Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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

Post by Chienfantome »

numbersix wrote:Not nuttier but the strangest cinema experience I had was watching The Conjuring 2 in a massive cinema when I was completely alone, freaking out because the event it was based on, the Enfeld hauntings, is not too far from where I lived.
That's a good one too, yes.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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I have so many stories about my experiences in a film theater, I used to write a blog about it.

I should definitely go find my best.

Off the top of my head, I'd say there was this guy in a particular cinema in Paris, the largest cinema, often when watching comedies I used to hear his laughter, a strange, creepy laugh that sounded like a mix between a hyena and a witch that always got people reacting and looking for the guy who laughs like that. I only heard his laughter, couldn't figure out where it came from. Took me months to finally spot the guy, a very weird looking bald dude with thick glasses and tons of bags with lots of stuff in it with him.
When I finally spotted him, everytime I saw him from then on, I was fearing he would sit next, or at least close to me. But this guy is sort of a freak about where he sits, and I now often notice how he can change seats several times before the film starts to find the seat he wants. Once he sitted next to me and I was kinda devastated, but at the the last minute before the film started, he changed seats. I remember once, he changed seats so many times, and the cinema was getting crowdier and crowdier, and in the end, he realized there was only the first row left and he was pissed.
I nicknamed him La Hyène (the hyena in French), because of his laugh, and still see him at least once every couple of month in that cinema.
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transformers2
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Definitely not on the level of W's legitimately horrifying story, but here it goes...

When I saw Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, a British guy in his late 40's/early 50's stood up, threw his hands in the air, said something like "This is ridiculous! She's been eating popcorn for over an hour!" in reference to an elderly lady behind him then proceeded to move to the very front of the theater where nobody else was sitting.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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I've already told the story about the two groups of people in my row getting into it when I saw High Life but I must say, the Times Square movie theatre experience is one to cherish. Much like the grindhouse experience of old but cleaner and the seats are assigned.

I also found that in New York, they don't have a problem with you bringing things in. Tourists could bring in their luggage, homeless people would bring in their bindles, I had a pre-release copy of the Caddyshack book that I found for a dollar in Union Square on me. I'm planning on going to the TCM Festival next year (hoping to save $2,000 by April, the passes aren't cheap) and thinking of what I'll need to have in my suggested tote bag (snacks, caffeinated diet soda, leftover pizza, portable Blu-ray player while I wait in line for tickets, probably a few Cinefile Video rentals). Not sure if I'll bring a Half Price Books bag or buy one from Amoeba or Cinefile (I've had my eye on the Agnes Varda tote bag).
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The Nightingale 3/10

Boring rape revenge saga that ranges from excessive to pointless. Running well over two hours, most of the run time seems to be filled with flat characters you can't sympathize with killing people or being massively racist. I even dozed off at times because so little happens in such a long length. Worst of all, there's really no payoff. The film just exists.

The final result wants to be True Grit in Tasmania but ends up being an artsier I Spit on Your Grave.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The Peanut Butter Falcon

Is there something I'm missing with this film? I don't get the praise it's received. While the intent of the film is definitely in the right place, and featuring a lead actor with special needs is admirable (as well as great work from Dakota Johnson - though her character has little depth, Shia LaBeouf - despite/maybe because of his PR/personal issues, he disappears into his outlaw-with-a-heart-of-gold character, and a small role from unknown Wayne Dehart as the devoutly religious Blind Jasper John) the film is very unrealistic and cliche (It was pretty obvious from the beginning of the film that the wrestling camp wasn't going to be still active, and I would think the nursing home would have to search for Eleanor at some point.) The audience doesn't get much background on most of the characters, and some of the more interesting ones (such as the aforementioned John) don't get enough screen time. The cinematography isn't as striking as some are making it out to be, although the scenes on the ocean are beautiful, the rest of the film is ugly and dull. It's not a bad film, and the premise and characters could have made something special if the film gave them justice.

5 out of 10
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Luce 8/10

Compelling mystery with Kelvin Harrison Jr. being a very convincing sociopath. The film shows its obvious stage influence by being a slow burn and allowing the audience to play along with the mystery of who is really at fault: Luce, Harriet, or a completely different person altogether. The film also has some of Naomi Watts' best work in a while. The film's racial politics probably make this a hard sell for a mainstream audience but it's definitely more interesting and thought-provoking than most of today's thrillers.
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numbersix
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Big Review Time!

The Whistlers: 5/10

Romanaian thriller about a dirty cop who infiltrates a Spanish gang and learns their language of whistling. There's lots of noir-esque double crossing and twists, but it's a pretty cold film.

Little Joe: 5/10
This attempts to be Yorgos Lanthimos remaking Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, centred around a botanist who is trying to create a plant that will help calm people down, only to suspect they are taking over her son's mind. It's a clinical film whose wit is never really fully utilised, and its genre aspects wasted.

Pain and Glory: 6.10
Almodovar has always been personal, but this is probably his most personal, in a film dealing with a frustrated film-maker who reunited with an actor he fell out with many years ago. We also see flashbacks of the director's youth, and his first sexual experience. Almodovar doesn't quite tie everything together, but Antonia Banderas is on top form, and there are enough good scenes to make this one of the director's better films of late.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: 7/10
Now we're cooking. This film by Celine Sciamma isn't as urgent or important as her previous film Girlhood, but it's so damn well made. It's a period story about a female painter who is tasked with making a portrait of an aloof, difficult young lady before she gets married off. But the two fall for each other. Sciamma's writing is superb, balancing the anticipation and getting incredible performances. Just about every aspect (besides the very last scene) is done perfectly.

A White, White Day: 6/10
Surprisingly strong Icelandic drama about a retired cop who suspects his recenlty deceased wife was having and affair. This is less about the detecting and more about masculinity coming undone as he refuses to grieve. There are some incredible scenes as his repressed feelings explode, particularly one sequence in the police station he often frequents. And the actress who plays his young grand-daughter is excellent, appearing totally unnatural and comfortable in her role as the only positive element in the old man's life.

Beanpole: 6/10
A tough watch, but a strong one. Set just after WWII, two young women try to rebuild their lives, with a tragedy of a lost child uniting them. It's a slow, long, dreary film, but there's enough of a plot (involving emotional blackmail) to ensure it doesn't drift from your attention.

It: Chapter 2: 5/10
I had hopes this would improve of the silliness of the first film, making the scares more "adult"to match the grown-up characters. But it's actually the weaker of the two. It's just so long, and the sequences are so slow. And repetitive, as each character gets flashbacks with scares, then present scares, then more individual scares in the middle of the film's hour-long climax. Ancillary characters are thrown in but not dealt with properly, giving the film a very rushed feeling. There's a great film in here somewhere, but this is far from it.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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It: Chapter Two 3/10

Overlong and fan-servicey adaptation of the second half of Stephen King's story that seems to say more "hey, remember this moment from the first half?" and less "let's finally tell the clown to cram it". The number of flashbacks are ridiculous and only seem to serve more to pad the run time than tell the story. The TV version of the second half, as campy as it was, did a better job of telling the story in half the time and gave you a better insight of the characters. Here, they just ramp up the cliches (And why is that people find Richie a funny character? His shtick got old fast for me.) and make the characters as flat as possible. Also, I really don't get why they recast Jaeden Lieberher with the kid from Knives Out. Did Lieberher get too tall or something?

Lastly, Xavier Dolan still cannot act.
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numbersix
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Did not realise that was Dolan. Crazy!

And yeah, the TV series, however dated it feels now, was still better.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Buscemi2 wrote:I really don't get why they recast Jaeden Lieberher with the kid from Knives Out. Did Lieberher get too tall or something?
Ahh they didn't.... he just changed his stage name to Jaeden Martell.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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I could have sworn they were different actors. The scenes with young Bill in Chapter One didn't seem to match Chapter Two.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Hustlers

While much of the Oscar buzz around this film is due to Jennifer Lopez (and she is amazing in this), but I think the screenplay is just as impressive. Director Lorene Scafaria turns what could have been a sleazy exploitation film (although some might say the film glorifies sex work and eventually drugging/stealing from their clients, although they arguably deserve it, the film shows the negative side of both) into a compelling narrative with complex characters. Although it feels like the first 30 minutes seemed to be the "required" amount of titillation, it dosen't linger on their bodies as much as some would want, and it's treated as a job like any other. I don't get why it's being called/marketed as a comedy - there are comedic parts, but the movie is quite bittersweet throughout.

9 out of 10
It's not destroying. It's making something new.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Ad Astra 9/10

The closest any filmmaker has come to emulating 2001: A Space Odyssey. James Gray creates the anti-Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster, focusing on atmosphere and heart rather than action (outside of the scenes with the space pirates and the baboon). The experience is some of the trippiest imagery and mind-blowing set pieces I've seen in a film in a long time and Gray rather than going with a typical sci-fi story, expands the horizons by going beyond what we've seen and showing what could happen if we colonized space (in short: we'd just mold it like we did Earth).

Much better than Interstellar and way superior than Gravity but it will more than likely divide audiences.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice 9/10

How was I not more aware of Ronstadt's immense talents? Before this, I only really knew her for some of her pop hits and the time she was on The Simpsons. But for someone to have so much success in multiple genres (folk, country, pop, New Wave, Broadway, Latin) and have such a big place in music history (for example, she inadvertently had a hand in the creation of The Eagles), that makes you absolutely admire Ronstadt. The documentary serves as both a celebration of her career and how Parkinson's disease can take a lot of that away but that the legend can live on. The documentary reminded me a lot of Pavarotti, where you go in not being entirely aware of someone's impact but grow to absolutely appreciate their body of work and importance in music.

Now which album of hers should I start with?
It's like what Lenin said...I am the walrus.

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