i just saw Iron Lung in theater. absolutely amazing film.
critically speaking, maybe a 6/10, but personally, I would genuinely give it a 10/10 and say it is one of my favorite films. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time
I was surprised by Markipliers acting, and it was definitely surreal seeing him on the silver screen
if you like horror, or indie films (or just want to support indie films), please go check it out in theaters.
Watched Interstellar with my girlfriend. I definitely feel like with this one Nolan has lost most of what interested me about his style in the first place. The high-concept tech fetishist optimism (“We don’t have to do anything about the end of the world; we can just find a new one!”) of the film really loses me. Does not help that, again, it is nearly three hours –but I am particularly distasteful of that type of rhetorical foundation.
I liked the IMAX work a lot and a lot of the imagery in space really works though. It’s funny seeing Michael Caine in so many of these movies basically playing the same character every time. This is the sixth consecutive film he’s been in from Nolan.
Interstellar is my least favorite Nolan film. It’s just so waffly and full of itself without saying anything meaningful.
Ironically, my favorite is Tenet, exactly because it doesn’t say anything meaningful, but it doesn’t pretend to either. It’s all concept. The main character is just called The Protagonist!
Yeah, I’m incredibly excited for Tenet. I feel like I’ll love it…
My favorite so far is definitely Memento. It’s crazy how stylistically distinct that movie is, even his other movies that I like a good amount (Following, Insomnia, The Prestige) don’t feel as incredibly unique or deconstructive of the format as Memento is to me. Also the performances and the scriptwriting are great, which seems to be something lost in the shuffle of his Batman movies.
I missed this thread!
I watched Good Boy recently. I liked it pretty well; I always have time for a film that does something I haven’t seen before, and I’ve never seen a film done pretty much entirely from an animal’s perspective. (Well, aside from animations/comedies where the animal is voiced by insert-famous-actor-here).
Also, Iron Lung. I may well be biased here, but I really enjoyed it. Some great camerawork to make use of the limited space, I loved the soundtrack, and it’s definitely subtle enough to warrant a rewatch to try and pick up on details missed the first time; I reckon I’ll be picking up the inevitable blu-ray.
…I promise I don’t only watch horror. :D
You’ve got me thinking here that Tom Hardy’s character in Inception is maybe a commentary on him spending half his time directing big dumb action films instead of indie stuff: ‘Don’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling’ as he fires off the massive grenade gun etc.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Oppenheimer when I originally got around to seeing it at the start of this year. It didn’t say anything particularly surprising but it looked incredibly good, and I liked the performances. I think David Lynch did a better Trinity test sequence than Nolan, though.
As a fan of the Batman comics, I can understand some of what people like in Nolan’s films - Bane and Ra’s al-Ghul are great villains and it’s good to see them on-screen, even if both Nolan’s versions lose a lot of what’s great about the comic book originals. And I like Bruce operating out of Wayne Tower instead of Wayne Mansion in the second Nolan movie, because he does that a lot in the 1970s comics, I guess because they figured putting him in an urban context was a way to get away from the campy Hefnerism of Bruce as a big guy in a mansion who loafs around in a smoking jacket.
But there are way more ways to do Batman than just Nolan’s realistic approach! For me the Tim Burton Bat-movies will always be the best because they feel more like the comics. Much is made of Michael Keaton’s inability to move his neck in the Burton bat-suit, but I actually think this adds something because it forces his movements to be still, angular and somewhat exaggerated in a way that feels comic-booky. Batman isn’t a normal action movie protagonist, he should be a bit weird.
I’m super curious to see Burton’s take, for sure. Even though I don’t always love Burton’s movies (of the ones I’ve seen, Big Fish is the only one I really adore) I think he has wonderful aesthetic sensibilities and would like to go through his broader filmography at some point just on that count.
Girlfriend and I watched Dunkirk last night. Easily our least favorite of his films. Maybe I just don’t understand war films yet but it felt so dull and devoid of anything happening the entire time and the color grade was so lifeless. I understand dreary exhaustion is meant to be part of the rhetorical throughline of this sort of movie, but it felt less like that (When the Wind Blows, as a random example, gets it from me more effectively, I think) and more like pure apathy.
Also the way that it was presented in multiple timeframes felt really pointless and ended up deflating a lot of potentially great scenes (e.g., the pilot escaping the sinking plane but we already know he’s going to be okay because we already saw it from Tom Hardy’s perspective…)
I’d be inclined to agree with “liked it pretty well” as a whole, but I did enjoy the novel concept and thought the performance they got from the dog was outstanding
The Trinity test sequence in The Return is incredible. I’d love to hear your thoughts on The Return as a whole!
I love The Return, though it’s not quite the apex of Lynch’s work to me. Really like the way the multiple Coopers thing opeeates with regards to abusers –when you’re a victim of abuse (especially the type that Diane suffered), the person who did it to you tends to fragment in your mind. They become both Dale Cooper (kind-hearted, charismatic, gregarious, sagacious) and Dale Cooper (violent, quick to anger, monstrous, impossible to satisfy.) It becomes impossible to reconcile them into one person anymore. At least, that’s my experience.
Also all the prestige TV parody stuff with Dougie Jones is really fun… I can’t believe people don’t like it!
I’m really fascinated with the way that the return is focused on tearing apart twin peaks, including itself. it feels like he only made it because it’s the only thing he had the chance to make after a decade of failed attempts to secure funding for his projects. on one hand he was obviously passionate about it and it pulls together elements of so much of his work, but on another it feels distinctly bitter. love and spite in equal measure, very fitting for twin peaks.
discussion of avatar in another thread reminded me of how james cameron has been on my mind a lot lately. I think a lot of pop cinema is pretty bad or at least bland, but I feel like he’s one of the guys that consistently gets it right. I watched titanic for the first time recently and was pretty stunned by how emotionally effective and well directed it is. the long runtime flew right past. he has a knack for pacing and simple but effective dialogue writing that is admirable.
the only movie of his that I really don’t like is aliens, I think it drags even if it has good moments. true lies is another iffy one but it’s a mixed bag. on one hand I love the bits about a petty super spy misappropriating government funding in an insane revenge quest against his wife. on the other, once the terrorism plot comes back in its insanely racist and unfocused.
have y’all seen avatar fire and ash though? what is this guy thinking. he’s so awesome. can’t wait for the next one.
Battleship Potemkin… I was really excited for it (Soviet epic historical film from the silent era!?!? Awesome!) but even though it was an hour long I really felt like it dragged. Love the use of color in black and white (the red flag.) Maybe I’m just not cut out for war films.
That aside, it’s pretty funny that the Soviets did so much better than the west that they even made a better Dunkirk! Dohohoho!
Just got out of Kokuho with my girlfriend, and the structure of the film was so dry that I assumed it was a biopic without my knowledge. (It is not, in fact, a biopic, despite distinctly being written by one, for whatever reason. Perhaps being a fairly abridged adaptation of an 800 page novel is the reason? I have no clue.) All of the kabuki theatre performances are spectacular. Unfortunately, the grand majority of the movie focuses on incredibly dry and uninteresting melodrama instead –the kabuki theatre gets sidelined (and is often cross-cut away from in an ill-advised attempt to punctuate the main narrative. Let the kabuki speak for itself.) The worst part is when the film’s score overpowers the sounds of the kabuki theatre… at the very least, let me hear their performances! Please!
It did make me want to go to Japan and see actual kabuki theatre, though, so I guess its function as a propaganda film worked. God damn you, NHK!
Girlfriend and I watched Alien^3 last night. I was surprised by how boring I thought it was, I really thought the premise and the first hour were incredible, and I quite liked the Charles Dance and Charles Dutton characters, but eventually its length is really felt with its strong emphasis on the structure of the foundry and the hard to care about action sequences within it. I did like the ending though, and the scene where she “resurrects” Bishop is great. Still a lot better than Aliens to me.
Watched the assembly cut, so no goofy alien queen bursting out of Ripley’s chest shot at the end.
saw game of death at the theater with my girlfriend yesterday. really weird, fucked up movie. bruce lee died while making an essentially unrelated movie with the same name, and they “finished” it due to contractual obligations. it reuses a lot of the footage already shot, but cut around and recontextualized for a totally different story about a movie star being hunted by a racketeering syndicate. it was originally filmed in english, then dubbed over in cantonese, then subtitled (poorly) back into english based on the dub. they make all kinds of excuses to hide the fact that Lee’s character is mostly played by a different guy, plastic surgery, big sunglasses, weird lighting, etc. action scenes with bruce lee’s double will occasionally cut to close-ups of actual bruce lee in a totally different location. they use a shot of lee’s actual dead body in his casket at his real funeral at one point! the action scenes that have the real bruce lee are excellent but they don’t make up very much of the movie. it’s morbid, it’s kind of surreal, a very fascinating watch.
I think the craziest way they tried to disguise it is this shot, where they just taped a photo of Bruce Lee’s head onto a mirror and had the actor line it up as if no one would notice.
just saw the fallen angels 4k restoration in theaters with my girlfriend. had never seen the movie before, absolutely stunned. maybe one of my favorites of all time already. incredibly wide angle lenses and an anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio make for a very intimate experience without feeling claustrophobic. incredible camera work and stunning color. completely absorbing. it all works to enhance a narrative that’s twisting and multithreaded without feeling indulgent or overwrought. many immature and idiosyncratic people colliding by chance, sharing emotions, leaving without closure, drifting aimless onwards. it’s one of those movies that left me feeling giddy afterwards, with a lingering awe and moments replaying in my mind. I love movies so much.
Additional, errant thoughts on the Fallen Angels screening: Michele Reis is the most beautiful woman to ever grace cinema. Wow.
