I saw Adaptation for the first time last night. Had it down as a solid 4/5 before the final act brought it into masterpiece territory, just an absolutely wonderful feat of screenwriting.
It got me curious though, are there any other films that employ the same kind of stream of conciousness narration?
One of the pluses of Manchester by the Sea, at least in my case, is the longer I think about it, the better it gets. Has moved up to #3 for the year for me. With Manchester by the Sea, Things to Come, Moonlight, Paterson, Elle, and Hell or High Water, it is a great year for character studies so far.
Yeah, it's probably a good idea to watch everything that Charlie Kaufman writes, if he likes Adaptation.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind kinda does. Same writer.
Everyone seems to really love this movie, and I feel bummed out for merely liking it. Villeneuve is a brilliant director, no question, but every time I try to untangle how time works in Arrival and what the implications are, I tie myself in gnarly little knots trying to figure out what this movie is really saying.Arrival - 10/10
Man, I thought that was perfect and brilliant. One of those movies that really made me appreciate how much I love film and why I ever wanted to get into that business for the longest time. Beautifully shot, haunting score, great ideas and writing - Villeneuve is a god damn visionary.
Everyone seems to really love this movie, and I feel bummed out for merely liking it. Villeneuve is a brilliant director, no question, but every time I try to untangle how time works in Arrival and what the implications are, I tie myself in gnarly little knots trying to figure out what this movie is really saying.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: 7.5-8.5/10; Everything. This one really stuck with me and forced me to replay it the following day.
Hell or High Water 8/10
Great movie and Thomas Mann captures the spirit of Greg impeccably. The movie definitely leaves an indelible mark on your mind.
On a funny side note: The school they attended in Pgh was one of the schools were my father worked. He was a teacher in Pgh Public Schools, then took a cushy job in his later years doing job placement for students around the city and Schenley happened to be one of those schools.
The school actually closed several years ago because they found asbestos in there...
That's interesting. You know, despite them talking about Pitt State and the one scene where they show some snow flurries, I always placed the setting as San Francisico in my mind.
That also got me thinking and researching and I never realized Pittsburgh had a white majority population. Being from Detroit, you kind of just assume otherwise.
But back to movie, yeah, it's one of my favorites that I've seen lately and I can't quite scrap it from my mind yet.
Me, Earl....That movie pissed me off in terms of the plot twist (or the lack of). You know what I'm talking about, the guy saying "this won't happen" multiple times and then it happens, that's an awful device to use by the director.