Last Movie Watched Thread

Ooops - I have, over Xmas. I didn't even realise. He must've been the old, old man who wanted a gun ... 

I always have a complicated relationship with the Coen Brothers. Usually I love their films, but I also blame them for having huge success with Fargo and making everyone think that someone from Minnesota has that folksy, Scando-American accent. 

I should watch Blood Simple at some point. It's looks like a nice neo-noir black comedy. 

It's definitely got the most realistic reaction to getting kicked in the nuts I've ever seen on film. The climax is beautifully shot.

Those two things are unrelated but I couldn't resist.

Maniac (2013)- I'd been meaning to get around to seeing this at some point. I can't say I "liked" it any meaningful sense of that term, but it was very well made. I loved the cinematography and the seedy L.A. locations. It's a brutal, disturbing film that leaves you asking "why did I watch this?". But on the level of craft, it was very well done.

Predestination (2014)- If you like your time travel stories twisty as all get out, you'll enjoy this one. I thought it was maybe too enamored with its own cleverness, but what really makes it worth watching are the performances of the two leads, Ethan Hawke and especially Sarah Snook. Watching those two actors bounce off of each other draws you in immediately and makes watching the movie completely riveting.

12 Years A Slave. This brought to mind the Chris Rock line* about how it's not that black people have made progress - it's that white people are waaay less crazy nowadays. Well, perhaps not waaay less, but some.

Very good, very powerful, with some scenes that were as hard to watch as anything I've seen. I liked not only the dialogue, but the body language and posture of some of the actors - the past being a different country, and all that. As well as a nice little cameo from Mad Men's Sal, it contained one of the greatest sights modern cinema has to offer - that of Paul Dano being smashed into the ground.

*Not sure where I read this quote; apologies for the lack of attribution if it was anyone here.

Edge of Tomorrow: Pretty good! Third act was weaker, but still a very entertaining movie overall. Funny, exciting, and a cool concept.

Calvary: A really fantastic handling of its subject matter. Brendan Gleeson was superb.

Still Alice: Julianne Moore's performance (still prefer Pike or Cotillard, but Moore was great) anchored the movie, which had its flaws, but was undeniably moving.

How could you not love that ending? I APPLAUDED. Honest to god, I applauded a goddamn movie screen. That's how great it was.

Before Sunrise(1995) Finally started in on this trilogy and getting some required viewing out of the way. I liked it a lot, Linklater is great with using movies to show the mundane and then give them meaning. It is like when Jessie is talking about his cable access show idea, and that it is about the poetry of the life, as pretentious as this will sound, that fits perfectly for Before Sunrise. Linklater is able to seem like he is documenting moments of real life, but still keep that sensation of being a cinematic production there. It also helps that I identified with Jessie very well....... albeit it was mostly his negative aspects, DAMNIT LINKLATER! If the Matt Review-O meter had to make a choice of which film to curbstomp in an elevator, it would spare BF and curbstomp Drive(2011) into oblivion. Cary Mulligan and Ryan Gosling have nothing on Hawke and Delpy.

Yup, all the time! It's pretty damn awesome. 

Watched Stonehearst Asylum last night. An engrossing bit of fluff, helped along by somehow having Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, and Brendan Gleeson.

I saw these last week or so, but I forgot to mention them.

Beloved Sisters
I enjoyed this a fair amount more than I expected. The three leads were really solid and had great chemistry, which was unfortunately not capitalized on enough. I felt like they could take it in a much more interesting and smutty place, but it's mostly subdued.
3/4

Two Days, One Night
Powerful performance. My stomach was in knots during the film, it was not quite because of sadness, but just extremely moving and empathetic. I don't know that there is much of a film beyond the performance, but Marion Cotillard is enough.
3 or 4/4 (haven't decided yet)

A Most Violent Year
Based on the hype, I found this disappointing. It's such a slight film. Almost nothing happens, and the characters barely exist. The performances are fine for what they are, but considering how much I had heard about Jessica Chastain in this film, I thought she'd actually make up a good portion of it. Everyone felt like a supporting character. Weird film. Also, the film takes place over the time period of one month, so I also found the title a bit confusing.
2/4

Duke of Burgundy
This was...ok. SLIGHT SPOILERS The premise of the film is about a lesbian couple in a dom/sub relationship with the sub being way more into it than the dom, and also dictating what the dom will do to her. The dom is uncomfortable with it all, and it makes you question why they are in a relationship at all when they seem so sexually unhappy. END OF SLIGHT SPOILERS The premise is interesting enough for just being atypical, but it was pretty rote after that. The same situation repeats over and over again, and I felt like I wasn't getting any new perspective on it, just more examples. Also, the leads have very little chemistry with each other. If I'm supposed to assume they love each other even though they aren't totally satisfied, that didn't come across.
2/4

Jackie Chan's Project A, another film with him, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. A lot more action than in Wheels on Meals, this one starts to get really crazy. There's one part where Jackie hangs off of a clocktower and then drops two stories, through a couple of canopies, and onto the dirt. He lands on like, his back/neck it looks so brutal, and then in the credits they show a different version of it from the bloopers. Why the hell would anyone want to do that more than once? Apparently Jackie Chan directed this one and the action is clear and better than anything made today and all that, but I think perhaps you get a bit more flair from a Sammo Hung picture in the non-combat scenes. Regardless, still a great movie. I think there's only one more movie with all three of them, which is kinda sad, they have such great chemistry.

We're doing the Blu-ray at my office. It'll be a good'n!

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