ThY---

Barbenheimer: Part 1 of 2

This is the kind of film I really don’t want to criticize, because we don’t get nearly enough other stuff like it. However, mr. Nolan has been in need of an intervention for a while now, and unfortunately all of the issues that have been plaguing his films since The Dark Knight Rises show up to some degree here. Visually it might just be his best film, and there’s some tremendous acting in here, particularly by Murphy and RDJ. However, it makes the common biopic mistake of treating its subject matter like a Wikipedia entry, thereby not focussing enough on character and perspective. As a whole, the film feels more like a long extended montage, I don’t think there are many scenes that go on for longer than 60 seconds. There’s a strong ‘and then this happened, and then this happened’ feel to it, which definitely keeps up the pace, but it refuses to stop and let an emotion or idea simmer for a while. There are moments where you get a look into Oppenheimer’s mind, but because the film wants to cover too much ground, it’s (like everything else) reduced to quick snippets. It’s the kind of approach that’d work for a 6 hour long miniseries where you can spend more time with the characters, not for a 3 hour film. I can already tell that I won’t retain much from this, in fact a lot of it is starting to blur together in my mind. There are also issues with some of the dialogue and exposition, such as moments where characters who are experts in their field talk in a way that feels dumbed down for the audience, or just straight up inauthentic. Einstein is given a couple of cheesy lines, college professors and students interact in a way that would never happen, Oppenheimer gives a lecture in what’s (according to the movie) supposed to be Dutch when it’s really German; you have to be way more careful with that when you’re making a serious drama. Finally, there are once again major issues with the sound mixing. I actually really loved the score, but occasionally it’s blaring at such a volume where it drowns out important dialogue in the mix. I’m lucky enough to have subtitles, but Nolan desperately needs to get his ears checked, or maybe he should’ve asked some advice from Benny Safdie since he’s pretty great with experimental sound mixing. My overall feelings are almost identical to the ones I had regarding Tenet; Nolan needs to rethink his approach to writing, editing and mixing. This film as a whole doesn’t work, but there are still more than a few admirable qualities to it.

Edit: I rewatched this at home to see whether my feeling would change. I still stand by what I wrote in July, though the sound mix seems to have been improved for the home media release. It sounds more balanced and I didn’t miss one line of dialogue this time around. I’m slightly raising my score because of that, but besides that I still think it’s unfocused, overedited, awkwardly staged and scripted etc.

5.5/10

Absolutely disappointing rehash of the first trilogy. Disney had a real opportunity to do something new and exciting with this ipr but resorted to rushed writing with an extremely compressed story that makes no sense and fails to make anyone care for the characters or events. Emo Kylo is an outstanding metaphor for the whole deal.

3 Thoughts After Watching ‘Disenchanted’:

1. I absolutely loved revisiting these characters — and Amy Adams nailed it once again — but this film failed them. The wicked stepmother premise was a fantastic idea, but the execution was ultimately disappointing and the plot got a little sloppy. Many things didn’t connect. (Why exactly was Giselle dying at the end???) And Dempsey’s character had a ridiculous, unnecessary arc.

2. That production value. Wow. The difference from the original film is a bit jarring. I know this was a straight-to-streaming project, but many films that go this route still feel like a cinematic experience. This felt like a mediocre episode of Once Upon a Time. It deserved better.

3. None of the music stuck. Again, in complete contrast to the original, zero songs were catchy. There was more than enough time to create a solid soundtrack.

Bonus Thought: Enchanted was a film with so much heart and humor. There were glimpses of it here, but SO much of that was missing. Super bummed fan here.

Synecdoche, New York by Charlie Kaufman is my second favourite film of all time, and it is one that deserves to be interpreted.

This movie is the directorial debut of Charlie Kaufman, who's famous for writing films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich and with this film, it's clear that he wanted audience members to be able to develop their own interpretations. He very well could have included a commentary track on his Blu-Ray, but he didn't, and I can understand why he wouldn't exactly want to explain everything.

Synecdoche, New York is a film that's built around themes. There are multiple themes in the film, but each is reincorporated enough times to show a sense of validity towards them. The biggest theme in the film is death, and from that central theme of death stems other themes and ideas that this film conveys. It's not just about death; it's also about the implications of death.

It's about dying with regret knowing that you've wasted your entire life not living.
It's about dying knowing that nobody truly understood you.
It's about dying without having finished your life's work.
It's about death coming unexpectedly and without warning.

Suffice it to say this film is a little depressing, but that's just a by-product of the unflinching honesty that Charlie Kaufman presents in his film.He very well could have sugar-coated it, but then we'd have a movie that's just disingenuous, and this movie not only wants you to be thinking about the characters, but it also wants you to be thinking about yourself.

Everyone in this movie gives a great performance, especially Phillip Seymour Hoffman (RIP). The cinematography and overall directing was outstanding and this definitely a movie I recommend.

The very best of french comedy. 25 year old and still at the top. No other movie ever managed to pile jokes on top of jokes all along without taking a break and mixing all kinds of humour.

So many mythical moments and replicas that became instant classics that it's impossible to count.

And not only that but despite being mostly a joke movie, the scenario works, the character are well built, the editing is dynamic and serves both the story and the jokes.

Julie (Tilda Swinton), her elderly mother Rosalind (Tilda Swinton) and their dog Louis (Tilda Swinton's real life dog) return to their former family home where family secrets come out. So yes, this is the Tilda Swinton cinematic universe.

The Eternal Daughter is an extremely slow gothic ghost story about the relationship between mother and daughter. The look of the hotel, the fog and the dull colors make it very atmospheric. It's beautifully shot and the story feels very personal. Tilda Swinton's dual performance is what makes this movie work she's capable of having complex emotional scenes between her two characters. The performance is very captivating but the movie is just sooo slow I was losing interest and had to rewind a couple times. The twist was totally worth it though and I didn't see it coming. It didn't quite reach the emotional heights I wished it would but it was almost there.

Chronicle took me off guard and blew me away. It is the best "found footage" movie in my opinion, more enjoyable then Cloverfield was. It is a little slow to pick up, but once you get to the point when they get their abilities it picks up. It was funny, dark, and thrilling. Some of the scenes when they are using their abilities are a lot better than most superhero films I have seen. All around it was a fun movie that I loved a lot. I highly recommend this film! Go see it!

A film that is neither entertaining nor thought-provoking. The twists are so contrived and obvious that the only surprising thing about them is that they are supposed to be twists rather than the immediately apparent facts of the plot. Aside from a few moments of visual intrigue, The Room has nothing to offer viewers.

Such a moving film. So-Ri Moon is unbelievable in this. Her performance ranks among the best I've seen for a long time. It is a very difficult watch but an essential one for anyone who likes Asian cinema, or just great films.

I'll echo another reviewer here - we need proper grown up films and I don't want to criticise one that is just that.

But for me, as a whole entity. Meh.

Murphy's acting was fine, not outstanding. Emily Blunt didn't hit the mark. RDJ was solid. The rest did well with what they had I suppose.

I didn't like the pacing and I wasn't a fan of how it sought to tell us it knew more than the viewer does.

Let me paraphrase that... Nolan works best when he nods at perhaps knowing more about characters than we do (does Bruce Wayne survive? Does the spinning top keep spinning?) and fails when he underestimates the viewer and preaches that he is superior (tenet, oppenheimer).

3 hours for all this. Not worth it.

There's no doubt why this film took home an award for cinematography at Sundance as this was shot wonderfully, if only there was a bit more depth to the narrative.

Are you a mountain or beach person?
Despite the premise of a police procedural with goofy moments of comedy, “Decision to Leave” slowly shifts toward a toxic and unconventional melodrama. Although I can see why the film has been described as Hitchcockian, Park’s direction gives an entirely new taste to what could have been a typical vintage neo-noir plot centered around a femme fatale. This time the focus is on elegant visual subtexts rather than the quirky gimmicks and plot twists one would expect from a Park Chan-wook film.

Although I need to rewatch with better subtitles to give myself a better idea, the narrative felt a little messy and self-indulgent, especially when going through the investigations and side cases. This, paired with the highly conceptual nature of the film, ended up affecting my emotional involvement in favor of the enjoyment of my cinephile brain.

I am a big fan of Park, but I wish I liked this film more. I probably would have edited it down quite a bit. I enjoyed the visual style that was portrayed early on during his investigation (sort of a Hannibal/Will Graham feel) but that went away sadly. I think there is absolutely fantastic acting and the film is truly great at parts but a bit too meandering for me ultimately. It felt like it was going to be over a few times before it finally was. I would recommend it, but somewhat cautiously.

I voted this a 7 because a 7.5 isn't allowed. I'd maybe give this an 8 sometimes. It's uneven but the sum of its parts is good.

Just like that Romeo + Juliet with Dicaprio and Claire Danes was Shakespearean dialogue set in the late 20th century, this weird little movie is film noir, set in the early 21st.

A strong, dense film noir with sharp fast dialogue that almost necessitates a viewing with subtitles. A decent story that falls a little short due to its long winded, winding, double-triple crossing narrative that, without subsequent viewings, would be hard for most to fully appreciate in one go. Different, but not entirely for the better.

very boring. not very interesting just boring, and honestly a waste of time

This was way better than Knight of Cups but not as good as Into Wonder. Malick has done his trilogy of perfume adverts - as beautiful looking as they are but lets move on now. Give the man a script.

Another gangster film by Guy Ritchie but after two amazing previous films around the same gangster world of thefts and cheats things start to be a little bit repetitive. Don't get me wrong because it is not bad at all, it was just like something at we have seen before.

I guess what made Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels different from Snatch beside being inside of the same genre and following pretty much the same line in terms of plot, was the hilarious characters that each one has. In this one the characters are also very interesting but it feels like we are seeing a mix of the other two where the brilliance of their plots, in here is not so brilliant and the plot sometimes gets a bit messy.

In RocknRolla the tone is a little darker and for me it was not so funny has the other two but still very entertaining. All of the technical aspects were once again great, Ritchie's style is still there.

About the performances I don't have to say much when there are names like Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Tom Wilkinson involved. I am not a big Gerard Butler fan but I liked to see him in here and he also provide me two of the best dance scenes that I've seen in cinema, one with Thandie Newton and the other one (even better) with Tom Hardy.

Overall, great but not so impressive because of the overused material.