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.
There is something irresistebly effective in the combination of a heartwarming message with great oops-what-did-I-get-myself-into-humor. My favourite part was Nicole Kidman and Matt Lucas acting together.
Vera has been on the air for 10 years now and a lot has happened. It leaves it first couple of seasons far behind in this one, as is pretty evident in this episode. It's still good, it's just lost something essential. A bit of spunk, a bit of urgence that was underneath it and I feel was fueled mostly by Brenda Blethyn. Brenda will always be a delight to watch, but that fury to do what is right that was so enticing to the character has left her a little bit. It's still there, but it has just wittled away over the years. I'm not saying her performance was bad, I'm saying it has shifted tones. Either it's because Vera has been established enough or Brenda's years are finally starting to catch up with her, being that's she's well into her 70s now. She hasn't aged at all, she looks wonderful still. But her performance has undeniably shifted. I hope she isn't growing tired, because I absolutely love her and want her to do 10 more seasons.
The episode is absolutely cramped with plot development and you have to have a good memory to follow what is actually going on. I honestly always found it convoluting and I couldn't pay much attention. Now that I have, I can really appreciate the level of detail that goes into this mini-movie they're making. And that for 3-4 episodes each year! It's really impressing. It helps they have the police set, but a lot of it happens in what appear to be real houses and locations. There must be a lot of travelling around for this and I can't imagine the logistics of keeping track of what is happening. This is why I'm so into this series, it is produced and written so well.
On to the episode at hand. Spoilers ahead!
Luke, a 28-year old cleaner guy is found by some binmen behind a dumpster. He has a wound on his head, his ribs and possibly self-inflicted chemical burn wounds on his legs, caused by bleach. The wound on his head caused his death, happening 5 hours before it. His brain was slowly filling with blood and he was literally a dead man walking. The bruising on his ribs looks irregular and potentiall has a further clue to his murderer.
At first you suspect his bosses, a maried couple who own the cleaning company. They act like they're the most caring and helpful bosses, but his ex-girlfriend and colleague Nadiya and her roommate Daisy confess to Vera and Aiden about the terrible working conditions they have to go through. Assault with bleach, unfair payment, exploitation, blackmail, terrible housing situation,... you name it, it's there. In the end the husband is arrested for assault, but has nothing to do with the murder of Luke.
Luke's father, Seth, was murdered when he was younger by a Terrence Kayle. His brother Raymond is the next big suspect. Terrence called the murder self-defense, but no one else seems to have backed this up. We learn in fact that Seth was an abusive husband and father, hitting his wife and son over many years. He was very aggressive and must have attacked Terrence immediately when he found out he was robbing his house. Luke seemed to have known this, as he had confessed this to Raymond, but he didn't want to accept it. That's why he hit Luke in the ribs (the strange bruising was from his rings), but the head wound does not seem to be made by Raymond, so he is also cast aside as a suspect.
Lastly there's Jasmine Asher, the last in the list of main suspects. When they were younger, Luke and Jasmine were a thing. But after the suicide of his neighbor Thea, who they hung out with, he broke up with her and left the town they lived in. Through the course of the episode Jasmine keeps denying things and lying about what happened in the passed. Arguing that Thea was depressed and a huge cannabis user, pushing her towards jumping of the edge of the crag. In fact, the three of them had used one joint and Jasmine had dared Thea to stand on the edge. She fell in. For years she has kept this silent, until Thea's sister, Georgia finally confronts Jasmine and her mother with this story. Luke had come to visit Jason, Thea's father, the night of his death to explain everything to him, because he felt so guilty about the whole thing. He was blackmailed by Jasmine the entire time. Instead of talking to Jason, Luke talked to Georgia, explaining everything to her instead. She grew angry and confused, starting to hit Luke overcome by emotion causing him to fall and hit his head. That caused a heamatoma in his head. Without realising it, or ever linking it together, Georgia has killed Luke.
This was an interesting conclusion to the story, mostly because the killer never realised that she killed someone, only at the very end. I think Georgia would have gone straight to the police if Luke had been instantly killed after hitting his head. She did not calculate his murder. But it's still murder.
My only comments would be is that the eventual murderer was not prominently featured in this and I kinda wanted it to go more into the subplot of the cleaning company. I could have gone without the Raymond subplot, instead filled it in with exposition of how the murder happend. I miss that, the little cinematic at the end of how it happened. It gives the actor playing the dead body for the most part of the episode something fun to do and we can better fit in the conclusion into the entire plot. That said, I do appreciate how the mystery branches off into dead ends, like a real police investigation. They cirlce around until they pinpoint the story that has the most potential to render a result.
Vera still has me, and I'll follow her adventures for as long as Brenda wants to do the role. I love you, please keep doind what you love as well!
The episode where we learn that there's finally more under the layers of what appears normal and from now on out we'll see just how deep the rabbit hole goes. Lead the way Sam Esmail.
Glenn Close's performance outshines the rest of the tepid feeling the movie gave me. I liked Christian Slater in his role too, but I think it could have gone a bit... deeper, ironically enough.
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!
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.
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.
Fuck you David. Fuck you.
Finally! A good episode! Gosh, I enjoyed this one, the previous one established how dangerous he could be. This one takes you back to the story of the first two episodes and makes some progress with it. Honestly, for what, 8 episodes? I thought they could have fleshed out the main story a bit more, this feels very episodic. Oh wait...
While the ending left me a bit baffled by how far the character was going to push himself in his own rising convictions, the path towards it is one of pure character developing joy.
Ethan Hawke bites himself deep into this role, letting the Reverend take over. His performance is superlative subtlety as he fights against the convictions he has built up for himself over the years. Current events that he has no control over but has to tackle as his duty as pastor catapult him into a mindset he is not ready to dive into yet. His silent struggle is real, a part he does not easily show towards any kind of public. That forlorn nature of the character is actually what pulls you through the movie, the narrow frame helping to make him feel even more locked up. Not only by his function, but by his hard mindset.
A bit of the genius of Taxi Driver trickles through the dialogue in here, I have to commend Paul Schrader for giving us yet another movie that folds a difficult setting and current problems into a sandwich of genius that I enjoyed thoroughly.
I could have done with maybe 20 minutes less of footage and an ending that was a bit differently scripted, but that is personal taste and for that, there is no remedy.
You never stop rooting for Rocky.
I'm not too familiar with Woody Allen movies, so this was a first timer for me. I can understand that, in the 70's this was a very good romantic comedy taking the public by surprise and I can see that in the movie. Both characters, of Alvy and Annie, have a very likability to them in that time period. I could relate with both of them and recognized the problems/feelings they had.
But for me the comedy didn't work, I was touched though by how two such very different people managed to get together and have a splendid time together. They weren't shallow and that's why this is such a good movie. For me this was a very splendid romance story between two unusual people with some humor elements in them. I wasn't roaring with laughter, but I did smile throughout the movie.
Sam Esmail does it again. I shall follow his career (and this show) with great interest. I love his use of camera, aspect ratio and pretty much all the rest. I'm really glad they give him a platform to perform to the best of his abilites on.
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.
Tight and gripping. Dips 3/4th in. Very human and a great attempt at creating something very real. The atmosphere is very dense in the sense that there's only the sound of the engines on the background and the set is only lit by the interior lights and any kind of moonlight/city lights. It's bleak and serene and I found the attemps to keep it as simple as possible commendable. If it wasn't for Joseph Gordon-Levitt's excellent perfomance, it would not come in as strongly as it does. In my opinion, it's one of those little gems of cinema that try something else, succeed, but will never have a big audience. For me, it could have done with less chaotic camera movements, less cuts, longer takes to really drive home the situation.
Convinced that I would roll my eyes a lot with this movie, I did. But then it did something wonderful and captured me in the way that The Goonies, Hook, and all those other classics did. It teaches without being too overpowerful, it situates itself within this time (make quite a few nods to Brexit England) and it is filled with hope when there's a world where it seems that there's not a lot of it left. It's clear what Cornish wants to achieve here and I do feel like he did. He wants to fill youth with adventure, goals and hope while reminding those that had forgotten that not all is lost just yet.
It's not perfect by any means, but it is charming, heartwarming and decently acted. It just looks like it was a whole lot of fun to make and I had a whole lot of fun watching it.
I really just wonder how the hell they explained the remains of the battlefield at the school to the teachers... Or did Merlin just hypnotise them to clean it all up and forget all about it. But what about all the dents in the cars?! Oh but wait, the meek kid can multiply money now, it's all good. And shouldn't they be like all over the news if 4 kids disappear for 4 days straight? Mum didn't seem too devastated or angry about it. Ah well, it's a family-fun adventure movie, what the hell am I going on about, I enjoyed it.
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.
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.
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.
This week starts off with what could well be Robert Redford’s last leading role credit. The man is in his 80s, and yet he does not relent in putting down the role of Forest Tucker. To feel alive, this man keeps doing what he’s good at and loves doing. Which is robbing banks. But it’s not a heist that you’re used to. Instead of impressing and intimidating, Tucker remains discreet, polite and above all, a gentleman. It doesn’t take much to feel sympathetic to the man, even if he’s committing crimes. The movie doesn’t portray him as a criminal, instead he feels like an older Georgey Clooney heist genius. Just with less bravado. A couple of times, Sissy Spacek turns up as a charming love interest. I also can’t help unsee the dewey eyed Casey Affleck from Manchester by the Sea and for me personally feels a bit lost in the role of a police detective, assigned to find Forest. It’s trying to push the Pacino – de Niro friendly rivalry from Heat too much and it’s not really working too well.
Tom Waits and Danny Glover feel severely undercast for the roles as Tucker’s aids. I think the film could have prospered with at least 20 minutes more time to flesh out the bonds the three have together, after having worked alongside each other for so many years. It’s just a bit of bickering about their situation and that’s it. Then again, sitting at 93 minutes, it’s not like it’s a huge waste of your time. If you like Redford and you like crime movies where the protagonist is lawful evil, this is definitely your jam.
I like foreign movies that take place in a small village, it gives a good view of how life must be like there. Combine that with some strong acting and writing, you get a family crime drama that pulls the story from the deep drama a big family can contain within the confines of such a small space. It's a good flick if you're into intrigue, mystery and eye-to-eye calling each other out on all the shit. A bit misguided with camera work, imo, but a well-brought movie that'll keep you guessing until the reveal.
Dudley Moore is great and his physical comedy entertains, but something's missing that lifts this movie from its starting blocks into greatness
Not the sharpest movie in Carpenter's portfolio, but also not the worst. Of all, this is the most sinister and creepy. Acting was so-so, mood was decent, effects were splendid for its time.
The Seven Samurai plot but with The Mandalorian and a rogue soldier. A bit of love interest side-plot. Baby Yoda is still cute. Doesn't progress the story, expands the world a little bit. Nothing to really write home about except for the battle. It's nothing new under the sun.
