I saw Blitz on Apple TV+ earlier today. It’s by Steve McQueen, who previously directed 12 Years a Slave. Blitz was really good.
For those of you who haven’t read the story, let’s not give away the plot. I think it’s one of the best science fiction stories ever written, and I’m not in general a huge Heinlein fan. If you want to discuss it, start a thread about it. You can read it in anthologies like those in Title: "All You Zombies ..." .
I’m watching Nosferatu (2023). I’m starting to understand why the internet doesn’t want to acknowledge that this movie exists.
Huh? What do you mean?
I watched The Social Network (2010) the other night. I’d seen parts of it previously but this was my first end to end viewing. Now, if you were to look in the “Which Actor Makes You Not Want To Watch A Movie” thread (or whatever it’s called), you will note that I can’t stand to watch Jesse Eisenberg in anything … and this was no different. I suppose I enjoyed his performance in this movie a little more than in others - probably because it was a fairly early role for him - but that’s not saying much.
Mostly I came away from the movie wondering who the hell in it I’m supposed to like. Every character is soulless asshole.
An acclaimed movie I did not like one bit.
Anything by David Fincher is possibly interesting, but anything by Aaron Sorkin in definitely tedious, so I’m conflicted
Maybe Sorkin has produced mundane crap, but certainly not “everything” was crap. Sorkin was the creator of The West Wing, for which he was also showrunner, and was the head writer for the first four seasons. The series appears in many prominent lists of the best TV series of all time, like those from TIME magazine and TV Guide.
I am finding it increasingly… Adam Driver. It might be more his wooden acting, and, I can’t put my finger on it… Or the finger might be he chooses movie roles where he is weird and quirky for the sake of things and exactly the type of movie I don’t want to watch Adam Driver in it.
I think I’m in a minority for this, he seems universally acclaimed as some sort of Brando. I just see Adam Driver. It might be because his character in Girls, the tv series, annoyed me too. But that could be, again, him.
Straight to Hell. Directed by Alex Cox (Repo Man) and featuring many actors who’ve collaborated with him on other movies (Dick Rude, Sy Richardson, Jennifer Balgobin, Miguel Sandoval), starring Joe Strummer, Courtney Love, and featuring Shane MacGowan and members of the Pogues, Elvis Costello, and others. It’s kind of like a western Repo Man but not quite as coherent of a plot and no alien in a trunk. It definitely has the same kind of wierdo esthetic and humor but it’s more of an homage to Spaghetti westerns.
Midway through the movie as we’re figuring out all the actors in it, my wife wondered “Did they all get together at CBGBs and decide to make a movie or something?” then looked it up on IMDB and read that it was made after a tour was cancelled and they realized funding for a movie would be easier to get than for a concert tour.
I feel precisely the same way about Jessie Eisenberg and could only stomach half of that film because of him. Zombieland was greater than the sum of its parts though and I recommend that to people. Eisenberg’s deadpan delivery worked with Woody Harrelson and the tone of the film.
I will agree that Zombieland 1 and 2 are probably the best Eisenbert movies I’ve seen. I don’t think he is an amazing actor with wide range. He works well reacting to things like Zombieland.
It’s not released here yet, but A Real Pain is looking promising, even with Eisenberg.
Nosferatu. I’m glad I saw it on the big screen, but I think I appreciated it more than I liked it. Great cinematography and acting, it really just suffered from my being so familiar with most of the story.
ETA I did have some flashbacks to Mike Flanagan’s “Midnight Mass”, some of the imagery was very similar.
It’s not easy to find on the internet. When I did a Google search for Nosferatu 2023, most of the search results were about the 2024 version.
Link to the Wikipedia article on the 2023 version of Nosferatu.
After watching Poor Things, I watched most of Yorgos Lanthimos’s previous films and really enjoyed them, too, so when I heard he was making another film I was really looking forward to it. Then I got discouraged when I saw that the reviews were fairly mediocre and didn’t get around to watching it until last night.
I mostly agree with you. It’s creatively atmospheric, with Lanthimos’s signature unusual soundtrack to add to the eerie feel. It’s not surprising that it was the darling of film fests (although it mostly got a lot of nominations, including the Cannes Palme D’Or, but few wins) because it was a movie that clearly had high aspirations, but ultimately fell well below what it aimed for. And frankly, to my mind, the first of the three stories was virtually incomprehensible except in terms of contrived metaphorical symbolism.
If these were indeed stories that Lanthimos wanted to tell but felt that none were long enough to be made into a full-length movie, I have no problem with that. It’s the actual nature of the material that’s not entirely satisfying.
I’ll go along with “somewhat recommended”, but it might be really enjoyable for dedicated Lanthimos fans or film school buffs who know what to expect and enjoy creepy weirdness.
This doesn’t come up if I type “Nosferatu” into the Wikipedia search box. It takes extra work to find it.
The Lady Eve with Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. Stanwyck is a conwoman who falls for the rich Fonda. He rejects her when he thinks she’s conning him and so she shows up at his house with an English accent and he doesn’t realize it’s the same woman. I spent the rest of the movie wondering if Fonda is supposed to be developmentally challenged or if everyone in 1940s American audiences was just that easily amused. Slapstick in that lots of people fall down. The movie that made me see Lenin’s point.
I mean, that’s as good a summary as any. I did quite like it.