Films Recently Watched

Looked back through this thread to check in on WATMM's view of this one - highly divisive is putting it mildly. 

Annihilation -

Throughout this entire film, I thought that it must be connected, in some way, to the director or writer or an original novel that the movie Arrival might have been based on (it's not). Not saying that these are necessarily the same, but there is some commonality in both the tone and themes, and they feel like they should have been birthed from the same parentage. Flashback are introduced in ways that cause the audience to question whether or not what is being seen is happening now, in a dream, in a flashback (or flashforward, perhaps). There is a similar dreamlike quality, a pacing that is (trending towards) glacial, though compelling, punctuated by moments of intensity. There are similar themes of relationship, identity, love, and family. In a way, this film is also reminiscent of Interstellar (visually, tonally, and pace). Also, Tarkovsky's Solaris. And Bladerunner (both original and 2029). 

It's a weird film. Whereas Arrival gobsmacked me with a twist I generally didn't see coming (and that's unusual), I figured out the "twist(s)" here pretty early, so the moments of "revelation" didn't feel quite so stunning. They also didn't feel like they were trying to be overtly clever or self-satisfied either - so I accepted more readily (even if I wasn't surprised). The film is beautifully filmed, mutational touches to the landscapes, animals, and people that are both beautiful and horrifying in equal measure - as well as somehow naturalistic (which is no mean feat in and of itself). The bear sequence is one of the most genuinely unnerving/disturbing sequences I've seen in a movie in a long while. The, as someone here described it, "modern dance" bit at the end with the "mandelbrot" thingy - sort of beautiful, sort of contrived, vaguely echoic of the end of Under the Skin, I'm glad someone had the balls to go ahead and go for it. Portman is more than competent, wish there was more Oscar Issacs, acting was tight in general. Etc. Etc. 

Etc. Etc. That's kind of how I feel about this film. It's very strange - there is nothing I could point to here and say "that's terrible" or even "that's not very good." The component parts are all well formed. I think what I'm struggling with is a)I feel like this is a film a should really love, but I don't b)I feel like the many other films I think of when I think of this film are much better/more interesting. It's thoughtful, but not thought provoking. It's visuals are stunning, but not in a way that I feel the need to revisit. I felt moved to be moved by this, but wasn't ever actually moved by it (if that makes sense). 

So. Yeah. Think a film like this is hard. One person could watch it and it would bring them to tears, another might watch it and fall asleep halfway through. Think it's possible the same two people could have the opposite reactions (and anything on the spectrum in between) depending on frame of mind. The only two things I can say for sure are:

1. I'm glad I watched it 2.I will never watch it again

  On 1/24/2019 at 3:35 AM, marf said:

star is born

 

should have been directed by whoever directed boogie nights. 

Needed a timeframe. The film feels like everything happened in a week. 

yeh totlaly agree there. its often the problem with films: pacing. Same with GoT....give us a map and calendar if your not gonna use story to do it!

Just saw The Favorite... holy shit it was a perfect film.. pace, acting, script, story, cinematography. amazing movie. I then watched Sophie Copollas's "Mary Antoinette" and was amazed at how shit it was ......... time for a Kubricks "Barry Lyndon" re-wach

Also.. big thumbs up for "Kwaiden" mentioned earlier... creepy AF host stories  from Japan

I watched a documentary called "People's Republic of Desire" about a streaming service in China called YY where random people (or "diaosi" which is a Chinese term for losers) sit in front of their webcam and do... well, pretty much anything. One of the streamers you follow is Shen Man who sings (poorly) and talks to her fans (who are also "diaosi" - and poor and hate themselves and their lives) about pretty much everything and nothing. She's got hundreds of thousands of followers and people are throwing everything they've got at her. Someone in the documentary says that she's planning on donating 5000 Yuan to Shen Man, and she makes 4000 Yuan a month. People do this just in hopes that Shen Man notices them.

So far this just seems like Twitch streaming, right? Well, let's throw in a third party into the mix. Then there's the fucking rich who donate millions to these streamers and they do this to make the poor fans look up to the rich donators. It makes zero fucking sense.

But wait... once a year YY has a competition to find out who's the greatest streamer. So there's a 15 days competition where the streamers try to rake in as much money as possible. They even donate money to themselves to make it look like even more grandiose. Problem is that YY takes a 60% cut and the big streamers also have bosses that take a 20% cut. It's fucking mind-boggling idiotic and extremely fascinating. China is fucking weird.

was it a good doco then?

It was fascinating, depressing, and hilarious at the same time.

Watched amazon's Life Itself.

This once-viewed film is the sole reason I will be talking to my doctor to see if Prozac, Celexa, Zoloft, and Paxil are all right for me.

Hereditary

Can't remember who but someone recommended I watch this a while back. It seems like a pretty polarizing film around here but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was shot well, Toni Collette's performance was fucking great, did a good job of building suspense and had great payoff at the end. Best horror film I've seen in a while.

the decision to show the girl's brutalized, severed head was really quite out of this world deranged given the context that was created in that (brilliant) preceding sequence. it was absolutely horrifying, insane and kinda trollish/hilarious at the same time. i think i already said that but the the film just didn't come together thematically, it devolved into a reasonably well made compilation of horror scenes from the second half and on.

Bad Times At The El Royale. the most bored I've been with a movie in a while. ting's like 2 and a half hours long when it could've been trimmed to 90 mins. trying real hard to be Tarantino but just isn't. Chris Hemsworth is given a role way above his grade. even Jeff Bridges couldn't save this.

Disney's new HD transfer of Willow looks really good, if you're a fan of that 80s film.

glass was really bad

duh

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) - That was the worst thing I have seen in a while. No suspense, none of it worked. A shame, since the director's first movie "Nightcrawler" was incredible. 4/10

The Guilty (2018) - I would call this a must-see. Basically you are watching an emergency dispatchers face for an hour and a half, yet it feels like being on a rollercoaster. 9/10

Happy New Year, Colin Burstead (2018) - A nice return to form for Ben Wheatley. Family drama that jumps from room to room. He said he tried to shoot it like a war film. 9/10

possibly my favorite film EVER. 

approved.

Pajaros de Verano

Native Colombians get involved in the marijuana trade.

Fantastic pictures. Great story. Interesting setting. No new agey nonsense.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6386748/

My radio show from Friday is all film music, check it out!

https://forum.watmm.com/topic/95058-very-old-member-idi-amin-new-mixes/?do=findComment&comment=2695998

Mr Robot was quite good as Freddie Mercury in a cartoonish kind of way. Would like to see the non-Hallmark version of his life story someday though. When the rest of the band are dead no doubt.

Chopper
Great performance from Bana, instant cult classic.

Venom

Way better than I was expecting. Probably the best modern super hero film i've seen (not saying much). Was decent fun.

Vevlet Buzzsaw

Really wanted to love it but very flawed and misguided. Happy to see a mainstream film like this being made today, whacky trash horror throw back/arthouse mix. Jake was great.

The Polka King
Watched the end of it again last night with friends - tis' great! Jack Black's best performance, knocks it out'a the park.

Netflix are hyping Velvet Buzzsaw hard which is having the opposite of the intended effect on me.

Ballad of Buster Scruggs - the monologue from the trapper on his relationship was hilarious (that whole segment was fantastic).

Decent flick for a Friday night with good beers.

agree. I've watched the final segment three times now. It's very good. Definitely the best one. They were all great, but find Tom Waits tedious so that one interested me the least.

Velvet Buzzsaw: Thanks to the WATMM and general anti-hype, was able to actually enjoy this one. If I had gone in expecting flights of angels singly it sweetly unto a kingly and rapturous cinematic spectacle, I would have been beyond pissed. As it was, going it expecting it to be "just ok" and "possibly not working" meant that. . . I actually really liked it. Jake killed it. Malkovitch must have some sort of contract w/ Netflix where he is in 15 minutes of every one of their movies (whatever. it's Malkovich. He's always awesome). *shrugs* thoroughly enjoyed expect one nitpick about the end. 

You Might be the Killer: Horror/Comedy hybrid that doesn't do horror really well or comedy really well. But also doesn't do either of them poorly. I spent 2 bucks or whatever on Amazon Prime to rent it. No regurts. Has Allyson Hannigan (of buffy and HIMYM fame) and . . . that guy from Dollhouse who's also in Cabin in the Woods as the pothead. 

blackkklansmen - highly recommend, the best ive ever seen from spike lee.  to me it reaffirmes the power of film as a medium to comment on the present moment and structural issues, which is super important when internet media and the fast news-cycle make these issues so distant.

Stan and Ollie - gave a good I sight into the later career of the pair. I thought both characters were played really well. Worth a watch, especially if you're a.fan of laurel and Hardy.

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Also, going to see escape room on Wednesday (not my choice). Any good?

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