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Last Film You Saw And Rate It
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Author:  ahawk [ Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
jfauser wrote:
So what's this I keep hearing about The Hateful Eight's "morality"? Has Tarantino ever made a film with "good morals"? Do people actually give a shit when there's no good-hearted hero, cause that's very unrealistic in the first place.

Yeah I'm so sick of this kind of shit. It was a similar thing with The Wolf of Wall Street. Apparently some people forget they're watching a Martin Scorsese film or a Quentin Tarantino film. Good-hearted heroes are not exactly their calling cards. I believe that it's more important for a character to be interesting than to be morally right. Filmmakers like Scorsese and Tarantino are masters of making deeply flawed, morally reprehensible, and even disgusting characters both fascinating and compelling to watch. I think a lot of my favorite directors such as Kubrick, The Coen Brothers, David Fincher, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Ridley Scott, Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone, Sidney Lumet, and Brian De Palma are also really good at that.
Author:  Dreww [ Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
in a sense no work of art is inherently moral. it's a matter of whether you find the film to be interesting morally or not. no artwork is inherently moral but almost all artworks interact with the moral realm. Tarantino films definitely do so. that's what i mean when i talk about Tarantino films with reference to their morality. it's not that a film has to be moral. you can think a film is excellent and love it and enjoy it while still disapproving of what you take it to be representing or perpetuating morally. and sometimes what something represents or perpetuates morally is so reprehensible that it overshadows other positive attributes of it for you. we do this all the time when we decide who to be friends with or not so i don't know why the fuck it should be seen as a weird aspect of life the universe and everything to consider with regards to a movie.
Author:  ahawk [ Sun Jan 03, 2016 1:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
Well said
Author:  pink [ Sun Jan 03, 2016 11:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
ClashWho wrote:
Sodacake wrote:
mang, watch bone tomahawk.


Literally the very next film in my Netflix queue.


I just watched it. Wow, what an intense film.
Author:  Dreww [ Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
Knight of Cups
I want to first of all acknowledge that the following review is off the charts elitist and possibly pretentious, but it's also honest.

My immediate reaction is to say that this is definitely my favorite Malick film and my favorite film of 2015, even over MMFR. It's not just that it's beautiful or that it has the best use of music of any of his films. It's that it is also the ultimate refinement of all of the techniques he's been using in what is now the larger section of his body of work. Since most people will probably consider The Tree of Life the Malick film "to beat," I guess I should explain what this film has over that one, in my mind. For one thing, it doesn't have any garish looking moments like the dinosaur scene, which I am a defender of but also yeah it's garish. But more importantly, Knight of Cups is a rigorous implementation of a conceptual structure (the tarot) enforced throughout the duration of a film, without necessarily being a rigid "that's it; that's the only valid interpretation" structure. The Tree of Life announces itself with a nature/grace structure which is a good starting point, but it's almost too open, to the point where by the end of the film for many viewers it just becomes about their childhoods and growing older in general and not the eternal themes the film rigorously points to, because most people don't really want to do the work of looking for that type of symbolism continuously. The way Malick uses the tarot but also subverts the tarot in this film is the perfect balance of making sure that we still get a hint of why he might be showing you this or that during a particular section, while also allowing you to connect to it in your own way. And, it also is kind of nice since in order to connect with it in your own way first, you have to really put forth an effort into connecting with it in its own way. With Malick's other films it's been hard to tell if anyone has actually put forth that effort or if they are just bullshiting. This film is made so that you know if the negative reviewers are bullshiting or not. I read an interview with Beach House recently about how sometimes to protect your art you have to deliberately make your audience smaller, and it seems to me that with To The Wonder, which left me bemused until I rewatched it recently, and this film, Malick is doing exactly that. The Tree of Life was "for the people"--doing a film both to appeal to many people but also on his own terms so he could have the freedom to these more specialized and personal projects.

Nevertheless, it's depressing how polarized the reaction to this has been. And it makes me doubt that most of the people who cared about The Tree of Life but "hate" this or To the Wonder connected to that earlier film as being anything other than pretty pictures which remind them of their white American childhoods. Anyone who thinks this film is "self-indulgent" (especially in the sense that Christian Bale is supposedly a stand-in for Malick) is totally lost. This is Malick exploring the life of a character he has almost nothing to do with, just like in Badlands. Anyone who makes such accusations are really just advertising their own lack of curiosity and unwillingness to engage with the film beyond "well a lot of stuff happened and it was well shot and I didn't understand what tied any of it together so it must be bullshit for these tacked on psuedointellectual reasons that have more to do with my inadequacies as a film viewer than the quality of the film." I think the fact that The Tree of Life was so fresh, had a semblance of narrative, and announced its two most obvious themes (nature/grace) at the outset has confused people into thinking that Malick's films are supposed to be accessible. Well, the truth is they are not any less difficult than the most difficult Lynch films or Tarkovsky films or Bresson films and any negative review which doesn't give evidence of being approached with the seriousness that you would expect those sorts of films be approached with isn't worth taking seriously as an informed opinion. And by my count that includes every single review on Rotten Tomatoes. The reviewers who say this is a luxury project are the populist liberal NPR equivalent of the Soviet censors who gave Tarkovsky so much trouble. Sorry to be so abrasive, but it's depressing as fuck to think this film is being considered a bomb when in my mind films like this justify the existence of cinema.
Author:  wantabodylikeme [ Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
damn nigga
Author:  Quinnsy Lohan [ Mon Jan 04, 2016 1:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
incredible review dreww, i must admit i got caught up in the superficiality of ratings and reviews and would likely have never watched the movie despite being a fan of Malick's, but you've more than sold it to me
Author:  Dreww [ Mon Jan 04, 2016 1:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
and for what it's worth, obviously it's fine if people don't like the movie, or hate the movie, or don't really engage the movie. But I think if your negative review of the move amounts to "this is just a bunch of self-indulgent free form shit" then you're not doing your job as either a critic or someone who supposedly wants to like and understand difficult movies. It would be nice if more reviews were just "well this one flew over my head. i would like it if Malick were obvious, and he's not, so 4/10." but instead these opinions are dressed up in phony "it's self-indulgent" language.
Author:  Forgotten Son [ Mon Jan 04, 2016 7:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
I Saw the Devil (2010)

I'm not sure how I feel about enjoying this film, or if enjoyment is really the best way to describe it, as this is one of the most brutal, disturbing works I've ever seen. Like many Korean revenge films I've seen, though, I find that the depravity of protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) alike are significantly offset by not picking a side and instead using both to explore the dark side of human behaviour. This is certainly the case in I Saw the Devil with the main character, Kim Soo-hyeon, as terrible as the man he is trying to extract revenge upon. Min-sik Choi, of Oldboy fame, is captivating as the sadistic serial killer Kyung-chul and is quickly becoming one of my favourite actors. Fans of the Vengeance trilogy by Chan-wook Park will find a lot to like in this film's bleak tone and jet black humour, as well as the interesting twist on the revenge genre it employs.
Author:  Vil [ Tue Jan 05, 2016 11:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
Good thing there wasn't any dancing in it
Author:  Forgotten Son [ Wed Jan 06, 2016 4:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
Aye. That would have been horrendous. Rape, torture and dismemberment I can deal with. Dancing would be beyond the pale.
Author:  PBR Streetgang [ Wed Jan 06, 2016 10:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
Was on hols, so DDD it's been a while.

-Enjoyed the hell out of Star Wars, liked it as much much as I expected to, no more no less.
-Really liked The Good Dinosaur as well, which I took time out of my holiday for to go see in 3D amongst a bunch of little kids since it came so highly recommended by his Drewness. Couldn't agree more - some scenes were very moving and the animation was sublime.

Don't fully understand the big love for Villeneuve's pre-Sicario work. I didn't see anything worth liking in Prisoners beyond the police procedural subplot with a good Gyllenhaal performance (though he's done waay better than this). Didn't like the story of Jackman's and Dano's characters, didn't like how it tackled the morality issue - I found that all pretty laughable tbh. Idk, very weak stuff for a film that presented itself as a complex thriller with big stories to tell about human behaviour or whatever. Enemy was already way better, but I still didn't think it was as special as it made itself out to be. Also I found the cinematography kind of annoying at times. Incendies really impressed me when I saw it, it's a very ambitious work that does well in exploring themes of war and the Middle East going up in flames. But the plot was a silly mess and it makes the whole movie not so great as it seemed to be at first.
Sicario really surprised me, there was nothing about this movie that I didn't like, so I hope to see more like this from Villeneuve.

Didn't really like I Saw the Devil, even though what you say about its characters is very true. I just don't see this film as the subversion of Korean revenge thrillers it's made out to be. I'm sorry but this is really Revenge Porn: the Movie, regardless of what the character's motivations are.
Author:  ClashWho [ Wed Jan 06, 2016 3:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
Watched Ex Machina again on Blu-ray and I will be so pissed off if it does not receive a Best Picture nom. Literally the best film I have seen so far this decade.
Author:  wantabodylikeme [ Wed Jan 06, 2016 5:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
I don't think it has a chance of getting nominated in any category except for maybe visual effects, but even that may be pushing it.
Author:  Sodacake [ Wed Jan 06, 2016 7:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Last Film You Saw And Rate It
it will probably win a few saturn awards if mad max and star wars don't sweep it.
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