Films Recently Watched

  On 10/16/2023 at 8:51 PM, logboy said:

the exorcist. 

directors cut, cinema rerelease.

i’ve seen a handful of classics restored and on a big screen like this. reading the intent,  successes and failures is far easier. completely different impression of so many aspects of the films. makes a mockery of watching films any other way.

the shock here is probably relative to what had been around through the mainstream in the decades prior. it’s reputation now is in how huge the crowds and cultural impact were at the time. in reality, the exorcism is quite naively done, but still works well even if you’ve picked up on how it was executed or see the make-up as now very obvious. the sound mix appears to be amongst the stuff fiddled with over time, which is in places helpful for a bigger feel than what is on screen mostly gives, and others too obviously modern. the momentary cgi stuff is the worst of it.

the film is quite modest in budget, even compared to other contemporary studio stuff from the time using real locations and few effects or studio sets, with far better filmmaking from friedkin in the years after. lots of interesting pointers to ideas placing science against religion and vice versa. there aren’t probably as many good central ideas or nuance to his stories elsewhere, but far better construction and acting across the overall cast. a few great ones here, mostly from individuals, rarely from characters interacting with each other - a real mixed bag. on the whole, still great, but not a film to accept the reputation as a classic above going in with fresh eyes of your own and trying to find what you see in the details.

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Such a bizarre, misconceived, badly worded, muddled post, I'm not going to dig through all the flaws in it I'll just touch on the fact that 3/4 of it was filmed in a studio

  On 10/17/2023 at 9:26 PM, Schlitze said:

Such a bizarre, misconceived, badly worded, muddled post, I'm not going to dig through all the flaws in it I'll just touch on the fact that 3/4 of it was filmed in a studio

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if it's so muddled, how are you so sure i am referring to this or to other films in that part of it?

Watched The Godfather and Part II as well and really enjoyed them both. I had been meaning to watch them for the longest time and finally got round to it.

I'm tempted to give some Adam Curtis docos a go but I have a notion that he can play fast and loose with facts in favour of feelings and impressions which may or may not be grounded in reality. is this accurate?

On the plane I got to watch a few movies. None of them were great. 

Silly, gory fluff. Not much to report about it. 

I must have missed the film before this one because it didn’t make a ton of sense. Either that or I did see it and it still didn’t make sense. There were a few cool ideas but overall this just felt loose. 
 

This one was ok. The casting was a little weird. The main girl seemed like she was doing a Billie Eilsh impression. The actor who played the dad is normally someone I really like but he seemed a bit blah in this. Maybe it was the direction. Watch out for that boogeyman tho. 

I had higher hopes for this one. The trailer I saw a couple months ago was incredible so I jumped at watching this one but it was very basic and one dimensional. It could have been a lot better. 

This was interesting. How could it not be? Terrible poster. 
 

I’m probably forgetting one or two. 

  On 10/21/2023 at 7:00 AM, usagi said:

I'm tempted to give some Adam Curtis docos a go but I have a notion that he can play fast and loose with facts in favour of feelings and impressions which may or may not be grounded in reality. is this accurate?

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Yes, that's accurate imo. I feel like his films (the ones I've seen) are interesting and fun to watch nevertheless. He has a unique documentary style, and the way he edits together archival footage to present his arguments is very fascinating, even if he overreaches and is ultimately unpersuasive on key points. My key criticism with his arguments is that he deals in hasty generalizations when trying to offer a coherent explanation of why the world is the way that it is. In some of his films, like the one about the early days of the internet (forget the title) and also the one about Edward Bernays, this is not an issue. But for the big ones like Hypernormalisation and Can't Get You Out of My Head, it seems to be a glaring issue. Even with their problems, those two in particular are ambitious and I like them the best. Even if his argument falls flat, the film making is terrific and I ended up learning a lot about world history in the 20th century. Also, I think he deserves props for posing big questions that few others do and having the courage to at least try and offer answers. Soundtracks are killer too.

  On 10/18/2023 at 11:30 AM, usagi said:

 

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was about to dismiss (i don't care much for a24) but i saw who the director was, and now i can confirm interest of the zone is at a zenith

  On 10/24/2023 at 2:51 PM, decibal cooper said:

Yes, that's accurate imo. I feel like his films (the ones I've seen) are interesting and fun to watch nevertheless. He has a unique documentary style, and the way he edits together archival footage to present his arguments is very fascinating, even if he overreaches and is ultimately unpersuasive on key points. My key criticism with his arguments is that he deals in hasty generalizations when trying to offer a coherent explanation of why the world is the way that it is. In some of his films, like the one about the early days of the internet (forget the title) and also the one about Edward Bernays, this is not an issue. But for the big ones like Hypernormalisation and Can't Get You Out of My Head, it seems to be a glaring issue. Even with their problems, those two in particular are ambitious and I like them the best. Even if his argument falls flat, the film making is terrific and I ended up learning a lot about world history in the 20th century. Also, I think he deserves props for posing big questions that few others do and having the courage to at least try and offer answers. Soundtracks are killer too.

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imma pass then tbh, I think this approach is ultimately a disservice to the viewer and to a better understanding of things generally.

another trash-mex classic that delivers in dividends. a maniacal bad guy uses a hot nightclub in veracruz as his hunting ground for dames. unfortunately, he's rebuffed every time and thus, we have the brutal deaths suggested in the topic. it's up to ace top cops roberto 'flaco' guzman and his partner antonio 'game changer' raxel to close the case, but slight hiccup is that the club is controlled by narcos, and for unknown reasons, they're super chuffed about all sorts of nefarious activities happening at their stronghold.

  On 10/21/2023 at 7:00 AM, usagi said:

I'm tempted to give some Adam Curtis docos a go but I have a notion that he can play fast and loose with facts in favour of feelings and impressions which may or may not be grounded in reality. is this accurate?

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Pretty much

It's basically the style of Koyaanisqatsi with a lot of  (mainly stolen) political posturing and gradually more and more paranoid social theory. 

I got really bored and watched the latest Mission Impossible film.
I have no idea how this film has been getting the amount of positive press it's been receiving. The attempts at humour really fall flat and are vastly tonally mismatched from the rest of the film. I also reckon that other films will try to copy the ridiculous action-scene at the end of the film that just doesn't end.

I am an old man.

Nightmare before Christmas. Getting into the season. 

  On 10/25/2023 at 11:45 PM, oscillik said:

I got really bored and watched the latest Mission Impossible film.
I have no idea how this film has been getting the amount of positive press it's been receiving. The attempts at humour really fall flat and are vastly tonally mismatched from the rest of the film. I also reckon that other films will try to copy the ridiculous action-scene at the end of the film that just doesn't end.

I am an old man.

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No you are spot on...it was boring and felt 30 years old already

  On 10/24/2023 at 10:27 PM, Nebraska said:

was about to dismiss (i don't care much for a24) but i saw who the director was, and now i can confirm interest of the zone is at a zenith

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Watched this film yesterday and I loved it. Dark.

  On 10/27/2023 at 4:57 AM, Silent Member said:

Watched this film yesterday and I loved it. Dark.

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How'd you get to do that while the rest of us wait for Dec 15?  I'm glad it's getting good buzz.  I love all three of his films.

It was showing at a local film festival, in hindsight I'll just go on record to call this a masterpiece. One of the best films I've seen.

the killer by david fincher.

caught a cinema screening; made for netflix, i think. i'm not entirely sure where or what the subtext is in this. it might be that it works towards having the viewer accept a contract killer as ignorable through his (maybe) patchy attempts at calculated moves, or it could be that this feels all too much like it was made for TV and it's as inherently modest, veering towards light or disposable as most tend to have a reputation for being. not that much major goes on for most of it, but there is possibly a slow overall revelation that he's going against all his repeatedly stated principals and approaches. the moments with an expected punch to them might be too few and far between. swathes of dialogue feels OTT, unnecessary or rushed. it may be that it's something to be rewatched and studied more than it initially seems is worth doing. solid enough, but not a very memorable moment in fincher's body of work for me. i think i've seen nine of them at the cinema now. 

*the killer semi-spoilers*

i thought the killer was excellent. watched in the theater. i don't really care if a movie has a "subtext" but i will say i think this is yet another entry into fincher's cannon that seems to be a send up of masculinity. in this one the killer's whole ethos comes across as some "rise and grind" guy who's worldview is a mishmash of cherry-picked nuggets he can't even attribute properly (lol at not remembering aleister crowley). his philosophy is all about total control of the mind and body in order to put these into the service of the sole purpose of getting money, about everything else he "does not give a fuck." fincher puts this guy in a situation where he makes one single mistake and he instantly spirals into a revenge spree, all the while telling himself he denies emotion, he sticks to the plan, he does not improvise. this is classic fincher, he always seems to be undermining masculinity and its various trappings and i really enjoyed how contemporary this one is not just bc of how well fincher depicted the modern world but bc this character and his ideological trappings are such 21st century things. our society is dominated by men like these - guys who think they are stoic geniuses who hide their mediocrity with profound-sounding quotations, who are ultimately unremarkable and not even good at what they do (the killer doesn't just fuck up the assassination but also leaves his girlfriend in some beach-side hideout with no walls lmao), and who continue to justify completely contradictory behaviors with the same pseudo philosophy about how controlled they are and how they are actually sociopaths, etc. 

additionally, the film just ruled. amazing editing and sound design here. fincher working with editing and sound together in new ways here imo - lots of really disorienting, even jarring shifts in the sound, where background becomes suddenly very loud orvery fast edits from one thing to the next also involve corresponding shifts in sound intensity. the whole diegetic music thing was very clever - how the music would change from in-environment to soundtrack depending on the particular shot. also the choice of the smiths i thought fit the theme i mentioned above so well and was pretty funny - the hyper stoic masculine assassin is actually motivated by emotion and is constantly listening to the most emo shit ever. definitely plan on watching again soon. the pacing was pretty aggressive so i feel like there's probably lots to see the second time around. 

ultimately found it really rich and fun, a taut but not lean thriller, which sees fincher bringing a little more levity into his intense control. kinda felt there must be a little self-deprecation in this one, in a way

  On 10/30/2023 at 4:16 PM, Alcofribas said:

i thought the killer was excellent. watched in the theater. i don't really care if a movie has a "subtext" but i will say i think this is yet another entry into fincher's cannon that seems to be a send up of masculinity. 

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definitely want to check this out. 

for those who liked it, I highly recommend the comics this film is based on. there are several collected volume editions. Vol 1 & 2 are very good. from what I remember about the character, he does discuss about his personal nihilist view of the world quite a bit. the later volumes focus more on a global political story as opposed to the inner thoughts and motivations of the killer.

  On 10/30/2023 at 4:41 PM, zero said:

his personal nihilist view of the world

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fincher loves this theme lol

  On 10/30/2023 at 4:16 PM, Alcofribas said:

*the killer semi-spoilers*

 

ultimately found it really rich and fun, a taut but not lean thriller, which sees fincher bringing a little more levity into his intense control. kinda felt there must be a little self-deprecation in this one, in a way

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you picked up on similar things here as also found in ‘american psycho’ i think. i didn’t really, but what you say makes sense.