Topic: Latest Movie Thread

[lebowski]

Excellent movie. Have you also seen Sicario and Hell Or High Water?

Yes, both, and they're both excellent.  I found Wind River had a much slower pace - but that pacing was integral to the story and really added to the film.

Loved Sicario and HoHW, and I found Wind River very good, just lacking a bit in the quality of dialogue. I get they were going for minimalism, but what was there seemed...not as sharp and tight as it was in the other two films.

Last night I watched "Best Of Enemies" on Netflix, a documentary about the William F. Buckley / Gore Vidal debates. I didn't know much about either guy, but it was riveting and prescient to how TV news and punditry happens today.

[johngenx]

Loved Sicario and HoHW, and I found Wind River very good, just lacking a bit in the quality of dialogue. I get they were going for minimalism, but what was there seemed...not as sharp and tight as it was in the other two films.

The only flaw I found in Wind River was the sometimes cliched lines of Renner's character.  Renner is an excellent actor and did his best with them, and they would have really been stupid with a lessor actor.  But, given the high overall quality of the film, that did cause those bits of dialogue to stand out a bit.

[Fobroader]

I was late to the game on Dunkirk and Atomic Blonde.  Enjoyed both.  Atomic Blonde dld an awesome job sourcing Eastern Bloc cars for this film - the most interesting, in my mind, being the Romanian ARO 10 4x4 that pushed the Lada cop car into the canal.

Re: some of the criticism of missed details in Dunkirk (full train geed mode on).  The railway car was most likely built pre-WWII, but had its interior up graded at some point in the '80s or so -- hence the garish blue seats.

I remember being a young child on the streets of Bucharest looking at the few AROs around wishing to have one when I was older 

[lebowski]

Loved Sicario and HoHW, and I found Wind River very good, just lacking a bit in the quality of dialogue. I get they were going for minimalism, but what was there seemed...not as sharp and tight as it was in the other two films.

The only flaw I found in Wind River was the sometimes cliched lines of Renner's character.  Renner is an excellent actor and did his best with them, and they would have really been stupid with a lessor actor.  But, given the high overall quality of the film, that did cause those bits of dialogue to stand out a bit.

I think you nailed it, yeah. Renner is awesome.

[SearhardBurger]

Kinda off-topic, but cool bit of news:

Kid in India I grew up with...we weren't close, but saw each other every year during the summer for family events, parties etc.  His parents (like most parents in India back then) got him enrolled in Engineering school.  He wasn't doing well cos his heart wasn't in it, but it is just what everyone did. Med school, engineering school or law school.  He went to a small film festival at his university and was fascinated.  Then spent every day watching movies any time he could.  Got interested in film and didn't know where to start.

He took a long shot and emailed Roger Avary (he co-wrote the screenplay for Pulp Fiction with Tarantino).  Told him about his interests and how he was in engineering school etc.  Said his parents supported his love of film, but wanted him to first get his engineering degree and then pursue film.  To his surprise, Avary responded and told him to quit engineering school immediately because he would only be able to pursue and make it in the film industry, if he didn't have a "safety net" of an engineering degree to fall back on. 

He quit school and started looking for work in Bollywood.  Not sure what courses he took, if any, but he started off as an assistant of lots of absolute garbage Bollywood films.  Worked his way up to assistant director.  Eventually, he wrote and directed Sulemani Keeda (a low-budget indie movie, which was positively reviewed) in 2014.  I watched it on iTunes, and found it to be very real Bombay, no Bollywood fluff, which was super refreshing.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulemani_Keeda  When this film was screened at a film festival in LA, he emailed Avary again, and asked him if he remembered the kid who emailed him years ago.  Told him he took his advice, and now his movie was being screened in LA.  Avary came out to watch it, and they met in person, took pics etc. Pretty cool!

This year he wrote and directed Newton.  The cast has more well-known actors than his first movie.  I haven't watched it yet, but it is getting rave reviews in India, and was selected as India's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar this year.  I'm looking forward to checking it out.  Good to see lots of younger, more independent writers/directors in Indian cinema now.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_(film)

[Brig]

Very cool story!  At what point did his parents disown him?   

[BWII]

That (Newton) actually looks like it'd be a good movie.  Subtitles be damned.  I liked the gist of the story from the trailer. 

[Scaerio]

I remember being a young child on the streets of Bucharest looking at the few AROs around wishing to have one when I was older 

LOL!

PS - I applied to go to work in our Embassy in Bucharest - would start in September 2018 if I were to get the position.

[Scaerio]

Bladerunner 2049 tickets bought for Thursday night! 

[Scaerio]

Bladerunner 2049 tickets bought for Thursday night!

It did NOT disappoint.

[rrocket]

Bladerunner 2049 tickets bought for Thursday night!

It did NOT disappoint.

Huh...I've heard enough reviews that it was "meh".

Although the visuals on the big screen are apparently very good.

[Scaerio]

The trailer makes it look way more fast-past than it is, but the slow burn interspersed with intense moments works well with the film's premise.

Rotten tomatoes gives it an 88% fresh rating.  It's gotten similarly high ratings from other aggregators and reviewers.  The only bad one I've seen so far was in Forbes.

[random006]

We went to see Bladerunner 2049 on the weekend.  Very good film.  Definitely a more slow moving and introspective film.  Very few crowd scenes, giving it a spare look and feel.

Interesting premise, which I will not reveal here lest it give too many spoilers.  Suffice to say it brings into focus the questions of race, sentience and self determination and what exactly is a human being anyway?  I have to re-read Philip K. Dick's "Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep" but I suspect that the new movie is closer to the book than the original movie ever was.

One criticism:  The soundtrack was too loud at many points.  Reminded me a bit of Interstellar in that way.


On a side note:
I had recorded the broadcast done by the Space TV channel of the original theatrical release, complete with the "film noir" style narration.  The idea was to see it before going to see the new movie. 

Mrs. Random, who had never seen the original, appreciated the voiceover as it filled in a few things that weren't clear to her.  She was never a fan of SF growing up, so many of the tropes and some of the philosophical ideas that form the core of android / human  and / or dystopian stories were not that well known to her.

Two observations about the original film:
1.  I have always liked the narration as it added to that "film noir" feel.  I did not need it but appreciated the mood it created.
2.  Comparing the broadcast to the original 1980s DVD I have shows just how bad DVD image quality looks in comparison.

[Serniter]

Just saw Wheelman on Netflix. I was expecting an entertaining movie like the Transporter series. It is not close. Shot entirely in the dark, it is mostly a series of annoying phone calls made while driving. Was not impressed by the driving or cars.

[mlin32]

A trip to Europe means adding to my stash of DVD movies 

Just finished up "Corporate" (2017). Quite the interesting perspective, I liked it. Was trying to put the puzzle together at first but I figured it out halfway through.

http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=244750.html (français)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5460548/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (english)

[CanuckS2K]

Watched Brawl in Cell Block 99 tonight.  Was blown away with Vince Vaughn's role in this movie.  It's definitely not the type of movie Vaughn is known for, but he did an incredible job IMO.  Some pretty brutal violence, but worth watching for sure.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5657856/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[BWII]

Vince Vaughn > Elf 

Never heard of that movie...guess it never hit the theaters?  Gotta check it out. Thanks.

[Weels]

Watched Brawl in Cell Block 99 tonight.  Was blown away with Vince Vaughn's role in this movie.  It's definitely not the type of movie Vaughn is known for, but he did an incredible job IMO.  Some pretty brutal violence, but worth watching for sure.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5657856/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I noticed this one last week while scrolling through looking for something to rent.  Thought the same... Vince Vaughn???
Will give it a watch

[rrocket]

Every time I watch one of Takashi Miike hard core movies, I need to curl up into a ball while taking a shower...

[mlin32]

Finished Baccalauréat last night. What a parent will do to try and get his daughter into a good university......

http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=241700.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4936450/?ref_=nv_sr_1 (english)