Phoenix (2014) Dir. Christian Petzold Nelly is a Holocaust survivor who has sustained a bad facial gunshot wound which requires extensive reconstructive surgery. The operation is a success but it leaves her appearance significantly altered. She tries to readjust to life with the help of her friend Lene, a fellow Jew who plans to relocate to Israel and wants to convince Nelly to come along. Nelly is desperate to find her husband Johnny again, an effort which Lene discourages, mostly because Lene is convinced of the fact that Johnny (a gentile) was the one who ultimately betrayed his wife to the Nazis. When Nelly does meet her husband again by visiting the nightclub he works at, he is the one who approaches her with a weird offer: since she has a "passing resemblance" to his wife, whom he assumes to be deceased, he wants to engage in a scheme with Nelly in which Nelly will impersonate herself to get Johnny access to his wife's sizable inherence. Against Lene's wishes, Nelly plays along with the scheme, wanting to reconnect with her husband and refusing to believe Lene's suspicions about him. This was quite well done. It's hard to really pin this movie down into a single genre. It's part neo-noir, part qausi-heist film, part a strange study of a marriage, as well as a movie about betrayal. A lot is asked of Nina Hoss here but she carries the film wonderfully well. I also love the subtlety of the climax, especially in contrast to the ending I was actually expecting.
Prodigy (2018) A former hospital is now used to house what may be the most dangerous human alive. This murderer, cunningly intelligent and perceptive, has been manipulating everything despite being constantly held in restraints and kept in isolation with very limited and controlled contact with others. The military thinks a dissection will reveal secrets that may help create supersoldiers. The facility director thinks she can bring the prisoner under control and get at that well protected psyche by bringing in a child psychologist. Because this most dangerous person alive is a nine year old girl. A micro-budget film that is at it's best when the two leads are doing their chess match (figuratively and literally) and despite the supernatural horror style and Sherlock Holmes language, it's about an empathetic guy just trying to get someone to open up a bit. I was truly invested in their plights. However, it was a little ham-handed in trying to create tension and propelling the acts to their required positions at the required times. This is the failing I've seen before, and it's something that makes two-room dramas worse than one-room dramas - it's like the writer doesn't trust the best part of the movie, and creates the second room to drive events in the main room. But we just end up noticing the writer's hand on the tiller.
Been watching the crime drama Hinterland, set in Wales, featuring Richard Harrington. Quite enjoy it.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) Dir. Quentin Tarantino Over the course of three days in 1969, we follow three individuals as they go their way in and around Hollywood: Rick Dalton, a former TV cowboy who is trying - and mostly failing - to transition into movies. Cliff Booth, Rick's stunt double whose hubris - as well as some nasty rumors - have made him persona non grata on most studio lots. Sharon Tate, at the height of her fame and enjoying her Hollywood lifestyle, her glamorous friends and her superstar director husband Roman Polanski. Slowly but surely we work up to a dramatic event which will unite all three of them. This was a very interesting film. It certainly left me with a lot of stuff to consider. However, I will preface with stating that I don't think this is Quentin Tarantino's best film since "Jackie Brown". I think it shares the same issues as all of the movies that followed his Pam Greer film. There are sections that work and display some of his genuine talent as a film maker. There are other sections which revert to his ever more self-indulgent navelgazing. The good stuff: The entire Spahn ranch section of the film is another bit of masterful suspense film-making, rivaling though not quite eclipsing his "La Louisiane" section of "Inglorious Basterds". It's also visually quite rich (Tex' horse ride back to the ranch!). There are other flourishes of visual delight (the neon sign scene, the crane shot that reveals the drive-in theater as Cliff drives back to his trailer). Then there is the kind of stuff that feels shoe-horned in because Tarantino wanted to do a bit ("The Great Escape Bit" is a fun gimmick that adds nothing to the film itself). Since QT can get just about anyone to appear in his films, it shouldn't surprise that there are some very good performances in there. Though Margot Robbie gets the least amount of dialogue of the three leads, she shines as Sharon Tate. I do get the criticism about her character compared to the two male leads. She is more of an idea, a metaphor for a specific kind of Hollywood, than a real person. This movie is also the film that most uses Leo's comedic talents since "The Wolf of Wall Street". Di Caprio is very good at playing folks who aren't quite as smart/talented/good as they think they are. I liked Brad Pitt's performance least of the three leads. I think he is a bit too old for the role and I didn't always buy him as a tough guy stunt man. In terms of the smaller supporting roles, I thought Dakota Fanning was fantastic as Squeaky, making a five minute cameo more memorable than it has any business being. Julia Butters deserves all the praise she got from critics. Certainly one of the best child actor performances I have seen in a while. Plot/writing wise, my favorite bit was really how the Manson family is portrayed. Quentin Tarantino totally demystifies then. He does not glamorize them in the slightest, in fact he treats them with utter contempt. They are nothing more than dumb, violent hippies within this universe and Charles Manson is treated like an utter buffoon (for the few minutes he is on screen). Here Be Plot Spoilers! (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Here Be Plot Spoilers! (open) Here Be Plot Spoilers! (close) I'm not ashamed to admit that the climax was very satisfying, even though QT is going for the cheap bloodthirst of his audience by that point. But I can't pretend that I didn't enjoy the manner in which Cliff and Brandy dispatched Tex & co. To me this was about on par with "The Hateful Eight" (which I probably enjoyed more than most) and a notch below "Inglorious Basterds" (which I believe to have more truly great scenes).
this is an interesting observation from my perspective. i'm far more concerned with the plot than screen magic, though probably the latter is what people remember. for example, the first encounter in Dances With Wolves btwn Dunbar and Wind In His Hair begins the rising action in the film and it may be memorable from the standpoint that Dunbar doesn't say anything and WIHH speaks in Lakota, but the story arc that ends with WIHH on the bluff declaring that Dances With Wolves will always be his friend cements in the viewer's understanding that both these men have been irrevocably changed by their association, and that's what makes the movie a classic drama. there may be more compelling scenes in the movie, depending on the viewer, but those two are the takeoff and the dismount that -- from one person's perspective -- make the movie.
Movies are an audiovisual medium so a certain level of visual artistry is required imho. That doesn't mean that the plot is irrelevant. But I should clarify that when I mean great scenes, I don't just mean from a visual perspective. They are also well-written, expertly paced, cleverly edited, ... all to slowly ratchet up the tension.
Ready or Not (2019) Dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett Grace and Alex, a young couple who met and got engaged in quick succession have the day of their wedding together. Grace is marrying into the Le Domas family, a wealthy privileged clan which owes its fortune to a board game company founded by the grandfather of the current patriarch. Though she doesn't feel as welcomed by all of the members of the family, she is still excited at the prospect of becoming one of them. Mostly because she is an orphan who was raised in the foster system and this will be the first time she feels part of a real family. Though there are some hiccups during the day, the wedding itself goes by rather uneventfully. Just as the young couple are getting ready for their wedding night, Alex has to inform Grace of a strange Le Domas tradition: whenever a Le Domas gets married, his or her wife or husband has to play a game. What the game in question entails is decided by which card the person draws from a deck contained within a mysterious box. When Grace pulls out the Hide and Seek card, she assumes she will be spending part of her wedding night playing a kids game. Only the Le Domas version of Hide and Seek includes them killing their prey and all of them share a (superstitious?) belief that failure to do so will result in the deaths of the entire family. This was a moderately entertaining horror-comedy that owes most of its enjoyable qualities to the cast. Samara Weaving is delightful in the lead role. Melanie Scrofano gets a chance to display her undeniable comedic talent on the big screen as a coke-snorting buffoon of a sister-in-law (I wish her role had been slightly bigger for that reason). Adrien Brody is quite good as the slimy brother-in-law who turns out to be the only one with a heart. This exists in the same basic universe as "Free Fire" (somewhere on the intersection of comedy and action), with which it also shared the fact that the performances are generally better than the writing.
Some time off means watching a couple of movies in the coming days. First up is one my wife has wanted to see for awhile: "The Spy Who Dumped Me" stars Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon; Mrs. Ismitje always wants to see movies with Mila Kunis in them. This was completely adequate, which surprised me because I thought it would be more terrible than good. My wife is very happy we watched it and our daughter was even over for dinner and watched with us, so I consider it a win all the way around.
I liked it when I took a girl I really liked to see it on a date when i was at school That is when my opinion actually was unqualified. My snark was more a ribbing of BG as my controversial take is that Tarantino hasn't made a great film since Pulp Fiction. Especially I think IG is yet another example of audio-visual wanking by a director who took his self indulgent need for homage to absurd levels instead of delivering on a compelling screenplay. But yes - it does have some nice shots and set pieces. Dances with Wolves needs to be seen against the mania for stars like Costner at that time. IMO in hindsight a fairly average western.
you clearly didn't appreciate the dramatic thrust of DWW. maybe that has much to do with the fact that you haven't grown emotionally since you were in school. if i'm wrong, please forgive me. not that this is proof that DWW is a great movie, but it did win the Best Picture Oscar against Godfather III, Awakenings, Ghost and Goodfellas, admittedly not a stellar group, compared to '89 and '92. and, one last thing, i wasn't talking about Tarantino movies, so your amended remarks are superfluous to your original comment.
Well, we are discussing movies, which should allow us to argue our case strongly, without it getting personal I get you like the film. Later I came to feel it was just average. I mean would it even make a top 10 list of greatest westerns? I know that - it was a joke directed at BG
The Kid (2019) Dir. Vincent D'Onofrio Rio and his sister Sarah have to flee after Rio shoots his father in a vain attempt to save his mother's life from a brutal beating she is receiving from her husband. The two kids have to flee because their uncle is sure to want revenge for the death of his brother. During their escape, they stumble upon Billy the Kid and his gang as the two groups share a shack as shelter for one night. The next morning, Pat Garrett arrests Billy the Kid outside that shack and Rio and Sarah travel with the group to Santa Fe. Rio's fascination for the famous gunslinger and outlaw only grows. At the same time, their uncle gets ever closer on their trail. A so-and-so western with a good cast. Dane DeHaan is a good Billy the Kid and Ethan Hawke is always enjoyable in westerns. Ultimately I found the third act to be a bit silly and Chris Pratt is really miscast as the sinister villain imho.
The Irishman (2019) Dir. Martin Scorsese We follow the life of Frank Sheeran, told through a series of long flashbacks in which he narrates how he goes from being a truck driver to a mob hitman, as well as his eventual association with Jimmy Hoffa. I wouldn't consider this a Scorsese gran cru, by which I don't mean to say that this is a bad movie. It does have some issues. The 3.5 hour cut I saw is a bit self-indulgent in its run-time and the same story could have been told just as well in a movie which was an hour shorter. Which doesn't mean that this thing drags terribly bad but there are definitely several sections which could have been shorter or even omitted entirely without harming the film's quality. My bigger issue is that the technology to de-age De Niro, Pesci, Pacino, ... only works so well. This is especially apparent in the scenes of the younger Sheeran. When he beats up a store owner, we aren't seeing a young man dish out a beating, but rather a 70-something year old man who has been digitally made to appear younger. There is something about the way an older man moves that CGI cannot hide very well. The simple solution would have been to have the younger McCourt played by a different actor, especially since De Niro & co are all more than fine in the scenes in which they get to play closer to their real age. But I guess that this was never considered a real option. Secondly, it's hard to think of a movie which more badly fails the Bechdel test. I honestly think that Anna Paquin had just one line of dialogue in the entire film. And she is perhaps the only female character of any real consequence in this film. Still, even a semi-classic Scorsese film is still enjoyable, mostly due to his technical qualities as a director. Watching this thing with the Marvel kerfuffle in the back of your head really reveals how anemic so many of those "theme park movies" are from a visual creativity perspective.
Truth or Dare (2018) Dir. Jeff Wadlow A group of six college friends go on spring break to Mexico. On the last night of their stay, a stranger invites them to come along with him to a cool location, which turns out to be an abandoned monastery. In there, they start playing a game of truth or dare during which nothing much happens apart from drunken hi-jinks. When their guide's turn is up, he chooses truth and then reveals to the group that he actually tricked them into coming to this place and that they are now part of a cursed game of truth or dare in which players who fail to tell the truth or execute the dare die. They all assume the man in question is just playing a sick little joke on them until they return stateside and a supernatural force is making them play the game, with lethal outcomes. Not the best Blumhouse horror film I've seen in recent years. Lucy Hale is a good final girl in spite of the fact that the writing leaves something to be desired. The answer to the moral dilemma posed at the start of the movie is returned to rather late in the movie, whilst it might have added an unexpected level of poignancy had they addressed it a bit earlier. This is most reminiscent of the "Final Destination" series in that the horror is centered around the wait for the next character's gruesome death.
I am about half way through this movie and it’s interesting enough so far, but that was the lamest beating I ever saw. He beat him up in slow motion, only in real time.
I feel the screenplay was quite flabby at 3.5 hrs. More like a mini series Also the casting really doesn't work. I keep feeling like I was seeing old de Niro and Pacino and not how I know those guys looked in the 70s So that became quite distracting co pared to just using different actors
Rambo: Last Blood (2019) Dir. Adrian Grünberg The elderly John Rambo is living on a horse farm together with his surrogate daughter Gabrielle and her grandmother Maria. Just before Gabrielle is set to go off to college, one of her friends is able to track down her long estranged father in Mexico. Against both Rambo and her grandmother's wishes, she goes to Mexico alone and does meet her father. The meeting goes so badly that she agrees to tag along to a club together with her friend to improve her mood somewhat. During this club visit, she becomes the victim of a man who entraps girls for sex trafficking. Rambo's initial attempt to save the girl fails. In the aftermath of his second attempt he dishes out the kind of revenge only a man like John Rambo can envision and then carry out. This is an odd film. Another entry in the old man action movie genre for which Stallone is already a huge proponent with his "Expandables" franchise, this was originally meant to be a more subdued and introspective Rambo. The idea was also to return to the origins of the series by trying to recreate something like the original film. I would say that the movie fails on both counts. What we are left with are a lot of (borderline racist) stereotypes about Mexico and one long action set piece near the end of the film which isn't bad but isn't anything we haven't seen dozens of times before either.
So apparently Hoffa was 62 when he went missing - so in that case it kinda would make sense that Frank was also portrayed as 60 during the main timeline of the film? These were super old gangsters
it's not a western other than the fact that it takes place on the frontier. it's a classic drama set on the post-Civil War frontier. the time-frame for most Westerns is 15-20 years later. Wyatt Earp died in 1929, FWIW.
Your definition of a western is very narrow. I would include movies like "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia".
Yeah, but I think Sheeran is supposed to be in his thirties when he meets Bufalino at the service station. He was fifty-five when Hoffa disappeared.