Return of the RECENT VIEWING

[naughty boy]

I did not like Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri.

Oh, go on...

(I wasn't mad keen on it either)

[hippopotamus]

I did not like Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri.

Oh, go on...

(I wasn't mad keen on it either)

I was really looking forward to liking it. I like in Bruge and 7 psychopaths... and somehow I got the Impression that it was going to understated and interesting. And then it was neither.
I felt lie it was bludgeoning me over the head with DEPTH and MEANING... only it wasn't all that deep or meaningful.
I figured a film around someone seeking justice for a rape crime would ADDRESS the issue... rather than make a big mention of feminist issues in the beginnning (Dress Aul Frances Macdonald as Rosie the Riveter for the WHOLE film) without touching on the subject, and then undermining any point it almost made with her final scene with the ex husband. (I'm trying not to spoil it, I'm sorry if it's too late.)
The same with bigotry and racism. When they almost make a point they undermine the whole thing.
The thing rambles and rambles on.
I sat there making a list in my head of all the films I WISHED I had been watching which did everything it almost did but better:
It Should Happen to you
Place Beyond the Pines
The Trouble with Harry
There were more, I forget them now.

[Matt Wilson]

Harper

Paul Newman's Lew Harper (Archer in the novels) was a character he played twice in his career - here and in The Drowning Pool years later. This one is the better of the two, but it's still no great shakes. I like it well enough, but the plot is overly complicated, Newman's performance isn't quite serious enough, and it's a tad long at 121 minutes. I found myself checking my watch at about halfway through.

[naughty boy]

I did not like Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri.

Oh, go on...

(I wasn't mad keen on it either)

I was really looking forward to liking it. I like in Bruge and 7 psychopaths... and somehow I got the Impression that it was going to understated and interesting. And then it was neither.
I felt lie it was bludgeoning me over the head with DEPTH and MEANING... only it wasn't all that deep or meaningful.
I figured a film around someone seeking justice for a rape crime would ADDRESS the issue... rather than make a big mention of feminist issues in the beginnning (Dress Aul Frances Macdonald as Rosie the Riveter for the WHOLE film) without touching on the subject, and then undermining any point it almost made with her final scene with the ex husband. (I'm trying not to spoil it, I'm sorry if it's too late.)
The same with bigotry and racism. When they almost make a point they undermine the whole thing.
The thing rambles and rambles on.

Agreed.

Like I said (I think) it was well made, very well acted (Sam Rockwell especially - he deserved the Oscar), but it was no fun at all. I don't like being force-fed someone else's agenda. And I got tired of Frances' simmering.

[Matt Wilson]

Marathon Man

Always liked this one. Saw it theatrically when I was eleven years old and it made quite an impression. Sure, there are holes in the plot, but when the suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat like this one does, then all is forgiven. Hoffman is intense but Olivier is brilliant.

[Snarfyguy]

Harper

Paul Newman's Lew Harper (Archer in the novels) was a character he played twice in his career - here and in The Drowning Pool years later. This one is the better of the two, but it's still no great shakes. I like it well enough, but the plot is overly complicated, Newman's performance isn't quite serious enough, and it's a tad long at 121 minutes. I found myself checking my watch at about halfway through.

Having seen it semi-recently, it's a mis-fire that I would suggest non-completists (of anything involved) skip. Pretty weak stuff.

Meanwhile,



Arbitrage, USA, 2012 or so

The young writer-director Nicholas Jarecki, making his first feature, proves himself a master craftsman with a core of moral indignation. He knows how to make a gripping thriller, so well-constructed I felt urgently involved... It represents a radical revision of traditional values.

God, Ebert makes it sound like it's Robert Bresson or something in his review. Calm the fuck down, man (I say to a dead critic).

[Darkness_Fish]

Actually, quite a bit better than I was anticipating. It's a strange one, it feels a bit like a remix of Stand By Me and The Goonies, with a few standard horror tropes thrown in for good measure. The opening scene is by far the most effective in terms of horror, but it's a bit of mis-direction, the rest of the film works better as a nostalgic look at childhood, with a really strong trio of performances from the fat kid, the nerdy kid, and the cool lusted after girl. There's never a sense of general peril though, you just get the feeling throughout that a major budget Hollywood flick is never going to slaughter a bunch of kids we're supposed to identify with.

[Goat Boy]

It's so d-u-m-b.

I laughed throughout.

[naughty boy]

Ah, it’s SUCH a great film!

[pcqgod]

Doogtooth (2009)

Very odd film about a group of adult children who are raised in near-complete isolation from the world by their parents for reasons that are never really explained. The parents deliberately deceive the children about the nature of the outside world in various ways and leave them to participate in sadistic games they play out of boredom. Like 'The Lobster' by the same director, this could be called a dark comedy but the dark parts overwhelm the comedy mostly.

[Snarfyguy]

^^^ I thought that was great.

[driftin]

Doogtooth (2009)

Very odd film about a group of adult children who are raised in near-complete isolation from the world by their parents for reasons that are never really explained. The parents deliberately deceive the children about the nature of the outside world in various ways and leave them to participate in sadistic games they play out of boredom. Like 'The Lobster' by the same director, this could be called a dark comedy but the dark parts overwhelm the comedy mostly.

I love that film. You should check out The Killing of a Sacred Deer from the same director. It's equally absurd, off-kiler, and pitch black, where you're never sure if you should laugh or gasp and wince in horror.

[driftin]

I like this a lot. It's got smart philosophical chops, beautiful visuals, a bizarre and unpredictable plot that gets more bizarre with each minute, and even a bit of pulpy John Carpenteresque monster horror for good measure. It's all of my favourite science-fiction stuff mashed into one.

What an absolute shame it has been given the straight to Netflix treatment outside of the US and apparently all because no one in the US went to see it. I'd love to see this on the big screen or at least a good blu-ray.

[pcqgod]

Doogtooth (2009)

Very odd film about a group of adult children who are raised in near-complete isolation from the world by their parents for reasons that are never really explained. The parents deliberately deceive the children about the nature of the outside world in various ways and leave them to participate in sadistic games they play out of boredom. Like 'The Lobster' by the same director, this could be called a dark comedy but the dark parts overwhelm the comedy mostly.

I love that film. You should check out The Killing of a Sacred Deer from the same director. It's equally absurd, off-kiler, and pitch black, where you're never sure if you should laugh or gasp and wince in horror.

Yeah, I'm interested in watching that one as well.

[Matt Wilson]

The Age of Innocence

Pitch-perfect adaptation of Wharton's novel about New York upper class society in the 1870s. Much like the British novels I had to read in college, the themes deal with repression from societal attitudes towards extra marital affairs (which never happen to the main characters), ideas of decorum and putting on a public face. It's all supposed to decry the death of pre WWI values but it's really all about the suppressed acting and the gorgeous set designs/costumes. It follows the book almost perfectly. A departure for Scorcese and certainly not for everyone.

[naughty boy]

I've seen quite a few films recently.

I, Tonya was probably the best of them - lots of fun, with a fantastic cast. Lady Bird was very good too but it reminded me of those indie flicks from 10 years ago - universal themes of love and family but with a 'quirky' feel. That's not to put it down, but I wouldn't say it was a great film. And I just watched Radio Days which was wonderful - apart from a pointless short sequence towards the end about a girl trapped down a well who was brought up dead - seemed like Woody just needed another five minutes to flesh out the film or something.

[Dr Markus]

where you're never sure if you should laugh or gasp and wince in horror.

Sounds like watching Liverpool.

[naughty boy]

sounds like reading one of Markus’ posts

[Goat Boy]

I watched You Never Really Were Here yesterday.

It's great. Go see.

[Penk!]

I like this a lot. It's got smart philosophical chops, beautiful visuals, a bizarre and unpredictable plot that gets more bizarre with each minute, and even a bit of pulpy John Carpenteresque monster horror for good measure. It's all of my favourite science-fiction stuff mashed into one.

What an absolute shame it has been given the straight to Netflix treatment outside of the US and apparently all because no one in the US went to see it. I'd love to see this on the big screen or at least a good blu-ray.

I just watched it and thought it a letdown, from the perspective of someone who has read the book. It was visually striking and well-acted but intellectually muddled, full of ludicrous contrivances (so who do you pick for your scientific mission into the unknown? I know! Loose-Cannon Aggro Lesbian, Wet Blanket Wrist-Slitting Wallflower, and Basket Case Shrink Woman!) (oh! there was a loud noise as though something broke through the fence. I'll just stand right here in this handy completely open unprotected space. And then when the monster is done with me and comes back to get my friends it'll only respond to, er, I'm not sure actually, sound? Or movement? Sod it just make it work, right?) and saddled with a bafflingly stoooopid ending (oh shit, I've been waffling around with genetics and identity questions for 90 minutes and need to get this thing finished. OK, let's make a mirror monster that only acts as a mirror image when convenient and at other times acts of its own accord, and then you can give it a grenade and it'll happily walk downstairs and just blow all the bad shit up so we can finish the film. People will buy that, right?.
The book, for those who are interested, doesn't push the existentialism quite so hard, but it goes deeper, weirder and more coherent and convincing.

To be fair that monster scene with the parrot voices was pretty freaky.