Superb horror fare. Lean and well-paced film with great tension-building that goes full tilt.
I think a lot of fans of the genre have been itching for a movie like this.
Wife and I watched this at Eau Claire last night. I thought it was pretty good. Started out slow but built up nicely. Wife hated it though. Argued about who was right on the way home. I know I'm right, it was good .
What a dump Eau Claire is. Everything boarded up except for the random cinema that still exists. Walked into theatre 5 and I started laughing as I look at how torn up the floor was. Had an 80s porn theatre look going on.
It's phenomenal. Wow. I actually had to sit in my car for a few minutes to let it digest a bit.
The whole thing is fantastic, but those last 20 minutes or so...Jesus Christ on a cracker.
Yeah, I had to sit and process the film the rest of the evening. Here are some thoughts I had. Apologies for the ramblings. Interested in any discussion. Definite spoilers below.
Spoiler!
To me, it is only tangentially about the civil war. The real themes are around journalism, what it costs, how we produce news, and how we consume it.
At one level, news is produced to inform and report truth, but on a deeper level, it feeds off catastrophe and horror. Jesse's transformation and lust for "the shot" at the end hammer this point home. They are not driven by truth, but by the rush.
What is reported, though factual, is also not always truth. The film starts with the President carefully practicing how to enunciate crafted words to show confidence and strength, but ends with him whimpering "Don't let them kill me". There is a quote where Sammy says all leaders disappoint you, as they are lesser than what you expect.
Having the setting be an American civil war is brilliant as it helps a western audience to to see the same images we've all seen of war torn countries in an entirely new light, revealing how shallowly we've consumed this news previously. News is consumed not as a caution (as Lee had hoped), or for any self reflection, but often for selfish and shallow reasons.
I think the most ideological scene of the film was Matt Damon's scene. He embodied the ultra-nationalistic persona, judging who was a true american, and disposing those who were not. It is total allegiance to the idea, at the sacrifice of any sense of humanity. This is their utopia - a position of ultimate power to divide into us and them, highlighted by the fact he was wearing literal rose-colored glasses.
I think Lee's breakdown and then death at the end echoes her comments to Jesse earlier when Jesse said joining the crew, and being a war photographer was "her choice". Lee responded something to the effect of "I'll remember that when you lose your mind or are killed". In the end, Lee was no longer able to repress her humanity, and succumbed to the horror of the present reality, culminating in her self sacrifice to save Jesse's life.
Lee and Sammy were at different ends of the spectrum. She killed her humanity to do her job, while Sammy kept his humanity to do his. When they were in the town that "just kept out" of the war, there was the brilliant scene where Lee said (I'll butcher the quote) something like: "This is the life I had forgotten " and Sammy responded with "Funny, this is the life I remember".
Wife and I watched this at Eau Claire last night. I thought it was pretty good. Started out slow but built up nicely. Wife hated it though. Argued about who was right on the way home. I know I'm right, it was good .
What a dump Eau Claire is. Everything boarded up except for the random cinema that still exists. Walked into theatre 5 and I started laughing as I look at how torn up the floor was. Had an 80s porn theatre look going on.
Whoever designed Eau Claire should be tried for war crimes. What an absolute failure in every way. I hope they are suffering now from that abortion. Just an absolute dump in every fashion from day 1.
I thought Eau Claire was being torn down at the end of this month? That might explain why it hasn't been maintained lately.
Also, Jennifer Connelly was my huge crush growing up also, when most in my peer group were gushing about the Jennifer Aniston / Britney Spears / Christina Aguileras of the world.
Alien Resurrection was terrible IMO, did not like it at all. So many terrible ideas. I've always thought Joss Wheadon was overrated, and his writing in this one is awful. The hybrid human/Xenomorph at the end was laughable in the design and execution. By far the worst Alien movie
Resurrection was a pretty lame attempt to cash in on the popularity of the director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It was not a good match, as Jeunet totally over-stylized the film. It also set both the Aliens and Predator franchise on that awful path of hybrids. Awful awful film.
I watched Kummatty last night. it is very impressionistic.
If you like international musiuc, or very relaxed paced movies I'd recommend it.
Its a trippy little vacation into 1970s rural India.
I didn't enjoy watching it as much as I have been enjoying thinking about it afterwards. Maybe my attention span is to blame.
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