I liked it quite a bit more than you, though I wouldn't call it a masterpiece. I liked the way it handled the immigrant experience in such detail. I didn't really find it that slow. At the time it was released I have no idea why people thought of it in the same breath as movies like Ishtar and Zardoz. Heaven's Gate may have been the Nickelback of its time, but for no reason that I could see.
Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Movie-mber Edition
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KallioWeHardlyKnewYe
Hey! We won!
- May 30, 2003
- 15,805
- 3,881
I think a lot of my problem really is Kristoferson. Trying to come up with a better actor to carry that weight, but keep coming up short.
ItsFineImFine
Registered User
- Aug 11, 2019
- 3,756
- 2,404
Terrorizers (1986) - 7/10
Fragments - the movie. Tbh, Tiawanese cinema really does not do it for me. I watch film because of the story not just the art. Do I still plan to waste 3 hours watching Yi Yi? Yeh
Fragments - the movie. Tbh, Tiawanese cinema really does not do it for me. I watch film because of the story not just the art. Do I still plan to waste 3 hours watching Yi Yi? Yeh
Yi Yi is a masterpiece. Absolutely worth 3 hours of your time
Bliss (2021) Directed by Mike Cahill 3B
Bliss is like one of those double-perspective paintings where if you look at it one way you see a young girl, but if you can shift your gaze slightly you see an old crone, or vice versa. Similarly to those paintings, from one angle Bliss is science fiction, from another angle it is a cautionary tale about mental illness. Clever achievement? One might think it should be, but it's not...not even close. Greg (Owen Wilson) is a divorced loser who draws pictures of his dream home when he should be working. He accidentally commits a horrible crime. In a panic, he goes to a bar where Isabel (Selma Hayek) sits alone. Though he doesn't know her, she tells him she can fix everything. How? Isabel believes life is a "simulation," and that none of our world is real. She is conducting a kind of scientific experiment to demonstrate her point, and Greg wavers between his reality and her reality (which may be his original reality), unsure of either. It isn't that Bliss isn't potentially a neat idea, but the execution is woeful. For starters, Wilson and Hayek have no chemistry whatsoever. And who would have thought they would? This wonky casting choice is exacerbated when Hayek throws in an undisciplined screetchy performance. Then there is the problem that neither one of these characters is especially likeable. When Greg first acquires new powers he uses them to mess people up on a roller rink. Meanwhile the movie stumbles through its presentation of ideas unconvincingly. The direction is so misjudged that it doesn't even seem like Bliss is a missed opportunity; it's just an example of a director who bit off way more than he could chew.
Prime Video
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I never warmed to it that much. Some fine moments, but too much melodrama and some odd choices. I prefer A Brighter Summer Day and The Terrorizers. I know I am in the minority on this one.
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I get your point your view. Your two picks does have more to say, while Yi Yi can feel like stale soda at times. That said, I enjoy Yi Yi too, and I do think it is a masterpiece. It is an accurate portrayal of modern Taiwanese life, and there is somewhat of a cathartic feel to the movie, as Yang seems to have found peace with life in what turns out to be his last work.
ItsFineImFine
Registered User
- Aug 11, 2019
- 3,756
- 2,404
I know it has bad imdb reviews but this premise? I'm in.
A mind-bending love story following Greg who, after recently being divorced and then fired, meets the mysterious Isabel, a woman living on the streets and convinced that the polluted, broken world around them is a computer simulation.
Adolescents [Adolescentes] (2019) directed by Sébastien Lifshitz
Emma and Anaïs are two thirteen year old friends who live in Brive-la-Gaillarde, a small provincial town in central France. This documentary follows their lives throughout their teenage years from age 13 to 18 as they make their way through highs and lows of school, relationships, and friendship in their formative years. The film explores their personal lives as well as their friendship during this time as they become increasingly distant as they mature and come of age. As well, this film situates itself within the cultural period of France during the 2010s and is a commentary on the growing pains of contemporary France (multiculturalism, terrorism, far-right populism). A documentary that feels like a drama like Boyhood, it is a compelling look at how our personalities form and our ever-present quest for self-discovery, as well as the ebbs and flows of friendship. I do however this that a little more context of the French educational system would have been helpful and question a couple of editorial decisions (the final shot seems a bit staged, the two friends are back together talking about the future of their friendship despite us not seeing them in the same shot together for what must be a couple of years – which would have been a better commentary that often our best friends as children become strangers to us by the time we become adults). But overall I think this film does a good job at exploring adolescents and the journey of growing up and becoming an adult.
Emma and Anaïs are two thirteen year old friends who live in Brive-la-Gaillarde, a small provincial town in central France. This documentary follows their lives throughout their teenage years from age 13 to 18 as they make their way through highs and lows of school, relationships, and friendship in their formative years. The film explores their personal lives as well as their friendship during this time as they become increasingly distant as they mature and come of age. As well, this film situates itself within the cultural period of France during the 2010s and is a commentary on the growing pains of contemporary France (multiculturalism, terrorism, far-right populism). A documentary that feels like a drama like Boyhood, it is a compelling look at how our personalities form and our ever-present quest for self-discovery, as well as the ebbs and flows of friendship. I do however this that a little more context of the French educational system would have been helpful and question a couple of editorial decisions (the final shot seems a bit staged, the two friends are back together talking about the future of their friendship despite us not seeing them in the same shot together for what must be a couple of years – which would have been a better commentary that often our best friends as children become strangers to us by the time we become adults). But overall I think this film does a good job at exploring adolescents and the journey of growing up and becoming an adult.
Osprey
Registered User
- Feb 18, 2005
- 28,054
- 11,009
I watched a couple of 5s these last couple of days that I didn't quite feel motivated enough to review, but I'm bored on a Saturday, so here goes...
The Yakuza (1974) - 5/10
Robert Mitchum (in his last leading role, I read) is a retired detective who goes to Japan to help rescue his friend's daughter from the Japanese crime syndicate and also reconnect with an old love. The Japanese setting, the difference in cultures and the insight into the real-life Yakuza were the most interesting things to me. Unfortunately, the film tries to be both an action film and a tragic romance instead of just one or the other, and though the romance part is sweet, it feels really soap opera-ish in that mid-70s fashion. Mitchum doesn't have to act much and generally appears tired, though the latter suits the role. At several points, however, he barges into Japanese homes, kicks down wall panels and shoots Yakuza armed only with swords, like a true American hero, and those parts are fun. In those "Kill Bill"-like scenes, it's possible to see why Quentin Tarantino is a fan of the film. Anyways, it may be worth watching if you're interested in Japanese culture, but it's not as good as it could've been. I read somewhere that Sam Peckinpah was considered to direct it (instead of Sydney Pollack). Now that would've been fun.
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Solarbabies (1986) - 5/10
What a difference a decade makes. While The Yazuka was very 70s, this was very 80s. Set in a post-apocalyptic desert where water is precious (which sounds familiar), a bunch of enslaved teenagers (which include Jason Patric, Jami Gertz and Lukas Haas)... um... play some sort of roller hockey and find a magical glowing orb named Bodhi that doesn't seem to do anything, but which the bad guys want for their evil schemes, anyways, and... yeah, I don't know. The story defies explanation or even understanding. You could tell that the writers were inspired by the setting of The Road Warrior and the popularity of teen movies and movies with special effects (like E.T, with the orb being their E.T. that the kids must keep away from the bad guys, I guess) and tried to put it all together into one. It's all a big mess that makes no sense, but the post-apocalyptic setting was interesting and I'm a sucker for the 80s-ness of it. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that the teenagers have lights on their roller skates. What's more 80s than that?
The Yakuza (1974) - 5/10
Robert Mitchum (in his last leading role, I read) is a retired detective who goes to Japan to help rescue his friend's daughter from the Japanese crime syndicate and also reconnect with an old love. The Japanese setting, the difference in cultures and the insight into the real-life Yakuza were the most interesting things to me. Unfortunately, the film tries to be both an action film and a tragic romance instead of just one or the other, and though the romance part is sweet, it feels really soap opera-ish in that mid-70s fashion. Mitchum doesn't have to act much and generally appears tired, though the latter suits the role. At several points, however, he barges into Japanese homes, kicks down wall panels and shoots Yakuza armed only with swords, like a true American hero, and those parts are fun. In those "Kill Bill"-like scenes, it's possible to see why Quentin Tarantino is a fan of the film. Anyways, it may be worth watching if you're interested in Japanese culture, but it's not as good as it could've been. I read somewhere that Sam Peckinpah was considered to direct it (instead of Sydney Pollack). Now that would've been fun.
Solarbabies (1986) - 5/10
What a difference a decade makes. While The Yazuka was very 70s, this was very 80s. Set in a post-apocalyptic desert where water is precious (which sounds familiar), a bunch of enslaved teenagers (which include Jason Patric, Jami Gertz and Lukas Haas)... um... play some sort of roller hockey and find a magical glowing orb named Bodhi that doesn't seem to do anything, but which the bad guys want for their evil schemes, anyways, and... yeah, I don't know. The story defies explanation or even understanding. You could tell that the writers were inspired by the setting of The Road Warrior and the popularity of teen movies and movies with special effects (like E.T, with the orb being their E.T. that the kids must keep away from the bad guys, I guess) and tried to put it all together into one. It's all a big mess that makes no sense, but the post-apocalyptic setting was interesting and I'm a sucker for the 80s-ness of it. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that the teenagers have lights on their roller skates. What's more 80s than that?
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Our Friend (2019)
2.90 out of 4stars
A couple with 2 daughters' best friend moves in and helps them cope with and handle everything that comes along with the wife's terminal cancer diagnosis. A very honest and human emotional roller coaster that I felt was never overly sentimental or phony. Great acting too, especially by Segel.
2.90 out of 4stars
A couple with 2 daughters' best friend moves in and helps them cope with and handle everything that comes along with the wife's terminal cancer diagnosis. A very honest and human emotional roller coaster that I felt was never overly sentimental or phony. Great acting too, especially by Segel.
ProstheticConscience
Check dein Limit
Vampires versus The Bronx
with people
The world's wimpiest vampires seek to gentrify the Bronx, sending the Murnau corporation (with the old Vlad Dracula woodcutting sigil as its logo) to buy up local properties and open vaguely new-age stores catering to the white, yuppie vampire crowd. Local kids Miguel and his two friends whose names I don't remember seek to stop them. Gangsters, social media obsessed bloggers, and emotive Hispanic grandmas who will haul you off by your ear mill around the periphery.
Yawn. How lame do you have to be as a vampire when you're 700 years old and get killed by a 12 year-old whose mommy grounded him?
On Netflix. Oh well, still better than watching a Canucks game.
Just don't tell our moms, okay?!
with people
The world's wimpiest vampires seek to gentrify the Bronx, sending the Murnau corporation (with the old Vlad Dracula woodcutting sigil as its logo) to buy up local properties and open vaguely new-age stores catering to the white, yuppie vampire crowd. Local kids Miguel and his two friends whose names I don't remember seek to stop them. Gangsters, social media obsessed bloggers, and emotive Hispanic grandmas who will haul you off by your ear mill around the periphery.
Yawn. How lame do you have to be as a vampire when you're 700 years old and get killed by a 12 year-old whose mommy grounded him?
On Netflix. Oh well, still better than watching a Canucks game.
Just don't tell our moms, okay?!
Pranzo Oltranzista
Registered User
- Oct 18, 2017
- 4,025
- 2,938
As there was talk of their inclusion coming in WandaVision, I watched the X-Men movies that are available on Disney+. They're really not as good as I would have liked to think (or kind of remembered), very repetitive, and not particularly effective. And what a mess of plotholes and conflicting story arcs...
If you want to see a metaphorical fantasy about racism and the fear of otherness, go for Clive Barker's Nightbreed.
X-Men (Singer, 2000) - I don't think Singer is a particularly good director, but I guess he did kind of ok, considering this ambitious ensemble cast came before the MCU. Dialogues and humor are very weak, the digs Wolverine and Cyclops take at each other are so lame... 4/10
X2: X-Men United (Singer, 2003) - Despite the horrible title, this is clearly the best film of the whole series. It has its moments (Mephisto's prison break). 4.5/10
X-Men: The Last Stand (Ratner, 2006) - Dialogues are worse than in part 1, and the characters are pretty much caricatures at this point (or is it only Wolverine?). This film is despised by pretty much everybody (they're even mocking it in X-Men: Apocalypse), but is still a lot less dumb than at least the next two - and probably has the better "Dark Phoenix", only problem is she's relegated to the backseat while they really should have made her a central figure. Extra half a point for not shying away from taking out major characters without fanfare. 3.5/10
X-Men: First Class (Vaughn, 2011) - Now up to this point, it's pointless but bearable, but here they lost me. Training montage, ladies in sexy underwear (in a kiddy flick), everything is embarrassing, and the dialogues don't get better - I mean, if you're not comfortable with your heroes silly childish names, just get rid of it and don't force them in with cringy explanations. It's also here - before they get to time travel - that they lost their grip on the timeline. Oh, and Professor X is kind of an ass, I'm surprised the fans didn't ask for decanonization ("Not my Prof X!"). 2.5/10
X-Men: Days of Future Past (Singer, 2014) - Now this is something else. Time travel usually brings a lot of continuity problems, but in this universe where they already didn't give a shit, it gets weird. Ridicule is reached early, when old Wolverine wakes up in his younger self, which is his old self (I know they explain it in another example of ridiculous exposition through atrocious dialogue when they tell him he doesn't really age and shouldn't have changed much... but I've just watched the first X-Men a few days ago, and Wolverine looked a lot younger in 2000, so I can imagine he doesn't look 46 years old in 1973). Could have used a little CGI, or just make it "we'll send you back in time" so that it makes sense that he's an old fart while everybody's recast. Anyway, the whole Terminator bit is lame too, with the muscular naked man arriving in the past and asking for the keys of the guy he's going to manhandle. The plot is obviously full of holes, and liberties are taken for convenience's sake. It's so dumb that it's almost good, but it doesn't deserve a 1/10, not fun enough, the Quicksilver scene at the Pentagone will even push it up to 3/10
X-Men: Apocalypse (Singer, 2016) - Closest they got to making a MCU-type film, but still lacking in humor and abysmal in charisma - there's really just Fassbender's Mephisto that's worth anything (the younger recast were all terrible from the get-go, but now they have a very bad actress playing Jean Grey and I hate what they did to Nightcrawler, one of the coolest characters of the first trilogy). I'll give it a big plus for keeping Wolverine to only one sequence. 3/10
The Dark Phoenix isn't on Disney+, but I have it at 3/10 on IMDB and I'm not in a hurry to watch it again (even though I can't remember much of it). I think the MCU would have been better not acknowleding at all the existence of these films ("Not my multiverse!").
If you want to see a metaphorical fantasy about racism and the fear of otherness, go for Clive Barker's Nightbreed.
X-Men (Singer, 2000) - I don't think Singer is a particularly good director, but I guess he did kind of ok, considering this ambitious ensemble cast came before the MCU. Dialogues and humor are very weak, the digs Wolverine and Cyclops take at each other are so lame... 4/10
X2: X-Men United (Singer, 2003) - Despite the horrible title, this is clearly the best film of the whole series. It has its moments (Mephisto's prison break). 4.5/10
X-Men: The Last Stand (Ratner, 2006) - Dialogues are worse than in part 1, and the characters are pretty much caricatures at this point (or is it only Wolverine?). This film is despised by pretty much everybody (they're even mocking it in X-Men: Apocalypse), but is still a lot less dumb than at least the next two - and probably has the better "Dark Phoenix", only problem is she's relegated to the backseat while they really should have made her a central figure. Extra half a point for not shying away from taking out major characters without fanfare. 3.5/10
X-Men: First Class (Vaughn, 2011) - Now up to this point, it's pointless but bearable, but here they lost me. Training montage, ladies in sexy underwear (in a kiddy flick), everything is embarrassing, and the dialogues don't get better - I mean, if you're not comfortable with your heroes silly childish names, just get rid of it and don't force them in with cringy explanations. It's also here - before they get to time travel - that they lost their grip on the timeline. Oh, and Professor X is kind of an ass, I'm surprised the fans didn't ask for decanonization ("Not my Prof X!"). 2.5/10
X-Men: Days of Future Past (Singer, 2014) - Now this is something else. Time travel usually brings a lot of continuity problems, but in this universe where they already didn't give a shit, it gets weird. Ridicule is reached early, when old Wolverine wakes up in his younger self, which is his old self (I know they explain it in another example of ridiculous exposition through atrocious dialogue when they tell him he doesn't really age and shouldn't have changed much... but I've just watched the first X-Men a few days ago, and Wolverine looked a lot younger in 2000, so I can imagine he doesn't look 46 years old in 1973). Could have used a little CGI, or just make it "we'll send you back in time" so that it makes sense that he's an old fart while everybody's recast. Anyway, the whole Terminator bit is lame too, with the muscular naked man arriving in the past and asking for the keys of the guy he's going to manhandle. The plot is obviously full of holes, and liberties are taken for convenience's sake. It's so dumb that it's almost good, but it doesn't deserve a 1/10, not fun enough, the Quicksilver scene at the Pentagone will even push it up to 3/10
X-Men: Apocalypse (Singer, 2016) - Closest they got to making a MCU-type film, but still lacking in humor and abysmal in charisma - there's really just Fassbender's Mephisto that's worth anything (the younger recast were all terrible from the get-go, but now they have a very bad actress playing Jean Grey and I hate what they did to Nightcrawler, one of the coolest characters of the first trilogy). I'll give it a big plus for keeping Wolverine to only one sequence. 3/10
The Dark Phoenix isn't on Disney+, but I have it at 3/10 on IMDB and I'm not in a hurry to watch it again (even though I can't remember much of it). I think the MCU would have been better not acknowleding at all the existence of these films ("Not my multiverse!").
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Falling (2021) Directed by Viggo Mortensen 6B
Maybe Viggo just needed to work this one out of his system. Mortensen, who wrote the screenplay as well, plays John who lives in California with his husband Eric and their daughter. John’s father Willis (Lance Henriksen), well into dementia, comes for a visit, and he is among the most unlikable characters in screen history. Willis is loudly homophobic, sexist, racist, and foul-mouthed, with no redeeming characteristics. He thinks nothing of embarrassing everyone in his family. John does his best to put up with his father during his stay but the ranting never really stops for long as the old man’s anger is constant and viciously mean-spirited. Even though director Mortensen’s flashbacks seemed sometimes a little rushed as he bounces back and forth between the past and present so often, the first-time director does a polished job under very difficult, though self-imposed, circumstances. I usually don’t like speculating on this kind of stuff, but I got the sense Mortensen was working out personal demons—Hendriksen looks physically a great deal like Mortensen’s late, real-life father and the film is dedicated to his two younger brothers (who in the film are represented by an appalled Laura Linney, a nice bit of deflection). Falling may be useful as a family exorcism, but the movie is an ordeal to sit through and watch to the end.
TIFF.net
Hockeyfrilla
Swe prospect fanatic
Spring in Fialta
A malign star kept him
Hana-bi (1997) - Enjoyed it but I felt Sonatine had a more distinct voice or at the very least, was more enthralled by its offbeat roaming. Uses a lot of the same guys. That's not to say I don't think Hana-bi is a very good film - it is. Just a bit less unique. It's the little details that make this one - a dying wife who doesn't speak until the very end, only to solmenly apologize for what's to come. Takeshi's twitching face. A cruel and funny baseball gag at the beginning of the film. Oh, and it's got the coolest and smoothest heist in a film - without a word being uttered. Still, I think he's a creative editor and uses smart and efficient narrative tricks to tell stories that are straight-forward on the surface but are anything but in their technical execution. In short, I think he's a superb artist. Great writer, extremely fun and proactive technician. I think I will watch Boiling Point (1990) next.
This is fun. I have to say, Kurosawa fitted in Lakers gear, crushing cigarettes and wearing sunglasses inside is a damned funny look. I think there's four parts. I know this sounds silly (mostly because I always find it funny and inwardly hasten to disagree when I hear someone talk about how nice and cool French sounds) but boy do I love listening to Japanese.
Mallrats (1995) - I've always thought there was something distasteful about the way Kevin Smith got bashed throughout his career, including the 90s. Yeah, he's no technician. Yeah, he probably doesn't have a single good film after the year 1999. Yeah, he can be a bit obnoxious. But at least he has a voice of his own. And he has a lot of heart. I think that counts for something, if not a lot. Yet it seems that lots of mean-spirited critics dumped on this guy for not, I don't know - I don't like to cast aspertions. But for not being some sort of stereotypical author-film buff (and if nothing else, I wouldn't hesitate to call Kevin Smith an author). In short, a geek and a nerd but not in any sort of fashionable sense (like a Kubrick or a Tarantino). I don't get it. I think his string of films in the 90s was a pretty damn good output, albeit not without its flaws in each. Mallrats is certainly the weakest of the bunch and it was still better than I remembered it. In short, a loafer and a college student are best friends. Both get dumped by their girlfriends and only one of them admits that he cares. They head to the mall to loaf and the rest of the film unfolds there. Kevin Smith's 90s filmography seems to largely be perceived as pop culture artifcats of sorts. It's not hard to see why. I was 7 and on my father's shoulders at Disney (I think?) when the clock struck midnight on 01-01-2000 but damn if this guy's style doesn't reek and nail what I remember of the 90s suburbia. I can easily folks who were teens or young adults in that era getting extremely nostalgic watching his films. Still, they're also funny in a juvenile way. Jay from Jay and Silent Bob can easily become obnoxious but is relatively in control within this one as opposed to films like Dogma or Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (actually, his intro is pretty funny in a dumb way) and the film's gags veer between dumb, hackneyed and charming. Still, one can't help but feel that Kevin Smith, as a filmmaker, was completely unable to sustain outside of his own little crafted universe of recurring characters and close-to-home stories but I will give him credit - he got a lot of mileage out of what I think originally had very little to give.
This is fun. I have to say, Kurosawa fitted in Lakers gear, crushing cigarettes and wearing sunglasses inside is a damned funny look. I think there's four parts. I know this sounds silly (mostly because I always find it funny and inwardly hasten to disagree when I hear someone talk about how nice and cool French sounds) but boy do I love listening to Japanese.
Mallrats (1995) - I've always thought there was something distasteful about the way Kevin Smith got bashed throughout his career, including the 90s. Yeah, he's no technician. Yeah, he probably doesn't have a single good film after the year 1999. Yeah, he can be a bit obnoxious. But at least he has a voice of his own. And he has a lot of heart. I think that counts for something, if not a lot. Yet it seems that lots of mean-spirited critics dumped on this guy for not, I don't know - I don't like to cast aspertions. But for not being some sort of stereotypical author-film buff (and if nothing else, I wouldn't hesitate to call Kevin Smith an author). In short, a geek and a nerd but not in any sort of fashionable sense (like a Kubrick or a Tarantino). I don't get it. I think his string of films in the 90s was a pretty damn good output, albeit not without its flaws in each. Mallrats is certainly the weakest of the bunch and it was still better than I remembered it. In short, a loafer and a college student are best friends. Both get dumped by their girlfriends and only one of them admits that he cares. They head to the mall to loaf and the rest of the film unfolds there. Kevin Smith's 90s filmography seems to largely be perceived as pop culture artifcats of sorts. It's not hard to see why. I was 7 and on my father's shoulders at Disney (I think?) when the clock struck midnight on 01-01-2000 but damn if this guy's style doesn't reek and nail what I remember of the 90s suburbia. I can easily folks who were teens or young adults in that era getting extremely nostalgic watching his films. Still, they're also funny in a juvenile way. Jay from Jay and Silent Bob can easily become obnoxious but is relatively in control within this one as opposed to films like Dogma or Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (actually, his intro is pretty funny in a dumb way) and the film's gags veer between dumb, hackneyed and charming. Still, one can't help but feel that Kevin Smith, as a filmmaker, was completely unable to sustain outside of his own little crafted universe of recurring characters and close-to-home stories but I will give him credit - he got a lot of mileage out of what I think originally had very little to give.
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Love and Monsters
2.75 out of 4stars
Story is pretty similar to Zombieland except with Giant Creatures instead of Zombies and more adventure/survival narrative instead of bonding/humor-one-liners. O'Brien is a charismatic enough lead here to carry everything even if he is left for dead so to speak with almost entirely 1 dimensional cliched supporting characters all around him. And again, similar to a bit lesser Zombieland, it's fun but fleeting popcorn entertainment.
2.75 out of 4stars
Story is pretty similar to Zombieland except with Giant Creatures instead of Zombies and more adventure/survival narrative instead of bonding/humor-one-liners. O'Brien is a charismatic enough lead here to carry everything even if he is left for dead so to speak with almost entirely 1 dimensional cliched supporting characters all around him. And again, similar to a bit lesser Zombieland, it's fun but fleeting popcorn entertainment.
Yeah, Kitano uses a lot of the same actors, because most of them are his minions. He is pretty much a yakuza underboss in real life.
Also, his face twitched because he had a very bad motorcycle accident in 1994, and he suffered very serious injuries. For a while, his jaw was on one side of his face. Hana-bi was the first time he appeared on screen since his accident, and even though the doctors did a very good job with the facial reconstructive surgeries, the twitches are the effects of permanent nerve damages. In fact, to this day, he still has those twitches, though they are far less prominent.
MakeTheGoalsLarger
Registered User
Spring in Fialta
A malign star kept him
Oh, I hadn't realized. I thought it was a trait of his character.
That is partially why I think the movie is brilliant, because Kitano and his crew utilizes all the scars and injuries still clearly visible on his face so well, that people forget about his limited facial movement, and the supposed weakness becomes simply another layer to his character.
Also, the girl at the end of the movie is actually Kitano's real-life daughter. It is just a fun fact I remembered suddenly.
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ItsFineImFine
Registered User
- Aug 11, 2019
- 3,756
- 2,404
The Night My Number Came Up (1955) - 7/10
If there's a British classic which has fair to good reviews and it was made between the 40s and early-60s, chances are I'll really enjoy it. They're quite basic and a bit dry but very watchable and consistent. Never too melodramatic or boring either. This one has a silly premise which probably should've been played out more and the airline scenes have a repetition in the final but but they're better done than several other airline scenes from actual World War films featuring pilots.
A Prophet (2009) - 7/10
Undeniably well made French gangster prison film.....I just really don't like gangster prison films though. They aren't as deep as they like to pretend, the 'shocking' aspects are just bits you eventually wait to happen once you've seen a handful. The characters all become tropes too.
If there's a British classic which has fair to good reviews and it was made between the 40s and early-60s, chances are I'll really enjoy it. They're quite basic and a bit dry but very watchable and consistent. Never too melodramatic or boring either. This one has a silly premise which probably should've been played out more and the airline scenes have a repetition in the final but but they're better done than several other airline scenes from actual World War films featuring pilots.
A Prophet (2009) - 7/10
Undeniably well made French gangster prison film.....I just really don't like gangster prison films though. They aren't as deep as they like to pretend, the 'shocking' aspects are just bits you eventually wait to happen once you've seen a handful. The characters all become tropes too.
Dear Comrades (2020) Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky 7A
A terrifying look at life in the Soviet Union in 1962, when dozens of workers and protesters are executed in a small town after a strike occurs at a local plant. Lyuda (Yuliya Vysotskaya), a single mother with a rebellious daughter, is a member of the city Soviet council. She is all for executing the angry workers, who are objecting to a price rise for all goods. Her position is one which the KGB is happy to oblige. Then, her daughter goes missing, and her perspective shifts dramatically. Shot in eye-catching black and white in an almost square ratio, Dear Comrades is a taut, angry powerhouse of a film with perhaps the best performance of the year from Vysotskaya. It is a little surprising that this expose of an almost unknown massacre in the Soviet Union comes from Russia where I would have thought this level of frankness would still be risky. I’m astonished it managed to get submitted to the Academy Awards for the International Film category. It’s even more surprising that its director is Andrei Konchalovsky who co-wrote Ivan’s Childhood and Andrei Rublev with Andrey Tarkovsky before moving to Hollywood and directing the decent Tango and Cash and the excretable Homer and Eddie with James Belushi and Whoopi Goldberg. Dear Comrades is much closer to Tarkovsky quality than anything he did in Hollywood.
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Pranzo Oltranzista
Registered User
- Oct 18, 2017
- 4,025
- 2,938
Disclaimer: I don't like the F4, never did. Even as a kid, they've always felt like "my uncle's superheroes". I don't know if I'm biased, but these films really felt like the worst offerings of a pretty thin genre. I'm really curious to see if the MCU can manage to make anything watchable out of these four...
Fantastic Four (Story, 2005) - With a name like Story, you'd expect the guy to bring one. This is so bland, it's really unpleasing. The Thing is a pathetic comic relief, and this Dr. Doom might be the lamest villain of all these superhero films. 2/10
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Story, 2007) - I guess someone somewhere was happy enough with the first film to greenlight this one. Not only does the very poor Doctor is back, but they've added the ridiculous Surfer... At least, the Galactus "attack" on the planet feels like a real threat and not just a moron dipped in shiny stuff (we never really see Galactus himself, which is probably a good thing since they can't portray a villain, and he's defeated and wiped from the "plot" quite simply, but the clouds are nice). 2/10
Fantastic Four (Trank, 2015) - Why do a rebooth if you're going to aim just as low as the first films? Did I say Dr. Doom's portrayal in the previous version might have been the worst villain in superhero films? I change my mind, this is the one. They managed to put together a very decent cast, but the result is just as lame. 2/10
Fantastic Four (Story, 2005) - With a name like Story, you'd expect the guy to bring one. This is so bland, it's really unpleasing. The Thing is a pathetic comic relief, and this Dr. Doom might be the lamest villain of all these superhero films. 2/10
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Story, 2007) - I guess someone somewhere was happy enough with the first film to greenlight this one. Not only does the very poor Doctor is back, but they've added the ridiculous Surfer... At least, the Galactus "attack" on the planet feels like a real threat and not just a moron dipped in shiny stuff (we never really see Galactus himself, which is probably a good thing since they can't portray a villain, and he's defeated and wiped from the "plot" quite simply, but the clouds are nice). 2/10
Fantastic Four (Trank, 2015) - Why do a rebooth if you're going to aim just as low as the first films? Did I say Dr. Doom's portrayal in the previous version might have been the worst villain in superhero films? I change my mind, this is the one. They managed to put together a very decent cast, but the result is just as lame. 2/10
Pranzo Oltranzista
Registered User
- Oct 18, 2017
- 4,025
- 2,938
What We Wanted (Kofler, 2020) - Very simple story told very simply and efficiently. A couple rents a little vacation house, mostly to face the fact they won't be able to have children and must rethink the plans they had for their future together (illustrated by the construction of their own house, that might be paused, or changed, or maybe they don't have the money to go through with the project). Their vacation neighbours are somewhat intrusive, especially their young daughter (who's kind of used by the wife as a reflection of the kid they've lost years ago after a few weeks of pregnancy). Realism, impressive at first, crumbles a little when it comes to filming malaise and when tension is rising, and the whole point is not always very clear (I feared it was turning into a pro-life argument, but they manage to avoid it) - still a very good first film. 6.5/10
Funny thing, by creating a parallel between the couple's possible demise with the risk of not being able to get through the construction of their house, Ulrike Kofler's film proposes a strong thematic link to Ulrich Köhler's masterful Windows On Monday. What We Wanted ends with the couple considering adding windows to the attic, hopeful that they'll still manage to build something that will suit them. In Köhler's film, the windows are late, and when they get there, they're not what was ordered, not what they hoped for.
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