Watched Mariupol 2 yesterday at the local film festival.
It's possibly one of the most minimalist films I've ever seen. It's about some people living in a church cellar in Mariupol Ukraine, March 2022, and the film is mostly just shots of people doing everyday stuff, sometimes talking about everyday stuff in their situation but mostly not even that, and long shots of the city skyline, destroyed houses and street, usually with some smoking rising from somewhere. There's nothing even resembling action, gore or really anything that in any other circumstance would be super emotional, but of course the context is what makes the film
I wasn't bored for a second, and I had a really good experience watching it, so in that sense I would recommend it, but obviously what you bring to it is a large part of what you get out of it, it's just that kind of a movie. Barely a movie really, kind of "just footage", although it doesn't feel random at all.
I don't think any other film has so effectively made me feel like I'm in the place the film depicts. At the start of the film the sound of falling bombs is nerve-wrecking and ominous, but by the end you're very used to it, and that in itself felt very impactful. I think the movie explains something unexplainable, or captures things that would have been extremely hard to capture any other way; the banality of everyday dread and the way even living in an active warzone can be someone's average Tuesday.
It's a hard film to explain in words, but I found it really purifying to watch. There's a couple of bodies but no gore, no action or horror or drama scenes, nothing that actively makes an effort to get an extreme reaction out of the audience, and I really loved that for this film at this time. It really let's you sit and process what you're thinking and feeling, and I think I needed that.
It's also a film where the question of whether or not it's "objectively good" is I think an impossible question. No one is going to watch the movie without strong feelings or thoughts about the war it's depicting, and pre-existing feelings about watching footage from that war, and if they are they're likely not the target audience.
The film is made more poignant by the fact that the director of the film was captured and killed by Russians right after the film was shot, as he was trying to leave Mariupol.
This one is up there among my all time memorable movie experiences, I'm still feeling a lot of emotions when I remember what it was like sitting in that theater. How much of that was the film? That's not a thing you can measure.
In any case it was something, I liked it, you likely won't get a chance to see it, but if you do, it might be worth your time. IDK. Judge for yourself.
Anybody going to any CIFF screenings this year? The only show I have tickets for is Triangle Of Sadness on Saturday night and I can’t wait. This is my first year volunteering at the festival and I’m looking forward to it.
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Anybody going to any CIFF screenings this year? The only show I have tickets for is Triangle Of Sadness on Saturday night and I can’t wait. This is my first year volunteering at the festival and I’m looking forward to it.
Where the Crawdads Sing wasn't terrible, I kind of enjoyed it. Probably be a good date movie, kind of reminded me of The Notebook. Has Daisy Edgar Jones who seems to be in everything I watch lately which I don't mind cause she's good. I'll give it 2.5 stars (out of 5)
My wife and i watched this tonight and really enjoyed it. I think it's better than 2.5 stars but definately a chick flick. Good story.
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Barbarian was amazing, one of those movies where the less you know going in the better. I went in knowing almost nothing and absolutely loved it. It's good to be in the conversation for best horror movie of 2022.
Don't Worry Darling had promise and a great performance by Florence pugh IMO. But it kind of fell flat in the end. It looked great but there should have been more of a sense of dread building. There really wasn't.
Another week and another horror theme. Today's theme is all about the big 3 and no I don't mean Roger, Rafa and Novak. I'm talking about Freddy, Jason and Michael. I'll list the top 3 of each franchise (excluding the first one because those should all be watched and are the best of each franchise) that you must watch this Halloween season.
NOES: - #2 Freddy's Revenge, #3 Dream Warriors and New Nightmare
Friday the 13th - #2,#4 The Final Chapter, #6 Jason Lives
Halloween - #3 Season of the Witch, #4 Return of Michael Myers and Rob Zombies remake
Let me know what are your 3 favorite of each franchise
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The bear scene in The Revenant is still utterly terrifying. The opening scene where arrows come raining down from our of nowhere still had me clenched to my couch as well.
I haven't seen the movie since it was in theaters, and I do believe it was one of the first AVX movies I saw. The sound on my home setup totally needs an upgrade.
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Clerks III is opening this weekend, strange thing is I only see times for this Sunday. One day only, very limited release.
Sucks that the release was so limited but I managed to get to the noon show.
Great flick - a beautiful conclusion and love letter to Kevin's friends and career.
Sucks that the release was so limited but I managed to get to the noon show.
Great flick - a beautiful conclusion and love letter to Kevin's friends and career.
I admit the only Kevin Smith movie I've ever seen was Dogma.
I like him and think he's interesting, but his stuff just isn't my thing.
Clerks III is opening this weekend, strange thing is I only see times for this Sunday. One day only, very limited release.
As an aside, I heard about the new "Fletch" movie starring/produced by Jon Hamm a couple weeks ago, but I'm not sure Confess, Fletch even got a theatrical release here...? It allegedly hit theatres 10 days ago, but as far as I can tell it hasn't played anywhere in Canada at all.
Watched Burning Days at a local film festival, a 2022 Turkish political / crime thriller.
Highly enjoyable! Classic slow boiling but consistently tense thriller set in a small town in Turkey, where a new prosecutor starts going against the local mayor and his old boys club. Beatiful cinematography, excellent acting and a nice blend of familiar thriller elements in a setting that felt new and fresh (I've seen very few Turkish movies). If you love things like True Detective and the Wire, you'd very likely enjoy this one. (It's not up to that extremely high bar, but I'd give it a 4/5, even if the somewhat unusual ending will likely not be to everyone's tastes.)
Obviously you're not likely to randomly run into this one, but I'm recommending it anyway. Might be available at a festival or some streaming service.
Oh, almost forgot another one from the festival that I liked: Tree of Eternal Love, a 2021 Estonian road comedy, very Wes Anderson -light. A guy breaks up with his girlfriend and sets out on a journey to cut down a tree on which he had carved the classic "him loves her" -message. It was quite funny and lovely, easy watch, looked quite nice (especially considering the shoestring budget). It's never spelled out explicitly, but the movie is set in a sort of a fantasy reality, with sixties cars, eighties TV's and 2000's mobile phones, among other random unreal elements. (The geography is also fictional and time flies slightly unrealistically fast). That adds some nice flavor. Would recommend.
(Movies I saw but would not recommend include Klondike (2022 Ukrainian drama set during the separation of Donetsk in 2014), F###ing Bornholm (2022 Polish relationship drama comedy).)
I also saw Seven Beauties, an Italian movie from 1975 about an Italian who ends up in a German concentration camp in WW2, and I'd put it in the "not sure if I'd recommend" -category. I found it interesting and poignant in these times, but not sure if I would have enjoyed it on purely cinematic qualities alone. The movie is a landmark in movie history, as it made Lina Wertmüller (who died in 2021, so the movie was shown to honor her career) the first ever woman to be nominated for a "best director" Oscar.
Just watched Bodies Bodies Bodies, a newer A24 film.
It was just ok. A couple funny moments for a black comedy but I don't think it accomplished what was intended but I mainly found all the characters unlikeable enough to impact my enjoyment while watching.
For a similar but superior type of black comedy, I'd recommend Thoroughbreds from 2017.
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