This movie clearly wanted to be a HBO mini-series. It's still a good watch, just the pacing is a bit weird.
The paradigm of material being cut from a book to fit into the run time of a movie doesn't really apply here because next to nothing from it happens in the film. It bares little resemblance to the book at all and is completely shallow for it. Conservatively I'd put it at 10% of the book translated to the screen in a recognisable form.
It should be "Inspired by" rather than "Based on" however I didn't find it that inspired at all. It's unbelievable to me that Cline himself handled the screenplay, at least in part. People that love the film will be thoroughly disappointed by the book, especially the PG-13 crowd the film brought in.
The Oasis itself was done an utter disservice by portraying it as basically just a game, it was so much more than that.
Disappointing.
It became a tradition to watch this every 5th of November. By far one of the greatest films ever made, must've seen it 8 or 9 times by now, always blows my mind. If I could rate it 11, I would.
First two episodes were campy yet enjoyable. Third episode just jumped the shark...smh. so bad so very bad
absolute comedy gold, don't listen to that other guy
Besides some decent acting and nice visuals the movie was one of the worst I have ever seen. The plot doesn't make any sense and it's extremely boring.
It was weird (not in a good way) and I really hated it.
If you like movies like Vivarium or the platform, you might enjoy this one. If you don't, don't waste your time.
What an absolutely wonderful show. Beautiful, hopeful, heartbreaking. Love those kids.
Lord have mercy on my soul this was mind numbingly boring and it’s actually making what is left of my brain cells wonder how they’re campaigning for the awards categories that they are.. 2 hours of nothing. Nothing at all. Benedict for Best Actor? Sure, maybe. Best Director + Best Picture? No. Maybe I’m missing something the critics are seeing perhaps.. or perhaps not
It's not often I don't know what to say...
Wind River is a movie you just have to see. There's not much else to say.
Renner and Olsen give the performance of a lifetime in a story that is so well written, directed and shot, that it rendered me speechless.
I bow to you, Mr. Sheridan. Very well done!!!
I'm still sobbing as I write this. The film is very good but it is quite traumatic. It is a subtle meditation on grief (as symbolised by the monster) and will ring true to a lot of peoples experiences. Billed as a family film, though I fear young ones will be too scared by the monster and too upset by the subject matter. Brilliant performance from the young lead and a great script that isn't as heavy handed as it could have been.
Tries to be moody instead of actually telling a story. It came across as very slow and confusing at the start. When the guy glumly
smoked a fag in snow for a few minutes, in yet another non speaking scene, I kind of knew what I was in for. Not my cup of tea.
Leave No Trace treats us to marvellous unromanticised scenes of father and daughter, Will and Tom’s, life in the woods and this gives you a strong base to the story and to the father, daughter dynamic. Skilfully weaving into the narrative, post-traumatic-stress, unyielding family loyalty and the need for true solitude you know we are on an interesting and perhaps harrowing trip.
The deft handling of director Debra Granik in the pacing and telling of the story ensures that you are never really sure where we are heading as we troop along with the main characters and also some impressive cliché swerving is done as no character in the film is given a black hat. Everyone is doing what they think is correct for a reason and the reason makes sense – you know, real life.
There’s a documentary feel to the filming and style, and Leave No Trace is all the better for it, bringing it’s naturalistic acting to the fore even more.
Tackling such diverse topics, particularly the post-traumatic-stress parts, with subtlety and without resorting to ‘flashbacks’ or teenage histrionics is something I can only applaud and a refreshing change and restraint to this type of story. We do not need abuse and evil authorities for the trip to be engrossing and entertaining.
The cast is uniformly natural and the leads Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie having a real and honest father-daughter dynamic that in other hands may have faltered.
In the end Leave No Trace is a love story between a father and daughter were death, trauma and huge changes in their lives ultimately cannot weaken the love.
Worth a viewing but if you’re looking for Rambo or teenage ‘oh my god’ angst look elsewhere.
The Anne Frank movie we all wanted
Billed as a black comedy, this story of two stir-crazy Irish hitmen on the lam in Belgium could just as easily fall into any one of a dozen other genres. With traces of humor, suspense, romance, action and drama all stirred into the same bubbling pot, the risk is certainly there for overexertion, but the finished product doesn't fall short in any instance. The comedy is sharply witty and well-timed, the action fast-paced and fiery, the romance heartfelt but not heavy.
Colin Farrell, whose eyebrows migrate around his forehead like a pair of pitch black caterpillars on acid, works a good range of emotions out of his fairly simple leading role and cleanly manages to get us rooting for him by the time the closing scenes roll around. Upon reflection, there really isn't all that much to the story - it's predictable at worst, minimal at best - but there doesn't need to be. A perfectly efficient, enjoyable, versatile little slice of the wild life.
Mads Mikkelsen is fantastic and carries the movie. With a lesser actor this would of been bad. Still the script is a little boring until the end.
The Sisters Brothers is like a French barbecue: it tries to be authentic but gets lost in all the style.
Classic Westerns are classic because they are simple stories based on basic archetypes: good, evil, love, hate, greed, revenge... They are, essentially, retellings of Greek myths in cowboy days. And it's still possible to tap into this story-driven ethos as illustrated by films like Young Guns, Hell or High Water, or my personal favourite, Bone Tomahawk.
But there's another school of filmmaking bent on making sweeping, character-driven epics that typically end up as little more than rambling tales of which one can make neither head nor tails. Which is fine for the character but bad for the horse he's driving, because the horse usually winds up lost.
The Sisters Brothers is a beautiful film (with special mention to the wonderful score by Alexandre Desplat (The Tree of Life, The Shape of Water, Isle of Dogs...)) containing wonderful vistas and better than average performances, but the story line that insists on running out for two full hours stretches itself thin.
Slathering barbecue sauce on duck à l'orange doesn't make it Tex-Mex.
