Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Discuss past, present, and future releases. This is the place for news, reviews, and your 'best' lists.

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Buscemi2
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

Vortex 2/10

How could a film from the director of Irreversible and Enter the Void be so...well, boring? Gaspar Noe's attempt at doing a film like Amour or The Father is overlong and more interested in style than telling a story, which ends up feeling as if Alfonso Cuaron tried to ape Brian De Palma but failed to understand the director. When you see the director and the title, you are led to believe that you're in for a nightmarish experience. The only nightmare is that you start to think that the film will never end. The only friend this film has is padding and there's a lot of it, bringing to mind Vincent Canby's comments on Heaven's Gate being a forced four-hour tour of one's living room. Thankfully, this isn't four hours but it feels like it.

There is the novelty of Dario Argento acting in this one but you're better off watching one of his good directorial efforts. Or one of Noe's better films. Or just about anything, as this is the biggest disappointment so far this year.
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numbersix
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by numbersix »

My Cannes viewings

God's Creatures: 5/10
Drab Irish drama about a mother who has to lie to protect her son, who has just come home front a stint in Australia. Despite the A24 tag and Anna Rose Holmer directing, it's actually a little dull and predictable, despite the decent cast.

Enys Man: 4/10
Mark Jenkin's follow up to the sleeped hit Bait is a disappointment. Set on an island, a woman logs the development of a strange flower, only for her sanity to collapse - or are strange things happening? It's a structureless exploration of mood and style, and while some of that is good, it doesn't quite justify the endless repetition.

The Five Devils: 6/10
A wildly imaginative sophomore effort by Lea Mysius is a difficult one to describe. A little girl develops a bizarre ability that allows her to look back in time and explore the nature of her troubled parents and aunt, who has recently returned. Not quite horror, not quite drama, it's a dark magical realist take on a story of lost love, and while it doesn't all come together, it's still impressive.

Holy Spider: 7/10
Ali Abbassi's latest is almost the opposite of Borders. It's grounded, gritty, and nasty. It's the story of a serial killer in an Iranian city who is "cleansing" the world by murdering prostitutes. A female journalist decides to investigate, and learns that many of the city's residents actually support the killer's mission. Oh, and it's a true story. It's a horrid, violent, and disturbing film about religious extremism in Iran, with an interesting double-focus on journalist and killer.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Crimes of the Future 9/10

Cronenberg's first film in eight years is also his best in fifteen. An atmospheric nightmare of surgery in the future, this one is a true return to the body horror elements we've come to associate Cronenberg with, with lots of strange imagery and a concept that enthralls as well as one that keeps you thinking not just about its plot points, but on society as well. It also serves as a commentary on art and does with other recent films have failed to do, focusing more on substance while others are more about style. In a way, you could say that the message is "pain is art" while many similar recent films believe that "art is pain".

When other recent comebacks haven't been worth the wait, this one is.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by BanksIsDaFuture »

Hey yall!

Just popping in to say RRR is the best movie I've seen this year and maybe of the past few years.

Everything Everywhere All At Once being a (somewhat) close second.

Turning Red, Kimi, I Want You Back, and the Chip & Dale movie were also good.

Everything else has been meh (Scream/Deep Water) to absolutely awful (Men/pretty much anything that went straight to Netflix).

Ok bye!
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Chienfantome »

Banks ! Glad to hear from you man ! And I agree with you about RRR. That's the most exciting film I've seen in ages. Pure cinematic blast.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by transformers2 »

Great to hear from you Banks. I really need to get around to RRR one of these days. It sounds like a strange, singular film and seemingly everybody that's seen it has been blown away by it.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Screen203 »

Banks! :D

Long time no see!

I still need to see RRR. All the buzz around it has made me really curious about it.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Hit the Road 8/10

Simple but effective drama about a family on a road trip going what the audience is led to believe is the older brother's wedding but turns out to be a secret kept from the younger brother. Along the way, the family learns that behind all the lies, they must stick together. The film is well-made, with all emphasis on story and some funny moments peppered in with the drama. It's not the best Iranian film released this year (that would be A Hero) but it's very solid.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Top Gun: Maverick

Very well made, but not really for me. I didn't grow up on Top Gun, and I really didn't have any interest in this until all the hype built up around it. The first two acts were rather slow, and I didn't really have any investment in anything until the mission began. The flying is very impressive, and the acting is good across the board. Also, the soundtrack (partially composed by Lady Gaga - who does the great ending song) is very well done. I just didn't have a ton of investment in most of the film. I think most others will enjoy it much more than I did (and it seems that they have).

Personally, I would give it a 6 out of 10 in terms of my enjoyment- but the merits of the movie probably raise it to a 7.

Jurassic World: Dominion

I didn't think it was that bad. Yes, it dosen't make any sense if you think about it for more than a few seconds (the gaps in logic begin with there being only 37 deaths from dinosaurs - which would probably be an borderline-apocalyptic event at best - per year, and just get worse from there) but for me that's part of the entertainment value :). I didn't really think there was as much of a lack of dinosaurs as many have said, but I didn't think they implemented the cliffhanger of Fallen Kingdom as well as they could have (for example, I don't remember seeing the heavily advertised scene of the T-rex at the drive-in, though it's possible I missed it if it was after the credits, and it might have been during the news report towards the beginning). The acting is serviceable, though you can tell everyone knows this won't be an Oscar-winning affair. The special effects are as great as ever, as well. However, the suspense of the original (and even the original Jurassic World) is completely gone, with the exception of one or two scenes - most of the movie is one ridiculously over-the-top set piece to the next. Basically, if you enjoyed Fallen Kingdom, you will like this. If not, you will HATE it - it makes that one look completely grounded in reality.

7 out of 10

Also, the IMAX presentation was the best I have ever seen, at least in terms of the sound design. The scene towards the end where Laura Dern and Bryce Dallas Howard's characters attempt to reset the electricity in particular. The buzzing of the locusts was immersive in a way I've never seen before.

For those who saw it in other Premium Large Formats, how was the presentation?
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Jurassic World in Dolby was pretty cool. The sound design wasn't impressive enough to be a top tier experience in that format, but the impact of the visceral audio setup was definitely felt throughout (particularly in the Malta sequence).
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Jerry & Marge Go Large 3/10

Mathematics and Statistics for Boomers might have worked better as a 20 minute documentary you could watch on YouTube than as a feature. Bryan Cranston tries his hardest to make this idea work but his charms alone cannot raise this above mediocrity. Annette Bening is given very little to do as the wife while Rainn Wilson's attempts at comic relief don't add much to the proceedings. I might have given this a 4 solely for its middle-of-the-road factor but the fatal flaw lies in a ridiculous subplot involving a second group of Harvard students doing the exact same thing as Cranston's character's group. Sure, it might have happened but the subplot feels like padding designed to pander to the target audience.

In the end, you can see why Paramount decided this wasn't worth the investment of a wide theatrical release. It's very bland and forgettable.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Lightyear 4/10

The most pedestrian and forgettable film Pixar has made to date. It what feels a lot like an apology to those (mainly conservatives and angry people with Internet access) that didn't like Turning Red, this spinoff of Toy Story is more interested in referencing every big sci-fi movie released before the original Toy Story than coming up with a story of its own, leading the end result to feel like a lesser Star Trek sequel than anything. There is nothing exciting or new to the proceedings, with little to suggest that is Pixar at their A, or even B, game. It's more or less an excuse to milk money for Disney. And I can't buy the idea that this would have been Andy's favorite movie, as this is the kind of movie that had I, a kid in 1995, would have probably been bored by, and I'm sure others would have agreed. And didn't Captain Marvel already do the whole "modern interpretation of a 1995 blockbuster" idea?

I gave the film a 4 solely on Sox, who should have been the movie instead of Buzz Lightyear but not really Buzz Lightyear. But anyway, it might be time to retire the Toy Story franchise. Watch Galaxy Quest instead, which does the referencing Star Trek concept a lot better, and with the original Buzz Lightyear to boot.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe 3/10

A misfire in every way possible. This sequel to Beavis and Butt-head Do America is unnecessary and more or less feels like an episode of the show stretched out to feature-length, as the whole thing feels like a bunch of unused episode ideas strung together to create a film when it's not copying elements of Do America. Also, a lot of the topical humor just doesn't work when you have your characters depicting a wish-fulfillment fantasy. There might have been some humor had Judge (strangely not directing this time) and company come to the realization that Beavis and Butt-head are not characters that could work in 2022 and made them the joke instead of the world they've entered. But instead, it turns out to be another one of Judge's "everyone sucks but me" rants he's been spouting off since 2006.

This is the first of a new series (that seems to have considered the previous revival as an alternate continuity, as Season 5 is never referenced here) but I'll be ignoring that series. Some things are best left in the past.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The Phantom of the Open 8/10

Charming comedy based on a true story with Mark Rylance as a crane operator who, bored with his life, decides to do something big. One night, he has an epiphany when he accidentally steps on his TV remote and decides to enter the British Open. Once there, he has the worst round of golf in history and soon becomes a folk hero. Rylance, who doesn't do much comedy, proves adept as the leading man, making for a likeable underdog while not overplaying the role. Sally Hawkins is solid as usual and Paddington 2 co-writer Simon Farnaby, adapting a biography he co-wrote, keeps things interesting by mixing humor with the sports elements with his screenplay. In a way, the tone and the premise of an underdog taking on the system reminded me a lot of another recent UK comedy based on actual events, The Duke. I probably liked that one more but this also a strong comedy with a lot of feel-good elements.

I'm now going to have to find a copy of the book to see what the movie left out and how they differ. I'm sure it's equally as entertaining.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Playground 9/10

Possibly the most traumatizing film of the year focusing on a young girl who is co-dependent on her older brother having to learn the schoolyard rules after she is separated from him as she begins her education. While an American film would make such a premise a disposable comedy that you forget in five minutes so to appeal to studio executives and parents who get offended by everything that doesn't fit their narrow-minded ideals, this is a sobering character study that makes you think about your own elementary school or country-based equivalent life and how you were thrown into the fold unprepared to survive as many people are only there to get paid or go on a power trip don't care about your well-being. The game is survival and a lot of kids can't go at it alone. The film is short and simple but is extremely effective and realistic and will be hard to forget any time soon.
It's like what Lenin said...I am the walrus.

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