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Post by Jeremy on Jan 6, 2019 11:57:50 GMT -8
Welcome to another year of hopefully good movies!
I've subscribed to Kanopy, a free streaming service that lets me watch up to 6 films per month. Most of their catalog consists of obscure and indie films (they have a lot of A24 flicks, for instance), which is good for whenever I'm in one of my more pretentious moods.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 6, 2019 17:36:26 GMT -8
Saw The Favourite yesterday. A pretty nasty piece of work. Jeremy would love it.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 6, 2019 19:29:09 GMT -8
Thanks for the heads-up. The Favourite now joins my list of "films that are probably great but I'll have to take other people's word for it." (I also added Suspiria to this list last week. Busy time for hard-R movies.)
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 6, 2019 21:57:53 GMT -8
Weisz, Stone, and Colman all give very strong, nuanced performances. It's not an exceptionally graphic or violent film: there's just a lot of backstabbing and emotional manipulation involved. 'Tis quite funny, though.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 9, 2019 6:14:13 GMT -8
Responding to this, from the DC Extended Universe thread: I saw Ralph Breaks The Internet tonight, which I liked, but would still rank below Spiderverse, Incredibles 2, and Isle of Dogs, because with the Internet-based premise, it felt like it barely scratched the surface of creative possibilities. And was a bit too sentimental at times. I'd put Ralph Breaks a notch above Incredibles 2, since the latter film's third act doesn't quite live up to the promise built up by the first two. (Plus, Ralph's post-credits scene is one of the year's best.) Incidentally, it's interesting how every major awards ceremony this year includes all four of these films you mention in their Best Animated Feature category, with a wild-card fifth film ( Mirai, Early Man, etc.) to round them out.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 9, 2019 13:19:01 GMT -8
By post-credits scene, are you referring to the mid-credits pancakes and milkshakes (with, I think, the little girl from Toy Story 3)? Because the audience got up and left after that, and I felt awkward sitting there alone in case something was at the very end. So I left with them.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 9, 2019 14:50:34 GMT -8
I think that girl was Baby Moana. Which raises a lot of questions, especially since Teen Moana was in the movie as well.
But no, there's another scene after the credits. And it is awesome.
Still, I don't blame you for leaving with the rest of the audience. I waited through the end of Aquaman, even though everyone else had left the theater, to see if there was a post-credits scene. There was not, and I felt like an idiot.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 9, 2019 15:40:19 GMT -8
Damn. I usually stay 'til the end of these things, and I was actually kind of surprised the audience even stayed for the mid-credits one, as they often leave right away, unless it's a Marvel flick. Oh well, I guess I'll just read up on it.
ETA: Eh, that's a pretty common gag, and it works a lot better on big fans of the Frozen franchise, of which I am not one.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 10, 2019 19:38:58 GMT -8
Finally watched Alfonso Cuaron's Roma. Yeah, it's probably the most artfully-composed film of the year, and it is quite beautiful and touching. Being an art film, it's restrained and quietly observational, and slim on plot, but not every film needs to be wall-to-wall action, melodrama, comedy or suspense. The bit with the wide, extravagant car in the narrow carport is a very effective bit of symbolism, though some may only read it in phallic terms.
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 14, 2019 18:45:22 GMT -8
On the Basis of Sex is a thoroughly straightforward and predictable biopic, but it's watchable enough. The film is modestly directed (by Mimi Leder, helmer of multiple Leftovers episodes), and Felicity Jones is good as the young Ruth Bader Ginsburg, even if the clean-cut portrayal in the script doesn't offer her nearly as much range as something like Rogue One did.
The film's best character is probably the ACLU exec played by Justin Theroux, if only because he's the only person in the movie who doesn't feel like a cipher. The film paints him as both a progressive and a pragmatist, which gives him an interesting push-pull effect against the young RBG. Too bad the other characters aren't quite as fleshed out, as that could have heightened the stakes during the courtroom climax, which leans heavily on legalese and lengthy debate about discrimination in America.
(Saw this in an empty theater, btw.)
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 17, 2019 20:43:02 GMT -8
The best scenes in Roma, unsurprisingly, are the ones that minimize the dialogue and let the actors and camera tell the tale in pure visual terms. This is partly because I wasn't distracted by reading subtitles in those scenes, and also because - given the extensive use of unbroken, wide-angle shots throughout the film - it's really tough to get more than peripherally invested in some of the film's lengthier conversations. That's not to say that Roma is uninvolving - there are a lot of well-done and effective scenes peppered throughout the film. And far be it for me to criticize Alfonso Cuaron's directorial choices - the man helmed one of my favorite films of this decade, a cinematic experience which pivots on his brilliant camerawork. But Roma doesn't have the (ahem) pull that Gravity did, despite a strong performance from Yalitza Aparicio - it works better in individual scenes than as an entire film. In any case, that opening shot is fantastic. The bit with the wide, extravagant car in the narrow carport is a very effective bit of symbolism, though some may only read it in phallic terms. I just read it as commentary on an upper-class family damaged by reckless parents. People who interpret everything in phallic terms are weird.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 18, 2019 19:36:35 GMT -8
You know, I believe Cuaron actually used fourteen different cameras seamlessly blended together to create that opening sequence, where the camera pans 380 degrees. So, I guess not dissimilar to what the Wachowskis did with bullet-time in their Matrix films, but over a much greater distance. He also built, like, three city blocks, all on a $15 million dollar budget. Some may find the film a tad too restrained and/or distancing, but you sure can't fault its craft.
BTW, Guillermo del Toro offered some really thoughtful analysis of the film in this Twitter thread:
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 19, 2019 15:31:15 GMT -8
Wow. All those city blocks built on a backlot? That's incredible. Cuaron certainly knows how to make the most with the least. And yeah, that's some great insight from del Toro. He's quite the film nerd (as exemplified by the best Simpsons couch gag ever).
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 27, 2019 18:16:36 GMT -8
I think I may have enjoyed Green Book more if it wasn't for all the awards that film is scooping up. Yeah, it's a decently-written, decently-produced, decently-acted buddy film, with a few funny and poignant moments sprinkled throughout.
But an Oscar frontrunner? Seriously?
Outside of one or two scenes, the film's race-relations commentary is as superficial as it gets. It doesn't really try to get its audience to think; all it wants them to do is feel (i.e. feel bad about the past and good about the present). I'm fine with enjoying a good crowd-pleaser, and I enjoyed this one well enough. But spare me the talk about how it's somehow a game-changer.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 27, 2019 20:22:08 GMT -8
LOL, who said it was a "game-changer"? All I'm hearing is it's a bland middlebrow crowdpleaser with a good performance by Ali.
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