Saw it in September and just watched it a 2nd time last Friday (to see if I'd like it better now that I had time to digest the story from the first time). It wasn't much better the second time. A few good action sequences, the fight in the restaurant kitchen, the museum heist with the jet crash diversion, the car chase scene. This movie is more for teens IMHO, the older you are the less sense it makes; so this film has another time function working on it.
Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Movie-mber Edition
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ItsFineImFine
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Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) - 6/10 (Liked it)
After an excavation digs into a hill outside of a rural Finnish village, reindeer are discovered slaughtered and local children go missing, except for one young boy who thinks that he knows what they unearthed. This Finnish Christmas-themed horror movie reminded me slightly of The Thing in setting and how the mystery of what was dug up plays out, but then started feeling more like a Krampus tale. The horror elements are tame enough that non-horror fans might not find them too bad and there's a little bit of lightheartedness that goes with the Christmas setting. I quite liked the first hour or so, especially for the snowy, rural Finnish setting and the slow building up of the mystery. Unfortunately, I found the ending rather disappointing and dumb, as it starts feeling more like a B horror movie and any sense of realism goes out of the window. I was ready to give the film a 7/10 up to that point. Still, overall, I liked it. There aren't too many Christmas-themed horror films and it was kind of neat to see a Finnish one. If I learned anything about the Finnish people from watching this, it's that they're proud of being the birthplace of a mythological figure that tortures children and they eat nothing but gingerbread cookies.
Most of the movie is in Finnish and, therefore, subtitled. The trailer gives the impression that more of it is in English than it is.
It's available to watch on Prime Video and Hulu and even for free on Crackle and Tubi.
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KallioWeHardlyKnewYe
Hey! We won!
- May 30, 2003
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Mank. I was entertained. If there's an immediate parallel I'd draw it would be to The Trial of the Chicago 7 in that this was a perfectly cromulent two hours with some good performances. I liked it well enough. I might watch it again in the future ... but I may not. And that's fine.
Getting that out of the way, I have to say I was also a little disappointed. The ol' expectations game. Long-time fan of Fincher who's made a great career out of putting a meticulous cold gloss on pretty populist fare. No so here. This might be his softest, gentlest movie and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. It's just I was shocked at how UN-dramatic Mank really is. Here's a scene, for example:
Friend/relative/confidant: "Awwww Mank, ya know ya really shouldn't be writin' what you're writin'!"
Mank: "Yes, but what if I did ..."
Friend/relative/confidant: "Dammit Mank, ya got me! You're such a lovable drunk!"
Repeat multiple times.
I thought it was building to one dramatic confrontation, but that's dismissed with the easy pop of a champagne cork. The two big dramatic confrontations we do get — one (with Welles) is not set up within the movie at all (and assumes you know the real history) while the second (with Hurst) ... well I'm wrestling with whether or not Fincher means it to play the way it does. Because I have to say it feels like an AITA post and I think Mank is the A. But that kinda flies in the face of the rest of the movie.
It's part dishy Hollywood, part political rant (fine, but not really insightful). Well done. But I don't know that it's really going to stick with me.
Getting that out of the way, I have to say I was also a little disappointed. The ol' expectations game. Long-time fan of Fincher who's made a great career out of putting a meticulous cold gloss on pretty populist fare. No so here. This might be his softest, gentlest movie and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. It's just I was shocked at how UN-dramatic Mank really is. Here's a scene, for example:
Friend/relative/confidant: "Awwww Mank, ya know ya really shouldn't be writin' what you're writin'!"
Mank: "Yes, but what if I did ..."
Friend/relative/confidant: "Dammit Mank, ya got me! You're such a lovable drunk!"
Repeat multiple times.
I thought it was building to one dramatic confrontation, but that's dismissed with the easy pop of a champagne cork. The two big dramatic confrontations we do get — one (with Welles) is not set up within the movie at all (and assumes you know the real history) while the second (with Hurst) ... well I'm wrestling with whether or not Fincher means it to play the way it does. Because I have to say it feels like an AITA post and I think Mank is the A. But that kinda flies in the face of the rest of the movie.
It's part dishy Hollywood, part political rant (fine, but not really insightful). Well done. But I don't know that it's really going to stick with me.
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Warden of the North
Ned Stark's head
The Devil all the Time.
Wasn't at all what I was expecting. I thought it was good, my wife was a little bored with it. Worth the watch. It's much more or a drama then a thriller though.
Wasn't at all what I was expecting. I thought it was good, my wife was a little bored with it. Worth the watch. It's much more or a drama then a thriller though.
ItsFineImFine
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Mank (2020) - 7/10
In fairness, it was more entertaining than Citizen Kane. It just doesn't feel like a David Fincher film though, I associate him with tight directing and this was sort of all over the place and quite loose and feeling a bit like an attempt at a Coen brothers film. The beginning was maybe a bit too loose and chaotic, it gets better as it settles in but it settles into a story about Hollywood writers and the behind the scenes stuff that people in Hollywood or the Academy love I guess but I find really quite boring. There's also something Woody Allen-esque about it that I feel would have been a lot more heavily criticized had Woody Allen been the one to release this film rather than Fincher.
In fairness, it was more entertaining than Citizen Kane. It just doesn't feel like a David Fincher film though, I associate him with tight directing and this was sort of all over the place and quite loose and feeling a bit like an attempt at a Coen brothers film. The beginning was maybe a bit too loose and chaotic, it gets better as it settles in but it settles into a story about Hollywood writers and the behind the scenes stuff that people in Hollywood or the Academy love I guess but I find really quite boring. There's also something Woody Allen-esque about it that I feel would have been a lot more heavily criticized had Woody Allen been the one to release this film rather than Fincher.
Fantasia (1940) directed by Samuel Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts et. al.
Fantasia is an early Disney film which integrated classical music with animated interpretations of the music. An ambitious experiment by Walt Disney Studios as this was their third feature length film, it stands as a feat in early animation. I used to love this film as a child and would constantly rewatch it, so I was hesitant to rewatch it as an adult, but I am pleased to see it holds up. Although uneven in the quality of segments (for example Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ is adapted to tell the story of the creation of earth up until the extinction of dinosaurs, is kind of boring), but there are some fantastic segments throughout, such as The Nutcracker Suite featuring anthropomorphized dancing plants and animals, and the finale which is a medley of a Night on Bald Mountain and a solemn version of Ava Maria which sees the sunrise after a terrifying night in which wickedness ran wild. High art disguised as children’s entertainment.
Fantasia is an early Disney film which integrated classical music with animated interpretations of the music. An ambitious experiment by Walt Disney Studios as this was their third feature length film, it stands as a feat in early animation. I used to love this film as a child and would constantly rewatch it, so I was hesitant to rewatch it as an adult, but I am pleased to see it holds up. Although uneven in the quality of segments (for example Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ is adapted to tell the story of the creation of earth up until the extinction of dinosaurs, is kind of boring), but there are some fantastic segments throughout, such as The Nutcracker Suite featuring anthropomorphized dancing plants and animals, and the finale which is a medley of a Night on Bald Mountain and a solemn version of Ava Maria which sees the sunrise after a terrifying night in which wickedness ran wild. High art disguised as children’s entertainment.
Medium Cool (1969) Directed by Haskell Wexler 4C
Cinematographer Haskell Wexler (One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest; In the Heat of the Night; The Conversation) had a brilliant New Wave-ish idea for making a movie: Create fictional characters but have them live through real events, in this case the political turmoil and police riots that occurred during the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968.. That was indeed a potentially great idea….but then the movie starts and we wander around for most of the film looking for some reason for its existence. Clearly Wexler is heavily influenced by Jean Luc Godard though the French director’s ideas seem only half-digested by the first-time director. Wexler appears to be going for a La Chinoise approach, a Godard movie that digs beneath the surface of student radicalism, but Wexler lacks the wit, acumen and imagination to pull it off. He seems to want to make a political statement of some kind, but all we get is a pastiche of scenes—a conversation among cameramen; conflict at work; a relationship with an Appalachian woman; an unlikely mentoring of her son; a runaway boy; a stroll through the fringes of Convention madness; and a cheap trick, Act-of-God ending that is as bizarre as it is senseless. The title itself suggests a McLuhan-esque examination of media, but no such scrutiny ever arrives. Medium Cool is a major disappointment. Safe to say, a career cameraman does not a director make.
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ItsFineImFine
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They had some good footage from that film, could've probably made a decent documentary out of it.
The 70s (and I guess late 60s) promised a lot of political films but the majority of them that I've seen have sadly been duds to be honest with a few exceptions like Day of The Condor and The Conversation. But they all look great.
The 70s (and I guess late 60s) promised a lot of political films but the majority of them that I've seen have sadly been duds to be honest with a few exceptions like Day of The Condor and The Conversation. But they all look great.
The French kicked in with some really good ones between '66 and '70, though: The Battle of Algiers; La Chinoise; The Sorrow and the Pity; and my favourite among this lot, Z.
The Threepenny Opera (1931) Directed by G. W. Pabst 6A
The Threepenny Opera is a film adaptation of the proletariat play written by Bertolt Brecht and song writer Kurt Weill, both active between world wars in revolutionary approaches to theatre and song and both champions of working-class causes and struggles. The story is about a scoundrel who manages to thrive living a corrupt life in London with the aid of his cronies, the help of his prostitute lover, and the manipulations of the powerful who seek to control the working class for their own ends. The play is less remembered for its plot than for one of the musical’s most enduring songs, Mack, the Knife. While the play was a watershed event in Weimar Germany, director G. W. Pabst's movie is an uneven melding of roughly edited, broadly acted scenes with often brilliant cinematography and set design. Still, The Threepenny Opera is an interesting adaptation of an important play, one that touches on the kinds of social tensions that Hitler will later exploit.
subtitles
Criterion Channel
A Family Tour (2018) directed by Ying Liang
In 2012, director Ying Liang, a Chinese independent filmmaker, released a film called When Night Falls (a film I have not seen) which due to its political content angered Chinese authorities and forced Ying to live in exile in Hong Kong. A Family Tour is a semi-autobiographical account (with the genders swapped) of a female director (Gong Zhe) who lives in exile with her Hongkonger husband (Pete Teo) and four-year-old son. The film documents the family’s trip from Hong Kong to Taiwan to sneak a visit to the director’s mother who is visiting the nation on a tour from the mainland. A politically charged film which shows the distance and resentment within the family caused the choices to be a dissident and its enforcement by a repressive regime, the film explores what it means to become alienated from one’s family and their homeland. With a slow pace and long shots, the film takes its time to examine what it means to become an exile and a stranger at home – both to mainland China and at “home” in Hong Kong. A deeply moving film if you have the patience for it.
Also I just got a 3 month trial of MUBI, if anyone has any recommendations for things in their catalogue.
In 2012, director Ying Liang, a Chinese independent filmmaker, released a film called When Night Falls (a film I have not seen) which due to its political content angered Chinese authorities and forced Ying to live in exile in Hong Kong. A Family Tour is a semi-autobiographical account (with the genders swapped) of a female director (Gong Zhe) who lives in exile with her Hongkonger husband (Pete Teo) and four-year-old son. The film documents the family’s trip from Hong Kong to Taiwan to sneak a visit to the director’s mother who is visiting the nation on a tour from the mainland. A politically charged film which shows the distance and resentment within the family caused the choices to be a dissident and its enforcement by a repressive regime, the film explores what it means to become alienated from one’s family and their homeland. With a slow pace and long shots, the film takes its time to examine what it means to become an exile and a stranger at home – both to mainland China and at “home” in Hong Kong. A deeply moving film if you have the patience for it.
Also I just got a 3 month trial of MUBI, if anyone has any recommendations for things in their catalogue.
In no particular order
Ashes of Time--Wong Kar=wai, highly recommended
The Hunt--Mads Mikkelsen unfairly accused of child molestation
Tomboy--about an 11 year old with transgender issues, highly recommended
Life Is a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease, Zanussi is a director really worth exploring
The Juniper Tree--Bjork's first film and a very good one
Away from Her--Gordon Pinsent losing Julie Christie to dementia
Swallow--about a young woman who swallows objects
The Stranger--very good late Satyajit Ray, my favourite director
Charade--if you haven't seen it
Before We Vanish--best sci-fi movie I have seen in years
Dogtooth--amazing film about a strange family who doesn't allow their children to know the rest of the world exists
No--Pablo Larrain, how Pinochet loses an election
In the Realm of the Senses--if you haven't seen it
The Death of Dr. Lazarescu--brilliant Romanian social comedy, highly recommended
The Sacrifice--Tarkovsky, excellent
The Structure of Crystal--another Zanussi work
The Image Book--Godard, so off the beaten path but an exhilarating use of film
Let the Right One In--excellent vampire movie
the site is great for obscure films, experimental films and short films, too. Edmund Yeo's short films are really worth a look.
I love Ashes of Time. The colour and mise-en-scene is just sublime, and it inadvertently helped to create Chungking Express, because the shoot was just so difficult, with multiple delays, that Wong had to do something else in order to keep his sanity. That said, I feel like people will appreciate it even more, if they are somewhat familiar with Louis Cha's martial arts novels, as the movie is basically Wong's prequel to The Legend of the Condor Heroes. Wong gave the side important characters some background stories, and it was clear that he and the screenwriter really knew the material, because it actually made sense.
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GordieGallant
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ItsFineImFine
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You're in Toronto, don't you have access to a bunch of these for free via Kanopy from the Toronto Public Library? I'm in a smaller Canadian city and we still have a good selection.
The best was from my college, still had access for around 6 months after graduating but sadly it's gone now. They had a tonne of Criterion flicks on there. If you have any kids in school then their university probably has Kanopy access and you can just sign up on the same account and switch back and forth.
Yeah Kanopy is a great resource. I'm in the GTA and have access through a couple of libraries, I think I have 30 films per month from it. Outside of the criterion stuff on there they have a great selection for documentaries. Really got me into Frederick Wiseman films through Kanopy
Palm Springs is surprisingly pleasant. It recycles Groundhog Day, but Samberg put his own twist on it, and in the end, it is rather enjoyable and not stupid. I have never been high on Samberg, because he has very limited range as an actor, and I always thought Lonely Island would his career highlight, but he is one of the most creative performers in Hollywood right now. Somehow, there is some relevance in his low-brow comedy, that they do not quickly get stale.
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Good advice. I should pay more attention to Kanopy and will in the future.
Eyes Wide Shut - 1999
Stanley Kubrick’s final film stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. I watched this movie twice this past week, and although I think it’s an interesting character study, I was underwhelmed by the story and the characters. I think it’s interesting in some ways, but I wish the story of the film was more interesting. It has it’s moments though.
I’d be interested in hearing peoples thoughts on this film, if you’ve seen it. I’ll give it a positive, but mixed rating of 6/10.
Stanley Kubrick’s final film stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. I watched this movie twice this past week, and although I think it’s an interesting character study, I was underwhelmed by the story and the characters. I think it’s interesting in some ways, but I wish the story of the film was more interesting. It has it’s moments though.
I’d be interested in hearing peoples thoughts on this film, if you’ve seen it. I’ll give it a positive, but mixed rating of 6/10.
KallioWeHardlyKnewYe
Hey! We won!
- May 30, 2003
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Small revision. After starting to consume some of the year end lists and movie chatter I completely neglected First Cow and The Vast of Night which would also be among the best things I saw this year. (My app put them in 2019 since both premiered at festivals then, though wider release was this year).
Joint Security Area (2000) Directed by Park Chan-wook 7A
When two North Korean soldiers are killed just barely over the border from South Korea, a crisis with potentially nuclear consequences threatens the region. Through a clever use of flashbacks and flashforwards, Joint Security Area unravels what happened. It is a twisty tale but a fun ride. This is director Park Chan-wook’s first film, and it is already testimony to the exuberance that he brings to filmmaking (The Vengeance Trilogy, his masterwork, will follows shortly after the completion of this film). If a little hard to follow initially, the story is a good one, and everything comes clear eventually. The plot is a clever variation on the theme that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Like our own Xavier Dolan, Park is one of those guys just born to make movies. His films are always a treat to watch, even when the plots aren’t as strong as they are here. Two of South Korea’s most prominent actors, Lee Byung-hun and the ever-dependable Song Kang-ho, provide first-rate performances, as well.
subtitles
Criterion Channel
The Rain People (1969) directed by Francis Ford Coppola
A mood road film, directed by Coppola who would make the Godfather only a few years later, in which a married woman (Shirley Knight) has an existential crisis after finding out she is pregnant and runs away and leaves her life behind. Along the way she picks up a hitchhiker (James Caan) who is brain damaged from a football injury. As an explicitly feminist film it sees characters subvert their gendered expectations – a woman breaking free from domestic life, an ex jock who can no longer express the same masculinity he did when he was a football star. An early New Hollywood film, it doesn’t always work, especially as it falls upon many now common tropes, but definitely an interesting and inspired experiment.
A mood road film, directed by Coppola who would make the Godfather only a few years later, in which a married woman (Shirley Knight) has an existential crisis after finding out she is pregnant and runs away and leaves her life behind. Along the way she picks up a hitchhiker (James Caan) who is brain damaged from a football injury. As an explicitly feminist film it sees characters subvert their gendered expectations – a woman breaking free from domestic life, an ex jock who can no longer express the same masculinity he did when he was a football star. An early New Hollywood film, it doesn’t always work, especially as it falls upon many now common tropes, but definitely an interesting and inspired experiment.
Spring in Fialta
A malign star kept him
Re-watched Blade Runner (1982) - As in love as I've always been. That final replicant monolgue is as effective as ever.
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