Missed Arrival last year, so I was finally able to see it in theaters today. It was great, a rare breed of sci-fi movie. What was the last one like this? Contact? An intimate first contact story, that smartly balanced the wider look at how the world would react to such an event with the fascinating notion of learning and communicating in a literally alien language.
I watched this on Jan 22 and thought it was really bad, and gave it 1/5 stars. What is your impression of the film? I am thinking I've been too harsh on the film.
After Hours (1985)
I've had nightmares sort of like this before, and truly got stressed out. It's funny at the same time though. Rosanna Arquette is absolutely brilliant in her role, an all time great character.
That laugh! Her character is so strong, exuding this deep, mocking-yet-sincere self-awareness of the social structure and the performance she is putting on, that it threatens the very "main character" status of the guy. The film never quite reaches the same heights when she's not around.
8/10
The Nice Guys (2016)
Exceptionally fun. Shane Black subverts expectations enough that you never fully get your bearings, but at the same time the story stands up as solid and well crafted. Gosling is so, so good.
Did you move it? Move what? The fucking gun!
8/10
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Another live-action cartoon from Blake Edwards. Some great individual scenes, but I much prefer Edwards' The Great Race as the peak of this style of filmmaking.
6.5/10
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) !!!!!!!!!
I consider myself incapable of reviewing The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It's the one movie where I was very frustrated by relying on subtitles; I felt a constant distance from the film, as the vocals sometimes felt incongruous with the words that appeared. I accepted that I couldn't fully appreciate Demy due to the language barrier, but...
The Young Girls of Rochefort clicked for me immediately. It was exhilarating how the vocals and words felt natural together, despite being so unlike what we're used to in music. I was downright giddy when Delphine and the gallery owner discussed their relationship, and many other times. The color up on the screen is a mind altering substance; certainly one of the most beautiful movies ever made. It is painfully joyful, in the sense of being so joyful you'll burst out, explode, but still wonder where is there to go? What is there to do? Instantly one of my all time favorites.
9+/10
"The Handmaiden" was fantastic and quite possibly my new favorite Park Chan-wook film. It was equal parts crime caper, erotic romance, black comedy, and sweeping period piece but never once felt overstuffed or disjointed even at a ~140-minute runtime. Highly recommended.
You're so Cool Brewster: The story of Fright Night - I tend to spend much of my viewing time on documentaries or featurettes giving a behind the scenes look into the making of a movie. I'm a huge sucker for them actually, if I'm having trouble finding something to watch for the night I usually just pop in a Blu-ray and go through the special features. I don't usually catalog these in letterbox for some reason though barring a few exceptions like Never Sleep Again and Crystal Lake Memories. You're so Cool Brewster comes from the same people that did the Hellraiser doc a couple of years back, Leviathan. They have definitely improved since then as Leviathan was a bit of a slog to get through, it was too long and featured a bunch of people telling the same stories over and over. All of the living essential Fright Night players show up and basically every detail a Fright Night fan would want is covered. I was entertained throughout and look forward to the next doc from these guys.
Note: I apparently didn't get to see the full version as it covers Fright Night 2 as well. This came as a special feature in a new Blu-ray.
i just finished watching 3. Yeah, you're right it's not as good as the first two. In the beginning part I actually quite enjoyed the moments with him, his wife, and his son and wouldn't have minded if the whole movie focused on that. There were some good fights, but definitely not as good as the last one. Also, what the fuck was Mike Tyson doing in the movie? He was awful and out of place. Are these movies based on actual events from his life? I just think that the stuff that happened in this one was exaggerated.
All three of them are based very (very) loosely on events in his life, but as per usual with HK movies and real life people / martial arts heroes, the movies are much more interested in politics, myth making and legacy (and are always reverent in their portrayal; these movies ignore things like his opium addiction, etc.). 2 is my least favorite of the trilogy because I found it to be mostly jingoistic melodrama, whereas I thought the stuff you highlight about 3 (the scenes with his family, and dealing with his wife's illness) were nice and tender and I liked that part of the movie. Also, Jin Zhang is incredible and I loved his subplot. All three of them have great action, though, and are good showcases for Donnie Yen's talent. I still think the first film is the best from a basic narrative and filmmaking standpoint, though (2 and 3 are fun but a bit sloppy in the writing).
For something different, definitely check out The Grandmaster (amusingly, Jin Zhang is in that one, too). It deals more with the philosophy of martial arts and Ip Man's life, whereas the plots of the Donnie Yen films focus almost strictly on politics (and, predictably, themes of nationalism, though the third one does buck that a bit with the Wing Chun rivalry subplot).
This was the last Shane Black written movie I hadn't seen yet (aside from Monster Squad, I guess) and I honestly don't know where I'd rank it. The premise is kinda corny in a good way, Davis and Jackson work surprisingly well together but Craig Bierko has gotta be one of the most non-threatening and unconvincing villains I have seen. The dialogue is as Shane Black-ish as you'd expect and the action scenarios are pretty damn cool but sadly often look amateur-hour. Ultimately, I still liked it, because of the performances but it feels like the most compromised of the bunch.
An Iranian horror film set during the Iraq-Iran war during the 80's follows a Mother and Daughter experiencing a haunting from a Djinn which in Islamic mythology an evil spirit/ghost. Pretty chilling movie however due to my lack of knowledge of the Iranian socio/political history I can't help that they're are some underlying themes that I won't be able to comprehend, on the side note the film has the single most terrifying jump scare in recent memory.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (rewatch) - it's still awesome. A simple story executed beautifully with Any Lee's eyes guiding it. I'm also surprised by how well it flows despite all that the film covers. The characters are great with Jen being a real standout. Cinematography is top notch and the wire-fu fight scenes are still impressive almost 17 years later, I'm sure they blow away the soulless looking cgi driven scenes from the forced sequel. It might be a problem with the translation, but I do wish that the dialogue could have been more subtle and not have to remind us of what's already happened in the film. In addition, there is some wonky exposition as well. The ending is still beautiful to watch, but I'm on the fence of whether it was truly earned or not.
