Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Part#: Some High Number +2

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

6 Underground - idk/10

Im really not sure what to rate this right now. As far as plot, it’s easily among the worst of the year. But... I found myself thoroughly entertained almost the entire movie. Weird experience haha

Read fast and thought you were giving 6/10 to Underground. I was "this close" from losing my shit.

 

[ORRFForever]

Code 8 [2019] :

Handsome Robbie Amell (think of a young Mel Gibson) has a super "Power". So do a bunch of other outcasts who struggle to survive in a world that resents their gifts. Together they work an underground drug ring where no one can be trusted.

Think of the Fantastic 4, but for bad guys.

I don't like sci-fi, but I really enjoyed Code 8. All the characters have real depth. It's well acted and well written - the script is humourless, but in a good way. It's also Canadian.

Code 8 is a dark, really cool, pleasant surprise.

8/10

 

[Arizonan God]

The Farewell (dir Lulu Wang)

A great concept for a film, fleshed out characters, mostly good dialogue, and a couple of great performances elevate The Farewell from it's overall mediocre plot and pacing. It feels as if it had said everything it wanted to say in the first half, and the filmmaker struggled to do much beyond re-hashing the same themes in the second half. I still enjoyed this one, for the reasons I started this review with, but it won't be one of my favourites from this year.

6/10

 

[Trap Jesus]

I saw Klaus. I'm not big on animated movies, but I can't deny that this one was unbelievably well done. It just has the feel of an instant Christmas classic that families can put on every Christmas. It's a really well thought out and clever plot that hits on a lot of different universal themes from friendship to grief to becoming your own individual. Animation looked great, and a lot of really good voice acting in here (Norm Macdonald in here was such a pleasant surprise, his character is such a good fit for what he's like in real life).

I also REALLY liked how this ended. For a long time I was wondering how much younger audiences would see this in terms of the folklore of Santa, but they tie it up in a way where I think it'll work for everyone.

Yeah, if you're looking for a new Christmas movie to add to the catalog or something to watch with the family, I can't recommend this one enough. It'll check most people's boxes for a great Christmas movie.

 

[Trap Jesus]

I also watched Girl. This is a Belgian movie about a transgender teenage girl attending dance school at a point where she's going through her transition. I thought this was a very well done movie, what I liked most about it is that it didn't find the need to sensationalize things. There are a couple things that they do sensationalize near the end of the movie, but for the most part it felt very subdued and realistic. I think if you're making a movie about a transgender character, it's probably tempting to approach it from more of an angle of trying to hit a bunch of different plot points, but that's not how this was conveyed at all.

For the most part this is about the struggles she faces despite actually having a really supportive system around her. Her father is super supportive of everything, and she doesn't face any kind of harassment or discouragement from her surrounding family. While she faces some uncomfortable bullying at the school, they don't take it to too much of a heightened level outside of one scene, a lot of it is more passive (looks, passive aggressive comments, etc.). Has to be mentioned that the lead of this movie is exceptional, I'm surprised it didn't extend to American awards for nominations TBH. Some really uncomfortable scenes he has to shoot, and also does a really good job conveying pain and discomfort in some of the dance sequences, which the dance scenes on their own are very physically demanding as well.

Interesting aspect of this is that the person who wrote/directed it is not transgender and the lead actor is not transgender. I believe it's based on a real life experience of a trans woman who attended dance school, but goes to show that when making a movie, you can still convey an authentic and genuine experience despite not actually experiencing it yourself. Watching this with my GF who is trans, she said that it felt really authentic and raw and thought the lead did a great job as well. While I like seeing trans people in trans roles, I think sometimes people make too big of a deal of it like it's a black and white guideline that people should follow, whether it's a trans person playing a trans role, a gay person playing the role of someone who is gay, or whatever else it may be. I think it's good to just leave it to the discretion of whoever is making the movie, it's their expression of their art form after all; with this role it definitely worked for a casting choice.

 

[kingsfan28]

Star Wars :
Ep I
EP II
EP III

Been a long time since I did this, but I thought it would be cool, as a lead up to the final episode on Thursday. Well, it was as I remembered. A poorly executed set of 3 films with a director who was out of touch with modern film making and screen writing. The story was there, but he just couldn't pull it off. Some of the worst dialog ever spoken, especially in Ep II. From what I've read, most of the stuff was shot off of a first draft of the script. It shows. Sam Jackson was Sam Jackson as a Jedi, nothing more. Ewan McGregor was as good as could be expected , especially with what he was given and was great as Obi-wan. Had George Lucas hired others to direct, we'd have gotten better films.

Ratings out of 4:
Ep I 2/4
Ep II.. minus 1/4
Ep III: 2.5/4

On to the original trilogy.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

Star Wars :
Ep I
EP II
EP III

Been a long time since I did this, but I thought it would be cool, as a lead up to the final episode on Thursday. Well, it was as I remembered. A poorly executed set of 3 films with a director who was out of touch with modern film making and screen writing. The story was there, but he just couldn't pull it off. Some of the worst dialog ever spoken, especially in Ep II. From what I've read, most of the stuff was shot off of a first draft of the script. It shows. Sam Jackson was Sam Jackson as a Jedi, nothing more. Ewan McGregor was as good as could be expected , especially with what he was given and was great as Obi-wan. Had George Lucas hired others to direct, we'd have gotten better films.

Ratings out of 4:
Ep I 2/4
Ep II.. minus 1/4
Ep III: 2.5/4

On to the original trilogy.

While I understand people’s frustration with Disney’s Star Wars, this is why I never understand people’s obsession with wanting Lucas again.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

While I understand people’s frustration with Disney’s Star Wars, this is why I never understand people’s obsession with wanting Lucas again.

Lucas works best as a collaborator. Say what you will about his ability (or lack thereof) to write dialogue and and direct actors, but he has an amazing imagination and world-building skills which are the reason this franchise exists in the first place. The prequels were him having free reign and would've worked much better if he had acted as more of an adviser to others.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

Lucas works best as a collaborator. Say what you will about his ability (or lack thereof) to write dialogue and and direct actors, but he has an amazing imagination and world-building skills which are the reason this franchise exists in the first place. The prequels were him having free reign and would've worked much better if he had acted as more of an adviser to others.

Yeah, he works best as a producer, probably.

 

[ORRFForever]

Lucas works best as a collaborator. Say what you will about his ability (or lack thereof) to write dialogue and and direct actors, but he has an amazing imagination and world-building skills which are the reason this franchise exists in the first place. The prequels were him having free reign and would've worked much better if he had acted as more of an adviser to others.

Agree. He was highly overrated as a director.

 

[nameless1]

The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019) Directed by Elle-Maija Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn 7B

Two young indigenous women meet on a rainy street corner in Vancouver. Aila (Elle-Maija Tailfeathers), who is middle-class and may have just received bad news from her doctor, tries to aid Rosie (Violet Nelson) who is standing barefoot in the rain cowering from her abusive boyfriend who is screaming at her from about a block away. Aila takes a reluctant Rosie to her nice apartment and they plan what to do next. Aila wants Rosie to go to a women's shelter, but pregnant Rosie is reluctant to do so for a lot of reasons. Rosie doesn't say much and she doesn't say it loud. In many ways she is the negative stereotype of a down-and-out indigenous person incarnate. Not much actually happens in this movie beyond Aila's attempt to encourage Rosie to make a fresh start. All of this is shot in one long take (or seemingly so) in which both these women's emotions are belileveably revealed in a pair of excellent performances. The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open is a very tight, circumscribed little movie, but I found it very powerful and very praiseworthy as well. Movies that bear witness are usually going to be on the depressing side, but in Canada we need more movies like this--movies that can have an impact on people's awareness of the wasted lives among us. We have something over 1200 missing or murdered indigenous women in Canada. I wish Villeneuve or Vallee would tackle that story.


Best of '19 so far

1) Parasite, Bong, South Korea
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Sciamma, France
3) An Elephant Sitting Still, Hu, China
4) Hope, Sodahl, Norway
5) Pain & Glory, Almodovar, Spain
6) Vitalina Varela, Costa, Portugal
7) The Irishman, Scorsese, United States
8) The Lighthouse, Eggers, United States
9) Varda by Agnes, Varda, France
10) The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, Tailfeathers/Hepburn, Canada

Your review mirrors how I feel about the film overall, but I am not as high as you on it, mainly because of the questionable decision to use one long, uncut take when the two women share the screen together after the introduction. While there is some merit to the technique, as it does add a sense of acuteness, I am not sure if it is necessary at all for this particular story. It feels like a gimmick, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. In fact, it made me dock a full point from my score, to a 6.25/10, because I am increasingly annoyed by it. It is similar to how I feel about Victoria.

That said, I do appreciate the fimmakers' decision to tackle an often ignored, but still important subject not just in Canada, but in North America as well, and I really like how honest and authentic it feels. That is why I would still recommend it, even with some reservations.

English Canada films are often overlooked, but this year, I am quite impressed. If you get a chance, check out White Lie. I think that is probably the best film from Canada I saw this year.

 

[nameless1]

Gave a shot to Marriage Story by Noah Baumbach. I think I actively loathe him as an artist. Outside of a fine monologue by Scarlett Johansson's character regarding her view of her relationship with Charlie, I thought the writing was a total disaster (although I did appreciate the detailed approach to the lawter search and games) but boy, it's really hard to indulge a film that looks to think its smarter than it is make fun of people who think they're smarter than they are. I thought it a limp film that tried so very hard to be funny without ever landing because Baumbach has no genuine comic sensibilities. He's too soft and vanilla, so his constant attempts at upper middle-class quirkisms fare no better than what you'll in a Sarah Jessica Parker project or Friends or any of those destructive, rotten shows and nor did I think the leads has any chemistry, while the support characters were simply impossible. It was hard to feel much sympathy or loathing for the leads. All I felt was a sort of lethargic disdain. Just about nothing had me going. I don't think Baumbach is much of anything as an author or director. In the marriage drama genre, I much prefer Blue Valentine or A Woman Under the Influence. While in the family tragedy/drama genre, I'll forever tip my hat to the superb Horace and Pete by Louis CK. That was a great piece of effective writing.

Yeah, Noah Baumbach is not for everyone. I classify him as an intellectual director, and often times than not, they come across as, in your words, "too smart for their own good", and in turn, become pretentious as a result. I have watched the majority of his films from his debut, and while I do enjoy his work overall, his dialogue can be too heavyhanded and dense. In fact, this is actually an improvement, because in his debut film, Kicking and Screaming, all the characters suffer from verbal diarrhea. That one worked, because it was used to masked the insecurities of the various characters, but it does get annoying at times. He is who he is though. He really has not changed all that much in 20 plus years, and this is just what you expect in a Baumbach film.

Personally, I did enjoy Marriage Story, but that is mainly because I see it as a homage to Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage. That one is far superior, but Baumbach's take is a decent modern update. He also went through a difficult divorce himself with Jennifer Jason Leigh, so this film also feels quite personal, and that helps the overall experience. A lot of the details are too real to be imagined. I had it as a 7/10, and it is certainly one of the better films I have seen this year.

On a side note, New York directors really are something else. I love how their characters absolutely loathes Los Angles. Like with Woody Allen's earlier works, they always have to take a shot or two towards L.A.

 

[kihei]

Read fast and thought you were giving 6/10 to Underground. I was "this close" from losing my ****.

Well, it beat the living hell out of Indiana/New Orleans tonight. Low bar, true.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Well, it beat the living hell out of Indiana/New Orleans tonight. Low bar, true.

Playoffs should be particularly good this year though - even if the NFL playoffs are typically the best sporting event of the year. Some really interesting teams with some serious sauce.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Yeah, Noah Baumbach is not for everyone. I classify him as an intellectual director, and often times than not, they come across as, in your words, "too smart for their own good", and in turn, become pretentious as a result. I have watched the majority of his films from his debut, and while I do enjoy his work overall, his dialogue can be too heavyhanded and dense. In fact, this is actually an improvement, because in his debut film, Kicking and Screaming, all the characters suffer from verbal diarrhea. That one worked, because it was used to masked the insecurities of the various characters, but it does get annoying at times. He is who he is though. He really has not changed all that much in 20 plus years, and this is just what you expect in a Baumbach film.

Personally, I did enjoy Marriage Story, but that is mainly because I see it as a homage to Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage. That one is far superior, but Baumbach's take is a decent modern update. He also went through a difficult divorce himself with Jennifer Jason Leigh, so this film also feels quite personal, and that helps the overall experience. A lot of the details are too real to be imagined. I had it as a 7/10, and it is certainly one of the better films I have seen this year.

On a side note, New York directors really are something else. I love how their characters absolutely loathes Los Angles. Like with Woody Allen's earlier works, they always have to take a shot or two towards L.A.

I don't think his movies are particularly intellectual - he riffs on some common, fine sentiments articulately but he comes across as a very poor man's Woody Allen (which is a terrible, terrible look when you can't pull it off). He should really try to avoid jokes in his films. Even Judd Apatow is funnier and he's a heavyweight in the crowded unamusing posing comedian free-for-all catfight.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Also, I watched The Irishman. An entertaining film which doesn't drag despite the runtime but some of the CGI effects are particularly bad (do they not get screened?) and I have no idea how doubles weren't used, the worst moment being DeNiro beating up the grocer. Still, as competent as it was, I couldn't help but shake the feeling of Scorcese and DeNiro attempting to recapture a moment in time that is forever gone. A valiant attempt, but it does not compare to his earlier works. Pesci was good and as Kihei said in another thread, that Keitel never blew up as much as these guys did is a shame. He was/is a magnetic, nimble talent.

 

[ORRFForever]

Uncut Gems [2019] :

Howard Ratner has it all. A successful business, a beautiful/sexy wife, and a family who loves him. He is also a gambling addict and, for reasons most of us can't comprehend, that vice means more to him than everything else in his life.

The first half of Uncut Gems concentrates mostly on Ratner and his blessings. Yes we see him hustling, and we see his world closing in, but it's secondary and the movie is great.

The second half focuses on the ugliness in his life and, maybe because we've seen similar stories in movies like The Gambler, his walk on the dark side isn't as compelling and the movie loses momentum.

Still, Uncut Gems is a terrific movie. It's well written, wonderfully directed, and Sandler gives his best performance since Punch Drunk Love. I just wish the Safdie brothers had spent less time with the gambling and more time on what Ratner was truly risking.

8/10

 

[nameless1]

I don't think his movies are particularly intellectual - he riffs on some common, fine sentiments articulately but he comes across as a very poor man's Woody Allen (which is a terrible, terrible look when you can't pull it off). He should really try to avoid jokes in his films. Even Judd Apatow is funnier and he's a heavyweight in the crowded unamusing posing comedian free-for-all catfight.

At the very least, he tries to be. I do appreciate his take on the various subject. In Kicking and Screaming, the main characters are college graduates, and personally, I think he was right on the money, as he completely captures their state of mind. In this one, his portrayal of divorces feels very authentic.

Honestly, I never find that he try to be funny myself. There are light-hearted moments, but it feels organic.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I’m probably about to put more work into this review than went into the actual movie (save the stunts), but 6 Underground is hot trash. In fairness, I wasn’t expecting good, but I was at least expecting ... passable. This isn’t an anti-Michael Bay screed. He knows how to wreck shit better than just about anyone. The Rock is an all-timer for me. Bad Boys is entertaining. I have a soft spot for The Island and Pain & Gain. Not crazy about the rest of his nonsense. Just saying I was pretty aware of what I was stepping into here. I grew up on brawny, quippy action movies. I have enjoyed plenty and hoped to enjoy this one ... but no.

Loud, obnoxious, stupid. Tries in passing to pull at your emotions with the cries of “family” and the shots of generic third-world kids, but undermines those admittedly half-hearted attempts every time a character drops an unfunny pop culture reference or blasts some equally unfunny snark at their team member. There’s a joy in the violence here that borders on gross for me — faceless bad guys get riven with steel poles and/or flying magnetized knives, a guy is shot through the zit while popping a zit, an eyeball rolls around a car floor, blood sprays relentlessly. Everyone shouts at each other.

Ryan Reynolds has clearly just decided to be sarcastic guy for the rest of his life. To his credit, he does it well, but it’s one note and it really wears on me when it’s not played well (like in Deadpool). It ain’t played well here where he’s some pseudo-Tony Stark. An ostensibly talented supporting cast is saddled with dumb cliches and the challenge of trying to out snark Reynolds. Not sure I laughed once. I’d pick at the plot more too, but it’s just not worth it.

And jesus, a parkour dude? What year is this? Martin Campbell did that way back in Casino Royale in 2006 and it was cooler and better then.

Ham-handed and worthless.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

Uncut Gems [2019] :

Howard Ratner has it all. A successful business, a beautiful/sexy wife, and a family who loves him. He is also a gambling addict and, for reasons most of us can't comprehend, that vice means more to him than everything else in his life.

The first half of Uncut Gems concentrates mostly on Ratner and his blessings. Yes we see him hustling, and we see his world closing in, but it's secondary and the movie is great.

The second half focuses on the ugliness in his life and, maybe because we've seen similar stories in movies like The Gambler, his walk on the dark side isn't as compelling and the movie loses momentum.

Still, Uncut Gems is a terrific movie. It's well written, wonderfully directed, and Sandler gives his best performance since Punch Drunk Love. I just wish the Safdie brothers had spent less time with the gambling and more time on what Ratner was truly risking.

8/10

Sooo looking forward to seeing this. This and 1917 are my most anticipated movies still to come out.

 

[ORRFForever]

Richard Jewell [2019] :

The best Clint Eastwood movie since Gran Torino.

A story that needed to be told, indeed.

8/10

 

[kihei]

Ryan Reynolds has clearly just decided to be sarcastic guy for the rest of his life. To his credit, he does it well, but it’s one note and it really wears on me when it’s not played well (like in Deadpool). It ain’t played well here where he’s some pseudo-Tony Stark. An ostensibly talented supporting cast is saddled with dumb cliches and the challenge of trying to out snark Reynolds. Not sure I laughed once. I’d pick at the plot more too, but it’s just not worth it.

And jesus, a parkour dude? What year is this? Martin Campbell did that way back in Casino Royale in 2006 and it was cooler and better then.

Ham-handed and worthless.

I sympathized most for Melanie Laurent who might just as well have been an ambulatory fern given that she had absolutely nothing to do the entire movie.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I sympathized most for Melanie Laurent who might just as well have been an ambulatory fern given that she had absolutely nothing to do the entire movie.

I hope the monetary rewards will make her comfortable in future artistic ventures.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

6 stray thoughts for 6 Underground:

1. Why 6? Why not 5 or 8 or 10?

2. When was it named for the Sneaker Pimps song? All along? Or did it slapped on late in the process because there’s a team of 6? And someone thought "Hey there's s a 6 here and this song title has a 6 in it 6 and 6 are the same!"

3. If a sequel is made will they add team members and call it 7 Underground or 8 Underground OR will they stick with rando 90s alt songs. My suggestions: Ready to Go or Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand. If they opt for #1 Crush by Garbage they accomplish BOTH (and fits nicely with the ending). PAAAAYYYY ME.

4. Each team member is introduced with a descriptor -- driver, doctor, assassin, etc. Classic team stuff. Everyone has a job. But why not get all assassins? When a new team member is needed why didn’t they go like-for-like on the skill set? Do they really need the doctor and the parkour dude? Really?

5. Their mission is regime change which they claim governments won’t do, but I think foreign governments literally do that with ample evidence. I know, I know, in the world of the movie they’re installing a GOOD guy, not a BAD guy. But they need to work on their marketing. It’s the same thing.

6. The Ryan Reynolds character is the super inventor billionaire but he’s totally anonymous. They explain this away with a line that basically says “how many billionaires do you really know?” and yet his come-to-Jesus moment is literally a scene where he’s dismissively giving money to a foreign aide group and posing for a publicity handshake photo.

 

[kihei]

Uncut Gems (2019) Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie 8B

According to Henry David Thoreau, most men lead lives of quiet desperation, but not Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler). His desperation screams so loudly that it is off the charts. Uncut Gems is basically a 2 hour, 15 minute nervous breakdown. The pace starts out frenzied and stays that way with even a couple of quieter interludes with his wife still fraught with peril. Howard is a jeweler and he has acquired an uncut opal that like everything else in his life isn't quite as good as it seems. He is addicted to gambling in a way that places everything in his life in jeopardy, but he doesn't care--he's all-in on every hand. I haven't seen a crime movie with this level of self-destruction since Abel Ferrera's The Bad Lieutenant. Harvey Keitel is brilliant in that movie, as is Sandler here. Before this one, I have never liked an Adam Sandler movie, including Punch Drunk Love, so he's obviously not getting any homer points from me. The highest praise I can give him is I don't think prime Pacino or De Niro cr Torturro could have done a much better job than he does here. Some people will find this movie grating and annoying--everybody is talking over everybody else almost all the time; the stakes start ridiculously high and only get higher; and much of the acting is done into one cell phone or another. I should add that former NBA superstar Kevin Garnett provides a surprisingly capable performance as a self-centred basketball player (you might think "well, not much of a stretch" but he is really very good). As well, in the middle of this maelstrom there are more funny moments than in any Adam Sandler comedy that I am aware of, which this definitely is not. Uncut Gems is like going for a white-knuckle ride in a super-fast muscle car with bad shock absorbers and a drunk behind the wheel.


Best of '19 so far

1) Parasite, Bong, South Korea
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Sciamma, France
3) An Elephant Sitting Still, Hu, China
4) Hope, Sodahl, Norway
5) Pain & Glory, Almodovar, Spain
6) Vitalina Varela, Costa, Portugal
7) The Irishman, Scorsese, United States
8) The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, Tailfeathers/Hepburn, Canada
9) The Lighthouse, Eggers, United States
10) Uncut Gems, Safdie brothers, US