Going to the 3 billboards on Saturday:)
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Going to the 3 billboards on Saturday:)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
Just saw this tonight. Damn good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aimless
Superb performances from all the leads. Frances McDormand is always quality but she is incredible in this.
Black comedy at its sharpest. Dark and wonderful.
Go watch. Go watch now.
I have tickets for tonight :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
The Right Stuff -- good but odd in a 1983 kind of way. I saw this about 25 years ago and seeing it now I'm thinking the ultimate moral of the story is Get a Degree.
Apollo 13 -- spoiler, they make it back. If you haven't seen it, you should. Goes great with my Lego Saturn V.
Colossal -- don't bother unless.... The premise is very different and mysterious, and is the only reason I watched it, but gets unwrapped ultimately to a stupid origin. The film goes from an almost romantic comedy to one of very dark domestic abuse almost on a dime and leaves you thinking What the Fuck? And the climax is full of plot holes. The cast does a great job, so I'm blaming the writing/ direction for the fail.
Film Stars don't die in Liverpool; a movie about the May to December love affair between Gloria Grahame and Peter Turner that ends with her death of cancer. One of those moves that managed to tear me up at times. Very strong performance by both Anette Benning and Jamie Bell.
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Well-made movie and a welcome departure from the established Marvel formula. Neither the best nor the worst. More restrained than most, but many scenes were just too on-the-nose, leaving little space for the audience to think. The soundtrack was phony as hell but the visuals were awesome. The accents didn't work--several people had a really hard time maintaining it. Some of the sc-ifi elements were annoying; whenever a movie invokes "nanites", I tend to go, "Oh fuck off," and tune out. The supporting cast was excellent. The mid-credits scene, the post-credits scene a little better. The ending was a little sloppy.
How are you always first in line for these? Do you get advance screenings, or do these release earlier over there?
I have VERY effective bedroom-eyes :downcast:
Spoiler:
If you're talking about Black Panther; that premiered tonight here in Amsterdam as well.
I saw The Girl King on Netflix and really liked it. Five stars, all thumbs up
The Cloverfield Paradox. Someone had to watch it, so you don't have to. Derivative movie giving a superfluous backstory to the cloverfield movie. A bit of a mash up between Alien and Friday the 13th. Biggest mystery is how the cool Scandinavian blonde named Jensen got the French flag tagged on.
The Post. A good movie for feminism (even though Graham is still mostly portrayed as a woman depending on the moral backbones of men around her). Otherwise I didn't like it much; it's very much a movie that makes you feel that it was the Press against the Nixon administration. But in reality on the topic the real culprits were the Kennedy and Johnson administrations whose dirty work was exposed. In retrospective we may very well conclude (once the hysteria about Watergate is removed from the system) that the Nixon administration actually had good reasons to insist the Pentagon Papers should not be published right then.
Unfortunately I saw this too, specifically because of the advertised connection with Cloverfield, which I liked. But this was fairly terrible, especially as a backstory to that movie. Blah. It could have been an interesting stand-alone movie with a bit more work, I think. Maybe.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
I loved Cloverfield. But this was just a piece of crap.Quote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
Recently spent an unconscionable amount of time on planes, so I saw a bunch of films without much choice (the planes were old 767s without individual screens):
Thor Ragnarok. Meh, I've really gotten tired of the whole Marvel thing. It was okay.
The Light Between Oceans. I liked this movie, though it was flawed. Great performances by Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander (Rachel Weisz also had a solid role); their on screen chemistry was fantastic, which I guess makes sense since they're married. The story itself was a bit just-so and obvious about where it was going (not to mention having the main moral dilemma be less of a dilemma than a massive injustice perpetrated by the main characters), but it still got to me nonetheless. Maybe it's because of my perspective on infertility, but the underlying emotions of the story spoke to something very real. The conclusion was, IMO, a bit flawed, but still a decent film overall. Worth a look.
Battle of the Sexes. Really solid efforts by Stone and Carell, especially Carell. I have no idea if their representations of the real personalities were in any way accurate (I don't follow tennis), but they were really well fleshed out and well-acted characters. The storyline itself was set up a bit too much of a morality play, and it tried too hard to link into the MeToo thing as well as LGBTQ rights - while both are relevant to the storyline, it's okay to leave them in the background without smacking you over the head with them. Decent, but you'll probably get more out of it if you're into the history of tennis.
Watched Thor Ragnarok and the Justice League a day apart. It's hard to put into words just how much worse the latter is than the former. I'd be surprised if there were 5 minutes of entertainment value in the Justice League.
Dunkirk - sorta disappointing. It depicts an important moment in history, but leaves out objective bits. Like that Hitler for some reason halted the advance on Dunkirk, which is why they managed to pull out. The movie gives no reason whatsoever, not even a sense of how nearby Nazi-German troops were. The characters are also kinda hard to identify with. At one point, visually, because they all have tainted black hair color and style. Making it actually difficult to separate white people apart, being white. Some great visuals, but lack of actor performances and pacing, ruins this movie for me. 6/10.
Darkest hour - Movie about the other side, Churchill in the centrum of England, prior to the Dunkirk event. Carries all the strengths the former didn't have. Strong cast, great pacing, suspense, great dialogue (as one would expect from a movie about Churchill). Character driven movie, and when the character is done great, then the movie itself turns out very fun to watch. 9/10.
I, Tonya - Entertaining drama, based on a true story. Mostly for those intrigued by sports in general. Margot Robbie keeps proving she can act fairly well, beyond being a bombshell blonde. It's a bit on the ridiculous side, at times, and only goes as far as its plot allows it to. 7/10.
Thor Ragnarok - Marvel generally is not my thing, despite having watched most of them. Come to think of it, only movies I truly enjoyed were Doctor Strange and Deadpool, and in parts Iron Man. Most are action centric, with cheesy lines and little to no character fancy. 5/10
The Lost City of Z - Reminds me of Indiana Jones. Not quite the same charming experience, but more brute and true to life. I did enjoy this movie quite the bit. 7/10.
Kong Skull - Same issues as Thor Ragnarok. Cheesy predictable plot, a lot of action, but little suspense. 5/10.
The Big Sick - Kind of movie that is sorta uncomfortable to sit through. Revolves around a different culture than your own, the traditional Pakistani one - which you might inherently not fancy, or even dislike. It's a good love story, original, and keeps you interested. 7/10.
Get Out - Very cool thriller. Excellent cast, mesmerising plot twists. 8/10.
John Wick / Chapter 2 - Action how its supposed to be done. Movie that keeps you grinning throughout, as its just that badass. 9/10.
Lion - Different culture movie, once again, but this time beautiful and tantalising from start to finish. Weird that a person like Weinstein, is able to produce such a thing. 8/10.
Tomb Raider is an excellent action-adventure movie and Alicia Vikander is a goddamn' star. Everyone else in the movie detracts from the experience. The first act was my favourite, as it focused almost entirely on Lara in a mundane real-world setting. Many scenes will have you holding your breath even though you know that obv. everything is going to be all right. Good cameos. I wish Hannah John Kamen would've gotten more screen-time.
Been watching all the Marvel stuff on Netflix, in fits and starts. Episodes of Jessica Jones, the Iron Fist, Daredevil, Luke Cage, etc. Binged on the "Defenders" limited series recently, and realized how it's all designed to keep you watching any Marvel-related stuff. Brilliant use of the original comic book stories taken to the big screen, I guess. But for the most part it was how Netflix put it all together that blew me away.
Ready Player One
Way better than what the critics are saying. Its full of throwbacks, but they compliment rather then hinder the film. I suspect I'll be using my moviepass to see it at least once more.
I read the book, and wasn't impressed. It was too ... kiddy ... too much like it was written by an excited teenager.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
Yet the movie is getting great reviews. Might be one of those rarest of occasions that a movie is better than the book. :o
I didn't even know there was a book, but I thought the movie was entertaining enough. The cultural 80s references were a little bit odd in the time the story played, however, may just about have been relevant to the instigators of the 'adventure'.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
The book isn't literature, to be sure. And to be fair, it is young adult fiction, so if it seemed kiddy, that might have something to do with it. My son insisted that I read it and there were SO many references in it that came literally right out of my childhood, I did find it an engrossing experience. For example, I have that Tomb of Horrors AD&D adventure module in a box in my basement. But the movie did not have anything like that kind of magic for me, with pretty much all those super esoteric bits removed. It was just okay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
EDIT: Saw Three Billboards over the weekend. I liked it a lot.
They were the hipsters of their generation :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Hazir
Seriously though the story does try to explain this in 2 fashions, one of which you picked up on. In the beginning its explained that people just stopped trying, which would explain the lack of creative innovation (and the dilapidated state of pretty much everything in the real world); and the story revolves around a group of gunters, whos entire purpose is understand the mind of a man who grow up in and loved the 80s, that type of dedication is bound to wear off on you.
A quiet place; a movie with so little dialogue that it could almost have been a silent movie. Entertaining thriller that sometimes dips a toe into gory horror but never goes too far. John Krasinski director and in the lead, opposite Emily Blunt. I like both of them a lot, though probably John just that little bit more :)
Darkest hour; what a snore fest. Funny to see how a movie dependent on words is so completely boring when a movie with virtually no dialogue (Quiet place) manages to be so entertaining.
Ali G Indahouse. Remarkably topical. Martin Freeman's best performance which actually presaged his role as Bilbo (see Ricky C's necklace).
Murder on the Orient Express
It was utterly soulless and not even all that stylish. That fucking mustache. Wasted opportunity.
Yeh I was unimpressed too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aimless
Fortunately I saw it in a cinema nearby where they've converted one of the smaller screens into a more upmarket way to see movies, with sofa-like seats for two where you can recline with your chosen movie-partner, nice hors d'ouevres brought to you and a reasonable wine selection. So we kicked back, got fed and increasingly sozzled, and largely ignored the mediocrity on-screen.
I still think Jonny Depp has a lot of talent tho, despite his utter fuckwittery off-screen.
Where is this cinema and will they show Avengers in IMAX?