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Post by Jay on Mar 29, 2018 5:47:56 GMT -8
I usually default to a theatre on the south end of The Loop in downtown Chicago but I ended up having to take a bus a fair distance north to get to a theatre that was playing Annihilation, which was perplexing insofar as my Loop theatre was playing multiple variations of films with different levels of amenities, as they are wont to do. I don't know why studios self-sabotage in that way after sinking money into it, but it seems incredibly petty.
I, too, am interested in seeing A Quiet Place based on the trailers I've seen a couple times now, once in Annihilation, which was good as I swear the Black Panther previews were 75% Marvel films. I also saw a preview for another horror film, Hereditary, which the critical commentary seemed to be hyping up as the next big thing, but the girl in it kept clicking her tongue in a weird way throughout the trailer and it came off like water torture to me.
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 29, 2018 6:03:02 GMT -8
A Quiet Place looks intriguing, and is poised to follow the spate of recent strong horror films. (And open up a lot of opportunities for The Office jokes, which would be awesome as well.)
Isle of Dogs also looks promising, even if some of the reviews have called it a film that's easier to appreciate than enjoy. I'm just hungry for a good animated film, which there haven't been much of lately.
Unfortunately, neither of those films is getting wide release until No Movies Month kicks in, which means I may not get to see either of them in theaters. Which is too bad, because both seem like they'd play well on the big screen.
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Post by Jay on Mar 29, 2018 6:03:49 GMT -8
I was going to hold off on commentary about Isle of Dogs, which I'm trying to decide if I want to see (I can probably catch it at my discount theatre in Seattle in another month and a half), but while clicking around on YouTube, I was gifted with Honest Trailers - Every Wes Anderson Movie
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 29, 2018 8:57:26 GMT -8
Those Honest Trailers are often hilarious. Definitely among the most creative YouTube channels. And I found that vid funny despite the fact that I haven't seen most of Anderson's films.
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Post by ThirdMan on Mar 29, 2018 11:08:54 GMT -8
If anything, that video made me want to watch his entire ouevre over again. Even Darjeeling, which was far and away my least favourite. Symmetrical shots, who'da thunk it?
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Post by ThirdMan on Mar 29, 2018 17:02:23 GMT -8
Honestly, most films out there, including those with exceptionally high budgets, are poorly framed more often than not. And that's before I even get INTO action films that rarely shoot their set pieces wide. Watching Wes Anderson's pristine framing of shots is pretty much a bloody relief after seeing so much dross.
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 29, 2018 19:36:48 GMT -8
Yep. Fantastic Mr. Fox is a gorgeous film. It strikes me as odd how, with the exception of the Aardman folks, very few modern filmmakers have embraced the potential of stop-motion. But Anderson's film is the rare exception (and happily, it looks like Isle of Dogs is another).
I should probably watch some of his other films. Mostly so that I can have a reference point that doesn't involve "that cartoon fox movie."
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Post by ThirdMan on Mar 29, 2018 20:41:25 GMT -8
You're forgetting Laika. You know...Coraline, ParaNorman, etc.
And you really should check out Mary and Max, and Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa.
Re: Wes Anderson, definitely give The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, and Rushmore a look.
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Post by Jeremy on Mar 30, 2018 6:23:29 GMT -8
Yeah, Laika has some wonderful talent behind it as well (even if Coraline was their only film I really liked).
I'll try checking out those others. And don't forget My Life as a Zuchinni, which is quite a delightful stop-motion film, too.
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Post by ThirdMan on Mar 30, 2018 16:26:53 GMT -8
Yeah, I've seen Zucchini.
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Post by ThirdMan on Apr 2, 2018 16:55:17 GMT -8
Saw Isle of Dogs on Saturday. It's drier and less whimsical than Fantastic Mr. Fox, and leans pretty heavily on ridiculously convoluted, deadpan-comic exposition. As always for the director, it's handsomely crafted on a visual level, and it most certainly has a great, game voice cast. I would say it's mid-level Anderson, and I'd also say it caters far more to adults than kids. I guess some folks could invoke claims of cultural appropriation or refer to Greta Gerwig's character as a "white saviour" of sorts, but it's all pretty genial, and more a celebration of classic Japanese cinema than anything else.
Also, Tilda Swinton plays an all-knowing pug who can predict the future. Well, she's actually just able to understand television broadcasts, but that's still quite the trick. Good dog!
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Post by Jeremy on Apr 3, 2018 10:52:51 GMT -8
Guysguysguys. You should all go out and see Ready Player One. It's one of the most entertaining Spielberg films of the last twenty years - propulsive story, great visual effects, and just a whole lot of fun.
As some of you have noted in the past, I'm not much of a gamer - that whole medium is pretty much my pop-culture Kryptonite - so I didn't connect, or even catch, a lot of the film's references. (Good thing there were plenty of film and comic book references as well, or I would have felt like a total loser.) But the film doesn't need you to be a gaming expert in order to play along. It's a clever, free-flowing nostalgia trip that allows Spielberg to honor the pop-culture of the past without coming off as self-aggrandizing.
The film isn't perfect; it has at least one too many climaxes, and the main character is a bit bland and one-note (albeit less annoying than in the book). Still, it's well worth a look, particularly if - like pretty much everyone here - you're more of a gamer than I am.
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Post by ThirdMan on Apr 3, 2018 17:27:37 GMT -8
I might give it a look, but I'll probably wait for the Blu-Ray. Just because I enjoy some videogames, doesn't mean I'm into heavily-CGI-driven "virtual reality" narratives. And I'm nowhere near as nostalgic for '80s film and TV as some folks.
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Post by Jeremy on Apr 3, 2018 18:33:41 GMT -8
I expect this film will play quite well on Blu-Ray/DVD, since viewers will be able to pause and freeze-frame the film to catch all the in-jokes and cameos. (They whiz by pretty quickly, particularly during the climax.)
Still, I don't want to make it sound like the references are the film, because they're really not. They don't feel forced or smart-alecky, and are woven into the script quite well - a sincere Kubrick homage is probably the film's creative highlight.
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Post by Jeremy on Apr 5, 2018 8:30:04 GMT -8
The new Tomb Raider slipped under the radar pretty quickly, but I saw it last night, and it's surprisingly decent. It's a lot less cheesy/over-the-top than the Angelina Jolie films, and actually tries to give Lara herself a deeper personality and backstory, instead of just making her some indestructible superwoman.
The best part of the film is Alicia Vikander, who brings a lot of gravitas to a relatively two-dimensional role. Her Lara is fun without being overly "tough" - more than once do the action scenes (which are quite impressive, BTW) showcase her physically vulnerable side. Making her the only woman to appear in the bulk of the film is also a smart choice to this effect.
The script, unfortunately, is riddled with cliches, both in narrative and dialogue. There are no real shocks, and very few outright "surprises." (The few that do arrive come in the second half, as the action gets a bit looser and the story a bit less logical.) I didn't expect anything revolutionary, but I caught myself wincing at a few particularly on-the-nose lines.
I wouldn't mind a sequel (which the end of this film rather blatantly sets up), but I'm hoping the next go-round offers a little more freshness and variety.
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