Last Movie You Watched and Rate it | New Year New thread

[Rodgerwilco]

Primer (2004) - Directed by Shane Carruth - 8.5/10

Primer is a very interesting film which follows the story of engineer/inventors Abe and Aaron who accidentally stumble upon the discovery of time travel while working on a device that can lower the weight of objects.

Abe (David Sullivan) and Aaron (Shane Carruth) use the device that they've invented to manipulate the timeline of their lives, play stocks, and change things to their liking. The two characters run through multiple instances of the same week when, predictably, things start to unravel.

Primer isn't a movie that you'll fully understand the first, second, or maybe even third time through without the assistance of breakdowns and explanations outside of the film itself. I generally recommend that people watch the film, and then watch a detailed breakdown (with illustrations), and then watch the film again to see it in context.

I've read that some have said that Primer is one of the better portrayals of this type of scientific and time travel films. Creator Shane Carruth was adamant about not dumbing the dialogue and science down to keep the authentic feeling of true engineers creating a highly technical experience.


Amazingly the film was shot on a $7,000 budget with some of the actors also acting as crew members as well. Shane Carruth was the Writer, Director, Producer, Editor, and did the music for the film. Carruth was a former software engineer and Mathematics student who very clearly used his education as the skeleton of this film.

I've seen this one about 6 or 7 times by now, was very shocked I could finally get my wife into watching it and she's watched twice and a couple of illustrated explanations already since... Definitely not a light watch, but something I recommend to everyone. Great film.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I know my nieces loved it. I think a lot of the hate comes from adults who have a political axe to grind.

Anyways, I watched Cosmopolis by David Cronenberg and enjoyed it enough despite finding it confusing. Not one of my favourite Cronenberg films at least based on my first viewing but it was interesting and an excellent lead performance by Robert Pattinson. Compared to the other two Cronenberg films I've watched recently I'd rank it behind Existenz and ahead of Spider. I'm curious what other Cronenberg fans or anyone for that matter thought of this film.

I think those three films are afflicted with the same disease that many of Atom Egoyan's movies suffer from: they are cold and keep the audience at arm's length. I thought Pattison's performance in Cosmopolis was exceptional, but I was never the least emotionally invested in his character's story. That particular trio of films are more like intellectual exercises. I'd also add Maps to the Stars and A Dangerous Method to this list of unaffecting, uninvolving Cronenberg movies.

Caught Cosmopolis. While I loved the look and feel of it (the ribbed leather interior of the limo is a VERY Cronenberg design) it did something that Cronenberg movies rarely do ... it kinda bored me. Cold is absolutely the right adjective. But cold can still be interesting. I just could not lock into this one though. I give Cronenberg so much benefit of the doubt that I'm willing to chalk this up to being a me issue, not a movie issue. Pattinson is a fascinating and often great actor, but this felt like a transitional performance to me. Stretching up from Twilight, but not quite at the level he'd quickly reach. Like the movie overall, I could never quite get on his wavelength (and in this case I do think it's him, not me). There's enough here though that makes me want to come back to it a few years down the road and see how I feel ...

I recently had great rewatching experiences with both Barton Fink and Sex, Lies & Videotape ... a pair of films that I always found too cold and/or obtuse. But after revisiting every few years I felt like they finally clicked in for me. For whatever reason. Maybe Cosmopolis will be the same one day?

I also checked out Maps to the Stars. Enjoyed this one. Was fascinated with how Croenberg stuck to so many of his themes -- abuse, broken homes, deformation, religion/cults, aging, even car sex -- but transposed it from a futrueshock sci/fi realm and into a contemporary Hollywood. All the trauma, but none of the goopiness. It's also a pitch black comedy with Julianne Moore once again proving she's the Queen of playing fraying, selfish women. (This one might be her masterclass). I did like Pattinson here though he's a secondary character. Funny enough he also spends this entire movie in a limo.

 

[Osprey]

Body Double (1984) - 6/10

A struggling actor (Craig Wasson) spies on his neighbor and becomes obsessed with her and the danger that she appears to be in. It's an erotic thriller that blends Rear Window and Vertigo. Voyeurism, violence and overt homage to Hitchcock. This is a Brian De Palma film, alright. He sure loves to be provocative and doesn't hide his inspirations. The first half is a bit predictable, but then the plot takes a sharp turn and the second half is anything but. De Palma really plays with the theme of artificialness and how, in Hollywood, you can never be certain whether what you're seeing is real. He even includes multiple films within a film and doesn't immediately make it clear when you're watching one. Some scenes are rather unbelievable and cheesy, which affected my immersion, but I think that it was deliberate to straddle the line between fantasy and reality. De Palma's films often lack logic and have a dreamlike quality to them. I'm not sure that this one's plot really works, but it has style and a lot to analyze. I think that I appreciate that and what De Palma was trying to do more than what he actually accomplished, but it was never boring. His films never are.