Lisa Frankenstein. I had seen no ads or trailers for this, but my daughter wanted to go and so we went.
Wow. If you’re old enough to remember late '80s/early '90s teen comedies, this is what this is. Except it’s new. It’s not bad at all - we enjoyed it for what it was - but I left wondering why it was a thing at all. Kathryn Newton even resembles a young Joan Cusack in this.
I would say: watch it when it streams, as it’s a decent mindless teen comedy with a macabre streak to it, but it’s not a “must see”. And if you have teens they might like it more.
Dune, Part Deux (2024). Much like the first one I found the visuals nice but was not that engaged that with the story itself. As others have pointed out, it differs in a few significant ways from the book, while still maintaining the atmosphere as a whole. Although enjoyable, probably no anything that I would want to give a second viewing.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) Extended edition. I remember enjoying this quite a bit in the theater and I did once again when I recently saw it again on streaming. It has great comedic and emotional beats and Willem Dafoe shows again how great an actor he is. There is definitely a bit of a nostalgia feel for those of us who have seen previous spider-man films, though I remember it being well received by those around me who had not. Overall, just a good fun film with great performances throughout.
As to the extended edition bit, there were a few extra scenes and some scenes that were a bit longer. They were integrated so well you had to try to remember how it was different from the theatrical version.
Society of the Snow (2023). Harrowing, hard to watch at times, but ultimately this Spanish production is a cinematic masterpiece. It concerns the crash of a plane in the Andes in 1972 that was carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and some members of their families from Uruguay to Chile, and how the survivors lived for many months in the terrible but beautiful desolation of the high Andes, many of them dying over time. Extremely well made, and a worthy nominee for International Best Picture at the upcoming Oscars.
On a technical note, the proximate cause of the crash was an inexperienced FO making a navigation error, and the captain failing to notice. As a result, instead of flying through a relatively low-level pass between mountains, flew into one in poor visibility. They still would have made it but the Fairchild FH-227 was notoriously under-powered and they couldn’t gain enough altitude.
I see that this movie was mentioned here once before and I know there’s a thread on it, but thought I’d throw in my two cents anyway. Interestingly, for some reason Zone of Interest is a nominee in this category as well as in the general Best Picture category.
It was Germany’s submission for foreign language/international, and voters apparently liked it enough to vote for it in both categories. I think it does make sense to vote for it in both, if you include it on your preferential ballot for best picture but aren’t sure it will get that nomination.
“Anatomy of a Fall”, on the other hand, wasn’t even submitted by France.
All that aside, this is the first year that two foreign language films have been nominated for best picture.
Germany submitted The Teachers Lounge, which was a very good film (though not as good as Monster). Certainly not out of place among the nominees.
France submitted The Taste of Things, which I thought was a sure thing to be among the nominees, but it only made the short list. It’s a real crowd pleaser and also a very well made emotionally resonant film.
The Zone of Interest is a UK film, of all things. Just shows to go you that filmmaking has become so global, it is hard to tell what country a film is from.
(and Past Lives, which is my Best Picture of 2023) is a U.S. film, even though it is mostly in Korean.
Most of the way through Argylle and I don’t get the negativity…it’s basically a family friendly action movie. I’m surprised it is family friendly, but it’s serviceable so far.
Dune 2. Really wanted this to be a movie I couldn’t wait to see again and would become an often watched favorite like BladeRunner 2049, Fury Road, or Children of Men but didn’t become a classic for me. Was good but having never read the book(s) felt like some of the stuff included which was probably more important or relevant to the story in the book was shoehorned in and in turn felt irrelevant to the movie.
Spaceman. (Netflix) Adam Sandler in a serious role mixing outer space with domestic issues. Kind of an overused genre at this point where the space traveler is dealing with grief, or daddy issues, or spousal issues, etc. and some otherworldly mystery helps them resolve it. See Contact, Ad Astra, The Arrival, Solaris, etc. No real new ground covered here.
I really enjoyed it. The plot was far-fetched, but so what? It was fun. I think some of the over-the-top silliness was completely intentional. I think since the last time I commented on it, its IMDb rating has fallen further to just 6.0, so I’m just gonna disagree. On RT, the critics rating is 33% but the audience rating is 72%. Does that mean audiences are ignoramuses or does it mean that many critics are pretentious snobs?
Hey, I appreciate deeply thoughtful movies like The Holdovers or Anatomy of a Fall (or the depressing The Zone of Interest) as much as anyone, but sometimes a movie is just like a ride in an amusement park – silly, pointless fun.
It’s rather the opposite of Barbie, which is way silly but tries desperately to be Serious Social Commentary and IMHO ends up just being boring.
“Steampunk” is a good description of the style, along with “quirky Gothic horror loaded with sex scenes and gore that’s also charming and very funny at times”. In short, it’s really unique – in a good way – and beautifully stylish. Judging from some of the dismissive comments on IMDb, it’s clearly not for everyone, but even a diehard fan of conventional storytelling like me really enjoyed it.
I watched The Holdovers (2023) the other day. I enjoyed it, though it did telegraph a lot of shit. I think Giamatti’s performance was top-notch. As I’m thinking about, I can only come up with critical comments but I do recommend it. I didn’t really like the ending. Too abrupt. Practically no resolution - not for Giamatti’s character, anyway. And the other thing was … Chekhov’s Eyeball. I was sitting at the edge of my seat for half the movie just so I could spring up and shout, “And there it is!” when Giamatti says, “It’s this one. This is the one you look at.”
The Favourite (2018). After being suitably impressed by Poor Things, I naturally had to see this previous production from Yorgos Lanthimos, whose stars coincidentally also include Emma Stone. The story revolves around palace intrigue during the reign of Queen Anne in the early 18th centory. There are amazing stylistic similarities with Poor Things – the distinctive music, the wide-angle cinematography, the richly lush sets. It’s considered among the top films of the 21st century. Thoroughly enjoyable.
I liked The Favourite a lot, although, yeah, none of the characters struck me as sympathetic real people in any way. That seems to be a Lanthimos specialty in his trademark brand of anti-realism: we are watching the fascinating evolution of various flavors of pathology and monstrosity, ain’t nobody just folks having a normal day.
That said, I was super impressed by the performances in The Favourite. I remember thinking something along the lines of “wow Emma Stone really gave a great performance there, I don’t really count Olivia Colman’s because she just was Queen Anne… oh, wait. No. That’s called ‘acting’.” Yes, Colman was so good in the role that I forgot she wasn’t literally the character she was portraying.
You do need a high tolerance for that fish-eye lens business to watch it, though. As I keep saying round these parts, I am pretty much a clueless golden retriever when it comes to perceiving and appreciating the technical details of filmmaking, but even I noticed that a lot of the camera work in The Favourite is funny-looking.
I have long been of the opinion that the more one notices these kinds of technical details, the more they have failed.
You should feel the grandness, or the creepiness, or the starkness, or whatever a cinematographer is going for, without actually seeing how that feeling is being achieveved. Otherwise it just takes you out of the movie.
Yes! Very dark but hilarious comedy. Loved it! Favorite scene: Cheadle briefing the local cops. Tonally similar to In Bruges (directed by The Guard’s director’s brother), if you haven’t seen that.
Indeed they do. Two of my (relatively) recent favorites:
I get your point and agree with the general sentiment, but it’s also a bit overly broad. For instance, filming a movie in black and white to achieve a certain effect is plainly obvious but doesn’t necessarily detract from the effect. Likewise, switching between colour and black and white, or between different aspect ratios, is pretty obvious, but the much-praised Poor Things does the former and the acclaimed Oppenheimer does both.
Using wide-angle lenses is arguably less obtrusive than any of those other things. One might question whether it’s really necessary, but much of The Favourite was filmed on location in English country houses so I presume Lanthimos was trying to create a sense of majestic spaciousness.
The Big Sleep
1946 noir with Bogie and Bacall, with a sometimes-bafflingly-complicated plot but both style and atmosphere to burn. Hadn’t seen it in quite awhile, but enjoyed it all over again.
Laurel & Hardy: Year One
A collection of shorts by the classic comedy duo. The best, I thought, was Putting Pants on Philip, with Laurel as a kilted Scotsman recently arrived in America, and Hardy as his uncle, exasperatingly trying to get him to wear pants, dammit.
Sergeant Rutledge
One of John Ford’s remarkable Westerns, about a black U.S. Cavalry trooper trying to clear his name in a court-martial for a crime he insists he didn’t commit. A bit melodramatic, and anvilicious in its message that racism is bad, but worth a look.
I Went to the Dance
An engaging 1989 documentary about the roots, significance and then-stars of Louisiana Cajun music.
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Believe it or not, I’d never seen this film before, about hardscrabble gold miners in the lawless mountains of 1925 Mexico. Not as great as the reviews, but still very good, with Bogie as a somewhat sympathetic bad guy.
Over on YouTube, Every Frame a Painting is the grand old channel of what makes a well-crafted movie, but it’s not had any new content for years. Now I appreciate Moviewise for showing what makes blocking, framing, etc. great, with counter-examples of lazy work.