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


King Mark

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5 hours ago, Quintus said:

And now they're making a Harley Quinn movie, with Kaley Cuoco. I mean... come on! 

 

 

Not exactly a movie, but an adult animated series, that will premiere on the DC Universe streaming service.

 

 

And aside from that, there will be ALSO a Harley Quinn movie, called Birds of Prey, with Suicide Squad's Margot Robbie playing the character:

 

 

5 hours ago, Quintus said:

You just know there's eventually going to be a fucking Alfred standalone movie.

 

But there is! I mean, not a movie, but a TV series focusing on the character's past, from the same creator of the Batman prequel series Gotham:

 

 

Yeah, WB is fucking obsessed with Batman and his universe. 

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Yes, excellent point about Gotham and people living there. I get what they're going for but it's never properly explored.

 

And yeah, spot on review.

 

Karol

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The dispute could have more to do with whether you prefer 'style' or whether you prefer 'story'.  These two things have always divided the audience.

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I'm sure Phoenix is great, but the reported relentless bleakness and the lack of Batman are putting me right off. 

 

Yet another indicator that when it comes to their 'cinematic universe', DC haven't got a fucking clue what they're doing.  

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2 hours ago, Richard said:

Whoops! The JOKER backlash starts here.

As Mark Kermode has said: those who liked it had no expectations. Those who hated it, had enormous expectations, thanks to word-of-mouth, and hype.

You can't win.

The truth is the film, while fine, isn't really worth all the hysteria. It's just not interesting enough.

 

Karol

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9 hours ago, Romão said:

Like I said, Gotham does feel very tangible. But what makes the city such an hellish place to live in is never properly shown or conveyed. It's just mentioned over and over again through newscasts and whatnot.

 

Aside from the allusions to the real-world social issues, and huge poverty and homelessness in America and other countries. That's where I think it wasn't necessary to build Gotham up as a separate fictional locale, but an allusion to any US city where these issues are there. It's not bashing you over the head either, it sprinkles those details in - of social unrest, crime, waste problems, rats - because we don't need to see it to believe it. And honestly, do we need more time-wasting establishing shots of a grimy city we've seen a thousand times before when the real focal point was the character's immediate interactions in his life?

 

9 hours ago, Romão said:

But I do think the Joker works best when he comes into the picture as a direct consequence of Batman's actions. Never preceeding him. And waging a sort of war that is ideological, ethical, chromatic, aesthetic. That there's this great bond between  two great metaphysical forces that can only exist and derive meaning in confronting the other. Like opposite forces always act together. And there is wonderful stuff that can be explored in that relationship.

 

 

I think this film is effective in making the Joker a more realistic person, unlike Bruce Wayne/Batman who is very much a comic-book character. I understand your point, and felt the same way before I saw the film, but I was truly convinced that it could be the other way around, that the Joker could have autonomy without Batman. I really admire this film for not stepping too far into the comic-book world, and instead bringing some realism to the character and world.

 

22 minutes ago, crocodile said:

The truth is the film, while fine, isn't really worth all the hysteria. It's just not interesting enough.

 

Karol

It's not worth the hysteria the media has heaped upon it, that much is true, it is however worth the positive reception because it's a good film. 

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The media is hyping it because they are practically begging for a copyright artist to use this film an inspiration for a mass shooting. As of seven hours ago, that had not occurred. 

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6 hours ago, Richard said:

As Mark Kermode has said: those who liked it had no expectations. Those who hated it, had enormous expectations, thanks to word-of-mouth, and hype.

 

 

I was a little on the fence with the movie ("a Joker origin story from the director of The Hangover? Really"?), and even with some low expectations I didn't exactly loved it. It's a very well made movie with a great acting, but it's just a little... silly. Has some great scenes, but the climax disappointed me a little, not very well written and pretty obvious.

 

Gee, 2019 is not being great for seemlingly good people turning outright evil, huh? Daenerys in GOT S8, now this...

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The Game of Thrones train wreck is in no way comparable to this film!

9 hours ago, Edmilson said:

but it's just a little... silly.

I'd be interested to hear what you thought was silly, for me and others I saw it with, it was a gaunt, sobering experience and utterly serious.

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I mean, it's not the tone that it's silly, the movie is indeed very bleak, dark, violent, depressing, etc.

 

What's silly is, you know those teenagers when they are covinced they figured out some great truth about life and society? It's like that. I found it a little humorous to see some very bad and obvious lines like “Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?” or “My whole life I didn’t know if I even really existed. But I do. And people are starting to notice.” being treated like the movie is saying something very deep and complex.

 

These articles on the movie sums it up pretty nicely my problems with it:

 

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/fight-club-is-best-joker-movie-1202179222/

 

https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/10/07/joker-works-if-you-sit-back-and-let-its-dumb-chaos-reign

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Joker

 

It's a very fine looking film. Joaquin Phoenix delivers a powerhouse performance. But something about all of it just...reeks. The first hour or so is just the film battering its somewhat nihilistic images of violence and self-loathing on you to exhaustion. It isn't until the big monologue at the end that you have any real understanding of what the point of any of this really is.

 

The plotting around the Waynes, his mother and the uprising are generally awkward. From Hildur's generally effective, but heavy-handed score, to the Batman canon references, the whole film is just trying too hard to validate the Joker's existence. The reason Ledger's Joker works so well is because the film wastes no energy trying to rationalize the Joker. It's not a character that makes much sense in terms of motivation. It's a character that works best as a narrative agent of chaos. But when you spend about two hours trying to "understand" the Joker, while simultaneously delving into its ties to the DCU, everything generally feels kind of hollow. A film that tries to paste the usual anti-hero narrative on something that's beyond that (an unstoppable force of nature, as seen in the Nolan film). So for all it's preaching of pseudo-philosophy, none of it really sticks the landing.

 

With that said, it's still a fine enough film with some highs and a great performance to watch out for. But it's certainly no Taxi Driver...

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7 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I mean, it's not the tone that it's silly, the movie is indeed very bleak, dark, violent, depressing, etc.

 

What's silly is, you know those teenagers when they are covinced they figured out some great truth about life and society? It's like that. I found it a little humorous to see some very bad and obvious lines like “Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?” or “My whole life I didn’t know if I even really existed. But I do. And people are starting to notice.” being treated like the movie is saying something very deep and complex.

 

These articles on the movie sums it up pretty nicely my problems with it:

 

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/fight-club-is-best-joker-movie-1202179222/

 

https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/10/07/joker-works-if-you-sit-back-and-let-its-dumb-chaos-reign

But that's not what the film's saying, that's you projecting those observations onto what I believe is film's best quality -  that it doesn't give you the answers. It simply can't. 

 

Honest reactions I've seen and read seem to be fairly explicit in acknowledging the film isn't a 'deep', subtle exploration of the themes and issues its trying to portray, but a fair and interesting evaluation of a comic book character who has been largely inseparable from Batman.

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On 10/7/2019 at 10:22 AM, Sweeping Strings said:

I'm sure Phoenix is great, but the reported relentless bleakness and the lack of Batman are putting me right off. 

 

Yet another indicator that when it comes to their 'cinematic universe', DC haven't got a fucking clue what they're doing.  


And I've heard today that it uses a Gary Glitter track at one point, so that means a convicted paedophile has earned royalties from this film. 

 

Yeah, it can definitely fuck right off. 

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13 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:


And I've heard today that it uses a Gary Glitter track at one point, so that means a convicted paedophile has earned royalties from this film. 

 

Yeah, it can definitely fuck right off. 

 

Yep, gotta agree.  If that's the mood you're going for, it's very simple to just use, like, a T. Rex or Sweet song or something instead.

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1 hour ago, Koray Savas said:

Isn’t that song played at like every sporting event? Don’t see the problem. 

 

No, not anymore. When his legal issues began and he was arrested, Rock and Roll Part 2 was basically banished from stadium and marching band playlists, as well as the radio. 

 

Yes, that's right. A song from 1972 is now shunned because its artist was outed as a pedophile in the 90s and 2000s.

 

Yet Michael Jackson songs stay on the radio. 

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Capture.JPG

 

 

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

 

No spoilers

 

I'll post the bulk of my thoughts over in the Breaking Bad thread, because what I'm primarily here to say is: If you haven't seen the show but have been curious about this movie, I honestly wouldn't bother to watch it until after you've seen the show.  While it is more or less a standalone story, it really only has any kind of meaning if you spent the time seeing what this film's main character went through on that show to really get why it's worth following him here.  If you didn't watch the show I suppose it can kind of function as a sort of modern day western-adjacent, kind of suspense thriller... but I don't know if you'll really be able to connect to the main character since the movie assumes you know what he went through on the show.

 

The movie is very nicely shot and directed - great cinematography, some veyr cool shot compositions and editing, good pacing, good score by Dave Porter.  I think it's worth watching if you've seen the show, but it's really just a nice epilogue more than anything else.  If you did love the show and never watch this, you won't really be missing out on anything important.

 

More thoughts in the BB thread coming soon.

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Jessie's Big Movie

Pretty good.  It feels less like a movie and more like an extended episode of Breaking Bad but that's ok.  Not really necessary in the greater span of the series but it's a nice return to that universe.

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IT: Chapter Two

 

This didn't need to be over 2.5 hours. I get the flashback sequences with the younger versions of The Losers Club (being as they were the reason the first film worked), but some were extraneous. James McAvoy and Jay Ryan felt miscast as the older Bill and Ben, while the rest (especially Bill Hader and Jessica Chastain) were terrific. Bill Skarsgard is still just as scary and ghoulish as Pennywise but his presence felt diminished in sections.

 

The problems involving the climax and how the Losers Club defeat Pennywise don't bother me as much as the pacing and plot diversions. Had Andres Muschietti been more ruthless with paring down the script with Gary Dauberman (as they did with the first film), this would've been a better-paced film. The tone and atmosphere is just as pervasive as the first film, with some gorgeous camerawork by Checco Varese. Benjamin Wallfisch's score expands upon the palette from the first film, but nothing too memorable.

 

Sink or Swim

 

A fun little French film from last year. It's a feel good comedy, with the humor naturally blossoming from the characters' relationships and their insecurities about becoming a middle-aged synchronized swimming team. Gilles Lellouche keeps the pace moving well and it doesn't get boring.

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Hobbs and Shaw

 

Bad dialogues and the plot seems like something 9-year-old me would came up with while playing with my Max Steel toys. But at least this one doesn't take itself very seriously, which is a welcome departure from the melodrama these Fast and Furious movie usually have. However, it fails right where it shouldn't: the action scenes. They're too cartoony and filled with not very good CGI. I mean, you have The Rock, Idris Elba and Jason Statham on the same movie, and instead keeps turning them into weird CGI dolls? And all for ludicrous (and not in a good way) action scenes?

 

The score is utterly generic, and could've been written by literally everyone in Hollywood with a keyboard.

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Just Mercy

 

Our film fest screened this in advance, and it's fine. Good performances by Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, good direction by Daniel Destin Cretton, but nothing extraordinary. Brie Larson sticks out like a sore thumb with an atrocious Southern accent and an even worse wig than the one she had in Avengers Endgame. It's safe and predictable Oscar bait, but it goes down smoothly.

 

Audiences will lap this up come January 2020.

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El Camino

 

It's solid stuff, with some great vignettes of Gilligan writing. But it's definitely one for the fans. An epilogue to give us another taste of the Breaking Bad world and mythos. Does it manage to stand on its own otherwise? Not really. It neither has enough thrills to be a thriller, nor enough character to be a character study. But it does comfortably sit somewhere in between, entirely content with being an "extra" for the next DVD box set. I guess it also serves as reason why this stuff works better on the TV medium than it does film.

 

And some cool shots aside, Breaking Bad looks better on film than digital.

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2 hours ago, KK said:

It's solid stuff, with some great vignettes of Gilligan writing. But it's definitely one for the fans. An epilogue to give us another taste of the Breaking Bad world and mythos. Does it manage to stand on its own otherwise? Not really.

 

I gladly watch: Jesse, The Alaska Years on digital film.

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Fractured (2019)

 

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Man loses wife and child in a hospital. A movie full of mystery and twists by The Machinist director Brad Anderson. It's certainly nothing special but watchable.

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Joker

 

I didn't like it. The key thing that kills it for me is that it vilifies people with mental disorders by pegging them as stalkers and basket cases. Todd Phillips and his co-writer go a bridge too far by normalizing Arthur Fleck and not mining the fact that people here in the U.S. can obtain guns that shouldn't have them (mentally ill and/or those with criminal records). Joaquin Phoenix's performance is excellent, even mind-blowing in individual scenes, but he deserved a better script and director. (And I could've done without the tai chi movements.)

 

It's a shame, as Scorsese would've been able to do something transient with a story like this. The cast is stellar and Lawrence Sher's cinematography even more so. Hildur Guonadottir's score is very effective, but she reuses Arthur's motif to the point of exhaustion.

 

Judy

 

Renee Zellweger is excellent in this warts-and-all movie about Judy Garland. After the first ten minutes, she became the character, and the movie doesn't gloss over her failings during the last few months of her life. It's a workmanlike biopic but Zellweger really elevates it.

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Midsommar. Finally managed to muster some courage to finish it after the first unfortunate incident some months ago. It does hit a never for some reasons that are personal and it somehow manages to combine many things that really scare me into a one neat package. It's not really a horror in a jump scare kind of way but if you feel bit vulnerable in your life it will have a tendency to really grab you. It's not the plot or story that got me. It's the mood that it evokes. And that might not be pleasant. The last time I managed to watch about half of it so the fact I want to revisit it made me really nervous. But, against all, common sense, this time I decided to carry on. And, to my surprise, it ended being more cathartic. In the context of the story on screen, it might be actually the most disturbing thing to say. But hey, life's funny this way.

 

The film itself is very well made and might be one of the most striking movies to come out this year. It's beautifully shot, edited, scored etc. Definitely something pretty to look at. And this might be the scariest thing of all.

 

Karol

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