Highlights of this week include The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017). I watched it quite late, in my PJs, expecting to possibly fall asleep half-way though (I had read that it was a bit slow), but was completely drawn in and compelled the whole way through. Given the pace, and way everything was spoken, it's amazing how much intensity it had by the end. I really liked the ending, which was, like most things, far short of "happily ever after". I must check out this director's previous movies.
I also watched CHIPS (2017), and man oh man, I laughed my ass off. Definitely the funniest movie of last year! Am I alone on this? Anyone?
All I know about CHiPS is what JB had to say on it, and that there wasnt a laugh in a packed theater for its Trailer, except for some convoluted dick touching joke that mostly seemed to confuse the audience. So yeah, you maybe alone on that one.
I might have just been in the mood for something vulgar/crude. I think it speaks a bit to how weak last year was for "funny" comedies. I probably laughed more during Thor and Spider-man than anything more strictly comedic. Girls Trip was probably the best of 2017, and it was good, but not great.
I wanted to go back and listen to what JB had to say. Perhaps its in the under/overrated ugly episode?
When We First Met: not the worst of Adam Devine, which is a good thing. the twist of the movie is nice. a worthy romcom
Pump Up The Volume: teenage angst, rebellion and love. all timeless subject for a great movie with great music.
Gerald's Game: a very good movie with a huge mood killing scene at the end. sometimes i can get over that kind of thing, but here it was way too long.
Night Of The Living Dead: it was my first time and it was very worth it. the Criterion blu-ray is one of the best of the collection with all the extras available
I hate modern comedies but I watched "When We Fist Met" and thought it was semi-charming. What I really liked about it was that it strayed from the crass, gross out, "how far can we go" formula and it played like a silly 90's "Can't Hardly Wait" kind of thing. I liked it a lot based on the fact that most comedies these days really suck. Oh, and Daddario, of course. That dream sequence in the grocery store in the beginning of the film...I swear that was a sneaky, small nod to Connelly from "Career Opportunities".
I've thought about it a bit since I watched it...I loved it for the reasons I mentioned. It was goofy and sweet and had a good, genuine vibe to it. It's not funny at all, (that's just me, maybe), but it's got some kind of heart which I appreciate. McG finally comes through :)
Watched The Ritual, which was ok. The pacing was a bit slow through most of it but I thought the last 15 minutes or so were pretty good.
Tragedy Girls was fun. This is the first thing I'd seen Brianna Hildebrand other than Deadpool and I thought she was great in this.
Having watched The Vikings a couple weeks back, I decided to check out The Long Ships. Can't go wrong with Sidney Poitier in one of the lead roles, as well as the under-appreciated Russ Tamblyn.
I saw Mother of Tears which was fine I guess. I'm curious if Patrick has revisited this one at all since he started really getting into giallo (although Mother of Tears doesn't exactly feel like giallo).
And finally, I watched Black Panther which I thought was great aside from a few plot quibbles I had (specifically that the stuff the villains do in the first half of the movie doesn't really accomplish anything).
Couldn’t justify it since I still had a couple unwatched from the last sale. Including Heaven’s Gate (1980) which I watched last night (and this morning). I need to sit with it and read more about it for a while, but my immediate response is I think it is one of the greatest movies ever made.
I too have to catch up on a few Criterion sales, one of which I also bought the America Lost & Found set (ive watched half of it now). Heavens Gate I watched on some seriously trashed DVD copy from Netflix years ago before Criterion released it, I cant remember which cut it was though. But I also really enjoyed it and just had to chock up the at-the-time-of-release disgust for it just to be expectations + its notorious production.
It’s worth it Mark. I broke it up into a couple of sessions though. Also, it’s not fun, such a portrait of despair, punctuated by small moments of joy. But hey, that’s life, right?
seconded on Heaven's Gate. knowing the story of the production, there's a little bit of curiosity. but it's still a fascinating movie and the Criterion blu-ray is well worth the money
The only movie I've seen all week was The Cloverfield Paradox, which was at best fine, but I just started watching Miami Connection, and only 20 minutes in I can tell it's gonna be a new favorite.
Stay Hungry: good movie that kinds gets a little too goofy in the third act. also a small dramatic role for Arnold Schwarzeneger who won a prize for it.
The Illusionist: following the warm recommendation from Mr. Risky i got a dvd and watched it. it feels like a Jacques Tati movie, it looks like a Tati movie, but it's not a Tati movie. it's not bad, but i got into it with the wrong impression.
After some quiet weeks, I am starting to get back to movies.
EAST OF EDEN (1955)- I stumbled upon this on TV after returning from work tonight. The scenes between James Dean and Jo Van Fleet in the middle of the film are marvelous. Both actors perfectly blend into their roles. Elia Kazan evokes rural California in the early 20th century beautifully with the location shooting.
DEMOLITION MAN (1993) – I picked up a four-film collection of Stallone films this week for TANGO AND CASH. While testing the DVDs to ensure they worked, I got sucked into Demolition Man and had to finish it. I was simultaneously appalled and entertained. Although the script and some of the casting choices made me cringe, I was able to appreciate the craziness that the lack of logic in the story fostered. Snipes and Stallone looked like they were having a lot of fun on the set. In the age of CGI, the real-life staging of the action set-pieces looks more impressive than it probably did back in the early 1990s. I still cannot get my head around the idea of a cryogenic prison, though. What purpose would it ever serve?
don't think too much about the prison. that's not important. it's just some think that sound futuristic just to show it's a si-fi movie. i think for a while it was the go-to prison type for sci-fi stuff.
anyway, Demolition Man is great. the bad stuff only makes it better
I know the prison is not important for the overall purpose of the film, but it struck me as the most absurd element in an inherently absurd film. In any case, Demoliton Man is fun to watch.
Bad Lieutenant Port Of Call New Orlean: i'm not sure what to think of this. it doesn't feel like Nicolas Cage wanted to be there and Werner Herzog seemed to make it as he go along.
The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991): Where has this been all my life? Thank you to Patrick for putting this on my radar. One of my new favorites and an instant-classic. It is one of the more entertaining Die Hard rip-offs.
Kill Order: Good indie action directorial debut by stunt coordinator James Mark. Simple story, mediocre to bad acting, don't care. Great fight sequences throughout.
Dead Shack: On Shudder. Canadian Horror Comedy. It's meh. Many of the jokes felt forced due to a terrible script and amateur acting. The dad did make me laugh at some of his delivery though which was refreshing. Some good practical gore and a great opening.
The Post: Zzzzzzzz....Meryl Streep was great though.
Cold Skin: Meh. Way too long for such a simple story. Gans makes the best he can within the budget and it looks good. I felt bad for the fish people.
When We First Met: I really liked it to my surprise; see comments above in Kunider's post.
Phantom Thread: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...looks great. everybody is great. I didn't like it one bit.
Looking Glass: Like Vacancy meets Room 237, generic 2018 style.
Golden Exits: My most anticipated film of 2017 and 2018 and I liked it okay but am still digesting it. Alex Ross Perry is one of my favorite modern writers so perhaps the anticipation was too high for me coming off of Queen of Earth, my favorite film of 2015.
agreed about the post. it seem to me that Spielberg was the wrong director for it. Williams was the wrong composr for it. and i'm not sure Tom Hanks was the best for the role. or maybe it's just me
Felt super generic and typically safe, exactly what I expected when modern Hanks is in a film. Small,shitty example but something I always notice with him: His character is supposed to be a full on smoker yet they show him with a cigarette only twice and never once do they show him exhale. He's also a complete dick to his wife (Paulson - who is way too good to be in this NOTHING part in this movie) but there is really only one scene that establishes that and it's a throwaway, quick scene where you wouldn't really think about it. Gotta keep up that clean Hanks image! Ugh.
Glad I'm not the only one who feels this way about Phantom Thread. It felt like a facsimile of other PTA movies. Everything about the production and performances is first rate. But I can't really imagine reading the script and feeling excited.
Lost River song Tell Me with Saoirse Ronan singing is VERY stuck in my head. They open the first episode of Riverdale with it. That show had fun music and good stuff for two episodes. In typical TV series fashion it sold its soul after that though and lost all that was good about it. Yay for mixed race casting anyway, they did that so well I thought.
1999 was a heck of a good year for movies (ok, so not American Beauty, because fuck that movie!) and this is one of the most enjoyable and enjoyably overblown films that came out that year! One of Oliver Stone's most accessible films and his last box office hit, his tale of the "modern gladiators" (a comparison he hits us over the head with one too many times) hits all the notes you can expect from a sports movie, a genre that even though I do not watch or follow any sport I am often drawn too largely because done right it provides top-notch drama. BUT does it with the style cranked to 11, a great ensemble cast (this viewing really made me take notice of the quiet work Dennis Quaid was doing) and some of the best American football scenes ever shot... It's flawed, Stone does not know how to end the movie and once in a while the clichés work to the films detriment BUT boy is it a fun ride all the same and arguably one of Al Pacino's most underrated performances.
Only the Brave, dir. Joseph Kosinski (2017)
Well this wasn't quite what I expected, even though for a lot of it it did go where I expected (does that even make sense?) The true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshot, an elite team of wildfire fighters and the (spoilers for real life) tragedy that befell them... This film for most of the running time is a tick list of clichés, the fuck up rookie on the team, the outdoor BBQ scene and lots of homespun advice and whatnot in the screenplay... BUT a very strong cast lead by Josh Brolin, Claudio Miranda's beautiful cinematography and the fact that it hit the emotion beats without the usual macho bullshit and hoorah especially at its climax (tears, actual tears formed!) After the fairly underrated Tron: Legacy and the bland as hell Oblivion this is director Joseph Kosinski's best film to date.
Highlights of this week include The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017). I watched it quite late, in my PJs, expecting to possibly fall asleep half-way though (I had read that it was a bit slow), but was completely drawn in and compelled the whole way through. Given the pace, and way everything was spoken, it's amazing how much intensity it had by the end. I really liked the ending, which was, like most things, far short of "happily ever after". I must check out this director's previous movies.
ReplyDeleteI also watched CHIPS (2017), and man oh man, I laughed my ass off. Definitely the funniest movie of last year! Am I alone on this? Anyone?
*like most things in life,
DeleteYes you're alone on CHIPS
DeleteSorry dude
All I know about CHiPS is what JB had to say on it, and that there wasnt a laugh in a packed theater for its Trailer, except for some convoluted dick touching joke that mostly seemed to confuse the audience. So yeah, you maybe alone on that one.
DeleteI might have just been in the mood for something vulgar/crude. I think it speaks a bit to how weak last year was for "funny" comedies. I probably laughed more during Thor and Spider-man than anything more strictly comedic. Girls Trip was probably the best of 2017, and it was good, but not great.
DeleteI wanted to go back and listen to what JB had to say. Perhaps its in the under/overrated ugly episode?
When We First Met: not the worst of Adam Devine, which is a good thing. the twist of the movie is nice. a worthy romcom
ReplyDeletePump Up The Volume: teenage angst, rebellion and love. all timeless subject for a great movie with great music.
Gerald's Game: a very good movie with a huge mood killing scene at the end. sometimes i can get over that kind of thing, but here it was way too long.
Night Of The Living Dead: it was my first time and it was very worth it. the Criterion blu-ray is one of the best of the collection with all the extras available
I hate modern comedies but I watched "When We Fist Met" and thought it was semi-charming. What I really liked about it was that it strayed from the crass, gross out, "how far can we go" formula and it played like a silly 90's "Can't Hardly Wait" kind of thing. I liked it a lot based on the fact that most comedies these days really suck. Oh, and Daddario, of course. That dream sequence in the grocery store in the beginning of the film...I swear that was a sneaky, small nod to Connelly from "Career Opportunities".
Delete*first*
DeleteI've thought about it a bit since I watched it...I loved it for the reasons I mentioned. It was goofy and sweet and had a good, genuine vibe to it. It's not funny at all, (that's just me, maybe), but it's got some kind of heart which I appreciate. McG finally comes through :)
DeleteWatched The Ritual, which was ok. The pacing was a bit slow through most of it but I thought the last 15 minutes or so were pretty good.
ReplyDeleteTragedy Girls was fun. This is the first thing I'd seen Brianna Hildebrand other than Deadpool and I thought she was great in this.
Having watched The Vikings a couple weeks back, I decided to check out The Long Ships. Can't go wrong with Sidney Poitier in one of the lead roles, as well as the under-appreciated Russ Tamblyn.
I saw Mother of Tears which was fine I guess. I'm curious if Patrick has revisited this one at all since he started really getting into giallo (although Mother of Tears doesn't exactly feel like giallo).
And finally, I watched Black Panther which I thought was great aside from a few plot quibbles I had (specifically that the stuff the villains do in the first half of the movie doesn't really accomplish anything).
Anybody take advantage of the Criterion flash sale? I picked up the America Lost and Found box set.
ReplyDeleteCouldn’t justify it since I still had a couple unwatched from the last sale. Including Heaven’s Gate (1980) which I watched last night (and this morning). I need to sit with it and read more about it for a while, but my immediate response is I think it is one of the greatest movies ever made.
Deletei really wanted to, but i was broke thanks to JB
DeleteI grabbed a few: Badlands, Blood Simple, Picnic at Hanging Rock, and The New World
DeleteI too have to catch up on a few Criterion sales, one of which I also bought the America Lost & Found set (ive watched half of it now). Heavens Gate I watched on some seriously trashed DVD copy from Netflix years ago before Criterion released it, I cant remember which cut it was though. But I also really enjoyed it and just had to chock up the at-the-time-of-release disgust for it just to be expectations + its notorious production.
DeleteI really want to watch Heaven's Gate but it's one of those ones where I have to mentally psych myself up and block out an entire afternoon.
DeleteIt’s worth it Mark. I broke it up into a couple of sessions though. Also, it’s not fun, such a portrait of despair, punctuated by small moments of joy. But hey, that’s life, right?
Deleteseconded on Heaven's Gate. knowing the story of the production, there's a little bit of curiosity. but it's still a fascinating movie and the Criterion blu-ray is well worth the money
DeleteThe only movie I've seen all week was The Cloverfield Paradox, which was at best fine, but I just started watching Miami Connection, and only 20 minutes in I can tell it's gonna be a new favorite.
ReplyDeleteStay Hungry: good movie that kinds gets a little too goofy in the third act. also a small dramatic role for Arnold Schwarzeneger who won a prize for it.
ReplyDeleteThe Illusionist: following the warm recommendation from Mr. Risky i got a dvd and watched it. it feels like a Jacques Tati movie, it looks like a Tati movie, but it's not a Tati movie. it's not bad, but i got into it with the wrong impression.
After some quiet weeks, I am starting to get back to movies.
ReplyDeleteEAST OF EDEN (1955)- I stumbled upon this on TV after returning from work tonight. The scenes between James Dean and Jo Van Fleet in the middle of the film are marvelous. Both actors perfectly blend into their roles. Elia Kazan evokes rural California in the early 20th century beautifully with the location shooting.
DEMOLITION MAN (1993) – I picked up a four-film collection of Stallone films this week for TANGO AND CASH. While testing the DVDs to ensure they worked, I got sucked into Demolition Man and had to finish it. I was simultaneously appalled and entertained. Although the script and some of the casting choices made me cringe, I was able to appreciate the craziness that the lack of logic in the story fostered. Snipes and Stallone looked like they were having a lot of fun on the set. In the age of CGI, the real-life staging of the action set-pieces looks more impressive than it probably did back in the early 1990s. I still cannot get my head around the idea of a cryogenic prison, though. What purpose would it ever serve?
don't think too much about the prison. that's not important. it's just some think that sound futuristic just to show it's a si-fi movie. i think for a while it was the go-to prison type for sci-fi stuff.
Deleteanyway, Demolition Man is great. the bad stuff only makes it better
Wasn't the cryogenic prison a kind of punishment/torture. So that their imprisonment would last indefinitely. Kind of like a reverse Vanilla Sky.
Deletemaybe, still a sci-fi gimmick to make it sound cool.
DeleteI know the prison is not important for the overall purpose of the film, but it struck me as the most absurd element in an inherently absurd film. In any case, Demoliton Man is fun to watch.
DeleteBad Lieutenant Port Of Call New Orlean: i'm not sure what to think of this. it doesn't feel like Nicolas Cage wanted to be there and Werner Herzog seemed to make it as he go along.
ReplyDeleteThe Taking of Beverly Hills (1991): Where has this been all my life? Thank you to Patrick for putting this on my radar. One of my new favorites and an instant-classic. It is one of the more entertaining Die Hard rip-offs.
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy weekend watches:
ReplyDeleteKill Order: Good indie action directorial debut by stunt coordinator James Mark. Simple story, mediocre to bad acting, don't care. Great fight sequences throughout.
Dead Shack: On Shudder. Canadian Horror Comedy. It's meh. Many of the jokes felt forced due to a terrible script and amateur acting. The dad did make me laugh at some of his delivery though which was refreshing. Some good practical gore and a great opening.
The Post: Zzzzzzzz....Meryl Streep was great though.
Cold Skin: Meh. Way too long for such a simple story. Gans makes the best he can within the budget and it looks good. I felt bad for the fish people.
When We First Met: I really liked it to my surprise; see comments above in Kunider's post.
Phantom Thread: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...looks great. everybody is great. I didn't like it one bit.
Looking Glass: Like Vacancy meets Room 237, generic 2018 style.
Golden Exits: My most anticipated film of 2017 and 2018 and I liked it okay but am still digesting it. Alex Ross Perry is one of my favorite modern writers so perhaps the anticipation was too high for me coming off of Queen of Earth, my favorite film of 2015.
agreed about the post. it seem to me that Spielberg was the wrong director for it. Williams was the wrong composr for it. and i'm not sure Tom Hanks was the best for the role. or maybe it's just me
DeleteFelt super generic and typically safe, exactly what I expected when modern Hanks is in a film. Small,shitty example but something I always notice with him: His character is supposed to be a full on smoker yet they show him with a cigarette only twice and never once do they show him exhale. He's also a complete dick to his wife (Paulson - who is way too good to be in this NOTHING part in this movie) but there is really only one scene that establishes that and it's a throwaway, quick scene where you wouldn't really think about it. Gotta keep up that clean Hanks image! Ugh.
DeleteGlad I'm not the only one who feels this way about Phantom Thread. It felt like a facsimile of other PTA movies. Everything about the production and performances is first rate. But I can't really imagine reading the script and feeling excited.
DeleteLost River song Tell Me with Saoirse Ronan singing is VERY stuck in my head. They open the first episode of Riverdale with it. That show had fun music and good stuff for two episodes. In typical TV series fashion it sold its soul after that though and lost all that was good about it. Yay for mixed race casting anyway, they did that so well I thought.
ReplyDeleteMy week in movies:
ReplyDeleteAny Given Sunday, dir. Oliver Stone (1999)
1999 was a heck of a good year for movies (ok, so not American Beauty, because fuck that movie!) and this is one of the most enjoyable and enjoyably overblown films that came out that year! One of Oliver Stone's most accessible films and his last box office hit, his tale of the "modern gladiators" (a comparison he hits us over the head with one too many times) hits all the notes you can expect from a sports movie, a genre that even though I do not watch or follow any sport I am often drawn too largely because done right it provides top-notch drama. BUT does it with the style cranked to 11, a great ensemble cast (this viewing really made me take notice of the quiet work Dennis Quaid was doing) and some of the best American football scenes ever shot... It's flawed, Stone does not know how to end the movie and once in a while the clichés work to the films detriment BUT boy is it a fun ride all the same and arguably one of Al Pacino's most underrated performances.
Only the Brave, dir. Joseph Kosinski (2017)
Well this wasn't quite what I expected, even though for a lot of it it did go where I expected (does that even make sense?) The true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshot, an elite team of wildfire fighters and the (spoilers for real life) tragedy that befell them... This film for most of the running time is a tick list of clichés, the fuck up rookie on the team, the outdoor BBQ scene and lots of homespun advice and whatnot in the screenplay... BUT a very strong cast lead by Josh Brolin, Claudio Miranda's beautiful cinematography and the fact that it hit the emotion beats without the usual macho bullshit and hoorah especially at its climax (tears, actual tears formed!) After the fairly underrated Tron: Legacy and the bland as hell Oblivion this is director Joseph Kosinski's best film to date.