What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Newer Films)

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Sounds positively  dreadful but I don't  reach the Coens

 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The Gal Who Got Rattled was my favorite. 

[KK 3,307]

The Tom Waits one was mine. Great delivery all around.

[A24 4,322]

16 minutes ago, KK said:

The Tom Waits one was mine. Great delivery all around.

 

Mine too, without a doubt.  Very dreamlike and somehow a nice commentary on man and nature. 

[Holko 9,491]

Mine, too.

[Fancyarcher 350]

Saw Bohemian Rhapsody last weekend. Enjoyed it overall, but I wasn't a huge fan either. The music scene were great, and Malek was fantastic, but I think they could have done something more interesting then just the standard biopic route they went.

 

My review.

 

https://dailyuv.com/970634

[Brundlefly 2,385]

13 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

Saw Bohemian Rhapsody last weekend. Enjoyed it overall, but I wasn't a huge fan either. The music scene were great, and Malek was fantastic, but I think they could have done something more interesting then just the standard biopic route they went.

What did you think of the scene with the boy in the hospital with aids reversing Freddie's question-response-game on stage?

[Fancyarcher 350]

I actually thought that was a pretty "sweet and nice moment". One of the rare times where they seem to show Mercury's "softer side". I liked it. 

[Nick Parker 3,040]

Saw Creed II yesterday with my brother and stepfather. Having not seen the first one, I really enjoyed this! You know the general plot summary for the whole movie after 10 minutes or so, but it's so well told and executed I don't hold that against it, same with the Indy films.

 

It utilizes the past Rocky films excellently, drawing on them (particularly IV) enough to trigger people's nostalgia, but never wallowing in it or overindulging. Because of that, it feels like a very earthy and weighty tale of generations passed on. There were so many places they could have milked mega drama from these scenarios, but they mostly always underplay it for subtlety and realism. 

 

The performances are superb as well; this is my first time seeing Michael B. Jordan in a film, and man he's got the goods! There are lot of pauses in dialogue scenes, where a character will say something, and the other person will process it before responding, contemplating the veiled truth behind the other's words, and inviting you to imagine their own internal reactions to what's going on, even when they don't have a lot of dialogue or focus. In other words, very economical storytelling. 

 

The music helps with the sombre mood of the film, but has plenty of levity. Call me simple, but I love dramatic scenes where a lot of it plays unscored, and at a crucial pivot line in the dialogue, a French horn solo accompanied by harp smooths it way in. Not just low pedal tones for every second of drama. And when the music needs to bring the heat, there are some moments where it really is the main storyteller and wagon horse. I really need to pay more attention to this Ludwig Goransson guy! I know y'all really liked his score for Black Panther.

 

Overall, it was really nice to be able to watch a film made in 2018 where every aspect of filmmaking is allowed to be used for deliberate,  maximum effect to create drama, mood, excitement, build ups and payoffs. There were a number of moments where I got goosebumps purely because everything--acting, visuals, music, etc.-- was working together in sync and high cylinder so perfectly, where the only verbal response to it all can be: "Hell yeah".

[A24 4,322]

I liked the first Creed simply for they way Stallone perfectly embodies Rocky but I didn't care for the rest of the movie.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

6 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

I liked the first Creed simply for they way Stallone perfectly embodies Rocky but I didn't care for the rest of the movie.

 

Obvious I can't comment specifically on it, but what did you not like?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

15 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

I liked the first Creed simply for they way Stallone perfectly embodies Rocky but I didn't care for the rest of the movie.

 

Say what you want about Sly as an actor, he KNOWS Rocky.

[A24 4,322]

8 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

 

Obvious I can't comment specifically on it, but what did you not like?

 

Oh, it was alright, I wasn't bored or something, but Stallone was the only thing in Creed 1 that I thought was great. 

[John 2,032]

2 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Say what you want about Sly as an actor, he KNOWS Rocky.

 

He IS Rocky!

[Nick Parker 3,040]

It was also nice to see his name in the screenplay credits, would love to know what he contributed. 

 

Here he does a great job being at this aged mentor figure with his own phantoms of the past to contend with. What I really like about him in Creed II is that he's really not that "smart" of a character: he stumbles around his words, gives simple, crude  advice, and sometimes doesn't know what advice to give in moments when he needs to...but there's this inner sense of lived wisdom that flows beneath the current of everything he does. 

[A24 4,322]

Just now, Stefancos said:

 

Say what you want about Sly as an actor, he KNOWS Rocky.

 

It's mind-boggling how is Rocky. The first time you see Rocky in the restaurant scene ... You see Rocky and you go 'But .... that's ... Rocky! Through and through!'

 

 

[Nick Parker 3,040]

13 minutes ago, John said:

 

He IS Rocky!

 

2 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

It's mind-boggling how is Rocky. The first time you see Rocky in the restaurant scene ... You see Rocky and you go 'But .... that's ... Rocky! Through and through!'

 

 

 

The Cremeritis is deteriorating! 

[Quintus 5,399]

15 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

Say what you want about Sly as an actor, 

 

He's decent at it.

[A24 4,322]

2 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

The Cremeritis is deteriorating! 

 

Hey, I had to find the clip. No Cremeritis here.

[Nick1Ø66 4,687]

Outlaw King (2018)

 

Well this was better than I'd read, but not as good as it could have been.

 

For an "epic" it felt a little small scale, which is surprising b/c the film takes you across the whole of Scotland and covers some pretty pivotal moments in Scottish history.  The locales of course are spectacular, but Pine is a little underwhelming as Robert the Bruce. He's not bad by any means, but you don't get the sense that this person is a leader of rebellion. The romance gets in the way of the main story and while the woman playing Bruce's wife is fine, the relationship feel superfluous. That said, the battle sequences are quite well done (it's plenty violent) and its attractively shot. 

 

Netflix seemed to aim for an old style historical epic here, but I have to say missed the mark. At two hours the film doesn't feel epic, and I'd have liked to see a longer cut...the whole thing is over just as you're getting into it. 

 

Mainly, what Outlaw King does is remind you what an incredible feat Mel Gibson pulled off with Braveheart.  Pine's Robert the Bruce just can't hold a candle to Mel's Wallace, and in fact isn't even as memorable as the performance by the guy who played Wallace in Gibson's superior film.

 

2.5/5. Worth watching for Braveheart fans, Scottish history fans & @Chen G., but others may find it boring.  Tempted to take half a star off for no kilts or bagpipes, history be damned!

[Chen G. 3,940]

13 minutes ago, Saint Nicholas MLXVI said:

At two hours the film doesn't feel epic, and I'd have liked to see a longer cut...the whole thing is over just as you're getting into it. 

 

Mainly, what Outlaw King does is remind you what an incredible feat Mel Gibson pulled off with Braveheart.  Pine's Robert the Bruce just can't hold a candle to Mel's Wallace, and in fact isn't even as memorable as the performance by the guy who played Wallace in Gibson's superior film.

 

When it debuted in TIFF, it was twenty minutes longer. However, the TIFF audience and critics found it mind-numbingly boring at that length, so the director had to cut his movie shorter.

 

I would say, however, Braveheart isn't great to me necessarily because of Gibson's acting (although I'd argue he's excellent in it) but because of what he does behind the camera, and because of some of the contributions of his creative partners: Horner, editor Steve Rosenblum, DP John Toll and screenwriter Randall Wallace.

 

Its a wonder of a film.

[Nick1Ø66 4,687]

1 minute ago, Chen G. said:

I would say, however, Braveheart isn't great to me necessarily because of Gibson's acting (although I'd argue he's excellent in it) but because of what he does behind the camera

 

Well this goes without saying!

[Brundlefly 2,385]

17 hours ago, Nick Parker said:

The music helps with the sombre mood of the film, but has plenty of levity. Call me simple, but I love dramatic scenes where a lot of it plays unscored, and at a crucial pivot line in the dialogue, a French horn solo accompanied by harp smooths it way in. Not just low pedal tones for every second of drama.

I love that. There's a prominent example of music setting in just in the right moment of a dialogue in Outland, which turns a warning into a threat.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

12 hours ago, Chen G. said:

I would say, however, Braveheart isn't great to me necessarily because of Gibson's acting (although I'd argue he's excellent in it) but because of what he does behind the camera, and because of some of the contributions of his creative partners: Horner, editor Steve Rosenblum, DP John Toll and screenwriter Randall Wallace.

 

Its a wonder of a film.

 

Yes!

[JoeinAR 1,949]

On 11/20/2018 at 12:18 PM, Holko said:

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

A pretty good collection of short stories. They all build on and relate to each other in some aspects, while being distinctly different in others (purely visual storytelling vs. dialogue-heavy stories for example). Very pleasant and likeable overall, quite funny at times.

As I said positively dreadful but my husband David wanted to watch and so we did. There was no relationship between tales that I could find. The first story was well told. A couple had poor payoffs. Overall it was not too bad but the last did fall into my definition of positively dreadful.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

10 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

I love that. There's a prominent example of music setting in just in the right moment of a dialogue in Outland, which turns a warning into a threat.

 

Oh hell yeah. Even if the music isn't the most interesting, if it's well-spotted and comes in just the right spot, that's easy goosebump material for me.

 

In fact, one of the boxing matches in Creed II starts unscored for the first round, until the boxers are in the corner listening to their trainers. One of them tells their boxers right before the second round, something like "Break him", and immediately after this cue comes in, and from this point the whole match is scored.

 

 

 

 

Hell yeah is all I can say in these moments. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

So many films would be so much better, if they used their music more thoroughly instead of wall-to-wall scoring à la Zimmer. I've actually never seen a movie that was "underscored", but tons of movies that were "overscored"!

[Nick Parker 3,040]

2 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

So many films would be so much better, if they used their music more thoroughly instead of wall-to-wall scoring à la Zimmer. I've actually never seen a movie that was "underscored", but tons of movies that were "overscored"!

 

I wanna say I've seen some underscored movies, but I can't remember their names. Overall, I totally agree with you. Spotting is such a massive part if the moviegoing experience for me, and poor spotting (usually too much music) is one of the reasons  I don't watch a lot of modern films. 

[Fancyarcher 350]

Saw Fantastic Beasts 2 on Friday. Was quite disappointed. Not exactly "bad bad", but it felt like they attempted to cram too much into it, in order to set up future installments, which annoyed me. My review. 

 

https://dailyuv.com/970753

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Its a bridge film and they always suffer from overload and incompleteness. 

Unlike the first 6 Potter films this film has no beginning or ending in this overall arc.

[Fancyarcher 350]

Saw two movies last weekend, quite enjoyed both in different ways, and wrote reviews for them as well. 

First Ralph Breaks The Internet.

 

https://dailyuv.com/970802

 

And then Widows.

 

https://dailyuv.com/971038

[publicist 4,643]

 

This is how you do vigilante movies. Economical and sparse, yet virtuoso Ingmar Bergman telling of an old legend, it's about the rape and killing of a young girl and her father, Max von Sydow, taking revenge - it deals with existential and religious issues framed within the different belief systems of christianity/paganism. The title refers to the poetic image of a spring that starts flowing beneath the retrieved body of the dead maiden.

[crocodile 7,973]

Funny you should mention this. My housemate wants to watch this one tonight.

 

Karol

[A24 4,322]

Outlaw King:

 

 

Doesn't really pull you in. Not that it's bad but something is missing. Perhaps the characters are a tad bland? The battles were good and impressive. 5/10

[Disco Stu 15,495]

At least you had the privilege of seeing Pine's pecker

[publicist 4,643]

 

Okay-ish thriller about the taking of Adolf Eichmann by the Mossad in 1960 from Argentine to bring him to trial in Israel. It shares the burden of many filmed biographies: despite a (technically) high craftmanship level, the screenplay is so busy checkboxing the chain of events that it forgets to find an underlying truth or insight about either Eichmann or his captors, reducing the central battle of wits (will Mossad agent Oscar Isaacs wrestle an important signature form Eichmann) to a few scenes that do not amount to much beyond confirming Eichmann (Ben Kingsley, not feeling the part) to be a Nazi creep hiding behind the old german excuse of just having obeyed orders and Isaacs is struggling to get a grip on his motivations. Political historienne Hannah Arendt famously described AE's drab, colourless appearance as the 'banality of evil' and yet, he was the architect of the 'final solution', directly responsible for developing and operating the industrial slaughter of jews, gypsies, and many more. In that light, his persona (and the historical importance of the trial as one of the first war crime media events) are woefully undersold by this movie. The Desplat score shows promise with pulsing xylophone-led paranoia music recalling 70's scores by Goldsmith or Morricone, but most of it is called upon as wallpaperish background.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Just now, publicist said:

The Desplat score shows promise with pulsing xylophone-led paranoia music recalling 70's scores by Goldsmith or Morricone, but most of it is called upon as wallpaperish background.

 

Yes, I got so excited upon hearing the first track of the OST.  That excitement had gone away by the middle.  The Sisters Brothers is a much stronger score overall, for separate listening at least.

[publicist 4,643]

True. But the low profile probably helped Desplat through a number of equally undemanding projects. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

2 hours ago, publicist said:

It shares the burden of many filmed biographies: despite a (technically) high craftmanship level, the screenplay is so busy checkboxing the chain of events that it forgets to find an underlying truth or insight about either Eichmann or his captors, reducing the central battle of wits (will Mossad agent Oscar Isaacs wrestle an important signature form Eichmann) to a few scenes that do not amount to much beyond confirming Eichmann (Ben Kingsley, not feeling the part) to be a Nazi creep hiding behind the old german excuse of just having obeyed orders and Isaacs is struggling to get a grip on his motivations.

Funny enough, that in 2012 many people complained about a movie 'Lincoln' not checkboxing every step in the life of Lincoln.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

5 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

At least you had the privilege of seeing Pine's pecker

Ive seen better.

[A24 4,322]

I don't even remember that.

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

A female friend of mine reckons that it 'must've been very cold' when Pine filmed those Outlaw King scenes. 

 

More a 'pine needle' than a 'pine cone', I'm guessing.  

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Heh heh.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Circumcised? 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

It certainly appears so. Good thing he has a nice face.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Robert The Bruce would not have been!

[Wojo 2,453]

You'd think Netflix would have the budget for a little CGI foreskin. 

[Nick Parker 3,040]

Technically they do, but they already spent it digitally removing the actor's pubic hair!

[John 2,032]

This discussion is starting to sound like a Bespin thread.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Remember how that turned out in Terminator 2.