FilmEra |OT| January 2018

Silence (2016)
First time I re-watch it since it came out a year ago, I think I like it even better. It's bewildering it got so ignored during the awards circuit, Andrew Garfield is honestly fantastic in this. As someone that was raised Catholic, Scorsese's film left a lasting impression on me.

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ronaldthump said:

raw isn't a horror movie in the traditional sense. if you walk in expect a insidious/conjuring type, you're not gonna get it obviously. Its more of a character study/drama with horror elements

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I knew that, which was I was excited to finally see it. But it didn't work as character study, drama, or horror for me

Finished Lucky Logan and don't know what to feel about it. That whole heist felt part lucky, part genius, which is great. Really liked Channing Tatum and Adam Driver's performances. Gotta finish Ingrid Goes West tonight.

mans has a Loverboy music video bookmarked. is the song really that good? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

dragon ball xenoverse

honestly a lot of the bookmarks are years old.

loverboy is from when Wet hot American summer got made for netflix.

jett said:

Silence (2016)
First time I re-watch it since it came out a year ago, I think I like it even better. It's bewildering it got so ignored during the awards circuit, Andrew Garfield is honestly fantastic in this. As someone that was raised Catholic, Scorsese's film left a lasting impression on me.

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Yeah, one of my top 2 or 3 from 2016. Think it's Scorsese's best since Goodfellas.

n8 dogg said:

Yeah, one of my top 2 or 3 from 2016. Think it's Scorsese's best since Goodfellas.

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good post, all facts

Blade of the Immortal - Miike

Sadly, this is lazy Miike in action. Awful adaptation, every single sword duel employs the same camera technique over and over, zero choreography, there's not even a little ounce of creativity in here. BOT is a fun, stylish, gruesome long manga with dozens of plotlines, and an array of intriguing characters. The movie is, mostly, rancid and nonsensical.

Silence is going to age like wine. kids gonna be watching that in film school and stuff later.

John Wick Chapter 2 (has been on TV over Christmas so only just watched it)

Was enjoyable but for me a big step back compared to the first movie. This time around there just didn't feel like there was anything powerful driving John - not close to that from the first movie. And certainly nothing that would lead it to end the way it did - felt out of character in some ways. I get that they probably want a chapter 3 to be set up in a certain way but it rang hollow for me

So overall a decent action flick, but the first movie was a force of nature

Flow said:

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Chris Evans wat?

n8 dogg said:

Yeah, one of my top 2 or 3 from 2016. Think it's Scorsese's best since Goodfellas.

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Guess I should see it

I thought Silence was good, but kind of perplexing when I saw it in theaters but it's definitely grown on me since then.

Yeah silence is my favorite Scorsese movie since the 90s. It's so overbearing though I left the theaters pretty shook. Top 3 of 2016 for sure

That scene between Neeson and Garfield as they debate whether or not their faith belongs there was so good

He's made more entertaining films this century easily, but Silence felt like his most accomplished work in years. And it was nice to see him look to other actors aside from DiCaprio for a change too.

Dunkirk
What a waste of time. Nolan's first movie that I don't find totally dumb, but that's not enough. Great sound tho.

Get Out
Fantastic film that touches on sensible themes with a sense of wit that is unique. Daniel Kaluyaa is a revelation and I can't wait for what Peele does next

The Disaster Artist
I loved this film. Truly sincere view of one of the worst best movies ever. Instead of taking the easy route of mocking Wiseau as a caricature, Franco plays him as a weirdo looking for his dreams. Really heartfelt script and incredibly well directed.

Disco said:

Yeah silence is my favorite Scorsese movie since the 90s. It's so overbearing though I left the theaters pretty shook. Top 3 of 2016 for sure

That scene between Neeson and Garfield as they debate whether or not their faith belongs there was so good

He's made more entertaining films this century easily, but Silence felt like his most accomplished work in years. And it was nice to see him look to other actors aside from DiCaprio for a chance too.

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it wasn't my top 3 but I can rock with someone saying this. hell even best film of 2016.

wonder how it holds up at home.

Brawl in Cellblock 99 was outstanding b-movie done right.

I never saw the directors previous movie Bone Tomahawk, but I think I will now.

Silence is good but honestly it did seem a bit too repetitive and long for me. Maybe because I saw it at midnight lol

I don't normally talk too much about what I watch on here, but because of the Wenders talk recently, I thought I'd let everyone know that Tokyo-Ga is streaming on Filmstruck. It's presented as Wenders looking for Ozu's Japan 20 years after his death, but those ties seem mostly tenuous besides an interview with Chishu Ryu and a touching conversation with Ozu's cameraman Yuharu Atsuta. Werner Herzog also shows up for a few minutes to talk complete nonsense. Honestly, I found the entire film a fascinating portrait of Japan in the early 80's with a beautifully strange soundtrack. I'd say if you go into it with an interest in Japan from the eyes of someone who has a deep love of Ozu, you'll take something good away from it. Don't watch it expecting an Ozu documentary.

I saw The Disaster Artist last night and I didn't like it very much. James was perfect, but most of the cast just felt like they were along for the ride instead of feeling unique and interesting in their own individual way. Dave was incredibly bland. Efron was awesome in his couple of scenes.

The beginning felt unnecessary. Why do I need to hear a bunch of celebrities sell me on The Room? Shouldn't this entire film about The Room be enough to do that? It felt tacked on, as did the scene re-creation stuff at the end. They clearly had no clue what to do with that extra footage, so they just threw it in at the end. It was cool to see, but still, it was an odd choice.

It was an incredible performance, but honestly, someone else should have directed it. The film was funny and I was enthralled whenever Wiseau was on screen, but the whole thing felt off somehow. The whole time I was thinking about that episode of Mad Men where they recreate that scene from Bye Bye Birdie for a diet cola commercial, and even though they completely nail the look of everything, it comes across as a inauthentic and wrong.

I'm bummed out because I really adore The Room. Getting to meet Wiseau and Sestero and then watch it in a packed theatre was one of my favorite cinematic experiences ever. There's some good stuff in there, but the bulk of it couldn't keep me very interested.

I started to watch Silence while I was on a long flight. I got maybe 30 minutes into it and found myself laughing at things that certainly were not meant to be humorous. The plane had some sort of glitch in their monitors and had to reboot, and by the time it came back up I had already started something else on my tablet.

I don't know that I'll go back to it. As someone raised a Catholic whose mother was deeply religious but whose father turned more to science, I went more with him and away from faith. So the whole setup with these priests (Garfield & Driver) committing themselves to this passionate pursuit in the name of faith... I don't know, it just boggled my mind and made me laugh. Made me think of Trumpers who are so ardent in their beliefs that they can't be shed from the facts.

Shrug.

Probably do need to watch the whole thing at some point, with fresh eyes, and not on an airplane.

Finished A Ghost Story. That was bittersweet. Loved some of those shots, like Rooney Mara eating pie for five minutes, or the ending shot. And the whole letting go of something we're attached to was an emotional string everyone can probably relate to. I kind of like this movie and what it sets out to do.

Is Molly's Game worth it?

lazybones18 said:

Is Molly's Game worth it?

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I've seen mixed reviews here on this thread. Define 'worth it?' Like, worth your time and $10+ at the cinema? I am personally gonna wait for it to hit redbox, but then I do that with almost everything.

if you wanna hear Jessica Chastain speak really fast for 2 hours narrating a movie that doesn't need narration, yeah, it's really worth it
I hated it.

I'm not religious in the slightest but aside from Silence being a gorgeous looking, impeccably acted piece of work, the questions it batted about concerning one's faith were really interesting to me.

The book is extraordinary as well, even better than the film. Only a couple hundred pages.

I think I'm gonna postpone all of my first watches of big old movies to March after our voting thread. As I've basically found myself going through the 2017 films this month anyway, and then I may do a rewatch of all my top 10 movies for the year in February. Just to kind of solidify it and see if I still feel the same way about them all.

I still think Hugo is Scorsese's best movie since GoodFellas.

Antiporno
★★★☆☆

A lot of critique to Sion Sono's Antiporno was directed towards its lack of subtlety and while there are not many arguments one could make against the criticism, that specific crudeness is what makes the film work (covering itself mostly under the instinctual description of being "bold"). The film actually goes so far the extra mile into brechtian territory that the main character at one point sits at a table in an improvised set making an entire summary of the film's ideas (having the reflection of the simplistic symbol that is her pet.. a lizard stuck in a bottle). A comparison that can be easily made is that Sion Sono's film is what a Godard manifesto would look like in the dissection and exploration of the Nikkatsu Roman Porno. The title (something Sono was very adamant about) provides a very fit description of the film and all it's layers; similar to the anti-art concept, it places itself in a paradoxical position that continues the discussion started way back when the Roman Porno was in its peak: the difference between art and pornography/vulgarity and the use of sexual exploitation. In fact the genre's name itself is thought of coming from a similar paradox (romantic and pornographic) and created a tradition of offering a platform for greater creative freedom and art with a much bigger exposure/audience, as long as there was a sex scene every 10 minutes. At the same time, the director gives power to its title with the way it presents it's pornographic scenes: it strips away one of the pornographic fundamentals (of immersion and identification) by dedramatising and creating a distancing effect through overstylisation and conceptual fakeness (it was also pretty interesting to see kuleshov associations being used). The meta aspect of the film can be seen also as a self-reflection to the level of parody towards Sion Sono's own films and their sexual representation (we can easily find allusions to the sexual exploitation from Guilty of Romance or even to Suicide Club). Maybe this fetishistic history of the director creates a certain cynical dissonance when combined with the underlying feminist themes, but it definitely makes for an interesting watch and provides interesting thoughts, especially in today's time and culture.

Logan aka one long blood splattered piece of cinema
I loved this! Logan's claws get unfurled as they were meant to be.



And there are some gorgeous shots


I feel like this is obligatory with the sun shot above...

Carol **** [1/3 for Pick 3]
review from lb:

Therese lives among train sets, dolls, photos—attached to artificial worlds and beings yet asleep to reality. Not until she picks up a pair of gloves from the counter, a work bell sounding as she lifts them from her locker at the end of the day. She's rousing from her slumber. Therese is awakening to love, to something more than the desire she's experienced and had projected on her. (That can be one-way, can fluctuate.) This is a mutual leap of faith, neither submission nor willful act but a recognition that this enormous moving gravity is inescapable, coupled with a bittersweet knowledge of its impermanence, not only because a lesbian relationship with a married woman in the 1950s was taboo but because all things someday end. Love is "I miss you" to a dial tone.

While Therese's vitalization is intoxicating, some of Carol's divorce business is dissatisfying. Naturally, being that it's the earthier, workaday complement to Carol and Therese's otherworldly romance. Which isn't to brush away what indelible moments there are. Harge and Abby's exchange when Carol has left with Therese—"I love her." "I can't help you with that."—is one of the film's biggest heartbreaks, a quarter of Kyle Chandler's face through the pane enough to see how out of his depth and hurt the man is.

Carol provides the feeling of being swept away, under Haynes' guidance. All abetted by the flashback structure (and Affonso Gonçalves' editing), Edward Lachman's sumptuous photography that burrows into Therese's head, a typically great Carter Burwell score (and killer song selections), and all who contributed to the period clothes and spaces but especially Sandy Powell's costume design. A gorgeous film that strikes a chord.

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On to Bone Tomahawk and Anomalisa.

AngmarsKing701 said:

I started to watch Silence while I was on a long flight. I got maybe 30 minutes into it and found myself laughing at things that certainly were not meant to be humorous. The plane had some sort of glitch in their monitors and had to reboot, and by the time it came back up I had already started something else on my tablet.

I don't know that I'll go back to it. As someone raised a Catholic whose mother was deeply religious but whose father turned more to science, I went more with him and away from faith. So the whole setup with these priests (Garfield & Driver) committing themselves to this passionate pursuit in the name of faith... I don't know, it just boggled my mind and made me laugh. Made me think of Trumpers who are so ardent in their beliefs that they can't be shed from the facts.

Shrug.

Probably do need to watch the whole thing at some point, with fresh eyes, and not on an airplane.

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This is gonna sound harsh but...I find this to be a really blinkered and supercilious attitude.
I also grew up Catholic and am now firmly atheist. I believe we're a huge cosmic accident and that that's great and wonderful. That doesn't mean I find all faith laughable. Quite the opposite. Many with faith are just as capable as I am or you are of contemplating the world and the existence of a god and factoring in the evidence in favor of science and all that. And they come out still believing. Why is that to be disrespected? Their beliefs are no less considered and ideally bring them to similar conclusions about how to live in the world, provide enough common ground as a starting point that discussions of morality between theists and atheists can be fertile. What's more is the film is essentially about these exact tensions between faith and doubt. The film is about how faith is only meaningful when faced with immense doubt and the rising possibility that that faith may be misplaced, about reconciling the directives of a system of belief with a desire to minimize suffering.
And, less importantly, I find the Trump reference a disingenuous reach. As if there aren't liberals who believe crazy irresponsible shit and protest any flexibility.

Silence played well to me precisely because I was raised Catholic and am now an atheist. I think with the right mindset you could find a lot of value in it. whatever you do: definitely don't watch this movie on an airplane.

The only funny thing about Silence was that inquisitor character. The rest of it is harrowing and heavy as fuck

I was definitely guilty of pushing back at what I saw as the absurdity of stubbornly adhering to faith and symbols at the cost of incredible human suffering and lost, but as Andrew points out that was a really narrow read of the film.

My first proper release from 2018 is Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2018) - 3.4/10. Probably even worse than the 2008 Day of the Dead remake, Bloodline is a competently made but thoroughly boring zombie flick. There's some decent practical gore and zombie make-up, and it doesn't look SUPER cheap, but the dialogue is howlingly bad and the acting, oh God, the acting.

The lead actress' occasional voiceover narration made me want to saw my own ears off; it was like English wasn't her first language and she was stiltedly reading cue-cards. Yeesh.

You knew it was going to be shit, and it was.

Ingrid Goes West (2017)
I think I wasn't really knowing what to expect going into this, maybe some kind of horror or psychological splatter film but it luckily turned out to be something a little bit more. About this one fan wanting to be with this really popular Instagrammer, and in this whole process of stalking and whatnot I really felt how exhausting something like that must be, but I also felt for her, and just wanted her to discover her own beauty and happiness within herself but instead she is obsessed and it's an interesting look into the mind of such mentality. Also scary to be on the other side, of Taylor Sloane. Really solid movie. I didn't know that was Aubrey Plaza but that was a cool performance. And the more Elizabeth Olsen the better. #thatsmyolsen #scarletwitch #mcu

And hell, here's to Batman! #whysoserious #redgonnacutit #noradiospiderhere

★★★☆☆

I think I can get another movie in there for today before the Golden Globes. Might finish up Below Her Mouth or start it over. But The Killing of a Sacred Deer is also pulling my shirt.

andrew said:

Carol **** [1/3 for Pick 3]
review from lb:

On to Bone Tomahawk and Anomalisa.

This is gonna sound harsh but...I find this to be a really blinkered and supercilious attitude.
I also grew up Catholic and am now firmly atheist. I believe we're a huge cosmic accident and that that's great and wonderful. That doesn't mean I find all faith laughable. Quite the opposite. Many with faith are just as capable as I am or you are of contemplating the world and the existence of a god and factoring in the evidence in favor of science and all that. And they come out still believing. Why is that to be disrespected? Their beliefs are no less considered and ideally bring them to similar conclusions about how to live in the world, provide enough common ground as a starting point that discussions of morality between theists and atheists can be fertile. What's more is the film is essentially about these exact tensions between faith and doubt. The film is about how faith is only meaningful when faced with immense doubt and the rising possibility that that faith may be misplaced, about reconciling the directives of a system of belief with a desire to minimize suffering.
And, less importantly, I find the Trump reference a disingenuous reach. As if there aren't liberals who believe crazy irresponsible shit and protest any flexibility.

Silence played well to me precisely because I was raised Catholic and am now an atheist. I think with the right mindset you could find a lot of value in it. whatever you do: definitely don't watch this movie on an airplane.

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I will own the Trump comment being lame. I need to get that orange turd outta my head. Ugh.

I watched a shit ton of 2017 films, but the impressions I figured I should share the hottest take of them all, since my thoughts seem to be so at odds with so many others.

Call Me Be Your Name Review:

Aesthetically, Call Me Be Your Name is one of the most beautiful films I've seen over the past decade with a sort of Linklater knack for creating tone through landscape, music, and intangible moments. It's overly lush in every shape imaginable. You'd have to be blind not appreciate the technique on display within the film. There are longshots which hang around just long enough for the view to drink in the symmetry of rustic Italian structures, panoramic cuts which provide parallels between the blooming landscape and the relationship between the two protagonists.

However, I found their characterizations to be quite disconcerting. It unfolds with the same sort of adolescent perversity as Lolita. The lust of the lolito character for the older boisterous male seems unrealistic and perpetuates a reality in which men like Spacey seem justified. The kid says he's 17 but looks and behaves in a way where his naivety would have more in common with a lesser teen despite his obvious high intelligence. He can be seen skipping around with a backpack, frolicking around the country side in ponds and creeks, and laying around his dad's lap with a sort prepubescent glee.

The older man is a stereotypical boisterous American, who has this very Hollywood-like aesthetic to his appearance. He looks like he works out all day, wears sunglasses all day, and has seemingly sculpted his persona in every manner to garner the affection of the teen. And as viewers we're supposed to be look at the age gap, the monumental difference in experience and applaud the parents for having the empathy to let him run wild with this man as if there relationship displayed the epitome of love. However it's mostly physical based. They wrestle, engage in footplay, tease each other with innuendos and sexual advances. It's more puppy love infatuation than any sort of deep rooted magnetism which would warrant the speech given by the father in the end. There's very little context given to the their relationship other than a near carnal outward attraction to each other. The father's take on the summer affair seems not only unrealistically progressive but somewhat jejune in of itself.

7/10

Coco - After some Disney produced failures of cultural films (Princess and the Frog & it's Creole background where the black woman stays a frog the entire film), Coco basically becomes the best celebration of culture animated film that exists. I can't believe people called it B tier Pixar when it's easily better than a lot of the A tier output. In this Obama/post-Obama era of diversity pushes, this made me properly feel the cultural impact Dia de los Muertos has had on Mexico. Disney deserves to be lauded for making an authentic film with a completely POC cast and absolutely 0 white characters.

This film is also Pixar's most emotionally resonant film and it doesn't feel forced or manipulative in the ways Inside Out almost felt like on a second watch. I was a teary disaster in the theater. The movie also has really great adventure and comedy aspects. The art design is out of this world beautiful. Coco is easily Pixar's best post-2010 film.

9/10

lazybones18 said:

Is Molly's Game worth it?

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If you have MoviePass and are looking to kill time then sure. If you paying for it then no.

RastaMentality said:

absolutely 0 white characters.

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Damn midnight we are slacking on the pick 3 compared to the other teams

lazybones18 said:

Is Molly's Game worth it?

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For my money, yes, if you like Aaron Sorkin.

Certain Women (2016): This is the first film I've seen from director Kelly Reichardt, one of those minimalists who scrape by in the indie scene, making enough to justify getting to make their next movie (with the help of various Hollywood stars who basically work for free, e.g., Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart and Michelle Williams). Native American actress Lily Gladstone is the best in show here. On the whole, I don't think Reichardt's filmmaking style is particularly to my taste.

Coco (2017) - 7.3/10. This fell pretty short of greatness for me, which is disappointing given Lee Unkrich's involvement, but Coco is nevertheless another reliably charming, visually stunning, affecting Pixar animation.

The main thing holding this back is that the premise lacks the cleverness of, say, Toy Story, Monsters Inc or Inside Out; the mechanics of the life/death aren't especially fresh, and the main theme of "family is everything" felt fairly trite, even corny, to me, especially with how many high-profile movies have tried to exploit it recently (e.g. every Fast and the Furious movie, Guardians Vol. 2).

Still, it is a beautiful film to look at with at least one great song, strong voice acting and an earnest, poignant tone. It feels a little underwritten in parts and the big twist is hilariously obvious, but it did surprise me with one unexpectedly dark moment. However, the central theme rings a little hollow to me, especially speaking as someone with no plans to have kids.

I, Tonya
Would it be wrong to call Tonya Harding's life and career a tragedy? Cause if so, it's definitely one of the biggest American sports tragedies. As for the movie itself, everyone killed it performance-wise. Wasn't entirely sure on what to make of the 4th-wall breaking outside the interview segments, but somehow they work. I probably should have seen this yesterday on the 24th anniversary of "The Incident"

I need to watch that skipped it because I thought I might be disinterested in the subject matter but I've heard nothing but good things.

Went through some titles from last year that I missed out on.

Dunkirk: 'Twas a serviceable war picture. Shows that Nolan really has a knack for suspense and I think even his biggest critics should consider that at least.

Baby Driver: This one's a lot of fun. Maybe my audiophile bias is showing but I loved how they used the soundtrack here. Enjoyable in spite of Mr. Spacey.

Good Time: I know what the title really refers to but this film was anything but. Good but so sad when you look at the big picture. I can at least say that Robert Pattinson seems to have eradicated any amount of Twilight from his body.

Flow said:

Damn midnight we are slacking on the pick 3 compared to the other teams

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You've understandably been busy with the site and everything. I'm hitting play on Branded to Kill right now.

MidnightCowboy said:

You've understandably been busy with the site and everything. I'm hitting play on Branded to Kill right now.

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Get yourself a nice steaming bowl of rice first