This one doesn’t sit well with me.
So we should blame big tech companies for making us addicted to their products, and the nasty consequences that come of it?
I very much question that morality.
Addiction is a problem of the individual, something you have to fix by yourself (with the help of others).
It’s not something that a company, seeking to make profit, should be held resposible for.loading replies
@fly_ Drug addiction and technology addiction are different in that sense. You most often choose to take drugs, and you know a biological result of it can be that you’ll get addicted to it. With technology, you can’t really predict what we’ll get addicted to. Nobody could’ve predicted we’d get addicted to Facebook. Nobody could’ve predicted in 2016 we’d get addicted to Pokemon Go. Businesses aren’t into what will get us addicted, they’re into what makes them money. If we’ll get addicted to it, then that’s good for them because it’ll make them even more money. But they’re not in the business of making us addicted in itself, because, well, they can’t predict what we’ll get addicted to. Unless you can explain to me why social media triggers us so much biologically, of course. In both cases, however, the addiction is your problem, because you decided to use it in the first place. Nobody forced you to do it.
Shout by Gary Ellis
Woke film. The grand finale is a black woman destroying the most famous piece of art created by a white man.
Shame, it was a good film up to that point.
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@gazz1e So it wasn’t woke when Daniel Craig’s character was revealed to be gay? Good to know we’re making at least some progress
Shout by Nox
Half way through. I'm loving it. I have special memories to Pinocchio. When I was a little kid my big brother heard me crying in bed cause I got afraid of death. Never before did he show me he cared for me and even though he was only 13 (I was 6) he came into my room and calmed me down by telling a story about Pinocchio. It's my earliest memory. And this just brings it all back. Now I get to watch this with my 8 year old and she's mesmerised. I don't care what anybody says, this is magic.
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@noxiuz Nearing 30 year old cynical arse here. Kids movies meant for kids don’t need to be shit or have lower standards, just look at the old Disney cartoons, Pixar, Dreamworks, Harry Potter, Spiderverse, Lego movie, or anything made by Zemeckis himself in the 80s. I’m glad your little one liked it, but we all liked crap when we were younger, and that can leave an impression on us (one that we often look back on and cringe at). Don’t call out other users for making a convincing case that the movie’s shit.
This one doesn’t sit well with me.
So we should blame big tech companies for making us addicted to their products, and the nasty consequences that come of it?
I very much question that morality.
Addiction is a problem of the individual, something you have to fix by yourself (with the help of others).
It’s not something that a company, seeking to make profit, should be held resposible for.loading replies
@mokins It’s not politically connected. It’s conducted by a large group of scientists and independent journalists. That way only articles with inaccurate facts are being marked. They’re not allowed to mark opinion pieces with no facts in it, for instance. And even if they did, well, people would notice, because they can’t delete articles. The response to it has actually been largely positive thus far.
So right off the bat... As a movie, this is pretty shit. Maybe a 6.5/10 overall if you had to rate it honestly.
It's mildly funny, predictable, overacted, arrogantly and self-righteously American.
But that's not what the sum of the parts is.... That is exactly what it is trying to be.
What you have here is a searing indictment of modern humanity. Self-obsessed, intellectually inept, molly-coddled Americans who - when faced with the end of the world - decide to turn it into a political battleground, attempt to milk it for profit, hand it over to sociopathic billionaire industrialists as the government officials are too incapable to handle the situation, who ultimately pay the price for their decisions.
It's a sadly accurate depiction of where the West stands at the moment. Crippled by 40 years of mind-numbing entertainment that has depleted our intelligence, our ability for critical thought and common sense.
I wouldn't rewatch this if you paid me. And it is 30 minutes too long. But it is the most realistic holding up of a mirror to society as I have seen in a decade.
The most reasoned and insightful view of how messed up we are as nations today is coming from satirical comedy. Just as it always has.
7.5/10
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@porteruk Yes, I’m sure that people had a lot more common sense before 1970. You know, that period where we got pretty close to destroying ourselves as a species few times. That period where people were more openly bigoted and racist. That period where it was okay to colonize and exploit the resources of other countries. Those good ol’ days were just full of intelligence and critical thinking.
Shout by Jordy
VIP8Are you feeling nostalgic for movies like Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Elektra, Ghost Rider and The Punisher?
Well, you’re in luck.Easily the worst comicbook film since Hellboy (2019), but I doubt that’s to many people’s surprise.
It’s produced by Avi Arad and written by the guys who did Power Rangers, Gods of Egypt and The Last Witch Hunter.
Its director has never made anything noteworthy, and the lead is an overrated, pretentious hack whose performances have derailed many films over the past ten years.
It’s exactly what you think it’s going to be: dated, nonsensical, overblown and completely soulless.
It’s got crappy acting, predictable story devices, weak dialogue, weird editing choices, everything looks cheap and blue; you probably get the gist of it by now, especially if you’ve seen those movies I mentioned earlier.
This is nothing more than a quick cash in by a studio who thinks they can sell anything for as long as you slap Marvel’s name in front of it.
And they’re probably right, so who can blame them for making it?2/10
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@jim222001 I think he’s trolling. And disliking The Batman doesn’t automatically make you a Snyderhead.
Easily one of the best movies I've seen this year.
I found myself on the edge of my seat, nearly in tears because of how stressful the movie turned out to be. It made me care about an objectively awful character, and I knew where things were going, yet didn't want them to happen.
It's a shame it went up against Spider-Man. People have no idea what they missed out on. Having seen both, "Nightmare Alley" is the better movie, but fewer people are going to see it. That's probably a good thing in that I wouldn't recommend this to most of my friends. That being said, for those who are okay with graphic violence and dark material, there's a lot to sink into here.
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@dastenhero Sure, but you literally have Wandavision as your first recommendation on your profile.
Where was this group of "diverse" heroes when Thanos attacked in Infinity War and Endgame? One of the many plot holes that this film has, added to the boring general plot. Without a doubt a waste of time, and this confirms that Marvel is no longer in its best days.
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@nicknightingale @crxssed I wouldn’t expect any sign of intelligence guys, given how his opinion is phrased
Shout by Jordy
VIP8I’m pretty sure that this movie served as an inspiration for many of the GTA games, especially when you look at the yellow and orange soaked hues of everything that takes place during the day.
That’s pretty much the biggest compliment I can give this film, because the directing and editing are shit, the comedy is godawful, the music is obnoxious, the acting sucks, the racial stereotyping is annoying and unfunny, and everything is really predictable and cliche. In short: it’s full of Michael Bay’s lowbrow, overly commercial and at times pornographic sensibilities.3/10
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@adelin-hogea I didn’t know that! Thank you for letting me know!
Garbage. Some of the dumbest, misinformed satire I’ve ever seen. Even if you ignore its fascist argumentation and pretend it’s just meant to be stupid nonsense, it still reeks of that typical unfunny early 2000s comedy. Just because you’re making a movie about stupid people, doesn’t mean your movie needs to be equally as stupid. This has no real vision, annoying performances, cheap use of music, bland cinematography, no attempt at writing proper jokes; it’s awful. It’s kinda sad because you could probably make a really great satire about the complete dominance of stupidity in society, democracy or whatever, in fact this is coming from someone who can easily get annoyed at all of that. However, this film only has one trick up its sleeve, which is to portray the stupid masses through as many different caricatures as possible. It’s like watching Adam McKay if he somehow became even more middlebrow after making Don’t Look Up. Please skip this, the joke’s really on the people here who think it’s good because ‘wELl ThIs Is a DoCUmenTarY nOw’.
2/10
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@astranora You don't need to tell me to grow up when you're the 34 year old with an Ash Ketchum avatar
I'm kinda sick of arthouse films copying the Nicolas Winding Refn aesthetic, but if you're gonna do it this well, I can't complain. Love the synth score and neon aesthetic, it's easily its strongest asset. Unfortunately, the script and overall direction are junk. I feel like it's trying to give you the Brian de Palma/John Carpenter version of something like Bound or Thelma & Louise, and if that sounds like an awkward mix of tones, you'd be right. I really didn't care for the romance that's set-up during the first act due to the awkward dialogue, flat characterization and lack of chemistry between the two leads. Once the crime plot develops, it has a hard time justifying the motivations of characters in a way that doesn't feel contrived or stupid. It gradually becomes more camp as it goes along, but not in a way that I found particularly rewarding. By the time it reaches its conclusion I was laughing at how unapologetically trashy the film gets, leaving any real attempt at substance in the rear view mirror in favour of something more groteseque, which falls completely flat. Leading up to those moments, it kinda feels like the film wants to have it both ways, because it integrates these poorly executed surrealist moments and an underdeveloped theme of female body language that doesn't quite jell with the rest of the plot. It's one of those films that would've benefitted from less pretension and instead focussing on making sure that you care about the central relationship, because the end result here is quite a mess.
4/10
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@somnomania I’m not, but I really liked All of us Strangers from last year and Moonlight is one of my favourite films. I don’t think I have trouble relating to a perspective that’s different from my own, but I don’t know, it just didn’t work for me here.
Shout by Jordy
VIP8Quite a frustrating watch. It has this great concept of showing mundane, everyday life juxtaposed with horrifying imagery and sound hanging in the background, many reviewers have referred to it as the banality of evil. It's an inventive way of doing a Holocaust movie, but there's not much else to this. Glazer spreads the concept really thin over the 105 minute runtime, and I started to check out around the halfway mark. It's lacking in structure (no character arcs or big plot developments), every time it threatens to go somewhere it turns out to be an excuse to use the same bag of tricks. The acting and stilted cinematography are both pretty decent, but because they're both meant to serve the understated tone and nothing else, it can't fall back on those aspects. Again, if the tone is enough to carry this experimental film for you, your experience might be different. However, I became increasingly numb towards the repetitive nature, eventually feeling rather indifferent towards the experience (which is the last thing I want with a movie like this).
4.5/10
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@etdj I’m not saying they needed to show the holocaust, I acknowledge that not showing it is one of its strengths. But to me hitting the indifference emotion for 90 minutes isn’t that interesting, especially when it isn’t super heady or conceptual besides that. Sure, it brings the ‘there’s still tragedy hidden all around us’ point home effectively, but it isn’t much of a climax or arc. It’s too thin to build your whole movie around that, it doesn’t leave much of an impression. With the way it’s constructed now I feel like this should’ve been a 20-30 minute short.
Review by Jordy
VIP8This is a movie for people who are into Woody Allen type stuff, it reminded me of Marriage Story in particular. The dialogue and acting are definitely the main driving force here, and Sandra Hüller delivers a pretty great performance. The core ideas that the movie gets at about relationships, guilt and justice are compelling, but it’s not always told in the most efficient way. The pieces ultimately click into place in an unexpected way, but it takes a clunky, elaborate set-up to get there. Tightening up the beginning and very end would’ve improved the experience a lot for me, mostly because I wouldn’t have to hear that stupid 50 Cent song 80 times. Moreover, due to the story structure and constraints of a legal drama, the movie suffers from an overabundance of exposition. There are so many scenes where I wish they’d just cut to whatever the characters are talking about, instead of a boring close-up with someone reminiscing over a memory. I’m also not the biggest fan of how the courtroom scenes were staged, some elements are on the cheesy side. The prosecutor in particular felt like a Suits character, he doesn’t work for me in this more realistic context. Finally, the technical aspects of this movie are just fine. As is often the case with movies like this, the cinematography is competent but lacking in style or vision, nor is the score very noteworthy. All in all, it’s adequate but the accolades are completely overblown.
6/10
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@axx_axx His more famous work falls into that category, yes. I was referring more to how it’s about the complexities of relationships and driven by the performances and dialogue.
Shout by Jordy
VIP8It’s pretty amazing how despite often working in the same genre Scorsese continuously finds ways to keep it fresh. It’s one of his longer films but flows effortlessly because of Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing. Combined with a script examining the hypercapitalism of Las Vegas and solid performances (which to be fair has everyone play the exact part that’s expected in a Scorsese film), this is another win.
8/10
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@dulneth-p Same, so I wouldn’t say it’s as good. But if you’re generally into Scorsese mob films I can’t imagine disliking this
Barbenheimer: Part 2 of 2
This was never going to be a your average summer blockbuster given the incredibly overqualified cast and crew involved. However, having just finished it, I am still blown away by how far they pushed it. Is it too highbrow and intellectual for its own good? Maybe, I don't see this gaining universal praise from the general audience, but I'd say that's a good thing. I have yet to come across an accurate read of this film by the online outrage economy (or middle aged nerdy Youtube critics, for that matter), so perhaps it's not as preachy or on the nose as thought by some. This thing is directed with such vision and precision, for my money it's the boldest blockbuster I've seen in a long time. Gerwig and her team truly knock it out of the park here: the set design for Barbieland is amazing and colorful (the shitty lighting and lack of liquids are great touches), the campy-yet-sincere humor feels very fresh, there are interesting references to filmmakers like Jacques Tati and Wes Anderson, it has razor sharp commentary and so many memorable scenes. The script feels well read and clever, taking its obvious influences (The Truman Show, The Lego Movie, Toy Story and Elf, to name a few) in a different direction than what's expected. It proves that you can still use meta and self-referential tropes as long as they're executed tastefully. It's also brewing with themes and subtext, trusting the viewer to read between the lines and find the detailed nuances in the script (well, for the most part). Will Ferrell doesn't even serve a real narrative purpose, but conceptually he makes the film a lot more interesting. During the third act it occasionally starts to spell things out a little too much through clunky monologues, which I'd argue is its only real flaw. Besides that, I thought this was a blast. Robbie, Gosling and Ferrera all deliver nuanced, funny and at times emotional performances, there's not a single dull moment and it's one of the rare blockbusters where the production value actually shows up on the screen. Major props to Robbie and Gerwig as producers for getting it made, I almost can't believe some of this stuff survived Mattel’s pr division as well as the Hollywood system.
8.5/10
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@the_argentinian My four favourite movies of the year are currently Barbie, Spiderverse, Nimona and MI7 (all of which I’ve reviewed, btw). Come again?
Review by Jordy
VIP8Barbenheimer: 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
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@jonlevity Yeah, I wish he’d make a small comedy or something completely out of his wheelhouse. His films haven’t evolved for the better since Inception.
Wow, how the mighty have fallen. Was this season produced by the Hallmark channel? The schmaltzy music that plays in the background every other scene, the forced feel-good vibe, the corny jokes, the cringy musical interlude during this episode, that fucking Ed Sheeran montage…. it’s all so incredibly lame and cheap. Any of the sharp wit and quirk from the first two seasons has completely disappeared from the show. Instead this entire season felt like a bunch predictable, bland, sentimental nonsense made for the broadest of audiences.
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@the_argentinian I won’t argue it had ‘edge’, but the comedy used to be a lot sharper and intelligent. Yes, the show was corny, but it mostly tipped in the direction of being wholesome and heartwarming. There was less of an emphasis on melodrama and sentimentality, it was more of a straightforward comedy, almost like a sports sitcom. Trust me, I rewatched the first two seasons not too long ago, they’re very different from what this is.
Man, they don't make smart science fiction movies like this anymore.
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@the_argentinian Ex Machina? Annihilation? After Yang? Blade Runner 2049? Arrival?
This is essentially Spielberg's Almost Famous. It's way too sentimental and white, which is a complaint that's often thrown at Spielberg's work (one I don't always agree with myself), but this is undeniably him at his schmaltziest. Every genuine emotion is buried under such a deep layer of cheese that the entire picture ends up feeling phony and disingenuous to me. There's an unironic record scratch sound effect in here at some point, and it's just so corny. Michelle Williams is also a major victim of the direction, her performance and the dialogue she's given are awful. The other performances are passable at best, with Gabriel LaBelle and Paul Dano being the clear standouts. Visually I did not find the movie to be that compelling, it's overly reliant on a generic orange/teal color grade, but there are some strong moments that illustrate the power of visual filmmaking very well. John Williams' score is probably one of his most forgettable ones, it sounded like a composer who's trying to do an imitation of Alexandre Desplat. I just don't really see the overall appeal. Emotionally it clearly doesn't work for me, but I also find it to be lacking in substance. We don't learn that much about Spielberg as a filmmaker or artistic force, it's mostly focussed on him as a person, which doesn't interest me as much. He probably poured his soul into this project, but to me it's a perfect example that artists should not be in charge of their own memoir, because it doesn't focus on the interesting stuff.
4/10
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@jidar My problem wasn’t the amount of white people in this movie. If that’s true to his memory, I really don’t care. My problem is that the material is approached in the whitest way possible (sentimental, schmaltzy, corny, dramatically over the top, etc.).
Shout by The_Argentinian
I thought it was one of those manipulative movies about a disable person that everyone treats like crap. Of course the audience will feel bad for him. How could you not?
That's why the emotional pay off didn't work for me but I see how it could make people cry.loading replies
@the_argentinian Yes, this is true … but, wouldn’t it be a lot easier to write this character like the nicest human being who’s simply down on his luck? It’d literally be the most predictable way to get at you emotionally. I agree that this movie is manipulative and that the main character is too unlikeable for the movie to work, but at least it didn’t take the easiest route
Shout by Elliot
VIP6Jeez, the snowflaky reactions of straight white men because not every single episode and narrative centres them - anything deviating from that priority is apparently "woke". Get over yourselves, you egomaniacal bigots.
Anyway, another great episode that nicely expanded Ellie's backstory - bonus points for the Mortal Kombat II appreciation, too :nerd:
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@dw11 You’re pulling the ‘the inclusive people are excluding me’ card? Sure. Next time you’re gonna call yourself a liberal, don’t pull from the incel playbook.
Also, you don’t need to lecture me about equality or victimhood culture, I’m very well informed and it’s even within my field of academic expertise. Trust me, I’ve read plenty of studies about that. However, none of them used the amount of people saying the N-word at a Jane’s Addiction concert as a form of measurement, so what do they know. Nevertheless, those studies came to the conclusion that racial/gender/sexual equality in modern societies are still improving decade by decade, despite there still being a long way to go. Some of your examples and previous statements illustrate that pretty well.
Shout by Elliot
VIP6Jeez, the snowflaky reactions of straight white men because not every single episode and narrative centres them - anything deviating from that priority is apparently "woke". Get over yourselves, you egomaniacal bigots.
Anyway, another great episode that nicely expanded Ellie's backstory - bonus points for the Mortal Kombat II appreciation, too :nerd:
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@dw11 You might want to do some more research if you think that the 80s were the true age of liberalism for all social groups. As I already pointed out, people being complacent with their social position isn’t the same as true freedom or acceptance.
And you’re right, we are on different evolutionary paths, because people like you are likely to go extinct sooner rather than later. Young, educated and/or culturally intelligent people will typically accept and embrace inclusion, so you’re fighting for a cause which is increasingly becoming a non-issue year by year. In fact, most people already don’t care, so maybe ask yourself who’s creating the ‘new age of division’ here. I pray you’ve come to your senses in a few decades when nobody’s even bothered to bring this up anymore.
Shout by Elliot
VIP6Jeez, the snowflaky reactions of straight white men because not every single episode and narrative centres them - anything deviating from that priority is apparently "woke". Get over yourselves, you egomaniacal bigots.
Anyway, another great episode that nicely expanded Ellie's backstory - bonus points for the Mortal Kombat II appreciation, too :nerd:
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@dw11 I understand that the world may seem like a magical place growing up, but I think you still lack some maturity if you think that acceptance and inclusion is about ‘laughing at gay stereotypes’. Maybe place yourself in their position for a second. Would you feel included if there were no straight white men in media, except Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation? So only the most exaggerated, stereotypical version of a straight white man. Does that seem right or inclusive to you? Gay people exist everywhere and they deserve stories told about them, you’re gonna have to mature and adapt to that. Or you can just stick to movies and tv shows specifically targeted at people like you, but simultaneously leave no cultural footprint whatsoever, such as The Terminal List or anything produced by The Daily Wire. The choice is yours.
Shout by Elliot
VIP6Jeez, the snowflaky reactions of straight white men because not every single episode and narrative centres them - anything deviating from that priority is apparently "woke". Get over yourselves, you egomaniacal bigots.
Anyway, another great episode that nicely expanded Ellie's backstory - bonus points for the Mortal Kombat II appreciation, too :nerd:
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@2ls1t These are the same kind of people who would complain about black people being in movies one century ago. Deep down they know they’re out of touch and behind the curve, but it takes years to realize that. It’s fucking embarrassing, I apologize on the behalf of straight white men.
If you’d ask me what the highlights of the previous 2 Ant-Man movies are, I’d probably answer: I don’t remember much about them, but I liked those quirky scenes narrated by Michael Peña and the creative use of shrinking powers during the set pieces. For as forgettable as both movies are, at least I still remember the set piece with the train in the first movie, or the kitchen fight from the second movie. With this movie, I'm already having trouble remembering any specifics, because all of those typical Edgar Wright touches have been erased in favor of being a big CGI extravaganza. So, allow me to do a general breakdown of the three acts instead.
1st act: We get a set-up that's similar to Spiderman: No Way Home, which means it’s in a hurry to get to the main dish, making every main character look like an irresponsible dumbass in the process. Once we get to the quantum realm, we're met with a lot of cringe comedy. The design of the world is fine, it feels like a mashup of prequel era Star Wars, Avatar, The Fifth Element and Spy Kids, not like an original creation. A stronger, visionary director probably would've made a big difference here, or at least one who knows how to use the volume stages, because that might’ve avoided the Spy Kids comparisons.
2nd act: Jonathan Majors arrives to do some actual acting, and he somehow pulls it off despite the hammy, pseudo-intellectual lines given to him by the script. Michelle Pfeiffer also gets some time to shine, when she's on the screen with Majors it feels like the movie actually comes to life for a brief second. Still, the scenes with Kang feel tonally inconsistent with the rest of the movie, and I’m not sold on the idea of him being the Avengers level threat we’ve been waiting for. When it comes to the other actors, most of them are given nothing interesting to do, the supposed co-lead of this movie (according to the title) included. I don't like picking on younger actors, but it needs to be said that Emma Fuhrmann expressed more emotion during her 10 second appearance as Cassie Lang in Avengers: Endgame than Kathryn Newton did here. In terms of story, this portion of the movie is all about set-up and clunky exposition as delivered through monologues. One of the characters even gets introduced with his own 'previously on Ant-Man' recap, which I find insulting and shows what little faith this studio has in its audience. Besides, it probably would’ve been better to cut this character, because his inclusion is easily one of Marvel's worst creative decisions (the design and visual effects are laughable). Generally I'd say this act is pretty boring, and occasionally embarrassing.
3rd act: The movie decides it wants to be Aquaman instead, so we're getting an extended battle sequence of stuff fighting other stuff, with plenty of flashes, lasers and more stuff. It's big, it's loud, and I check out. Every cheesy crowdpleaser deserves its fair share of deus ex machina moments, but this movie spams the action movie trope of 'our main character is in peril only to get saved at the very last moment' to death at this point. Furthermore, the cringe comedy makes a big return, with Corey Stoll delivering a line so bad that it will become a meme (you'll know once you see the movie). More punchy stuff, more pew pew, more 'comedy', and thankfully the movie finally decides it has wasted enough of my time. We get a final montage that includes the first good joke of the movie, and the credits roll. Nothing is achieved, absolutely nothing. This is a cynically conceived advertisement that does not deserve your time.
3/10
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@skinnyfilmbuff Thank you! I think this one took about 15 minutes to write, which is mostly because I had organized my thoughts already in my head when I walked out of the screening. Some movies take a bit longer, especially the ones with like deeper themes and layers. It all depends on the movie, if it’s a generic action movie I usually don’t put in that much effort
Simple, effective, but a little too straightforward and predictable to really blow my mind.
Still, I like what it's saying about migrants, marginalization, postcolonialism, etc.
The cinematography still looks excellent, but the score hasn't aged as well.7/10
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@the_argentinian nah I just think the composition sounds clunky, and the heavy clipping at points doesn’t sound great. Sure, that’s a byproduct of its time, but there are a lot of 60s movies where this isn’t an issue
This movie....made no sense to me. There is a mystery behind the pool itself, but doesn't get explained at all. That's is the most interesting part, but doesn't find it's way into the film at all. So it's just a bunch of nonsensical filler in my opinion, which tries so hard to be "artistic".
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@indigoviking It’s not a movie where looking at it strictly from A to B will make you understand it. He’s a writer looking for inspiration, that’s just character development to get you emotionally invested. They also establish that he’s a self-centered asshole early on, because he’s sexually attracted to Mia Goth and doesn’t mind getting jerked off by her. Then we get to the pool/cloning stuff, which is a little abstract, but basically the idea is that it takes away your personal responsibility; you no longer need to behave by the rules of society. When Skarsgard’s character realizes this, he smiles, his ego gets the better of him and it unlocks his inner psychopath as a result. He then gets wrapped up in those crazy adventures with the other rich assholes, which for Skarsgard’s brain becomes an addiction, so much so that he cannot leave the island by the end of the film. Furthermore, he needs to do increasingly crazier stuff in order to feel any mental stimulation, that’s where those psychedelic montages come in. That’s quite haunting and scary, right? If you think it’s far fetched, maybe look up some interviews with hotel managers who used to host celebrity parties.
In the end what the movie’s saying is pretty clear: people need to be held accountable for their actions, and the rules need to apply to everyone. The movie illustrates why a well functioning juridical system is so important, it puts our ego in check.
This movie....made no sense to me. There is a mystery behind the pool itself, but doesn't get explained at all. That's is the most interesting part, but doesn't find it's way into the film at all. So it's just a bunch of nonsensical filler in my opinion, which tries so hard to be "artistic".
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@indigoviking You’re looking for stuff you’re never going to get out of it, because that’s not what the movie is interested in. It’s not about the technicalities or the mystery of the pool, that’s just something that exists in the world of this movie.
A fantastic short film that’s bound to become the major highlight of this season for most, while also likely to trigger some mentally deficient adults.
One of its best qualities is that you could in theory tell this story with a straight couple , and it wouldn’t lessen any of its emotional impact.
It’s such an original, creative angle for a zombie apocalypse show, and Nick Offerman/Murray Bartlett both deliver career best performances here. If their section was a bit more fleshed out, I genuinely think you could make a great indie/arthouse film out of it.
I also love how it portrays a hardcore Republican character without making him some incapable buffoon, we don’t get enough of that in movies and tv.Ps: I’m pretty sure they used an existing piece of music during the marriage montage , I’ve heard it before but can’t quite place where it’s from
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@j0k3r2g0 Yes that must be it, thanks!
This movie predicted moder toxic fans.
Anyway, I don't know how can anyone not like it. The most accessible SK adaptation.loading replies
@the_argentinian Indeed, and it even predicted they would act like mentally deficient manchildren. Feels far ahead of its time doesn’t it? It probably seemed like an absurd, far fetched story back then.
