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And dark it is! I guess the R rating is more than justified. Pretty intense new animated DC project which opens rather violently. Great cast of characters, including Constantine and Swamp Thing. DC starts strong in 2017!
The two films to star Robert Mitchum as Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe. While the former has the pull of staring Mithum and Charlotte Rampling, it's the latter that I prefer and watch more often (and is also my favourite Mitchum film).
Morgan (2016)
I've had this film on my watchlist since I saw the trailer/poster. After being impressed by Anya Taylor-Joy (another solid performance in Morgan) in The VVitch, I picked up a copy of this film. And whomever did the fight choreography, bravo. I could actually see what was going on.
Indeed, I don't really think of those two as being of the same series. They have the same actor playing the same character, but they exist in different times (roughly 30 years apart), while the films are a mere 3 years apart. Now, if Farewell, My Lovely had been filmed in the late 40's rather than 1942 or 1975, and starred Mitchum, then I could see them as more of a series.
Who are the other characters? I recognize Deadman.
One of the most fun action film in years. I never get tired of rewatching it. Dan Stevens is a total badass as the lead character, and once sh*t gets real, the body count keeps on rising, and delivers many brutal kills. The soundtrack is fantastic, I really like those cool 80's-style electro songs. Always a pleasure to see Lance Reddick, who also was in John Wick around the same time this film was released, so he sure is busy handling badasses like Dan Stevens and Keanu Reeves. With the very awesome but seriously 'what the fuck' ending, I hope there will be a sequel one day.
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau and a stunning Monica Vitti.
Very well directed movie, but with literally no plot it gets a bit dull. And why does every italian movie have to be so depressing (Umberto D, La Dolce Vita, L'Avventura, Roma città aperta, Ladri di biciclette, etc...)
Extraordinary film. Why it received so much flack is beyond me.
In order from left to right :
Andrew Bennett, a vampire
Deadman
John Constantine
Zatanna Zatara, the sorceress
Black Orchid, a living plant.
A film of two halves—one surprisingly flat and uninvolving, the other surprisingly visually spectacular. The problem with Rogue One is that it starts out with a long series of character scenes and/or exposition scenes where characters stand around and feed us information. Now this in and of itself shouldn't necessarily be a problem—the focus on character over action, that is—and is in fact an interesting direction to take a major genre franchise blockbuster. The problem is that our core cast is comprised of the most lifeless, most uncharasmatic actors imaginable. I had a lot of time to think throughout the first hour plus of the film because I was completely disconnected from anything going on onscreen: the shots were boringly framed; the jokes all fell dead on delivery; the music was a wash in the background—no fault of Giacchino's given that he was pulled in to rescore the film at the last minute and he did deliver for the dogfights. So with all this time to think I occasionally imagined what one of these scenes might play like with a young Harrison Ford or Mark Hamill delivering the same lines as Felicity Jones or whoever the other guy was or the blind Jedi wannabe, and I realized that's what was missing. The film had no star power. No charisma. No movie magic. No heart. It had people standing in dank interiors and talking about how they've "lived all their lives with this pain" with all the sincerity and emotion of somebody ordering a pizza. Granted Mendelssohn, Mikkelson, and to an extent Whittaker did fine jobs with their limited screen time. But again, it is our core cast and their direction that ultimately sapped the film of all its potential magic and energy, leaving me a very long and boring—what was it, like an hour and twenty or thirty minutes?—of wondering when the film was going to start involving me.
This happened during the scene with Mikkelson's hologram projection. Kudos to Mads and Giacchino's music for pulling a few heartstrings here. And then our core cast takes over again for awhile and we're back to wondering when the movie is going to decide to do something with itself.
So the climax comes along, and yes, it was visually spectacular. The aerial dogfights and the land battles against the AT-ATs delivered some of the coolest, most stunning action the series has seen. I just wish it had involved characters I actually cared about. Because that's the problem. The visuals were really cool, but I didn't care one jot about what happened to any of the characters. Emotionally, I wasn't invested in any of them.
MAJOR SPOILERS:
Now after that, that's when the film actually finally began for me. We get Vader storming down a corridor slicing fools up to a Giacchino-ized rendition of the Imperial March, and then we see those familiar uniforms and that familiar interior and see the princess turn and say something to the effect of "that's our hope." Shivers. I'm on the edge of my seat now, fully in it, waiting for what happens next, and—ba-nah, ba-nah, ba-nah, ba-nah—end credits! I couldn't believe it. The movie was finally in its final 3-ish minutes starting to get good and here were the end credits slamming me in the face. Unbelievable.
So in conclusion, Rogue One was basically the slowest building, most frustrating tease in film form, and I guess the actual delivery would be A New Hope then. If the entire film had been along the lines of its final 3 minutes, we might have had one of the greatest Star Wars films ever. As it is, even the other prequels did more with their running times. Zero incentive to rewatch, but I guess I'm glad I've at least checked off this box.
Oh, and on the CGI characters...I had no idea they were going to be shown in close up and given so much dialogue. Initially I was impressed by the quality, but the longer the character was shown on screen, the poorer it held up and they definitely milked it too long. They still can't get the eyes right—and probably never will. The eyes, after all, are the window to the soul, and the day they authentically perfect CGI eyes is the day we should start watching the backs of anybody we know by the name of John Connor.
Christopher Nolan Films Ranked
1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman Begins
3. The Prestige
4. The Dark Knight Rises
5. Inception
6. Memento
7. Insomnia
8. Following
Beneath The Planet of the Apes
Nolan and his team did something truly special, and though I love them all The Dark Knight especially has, for me at least, become a modern classic. That film changed everything, and I knew as I shook with glee in my theater seat watching Heath do his thing that I was experiencing something that would change pop culture forever. I've never had theater experiences like I had with these films, and I probably never will. Watching Rises that night with so many of my fellow fans and a couple of my best friends was special, because we'd all been there waiting in anticipation for eight hours as the marathon screenings led closer to midnight. When the credits finally rolled on Rises the room erupted in applause and for a minute, all of us just joined in appreciating the treat we'd gotten. It was a very emotional experience, and one of my fondest memories.
I cannot disagree with that ranking, @FoxRox. Nolan's Batman trilogy is superb. I'm glad you also allow BB the praise that film deserves. You're also a fan of The Prestige - that makes me happy. I'm really looking forward to your review of Interstellar.
So, I had to have some of my muse to restore for something I've been writing and even illustrating for my entertainment, and I decided to put on a Lara Pulver flick, a film that appears to be a continuation of the "acclaimed" television series Spooks. She was in the last season and I loved her character as well as the scenes she was involved in. But, here? Not only the film was a waste of time but badly written, as well. No charm. Nothing. A spy thriller dealing with domestic terrorism 24 style. Both have premiered around the same time if I remember correctly, then again I hardly was a fan of this one, if at all. And the narrative is something only George R. R. Martin will approve of, an author I dislike heartily to say. And my favourite character is given a goodbye way out in the most absurd and uninspired way possible. As for the second lead character, Kit Harington plays a former veteran MI5 agent disavowed by Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) sometime before the events of the film, who apparently knows Pearce more than anyone and has been in the business for quite sometime with apparently a long past that is not established on the screen for us to understand well. Harington was completely unconvincing in the role and barely had the look of a rookie, let alone a veteran operative. The ending was something akin to a John Le Carre story as was the cold atmosphere of the film itself which bored the hell out of me. It was a waste of time, and I never am paying any revisit to it ever again.
And I really really hope I don't see a James Bond film anything like this, since I know some fans are advocating for this style, but I would really rather that doesn't happen.
That sounds like an amazing cinema experience, although I think Rises is the lesser of the three it seems to have gotten an unfair backlash, still an excellent film. My personal favourite Nolan is The Prestige, there's so much that rewards multiple viewings, it feels fresh everytime I revisit.
Christopher Nolan Films Ranking:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman Begins
3. The Prestige
4. Interstellar
5. The Dark Knight Rises
6. Inception
7. Memento
8. Insomnia
9. Following
That wraps up my Nolan-thon. I'll probably post an updated ranking once Dunkirk (2017) comes out and I see it.
Read the Alex Garland novel and you'll see why....
Rises is my favourite of the three and works best on repeat viewings.
I too dig Rises. Very rewatchable as you say. But Batman Begins will forever remain my favorite. The Dark Knight left me very cold apart from great performances by Ledger and Eckhart. I was particularly disappointed by how greatly both the tone of the film and the look of Gotham deviated from Begins. Rises, however, managed to bring things full circle a bit. It's not without its own flaws, but nonetheless it's quite a bit of fun.
Yeah, I know it goes against popular opinion but I find TDK a bit overrated. It is an excellent film, but apart from the armoured truck/bike chase there is little in the film to raise any kind of excitement with me. And I find the 'who will detonate whose boat first' scene a bit of a bore, especially when you already know the outcome.
TDKR just works so well in every department (albeit with a few flaws) and I just love Tom Hardy's Bane.
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
This film is now cemented as my all-time favorite film. The performances from all actors are just out of this world, especially the actor playing Agu and Idris Elba. The directing is flawless, the soundtrack is epic, the cinematography is lush, and the film features a ton of very, very powerful scenes - Idris Elba's introduction, the convoy attack scene, the taking of the bridge. 10 years ago I thought it'd be a long while before I rank another film close to 'Blood Diamond' and 'Lord of War', well 'Beasts of No Nation' has beaten them by a fair margin.
Netflix owns the global distribution rights, so unfortunately it won't. If you do ever get the chance to see it, I also highly recommend it.
I love both of those Mitchum Marlowe films. I do prefer the period setting old Farewell My Lovely. The music, the cast, the lighting, all excellent. It 's pretty funny that Mitchum had only one suit in the film, which was a hand me down that Victor Mature had worn in one of his films. Mitchum complained he was wearing "Victor Mature's old farted up suit."
By The Big Sleep he had some new 1970's threads. The Big Sleep is pretty cool and easier to follow than the Bogart version. IMO though, it's nowhere near the ranking of that classic Bogie noir. Farewell My Lovely, though I feel is a good rival to Murder My Sweet.