it's such a bummer that Jarmusch made a zombie comedy with a stacked cast and it turned out to be ass
Especially coming off of two back-to-back masterpieces.
it's such a bummer that Jarmusch made a zombie comedy with a stacked cast and it turned out to be ass
I have a feeling that you're going to really, really, really like From Russia with Love. No real big set pieces and a much bigger emphasis on espionage. The formula didn't really kick off until Goldfinger, where it pretty much codified the series from then on.Dr. No
A tale of two halves, sadly. I'm a Bond noob, so I was pleasantly surprised by the procedural elements of the first half, with Bond essentially being a more suave take on the traditional PI. It's all relatively lowkey, relying on pointed observations, sleuthing, and Sean Connery's inherent smugness to carry the story instead of action, action, action. In other words, actual (if stylized) espionage. But then we get to Crab Key and it kind of just becomes a bore (sorry Honey Rider), albeit with some undeniably gorgeous set and costume design. Really the whole movie is beautiful thanks to the natural beauty of Jamaica and some great 60s art pop sensibilities (color!). Overall, I enjoyed this, but the Bond formula is a known entity at this point, and I wager it's modeled more after the cartoonish second half than the grounded first half, which bums me out. Spies are cool, let them do spy shit!
Thanks! I'm not sure if it's available here in Italy. The website doesn't seem to be working right now.
That was iTunes for me above - £15.99 rental.
Thanks for letting me know, might check out Emma and Invisible Man. Would have been tempted to check out The Hunt if cheaper.
There they are, crazy to see. Will likely be rewatching Invisible Man as partner didn't get to see it.
Edit: This is on iTunes, UK. £15.99 to rent.
Even his first feature film Ivan's Childhood is chock full of incredible, influential imagery and symbolic cinematography. One of the best WW2 films. All of his films are amazing in some way.Andrei Rublev - Andrei Rublev is less about the man himself, and is more a meditation on the intersection of art, faith, guilt, and the cruelty of mankind toward one another. Tarkovsky, even in his second feature film, has an impeccable eye for shot composition and camera movement. I've used "painterly" to describe the way he moves the camera, and this is no different. Tarkovsky and cinematographer Vadim Yusov fill the widescreen, anamorphic frame with beautiful wide shots and vivid detail that feels both vast and intimate. This dovetails with the themes of the film, how art -- specifically religious art -- is simultaneously personal and existential in scope and meaning. The more I dig into Tarkovsky's body of work, the more impressed I am with how consistent he was. What few films I've seen from him so far have thankfully lived up to the hype around them. I'll have lots of free time in the next few weeks, as do countless others, so I'll definitely be squeezing in the rest of his work. Can't wait!
For sure! Next on my list is Solaris, really looking forward to it. I've seen Ivan, Stalker, and Andrei Rublev so far, loved all of them.Even his first feature film Ivan's Childhood is chock full of incredible, influential imagery and symbolic cinematography. One of the best WW2 films. All of his films are amazing in some way.
Check out the Spanish version at some point. Shot concurrently, on the same sets, with the same script, but at night while the English version shot during the day. Even though the guy playing Dracula can't match Lugosi (though is still fine in his own right) the direction and camerawork is more dynamic and interesting. Partly because they were able to watch how the English speaking crew did their stuff during the day, and then could take notes and improve on it for when it was their turn. It's, I think, a largely better film but also just an interesting experiment in making the same film twice but with somewhat different results.I just watched Dracula from 1931 last night for the first time. Really enjoyed it.
Woah! I had no idea about any of that. So interesting. Thank you for sharing!Check out the Spanish version at some point. Shot concurrently, on the same sets, with the same script, but at night while the English shot during the day. Even though the guy playing Dracula can't match Lugosi (though is still fine in his own right) the direction and camerawork is a more dynamic. Partly because they were able to watch how the English speaking crew did their stuff during the day, and then could take notes and improve on it for when it was their turn. It's, I think, a largely better film but also just an interesting experiment in making the same film twice but with somewhat different results.
Ten years on Inception is of much less consequence, even feeling rushed in an odd way. Next to the throat-clearing and self-redefinition of Interstellar and Dunkirk it feels even more as if Nolan hastily put this together in between Batmen. When you consider how those superior films would use time and relativity, this seems all the more like a dry run.
Dreams were perhaps the absolute worst subject Christopher Nolan could ever choose to tackle. A subconscious experience we all know as messy and illogical wrenched into brutal architecture and jigsaw mathematics. This only makes it more frustrating when the film's equations fail to balance. If one insists on imposing cold unfeeling logic on dreams, it better add up—so why is it that when the free-fall on "Level 1" removes the gravity on "Level 2" it doesn't also do so on "Level 3"? Why again does dying in Limbo take you back up when dying on any other level sends you deep into Limbo? What the hell is an Architect doing again? These are just a few logistical issues buzzing around your head throughout, and while at the time I tried to swat them away nowadays I don't feel the need. Nolan wanted to make this all right angles and closed-system physics models, so he should have done his homework.
Nothing in this film is dreamlike. The characters are hollow rather than enigmatic, much like the robotic subconscious projections about which we are educated. (An intentional resemblance?) Certainly that makes for fun banter, especially between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy—"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling"—but when it comes to developing a charismatic heist crew or raising the stakes of this mission, the lack of depth is a critical barrier. Not to mention helping us to buy the sorrowful backstory of Cobb, Leonardo DiCaprio's protagonist. Poor Ellen Page! She's forced into the position of emotional fulcrum of the film, and given next-to-nothing to help her help us to connect with Cobb.
This film has a surface sense of 2000s/2010s cool—call it a Matrix effect—along with a handful of thrilling action sequences. The outfits, the props, the zero-gravity fistfight, the bwomms, the impossible architecture. There is enough here to guarantee this entertains. The more distance you get from it, though, the more it fades in estimation and, even to a fan, seems like Nolan's least accomplished film.
Well, they are both adaptations of the same material. The original Universal Monsters one is really goodRented The invisible Man, fucking fantastic. It's like a good version of hollow man.
Watched The Martian again. It's such an excellent bit of hardish sci fi. Can't recommend it enough, especially if you are an Asimov/Clark/Robinson fan
The Martian feels like a bunch of folk sitting around thinking, "What would make for the perfect primetime cable movie?" And then they did it perfectly, while still making it feel smart and exciting.
What films are you guys watching and worth a watch during this time that are pandemic related?
I've watched I am legend, world war z and will watch 28days/weeks later in the evening.
Contagion and Outbreak. No zombies though.What films are you guys watching and worth a watch during this time that are pandemic related?
I've watched I am legend, world war z and will watch 28days/weeks later in the evening.
Cheers, ok without zombies haha, good thing about zombie films is they typically have great atmosphere, if made well.
Tempted to watch walking dead again...
- I'm waiting for someone.I watched A Ghost Story a couple night ago and it was kind of incredible. I've never seen anything quite like it. It lays bare the feeling of loss and regret primarily through scenes of the daily happenings of life. There's barely any dialogue but its message is still loud and clear. Highly recommended. And it's on Netflix.