This season is cool cool cool cool cool and nice!
My beloved Agents are finally back! It's been so long. I've missed them. And what a rollercoaster of a premiere this was! Including, but not limited to: Agents in space, discount Star Lord, Demodogs (does that make Daisy Eleven?), Jemma upping her sass to critical levels ("I figured it out using magic"), the Monolith's prettier sister, time travel (Doctor Who theme plays in the background), angry smol May walking off a literal hole in her leg, and lighting so bad that I had to lower the blinds in all the windows in my room just to be able to (barely) see what's going on. Seriously, at this point AoS' lighting department consists of one dude with a flashlight and two glowsticks. I guess that's the price we have to pay for all the insane special effects. They probably blew their whole budget on those. Still a great episode though!
Anyone who does not like this or tries to find fault in this is pure heartless.
this is a masterpiece throughout. its every frame will leave you in awe.
each of the massive number of characters is NEVER underused.
the comedy is outstanding.
and for any comic book movie lover or action lover there are moments that will be stamped in your head forever.
The doctor strange action moments truly outshine everyone (im a dr. strange fanboy but still i believe so)
Iain De Caestecker is amazing actor. All I had to say
9.5/10. There are times when I feel jaded as a viewer. When it seems like despite the breadth of films out there, that I know most of the tricks, to where while I can appreciate a film's achievements in sort of a detached way, when I can even be engaged and invested in something, it doesn't necessarily reach me in the way that movies did when I first started watching them. The scope of appreciation has widened, but the emotional resonance feels muted, because I can't help but see the strings.
And then a film like Room comes along.
And Jack sees the expanse of sky for the first time. And Joy hugs her parents after not seeing them for seven years. And Robert can't even look at his grandson. And Nancy tells her daughter that she's not the only one whose life was destroyed. And Joy tells her mother that if she hadn't been taught to be nice, she might never have gone with Nick. And there's a supreme, heartbreaking look of guilt on her face when a reporter asks if she should have given her son up while in captivity. And Jack walks in on his mother's suicide attempt. And Nancy hears her grandson say "I love you." And Jack sees a real live dog, and makes a real live friend, and cuts his hair to give his mother his strength.
And I wince and I laugh and I cry and I gasp at this beautiful, devastating, intimate, life-affirming film. This is why we make movies. I love popcorn films, with the fights and flashes and epic feel, and I love the big dramas, with their scope and their sense of grandness and the talent on display, and I love those classic film comedies that mix the absurd and the irreverent and the memorable into a single hilarious package. But the films like Room simultaneously so small and so personal, yet so powerful and affecting, have a special place. These are, as Robert Ebert once put it, the empathy machine that is film working at peak efficiency, taking us into the lives of people who have suffered and been unfathomably wronged, and carries us with them as they carve out a way forward.
I didn't know I wanted a film that feels like a cross between Oldboy, Life Is Beautiful, and Boyhood, and yet the elements Room shares with each--the sense of isolation, the loving way in which a parent tries to distract their child from a continuing tragedy, the slice-of-life, impressionistic depiction of a young boy's innocence--come together to form something absolutely tremendous.
That last facet of the film, the fact that it filters the entire experience through young Jack's eyes, is a stroke of brilliance. There's a matter of factness, a certain directness or even blitheness to the way children experience the world. Using Jack as the lens through which Room tells its story renders those events not only realer, but plainer, imbuing them with the unvarnished perception of childhood. The way the film is able to get into Jack's head, to allow the audience to view these horrors and steps to recovery through his eyes, is its greatest strength and most impressive achievement.
By the same token, Brie Larson as Joy deserves all the accolades she's received for her performance here. While still a prisoner, she carries herself with such an air of both utter resignation and quiet resolve, someone who's been beaten into submission but carries on with whatever she has left. And once she returns home, the guilt that consumes her, the anger that she has for the world that kept turning without her, are palpable in every moment without fading into overwroughtness.
The film can essentially be divided into those two halves. The first is the story of Jack and Joy in Room, of the way that Joy makes unbearable circumstances livable for her son, the way that she copes and shields Jack from the horror around him, and how Jack strains and struggles to understand the idea of the world beyond those four walls, to where he can, eventually, help the two of them escape. The second half is far less intense, but still endlessly intriguing and affecting. It's a quiet domestic story about how people recover from that sort of trauma, both Joy who feels the opposite of survivor's guilt and second guesses herself, and Jack who is exposed to a big scary world, the depth and breadth of which is entirely alien to him.
But throughout both halves, there is such a pure emotional truth in each moment, from the simple joys that Jack enjoys within the home he doesn't realize is a prison, to his anger and resistance at having that fantasy shattered, to Joy's dispirited but resolute attempts to keep him happy and healthy, to the realistic, painful difficulties parents and children face when rebuilding a family seven years after a tragedy, to the wonder and fear a small boy has for what lies beyond the garden gate, and the unmitigated joy at every step taken toward some cobbled-together normalcy. Room is a beautiful, heart-wrenching, intensely personal film, that takes an unflinching yet uplifting look at how people cope and come back from the worst that our world has to offer.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a movie that has its pride flag in the right place, but where's its heart?
A stellar cast and competent directing make this tale of a young woman sent to a Christian gay conversion camp a worthwhile watch. Like any LGBT film that escapes clichés and portrays members of the community in a favourable light, this film is easy to recommend.
That said, the story left me wanting more. More anti gay conversion therapy, more passion, more gayness, more youth, more quirkiness, more humanity, and more Sasha Lane! I'll probably re-watch this film when it's released on blu-ray, and probably still be left wanting more.
You have to be kidding me. They've been advertising this movie with Matt Damon all over the posters and trailers and TV spots. He's listed as the top billed actor. People keep talking about him in this and how great he is. I see him promoting this film everywhere.
And then he dies in like the first five minutes. So stupid. I went into this to see why everyone loves him in this movie, but he gets hit by a piece of equipment and dies before I've even taken a bite of popcorn. Maybe, I thought, he isn't quite dead. But then NASA makes a full statement and everything that he died, so it had to be true.
I was so pissed that I just got up and walked out. I'm not dealing with this crap.
This movie makes me never want to have kids. As a single 27 year old male with no kids I don't relate to this story as much as some people. It seems like a straight forward story but it is so much more than that. Charlize Theron is fantastic. She really sold the tired mother and went all out gaining 50 pounds for this role. Mackenzie Davis is also great. She is a lot of fun.
The twist when Tully is just her younger self really shocked me. I did pick up on just how similar they are and thought maybe Tully was just trying to be nice. This twist really makes the movie a whole lot better. Without it is would just be another typical mom story but to have protagonist saved by themselves is really interesting. It might be worth a rewatch to see what else I could pick up on.
Did the father have wives of 3 different asian nations, or was it just crappy casting?
Probably my favorite movie of all time. It's such a special and tragic story, gets me every time I watch it.
I could watch an entire episode (maybe even a full season) of Gina and Captain Holt having a conversation over a couple hundred chess games. Holt's trash talk was a sweet bonus that was, again, shamefully underused.
Two episodes in a row: Gina at the top of her game! They really want us to miss her...
Farewell, The Paris of People, The Human Form of The 100% Emoji, The perfect state of mind, The Gina Linetti.
Even though this probably isn't permanent, I'm still gonna miss her.
Damn, why you gotta have hopeful music with them planning their future as partners like everything is going to work out. Y'all are just mean. That episode was cruel. Brilliantly and beautifully written, but cruel nonetheless. I was mostly crying every other scene and by the end I was a total and utter mess. These characters are too close to my heart, especially Jack. To see what happened that day and how it happened was harder than I thought. And I had not one, but TWO seasons to prepare for it.
I will tell the truth: if I had not known that the story of the two main characters is taken (partly) by the story of Pawlikowski's parents (in fact the movie is dedicated to them), I would have been slightly disappointed. But knowing that, everything appears to me in a different light. It is clear from the outset that the director does a little construction of the characters: it is as if he knew them too well and had no interest in forcing descriptions and dialogues and in highlighting their personalities. This leads the viewer to witness a story of unconvincing love: platonic, but often fleeting; strong, but fragile. But there's simply no time to become attached to the two. And one can also see this in the film's duration of only 80 minutes. Passion is not an easy feeling to cultivate, and distance is a double-edged sword.
The strength of this movie is the tenderness of this love story: mystical, silky, ordered even if impossible. To lose oneself, to find oneself again, to lose oneself again and find oneself again: it's the circle of love.
The black and white technique contributes to weave the plot. One thing however needs to be noticed more than the B&W: the editing is just stunning. There are some black frames just perfectly included between two sequences, also with the sounds, giving the impression that the earliest sequence is not over yet, but it is. The moments of silence of this movie are among the best you can find in contemporary cinema.
Stalinist Poland is a background that adds mystery and difficulty, but comes out in the end in all its cruelty when the male protagonist (a pianist) is sentenced to fifteen years of forced labor that forever destroy his hands, forcing him to not play ever again (music is a strong part of the movie: Wiktor is a pianist and a composer, Zula is a wonderful singer and dancer, and they met the first time during an artistic audition).
In the end, their love is crowned, but in the only possible way: fleeing from the world and rising. The last seconds show a field crossed by the wind, a force of nature, nature that constantly fights against entropy, like the two characters.
7/10
10 for the first story line and 5 for the others.
Kudos to Ian, making the case for Bi-polar. It’s something everybody could stand to know a little more about.
its about time something actually happened this season
Way back in the year 2000, and before the MCU, the original X-Men kickstarted the superhero genre that had long since faded into medocrity. (Seriously, post 1992 Batman Returns, can you name another decent superhero movie?). And now the saga ends, and while it isn't the swansong I hoped for, it's no disaster, either. The Dark Phoenix story is improved upon after the less than good The Last Stand, there is some decent action, and most of the cast are given an opportunity to shine. It could have been better - it is slow in places, the villains are thinly drawn - but it's not the mess the critics are calling it. Of course, while this saga ends, the X-Men will return when Disney resurrect the characters, but I will still miss the actors who have embodied the characters so well in this decent, if not always successful series of films.
After being a bit let down by the first episode this one is right back on track, the Berkowitz interview was great, the sequence with Kevin was incredibly intense, had me on the edge of my seat and I just love the team working together analyzing and categorizing the criminal's mind. Wonderful episode, exactly why I love this show so much.
This film is kind of meh. I can see why it struggled in theaters. As much as I love Sam Rockwell, I wish the film focused more on the Ann Atwater character, and the black people in general. I think the director fails to provide any real context to their story and struggles.
E: It’s taxing lifestyle. A lot of factors that go into success. As I got better, I was very careful that all conditions were exactly right. This person you’re after, he has on overwhelming fantasy life. Fantasies of what he’s done, what he wants to do, how he’s going to improve. These dreams will consume him. Soon the real world won’t even compare.
B: How do we catch a fantasy, Ed?
E: You can’t. If he’s any good, you’ll never see it. He’ll live like any other person, have a relationship, hold down a job.
H: We know killers don’t have the tools to manage real life. They come from marginalized backgrounds, they break under the pressure of what they’ve done. They make mistakes.
E: It seems to me everything you know about serial killer has been gleaned from the ones who’ve been caught.
I am speechless. And so, so, so glad I went in spoiler free. It made the ride so much more fun and thrilling. I honestly don't know where to start with the brilliance of this movie. A true masterpiece. Can't believe now is my first time watching it. And it sure as hell won't be the last. Probably deserves multiple rewatches to appreciate it even more. Totally get why it's a classic and always in the top of the best films in history.
Wow, I am amazed. The movie has a great story. It is from end to end (<-- if you know what I mean ;)) well planned. The topic of short-term memory loss is serious and it has some kind of message in it. It was very exciting to watch and many passages gave me goosebumps.
What I really, really liked is:
- You had to think. Otherwise you wouldn't get along with the story.
- Everything is so confusing and jumbled. And suddenly more and more begins to make sense.
- The movie consists of just a few places where the story takes place
- The character development, especially of Natalie is amazing
- The plot is stunning
What I liked the most is:
In my opinion the movie had the effect on me that I had some kind of "short-term memory loss". There are many different scenes, placed in a "random" order, which makes you forget about what just happend or what happend at which time. You have to conceive the order of the movie. Amazing.
What a brilliant way to edit a movie and make us feel like we have short term memory loss. This holds up incredibly well and is even better with more rewatches.
"Waititi's satirical comedy manages to be one of the most thought-provoking and disarmingly tender films made on the subject."
''I'm gonna write a better album than Reputation''
screen changes to her composing ME!
I'm so sorry sweetie but that's not the way
Queen & Slim is a road movie that takes its sweet time to get where it's going but that's fine because the time is sweet and if the film wasn't in a hurry, neither was I.
Sure there were some scenes that tried too hard to be poetic and some speeches that reached far too much for meaning and these would've been better left on the cutting room floor. But in the end what mattered is that they did try, and the desire with which they strived is what gives the film its poetry and makes the movie meaningful.
One of the more beautiful aspects of Queen & Slim is that it is very much pro-black without being anti-white, anti-male or even anti-cop. They should've called it Black Book because it's the film Green Book liked to think it was, or African American Honey because its imagery of the sprawling expanse of the United States of Black America made this film the treasure it is.
As for the occasional missteps, the gorgeous soundtrack glosses over the flaws and helps deliver a film of rare raw and polish. I just hope the white privilege (myself included) filling the Parisian cinema I was at heard the message this movie was making.
The film is something close to perfect. It brings fundamental discussions and treats them with due care, but without leaving aside the combat.
