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Any comment I made would not do this film justice
The best since Superman The Movie?
One of Steve Martin's most distinctive roles, I must say, beginning with the accent! ;)
"Have a nice day."
"F..k you."
One of his most underrated roles
Once I got through the opening sequence which was very mind blowing. I really got into this and enjoyed it thoroughly. I thought Thor would make an appearance towards the end. Really looking forward to seeing Thor Ragnorok next month now.
I'd say so, yes.
Iron Man was there, and Winter Soldier too...
Wow, @Fire_and_Ice_Returns. Really happy this film has impressed you beyond belief. Definitely one of my all-time favorites, simply for the feelings it gave me as I watched it and for the flaws it has I find so many ample pluses that make me forget them.
I know you often post your reviews in here, so whenever you do get around to THE LONG GOODBYE I look forward to hearing your take on it.
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Here's an overview of my week. Haven't had much time to update as I watch.
STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928) / Buster Keaton & Charles Reisner - Top tier Keaton. Wish Marion Byron had had a bigger career. She’s great in this.
YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (1937) / Fritz Lang - A good film, though not as captivating as his German stuff. Looking forward to a few more of his American films in the weeks ahead.
THE FOUNTAIN (2006) / Darren Aronofsky - An appreciable mishmash of ideas. Certainly ambitious. Ultimately falls short of what it's attempting to do (not majorly however). I like Aronofsky more restrained than this on the whole. I'd like to revisit both THE WRESTLER and BLACK SWAN soon.
WILD AT HEART (1990) & INLAND EMPIRE (2006) / David Lynch - In the wake of the excellent third season of Twin Peaks I find myself on a Lynch kick. WILD AT HEART is somewhat overly maligned. Watching it this time, the first half isn’t nearly as poor as I remembered. I’ve long loved the second half. For all intents and purposes I find the entire thing on par with BLUE VELVET, though if I were forced to make a ranking it would probably slot in just behind. INLAND EMPIRE was still difficult to digest, but I'm determined to come back again. I'm not satisfied with any of the theories I've read (not entirely). Lynch's career since FIRE WALK WITH ME has increasingly brought the medium of film closer to the painter's canvas. I think this is the first principle in trying to understand this film. INLAND EMPIRE has no hope of being understood linearly, one minute to the next. The full picture in mind, I look forward to coming back to this one down the road.
DAYS OF BEING WILD (1990) / Wong Kar-wai - Great stuff. Kar-wai's 'plot' is more like an assemblage of character moments, but the imagery creates a pitch perfect mood match to the lives of characters, and that's enough to pull you along for the ride.
NOSFERATU (1922) / F.W. Murnau - I respect this one's place in film history, but it really didn't connect with me for some reason. A few great shots that are artwork in their own right, but aside from that it fell somewhat flat I'm afraid.
L’AVVENTURA (1960) / Michelangelo Antonioni - Posted my thoughts over in the Film Club thread. Greatly liked it.
PICNIC ON THE GRASS (1959) / Jean Renoir - This is a gem. See this! Worth watching alone just to stare at the colors. Every frame is indeed a painting in this case, masterfully staged by Renoir and excellently evoking the paintings of his father. The story itself is comedic in a very Shakespearean way. I felt pure bliss watching this, and I can see myself returning to it many times in the future.
MODERN TIMES (1936) / Charlie Chaplin - Thank heavens I finally got around to this. Now my favorite Chaplin. I adore Tati's PLAYTIME (1967) and it's easy to see how this might have served in part as its springboard (both technically and spiritually). Also much impressed with Chaplin's use of sound here. What a grand finale for The Tramp. Another I will love coming back to.
TRICKED (2012) / Paul Verhoeven - Now here's an interesting one. This was originally made as a competition film, split into eight parts which eight teams were assigned to film. Verhoeven filmed a separate, cumulative version of his own. It's understandably the least-Verhoeven like film I've seen from him, yet it's surprisingly typical of his stuff in particular details, and on the whole it comes together more seamlessly than perhaps expected.
It gets better with every rewatch I am liking the ending more than I did initially, though I am a fan of David Thewlis he played one of my favourite Harry Potter characters. WW does indeed have good rewatchability due to the emotion in the film, DC have done well to keep the same team to do the sequel.
while it was visually incredible, it was so boring and drawn out that I can't say I enjoyed it. There were good scenes, and incredible moments. The concepts were explored really well and the meaning to the film is good but, its so slow. It moves at snail speed.
maybe a 5/10
Side note I didn't quite understand what happens in the end.
Who is the baby?
Where is the room he is in?
The room is a simulation prepared by the aliens who have since the dawn of man been monitoring us and helping us to make progress. They have allowed Bowman to travel to their part of space and in this "familiar" environment, built from his memories, they want to put him under further observation. In Clarke's novel it is made obvious that the room features props that look the same but are made from different materials than on Earth. So the aliens, no matter how intelligent, got it only half right.
When Bowman dies, the aliens allow him a resurrection of sorts; as the "space baby" he is allowed to return to Earth. In the novel, this reborn conciousness will make all the nuclear missiles in space explode. In the second book, Odyssey 2, the space baby will communicate with a few people. The latter also happens in Peter Hyams' sequel to 2001, based on Clarke's book.
It's important to grasp the metaphors, but that doesn't make 2001 all symbolism and nothing else. Once you've discovered that a superior alien race is guiding mankind through his evolution, using the monoliths as devices with multiple functions, many things become clearer. Also, you accept a certain amount of "incomprehensible" things, since we aren't yet sophisticated enough to understand what the aliens can do. These are not divine mysteries; simply higher-intelligence beings who explore the universe and every once in a while check up on us. Clarke's four Odyssey books eventually take us on a truly amazing journey to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, and they explore what happens with Floyd and, believe it or not, Frank Poole.
I would like to recommend that if you're interested, you at least read Clarke's original novel, written while Kubrick was making the film. I found it very helpful to make the film much more accessible. It's short enough; you can get through it quickly, but it's an enlightening experience and, though this is a personal comment of course, an exceptionally fascinating journey. :)
Always a pleasure and never a chore, the Final Cut as it's only version I have. Just masterful, the story is pretty simple and nothing ground breaking but it's the visuals and the atmosphere that sets this apart from other films.
Although Alien will always remain my favourite film from Ridley the influence is unmistakeable, sets me up nicely for BR 2049 in IMAX next Saturday afternoon.
5/5
Just got back. I enjoyed it. Liked it even. However, I didn’t love it. Doug Liman’s (The Bourne Identity) dark comedy biopic about a TWA pilot turned CIA drug runner/arms trader/snoop middle man is entertaining and very slickly made. It moves at a good clip throughout its roughly two hour run time as well, starting at the point when Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) is recruited by Uncle Sam (via CIA operative Monty 'Schafer', played by Domhnall Gleeson) to serve his country as a spy due to his flexible morals. Seal knows the risks but seizes the opportunity, being a 'fly by the seat of his pants' kind of guy, literally as well as figuratively. The one thing Seal does is deliver consistently, and therefore the financial rewards come in spades in time, but the dangers mount as well. Eventually the whole nasty business is exposed, allegiances change, and Seal is forced into a compromising position attempting to play two powerful sides (the US govt. and the notorious Medellin cartel) against the middle.
This film hinges on Cruise’s performance, and he is very watchable as the unscrupulous, but strangely likeable huckster Seal. It’s refreshing to see him do some real acting again, and he pulls off a Louisiana twang admirably while bringing his swagger to the character. Sarah Wright is very good too as wife Lucy, but she’s not given too much to do except get upset at Seal’s constant shenanigans. Doug Liman is a really versatile director. I’ve enjoyed many of his films, including Swingers, the aforementioned first Bourne entry, Edge of Tomorrow and Fair Game. He and cinematographer Cesar Charlone give this film a raw, almost newsreel style aesthetic. It’s really quite stylized and stunning to look at in places.
So why didn’t I love it? The film covers a lot of ground (roughly 8 years of Seal’s life) in 2 hours, and therefore is quite exposition and plot heavy. However I didn't feel that it developed many of the secondary characters all that well. We see them come in and out of the picture but they are basically cardboard characters. Moreover, most of the supporting individuals here are unsavoury and flawed. Finally, Seal himself is a bit of an anti-hero, so it’s difficult to root for any of them. It’s nevertheless a testament to Cruise’s star power and charms that he is immensely likable on screen, and his Seal is a believable and interesting character in the film. I just wish we had more opportunity to see beneath and understand his motivations more. After all, he became a very important cog in a grand covert scheme of deception, but here we only see a surface level ‘shoot first ask questions later’ sort of thrill seeker. While it takes a certain kind of audacity to do what he did, I’d like to think there were moments of self doubt and contemplation, and we don’t really get to see any of that. Still, it’s a minor criticism. This is well worth a watch to understand the lengths the US govt. will go to in order to achieve its geopolitical aims, and also to see Mr. Cruise deliver one of his best performances in some time. Recommended.
"It's all the deep end." Wonderful line
Can you call them 'stunts' in F&F when they're mostly all CGI....?
Baby Driver did it for real. And boy does it look better!
I think both films/series are different. Baby Driver is Rock-'n-roll with a touch of punk rock. F&F is hip-hop, rap and RnB with an occasional leap into metal music. Depending on my mood, I can go with either of both. ;-)
He really does nail the part, unlike Stallone, who was a joke in it.
I liked Dredd too. I'll have to watch it again if i have time.
I watch too many Bond films. :)