Movies

DownIsTheNewUp said:
Yeah, Agreed. And I guess the thing with Nolan-- is that too often he gets talky and attempts to clumsily disperse his themes (Oppenheimer) or convoluted sci-fi (Inception). Or when the character work happens they don't quite feel like real people (The Prestige or even Memento).

And I'm somebody that loves talky btw. Linklater and Bombach are both foundational to my taste in film. Kevin Smith too for that matter. I just think Nolan is pretty bad at writing dialogue.

I think I'd go:

1) The Dark Knight
2) Dunkirk
3) Memento
(gap)
4) Oppenheimer
5) Interstellar
6) Batman Begins
7) The Prestige
(gap)
8) Insomnia
9) Dark Knight Rises
(gap)
10) Following
11) Inception

But I fucking loathe Inception for reasons that probably have as much to do with my hate of certain overhyped bands as it does the film itself.
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The fact that you rated Inception last makes me think you may have left Tenet off this list on purpose.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
The fact that you rated Inception last makes me think you may have left Tenet off this list on purpose.
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I actually haven't seen Tenet. Was holding out hope of someday seeing it in theaters.

Edit: Side note, can anybody explain to me how Hugh Jackman's character in the Prestige had the $ to pay Tesla for his research? I watched the film with my dad over the holidays and he quite liked it but was immediately asking that question. And I can't recall it ever explaining it either.
 
zomgbear said:
I actually just watched this earlier this week. i've seen this before but have forgotten it. I dont know what it is about this movie but it was hard to grasp what's going on in it. I also kept mixing up Kurt Russell & Val Kilmer's characters.
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Too many mustaches maybe? I don’t know I didn’t have a similar issue. I will say while watching, I kinda followed along via Wikipedia just to see how close it was to the actual story and it is fairly on point though the final shoot out between Doc and Johnny Ringo is up for debate. While I enjoyed the movie I will say I feel like they didn’t do a great job of expressing the passage of time. The whole movie takes place over a number of years but you would be hard pressed to think that the whole thing took place over a couple weeks.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
LMAO. Robbie deserved to be nominated but you'd think that critics would understand that SAG is separate from the rest of the academy and does whatever the fuck it wants.

As to Greta not getting nominated-- I have not yet seen Anatomy of a Fall (female director) nor The Zone of Interest so I will refrain from declaring anything. However, my issues with Oppenheimer (and by issues I mean the things preventing me from calling it a masterpiece) are related to the script. Meanwhile, Lorgos and Scorsese also deeply deserved their noms and Glazer, despite not being a household name, is one of the best filmmakers around. Under the Skin was a cold-cut masterpiece, I'm expecting Zone of Interest will be the same.

My personal snubs = Efron not getting nominated for the Iron Curtain or really anything related to the Iron Curtain. I also adored A Thousand a One and would have loved to see Teyana Taylor nominated. But despite it being 100x the film Coda was-- that was also never going to happen.

Also-- guess I gotta watch Maestro after all.
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Iron Claw rules so much
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Too many mustaches maybe? I don’t know I didn’t have a similar issue. I will say while watching, I kinda followed along via Wikipedia just to see how close it was to the actual story and it is fairly on point though the final shoot out between Doc and Johnny Ringo is up for debate. While I enjoyed the movie I will say I feel like they didn’t do a great job of expressing the passage of time. The whole movie takes place over a number of years but you would be hard pressed to think that the whole thing took place over a couple weeks.
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I think it might just be me. Most people seem to really like Tombstone and on paper - this seems like this should be something I'd really like but it just didn't click for me. I'm also not so familiar with the history so maybe that's part of it too.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
Sean Durkin is the fucking man. So happy to see his career back on path after numerous projects stalled after Martha Marcy May Marlene.
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Not sure if you caught the tv series Dead Ringers but he directed a few episodes of that and really enjoyed that as well (though I love the movie more). I have to assume after the success of the Iron Claw he will get some interesting opportunities
 
MattS said:
Not sure if you caught the tv series Dead Ringers but he directed a few episodes of that and really enjoyed that as well (though I love the movie more). I have to assume after the success of the Iron Claw he will get some interesting opportunities
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It's on my list of things to check out. My main new years resolution last year was no new TV. But that's done now. Recently binged BEEF and am currently watching True Detective S4.

Side note, here are the 40 films from 2023 I've seen ranked. Still have some stuff to knock off especially foreign.

 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
Finally watched Dunkirk last night. Nolan is very hit or miss for me and I’m not as crazy about Oppenheimer as most (and will be annoyed when it sweeps the Oscars).

It was… very good? Not quite a 5 star film because the character work is basically non-existent. But that almost works in the films favor considering my issue with Nolan is usually his dialogue and / or the overwhelming sense that his film’s think they are smarter than they actually are.

Dunkirk just lets Nolan’s skills as a filmmaker tell a simple story and does it exceedingly well. And it knows when to end.
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Top 3 Nolan for me.

DownIsTheNewUp said:
I actually haven't seen Tenet. Was holding out hope of someday seeing it in theaters.

Edit: Side note, can anybody explain to me how Hugh Jackman's character in the Prestige had the $ to pay Tesla for his research? I watched the film with my dad over the holidays and he quite liked it but was immediately asking that question. And I can't recall it ever explaining it either.
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iirc Hugh Jackman’s character has generational wealth (I believe he’s a lord?) and is basically a gentleman magician.
 
Bull Shannon said:
...I thought people hated Nyad?

Skipping over Robbie and Gerwig is a terrible look. Of course they'll toss Gerwig the adapted screenplay award, but c'mon.

Not all of the nominations are terrible, but I predict a lot of fumbles like Stone winning over Gladstone, or Spiderverse winning over Boy/Heron (both those wins would be good wins for deserving performances, but would undercut what I'd call better, bolder choices).
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I would be kind of let down if Stone or Gladstone take home best actress. Gladstone was sick/not present for what felt like half of KOTFM and while she was super strong during her scenes I didn’t leave the movie feeling like “give her all the awards”, I think I need to see more from her. Emma Stone feels like the safe popular choice but still didn’t feel moved by her performance. It was fun and campy and hilarious and impressive but I don’t know, I wasn’t necessarily moved.

Best actress should go to Carey Mulligan in Marstro or Sandra Huller for her work in Anatomy of a Fall if you ask me. Both of those blew me away in their lead actress performance and left me positively moved and swelling with emotion and admiration.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
I actually haven't seen Tenet. Was holding out hope of someday seeing it in theaters.

Edit: Side note, can anybody explain to me how Hugh Jackman's character in the Prestige had the $ to pay Tesla for his research? I watched the film with my dad over the holidays and he quite liked it but was immediately asking that question. And I can't recall it ever explaining it either.
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Unlurking because I was in the same boat with Tenet, and it'll actually be back in some IMAX theaters on February 23 for a week. Hope you can catch it!

ETA a link: TENET Reissue | Shot with IMAX Film Cameras
 
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Watched Society of the Snow on netflix. I thought it was really well done. For a non horror - it's pretty intense & scary. Thought it treated the victims & survivors' story with respect and really puts you in their shoes. I'm also glad its not super graphic in the cannibalism aspect of it. I would say its inspirational how determined they were but i'm sure I would not survive if I were in that situation.
 
Ghost said:
I would be kind of let down if Stone or Gladstone take home best actress. Gladstone was sick/not present for what felt like half of KOTFM and while she was super strong during her scenes I didn’t leave the movie feeling like “give her all the awards”, I think I need to see more from her. Emma Stone feels like the safe popular choice but still didn’t feel moved by her performance. It was fun and campy and hilarious and impressive but I don’t know, I wasn’t necessarily moved.

Best actress should go to Carey Mulligan in Marstro or Sandra Huller for her work in Anatomy of a Fall if you ask me. Both of those blew me away in their lead actress performance and left me positively moved and swelling with emotion and admiration.
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The tone, comedic timing and range of what Stone does in Poor Things is wild. I'm not sure there is another actress alive that could have pulled it off. The only one that maybe comes to mind is Jennifer Lawrence but she's so good looking that it would have been distracting.

I also thought Gladstone was phenomenal but have yet to see Maestro or Anatomy of a Fall so I'll refrain from making any declarations. Really struggling to get to the former (despite liking a Star is Born a lot) because it just screams Oscar bait aimed at white Boomers.
 
Ghost said:
I would be kind of let down if Stone or Gladstone take home best actress. Gladstone was sick/not present for what felt like half of KOTFM and while she was super strong during her scenes I didn’t leave the movie feeling like “give her all the awards”, I think I need to see more from her. Emma Stone feels like the safe popular choice but still didn’t feel moved by her performance. It was fun and campy and hilarious and impressive but I don’t know, I wasn’t necessarily moved.

Best actress should go to Carey Mulligan in Marstro or Sandra Huller for her work in Anatomy of a Fall if you ask me. Both of those blew me away in their lead actress performance and left me positively moved and swelling with emotion and admiration.
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I feel like I was mesmerized with Gladstone every second she was on the screen. I think she’s the favorite to take home this award and I think it would fantastic to have her win as an indigenous woman. Huller was also phenomenal and might be my number 2 pick
 
The two movies that kept popping into my head after watching Saltburn were Neon Demon and Wetlands (a German film I saw at Sundance in 2013).

I've rewatched both in the past couple nights.

Neon Demon is polarizing for a reason and the similarities in between the two films are pretty interesting- with Demon satirizing society's worship of beauty though shock and violence in much the same way Saltburn does wealth. However, it's theme's feel more coalesced and, at least to me, don't feel like they may be bending in the wrong direction.

Wetlands-- well if you like shock / cringe comedy than just avoid the trailer (which is full of spoilers) and give it a rent on Amazon.

It brings to mind Trainspotting not only for its sense of style, filthy toilets and use of absurdism but also the ways in which it cloaks its main character's troubled headspace with a wicked sense of humor.

The two friends I watched it with (both women who had no idea what they were getting into) went from choking on laughter to being vicerally moved by the end of the film. It's not a film for everyone but if "kinky Amelie with plenty of body fluids" sounds up your alley than you'll probably love it.

Meanwhile, when I watched Saltburn, I thoroughly enjoyed it while also feeling its 3rd act felt rushed and required a huge suspension of disbelief that felt tonally at odds with the rest of the film. But the more time I have to digest what the fuck it was trying to say, the less I think I like it.
 
the best actress noms are all pretty damn strong now that I think about it. I think Gladstone is phenomenal in KOTFM, but the same can be said for Emma Stone and Carey Mulligan who is probably the best part of Maestro. Sandra Huller is also great in AOAF, but I think the kid was the best part of the movie (and the dog). It’s one I probably need to watch again to appreciate even more though.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
Finally watched Dunkirk last night. Nolan is very hit or miss for me and I’m not as crazy about Oppenheimer as most (and will be annoyed when it sweeps the Oscars).

It was… very good? Not quite a 5 star film because the character work is basically non-existent. But that almost works in the films favor considering my issue with Nolan is usually his dialogue and / or the overwhelming sense that his film’s think they are smarter than they actually are.

Dunkirk just lets Nolan’s skills as a filmmaker tell a simple story and does it exceedingly well. And it knows when to end.
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Tom Hardy stole that film
 
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