Films Recently Watched

Are you Don West from Ivans XTC?

brit marling is at least partially responsible for two of the most embarrassing scenes in movie/television history so i'll give her that

  On 9/9/2017 at 1:37 AM, cwmbrancity said:

in a pub in Bristol earlier, young lady with a bambino tucked up snug in a rucksack/baby carrier thingy on her back

 

Kill-List flashback in full effect

Sometimes god's love can be hard to swallow

american honey 

  On 9/8/2017 at 11:53 PM, perunamuussi said:

But then today, only 24 hrs later, I saw Trainspotting 2.

heh, 99% of sequels can fuck right th fuck off and i'm not just trying to be an contrarian here. fuck

you to every director that has made an sequel film that was not already based on th books 

that originally were printed in multiple volumes, or made multiple films off a golden script

that was originally written to be a one off, just to get cash; and in doing so put us real cinema-fan

folk through hours of laborious viewings. th same fuck you goes out to films based on books that

originally were printed in multiple volumes and were then consolidated by pinhead, mediocre

writers into abridged hollywood script (s). 

Trainspotting 2 was based on the sequel to the original novel, Porno

It comes at night - dogshit

Logan - I hesitate to call a comic book gorefest masterful, but it was a poignant farewell to Hugh Jackman in the role of his life, and what feels like a generation of movies and moviegoers. Nobody will fill that void

  On 9/10/2017 at 12:19 AM, caze said:

Trainspotting 2 was based on the sequel to the original novel, Porno

imo there is just 1. irvine needed (s) to get on with new ideas and

stop riding on th pasts success.. might sound an bit harsh, but true.

edit: right, i forgot to include writers who shamelessly write books 

based on films made from their books, that were an success

in the past.

:)

  On 9/10/2017 at 12:26 AM, chim said:

Logan

i've been cautiously curious for this.. thanks for th bit of insight..

  On 9/9/2017 at 11:30 PM, zaphod said:

brit marling is at least partially responsible for two of the most embarrassing scenes in movie/television history so i'll give her that

Gonna need a description of these pls, thx

the east - the scene where they are eating and the crusty leader asks her to eat soup without using her hands and she struggles and then the other crusties all smugly take their spoons in their mouths and feed the person next to them in one deliberate motion. 

the oa - the contemporary dance sequence at the end

https://vimeo.com/75823914

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhDGmCV_s0

these are legitimate low points in western culture 

I can't remember how I stumbled upon this, it never saw wide release. I liked it a lot though. good performances that assured emotional engagement throughout. also good use of Burzum who I've now heard for the first time ever and fear I may end up liking. impressive for a directorial debut (Reed Morano, who apparently also did the first few episodes of A Handmaid's Tale which I should probably see).

I crush hard on Olivia Wilde though she also scares me a bit.

  On 9/10/2017 at 9:06 AM, zaphod said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhDGmCV_s0

lol wtf. I was considering watching this.

  On 9/10/2017 at 9:06 AM, zaphod said:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhDGmCV_s0

 

HAHAAHHAHAAH!!!!!

I was also thinking about watching that, but considering the evidence presented, I will not.

quite.

Wow, never heard of this person.

She seems to be attractive female Neal Breen

  On 9/10/2017 at 11:11 AM, usagi said:

 

  On 9/10/2017 at 9:06 AM, zaphod said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhDGmCV_s0

lol wtf. I was considering watching this.

yeah what the shit was that nonsense?

Brit Marling keeps writing herself into super white woman roles

why is everyone saying brit marling is good looking

  On 9/10/2017 at 3:18 PM, roasty said:

Brit Marling keeps writing herself into super white woman roles

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TDC61yzMlI

lol

  On 9/10/2017 at 9:06 AM, zaphod said:

the east - the scene where they are eating and the crusty leader asks her to eat soup without using her hands and she struggles and then the other crusties all smugly take their spoons in their mouths and feed the person next to them in one deliberate motion.

 

the oa - the contemporary dance sequence at the end

 

https://vimeo.com/75823914

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhDGmCV_s0

 

these are legitimate low points in western culture

Manchester by the sea

It's been a very long time since I saw a true masterpiece, not in the sense of a picture that I recognize as important for cinema as an art form, or an accurate account of a certain era or zeitgeist, or just simply a wildly enjoyable film, but something that so deeply resonates with my being that it felt like part of my soul was pulled out and splattered on the screen. I'm also still in quite a bit of shock, so finding the words to describe what happened to me going through this film is very difficult.

As far as tragic background stories go, Manchester fires for effect. That kind of literary device so often feels cheap and alienates rather than engages, and although it's not without poignant (and accurately sad) scenes in this case, it thankfully doesn't take the center stage. What astonished me was that the focus on the film is rather on how devastating or otherwise character-forming events linger on in the mundane, grab hold of people, shape their destinies and what that feels like. It could easily be deemed a character study in grief, but there are so many nuances and levels going on here that it feels unjust to leave it as a mere meditation - yet it is uncontrived enough to not appear deliberate and overworked. Every aspect from the tragic main character, his family ties to the daily life of the city and its institutions is handled so elegantly it's almost inevitable to forget you're watching a film. Borrowing from the tradition of dogme, it shines a light on the extraordinary within the dull and ordinary, the contrapuntal harmony within the mundane, the sad and difficult. The way these various elements interplay feels old enough to be Shakespearean or Greek, but also incredibly refreshing in a time of so many one-dimensional films.

Having no idea what to expect beforehand, part of the reason I put it off for over a year despite the Oscars and accolades, I assumed whatever the drama was in here would simply serve as the backdrop for another quaint homage to the bittersweet esprit of some American small-town I've never heard of, perhaps too sentimental for its own good and difficult to connect with for purely geographical reasons. On several occasions it almost swerves into that territory, but succeds in retaining a universal quality and relentless authenticity. I don't think I ever doubted the veracity of any of the figures in play, as everybody is given dignity, time and focus, enough for the smallest moments to feel significant. I was simply gobsmacked by the briefest of glances and interactions, and as a jaded moviegoer I normally struggle to emote at the wildest character arcs. That alone still confounds me.

I think anyone who has ever grieved for anything would find it difficult to remain untouched by the pictured events, not necessarily when they happen, but when the main character, years after the fact, so nakedly displays how broken he is, even when figures of his past are desperate for reconciliation and you as the audience yearn for it so badly you want to scream at the screen. For me, the motif of redemption is such a strong one, in real life as well as in fiction, and the fact that we never quite get that payoff here is intensely frustrating and depressing on one hand, but also so fucking powerful on the other. What we get, instead, are those small servings of distractions found in love and responsibilies, just like it so often is in real life. I'm not even sure if there was an arc here. There were moments of joy and loyalty, but what did they signify, beyond the mere virtue of being natural parts of the day-to-day? As the film closed, I wanted it to go on for two more hours simply to see what happens, but I also couldn't bear another moment. It's painful to be in the presence of truly broken people. But they are people. Director and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan said, in reference to the film's purpose, "why can’t they have a movie too?". I can't say anything but a resounding AMEN! to that. I also truly believe these types of stories are powerful instruments for us to work with our demons, something that testifies to the concrete and persistent value of storytelling and elevates it above mere entertainment.

I've always liked Casey Affleck as an actor capable of playing alternative yet believable roles, but the effortless and raw natural talent on display here is, paradoxically enough, out of this world. Simply one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. I intensely want to refrain from singling him out as paramount in the overall greatness of the film, even if it may be true, because the supporting roles, the screenplay and editing are all in astoundingly perfect concert as they paint this complex portrait of a man, a family, a city and life itself.

overrated as hell. with all the hype this film has been gathering and then the box office figures you'd think this was brilliant. it's basically stranger things the movie. bill skarsgård's pennywise is less playful than the tim curry version. he's supposed to be more scary except- i never felt scared. all the kids do a pretty good job- but i honestly think i like the kids from the mini series more mainly because they felt more realistic to the characters whereas these kids are more like kids acting as those characters.

top notch production design for the kids room though. every time they went into someone's room, i felt like tagging along and checking things out too.

six clowns running at you wobbling their heads out of ten

Song to Song

Interesting to see Terrence Malick bringing peoples psyches to the big screen. Even though it has become a bit of a schtick to do it with those dreamy shots (often beautiful!) with narration of peoples inner musings on top, it's still impressive how he can turn human psychology into a plot. Actual events are basically turned into stuff that happens in the background.

In this one you get a sense Malick is trying to get into the Millennial Mindset. In a way the most rich/evolved generation but still unhappy at the same time.