Rate That Movie 3.5 - Don't Die Too Hard

[Chienfantome]

I have to confess that I saw Ida at the beginning of the year and barely remember it. It didn't last long with me. But it was a beautifully shot.
I still can't believe the film made more than half a million entries at the French box-office. A B&W polish drama set in the aftermath of WWII doing such a score is amazing.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Men, Women, & Children - C-

Jason Reitman re-made Crash, made it even more obvious and clumsily heavy-handed, and called it Men, Women, & Children (although the characters say the original name of the film no less than 8 times). Seriously, I've never seen a film by such an acclaimed filmmaker where you can see exactly where it's going at all times.

After a fantastic run, Reitman has struck out embarrassingly twice in one year.

One bright spot - Adam Sandler playing a human again, not a cartoon character.

[Buscemi]

I really do not understand why Paramount went wide with it, especially after the terrible limited numbers. Did Reitman's contract state that it had to go wide or something?

[Buscemi]

Fury ***/****

More or less Das Boot in a tank (with elements of The Dirty Dozen and The Iliad/The Odyssey thrown in), David Ayer's ode to the last days of World War II is a well-made affair with lots of action and strong performances from the cast. Ayer, directing his own script, gets to show off his many strengths with a big budget, such as action sequences and his ability to direct an ensemble cast. The wider scale presented here is only a plus for Ayer after having mostly directed smaller films. The highlights of the cast are Logan Lerman as Norman, a recently-assigned tank driver, Shia LaBeouf as the middleman Bible (it's funny how despite his penchant for controversy, he has no problem turning in decent performances) and Jon Bernthal as the wild animal-like Coon-Ass (even though he probably won't be considered, Bernthal deserves some Oscar love). The film is very intense in the right places and I have to give Ayer credit for having much of the film be in German rather than making it all in English (even though Brad Pitt speaking in a foreign language is somewhat jarring early on).

In short, not a masterpiece but another quality film from David Ayer.

Meanwhile, this is a film that should have very strong legs. Nearly the whole audience I saw it with loved it (a family even drove two hours to see it).

[Ron Burgundy]

nice boosh, this gets me even more excited. Im a big fan of David Ayer and ive been fairly choosy on what i see these days at the cinema, but this sounds like it would be well worth it.

[numbersix]

Showrunners - only for people who are interested in writing for TV

Bjork: Biophilia Live - only for people who are interested in Bjork

Lilting: 5/10
A quite moving tale of a young British man who tries to befriend the Chinese mother of his dead boyfriend, despite them nto being able to speak each other's languages. It's a very humane film, full of spleen. But not the kind of film that will stay with you.

The Tribe: 8/10
What a gut-punch of a movie. It's pretty much a silent film, as all the characters are deaf and speak to each other in sign language. The film deliberately does not provide subtitles and so we're to pick up what's going on from the physical performances of the cast. Which are exceptional, if not exaggerated. The story follows a teenage boy who joins a boarding school for the deaf, and gets involved in a particular group who run the place like gangsters, shaking down younger schoolmembers, mugging strangers for money and booze, etc. Our main character tries to fit in, and is initially absorbed due to his fighting spirit, but once he falls for one of the girls the "tribe" are using to prostitute out to truck drivers, he gets in the way and they turn on him. The film unflinching, and brutal. Perhaps too overwrought at times, but one could say the same about Aronofsky's films. This film is more a portrayal of teenage angst and anger. It's also one of the best-filmed movies I've seen in years, with each scene being a tricky, intricate Steadicam shot. Technically and story-wise, this is one of the bravest and most intense films I've seen in years.

[transformers2]

Fury 6/10
Jesus Christ is this film aggravating to sit through. This is by far the most disingenuous and hokey war film I've ever seen. The characters are all one-note morons (Jon Bernthal is the ignorant, dumb hick, Shia LaBeouf is the religious voice of reason, Michael Pena is the alcoholic, Logan Lerman is the goofy, jolly young solider who gets disrespected by the other members of the platoon and Brad Pitt is the fearless leader who serves as the glue for this ragtag group) that you don't give two shits about. The film then tries and fails spectacularly to generate empathy for these mannequin-esque stock characters in the most manipulative and silly ways possible. The middle-sequence in which Pit and Lerman visit with a German family only exists so Lerman's love interest (who he just met mind you) can die so he can get over his fear of war and have a purpose to gun down a shiton of Nazis in the final battle. Not to mention the final scene is so god damn stupid and unbelievable that I wanted to throw shit at the screen. I normally love David Ayer, but the script here is just unforgivably horrible.The tense and brilliantly executed battle scenes and stunningly gritty cinematography are really the only reasons this film is even somewhat tolerable. If you want to see a David Ayer film about brotherhood and sacrifice with a strong, authentic emotional backbone, stay home and watch End of Watch.

[Ron Burgundy]

hmm sounds more like you should have given that like a 3/10 Tranny. Still, i think ill watch it in a couple days.

And Six, The Tribe sounds awesome. Did you see this in cinemas?

[Chienfantome]

The Tribe was released here in Paris a couple of weeks ago, it's already left most of its theaters... It'll be hard to see but I'll try.

[transformers2]

hmm sounds more like you should have given that like a 3/10 Tranny. Still, i think ill watch it in a couple days.

I'll give you that. I focused way too much on the negative aspects in that review. The battle sequences really are fantastic and the acting is decent enough, so that's why I couldn't give it lower than a 6.

[numbersix]

hmm sounds more like you should have given that like a 3/10 Tranny. Still, i think ill watch it in a couple days.

And Six, The Tribe sounds awesome. Did you see this in cinemas?

No, I have an account with the European Film Awards, and that was one of the 50 films they have. They also have Mr. Turner and Winter Sleep, but I'll wait to see those bad boys in the cinema.

The Tribe was released here in Paris a couple of weeks ago, it's already left most of its theaters... It'll be hard to see but I'll try.

You really should. A lot of the elaborate takes rely on mid-shots so it would be great to see them in a big screen where you can read their expressions more.

[silversurfer19]

Catching up on a few movies from last weekend:

First up was The Maze Runner 6.5/10, which while a little too often fell into the teen fantasy cliches, was still an adrenaline fuelled and at times compelling movie. With it's dystopian themes running too similarly to Divergent, as we find a group of teens selected for their abilities, its becoming a little hard to distinguish from one movie to another, so thankfully the action sequences are so well edited, and some really quite frightening scenes involving creatures in the maze, we at least find something worth investing in. Especially as so little is given to the characters. We are left confused for the most part of the movie as very little is revealed about the plot (though far too much is revealed at the end of the movie as it sets up a sequel), but more importantly each character is so loosely drawn that you are left without any real empathy for them, and so when one after another is devoured by the maze, you don't really care. It's this balance that agitates me about the film. Within the maze I was on the edge of my seat, but as soon as some attempt to deliver a plot from the Lord of the Flies-esque teens that is so weighed down in convolution, tension was lost. Still, there's enough impressive sequences to probably keep me interested for another movie, and if the obviously talented actors are given a script that can be a little more streamlined, I think the potential is certainly here for future releases.

Next up was Annabelle - 3.5/10, a horror movie that missed the point of pretty much every second of The Conjuring, dropping intrigue and suspense for cheap scares. It can't even grasp the idea of the historical setting. The Conjuring lived and breathed the 1970s, with its The Exorcist styled visuals with a score to chill. This movie, a prequel to it, attempts to recreate a kind of Rosemary's Baby vibe in the 1960s, but fails on almost all levels. At times they try to weave in news stories of Charles Manson, but it's so ham handed it completely jarrs with what is essentially a movie very much in the vein of todays laborious scare films. The score does little to help, while the actors are unbearably bad. To top it off, most of the scares are in the trailer anyway, so you never really react to when they come. There is one unsettling scene with a baby, while the basement scene also keeps you on the edge of your seat, but for the most part, I'd rather just watch The Conjuring again.

Following that was TMNT - 4.5/10. This is probably a higher score than it deserves, or I even expected. I think the reviews have been slightly harsh on the film though. I mean, what was anybody really expecting from it? Yes, it's juvenile, serving those aged 8 to 12 and little either side, with woeful dialogue poor character development and terrible acting (and this is even saying something for the ever wooden Megan Fox). But wasn't that what the previous movies, and for me especially, the early 90s tv shows were all about? It's big, loud and stupid, just like I fully expected it to be. Granted, it could have been a lot lighter, I think Michael Bay seems incapable of just making this kind of movie without adding too much of a serious tone to it all, but overall, it was a zippy, fast paced action movie that never outstays its welcome. The action sequences are generally well crafted, and the visuals, while they irked some, were pretty decent too. If you just forget that actual plot and all it's overly contrived ridiculousness, it's not as bad as you may expect. Having said that, it's still not very good, and in better hands I do think that this could have been a powerful insight into this generation's teenage culture, but still, it's a big dumb action movie, and I for one found it exactly what it prescribed.

Finally, also caught Dracula: Untold - 3/10, a movie that could have been interesting, in that it explores a story within the Dracula mythology little explored, but unfortunately, like I, Frankenstein earlier this year, does little more than trample on one of the most fearsome of characters in literature while stylising it beyond belief with so much CGI that you are taken completely out of the picture. But worst of all, for a story that should be fascinating, it was a little boring. It had that been there, done it all before feel to it, with characters you care nothing for, and a tone that is so serious but uninvolving you barely find yourself holding on to the end. The emotional undertones that Gary Shore tries to breathe into the film are so flimsy, while all the hallmarks of what makes a great Dracula movie are absent. Devoid of passion and lust, the film bears to great a tie to its PG-13 rating, and with so little blood and sex on offer, there's little else to keep you interested. Thank God for Charles Dance, as without him there wouldn't be a single actor who commands the screen with any presence, as Luke Evans and Dominic Cooper seem to be lacking pretty much any charisma for roles that demand exactly that. It's a shame the movie is doing so well in the US, as that probably indicates a sequel it so scarcely deserves. If I have to see another swarm of CGI bats it will be too soon.

[Buscemi]

Dracula Untold dropped hard in the second week so it probably won't be getting a sequel (unless it's straight-to-DVD). Personally, I didn't see why there was any interest. It looked low-budget and Vlad the Impaler is not that interesting of a figure (compared to someone like Elizabeth Bathory, who has never gotten a big Hollywood movie).

On the other hand, I really want a Quincey Morris movie. He was easily the best character in Stoker's novel.

[JohnErle]

Chef - 5/10

Sorry Banks, but my opinion of this movie hasn't changed after watching the whole thing. It's nothing but a self-indulgent ego trip for Jon Favreau and a passive-aggressive attack on film critics. The main character never became likeable or sympathetic or changed his diva behaviour, he never once considered the possibility that the critic and the restaurant owner were right, and he never received enough comeuppance for being such a douche, such as screaming at his kid for not wanting to clean a disgusting oven. (After watching that truck-cleaning sequence I'll never eat at a food truck again.) Everything is handed to him far too easily, and I never believed that a restaurant review or food truck could ever go viral. And then, in the end, he gives up being his own boss and goes to work for the critic who panned him, and in two years time he'll probably get bored of cooking Cuban food, start throwing his diva tantrums all over again, and the process will begin anew.

Willow Creek - 5/10

I don't think I've ever seen such a lazy, derivative movie. It's The Blair Witch Bigfoot Project, and it mimics that infinitely superior film in every conceivable way. This is a movie that clocks in at a mere 81 minutes, yet the running time is still padded out with a 20 minute unbroken shot of the protagonists in a tent at night reacting to noises in the woods and something pushing on the walls of the tent. The lead actors are both good and make it bearable, and some of the documentary style footage of the presumably real tourist industry that caters to bigfoot hunters was interesting, but there isn't an ounce of originality in the story.

[Buscemi]

John Wick ***/****

If Robert Altman had ever directed a Charles Bronson film, this is probably what it would have looked like. Essentially taking Death Wish, combining it with The Long Goodbye and updating the setting to modern-day New York and mixing the stoicism of the lead with quirky supporting characters without overwhelming one with the other, you end up with a film that's hard not to like. Keanu Reeves, in a bit of a comeback role for him, does very well as the grief-stricken title character, a former hitman who is forced to return to killing after Russian gangsters kill his puppy while trying to get to him. What follows is a fascinating ballet of violence and a view of the New York underworld does in a way rarely seen before. The characters are more than faceless killers but characters with their own personalities and eccentricities (they are also filled by many familiar actors). Besides Reeves, other enjoyable performances include Willem Dafoe as a fellow hitman, Michael Nyquist as a crime lord who's grown to fear John from the old days and Ian McShane as a neutral underground figure who steals his few scenes. And the direction by newcomers Chad Stahelski and David Leitch (the latter was uncredited due to DGA regulations) is some of the freshest in action cinema in recent memory. I can totally see these two headed towards bigger things (if this doesn't become a franchise, I can see them getting the Jack Reacher sequel or taking over for Sam Mendes on James Bond).

One last thing: make sure to see this on IMAX if you can. Though not filmed on IMAX (anamorphic lenses were used and it is presented letterboxed in the original 2.39 aspect ratio as a result), the blow-up process really benefits this movie to where it becomes hypnotic in places (especially during the Red Circle shootout sequence). The sound mix is also very well done (this will likely get a Dolby Atmos mix on Blu-ray so you can get a similar result in your home or in a non-IMAX theatre presenting it in the Auro 11.1 format).

In short, a film that is not surprisingly getting glowing reviews and I look forward to a potential franchise.