Movies You've Seen Recently | June 2020

[Divius]

Welcome
Hello and welcome to the monthly Movies You've Seen Recently thread. The place to hang out with fellow movie lovers!

Thread rules
1. Be nice, be civil, use common sense
2. Respect the opinions of other members, no matter how wrong they are
3. Use spoiler tags accordingly
4. Have fun, we're all here because we love movies

DO NOT just post the title of the movie you watched. It isn't conducive to the kind of discussion & communication we want to engender here, because it tells us nothing of you, the movie, the impact of the latter on the former. Post scores, descriptions, essays, poems, gifs, hashtags, whatever provides you the best outlet for personal expression, you unique little digital snowflake. - icarus-daedelus

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Want to introduce yourself?
New to the Movies You've Seen Recently community? Let us know a bit about yourself:
1. What's your favorite Movie?
2. Who's your favorite director?
3. Who are your favorite actors/actresses?
4. Favorite Genre(s)?
5. What's your favorite performance in film?

- Post your top 5 new viewings from the previous month!

Useful external links:
Letterboxd
ICheckMovies
IMDb
Rotten Tomatoes
Metacritic

Also check out the official Film Era discord!

You need to reply to this thread in order to see this content.

Flow
BaronOfBarons
Ampersands
daydreamDE
omgkitty
kevin1025
Ridley327
JOKERACN7
Lordxar
ViewtifulJC
Halo 2
Fancyclown
Icolin
Hoju
Carl
Sterling
Mariachi507
Infernostew
Divius
Messofanego
jett
Borgnine
Angmars
Atraveller
Minishdriveby
PuckBeaverton
NoMoreTrolls
Ventilaator
Steamlord
Nexus
KraftyKrankins
S.T.A.R.S Beret
Spectromixer
Rhomega
Catsel
Foolia
Peco
Window
Overcast
ItRhymesWithDoom
ThatWasAJoke
Boogs31
Pachimari
shane632
VileZero
Slader166
More_Badass
MidnightCowboy
demosthenes
Roberto Duran
ASleepingMonkey
ZombAid
Disco
Double
andrew
Cloudwolf
okayfrog
Mi goreng
Rembrandt
Cripplegate
JetSetSoul
Halo 2
retroman
hipsterpants
sotojuan
Zutrax
Allstar
Darkwing-Buck
Ultimadrago
hydruxo
BringBackSonics
FeedMeAStrayCat
patientzero
InceptionLoop

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If you want to be added to the list above, shoot me a PM and you'll be added.

Unsure of what to watch? Just ask for recommendations in here. We don't bite!

 

[Divius]

I watched 1 (ONE!) movie last month. Busy times. I feel like betrayed this thread and the people in it. I hope y'all can forgive me.

 

[chefbags]

Watched The Vast of Night the other day. Fantastic film and the director definitely has his own vision throughout the whole thing. Really enjoyed it.

 

[Deleted member 31817]

Saw The Death of Stalin last night and loved it. Amazingly written, acted and paced from the first minute to the last.

The major historical inaccuracies mainly had to do with the fact that the events were spread out a bit more in real life so I was impressed about that as well.

 

[Teenage Fansub]

Saw 14 movies last month, 12 new watches, 2 rewatches. Three of the new ones from the current 'We Are One' Youtube festival which I'll link to in case you'd like to check them out in the next few days before they get removed.

New watches best to worst (I only really hated the last one):
Luce
The Assistant
Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records (WAO fest)
Ben-Hur
Last Black Man in San Francisco
Crazy World (WAO fest)
Bait
Electric Swan (WAO fest)
Her Smell
Bye Bye Birdie
Bad Education
The Wrong Missy

My rewatches:
Videodrome
Scarfies

 

[eso76]

So, Wonder Woman was among the suggested titles on my Netflix (no idea why, because it's a genre i'm usually not interested in) and I said what the hell, let's see what this is about.

Ok, guys seriously...I need to rant. I remember the praise and movie reviews, both from the press and users, are still there to prove the movie got 9s and 8s across the board.
And I can't help thinking everyone has gotten out of their minds.

It's an awful movie in every single way.
The hypocrisy:
The way WW heroically kills people left and right immediately rubbed me the wrong way. We're back to "but they're all bad guys" line of thought that's never questioned.
A strong female lead ! And yet they felt the movie needed a male protagonist at the side of the scantily clad drop dead gorgeous heroine, who basically drives the entire plot and steals the movie from her.
Her growing sheltered from the outside world also works as an excuse for the male protagonist having to explain everything to her naive ass.
The "I wanted to be an actor, but with my skin colour" line... felt like the movie wanted to make a statement for representation of people of colour in Hollywood, while relegating the only one in the entire movie to comic relief.

Then there's the completely nonsensical plot, the impossibly trite "i now believe in love and that made me stronger", the silly twist. The acting, the writing. And the bad CG, but i honestly couldn't care less about that.

It's simply appaling.


2/10

 

[Sasliquid]

BFI doing a Japan month so a lot of Kurosawa for me the pas few weeks:

Best New Watches (of 22):
1. Dog Day Afternoon
2. Yojimbo
3. High and Low
4. Red Beard
5. Ikiru
6. Onibaba
7. The Hidden Fortress
8. F for Fake
9. The Bad Sleep Well

Best Rewatches:
1. Seven Samurai
2. Control
3. Rashomon
4. Gladiator
5. For Your Eyes Only (that's a big drop in quality to the previous 4)

Most Disappointing:
The Deer Hunter

 

[Philippo]

Heya!

Might start participating in this thread, as since last year I've tried to dedicate a bit more time to movie watching than before.
Nothing on the levels y'all do I'm sure, but it's a surge in seen movies compared to before. Self isolation certainly helps lol
I'm particularily trying to get more into Japanese cinema, finding styles/directors I like and watching multiple of their operas.

1. What's your favorite Movie?
Will have to think about this, I know that in terms of mainstream big budget movies it would be The Matrix, and for less mainstream stuff I have no idea tbh
2. Who's your favorite director?
Cohen Brothers, Batz Luhrmann, Sofia Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Edgar Wright, Shane Carruth, Sion Sono
3. Who are your favorite actors/actresses?
Too difficult to choose
4. Favorite Genre(s)?
Honestly I like all kind of jams, even musicals, but no horror/gory stuff, it makes me uneasy.
5. What's your favorite performance in film?
Too difficult to choose

Just because it's my first time I'll write down all the movies I've seen this year, May included:

1. Monthy Python Sacred Graal
2. There will be blood
3. Love Exposure
4. Jojo Rabbit
5. Sorry to Bother you
6. American Animals
7. Listen up Philip
8. Monthy Python Brian
9. True Grit (rewatch)
10. Bad Times at the El Royale
11. Cold War
12. Uncut Gems
13. First love
14. Marriage Story
15. Antiporno
16. Memories of Matsuko
17. Silence
18. Swing Girls

Seen in May:

1. District 9
2. Waterboys
3. Van Gogh
4. Spinal Tap
5. Honey Boy
6. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (rewatch)
7. Linda Linda Linda (rewatch)
8. Manchester by the Sea (watched yesterday: good, really liked Casey Affleck's performance, it sold a completely broken person very well, you can believe that in the end some wounds do not heal but at least they get a bit better)

Will try to post some thoughts into the next stuff I'll watch!

If you have any suggestions that would be much welcome!

 

[Zousi]

41 films in May. Top 5 new watches:

1. Harakiri (1962)
2. Die Nibelungen (1924)
3. Seconds (1966)
4. Scenes from a Marriage (1974)
5. Black Moon (1975)

 

[The Real Paddington]

Hello everyone, I have been meaning to introduce myself at some point.

1. What's your favorite Movie?
Hard to decide but the first three to pop into my head are Pans Labyrinth, Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, and Mulholland Drive. I also really love Paddington 2.
2. Who's your favorite director?
I have too many to count but David Lynch, Park Chan-Wook, Bong Joon-Ho, Céline Sciamma, Spike Jonze, Denis Villeneuve, and Paul Thomas Anderson are some of them.
3. Who are your favorite actors/actresses? Cate Blanchett, Joaquin Phoenix, Robert Pattinson, and Amy Adams.
4. Favorite Genre(s)?
It doesn't really matter as I will watch anything. If I had to choose, probably Sci-fi.
5. What's your favorite performance in film?
I don't exactly know, but probably DDL in There Will Be Blood.

 

[Ridley327]

The results from last month's short but sweet James Cameron marathon!

The Iron Jim Masterpiece Tier:
The Terminator
Titanic

The Groundbreaking, Mind-Melting Great Tier:
Aliens
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Avatar

The Super Solid Yet No Less Remarkable Tier:
The Abyss
True Lies
Ghosts of the Abyss

The Uncommonly Good Pitch Film Made On A Shoestring Budget Tier:
Xenogenesis

The Well OK, Maybe That Was A Documentary Too Many There Jim Tier:
Expedition : Bismarck
Aliens of the Deep

The Literally A Theme Park Attraction, But Hey, He At Least Directed It Tier:
T2-3D: Battle Across Time

The Reason Why Academic Interest In A Director's Complete Output Sometimes Means Having To Put Up With Crap Like This That Only Features A Few Scenes He Got In The Can Before Being Booted By A Sleazy Producer Tier:
Piranha II: The Spawning

 

[Rhomega]

Only 4 new movies this month.

1. They Shall Not Grow Old
2. Sonic the Hedgehog
3. Scoob!
4. The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue

 

[luca]

Saw 11 movies in May of which 10 were rewatches. The Prestige, Inception, The Dark Knight and the Star Wars movies felt like new watches.

Top New Watches
1. The Godfather

Top Rewatches
1. Blade Runner 2049
2. Blade Runner: The Final Cut
3. The Prestige
4. Inception
5. The Dark Knight

Others: Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Ultimate Cut, Star Wars Episode 1, 2 and 3.

The Godfather was incredible.

I keep going back and forth on which I like better of the Blade Runners. Depends on my mood I guess. 2049 was my best watch of it since the premiere at the cinema, could finally watch it in one sitting.

 

[Boogs31]

Watched 16 films (1 re-watch) in May.

Top 6 new watches

Network
The Half of It
All the Presidents Men
Driveways
Bacurau
The Player

Most disappointing watch

Downhill - Just watch Force Majeure. This remake is just a watered down version.

 

[THEVOID]

I watched a movie called Inheritance this weekend. It was pretty awful except for the antagonist and during the movie I kept thinking this actor is pretty damn good. After the movie I looked up the casting and realized it was Simon Pegg! LOL!

 

[Sheepinator]

A few of my all-time favorites:

The Terminator.

Swingers. Still hilarious after 10+ viewings.

Snatch. Guy Ritchie's best movie. Great soundtrack. Brad Pitt, Bricktop, Bullet tooth Tony, so many great characters.

 

[PassiveObserver]

Saw 18 films last month.
1. Marriage Story
2. Old Joy
3. Frances Ha (rewatch)
4. Roma
5. High and Low

I need that First Cow.

 

[andrew]

Saw 18 films last month.
1. Marriage Story
2. Old Joy
3. Frances Ha (rewatch)
4. Roma
5. High and Low

I need that First Cow.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, do we know what the deal with that is? I think it actually did make it out into theaters in NYC/LA, but was supposed to show in other markets throughout March which didn't happen naturally. By me it was supposed to open March 13. Has A24 said whether they're going to VOD or planning to try and have it play theaters again, whenever we can do that?

 

[Tom Penny]

Vast of night - pretty good ending was kind of meh

Red Sun - Western with Charles Bronson and a samurai. It somehow worked. Good movie.

 

[andrew]

Oh yeah June viewings. 17 features, 1 short, 7 rewatches.

Best new watches:
1) Rock Hudson's Home Movies
2) Stray Dog
3) Johnny O'Clock
4) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5) Kung Fu Panda 2

Most valuable rewatches:
Network, for allowing the realization that it's not a great movie; The Godfather, for allowing the realization that it's not merely a cultural landmark but also a masterwork (and is better than Part II, no matter that the consensus seems to say otherwise); and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure for reminding me how a movie can be giddily incessantly stupid and slyly radical simultaneously

 

[PassiveObserver]

Yeah, do we know what the deal with that is? I think it actually did make it out into theaters in NYC/LA, but was supposed to show in other markets throughout March which didn't happen naturally. By me it was supposed to open March 13. Has A24 said whether they're going to VOD or planning to try and have it play theaters again, whenever we can do that?

Click to shrink...

I think A24 wants to give First Cow a chance at the theaters so it's pushed back indefinitely. But who knows if that will change.

 

[Deleted member 6769]

24 movies and 2 shorts for me in May. Between the semester being over and COVID, had a lot of time to watch stuff.

Best New Watches
1. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
2. City Lights
3. Matewan
4. Uncut Gems
5. Solaris
6. Modern Times (had to include this)
Honorable Mentions: The Limey, Barry Lyndon, Bicycle Thieves, Häxan, The Kid, Gold Rush, School Daze, Nine to Five, The Circus, Crazy World

Worst New Watches (none of these were too bad, 3/5) :
1. Knives Out
2. The Lobster
3. Alps

Best Rewatches:
1. Robocop
2. Moonrise Kingdom
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox
5. Reservoir Dogs (not as good as I remembered it being)

 

[andrew]

I think A24 wants to give First Cow a chance at the theaters so it's pushed back indefinitely. But who knows if that will change.

Click to shrink...

Got it. Hopefully I'll get that chance to see it big. I know the arthouse theaters around me are discussing doing drive-in movies this summer somehow. First Cow seems like it would be nice to watch in the open air.

 

[The Albatross]

I watched the Two Popes last night. I knew it was a pretty fawning movie of Francis and not very critical of the church, but I liked it. Thought the dialogue was good and great acting.

 

[MidnightCowboy]

Everyone should get an opportunity to watch First Cow in a theater. Not only is it a magnificent film, it's probably Kelly's prettiest.

Only Angels Have Wings

Was a little disoriented by the shift from Bonnie to Geoff's perspective—not that I have a problem with narrative switcheroos, just that it initially feels so much like her movie that her subsequent sidelining (she's unimportant, if not altogether absent, for large stretches) didn't totally work for me—but there's a lot to like here: gorgeous, thrilling aerial photography, some cool miniature usage, a wonderful cast that portrays a genuine sense of camaraderie and professionalism, Cary Grant's magnificent chin. At its core it's most definitely a hangout movie, and you should know by now how I feel about those. Hawks lets the characters and their interpersonal relationships come first, chief among them Geoff and Kid's friendship; the scene where they play-wrestle over Kid's coin feels spontaneous and almost improvised in a way most films of the era don't. And it all leads to an absolutely dynamite three-course meal of an ending: Geoff and Kid's final interaction, the boys finally accepting MacPherson, and a wonderfully romantic gesture from Geoff that's both affecting and cool as fuck. I really liked this movie and I suspect I would have liked it even more if I had been able to fully push aside the nation's moral, institutional, and political decay from my brain for a couple of hours. As such I probably only gave this like 90% of my attention, but such is life. And I know I mentioned it already, but it bears repeating: holy shit, Cary Grant's chin.

 

[Sean C.]

24 films logged in May, and I managed that despite investing a lot of time in a few TV series (such as the entire run of She-Ra).

Top 5 new viewings
1. Fly Away Home (1996)
2. A Night to Remember (1958)
3. The Assistant (2020)
4. Out of the Past (1947)
5. Daughter of Shanghai (1937)

Top 5 repeat viewings
1. Titanic (1997)
2. L.A. Confidential (1997)
3. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
4. Tomboy (2011)
5. Election (1999)

Across 110th Street (1972): This feels like the result of someone being told to crossbreed In the Heat of the Night and Foxy Brown, though the result isn't as compelling or fun as either of those. Killer theme song, of course, one that Tarantino would later famously make us of for Jackie Brown. The location shooting in Harlem in onset of peak urban decay is a time capsule, while the depiction of escalating racial tensions on the streets of America is...very contemporary.

 

[shintoki]

Felt like I was in the mood for 10 things I hate about you, would be a rewatch.

 

[Ridley327]

Under Pressure: Making 'The Abyss': Hearing the stories of how difficult the shoot was for the film can't begin to compare to the reality of how it all went down, showing not only just how insane their setup for the Deep Core set, but just how immaculate its setup turned out to be from a production standpoint for how one did lighting, foley work, the whole nine yards. Of course, hearing the story about how the giant tarp that covered the set would eventually wear and tear into tatters, forcing night shoots, or Ed Harris nearly drowning on an improperly handled regulator, is the kind of stuff one hopes to find in a behind-the-scenes doc in the first place, and while it certainly does have a story to tell for damn near everyone (even the rat!), I really had to appreciate the lack of sugarcoating from anyone, most of all James Cameron who admits he'd never make a film in these types of conditions ever again with just how much of a physical and emotional strain it was for cast and crew alike. It's that kind of humility that makes one appreciate the effort it took to bring the film to life all the same, making this a very solid doc that tells a whole lot about the experience in just under an hour, feeling like you don't really need to see or read more.

 

[Deleted member 31817]

Finally saw Minority Report. It was pretty solid outside of some of the looney tunes scenes (jetpack chase, dropping the eyeballs) and good God there was a shitton of unnecessary bloom. Idk is that term used for non video games too? It wasn't just bright lighting but outlines around objects and characters too in any daytime scene.

Also they overexplained everything to the point of treating the audience as stupid but eh it was a blockbuster movie so it was expected

Finally the cop's show of restraint is straight up laughable especially with this past week

 

[OnkelC]

1917 (on UHD) : cimenatographically one of the most impressive movies in recent time, but quite an average war movie apart from that. Good to watch, fast to forget IMHO.

 

[Blader]

Went through 24 movies in May! The most I've seen in a month in I don't know how many years.

Top New Watches:
]Let There Be Light
The Trip
The King
Extraction
The Skywalker Legacy
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Dolemite is My Name
Road to Perdition
The Italian Job
The True Glory

Top Rewatches:
The Empire Strikes Back
The Town
Chungking Express
Dunkirk
Mad Max: Fury Road

Speaking of rewatches -- I revisited a couple films (both turning 25 this year!) that were childhood favorites, and uh have aged not super great, one particularly worse than the oher.

Batman Forever
I think this was the first or second Batman movie I saw as a kid. I loved it (and yes Batman & Robin too) and watched it all the time. Having not seen it in at least 20 years, I knew it was not going to hold up at all, but I was still surprised by how bad it was. A lot of the shit B&R is criticized for -- awful writing, cartoonish performances, this bizarre pseudo-camp aesthetic -- is all present here. The single worst thing about this movie is Jim Carrey, who is overacting as if his life depends on never letting things go below 11. Everything about the Riddler in this movie is just awful, and if you removed every bit of his character from the film and changed nothing else, it wouldn't make Batman Forever a good movie but it'd be a markedly better one. I surprisingly liked Val Kilmer in the role, which I never did as a kid, and I think his performance actually gets closer to the pain of Bruce Wayne more than Keaton's did, particularly in how he tries to keep Dick away from superhero-ing. There's an interesting kernel of a story in this film -- of Bruce revisiting his own guilt in his parents' death, compounded by fighting a friend-turned-villain whose turn he blames on himself and seeing his own childhood pain and anger reflected in Dick. But it's all buried by the film's disproportionate focus on Jim Carrey's Riddler and every shitty thing attached to it. Despite all this, I didn't hate the movie though! It's bad but not obnoxiously bad like a Suicide Squad. It's breezy dumb cape flick, and an amusing nostalgia blast with a couple at least theoretically interesting things happening deep, deep under the surface. I also kinda like the score?
5/10

GoldenEye
Maybe the second best opening sequence in a Bond film. I don't like this movie as much as the last time I rewatched it. The action sequences remain great; I just love the look and sound of the AK-47 gunfire. But something about Brosnan's performance feels a little... pat? Brosnan brings a lot of charm to the role but there are times here where it feels like he's playing at Bond than being Bond. That might have less to do with him and more to do with the writing, which, while undoubtedly the best script Brosnan had to work with, still often defaults into really lame Bond-isms (for instance, every single one-liner capping off an otherwise dramatic scene). This mid-90s depiction of the internet and hacking is so primitive that I can't even make sense of what they're pretending to be talking about. It is cool that the writers recognized this would be the first post-Cold War Bond and worked that into the script, although the movie also often backs off every time it begins to say something interesting about Bond's character through that prism. In a lot of ways this film feels like the beginnings of a more thoughtful, character-driven approach to Bond that would more heavily come to the fore in the Craig films; here, it's sort of a one-step-forward, two-steps-back situation in straddling the line between that and more of the routine Bond formula. This is also the first time I ever really understood the lineage-driven aspect of Alec's plot, which I guess flew over my head every single time I've seen this movie. It is funny how much my nostalgia for the game is attached to my memory of this movie, knowing what the next setpiece would be or even recognizing the score just based off how things progressed in the game.
7/10

 

[More_Badass]

Best New Watches of May
- Nausicaa
- Metropolis
- School On Fire
- Long Arm of the Law
- In The Line of Duty 4
- Human Lanterns
- Castle In The Sky
- Dragons Forever
- Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind
- A Chinese Ghost Story
- Baby Blood
- Sanjuro
- The Tall Target
- The Vast of Night

Best Rewatches
- Once Upon A Time In The West
- Yojimbo
- Alien
- Den of Thieves
- Police Story

 

[ViewtifulJC]

I watched 1 (ONE!) movie last month. Busy times. I feel like betrayed this thread and the people in it. I hope y'all can forgive me.

Click to shrink...

Disgraceful. Pls turn over your OP powers to Ridley327 by the end of the day.

 

[Zippedpinhead]

Movies:
Uncut Gems (I had heard a bunch about it but never watched, it was good and Adam Sandler was fantastic in it, but the story plodded along and until about the second KG meetup was kinda "where is this going").
Drop Dead Gorgeous (So good, comfort movie)
Stay Tuned (hadn't watched in years, part of what I am dubbing Amazon Prime's "late 90's Starz movie starter pack" DLC, all they are missing is real genius and Top Secret!)
Happy Death Day 1& 2U (really enjoyed them! Horror comedy is great!)


got so many more movies to watch this month,

 

[FaceHugger]

I finally watched The Town. The acting all around was really good, and the story started out well enough. However, the second act was boring. The story grew to be a bit too sensational for what started out as a pretty grounded tale. A good movie, perfectly watchable, but I don't understand why it got such rave reviews back when it released.

 

[Deleted member 6769]

The Assistant - The Assistant uses the framework of a day in the life of a small assistant -- Julia Garner's Jane -- to paint a damning portrait of how systemic abuses exist and how those at the bottom are powerless to stop it. It's a film that is both of its time, yet timeless in its examination of power structures. The Assistant is anchored by a stellar performance from Julia Garner. She is our window into this world; she is perfectly in tune with the smart, understated tone of the film.

Director Kitty Green captures the monotony of endless amounts of phone calls and thankless grunt work that comes with being in the lowest rung of the corporate ladder. She captures moments of the complete awkwardness of being alone, constantly excluded from the larger workings of the company, getting side-eyed by everyone letting you know your presence is not welcome. It's not a coincidence that the only person who genuinely connects with Julia Garner's character is the boss's driver. They are totally different types of laborers with different social situations, but they share a quiet moment of camaraderie, taking comfort in the fact that their work often goes unnoticed and underappreciated. Jane also suffers disgusting verbal and emotional abuse from her unseen, unnamed boss. He is shot and framed like a slasher villain, always lurking behind closed doors, quickly moving in and out of the frame, always obscured. It's a genius directorial move that keys the viewer into both how this man operates and how Jane sees him.

The Assistant is right to highlight that in most cases, HR is not your friend. The HR scene is devastating in how plainly it shows the power dynamics of corporate hierarchies. He first comes off as well meaning, sweet talking Jane, until he slowly reveals that he doesn't care about the new assistant flown in from Idaho. He is only there to uphold and protect the abusive system in place. The HR guy threatens to replace her with hundreds of other young, eager people that would be willing to overlook what the boss is obviously doing. It is also noteworthy that he couches a lot of this in a faux-"progressive" sort of language, like "We need more women producers," not so covertly implying that if she wants to have a future in this career, she needs to toe the company line and stay silent. It's a devastating scene that reinforces the point that individual action can't solve systemic problems due to these social pressures. Those that hold the actual power are accountable for changing the culture, which is why they never change.

Though this HR scene is emotionally powerful, what was most heartbreaking for me were the little, quiet moments. The seemingly endless headshots of women pouring from a printer. The women who "lost" her earring slinking into the corner of an elevator. The one that had the most impact was the scene where the new assistant from Idaho is signing paperwork and asks if she needs a lawyer to look at the papers. The film cuts away before we hear the man that is with her answer, but we don't need to hear it. We already know the answer. This overwhelming, labyrinthine process is key in enforcing the culture of NDAs and silencing victims. It's a simple scene with a simple question, but it carries with it the pain and anguish of countless women who can't tell their story.

It's all wrapped in a package of cold, brutal fluorescent lights and sickly greens and greys. It captures the atmosphere of that space and exaggerates the color to make us just as uncomfortable as Jane is. Kitty Green also has a keen sense of direction and when to use a close-up. Most of the film is framed from a middle distance, but when she goes up close on the faces of these people, it heightens the awkwardness and the effects of the oppressive atmosphere even more. Just a crushing film that realistically portrays the way systemic, corporate-approved abuse can continue to thrive in the workplace. The Assistant encapsulates that feeling of wanting to do the right thing, but not having power to do a damn thing about it. Powerful stuff.

 

[Mórríoghain]

In the past 30 days I've seen:

Memento - 8.5/10
Infinity Chamber - 7/10
The Endless - 7/10
Zodiac - 7/10
Time Lapse - 7/10
I Origins - 6.5/10
Take Shelter - 6.5/10
Prospect - 6.5/10
Nocturnal Animals - 6/10
Circle - 6/10
The Lodge - 6/10
The Way Back - 5.5/10
The Experimenter - 5.5/10
The Discovery - 5/10
The Invitation - 5/10

I want to point out Infinity Chamber, The Endless, and Time Lapse for low budget indie sci-fi / mindfuck movie lovers.

 

[andrew]

In the past 30 days I've seen:

I want to point out Infinity Chamber, The Endless, and Time Lapse for low budget indie sci-fi / mindfuck movie lovers.

Click to shrink...

I'd call myself one of those. Already been meaning to see The Endless after liking Resolution a lot, I'll add the others onto the list as well. Infinity Chamber sounds especially cool

 

[RoninChaos]

Man. I miss going to the movies.

 

[Deleted member 6949]

Fonzo - It kind of meanders too much, but Hardy is hilarious and there are some big moments.

Inheritance - Solid thriller with fun performances. Better if you go in blind.

Blinded By the Light - This movie and Yesterday both sucked more than they should have.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu - Ryan Reynolds is a huge miscast, but it's a fun movie and I liked the world they created.

Justice League - Cavill's stupid cgi ape face was the only part that entertained me, and that was unintentional. I watched Doom Patrol afterwards and it was better in every way. Even the special effects somehow.

Hobbs and Shaw - 6/10

Extraction - Really well executed action movie on a technical level, but the characters and story were worthless.

The Lovebirds - A lesser Stuber.

The Domestics - This movie clearly had a tiny budget, but it still has some really good world building and action.

The Assistant - Accurate, but insanely boring.

Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge - These movies were diabolical and completely screwed up and I loved them.

Bad Education - Great acting, cinematography, and pacing.

The Rhythm Section - This whole movie rests on Blake Lively's haircut.

 

[Borgnine]

Big: (rewatch). 6/10. In this movie Elizabeth Perkins rapes a child.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Big: (rewatch). 6/10. In this movie Elizabeth Perkins rapes a child.

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The scene where Tom Hanks has to escape from his mom after turning into Big Josh is terrifying

 

[FaceHugger]

Watching Demolition Man (it's on Hulu US) for the first time since the early 2000's. It is even gloriously sillier than I remember. So weird seeing Snipes and Bullock looking so young.

 

[MidnightCowboy]

Dodge City
An unremarkable (relative to the genre's greats) but still enjoyable western, featuring all the iconography you can think of. I mean this really has everything, a wagon trail, a cattle stampede, a lawless town, an angry mob, a train sequence, an honest journalist chronicling the rise of a frontier town, and the highlight, a comically over-the-top saloon brawl between former union and confederate soldiers that prefigures both the La Marseillaise scene in Curtiz's Casablanca and, as pointed out in the TCM intro, the glorious mayhem in Blazing Saddles. Is Errol Flynn cowboy material? Probably not, but he's charming enough and I like his mustache. As a whole the movie looks good courtesy of Technicolor, the set design, and Curtiz's craft, but every once in a while it throws out a gobsmackingly beautiful image. The final moments are among the prettiest you'll see in a western, period.

 

[Pikachu]

I wish Letterboxd had more to it. It's not a website you can really spend any more than a few minutes on every day or even week because content is so slow to refresh. The same three lists show up as popular for the week or more, there doesn't seem to be a button to press to see more of the "recently liked" lists so it's difficult to explore, there's no forum, the same 3 popular reviews are up for weeks straight, etc.

 

[andrew]

The Invisible Man - ***1/2 / *****
Good! Similar to Upgrade in that I could see another director making something more multi-faceted and rich, while Whannell is content to latch onto one convention of a life or relationship and sprint with it. Nonetheless compared to Upgrade this is an...enhancement, largely due to Elisabeth Moss. She just has one of those faces, you know? She always looks like she's processing and thinking and feeling, taking in what's going on and reacting to it in the moment, without ever seeming performer-y. Moss rides the rollercoastery pace of the film well—a sickening lurch of an opening, a slow climb to insanity through the first half, a drop into histrionic calamity for most of the second, and a tensely quiet finale knotting it all up. Overall Whannell isn't a very visually interesting director, and in terms of color and lighting much of this is boring. However, he knows how to use negative space and POV (of people and cameras) and frames within the frame well. A movie about a manipulative invisible asshole plays to those strengths. On a plot note, while the film does zero to interrogate surveillance or "silicon valley" or police, it does have the nice detail of making the brother equally as evil. If you enable a narc abuser you're just as bad!

Kung Fu Panda 2 ***1/2 / *****
Also good! I don't really recall how I felt about the first one but this was a fun time. Well-choreographed and elastic wuxia action with comedy ranging from enjoyably goofy wordplay to Keatonesque physical clangor. Po's relationship to his adopted father is sensitively drawn and the alternate animation styles used in flashbacks are beautiful. (Though there's a pang of wishing the entire movie were in gorgeous 2D, but that's less an issue with the film and a personal cranky bugbear.) Also always down for the dynamic where industrialized weapons are depicted as cowardly, inefficient, imprecise, and ultimately susceptible to opposition regardless of power.

I wish Letterboxd had more to it. It's not a website you can really spend any more than a few minutes on every day or even week because content is so slow to refresh. The same three lists show up as popular for the week or more, there doesn't seem to be a button to press to see more of the "recently liked" lists so it's difficult to explore, there's no forum, the same 3 popular reviews are up for weeks straight, etc.

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I hesitate to suggest anyone is using a site wrong but I'm a little confused by this. Do you simply go to the Films and Lists tabs and look at site-wide activity? Because that's where the popular lists, recently liked lists, and popular reviews sections are, which is all you mention.

It's a social media site so you're kinda supposed to get followers and follow people, and then read the reviews and lists they post.

 

[Deleted member 31817]

In the past 30 days I've seen:

Memento - 8.5/10
Infinity Chamber - 7/10
The Endless - 7/10
Zodiac - 7/10
Time Lapse - 7/10
I Origins - 6.5/10
Take Shelter - 6.5/10
Prospect - 6.5/10
Nocturnal Animals - 6/10
Circle - 6/10
The Lodge - 6/10
The Way Back - 5.5/10
The Experimenter - 5.5/10
The Discovery - 5/10
The Invitation - 5/10

I want to point out Infinity Chamber, The Endless, and Time Lapse for low budget indie sci-fi / mindfuck movie lovers.

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I liked The Endless until the last 5 minutes with the hilarious speeches.

Zodiac, Nocturnal Animals and The Invitation with those ratings though smh all deserve better imo

 

[DeepBlueDay]

Saw "The Florida Project" again, this time with my girlfriend. She, who isn't very interested in movies in general with a few exceptions, was really fond of the slowed down narrative style of it.

Anyone has other recommendations with a similar style/pacing/ narrative ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sasliquid]

Last two nights I watched Network and Detroit. Need something equally disturbingly relevant for tonight now.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Last two nights I watched Network and Detroit. Need something equally disturbingly relevant for tonight now.

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