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Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| Jan 2015

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B

big ander

Member
Fiennes deserves a statue but it was never going to be for GBH-- role is so purely (and wonderfully) comedic on the surface. Academy doesn't go for that, even if the performance is ultimately richly layered

And I said it in the other thread, don't worry about Gyllenhaal. He already has buzz for the 88th. Nightcrawler is a dark genre piece, not big awards material. Next year he has Southpaw, a boxing movie where he underwent a big physical gain, and the new Valle movie, who now solely exists to give long-ignored actors the final heat they need in an awards friendly pic.



Related to Drive: saw Thief for the first time last night. Nearly everything I love in Drive was done better there. I've only seen Heat and Thief now but signs are pointing towards me joining the cult of Mann once I've gone through more

Also madridista I would recommend prioritizing Valhalla rising over Only God Forgives, personally. Both are worth watching, Valhalla is better.
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
big ander said:
Fiennes deserves a statue but it was never going to be for GBH-- role is so purely (and wonderfully) comedic on the surface. Academy doesn't go for that, even if the performance is ultimately richly layered

And I said it in the other thread, don't worry about Gyllenhaal. He already has buzz for the 88th. Nightcrawler is a dark genre piece, not big awards material. Next year he has Southpaw, a boxing movie where he underwent a big physical gain, and the new Valle movie, who now solely exists to give long-ignored actors the final heat they need in an awards friendly pic.



Related to Drive: saw Thief for the first time last night. Nearly everything I love in Drive was done better there. I've only seen Heat and Thief now but signs are pointing towards me joining the cult of Mann once I've gone through more

Also madridista I would recommend prioritizing Valhalla rising over Only God Forgives, personally. Both are worth watching, Valhalla is better.
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Please tell me you watched the Criterion blu. It's fucking gorgeous and my god, dat soundtrack. The opening is way more memorable than Drive thanks to the soundtrack.

EDIT: I love how Mann made Caan open the safe himself.
 
N

Net_Wrecker

Member
big ander said:
Related to Drive: saw Thief for the first time last night. Nearly everything I love in Drive was done better there. I've only seen Heat and Thief now but signs are pointing towards me joining the cult of Mann once I've gone through more
Click to expand...

Go in order from here on out so you can see the evolution and either appreciate it or hate it with some context. The Insider in particular is right where he starts to become the different filmmaker he is today leading it to be simultaneously the apex of "old Mann," and the beginnings of "new Mann."
 
B

big ander

Member
Death Metalist said:
Please tell me you watched the Criterion blu. It's fucking gorgeous and my god, dat soundtrack. The opening is way more memorable than Drive thanks to the soundtrack.

EDIT: I love how Mann made Caan open the safe himself.
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Just Netflix IW, unfortunately. Which I imagine is a recent transfer at least, though I did have some wavering quality.

I suspected that while I was watching-- noticed how rarely there were inserts where a double could be used. Really does raise the tension to see a person truly using a tool.
Net_Wrecker said:
Go in order from here on out so you can see the evolution and either appreciate it or hate it with some context. The Insider in particular is right where he starts to become the different filmmaker he is today leading it to be simultaneously the apex of "old Mann," and the beginnings of "new Mann."
Click to expand...
I'm going to do my best--I know I'm already hopping The Keep for Manhunter, but otherwise I'm going to try to take it chronologically. Edit: other snag is gonna be wanting to see Blackhat in theaters.
 
S

Serpentine

Banned
All the Manns i've seen in the past week (Thief, Manhunter, Heat, The Insider) have been pretty good-to-great. Bout to watch Collateral today, I have high hopes for that one.

big ander said:
Fiennes deserves a statue but it was never going to be for GBH-- role is so purely (and wonderfully) comedic on the surface. Academy doesn't go for that, even if the performance is ultimately richly layered

And I said it in the other thread, don't worry about Gyllenhaal. He already has buzz for the 88th. Nightcrawler is a dark genre piece, not big awards material. Next year he has Southpaw, a boxing movie where he underwent a big physical gain, and the new Valle movie, who now solely exists to give long-ignored actors the final heat they need in an awards friendly pic.



Related to Drive: saw Thief for the first time last night. Nearly everything I love in Drive was done better there. I've only seen Heat and Thief now but signs are pointing towards me joining the cult of Mann once I've gone through more

Also madridista I would recommend prioritizing Valhalla rising over Only God Forgives, personally. Both are worth watching, Valhalla is better.
Click to expand...

Southpaw... Fuqua tho. But yeah he'll probably get his due soon.

Agreed on Thief, I saw it the other day (Criterion Blu!) and there's so much stuff that Refn borrowed from it, though in terms of the lead characters Frank > Driver
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
Serpentine said:
All the Manns i've seen in the past week (Thief, Manhunter, Heat, The Insider) have been pretty good-to-great. Bout to watch Collateral today, I have high hopes for that one.
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Top tier MM film that's for sure. So atmospheric, Los Angeles itself is like another character in the movie.
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
Watched the original Austin Powers, and it still holds up....

...but I bought the 3-disc Bluray set a month ago, and just opened it today. The thing that holds the 3 Discs in the Bluray is broken. Its been a month and I dont have the receipt anymore, so I don't know if the store will take it back. Does anyone know how to fix it?
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
Are there more LA neo noirs set mostly at night like Collateral, Drive, and Nightcrawler? Something haunting and tragic about it.

i9P1agOkLrAbm.gif
 
K

kmax

Member
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Saw it today. Can't believe that Ralph Fiennes didn't get a nod. The movie was funny and exhilarating. Great piece of cinema.
 
P

Pachimari

Member
kmax said:
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Saw it today. Can't believe that Ralph Fiennes didn't get a nod. The movie was funny and exhilarating. Great piece of cinema.
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I'm watching it now as well. Got 40 minutes left but will finish it tomorrow.

And I will keep an eye out for Thief and Heat.
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
Messofanego said:
Are there more LA neo noirs set mostly at night like Collateral, Drive, and Nightcrawler? Something haunting and tragic about it.

i9P1agOkLrAbm.gif
Click to expand...

This scene blew me away especially when the music kicks in, comes out of fucking no where. A tidbit about the scene and of course spoilers

" The coyote/wolf symbolizes Vincient, the assassin. In the making-of documentary found in the movie DVD special features, the director's only remark about the scene goes something like, "I was in LA once when some coyotes crossed an intersection, stopping all the traffic. And there's just something commanding about their presence. They don't even seem to stop to notice you, it is as if they own the scene." Tom Cruise also said something to the effect of, "When I was reading it in the script, it was just one sentence in there, and I was wondering what the hell Michael (the director) was going to do with it. But the moment it was shot, and that moment in the film, something just stops, and there's something completely poetic about that moment."

Basically, the coyote represents the loneliness and, at the same time, commanding presence that is Vincient. It is a break from the nihilistic attitude that Vincient has held throughout the whole movie "

EDIT: Only movie that comes to mind at the moment is Taxi Driver.
 
B

big ander

Member
Dunno if there's a specific picture you're all talking about, but from the recent ones I've seen he looks dadly. 4 kids in 6 years will do that.
 
R

Ridley327

Member
I suspect that anyone that was a part of the SoCal hippie scene back in the late 60s/early 70s would feel a bit astonished watching Inherent Vice, since I feel like it captures it to a T. There's such an authentic atmosphere to the whole thing that you wonder if the film was actually made in 2014, and you also wonder if the actors may have been encouraged to partake of the drugs of choice to really get into character. particularly Joaquin Phoenix and Katherine Waterston, who sell their blitzed-out personae a bit too convincingly. Even the straight men are under the influence of something, which lends the film a nice edge of feeling unpredictable even as it's not concerned with being particularly suspenseful or dramatic. After a point, you kinda have to give up trying to follow along with whatever it's trying to push on us as a plot, and you have to ride along on the journey it's taking you on. That being said, I'm not sure I'm on-board with the whole venture, as I feel that for a purposefully unfocused film that it feels too unfocused, as if it's more of a companion to the original novel, which I have not read, than something that really stands on its own. There's plenty of narration from Joanna Newsom, but it never amounts to much beyond spelling out a lot of obvious stuff already happening on the screen. There's a lot of bizarre imagery that works fine on its own, but the lack of context often robs them of a deeper appreciation of their absurdity beyond the surface value. At the end of the day, it's a film I can appreciate for simply existing, as this came from a major Hollywood studio and it looks like a not-inexpensive film at that, but I can't say I'm in a rush to revisit it anytime soon to see if there was something I was missing.
 
megamerican

megamerican

Member
Thief Somehow I had never seen this before. Absolutely incredible. I'd put it at the top of the films Mann has directed, which is crazy given it's his first theatrical. Every frame is so gorgeous, makes me wish Mann hadn't gotten so infatuated with digital. James Caan is outstanding, his diner scene is an all time classic. 9 out of 10
 
P

Pachimari

Member
Watching many more movies now, I'm starting to recognize actors, which I would never do before. I'm like shocked every time I see somebody I have seen before haha. Like in The Grand Budapest Hotel when I saw Willem Dafoe, Mathieu Amalric, Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes. I see Jude Law and Lea Seydoux is in it as well. Wow, many noticeable names actually.
 
S

Serpentine

Banned
Death Metalist said:
Top tier MM film that's for sure. So atmospheric, Los Angeles itself is like another character in the movie.
Click to expand...

You were right, it's a thing I love about a lot of neonoirs set in LA (though i'm not sure that that's what i'd classify this as).

But yeah, loved Collateral. It's up there with Heat for me at the moment.
 
L

Linius

Member
Looking up Mann's filmography I've seen more of his work than I knew. Heat, Collateral, Public Enemies and Ali were all good. Miami Vice was okay. That leaves his first three films and The Insider. That last one has been on my watchlist for quite some time.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
Linius said:
Looking up Mann's filmography I've seen more of his work than I knew. Heat, Collateral, Public Enemies and Ali were all good. Miami Vice was okay. That leaves his first three films and The Insider. That last one has been on my watchlist for quite some time.
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The Insider is his best film.

imo it goes The Insider >=Heat > Miami Vice > Thief > Mohicans > Collateral and the rest.

really excited to see Blackhat this weekend despite the mixed reviews. I don't like Ali all that much (it's a bit too long) but the opening montage and the end fight are incredible. Really well done with good use of music.
 
L

Linius

Member
I have a thing for boxing movies which I can't really explain. So Ali was great for me. Surprised to see Collateral so low on your ranking. And Miami Vice so high. All I remember about Miami Vice was that it was a fun action flick, but nothing really memorable about it. I also played the game on my PSP at the time, which wasn't bad actually :p
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
Miami Vice is just pure style over substance. Really worked for me though as I saw it as like mann's crime film in the tone of Malick.

Collateral I felt was more of a basic thriller, it's good don't get me wrong, but kind of loses me in it's final act.

Smith's Ali was impressive. And that final fight with Foreman was....damn. Easily one of the director's best scenes.
 
A

AlternativeUlster

Absolutely pathetic part deux
I think this month of films might be the greatest month for me since I watched Sweet Movie, Wise Blood, and Santa Sangre all in the same month like 5 years ago. Holy hell.
 
N

Net_Wrecker

Member
Discotheque said:
Smith's Ali was impressive. And that final fight with Foreman was....damn. Easily one of the director's best scenes.
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Ali has a lot of good-great moments. The first and last ~20 minutes are incredible,
the jog through Africa, Malcolm X's assassination and Ali getting word of it, the lonely train ride
, the super early digital night shooting....It just doesn't come together to be great. As a collection of Mann audiovisuals though, I still enjoy it. That bleached, blown out color grading looks so good. Plus the soundtrack's quality, as always.
 
B

Blader

Member
Watching Inherent Vice in theaters made me realize I actually don't care about 35mm projection anymore. Shooting on film I still support, but film projection just does a disservice to the movie imo. I know guys like Tarantino think things like flickering and worn film stock are part of the fun, but I'd rather see a movie as clearly as possible the first time around.
 
B

BioHazard

Member
All Manns are great (although I haven't seen that TV movie he did or that prototype film for Heat), I will not hear anything bad about Mann. Going to see Blackhat tonight

Blader said:
Watching Inherent Vice in theaters made me realize I actually don't care about 35mm projection anymore.
Click to expand...

Did you see it in 35mm?
 
G

gerudoman

Member
La isla mínima was pretty good, even if a bit too reminiscent of Memories of Murder with the serial killers, brutal interrogations and military regime stuff, this time in Spain. The atmosphere is very eerie and unsetting, but the film is too short for its own good, only 100 minutes.
 
T

thenexus6

Member
A History of Violence wanted to watch for ages just never got round to it. I thought it was pretty good, Viggo is very good at playing a loving caring family guy, then his eyes change and he's this badass killer. Very good.

I've had Thief on my netflix watch list for months now all the posts above make me think I should watch it tonight / other the weekend finally.
 
B

big ander

Member
Blader said:
Watching Inherent Vice in theaters made me realize I actually don't care about 35mm projection anymore. Shooting on film I still support, but film projection just does a disservice to the movie imo. I know guys like Tarantino think things like flickering and worn film stock are part of the fun, but I'd rather see a movie as clearly as possible the first time around.
Click to expand...
competent projection of a nice print doesnt look like that though. What is true is that projectionist are increasingly amateur-- but a capable person in the booth with a clean print is far better than DP. There won't be obstructive flickering and scratches in those cases.

I'm surprised you Vice print was that beat. I saw it in 70mm and it was clear and beautiful.
 
P

Pachimari

Member
oXVnX5p.jpg
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With all this talk about The Hunger Games franchise, I decided to watch the first movie today, after the talk here on GAF about H1Z1's battle royal mode reminding people of The Hunger Games and Battle Royal.

I really liked the movie, which doesn't surprise me. I love the concept of contestants being put in this arena, having to fight to the death. Jennifer Lawrence's performance were solid, and I'm usually no fan of her (I don't like her as Mystique in X-Men), but she did good. I liked the scenery in the forest and the whole bow-and-arrow play. It fit my tastes a lot.

Where I started to fall a little were, when they tried to play up the romance between the 2 district 12 members, and then revoking the rule again, and them rather take their own lives than kill one another, which felt a bit cliché.

Good film though, which I enjoyed all the way through. And I'm looking forward to watching Catching Fire.

8epSJCg.jpg
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Another movie I got to watch today were Chronicle. People keep mentioning it in the Fantastic Four threads, and seeing all the rumors about Trunk messing up the sets and being affected, made me curious about his film. I love that it was a "camera" movie, and I actually think it's one of the better ones I have seen. It's nothing too special but the powers and the bond between the boys make it that much more interesting, seeing what they can do with their new abilities. I weren't too fond of the climax, but the final blow in the fight were cool. I really liked Chronicle. Oh, and am I a fan of DeHaan. Really liked him in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and he were just as great in this film.
 
S

swoon

Member
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/...lus_the_tv_shows_here_s_what_i_learned.2.html

interesting piece about mann from someone who just rewatched his films on slate today. i don't think he's as generous to mann's style as he should be and not as harsh on the failures of mann's "stylized realism" because a) that's all hollywood, thus the need for neorealism, and b) his version compared to someone like sirk or almodovar, feels like he just wants to have nice sounding guns and booksellers in million dollar homes, rather than exploring the nature of film as artifice in any meaningful way.
 
I

Infernostew

Member
Heading up to Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers tomorrow for a Van Damme marathon. Haven't seen too many JCVD films so it should be a great time and every time I've been there for a marathon (this'll be my 4th) the crowd has been amazing. So hyped!
 
B

Blader

Member
BioHazard said:
Was your print really rough already or something?
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No, I don't mean to say it was completely fucked up or something, it was just really damn blurry. Any shot that wasn't a close-up seemed like it was out of focus. And I don't think it was a projectionist thing, because the theater has a pretty good reputation (but I don't know anything about proper projection, so maybe they're just full of shit).
 
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