One could edit this movie into 30 minutes of Daniel Radcliffe just skulking about and looking sad/scared.
Ah, now this one you didn’t expect, I bet! I watched this movie because I will be tackling the play in a big local production next year. I don’t know what role I will be playing yet, we just had the first read on Friday. I hope I get the role of Robert.
It’s a weird tragic comedy about people competing in a gruellingly long dance competition. (I checked, the longest one is 129 hours, but this one goes on for weeks). With that peculiar setting, you really have the chance to show the absurdity of the situation and why all the characters are doing it. They’re all doing it for the money of course, because it is set during the economic setback following the crash of Wall Street in 1929. It’s humor is dark, but witty. It sets down how capitalism can really ruin people’s spirits and what it forces them to do to survive. Of course, it’s all part of the initial problem. Instead of a way out of misery, it just pushes them further into it. I think it’s a great allegory for people fighting to survive, so they can finally start living, only to have their hard struggle be for naught.
Still holds the record for highest number of Oscar nominations (9), but only winning one (Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Gig Young). I recommend watching it, it’s something you haven’t seen before and very enjoyable to see how people from that time deal with the problems of society.
I must have watched this once when I was a kid, because it felt really familiar. That may also have been because I’ve been on a bit of a James Cameron ride lately, having just seen both Terminators and Aliens. This movie is so, so much fun. Cameron pushes the genre of action comedy into something that is otherworldly and yet, is so believable at the same time. If you 90s action movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger and want to see something different, watch this. They put a horse in a fricking elevator, for crying out loud! Jamie Lee Curtis is great in this too and it’s always fun to see Bill Paxton (Man, I miss him). It doesn’t quite deliver on every plot line it goes for, but that’s not why you want to watch this movie. Just, amazing old fun and well done!
Ever since I found the story of It, I've been drawn to its story and concept. It features stuff from your worst nightmares, a scary clown, creepy crawlers, hideous monsters. And yet, it is not the stuff on the surface that scares you most, it is the absolute manifestation of your emotional fears. Crap that you have buried under layer upon layer of mental walls, making it disappear from your mind and thoughts. Until it is uncovered again.
This film embodies this. Takes a shovel and digs its way into your fears. This is what happens when you let a director loose who wants to do the source material justice. Not only for the fans, but because it is such a clear representation of what deep, emotional fear can be like. And when the shovel stops working, it takes a pickaxe. Then a drill. Then dynamite.
Skarsård has been compared to Heath Ledger wearing his role. And they're not wrong, the comparison is spot on. He lives and breathes Pennywise. If not for that brilliant casting, the movie would have falled flat for sure. And it's not only the clown that's been handed to capable hands, the rest of the losers are all one by one perfect in their adult rules. This is beautiful film making in a genre that has gone mostly unnoticed by talent. It's a great movie to end this decade of excellent horror movies.
It's not only scary, it's sweet too. Banding together with your friends to beat the demons of your past, together. It gave me the greatest sense of nostalgia for them, the characters and their lives in Derry.
I loved this movie and it's one of my favourite of the year and one of my favourite King adaptations. I would like some more, please.
I can best describe that this movie is shot like a moving photograph, combined with the tight ratio, it gives a really compressing view on the bleak, saddingely real life this family is leading. Their lack of empathy reflects how society feels about these kind of people, making it even harder for them to ever get out of this vicious cycle. This is their life, that's how it was then, that''s how it is now and that's how it will be. A forever unchanging line that does not waver.
"Monster? We're British, you know."
A tightly filmed, claustrophobically set, dialogue-brilliant, well done make-up, blessed with several good actors cult-classic adaptation of "Who Goes There?". It's not good enough to have won any awards, but it has certainly set the example for any future movies in the same genre.
It's not perfect, but it doesn't need to be. Bumblebee absolutely steels the show, his animation is the best anthropomorphization I've seen since WALL-E. The dialogue and pacing are the only detailed things that are lacking. Besides that this is a must see that even brought a tear or two to my eyes.
You couldn't have a more simple setting, but the movie is laden with characters that don't bore. "Life is messy", but this movie guides the rollercoaster that it is along the tracks very nicely. Martin is a bit too out there in some scenes for me, but the whole cast ties it together perfectly for me.
Ari Aster is the master of horror. Not only does he know how to make a bright spring day feel haunted and creepy, he's an expert at bending space and time for his transitions. It will be a while before something catches me off guard like this movie did.
Fun, but pointless. C'mon guys we're 5 episodes in and you don't even talk about the main problem? Stop with the fillers, it's season 1 for crying out loud, give us context please. I want to know where Baby Yoda comes from and then you even remove him from the sideplot as well just urgh. At least Amy Sedaris was a fun addition.
This one is firmed deeply into the following category, for me: "Things that have changed my life."
Best kind of Star Wars I've seen in a long time! Finally, the middle of the season was a bit wobbly, but they delivered!
I can put this into the same category as Heat. A movie I’ve watched before, but not paid a lot of attention to. Boy, am I glad that I did now. Sitting close to 3 hours, it did not feel that long at all. The critics are right in saying that this is one of the best movies ever made. Not only is it excellently cast, the writing is fantastic, the tone, the colours, the camera work.... It’s one of those movies where the production story is just as enticing as the movie itself. Brando, Pacino, Duvall,... there’s so many actors to name that are brilliant in this.
It takes a bit of legwork from your brain to stay on top of everyone and all the storylines that are going on, but if you do and you’re with it, it’s fantastic. It’s organic, it’s real, it’s like you can reach into your screen and actually touch these people. It’s almost like a documentary, it’s that life-like. To edit a baptism with an array of murders at the end, is two-fold. Michael’s godson being baptized is secondary to his own baptism as the new Don of the family. It’s just perfect.
Ah yes, last year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture. Had not gotten around to watch it yet, because I was a bit afraid that I wouldn’t like it. The first half I was still being sceptical, but around the midway point in this movie, as the friendship between Tony (Viggo Mortenson) and Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali, deservedly winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor) takes a turn into deeper and personal emotions, this movie becomes something more. It’s really something special, and all it took is some excellent casting to bring this story to the screen. I had a hard time believing that something like this really happened, but it did. Of course they took some liberties to make the story better for the screen, you have to or it doesn’t sell. But it’s there. You love them for their qualities and dislike them for the faults they show, but you always end up liking them more and more because of how they push themselves to accept these faults and try to do something about them. At the end, they are changed men, but still the same. And I think that’s really beautiful.
This movie has my favourite quote of the week.
Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga: “The world’s full of lonely people afraid to make the first move.”
Well. This one was a really nice suprise. Joaquin Phoenix is absolutely brilliant and will be a strong contender to win that golden statue next year, I think. As Arthur Fleck, he is forced to watch his world crumble around him while he desperately tries to hold the pieces together. Not everything is entirely his fault. Gotham in the 80s is not treating its lower class citizens quite right and he is just one of the many victims in the corruption filled city. The movie is a slow stroll from barely hanging on, but surviving to reaching the bottom of a bottom-less pit, finding it full of monsters who are not there to hurt you, but doing the terrible things they tell you to do makes you feel so, so good.
Besides the terrific character study of how a ‘normal’ guy can turn into a villian if his surroundings push him to it, the movie also tries to send the message that corruption and misery are prevailing. It lacks a bit in this regard, but I respect what is trying to be said. But, between you and me, that is not why I watched this movie, and I bet neither did you. You and I both know what is going on in the world, we do not need to be reminded of it. But to shape the situation and plot, it definitely helps.
What I absolutely adored though, was the framing. Whenever a character has a close-up (and there are many), director Todd Phillips uses the environment to really focus on his actor’s. And it works, very well. It brings you real close and personal. His use of hallways and open spaces to make everyone feel small and like a marionette in a play is also Oscar worthy. The green Joker tint, just finished it off into finger-licking good cinema (See what I did there?).
As I’ve not yet seen De Niro in The Kingd of Comedy, I can’t compare him to this. But as always, he was great to witness.
Rewatched it on my big screen at home. What a joke of a movie, it wasn't even that enjoyable just for its cgi work which is questionable at best in what are supposed to be the most exiting parts of the movie. Every time Serizawa says 'Gojira' is absolutely cringey. Not that most of the dialogue isn't any better. There's no depth, there's no passion for what Godzilla is for the movie screen. It doesn't blow me away like it should. Which is a shame.
Tarantino crafted something completely different from his previous movies, and it it is quintessentially his movie. He's able to craft an entirely new world around people that have lived, creating new characters that trickle in beautifully along the movie whom you get to know intensely along the ride. One of Pitt's and DiCaprio's strongest performances.
It's silly but it's Bond. The space thing is ludicrous and riddled with faults that wouldn't fly in this day and age, showing its age. Despite that the action, gags and quips are on point.
My favourite John Carpenter movie besides The Thing. Such a different story than he usually tells. Bridges is amazing as the alien and Allen trying to explain humanity to him is very human and familiar.
Alright, this was excellent! I haven't watched a lot of Dario Argento's work (I saw Suspiria and Phenomena), but this was definitely the best of him that I have seen so far. I genuinely loved the misdirection and I was puzzled till the very end about what exactly what was happening. There are small clues in the editing and what is shown that kind of give you hints, which I really love. The soundtrack is just awesome and the tension building through the use of slow panning shots are great. And well, there's a lot of violence, but it did not feel over the top. Kitschy eighties style? Absolutely. Big fan of the fact that it was set in Rome and yet none of the historical buildings were shown. We only see modern architecture and a lot of angular shapes, which give it this post-futuristic feel and look, also making it feel outside of its time. I enjoyed it!
Beautifully shot (interesting compositions that work really well). Pacing is excellent with the use of interesting cutting techniques to build tention (and this is before Psycho, which it made me think of, so I wonder how much this has influenced Hitchcock in making it or how much Laughton was influenced by earlier Hitchcock's works). The acting was really outstanding too, I don't think there was any one who fell out of the boat, even the children were really believable. Robert Mitchum plays a really good bad guy and I don't know who came up with using the hymn as a leitmotif for him, but it works brilliantly. My favourite shot was the underwater shot with the flowing seaweed, I really wonder how they did that (if anyone knows that reads this, please do send a message my way). Maybe there is one or two things that are left hanging, but it didn't bother me in the overall sense. It's a shame that this is the only movie we have that was directed by Laughton, but on the other hand if this is the only one we get, I'm glad that it is this one. I thought it was excellent!
Ok, I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. I wasn't too sure about yet another Toy Story movie, with part 3 being so perfect. But this, despite the main cast of toys not having much to do, did open up some new philosophical insights in their toy lives. And went into some new directions with how toys see and experience the world. It's not as 'good' as the third one, but it is incredibly hard to follow up such a masterpiece. Despite that, I think the story was really good and they did a great job! It made me cry a couple of times, so that is always a good sign for me.
Disappointing, weak, not creative... Is this how you celebrate 100 years of history, Disney? Not even the fun cast can help, which is where I gave most my points to. The kid was great though, he had some good acting.
Alex Garland is a filmmaker who is masterful at his craft. He knows exactly what emotion to wring from you and the entire time I was on the edge of my seat. It gripped me, it gripped my humanity and made me look at what humans could do when all rules have been thrown out the window. We are a vile, vile species and what we do to each other is disgusting.
Beautifully shot too. Some shots look like photographs, exactly when a photograph is being taken. When an actual photograph is being shown, it adds to the tension.
We're only shown how these 4 journalists experience it, everyone else is just passing through. And these guys are brave. If that is really how they act, out there in war zones, my god.
I love movies that can make me feel something besides just entertainment. To enact an emotion from me that is not just pure awe at technological adeptness of the medium, but to show me with mesmerizingly neutral yet horrendous content is daring. I am so happy films like this are still being made.
Bizarre movie
I had no idea what its intentions were until about halfway in
Diverse cast
Tone felt off for me
I didn't entirely enjoy it. It was trying to be something else than what it was, which made it a weird experience
I know what it was trying to do, but it didn't get there for me
Movie 1 in my Ben Affleck binge-watch. One of his early roles, in a large ensemble cast of actors that would grow up to be stars. Besides Affleck we have Matthew McConaughey, Milla Jovovich, Anthony Rapp, Adam Goldberg, Cole Hauser of the names I recognize because I’ve seen their later work before. It’s a great cult film because it accurately portrays the 70s and high school life, with an excellent soundtrack to boot.
A haunting dive into the life of an artist ahead of her time, struggling with her own identity while love interferes with creativity. Ostracizing herself, she allows herself to believe the delusions in her head.
This movie cements just how great an actress Adjani is, she's phe-no-me-nal in this. The way she let's herself loose in the moment of emotions is breathtaking.
Credited as directed by Cameron, most of the work done on this movie was by Assonitis. Cameron did however provide the work on the "special effects' and clearly rubber fish (whose designs would later return in a more well known franchise).
The movie has the flair of a small Italian man screaming "More fish!" at his crew. Plagued with tonal horrors and incredibly obnoxious side characters, this movie is an absolute delight in being as bad as it is. It's completely devoid of any vision or creativity and reeks of dictatorial leadership in making it. As a result, it creates a framework that barely holds on to its hinges.
Much better than the second one, can't tip the first one. James Wan's influence is still there in Whannell's go at it, his directing is way more stable and less... sweeping camera, open door way, wide-angle lensed, this is red so pay attention to it, directing... like Wan likes to do.
This movie keeps going. And going. Eternity in hell doesn't feel as long as this movie. The moments I hated the most: Maria Pitillo falling in love with Matthew Broderick on tv while the reporter mentions thousands dead (talk about wrongly timed Friends-moment), the very obvious Raptor-scene 'hommage' of Jurassic Park, Jean Reno's empty muppet moments, Kent Brockman in real life reporting, Michael Lerner's useless mayor, Doug Savant's bumbling sergeant, the Gorilla screeching over "Come With Me". It doesn't work. And yet, it is endlessly entertaining in just how bad it is.