Saw Aladdin with the nieces and nephews. Great movie. They changed a bit to update it, in that Jafar is a little more fleshed out, Jasmine isn't helpless, and the Sultan not a goofball.
Will Smith was off in parts but not nearly the disaster I was anticipating. The guy that played Aladdin didn't always hit the right (acting) notes imo but Jasmine was fantastic.
The winner of the Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year. Reminds me of movies like Coherence or The One I Love or even Under the Skin in that it hides its sci-fi intentions in the quotidian and mundane even though the protagonist, who looks like one of those neanderthals in those GEICO commercials, is introduced in the opening shot. And then at one point I thought this was going to be a police procedural. The weirdness accumulates so gradually that it wasn't until that crazy and nausea-inducing sex scene in the middle of the film that I realized what a truly bizarre film this is. And it gets even more horrific later on when it begins channelling Eraserhead. I liked the movie even though I don't think I could stomach another viewing. It's not for everybody.
Her Smell
Really bold movie in that the film forces viewers to observe (and tolerate) the non-stop terrible and narcissistic behaviour from the protagonist (modelled on a Courtney Love-type figure) for the entire first half of the movie. Alex Ross Perry did something similar in his last film, Listen Up, Phillip, with the focus on a very unsympathetic author but the assault on the audience's patience is relentless and seemingly interminable this time around. Imagine if Bohemian Rhapsody had opened on the scene in which Mercury breaks up the band and then engages in non-stop orgies while being high on alcohol and drugs for an entire hour and before it even gives viewers a hint of why Mercury was such a charismatic star in the first place, and you will get an idea of what it is like to experience Her Smell. But I was drawn in because I was wholly engaged by the indie rock milieu and pretty mystified by why her entourage of friends, family, bandmates, record label manager continue to stand by her, even though they clearly want to wash their hands of her. By the end of the movie, I thought that mystery was resolved satisfyingly. Other reasons to watch: the songs by the protagonist's band were written by Alicia Bognanno of Bully, while the songs by another band on the same label was written by Annika Pyle of Kate Ellen. And there is a show-stopping cover of a Bryan Adams song to boot.
High Flying Bird
This has to be the first ever sports movie without any depiction or footage of sports being played. And when the contents of the manila envelope was revealed at the end of the movie, which was clearly meant to be some kind of a-ha moment, it meant nothing to me. I had to google the said contents of the manila envelop before I understood the grander scheme of the movie. But still, even if we assumed pro basketball players can control the means of production and it's completely conceivable a one-on-one matchup between, say, Lebron and Steph Curry can command big bucks through ticket sales and ppv, what about all the other players? Who would pay to see players seven or eight deep on an NBA roster play in a one-on-one match? And how does the message in this movie apply to other pro sports? In the end, I was indifferent because it's hard to feel sympathy for multi-millionaire athletes who feel exploited by billionaire owners. Also, I'm a huge Soderbergh fan but he's got to get off this kick of shooting his movies with his iPhone. Like his last feature, Unsane, High Flying Bird looks ugly and Soderbergh must have been using some kind of wide-angle attachment as many of his scenes had an unattractive fish-eye look to it.
Let the Corpses Tan
Imagine if Wes Anderson had ADD and tried to shoot the final standoff scene of Dragged Across Concrete in the syle of Sin City and you may have some idea the experience of watching this film. This is probably the first movie that truly replicates the feel of reading a comic book, with each cut/edit being the equivalent of darting your eyes over to the next illustration panel. The rapid visual staccato style of editing (and the over-enthuasiastic foley editing) is disorienting at first but within 10 or 15 minutes, I got into the rhythm of the film and started enjoying it more. The story itself is pretty thin though and I have my doubts this style can be transferred successfully to more contemplative storylines. Like Border, this is a singular cinematic experience so recommended for adventurous movie-goers.
John Wick 3
Pretty great action sequences as expected and the fight scene in that knife shop was the highlight for me but I didn't feel as wowed as the previous two iterations. Not sure if the novelty has worn off or maybe the CGI seemed much more obvious this time around (e.g., the horse kicks in the stables, the motorcycle sequence). I was also completely indifferent to the new complexities in the storyline, such as the hierarchy and different functions of all the different underground criminal enterprises. Does anyone really care about these details? I didn't and couldn't even begin to explain much of the plot of this movie. In summary, Wick 3 was entertaining but the worst of the three movies. Wick 2 had the best action sequences and Wick 1 had the most compelling and simplest narrative arc.
Last edited by snootchiebootchies; 05-28-2019 at 09:25 PM.
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Saw a few older movies recently that I thought were all pretty good.
Rosemary's Baby-Not what I was expecting at all. It's more of a psychological thriller than a horror movie. The ending was a little disappointing though. I was hoping they would keep it up in the air if she was surrounded by devil worshippers or just crazy.
Reds- Great biopic about Jack Reed, a journalist during the outbreak of WWI, who has socialist leanings and gets involved with the Bolshevik revolution and trying to bring it back to the US. What I really liked about this film was throughout the movie they have interview clips spliced in it with the actual people who knew Jack and we're close to him. Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton are both great.
The Paper- Basically The Newsroom put not pretentious. One of the best casts I've ever seen in a film: Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Jason Alexander, Catherine O'Hara, Randy Quaid.
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Saw a few older movies recently that I thought were all pretty good.
Rosemary's Baby - Not what I was expecting at all. It's more of a psychological thriller than a horror movie. The ending was a little disappointing though. I was hoping they would keep it up in the air if she was surrounded by devil worshippers or just crazy.
One of my favourite films. I quite like the ending, to me it's a bit of pitch black humour that totally works for me. Plus I mostly find open-ended stories or "mystery endings" kind of lame and boring.
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Highlight for me was the Halle Berry action sequences with her dogs. Followed very closely with the antique weapons store scenes with the knives. That dog sequence to me was mind blowing amazing. Just great.
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Saw a few older movies recently that I thought were all pretty good.
Rosemary's Baby-Not what I was expecting at all. It's more of a psychological thriller than a horror movie. The ending was a little disappointing though. I was hoping they would keep it up in the air if she was surrounded by devil worshippers or just crazy.
Reds- Great biopic about Jack Reed, a journalist during the outbreak of WWI, who has socialist leanings and gets involved with the Bolshevik revolution and trying to bring it back to the US. What I really liked about this film was throughout the movie they have interview clips spliced in it with the actual people who knew Jack and we're close to him. Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton are both great.
The Paper- Basically The Newsroom put not pretentious. One of the best casts I've ever seen in a film: Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Jason Alexander, Catherine O'Hara, Randy Quaid.
These are great choices. Rosemary's Baby was a favorite of mine for a long time, though I think it could have been better, I agree with the I would have loved to see the question of if Rosemary was really the mother of the antichrist or just plum crazy.
But I have to say that there was a long list of Satan's children movies and probably the best ones ever made were the original Omen and Omen 2 movie and they are still a guilty pleasure Halloween viewing every couple of years. Omen 3 with Sam Neil was interesting but Omen Iv was trash
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I love The Paper. Just watched it not too long ago.
I’m a big fan of low key 90s movies that are largely forgotten.
Like Stone Cold starring Brian Bosworth as an Alabama cop who goes undercover in a violent motorcycle gang called The Brotherhood? It’s the Citizen Kane of films about undercover cops from Alabama that infiltrate violent biker gangs. It also has Lance Henriksen and was the first BluRay disc I ever owned. Highly recommend.
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Godzilla: King of the Monsters was such a disappointment. I liked the fist, but thought they could only improve on it. The story was weak, but the visuals were excellent. The visuals are still there, but the plot is pathetic. The "twist" is a complete farce and it lost me the minute it came. There are so many issues with the movie. The visual are all still there and I love kaiju battles, but even those are kind of hard to make out. Really left a bad taste in my mouth. Just sad... and they had a good cast too.
Like Stone Cold starring Brian Bosworth as an Alabama cop who goes undercover in a violent motorcycle gang called The Brotherhood? It’s the Citizen Kane of films about undercover cops from Alabama that infiltrate violent biker gangs. It also has Lance Henriksen and was the first BluRay disc I ever owned. Highly recommend.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Front Runner with Hugh Jackman. Less of a political movie and more an examination of the downfall of American media into one giant tabloid and how the American public eat that #### up.
On the other hand it also points out the hypocrisy of politicians and their messages of morals and ethics. Do their personal lives matter all that much if they are good politicians who do right by their country and constituents?
Reminded me a bit of the great Anthony Weiner documentary about his many indiscretions.
Saw Pikachu last night. The design of the world and characters is top notch.
That’s about it. The human characters are pretty poor most of the way. And Reynolds is decent as Pikachu, but his humour doesn’t fit the kids movie, and the writing wasn’t making much of an attempt at a Pixarish blend of subtle adult humour, so a held back Reynolds doesn’t really hit his mark. Some fun Easter eggs and call backs. And the actual Pokémon battling that did happen was awesome. But there wasn’t very much of it really.
I saw Rocketman last night and my wife and I both really enjoyed it. The music is really front and centre in this film, which is how I think musician biopics should be. I would give it an 8/10.
Ya, I really loved Rocketman a lot more than I expected to. If Across The Universe and Bohemian Rhapsody were actually good, and got combined, that’s what’s Rocketman is. Egerton was fantastic in it.
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