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Movie Monday Free Talk
We had a couple spurts at trying to do a regular movie discussion thread in the past here, but it seems to have fizzled out and I would love to bring it back.
So Tilderinos, have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any movies that you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers as you can.
I watched Guava Island on Saturday night and really enjoyed it. Donald Glover gives an excellent performance. I am a huge fan of his music and really liked how it was incorporated into the movie. It was short, stylish, and had an excellent anti-capitalist message.
I also saw Captain Marvel on Friday night in advance of Endgame this week to make sure I was caught up. It was a fun generic Marvel movie for me. I enjoyed some of the 90s callbacks thrown with references to Blockbuster, Radio Shack, etc. The humor was about what was expected and it was a neat way of setting up Avengers. I guess my only concern was that it seems like Captain Marvel is super overpowered compared to the other heroes we have seen. Im interested to see how she fits into the broader MCU after this.
I also saw Paterson on Saturday as well (it was a nice movie weekend for me). I thought Adam Driver was great in this role. Adam plays a bus driver named Paterson who keeps a secret journal to write poems in and the movie just follows his actions over the course of a week in the town of Paterson, New Jersey. It was a nice slow burner movie and pretty anti-climatic, which worked well given its focus on poetry. I really enjoyed it.
I, too, watched Paterson this weekend. I saw it was a comedy about the banality of life and I thought it would be a good balance to watching Neighboring Sounds, which I actually picked up from a Tildes user.
Neighboring Sounds was good, but built up a lot of unrelieved tension throughout. I liked it for the “slice of life” scenes that made it feel more human, and while the plot was interesting in retrospect, it had more atmospheric danger than I expected, making it a bit of a stressor to watch.
Paterson, in retrospect, was not a great follow up for a more lighthearted comedy. All the jokes were exposed in the trailer, and the entire movie was ennui at full blast. I enjoyed the overall tone of the movie as it was a little less draining than Neighboring Sounds, but it still dragged on in a way that was necessary to the plot. Had I been in a different mood, I might have enjoyed its ponderous vibe a little more.
The other day I watched a Hungarian short film called Sing (Hungarian title: Mindenki), and enjoyed it so much I watched it again the following day. Heck, I may go back for a third round. I hadn't heard of it but was happy to learn it won all kinds of major awards world-wide. Based on a true story, it's about a children's choir and their director, who isn't as wonderful as she appears. If you can find it somewhere, check it out.
I finally saw the remake of Pet Semetary (don't try and correct me again autocorrect!) and quite enjoyed it. I usually wait a few weeks for horror movies because seeing them in a crowded theater with college kids talking all around you kind of kills any suspense.
I kind of wish that they hadn't shown in the trailers that it was the little girl that gets killed in this one, instead of Gage. It kind of killed any tension in the birthday scene since you know who is going to die.
Beyond that, it has a great sense of building dread throughout the movie. John Lithgow is great at playing the cooky old neighbor who lives next door. I also liked the sense of scale to the whole Native American burial ground. In the original movie, it was just sort of...next to the pet cemetary.
Also, I was happy that they kept the theme song from the original movie over the end credits.
Recently watched Margin Call (2011) and really liked it.
Set in the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the movie follows the stories of several employees and bosses of an investment firm in Wall Street. Facing catastrophic discoveries about the firm's fate, and being forced to make the hardest decisions of their lives - all in the span of 24 hours.
I really liked the fact that this movie is more of a character study than a financial drama movie. The whole financial crisis is secondary to the plot, and most of the focus is put on the interactions between the characters, masterfully showcasing the bureaucratic nature of the soulless firm, and the dynamics between the employees and their bosses, and their bosses' bosses.
Great acting all around, great pacing, mostly flawless screenplay. Greatly recommended!
Watched The Borderlands (2013) this weekend and i loved it! Didn't knew anything about it except that it was found footage style horror, but a little different.
Went in without expectations because found footage has been done to death, but this one was really good. The ending was intense. I can't forget it.
I've been watching a few movies for a freshman-level English class and two of them are feature-length: The Seventh Seal and You Were Never Really There.
The Seventh Seal is, well, The Seventh Seal, but I was honestly really disappointed with You Were Never Really There. It's basically a character study, but I don't feel that it really works on a feature-length film. I finished it feeling very unfulfilled. It's not that I didn't understand how the main character was thinking and feeling, it's just that I didn't think he was particularly compelling. A lot happens but it feels like he doesn't really change significantly enough.
I know a lot of people really enjoyed You Were Never Really There, and I assume it was because they got to understand a type of person they didn't know before. But my problem is that I already knew that kind of guy. Heck, I could probably say I probably was that guy for a while. The problem I have with the movie is that it's retreading old ground the same way you would if you re-watch Christmas movies every year. But Christmas movies come from happy positive places, whereas this movie is full of endless darkness.
Yeah, I thought You Were Never Really There was alright, but it definetely is a movie I have seen before many times.
I'm pretty sure Denzel Washington has played this exact character four times just himself.
I went through the Arrow commentary for Children of Men by author and critic Bryan Reesman. I have absolutely no idea how they landed on him to do the commentary track for this, but the track is great. Its got the standard technical details you'd expect, plus some fun moments where you can tell he's truly a fan of the film -- specifically where one bad dude gets hit and Reesman says 'this guy has it coming.. fucker'
Great little commentary track that is worth a listen if you happen to have this newer release kicking around, but its not worth purchasing the Arrow release for.
I have not heard of Arrow before, what is it?
Ha! That’s a way better explanation. Their commentaries are excellent and their selection / pricing is always pretty great.
Oh wow, thats sounds awesome
Arrow is another distributor who puts out a really well curated collection. There’s probably more to it —
https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/children-of-men-blu-ray/FCD1826
So, anyone got any plans to see anything that releases this weekend in particular?
I am probably going to see Avengers Endgame this coming weekend, mostly because I feel obligated to after sinking so much time into watching the rest of the movies. I was not really blown away by Infinity War, but I still want to see how they wrap things up.
As far as stuff coming down the pike, I know it sounds pretty dumb, but I am really looking forward to Pokemon Detective with Ryan Reynolds. It just looks like campy ridiculousness.
I watched Guava Island a few days ago. I felt the climax happened too soon or...the main character wasn't built well enough for me to care. But, I liked that it was mostly quiet moments and I thought it was shot well, if a bit too grainy for me.
I recently watched Missing Link, Laika's most recent stop-motion animated film. I thought it was a sweet story thought it wasn't one of Laika's stronger films. I think part of it was that it seemed to be in part to show of some of their new technology. They had an underwater scene that was incredibly impressive. All of the settings and character designs were lovely and I overall enjoyed the film.