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

[Nick Parker 3,040]

1 hour ago, Alexcremers said:

Parasite kinda reminded me of those folk theater bedroom farces where the secret lover always ends up hiding in the closet of the bedroom. It's not really my kind of humor. And just like Snowpiercer, somewhere along the line, it becomes a different movie. In Snowpiercer, it changed from drama to burlesque. In Parasite, it changed from being burlesque to drama. 

 

To be fair though, Snowpiercer had a pretty strong undercurrent of droll humor from the beginning.

[A24 4,323]

That goes for the 'drama' in Parasite as well. Underneath the grotesque, it's still a farce. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

5 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

Parasite kinda reminded me of those folk theater bedroom farces where the secret lover always ends up hiding in the closet of the bedroom.

 

Allo allo?

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

9 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

Allo allo?

 

A classic! And a very accurate portrayal of French people.

[Edmilson 7,367]

I liked Snowpiercer (and the Beltrami score), but I haven't watched Parasite yet.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Snowpiercer was awful. 

 

Dave and I saw Jumanji. Its enjoyable fluff.  Weird only  the 3rd movie I have seen since September. 

 I will see Star Wars Thursday and Sunday

 

I will have seen 8 of the 9 real Star Wars films opening day. ROTS is the exception.  What a dreadful film that was. 

 

Ftr real Star Wars films have JW as the composer. 

Rogue 1 like ROTS was dreadful. Solo was not. 

[Edmilson 7,367]

The 2017 Jumanji movie is pretty funny, and refreshingly small scale. Even though it was PG-13, it had a PG "spirit".

 

Like Forbes' Scott Mendelson once said, the huge success of movies like Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings on the turn of the millenium essentially "killed" the PG live action movie, as big Hollywood studios saw they could get more money for larger-than-life fantasy movies, with lots of special effects, that were funny to everyone, from kids, teens and adults. Hence the later success of the MCU, which appeals to the broadest public as possible (and I like Marvel).

 

Since then, there were no more one of those PG adventure movies that used to be popular with (and starred by) kids on the 80s and 90s, such as The Goonies, Back to the Future, Home Alone, the first Jumanji, etc. Welcome to the Jungle was a refreshing change to this smaller scale of adventure, funny and with no epic stakes (nothing like "half of the universe will be erased from existence", "the Wizarding World will be ruled by an immortal fascist witch dictator" or "Sauron will annihilate the free people of Middle Earth"). 

 

It managed to be nostalgic, while also being its own thing, without essentially remaking the 1995 James Horner-scored movie. 

 

The only thing that could've been better is the Henry Jackman score, which was mostly forgettable and had a pretty bad main theme. I remember reading JNH was supposed to score the movie (Jake Kasdan, director of WTTJ, is the son of Lawrence Kasdan, who had collaborated with JNH on several movies), dunno why this didn't happened. 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Home Alone deserved PG-13. It is so damned violent even if it was cartoonish. 

[bollemanneke 3,334]

Marriage story.

 

I really liked it at first and was mostly surprised that it took me two Star Wars movies and this one to realise that Adam Driver sounds a bit weird, but God, did I feel for him, he was so good. Scarlett Johansson isn’t bad, but certainly not great, and I just don’t understand what the lesson is: that divorce lawyers are cruel and too expensive to bother with, that kids can be a bind or that marriage will eventually come down to what their marriage was like? And why did Driver sing that song? Weird.

The score is very nice and surprisingly light-hearted.

 

[HunterTech 982]

Knives Out (2019)

 

Man, what a great film. Perhaps I haven't seen enough media, but it really felt particularly distinct in its presentation. From the central character to how the mystery ultimately unfolds. I got great satisfaction once it came to the final frame of the movie. I don't hate TLJ, but I will admit that it definitely didn't do Johnson any favors in terms of how he usually presents himself. It'd be really hard if you didn't find at least aspects of it to be very likable.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

2 hours ago, HunterTech said:

Knives Out (2019)

 

Man, what a great film. Perhaps I haven't seen enough media, but it really felt particularly distinct in its presentation. From the central character to how the mystery ultimately unfolds. I got great satisfaction once it came to the final frame of the movie. I don't hate TLJ, but I will admit that it definitely didn't do Johnson any favors in terms of how he usually presents himself. It'd be really hard if you didn't find at least aspects of it to be very likable.

 

I think I'll watch this movie next, after Star Wars I feel like I need something deliberate and intimate.

[A24 4,323]

Ah, the power of The Last Jedi. Soon every JWFaner will have seen Knives Out.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

7 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

Ah, the power of The Last Jedi. Soon every JWFaner will have seen Knives Out.

 

Too commercial and populist for you?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

6 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

Ah, the power of The Last Jedi. Soon every JWFaner will have seen Knives Out.

 

Actually no. This film seems to be successful mainly based to excellent word to mouth.

 

People who did not care for TLJ at all recommend Knives Out to me.

 

You won't like it Alex. Its too well liked by both critics and the public for you to enjoy it.

[A24 4,323]

14 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

This film seems to be successful mainly based to excellent word to mouth.

 

 

 

Which is normally not a reason for you to see a movie. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It is actually. When certain friends tell me that enjoyed a certain movie and recommend it I certainly consider it.

 

I don't go to the cinema often though 

[Edmilson 7,367]

I'm a little depressed that I've spent money on a ticket to TROS and not on one for Knives Out, but anyway. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You can correct that! There still time

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

Star Wars : The Rise Of Skywalker - for the most part I found it to be spectacular, thrilling, amusing, occasionally creepy and more than a little poignant. Enjoyed it rather a lot.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

21 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

Which is normally not a reason for you to see a movie. 

It is, if it's JWfan word-of-mouth. I trust this site.

[toothless 963]

Just watched Klaus on Netflix which is a nice movie actually

 

On this, an interesting article and video of the recording of the OST https://variety.com/2019/artisans/news/klaus-netflix-composer-alfonso-aguilar-1203451426/

[KK 3,307]

 

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

 

Wow. That was worse than I expected...and my bar was pretty low.

[Chen G. 3,940]

It’s got its redeeming qualities, to be sure: the actors do fine in their roles, the effects are well-rendered and it’s decently photographed, intermittently funny and the action is well choreographed.

 

Everything else in it ranges from the subpar to the morally bankrupt.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

7 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Everything else in it ranges from the subpar to the morally bankrupt.

 

Yes!

[A24 4,323]

Is this the first Disney Star Wars that you don't love, Steef?

 

Does that mean it's a movie for me?

[Chen G. 3,940]

I liked the other two, as well. Rogue One is fine, as well.

 

Didn’t like this one at all: it’s a bad film.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

25 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

Is this the first Disney Star Wars that you don't love, Steef?

 

Does that mean it's a movie for me?

 

I did not care for Rogue One, Solo was nothing great.

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 

Here's my best attempt to avoid an overlong and unnecessary rant.

 

The Rise of Skywalker is not only unsuccessful in concluding the saga effectively, but it also lacks a great deal of coherence within the sequel trilogy itself. It does not feel like the product of the two previous films. It is terribly paced; the audience is shot out of a cannon from the very start, never to take a breath for the remainder of the picture. This is obviously due to the poor writing and story, whose faults include the introduction and return of over 10 characters and visits to who knows how many planets. Everyone fights for screen-time, resulting in a far less character-driven story than, say, The Last Jedi. There's a great deal of both forced and failed exposition, and it doesn't take long for The Rise of Skywalker to get muffled and congested into a pretty sad identity crisis. At times it feels like the movie attempts to cater to every faction of the fan-base at once, as if Abrams and company had a checklist of things they needed to include to keep the interest of all parties. 

 

Even amidst the absolute mess I was able to find a few things to hold on to. The cinematography was, naturally, a huge drop-off from The Last Jedi, but there were a few striking frames that I noticed in particular. The score was mixed either really well or buried under sound effects, but the former moments were absolutely terrific when they did occur. I share many of our fellow JW Fans sentiments regarding a handful of unreleased cues, but I also noticed a fair bit of tracked music which I found to be rather interesting choices. One of the most emotionally resonant cues to hear in film was off of the FYC; Advice. If you've seen the film you know what it underscores, and there's an absolutely heartbreaking non-thematic brass moment towards the end of the cue that's just so powerful. It contributed a lot to the scene, which is probably one of my favourites of the film. I'm not quite sure what I would do without Adam Driver, who rocks it again despite receiving a fraction of the role he ought to have had. There was also a lot of decent humour which I found to work really well at times while falling flat at other points.

 

I knew enough about the goings-on of the film that it was actually a lot easier for me to accept it for what it is, but nothing could hide the fact that the film simply wasn't good. Below is my ranking of all Star Wars films, with The Rise of Skywalker finally taking it's place among them.

 

Spoiler

 

[Demodex 557]

I haven't been reading this thread so I don't know what's been said, but I saw Knives Out a few nights ago and I loved it.  It was really well acted and written.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Anyone else seen Cats?

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

I saw a cat in the street this other day.

[A24 4,323]

It's a superflop ... so there's still hope for mankind.

 

 

(or people are merely saving their money for next year's Marvel flicks)

[Nick Parker 3,040]

12 hours ago, Þekþiþm said:

Anyone else seen Cats?

 

Wha'd you think?

[Holko 9,491]

Marriage Story - that was great!

[Edmilson 7,367]

On 12/29/2019 at 3:37 AM, Þekþiþm said:

Anyone else seen Cats?

 

Well, I've spent my whole saturday afternoon helping my brother find his cat, which had ran away on the previous night. And there was a lot of cats on the neighbourhood - and I mean A LOT. Lots of dogs as well. Thankfully, none of them were terrifying like the characters on this movie, and my brother's cat eventually showed up by 2 a.m.

 

Also, I've watched The Two Popes on Shitflix this weekend. Great performances by Hopkins and Pryce and an interesting script that sells the ideological and theological debate by Benedict XVI and Francis, while also giving these two powerful man some humanity and charisma. 

 

That said, it pains me to say, but the weakest part of the movie was the direction, by my fellow Brazilian Fernando Meirelles. His very energic camera movements draw to much attention for themselves, and I think the story deserved a more quiet, intimist look.

 

Anyway, it's a good movie, but I'm not sure it would be that interesting for people who aren't Catholics, or interested on the inner works of the Catholic Church.

[A24 4,323]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

His very energic camera movements draw to much attention for themselves ...

 

Probably to compensate for the two old men. When the drummer is also the singer, the other band members have to be more energetic as well.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

Tell that to Tony Banks! 

[A24 4,323]

That's why Phil decided to hire another drummer, so he could be more like the frontman. 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Bombshell. Pretty good. Charlize Theron was almost unrecognizable in a beautiful way.

[Edmilson 7,367]

1 hour ago, Alexcremers said:

Probably to compensate for the two old men. When the drummer is also the singer, the other band members have to be more energetic as well.

 

It didn't worked that well on the movie, unfortunately.

 

The film is a pretty intimate look on the two Popes, the men behind the job of being the head of the Church, the heir to Saint Peter and leading the Christianity to the XXI century. And instead, there is some weird camera angles and movements that draw too much attention for itself. 

 

On the plus side, I liked how Meirelles managed to extract some humour for the contrasts between Ratzinger and Bergoglio. And there's a Malick-like sequence on the middle that's beautifully shot.

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

@Edmilson I'm going to see The Two Popes tonight at a privately-owned small town theatre, which has thankfully been leading the way in my city for Indie films and Netflix screenings. Looking forward as it looks well done as far as I can tell. I'll let you know what I think. 

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

On 12/29/2019 at 6:37 AM, Þekþiþm said:

Anyone else seen Cats?

If someone edits all the CGI fuck-ups together into a blooper reel, I'll watch that. 

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

1 hour ago, Sweeping Strings said:

If someone edits all the CGI fuck-ups together into a blooper reel, I'll watch that. 

From what I understand you might just end up watching the whole movie! 

[Holko 9,491]

It's all one big blooper!

[Matt C 452]

Bombshell

 

It's good but just scratches the surface of the Fox News Ailes scandal. Charlize Theron is unrecognizable as Megyn Kelly, which is unsettling, but she gives the character nuance and depth. John Lithgow is a wonderfully creepy Roger Ailes. Nicole Kidman is less prominent as Gretchen Carlson, but she does well here. I do think people overlook Margot Robbie's strong turn as composite character Kayla (she looks like Tomi Lahren here). Director Jay Roach and writer Charles Randolph definitely did their research into the Fox News world and even though some things are dramatized, FN is not a pleasant channel to work for (let alone leave).

 

The thing is, the people who really should see this (conservatives) will dismiss this as a "liberal Hollywood hit piece". It's pretty nuanced. Megyn is not villified or turned into a good guy, but a woman hardened by her experiences and willingness to push forward. Nor does it say that everything's wrapped up and the Me Too movement has wound down. 

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

The Two Popes

 

Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce are an absolute joy to watch together as Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, delivering very fine and balanced performances while playing off of each other effectively. With a witty, mostly fictionalized screenplay by Anthony McCarten (whom I recall from Darkest Hour), The Two Popes is surprisingly very entertaining, although not infallible. Yes, at times the flair of the photography can be in poor taste, and when Hopkins and Pryce do not grace the screen the interest wanes. One might've wished that McCarten would've delved deeper into some of the headlining issues surrounding the Church, but he rightly keeps the focus on the development of the relationship between the two papal figures instead of trailing off into darker waters. That being said, the film doesn't avoid these topics altogether, and is very careful in that respect. The depictions of Popes Benedict and Francis are not necessarily shallow, but they do lean towards the basic illustrations we receive from the general media of the two. I will be returning to Bryce Dessner's score, which sparked enough interest as I heard it in the film to warrant a future listen. 

 

4 / 5

 

Marriage Story

 

Scarlett Johansson is phenomenal and Adam Driver is at a career high. Driver in particular left me speechless at several points; he's definitely this year's best actor. Director Noah Baumbach hits everything so right, it isn't even necessary to have much knowledge of the divorce process and the immense pain it causes for all parties to be so very deeply moved. In hindsight it was an absolute firing squad of emotion lifted by unreal performances coming from all directions. Johansson is so good, it seems so natural and effortless in the best of ways. And another item of note is Laura Dern, who kills it as a tenacious attorney. Driver, of course, delivers such a fine performance (the two scenes that really hit me were quite obvious- the climactic argument and his performance of Sondheim's Being Alive at the restaurant). Randy Newman's score is lovely, and the film is very well shot and edited. With a cast this good and a story this impactful, Marriage Story is simply one of the best films of the year.

 

5 / 5

[A24 4,323]

2 hours ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

Marriage Story

 

... and his performance of Sondheim's Being Alive at the restaurant. 

 

For me, that's the scene that sticks with me the longest. 

 

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

10 hours ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

From what I understand you might just end up watching the whole movie! 

Loving that shot where Judi Dench's not-disguised-in-any-way hand is clearly visible. 

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

1917 is an experience I recommend, film and score are remarkable.  It's to Dunkirk what Interstellar was to Gravity.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

5 hours ago, Dixon Hill said:

1917 is an experience I recommend, film and score are remarkable.  It's to Dunkirk what Interstellar was to Gravity.

Please explain the last sentence.