It’s a spiritual successor but has much more hope and captures better the anxiety and experience of youth in the nineties rather than just the destructive abusive behaviours.
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Saw Free Solo tonight with friends. My amygdala is splattered everywhere.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!
It's pretty amazing to see how far climbing has progressed. That hob nail boot pendulum looked fun. Free climbing el cap was still unimaginable when I spent summers there in the 90's. And then Lynn Hill came along. Now Honnold is doing 5.13 moves 2500 feet up with no ropes and topping out in 3 and a half hours. I can't think of another athlete in any sport that progressed the state of the art like him. That movie made my finger tips sweat.
The video below is a bit of a documentary about the documentary I watched called Free Solo which is playing in Calgary now. As an aging former Yosemite climber it's quite a thing to see someone do what the guy in the movie does. My venture up el cap included 150 pounds of gear, seven days and hands that would never be the same again. Honnold had a bag of chalk.
The video below is a bit of a documentary about the documentary I watched called Free Solo which is playing in Calgary now. As an aging former Yosemite climber it's quite a thing to see someone do what the guy in the movie does. My venture up el cap included 150 pounds of gear, seven days and hands that would never be the same again. Honnold had a bag of chalk.
I saw Free Solo last night as well and it was amazing. I've never climbed Yosemite, but I am a sport climber/boulderer so watching Honnold do what he does is amazing, yet unsettling. As you said, Honnold not only soloed El Cap but he did it at a blistering pace. Most people take several days to get up that route and he did it in just under 4 hours. I'm about one week removed from ACL reconstruction and I found myself being super inspired by his commitment to get myself back in climbing shape as soon as I can.
It's also interesting that Honnold and Free Solo has transcended climbing culture to regular interest. I'd say that the majority of people in that theatre were not climbers (which is the first time that's ever happened to me watching a climbing film) but everyone was awestruck just the same. The fact that there was limited gear or excessive climbing lingo likely makes it easier for people to focus on the climbing.
I get why people liked it, especially if they're Lady Gaga fans because it was basically a 2 hour long Lady Gaga commercial.
The writing and acting was excellent but the story is pretty unoriginal and very forced;
(not really a spoiler but a vague and sarcastic synopsis but I'll spoiler-tag it anyways)
Spoiler!
Ageing rocker meets young talented girl based on pure chance and luck, they fall in love because of their mutual love of music, he makes her a star, she sells out much to his chagrin, his star is falling due to forces beyond his control just as hers is rising but as a sellout, he cant take it, alcoholism, deus ex machina, and fin.
You know when you watch a movie about musicians, they have to perform and they go on stage and you get the highlights and then the story moves on? Yeah no. Not here. You're in a movie theater and they're performing full tracks. Over and over again. A third of that movie is Lady Gaga signing and another chunk is Bradley Cooper singing. So a solid at least half of that movie is people singing, it basically qualifies as a musical.
It was a good movie overall, especially if you're a fan of Bradley Cooper or Lady Gaga and in fairness it was a well done film, but it was nothing exceptional.
The story itself is basically a half-step above Mark Wahlberg's 'Rock Star.'
And if you're a fanboy/fangirl of neither of Cooper nor Gaga and are not an enormous fan of Lady Gaga's singing or you just loathe hearing the same song repeated over and over again like you're Christmas shopping at The Bay, you will get bored quickly.
It does have its emotional moments, but you can generally see them coming from a mile away. I will admit, there was one that got me near the very end, but I wont spoil that.
I'll repeat, overall good movie, I'd say okay. But if you love musicals, repetition, Lady Gaga or Bradley Cooper and arent bothered about a fairly plodding and predictable story then this is the film for you. The one thing I cannot impugn was the acting, there was not one weak character, the acting was solid.
And my final comment, which is Bradley Cooper in 2018's 'A Star is Born' and which is Cullen BoHannon played by Anson Mount in 2011's AMC's 'Hell on Wheels?'
Spoiler!
__________________ The Beatings Shall Continue Until Morale Improves!
This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
If you are flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a Fire Exit. - Mitch Hedberg
It's also interesting that Honnold and Free Solo has transcended climbing culture to regular interest. I'd say that the majority of people in that theatre were not climbers (which is the first time that's ever happened to me watching a climbing film) but everyone was awestruck just the same. The fact that there was limited gear or excessive climbing lingo likely makes it easier for people to focus on the climbing.
I saw this last week in Banff. Jimmy and his team did a spectacular job capturing Alex. To the average person/non-climber, he is crazy. To the climbers, he is GOD!
Can anyone think of a greater athletic feat?!
Finally saw A Star is Born on the weekend with my wife.
First off, I was surprised to see it was still a packed theater considering it's been out for a while. Then after we finished, I wasn't surprised at all.
I didn't know it was a remake, but wow. My wife and I were both quite floored with the movie. Very powerful, terrific acting. The tone was set with that very first duet they sang, and it had us both hooked right there.
Regarding Bradley Cooper, I've always liked him in most movies I've watched with him in it, but I was floored with his singing chops.
Regarding Lady Gaga, I've never had much of an opinion of her, other than she has a terrific voice. But she was wonderful in the movie.
Last edited by manwiches; 11-05-2018 at 02:14 PM.
Reason: eng-rish
Just watched Mandy, it's really good but I'd say it's more of an experience than a film. Just super trippy and out there but its a very good ride. I highly enjoyed it, have it as my 3rd favorite horror film this year (After Heriditary and A Quiet Place).
First man, damn that was a good movie. A real classic cinephile treat. Damn well acted, shot, directed, sound direction, script etc. Just good stuff.
The topic seemed honestly very stale and uninteresting to me, but I gave it a chance because of a good MovieBob review and I'm glad I did. I'm not usually a fan of biopic or pics about realistic space travel, but I really liked both aspects in this. The flights seemed really fresh, and for the first time ever I really, really liked watching Ryan Gosling. Claire Foy as Armstrongs wife was equally good, and they really complimented each other to create an atmosphere of quiet depths.
Highly recommended, in theater. This film will lose half of its punch watched at home.
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Burning - Probably my favorite film of the year so far, overtaking Paul Schrader's First Reformed. The film was directed by Lee Chang-dong, who you may know as the director of Poetry and Secret Sunshine, and is his first film in eight years. I like how the movie can be viewed like Sluizer's The Vanishing (a protagonist who becomes obsessed about finding out the fate of his girlfriend who disappears without a trace) or like Antonioni's Blow-Up (a paranoid mystery as to whether the protagonist witnessed a murder or is seeing things that aren't really there). Very topical given the recent mass shootings in Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Tallahassee -- which I think is deliberate as Lee does depict the protagonist's growing isolation and make references to Donald Trump. How many of those shooters saw themselves as Nick Carraway-type figures pushing back against the Gatsbys of this world? Very impressive debut performance by Jeon Jong-seo as the eccentric and alluring woman the protagonist becomes obsessed about.
Mid 90s - Exactly the same storyline as This Is England (a film I adore) but replace the neo-Nazis from that film with the cast from Paranoid Park and you will have Mid 90s. I really appreciated how the movie was shot like Slacker because it made the movie feel like it was some lost artifact from the mid 90s. I have a feeling that 10 to 15 years from now, this film will be grouped amongst the best gen-x/slacker films (Slacker, SubUrbia, Kicking and Screaming, Before Sunrise, Clerks, etc.) even though it was made some 20+ years after those other movies.
A Quiet Passion - Finally caught up with this Terence Davies film. Your personal mileage will vary depending on your appreciation of Emily Dickinson's poetry as there is lots of it, usually delivered via voiceovers. Davies' films are usually naturalistic but this felt to me affected and stagy. Also, I had difficulty following the various stages of Dickinson's life as Cynthia Nixon portrayed roughly 35 years of Dickinson's life without any significant change in appearance, which I think gives viewers the feeling of stasis (although I realize that may have been Davies' intention). Still worth watching as Davies offers some of his own speculative theories as to why Dickinson became so reclusive. It's a mystery why Nixon's performance did not get an Oscar nom when you consider last year's nominees.
A Star is Born - Very enjoyable first half, especially the meet-cute and the blossoming of the relationship. The second half not so enjoyable as it plods along following the well-worn rock-star cliche of fame, compromise and addiction. I never saw any of the previous versions but my wife, who loves the Streisand/Kristofferson version, wasn't too impressed either.
Tokyo Idols - A documentary following a teenage singing idol named Rio over about a two-year period as her career is starting to ascend. I knew about creepy Japanese idol culture primarily through AKB48 and how a segment of their fanbase were middle-aged men. But I wasn't aware that there are many hopeful wannabe idols, who seem to exist in some kind of minor leagues or developmental league for future idols, whose fanbase appears to be solely middle-aged men. Some of these wannabe idols depicted in the documentary start as young as 11, and watching them perform in front of a bunch of middle-aged males made me queasy. What makes the documentary so confounding though is that these lonely middle-aged men -- though talking head interviews -- seem to have genuine platonic affection for these girls, and these girls are dependent on these men to support their dreams and nascent careers. I kept waiting for the documentary to show something that clearly crossed a line but I'm assuming the documentarians witnessed nothing untoward or else it would have been included in the film. A fascinating and weird phenomenon.
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Burning - Probably my favorite film of the year so far, overtaking Paul Schrader's First Reformed. The film was directed by Lee Chang-dong, who you may know as the director of Poetry and Secret Sunshine, and is his first film in eight years. I like how the movie can be viewed like Sluizer's The Vanishing (a protagonist who becomes obsessed about finding out the fate of his girlfriend who disappears without a trace) or like Antonioni's Blow-Up (a paranoid mystery as to whether the protagonist witnessed a murder or is seeing things that aren't really there). Very topical given the recent mass shootings in Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Tallahassee -- which I think is deliberate as Lee does depict the protagonist's growing isolation and make references to Donald Trump. How many of those shooters saw themselves as Nick Carraway-type figures pushing back against the Gatsbys of this world? Very impressive debut performance by Jeon Jong-seo as the eccentric and alluring woman the protagonist becomes obsessed about.
Mid 90s - Exactly the same storyline as This Is England (a film I adore) but replace the neo-Nazis from that film with the cast from Paranoid Park and you will have Mid 90s. I really appreciated how the movie was shot like Slacker because it made the movie feel like it was some lost artifact from the mid 90s. I have a feeling that 10 to 15 years from now, this film will be grouped amongst the best gen-x/slacker films (Slacker, SubUrbia, Kicking and Screaming, Before Sunrise, Clerks, etc.) even though it was made some 20+ years after those other movies.
I'm guessing you're not based in Calgary? I can't find a showtime for Burning. I was annoyed when it wasn't coming to CIFF. Now, it's not even listed under the coming soon section for Cineplex.
This Is England directed by Shane Meadows? If so, would you recommend '86, '88, and '90?
Finally caught Hereditary on the plane yesterday. First half was slow but certainly built up the tension.
Last third or so was excellent and really ratcheted up the fear. But watching it on the plane, I have a feeling the last few minutes were heavily edited and it detracted from the movie overall.
That is a general problem with movies on the plane. You lose some of the filmmaker's intended impact unfortunately.
