9
votes
Midweek Movie Free Talk
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
I've been watching Kelly Reichardt movies and she is overall doing something really special I find. It's definitely an acquired taste and the only one I didn't like was her latest one, The Mastermind, which on the other hand made me understand what people probably feel about all her other movies, so I can thank it for that perspective at least. Like the barn scene, why!? It also reconfirmed my extreme utter intense seething total hatred for jazz scores. Ruins its movies every time, good fucking grief.
So anyway what she does is just very slow pace, atmosphere, vibes, slice of life, down to earth, human to human, character studies. Here's my ratings of her films.
Wendy and Lucy (2008) - 7/10
Meek's Cutoff (2010) - 7/10
Night Moves (2013) - 7/10
Certain Women (2016) - 6/10
First Cow (2019) - 8/10
Showing Up (2022) - 7/10
The Mastermind (2025) - 4/10
Reichardt’s main influence is Chantel Ackerman, who made Jeanne Dielman, a nearly four hour film where not much happens on screen. We see the main character do chores uninterrupted for long stretches of time. Lot of people love that, I have a hard that with that. It’s called slow cinema, and Reichardt is a modern staple of it.
I like Reichardt more than I like Ackerman. I’m not a slow cinema guy and Reichardt is a more digestible version of that. Her movies aren’t long, and they at least attempt to have a plot. I liked Showing Up a lot a few years ago because I think the vibes lended themselves more to that slow cinema style.
Lav Diaz is the filmmaker that is closest to like true slow cinema. One of his films is eight hours long.
To quote the father in The Mastermind, this is outside my expertise haha. I can say though that these slow movies require being in a certain state of mind and mood. Showing Up particularly was good for me mostly because unfortunately relating a lot to Michelle Williams' character in it. Not much happening is a difficult thing to tackle in film, because it has to be the right kind of not much happening, and Reichardt gets it right most of the time, which is what makes her a great filmmaker.
I made a speech-free cut of Jeanne a few years ago and it was no better or worse than the original.
I am very much a quiet cinema and slow cinema guy.
Reichardt is certainly always interesting. I am always left puzzled and a little confused afterwards. Sometimes I like it more than others. My favorite being Meek's Cutoff for how it portrays the dread of being lost in the wilderness and with an ending that subverts your usual expectations. I was okay with The Mastermind too. It is an odd take on the heist genre, as it is neither a show of competence like in Ocean's or utter comedic failure, but more like a fumbling and accidental.
Through all her films, I find an interesting look at modern masculinity that I just don't find elsewhere. Funnily enough the least from male directors.
Yes! Definitely agreed on the modern masculinity look that she has. First Cow was incredible for the way it dealt with that platonic male relationship. It's probably the best display of male friendship I've seen in a film, even including female friendships on screen, it would still be a top contender. Male directors or scriptwriters maybe are not in touch with that side of themselves? Because yeah good observation, it's funny/odd that male directors don't or can't do that.
First Cow didn't really connect with me at first, but could need a rewatch. In The Mastermind I found it refreshing how the male lead is on the surface the opposite of what society expects of him. He is not able to provide for his family, his wife fills that role. But the film doesn't ridicule or mock him either for his lack of competence. He really is just a different type of man that doesn't match the consensus expectations of him. Certain Woman allowed itself to be a bit more direct with clearly mocking specific types of men, most notably with the first story where the man refuses to listen to the genuinely good advice he gets from his female lawyer. That was really hilarious. But that movie also found common ground in all the gender conflicts, where I think the core message there was that everyone struggles with loneliness. On a related note, give Old Joy a watch too if you haven't. Another interesting depiction of male friendship and role expectations.
I watched Obsession (2025) a few days ago. Honestly, 10/10 from me, especially as someone who usually doesn't like horror movies. The movie does an amazing job at making you uncomfortable and builds tension insanely well. I actually physically tensed up as I watched the movie while in anticipation of what would happen next. I hate jumpscares but this movie has a few and really uses them well. There's one that anyone who watched the movie can attest really just makes you jump out of your seat. You fully expect it and yet it manages to come out of nowhere. Prior to watching the movie, I'd seen people's reactions after they'd watched the movie and thought they were exaggerating how stunned they were but they're really not. I watched it with two friends and we were all just lost for words after the movie.
@fuzzy you asked in another thread if this movie was more like Get Out scary or scary-scary and I wrote that I heard its more like Get Out, that was plain wrong. Its definitely scary-scary. It just makes you tense up and you just can't anticipate what might happen next.
I appreciate the warning! Though it also sounds good and interesting enough that maybe someday I'll roll the dice and give it a watch...
You can imagine my surprise going in expecting Get Out and getting something the complete opposite. I do think it's worth a watch, probably not alone but with friends. I think they do show restraint with their jump-scares and they definitely add a lot to the storytelling. The cast genuinely has great chemistry on camera, the story is interesting and you can have discussions ad nauseam about it.
Disclosure Day
I was rooting for David Koepp’s recent career renaissance. It started with his spiritual trilogy with Soderbergh. Starting with Kimi in 2022, and then going into 2025 with Presence and Black Bag. Then he wrote the script for Jurassic World: Rebirth, returning to the franchise after writing the first two Jurassic Parks. I enjoyed Rebirth a lot, more than everyone it seems. I think it was a simple and effective script for a fun summer blockbuster.
This is the opposite of Rebirth. Instead of being simple, Koepp is trying to be deep and philosophical and is writing something important. The movie tackles themes of, the media, the deep state, religion/faith, and trauma. Without really developing any of them well.
It’s nonsensical. Like, actually, none of it makes any sense. There’s no cohesion. It’s so long. And it suddenly ends. It felt like an M Night Shyamalan film.
But the set pieces are good. Spielberg does some incredible work, there’s an insane oner here. And that kept me entertained. And that stuff is strong enough for me not to penalize the film too much for everything else. Also Wyatt Russell is the only one that gives a performance like an actual person as opposed to a character in a movie.
Ruimy released a mid-year critic poll
And it made me go: “shit this is a really bad year.”
The only film’s I’ve enjoyed above a “yeah that was good” have been The Drama and Send Help. Everything else has just fallen flat for me. Save me, Christopher Nolan, if you can hear me, save me.
2022 was similar where the first half of the year (the first 9 months really) were extraordinarily weak but the last three months gave us a lot of good stuff like TAR, The Banshees of Inisherin, Amsterdam, Babylon, The Menu, The Fabelmans, Avatar: The Way of Water, Glass Onion, Aftersun, and also stuff like Terrifier 2 and The Wonder.
So here’s hoping Tom Ford can deliver with Cry To Heaven.