cremetangerine82
Blueblood
“These are the times that try men's souls.” - Thomas Paine
Posts: 1,338
Nov 29, 2021 1:38:37 GMT -4
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Post by cremetangerine82 on Aug 8, 2022 21:11:20 GMT -4
I just watched Everything Everywhere All at Once. I highly recommend renting it, because I really needed to pause and rewind things due to its unconventional plot and meta-references. This movie is the perfect balance between science fiction and real life. Having a predominately Asian or Asian American cast also highlights issues that still many Asian Americans (or other Americans of color) face in employment, microaggressions from white Americans, the "American Dream" not being a tangible reality, parents not accepting a child not being hetero, etc.). Its' also one where I could barely predict what happens next, so be prepared for an emotional roller-coaster. I wouldn't be surprised if Michelle Yeoh doesn't get an Oscar nomination (like Toni Collette in Hereditary) because her performance was phenomenal and hopefully she'll be remembered for next year as a "wild card" pick (like Isabelle Huppert in Elle).
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technicolor
Lady in Waiting
Posts: 336
Nov 22, 2010 9:41:42 GMT -4
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Post by technicolor on Aug 17, 2022 3:03:55 GMT -4
"Thirteen Lives" on Amazon. It was very good and not overly sensationalized, what all these people did to rescue the football team is incredible as is. I thought Howard struck a good balance of honoring all the contributions that were made, not only the divers, but the Thai SEALs, the villagers who gave up their crops and all the volunteers. Also the governor who needed to make the decisions and would have been the fall guy had things gone wrong. In retrospect getting in volunteer cave divers and then allowing them to drug the boys and haul them for hours through the caves took a lot of guts. There seemed to be little alternatives, but still.
All the actors were great and didn't overact since they knew that the event/real people shouldn't be upstaged by scenery chewing. Joel Edgerton has been quietly great in everything I've seen him in, I've never consciously noticed that before. Should probably check out more stuff with him. Mortensen was also really good and kept the character rather cool and detached throughout, which I appreciated. Rick was affected, but he's very pragmatic and just copes and deals. No grand emoting. Colin Farrell was a revelation, frankly. His appearance doesn't change at all, just glasses and the more conservative clothing style of the character John. I barely recognized him because he completely changed his demeanor and way of movement. Something like that would never get an Oscar nod, of course, but IMO he was astonishing.
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Post by Ladybug on Aug 17, 2022 14:01:43 GMT -4
"Thirteen Lives" on Amazon. It was very good and not overly sensationalized, what all these people did to rescue the football team is incredible as is. I thought Howard struck a good balance of honoring all the contributions that were made, not only the divers, but the Thai SEALs, the villagers who gave up their crops and all the volunteers. Also the governor who needed to make the decisions and would have been the fall guy had things gone wrong. In retrospect getting in volunteer cave divers and then allowing them to drug the boys and haul them for hours through the caves took a lot of guts. There seemed to be little alternatives, but still. All the actors were great and didn't overact since they knew that the event/real people shouldn't be upstaged by scenery chewing. Joel Edgerton has been quietly great in everything I've seen him in, I've never consciously noticed that before. Should probably check out more stuff with him. Mortensen was also really good and kept the character rather cool and detached throughout, which I appreciated. Rick was affected, but he's very pragmatic and just copes and deals. No grand emoting. Colin Farrell was a revelation, frankly. His appearance doesn't change at all, just glasses and the more conservative clothing style of the character John. I barely recognized him because he completely changed his demeanor and way of movement. Something like that would never get an Oscar nod, of course, but IMO he was astonishing. The Ron Howard movie was good, but if you have Disney+ I recommend watching the documentary The Rescue. It's phenomenal and it goes into more depth about the rescue divers, why they chose such a dangerous and difficult hobby, and about their lives beyond this event. The focus is mainly on the rescuers, but there is some amazing footage of the boys as well.
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Post by chiqui on Aug 31, 2022 11:37:03 GMT -4
Sing II. A kid's movie, but I really enjoyed it! The voice actors were good, the animation was lively and colorful, and all the characters were cute. I loved how they went against stereotypes, like showing a teenage girl elephant as a romantic lead, and a sensitive boy-band gorilla. The songs were pop charters (no original songs) and chosen for their generic, feel-good quality. Back to the representation of all body types, there was a subplot involving a dance class the boy band gorilla character has to take to be in a big Las Vegas-type show, and you'd think all the other dancers would be svelte and graceful cheetahs, gazelles, etc. but no, there were warthogs among them, bears, elephants, etc. all doing ballet moves as if it was completely normal. Yay for diversity!
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Post by famvir on Sept 11, 2022 16:52:08 GMT -4
Thor: Love and Thunder. on Disney+ I loved it!
I didn't realize how jaded I was with the Eternals, Spiderman 3, Dr. Strange/Multiverse. I was shouting from my seat during Thor 4, and my poor husband was trying to be supportive. I'll need to watch it again, but I thought it was great, lots of easter eggs, LOTS of cameos, lots of heart.
I know some think its too too much, but I found it stimulating. The Eternals were such a slog.
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Post by chiqui on Sept 29, 2022 11:41:47 GMT -4
Rob Zombie's version of The Munsters on Netflix, which was the origin story of how Lily and Herman met and moved to America. Loads of gothy fun! If you can't go to a live-action Halloween haunted house this is the next best thing.
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Post by chiqui on Nov 20, 2022 16:31:27 GMT -4
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I turned it off after 20 minutes. Terrible! I know a lot of people here have fond memories of the movie and the books from their childhoods, but IMO it hasn't held up well. The first HP movie I liked well enough, and even teared up a bit. But this one was just stupid. I hate how the English class system was played out in it, the kid extras at the school who look like they'd just been eating their boogers, the dumb deal with the flying car. Nothing about the plot made sense. Why is Harry still staying with the Muggle family and if they hate him so much why don't they kick him out instead of keeping him prisoner in his room? Why does Ron's father who is a respectable bureaucrat in the magic goverment is "lower" than Draco's father? Why does Draco have that stupid slicked-back hairdo that no one else does? Who runs the school anyway, how can they forget a magic chamber in its basement? Why do a lot of people hate Harry for no reason? Stuff like that.
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cremetangerine82
Blueblood
“These are the times that try men's souls.” - Thomas Paine
Posts: 1,338
Nov 29, 2021 1:38:37 GMT -4
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Post by cremetangerine82 on Nov 28, 2022 0:12:48 GMT -4
I watched Drive My Car, a Japanese film that was a movie that was nominated for both the Best International Feature Film and Best Picture. Everything in this movie worked absolutely perfectly that I don’t feel like going over the plot, characters, etc. It’s certainly a serious movie, so expect a lot of traumatic revelations to be revealed during the movie. I definitely count it as one of the best films of 2021 without any reservation. I would definitely recommend this to anybody who is a fan of movies from around the world, or a fan of movies that aren't boiler-plate. I then watched Licorice Pizza. I had misgivings about the age gap relationship in the movie, but I found the chemistry between the two actors to be very charming and the movie itself comments on it throughout it. Cooper Hoffman (R.I.P. Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Alana Haim were remarkably comfortable in their first acting roles. Bradley Cooper, who played Jon Peters, was as weird as I expected. Every scene he was in was gold and Cooper’s portrayal wasn’t much of an exaggeration. Seriously, listen to Kevin Smith.Belfast was my next watch, and I absolutely loved it. The writing was excellent, and this is the film that gave Kenneth Branagh his first Oscar win (after 30 years?!?). I thought that was excellent in the way that he could both balance the humor and the horror of dealing with Belfast before the Good Friday Agreement. Also the child actor who plays a slightly fictiona version of young Kenneth (Jude Hill) was absolutely excellent. To me, it really impresses me when directors are so superb that they’re able to get great performances out of children and non-actors (like Paul Thomas Anderson with his two leads in Licorice Pizza). Hell I even like the Van Morrison songs, despite him being an anti-vaxxer asshole. Dame Judy Dench was excellent as Granny, but I’ve never seen her give a bad performance, and her Oscar nomination was completely justified. Jamie Dornan has finally given an excuse not to be Christian Grey for once, so he gave a great performance as well. It reminded me of Frank McCourt’s (R.I.P.) book Angela’s Ashes and that I can combine both comedy and tragedy so efficiently. Now, I have watched all of the Oscar Best Picture movies nominated this year, YES! Now, onto the other Best International Feature Films that were nominated!
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Post by Ladybug on Feb 14, 2023 14:46:28 GMT -4
Don't Worry Darling. It was Mr. Ladybug's choice. While we watched it I could only think of some of the interviews and controversy around it. The plot left so many questions unanswered that the ending was totally unsatisfying. I could watch Florence Pugh all day though, and she acted in circles around Harry Styles. {Spoiler}I remember Olivia Wilde bragging about the female character's satisfaction being the focus of the sex scenes in this movie, and yes, I could see that. But "Miss Flo's" character was being held captive while this virtual sex was happening. So that kind of negates the whole "it's so liberating!" thing she tried to get across in her interviews. Harry Styles wasn't as bad as people said, but he wasn't good either. I got zero from his character, no depth, no backstory, and no motivation. His was flat. He's batshit crazy, but Shia LaBeouf would've been 100x better. I just wanted to know more about how all of it came about but the movie was intentionally vague and just gave very brief clues. I also wanted more info about Olivia Wilde's character and felt like there was much more to explore about why she chose her fate. And there was zero about Gemma Chan's character! (Basically, I just wanted to know more about the true nature of all the women, how did they end up in this company town? And what DID the men do at work all day?) All of the avant-garde stuff should've been cut and replaced by more exposition. Overall an interesting idea for a movie but they only touched the surface of the story.
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technicolor
Lady in Waiting
Posts: 336
Nov 22, 2010 9:41:42 GMT -4
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Post by technicolor on Mar 27, 2023 12:06:56 GMT -4
"Moonage Daydream" on David Bowie. It was more collage than traditional doc and I thought that approach worked. You were immersed in the sheer brilliance and variety of music and performance. Haynes did something in that vein with Dylan and "I'm not there", just with a fictional approach. I think in both instances this managed to get closer to the artists and their influence than standard Oscar bait biopics have done.
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