy little creepy head. i mean, just look at this worm. his gaze looks devious:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._2011_crop.JPG

but, he does have talent going for him. you can like or dislike him, but he's an artist, even more so than a filmmaker. his films have this elusive quality - an unrefined artistic vision, or courage that enables him to go all the way down his rabbitholes. that familiar sense of arrogance that compels him to just flesh out his ideas, because it's in his nature to let stuff run through his filter and let something reflective come out the other side. in that way, he's almost like a musician or a songwriter.

his films don't feel like they're "traditional" stories about characters and their lives; Lars Von Trier's films are about expressing him. this movie is not really about sisters Justine and Gabrielle; it's about Lars Von Trier and his depression. this could be taken both as criticism and praise, i suppose. i mainly mean it as praise, in that it's unique for a filmmaker to be able to shoot a movie that expresses his individuality like that, rather than be about the characters whose stories he's telling. again, like a songwriter or a musician would do with a song. he films song rather than film, if that makes sense. it's not always successful, but it does have strong intent and sincerity going for it. and that goes a long way.

Kirsten Dunst really surprised me on this. up to that point, my memory of her is generally a trembling gelatinous lump of forgettable roles and mediocre acting. but she really did an admirable job here, and was by far the most on-point (if unpredictable) casting in a film riddled with bizarre casting choices.

(footnote: interestingly, the leading role was originally meant for Penelope Cruz, so i guess this one worked out through sheer luck, cause i can't see how Penelope Cruz would nail this role, sorry.)

so many films have tried to depict what it's like being sad, being depressed, feeling depersonalized, what have you. but as i watched this movie, i felt like this was the only REAL representation i'd seen on the big screen for truly paralyzing, soul crushing depression that renders you utterly incapacitated. dealing with, well, a lot of issues in my life for a long time now, watching this movie made me feel less alone. like i was talking to somebody, and like somebody was truly understanding of what i feel without judging it (even though the negative consequences are clear). maybe i'm just like that, this incessant drain that wears people down, and that's why every important relationship in my life failed miserably.

either way, the film got so many of these tiny details right, in a way that i could relate to very deeply. feeling alone and hopeless in a room full of people who are there to celebrate YOUR special moment. sending out fake smiles (wonderful acting by Dunst, again). "trying" for other people, but not for yourself. or having a snarky comment ruin you. to feel like you must run away - to the bathroom, or outside, when everybody else is having fun, because you're overwhelmed. to burst in tears because even eating the food you love feels humiliating, because you can't bring yourself to enjoy it. nobody ever got this delicate fabric of experience on film before for me. and that's where this film shines. and what makes all these moments even stronger, is that opening sequence in the limo - that contrasts all that's to come with truly jovial, simple happiness from Justine and her fiancee. really, props to Kirsten Dunst. career shifting performance.

the rest of the cast is good, but not as stellar. Charlotte Gainsbourg is a very intense actress, and is apparently De Niro to Von Trier's Scorsese. i remember seeing her in Antichrist and she did a good job there, and tbh she acts pretty well here too. it's hard to complain about her, it's just that, she felt misplaced to me here, i dunno. not much credibility as Dunst's sister; they look too different, their accents are wildly different (english and american). a bit jarring.

also, of all fucking people, Kiefer Sutherland? i mean don't get me wrong, he was fine, didn't really fuck anything up. but he's such an Action persona, it just felt odd to have his face of all people's here. just felt like a bunch of odd casting calls to me - like it was important to LVT to just get on with it and move production along before the ghost is out the window and he loses the inspiration. and that's fair, as although this film isn't perfect, it is inspired.

it's not an easy film to sit through. it's very, very slow, and essentially almost plotless. you could easily go 5, 8, 10 minutes with no dialogue. some of it is deserving, under Von Trier's undeniably compelling knack for arresting visual storytelling set to classical music (Wagner, iirc). but other times it's a bit too quiet and slow.

i found the metaphor of the armageddon scenario a bit heavy handed, although still effective and even endearing in its crudity. we're all so careful not to sound like cliches, or be "predictable", or campy or unoriginal or whatever when discussing depression - and then comes this guy and says, "i chose this metaphor because severe depression feels like the end of the world to me". well LVT didn't actually say that but that's how i saw it. and much like Justine's character, i don't really fear death scenarios or catastrophic events at all, because what does it matter.

it would be much easier for me to like Lars Von Trier if he wasn't such a massively arrogant douche, who named his heroines in homage to Marquis de Sade (Justine - accdng to Imdb) and seemed to (arguably) get off on having his actresses engage in weird sexual scenarios to indulge in. and that's BEFORE i'd watched the two part, no less, Nymphomaniac. but, he's a different voice in modern filmmaking, and one that was able to catch a mood for this film in a remarkable way.

oh shit i forgot to talk about the cinematography. it was pretty good. real. grounded. harsh. stable enough to not induce paranoia, but unstable enough to make you uncomfortable. yadda yadda. this film reminded me i'm a jackoff who must die. going to boil some water to pour over my head, brb

 
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Old 08-02-2017, 12:14 PM   #229
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Real good write up as usual.
Made me want to rewatch the film, I haven't seen it since 2011. But I remember being the only one in my group of friends who enjoyed it.

The whole vibe of the film is really gripping.

 
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Old 09-09-2017, 06:26 AM   #230
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Alien: Covenant

https://i1.wp.com/bloody-disgusting....size=503%2C755

so i'm digging the fuck out of The Sopranos these days. but, the site i'm using to stream it with subtitles (cause that new jersey accent+slang is often a curveball for me) has a few problems with the season 5 episodes. corrupt files, i get skips and jumps - so i went to the local DVD knockoffs shop to see if they're selling it.

well they didn't, but i did find out Covenant was finally out, and i was like "oh yeah that had a decent trailer and it's by Ridley Diddley Scott, and Prometheus was alright". so i got it. and oh man, i had no idea it was going to be such a fucking piece of shit.

so many things are wrong with it. i basically hatewatched it all the way through after realizing in the first 30 minutes there's just no way that this is happening.

so first of all, the entire way the film opens up and creates the premise that's supposed to make you want to keep watching it - but it all feels so ancient and outdated filmmaking. it's basically a movie that belongs in the 80's stylistically, but it was filmed in 2017. like, all of it -

the campy/cool tough guy rapport dialogues between members of the crew on the ship, the way in which that same old photocopied "futuristic" text appears onscreen (YEAR: 2185, DESTINATION: DANGEROUS ADVENTURE, etc) like it's supposed to be super exciting and impressive, etc. i mean things aren't like that anymore, cinema has evolved in so many ways since those days and what was once exciting about those futuristic/dystopian 80's sci-fi/action shticks just doesn't hold that much weight anymore, and watch it being delivered like that without an ounce of self awareness feels like three steps backwards, rather than pleasant nostalgia.

major quip #2: the entire opening and how the ship gets to this bizarre, deadly alien planet once again (cuz we need to get along with the plot ppl, let's jack up the body count here eh?). like, even when the crew arrives at this supposedly completely alien planet that nobody even knew about, it just seems like ridley diddley and their crew went to the nearest forest and went 'fuck it, lets just shoot here'. it's got zero fucking credibility, it absolutely shatters the illusion. it makes the entire idea of watching a film that's set on another planet collapse, just because it's so poorly executed. am i really supposed to believe some planet 6 zillion light years away from earth looks exactly like earth, without a single difference except the absence of wildlife?

it's just a movie that seems to make the wrong choice at every single turn, and it's kind of amazing and odd that it's coming from such a highly revered and experienced director. even the CGI is inexcusably disastrous, i don't even know how such a popular franchise with such a big budget gets this kind of treatment in 2015 or whanever this movie got made. seriously, some of the kills were so poorly animated it was severely noticeable. ferrari red blood and everything.

this terrible film is basically a faded attempt to emulate and weld together the series' best moments. it's like a newly recorded greatest hits album by a band that peaked in 1979. it essentially feels like a reboot, although it was made out to be a prequel or whatever. this movie is no different than that Spiderman with that Garfield guy or whatever that douche's fucking name was - go through the motions once more within the confines of a glaringly obvious and 100% predictable story, with the intention of delivering cheap thrills to a stunted audience. it's a movie that blows its load too fast, too hard, and too often. all it goes for is those fucking obnoxious money shots with the alien killing people in ways that are purely designed to 'give the people what they want'.

all those great sequences from the original - where the alien gruesomely emerges from john hurt's body, or when you even see it casting its horror on somebody - they were only so great because they were used intelligently. it was CONTEXTUAL. it was used SCARCELY. Ridley Diddley used to be smart enough to know that not seeing the monster every 3 minutes like it's a flashing pedo in the park, actually makes the viewers MORE tense and uneasy - certainly much more so than desensitizing the audience to the goddamn thing on every opportunity. but that kind of restraint is a thing of the distant past and is virtually non existent in this film.

i mean gah this movie is so fucking bad, my reeling list of complaints is neverending. i can literally bitch about this movie forever.

HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE that an Alien film casts the guy from Eastbound and Down as one of the main characters?! has the world gone insane? it would be impossible for ANYONE who ever watched more than 3 minutes of Eastbound and Down to see this guy as anything other than Kenny Powers. how and WHY do you cast a particularly unremarkable actor who's known for his role as an obnoxious funnyman, into a film that's supposed to be dark, clinical and serious? i mean seriously what a fucking joke. honest to god, this might just be the single worst casting i'd ever seen in my entire life. it turns the whole thing into an uber-lame bizarro Pixar movie set within the Alien universe.

and if all that's not enough, you have so many egregiously stupid moments, that actually had me talking to myself in real time, going like, "oh my god are you seriously being this awful right now, dear god this is so fucking terrible". prime examples: the Alien crawling around in the ship, with some crew asshole watching it through the CCTV monitors, then suddenly the alien pops up in front of the camera, screeches, and destroys it. 80's B-movie cliche #1032 - CHECK! like why in the world would an alien creature do that, it makes no sense. but who cares about making sense - let's get cool alien shots folks! if we all work together this will be a great film.

or - how you have michael fenderbass playing a double role as the most evil/goodhearted robot evar, who then get switched out as some sorry ass "TWIST" near the end, LIKE IT WASN'T CLEAR AS FUCKING BROAD DAYLIGHT that they were going to do that literally from the second those characters were introduced.

Prometheus wasn't a perfect or even a really great movie by any standard, but i did love how the actual alien creature was barely even in the film - it was mostly about exploring that creepy world, skillfully creating that mood, and fleshing out the alien world again in a compelling way. but this one - all this piece of trash movie cares about and moves towards is setting up those alien cumshots to indulge 14 year old Alien fans, and even though there are very few and far between moments of grace (bass fender's acting here is not bad, the cinematography is quite beautiful at very certain points in the film, etc).

CONCLUSION:

ultimately i just feel like this film had nothing to do with the franchise needing another film, or someone having a great idea for a sequel/prequel, or anything substantial or concrete like that - it was simply that Ridley Scott wanted to make another Alien movie for the sake of his own ego, cause he wanted to relive the past and manufacture a work that practically begs the people to enjoy it by rehashing and throwing every bigtime moment from the series previously proven successful in their face.

i feel like an old man just barged into my living room and made me laugh at his jokes. what a piece of shit movie. fuck you Ridley.

Last edited by teh b0lly!!1 : 11-07-2017 at 07:47 AM.

 
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Old 09-09-2017, 10:28 AM   #231
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Have you watched Princess Mononoke yet.

 
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Old 09-10-2017, 12:46 AM   #232
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Alien review edited and tidied up cause i didn't have time to proofread last night.

Took - negative. but it's on my list.

 
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Old 09-10-2017, 01:30 AM   #233
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Ok I forgive you.

 
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Old 11-06-2017, 07:54 PM   #234
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soliciting updates

 
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Old 11-06-2017, 08:19 PM   #235
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I'm pretty sure he choked to death on vomit while viewing Stranger Things 2.

 
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Old 11-11-2017, 04:14 AM   #236
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Ida

http://www.hollywoodrevealed.com/wp-...ida-poster.jpg

i believe this was a cork soaker reference, back in the day after The Lobster blew my top off.

this is kind of a strange film to review because it's just so sparse and barren. that is not to say it doesn't have merit, because it does. and most of what makes it good is so idiosyncratic and atypical, as far as modern western filmmaking goes.

it was kind of a film of contrasts, for me. it's both lush and sparse, both somewhat historically epic and yet very intimate, pleasing and non-gratifying at the same time.

it seems like every choice it makes is the unpopular one. the cinematography, the editing, the storytelling. one of the things that drew my attention the most, is just the way it's shot. i don't believe i'd ever seen a movie filmed quite like this before; it is apparent that the director knows a thing or two about creating a traditionally beautiful shot - but he knowingly chooses to defy it almost every time, and go for shots that, for various reasons, makes the viewer uneasy (or at least it did me).

in a way, it's the complete inversion to a Wes Anderson film, where every shot is singing with pleasing, flawless symmetry. Ida is shot kind of in the same way its protagonist behave; it can be very beautiful, but it chooses to cast flaws on itself, or rather hide away its beauty. cinematically, it often goes for shots that cut off someone's face, or de-center an important visual element, or just generally pick an unorthodox angle that renders the shot mildly distressing or suffocating. while it's harder to appreciate than real, "objective", symmetrical beauty, i thought that was such a bright filmmaking choice to make, to keep your viewers uneasy the whole way through - as emotionally unbalanced as the characters it tells the story of.

same thing with the editing - there are often cuts that halt a scene a moment too soon, in a way that is not in line with modern "trends". just to give the smallest example, in the opening of the film, as Ida gets up to leave the mother nun's den after having learned she is to seek out her only living relative, her footsteps thunder in the massive concrete chamber as she is drawing closer to the door. i feel like most directors would allow her figure to make the exit and indulge in that moment, of still having the cavernous space echoing Ida's heavy boots hitting the ground, and somehow use that to make a point about the general emptiness and desolate solitude of it all - but nope. not here. the scene is cut short as she is progressing towards the door. those types of decisions abound in the film - they're everywhere.

probably the biggest thing about this film on a more concrete level, is how most of what it deals with is left unsaid. that is also a conceptionally brilliant choice, because even though you think you have a firm grasp on what the characters are feeling, and perhaps even have some insight into their inner dialogue - ultimately it's all subjective and rooted in bias, and is therefore subject to change, even if it is only you who watches it several months or years apart.

the film is kind of like a psychiatrist in a way, because it makes you open up a channel of inner dialogue with yourself, and then when you question why you drew a particular conclusion from a scene, you're only faced with your own reflection - "wait, but was there any real reason for me to assume that, really?". it made me question my standings on religion without ever explicitly prompting any question at all.

at some points in the film, the atheist/agnostic/what-have-you in me wanted Ida to realize she would be wasting her life on hiding herself away behind a thick nun's veil, wasting her life and her beauty and exuberance. but then you look at the other contrasting character - Ida's aunt, who is the other extreme: chainsmoking, rugged, promiscuous, liberal. and you realize it's all ways of dealing, that even though it doesn't seem like it on a day-to-day basis, there is probably no one "correct" way. all that's left after all those ruminations is simply feeling both of those characters' pain in being completely violated, alone and forgotten in this world. everybody's running away, some via religion and some via drugs and numbness. in that regard, one of the strongest visual elements of this film is the bottomless black depth of Ida's eyes. harsh film, man.

but again, it's just so sparse and leaves so much open to interpretation, that all those anomalies in filmmaking really shine through, and become as big a part in the storytelling almost as much as the actual characters. i think the acting here is some of the most consistently understated i'd ever seen - virtually almost no peaks, just compounding subtleties. it's acted pretty beautifully. very pure acting. very plain and raw. doesn't seek to bask in fame or applause.

most of what i ended up being left with after this film ended, was this or that expression during a particular scene, or the aesthetic of a particular peculiar shot, or the crumbling walls in an unhappy chamber appearing in one of the scenes, or just the general desolation emanating from the barren depictions of Stalin-era Polish winters.

it's also worth noting that unlike many a bleak b&w film dealing with the world wars and their consequences, this picture is efficient and doesn't drag needlessly, and clocking in at around 90 minutes, it certainly does not overstay its welcome. a true rarity among weighty historical pieces.

the one criticism i do have, is that the love story between Ida and that sax player seemed kinda rushed and wrenched into the plot - probably the only recognizable Hollywood touch in the film. thankfully it pays off in a way that makes you understand why it had to be there (like, it wasn't just because some guy wanted to find a way to cast Kristen Stewart). it was worth it if only for that one lyrical shot at the end of the film, of Ida wearing a profoundly shaken and affected expression, walking against traffic - as if to say she's going back to the convent against her heart's true wishes. or is that just my bias?

all in all, kind of a difficult film - not super engaging, makes you work for it, and is very sparse, bleak and stark, but is certainly worth its running time for its original and unique filmmaking, and sense for subtlety.

 
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Old 11-13-2017, 01:26 PM   #237
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great review, teh. a pleasure through and through.

thanks.

 
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Old 11-13-2017, 05:42 PM   #238
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Cork "cock" Soaker

 
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Old 11-14-2017, 10:26 AM   #239
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cork_soaker View Post
great review, teh. a pleasure through and through.

thanks.
you're very welcome.

thanks to everyone who's been kind enough to care about these and encourage me to keep doing it. i'm not good at handling compliments, but it really means a lot to me.

 
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Old 11-25-2017, 05:53 AM   #240
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A Ghost Story

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....OL._SY550_.jpg

i think somebody on netpho rec'd this movie to me around the same time i'd watched The Lobster, which is easily one of my fav films in recent years. at that time it was not yet available for download, so i made a mental note to check it out at some point, and unconsciously i guess i lumped it in with some of The Lobster's greatness and thought it was a nice one to really look forward to.

so with that said, it feels strange to kinda grill it now, because even though i felt it was flawed, i certainly did not come out feeling it was a bad film at all. in fact it was fairly good. it was just that, it felt to me like it got too many things wrong to truly earn that A-level film aura, that would have taken it to the next level. it took me a while to formulate my thoughts on it, so this will probably be long and barely coherent. bear with me.

i guess what bothered me the most, is that i felt the film just tries too hard to impress you via various means of postmodern gimmickry, in ways that don't feel very "sincere", or more accurately, truly fully justified. it's like singing in a voice that's not your own. to me, the filmmaking in this picture felt insecure, like it deemed itself not interesting enough to not have to use all these clever schticks. it didn't feel like the work of a fully matured filmmaker, in that it lacked that real sense of confidence, of dominating your medium through the particular way you deliver a scene. and as a result of than it often feels like the film goes out of its way to throw histrionic elements at you just to keep you interested, or alternatively, "impressed".

while i'm guessing that approach may ultimately result in many a happy hipster indeed singing praise of this film, i felt like i would have appreciated an approach that concentrated more on the actual storytelling, and less on various means of point-scoring. it's like the importance of the production on albums; you can let the ideas and concepts you have speak for themselves, or you can make sure there's flashy elements parts coming in and out at all times. it's like the difference between Nick Drake and Yes, and even though both have their merit, i prefer the latter.

now, it's not that these 'gimmicks' (for a lack of better word) are necessarily bad in and of themselves; i just thought the sheer quantity of them became somewhat of a substitute for real, genuine fluidity in this picture. instead of serving as means to an end, it became distracting. things like, how the entire film has these cropped edges (as if to resemble a slide), or how you have ghosts interacting with each other only via subtitles (as if to nod to 30's-era silent films), or how the ghost character has this purposely very plain cloth for a particularly lo-fi custome, which gets ragged and dirty as the film progresses, or - how there are multiple sequences in the film featuring a stillshot for like 5-6-7 minutes with very little happening, sometimes nothing at all, for reasons i found to be not compelling enough. it just felt like there was an abundance of directorial devices that didn't necessarily end up on there because they happened to be the best way to serve the story.

the most glaring example of that, is a scene of Rooney Mara coming home after learning that her partner had died, and grieving by eating an entire pie somebody had brought over. as with many other aspects of the film, i loved the idea, but not the execution. it would have been nice to stay focused on that shot for longer than the average viewer might expect; let's say, ballpark, two minutes. three minutes. in the film, this scene goes on for no less than a full six minutes. six minutes of watching a person eating a pie. i mean, i'm terribly sorry, it takes brilliant acting and talent to be able to hold down that type of scene for that long, and Rooney Mara is not in possession of it.

another example involves a similarly long scene that's heavily plagued by expository-type dialogue (or more correctly, a soliloquy) by some douche at a party, in what feels like a bit of a forced attempt to crowbar in some mansplaining about the spiritual themes and elements of the film. and it's only made worse by the overuse of ghost/horror film cliche's that rubbed me the wrong way, such as flickering lightbulbs and electric "bzzzt bzzzt" sounds every time the ghost gets upset or moved. i guess my problem with this film was that it seemed to be content presenting itself through flourishes, rather than actually mastering all the more 'trivial' stuff - how to tell the story, why tell it that way and not another, how to get the most out of your actors, etc. i realize my criticisms probably sound stupid or petty, but i thought the compounding effect of all these put together, just detracted significantly from what could have been a much better film.

ok, so after being an asshole to this film for like 12 paragraphs, now let's play nice. first, i want to reiterate that i didn't hate it. i thought the concept of the film was beautiful, and there are many things that it does get right (all imho of course). for example, i loved how the film introduces the main characters, Rooney Mara and the the Rapey Resident Of House Affleck, and then very abruptly kills Affleck and gets on with the story. even though i knew it was coming by nature of knowing what the film is about, it was done refreshingly, in a way that expressed a beautiful confidence in the storytelling. this is what i wish there was more of, really. the way in which the characters in the film are almost inconsequential and aren't given the full emphasis usually reserved for human characters in films, reminded me of "No Country For Old Men", which for sure ranks high up on my all time favs list.

i liked the cinematography, and the sequencing of a lot of the set pieces, and thought they were nicely done, as they convey a certain eerie, spiritual vibe that i liked; shots that don't necessarily feature anything bombastic happening per se, but have an undercurrent that touches you somehow. a nice magic hour steadicam shot of Rooney Mara going taking out the trash, gazing into the void for a brief moment, and walking back inside the house. or a scene of the ghost walking around in the humongous corporate office complex that was raised where his apartment once was.

the film deals pretty beautifully with love, loss, eternity, the passage of time, and existentialism, because it essentially does so almost in a vacuum. most of the film tells the story through the eyes of a faceless, mute ghost - that's pretty unprecedented, and original, and i loved that.
i also loved that the film generally didn't strive towards any particular message (barring that expository party scene, which as i said, i wasn't a fan of), but rather, it cast all those images at the viewer as ruminations one can take wherever they'd like. the shattered love story at the center of it only serves to strengthen that, but it's not "the main ingredient". the usage of the human characters is nicely sparse, barely ever focusing on the people themselves, but rather, focusing on the transcendental quality of the love they shared for each other.

with that said, i do wish the actors cast were not Affleck and Rooney Mara (though she was decent, to be fair). i think this film really called for more anonymous and more accomplished actors, and not people with proven star status. this mediocre familiarity only detracts from the unique way the film chooses to present itself, and the chemistry, acting and interaction between the two was not really worth it anyway, as it was anything but singular.

i really can't wait until i get my hands on The Killing Of A Sacred Deer.
i should probably stop now, i feel like i'm not being very coherent this time. all in all, a film with stronger concept than execution, that's well worth the running time - if only for its truly original take on a narrative that is almost protagonist-free.

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