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.
One of the best movies of this decade that best catches the sense of the 80s and not the neon side of it, but that bleak, almost neo-noir feel of old Polaroids. Visually, it is gorgeous. The content pulls on your heart, the pre-adolescent love beats intensely and lingers wantingly while gruesome things happen in the background. And yet, it leaves a warm smile on your face.
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!
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.”
Ah yes! Michael Mann’s master piece from the 90s. I’ve referenced it here before, it just happened to be on the list to watch this week. The Old Man and the Gun did not make me want to watch this movie, just for reference.
I’ve watched this movie before, a couple of years ago, when I was going through a list I compiled of the 500 greatest movies. I think I got about halfway, and there were some movies that I didn’t pay attention to. This was one of them.
Boy, was I wrong to. There’s a lot going on, and I imagine my younger self did not have the patience to sit through 2.5 hours with his full attention. I admit, I caught myself on my phone a couple of times too during this rewatch (I’m working on it). Watching Pacino and De Niro act together is an absolute joy, I’m so glad I’m experiencing this is a new, more grown-up light. Their acting is so good that the rivalry between the two characters kind of takes the main stage over the plot. Not that I think that’s a bad thing, because both are very pleasurable to witness.
I know it’s a good movie and I’ve rated it as such, and yet it was my least favourite movie to watch this week. It’s not entirely for me, I believe. But that’s ok, if everyone liked and loved the same things, it would be a boring world.
Woah, splendid representation of what could happen if you sit down and actually talk to people and about yourself, show interest in a person. What a difference it could make and how people can be influenced. Glad I finally got around to seeing it.
The only thing wrong with this movie is that it should not have been made in English. Besides that, it is filled with colour symbolism, amazing camera work with a story of epic proportions.
About half-way through I realized I wasn't watching something in the ordinary. I've only watched it once before and wasn't really paying attention to it. I was now, and I think it's one of those hidden little gems that combines very good acting with a funny homage to the neo-noir genre. The dialogues beteen Robert Downey Jr's Harold Lockhart and Val Kilmer's Gay Perry.
"Look up "idiot" in the dictionary. You know what you'll find?"
- "A picture of me?"
" No! The definition of the word idiot, which you fucking are!"
Yes. More of this please. I need more dialogue humor like this in my life.
Perhaps a tad too long and a shade stretchy in its concept, yet the film drenches you in the personality that is Zain. The very young actor embodies this role fully.
A rough life, but sweetnes and love is found anywhere, even in the darkest of places. It's only so heartbreaking to see how this young boy tries to do everything he can to do the right thing, and yet the world around him is not letting him. Shockingly real for how it must be in real.
It had me in tears.
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.
As I'm reading J. Hoberman's "An Army of Phantoms", it's quite fascinating to see persons that are subject in the book be beatured on the big screen. Albeit a bit fictionalized, it takes place before the events in the book. Back in the day, politics shaped movies way more than they do now. (Although there are examples of this happening to appease certain nations in the world.) Propaganda in movies to shape the public's mind is something only Herman J. Mankiewicz frowns upon in Mank.
It took me longer to watch because I had to keep consulting Google and IMDB for the period correct mentions of events and persons. I left the movie not only better informed about how Citizen Kane came to be written, the impression I now have of the people involved helps me to humanize them. They're no longer just names on a page for me. The magic of the movies.
One has to mention the thorough effort to establish the particular sense of nostalgia for the 80-year old setting. They way it is filmed brings forth the unmitigated sense that this is a passion project. David Fincher did not hold back turning this era-defining story into this skillful product, although I do feel sorry for the actors having to go through multiple takes to reach his defenition of perfection. (Stanley Kubrick-flashbacks anyone?).
However, that leaves us with a picture that has accomplished acting, remeniscant of old Hollywood that is neither glamorous nor dismissive. If you love movies, this is a perfect addition to your "Must Watch"-list.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
February 16, 2020
Diary Entry #1
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
I’ve been a bit on a Taika Waititi binge lately, watching movies of him I had not seen before. I’ve seen What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017) before, but I’ve yet to see his particularly well balanced style in yet another movie. So I went through his oeuvre and found another couple of gems in Boy (2010) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). His excellent use of character combined with a fun way to use a camera (he likes to rotate it in place so you experience the entire room and actions in it in one take, it’s quite lovely) drew me to really look forward to this experience.
I just came out of It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) when I put this on and of course, the movie experience is quite different. I don’t know how Waititi manages it, but he draws us into the Nazi world without ridiculing them too much but also not vindicate any kind of their actions. He shows and tells us that Jojo does live in a cruel world, despite the slapstick like qualities his surroundings form around him.
Taika is very good at building relationships between people that meet each other for the first time. It’s a recurring theme in all of his movies. Two characters that meet up and are forced in some way to spend time together and get to know each other through dialogue and sharing of philosophies. His Andersonesque way of story through exposition makes me happy every time. Sometimes you don’t need words to tell what is going on. A well shaped image guides your mind towards the conclusion he wants you to draw from the scene. I admire that a lot in a filmmaker.
He doesn’t ask a lot of his audience, he’s not as symbolic as Anderson can be. But Taika knows how to be precise and concise at the same time. At this point, his style has become quite streamlined and he can fit pretty much anything he wants into the format he has become comfortable with. That’s why watching Jojo Rabbit feels like coming home to me. You know what to expect camera and dialogue wise, throw in a little bit of Waititi awkwardness, sprinkle in a setting that is compelling and homely at the same time and voila. You have a Taika Waititi movie.
Now, it’s definitely not his best. What We Do in the Shadows (2014) reserves that right. But it was of the same level as Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). It’s bright, it’s funny without ridiculing itself. The story, you know, it’s a play on the Romeo & Juliet situation. It’s how it’s told and shown which is important. With the help of brilliant child actor Roman Griffin Davis as Jojo, this story just glitters off your screen.
Scarlett Johansson deserved that Oscar nod, Sam Rockwell was delightfully apathetic at first but vindicates himself later on. Rebel Wilson was there too and her bluntness got a good laugh or two out of me. The only thing that bothered me is that their accents jumped all over the place and all I could hear from Rockwell was Waititi’s New Zealand accent.
I think Waitit blends humor and emotion again in a perfect way, the story feels satisfying, has humor and sadness, regret and delight. If you’re a fan of his work, you’ll love this. If you’re not into him, you’ll question things a bit more than I did.
Thanks for reading, have a wonderful day!
Of course, I couldn’t not see The Dark Knight after watching Joker and Batman Begins. It’s better, oh so much better. Unlike Batman Begins, its villain has center stage. And 11 years (!) after the fact, Heath Ledger’s Joker knocks it out of the park. I cannot compare it to Phoenix’ in Joker. Neither one is better than the other. The both put whatever they have in the character and are very entertaining in their own regards.
Nolan cranked it up a notch in this one. It’s aged way better than Batman Begins and I’m curious now how The Dark Knight Rises will hold up too. I miss Ledger, but for this role to be his final act of acting (sorry...) on this world... I can’t be mad about that. Just not the way that he went. But if he hadn’t, I don’t think we would have had this performance to enjoy. I just wish he was still here to dazzle us with his talent.
Cursed with bad luck which just adds to the haunting and hallucinating atmosphere it leaves you with a tangeable feeling of what this war was actually like for the human being.
The turning point episode. I'm glad to see that The Mandalorian is not an entity devoid of moral grounds. Then again, had anyone expected him to be? Maybe a bit more down the season, but the story line forces him to make the decisions now. It does leave him with some big enemies though, but I'm sure he'll get some back-up soon. Jon Favreau is a good writer, I'm just waiting for him to write a story that will really fly off. I hope it's this one. This is the way. I have spoken.
Despite half of it being a talking head documentary, which I'm not for, the combination of the powerful women telling their story with the images shot in the eighties of the race is absolutely stunning. You cheer them on because they're there to set the trademark for all women after them, opening a door for them for opportunities. These girls are saying now again that if you listen to what people tell you you can't do, human kind would not have been great at all. And that is a strong message that I will take to heart.
Chiwetel Ejiofor's directorial debut and it's a strong start. Stuck in the fields, young William needs to find the courage to battle all the elements against him. Heavy rains followed by a dry season in a country which government does not provide enough for the lower classes of people, forcing him to work the fields so his family has enough to eat.
Being a bright young man and good with technology, he soon knows that he can find a solution for the drought and help his family. The battle between William's duties and ideas is well translated. Ejiofor is a strong player as his father, yet due to this performance it is him that kind of steals the screen.
It's not that the rest of the acting is bad, it's that one person stands above the rest, but it is unintentional. The photography is absolutely gorgeous and brands your eyes with the harsh thruth these people have to live with. Their goals are primal and the mistrust in technology to save them is warranted because having to build it takes away from the work needed to put in the field. The fact that they almost have to resort to praying for rain to survive is heartbraking enough.
In the end, it is a story about persevering in what you're good at and following an idea that can actually help and improve people's situations in a decor that we're not used to seeing in any other Hollywood movie. Props to Netflix and Ejiofor for picking up this story and putting it on the screen.
It almost begs for a new scan, touch-ups and colour corrections. It does not go deep, but with a great cast (and legion of cameos), it features a fun travelogue kind of adventure filled with slapstick and awesome wide shots of locations.
Maybe one of the most important documentaries of the decade, showing how inequality, not only towards women, is still prevalent in what we call a 'modern' society. There are still many things we have to learn and change, but it is great to see that there is at least one great person out there trying her best to change things. And I'm cheering her on.
This movie excels in its simplicity and dedication to the art of acting. Brilliantly cast, Coogan and Reily have the right chemistry to play this iconic duo. But let's not discredit Henderson's and Arianda's work either, playing their wives. It was a brilliant move to play them off against each other as well, but to shape a bond between them too.
There are some side stories that do not go anywhere, but besides that it is a lovely homage to the art of theater, comedy and how a long lasting friendship can shape a carreer and life.
Smart, funny and has aged really well over 40 years. Jim Henson's legacy still rings high today.
Pretty disturbing and well acted by Jones, maybe he played the character a bit too spineless for me but that's maybe because of his great acting that the character frustrated me, so kudos there. The colour scheme was very consistent, the red contrasting very well to emphasize important scenes. I liked that they put as much importance to silence as loudness, makes the disturbence of the character dissolving into his crazy state. 8/10.
An incredible visualization of what animation could achieve about 80 years ago. Even now, in 2020 it has an impressive air. I cannot imagine how difficult it had to have been to time hand drawn animation to composed music. It is important to remember this movie, as it helped shape the industry.
