Dec 22, 2017

Watched this movie a couple days ago, great movie. Too bad I could anticipate the end.

 

Jan 7, 2018

• I watched A Ghost Story because of how high @Twan placed it in his year end list. I wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised, as you will see below.
  
  
  
  
  A Ghost Story 2017
  ★★★★★ Watched 06 Jan, 2018
  
  A hypnotic rhythm is mounted by the contemplation of sorrow, a gesture of existence for the sake of existence, a show of absence for the vindication of presence.
  
  91/100 - Amazing.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Frances Ha 2012
  ★★★★ Watched 05 Jan, 2018
  
  Nuanced physical comedy and naked vulnerability of person and performance help lift this otherwise banal story to greater heights.
  
  80/100 - Great.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania 1972
  ★★★★½ Watched 02 Jan, 2018
  
  A beautiful and heartwarming sentiment to personal history, presence, and wonder for a forgotten world.
  
  87/100 - Excellent
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  I Used To Be A Filmmaker 2003
  ★★★★ Watched 02 Jan, 2018
  
  Really lovely and thoughtful. A deliberate contradiction to tautology, a meeting of two passions.
  
  80/100 - Great.
  
  1 like
  
  
• 
  Afraid So 2006
  ★★★★½ Watched 02 Jan, 2018
  
  Whoa. Abstract, direct, montage cinema at its finest. Vertov would be proud.
  
  85/100 - Excellent.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Prayer 2002
  ★★★ Watched 02 Jan, 2018
  
  Cinematic, but I'm guessing its power is lost out of context. Would like to see the full omnibus to better engage with this.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Baby Driver 2017
  ★★★★ Watched 28 Dec, 2017
  
  Sharply edited, and boasting at times gorgeous sets a generally pleasant mise-en-scene. Audio and Visual harmony, rhythm, match on actions... splendid. Near companion to DRIVE/SAMOURI/CONFORMIST but clearly its own thing.
  
  83/100 - Great.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Spider-Man: Homecoming 2017
  ★★★½ Watched 25 Dec, 2017
  
  Best yet casting of Spider Man, and greatest potential for the series' development. It's popcorn balance of comedy and drama will always keep it from being great, though.
  
  75/100 - Very Good.
  
  1 like
  
  
• 
  Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2017
  ★★★½ Watched 25 Dec, 2017
  
  Most mature, well-written, and well shot of new school Star Wars, but also more obnoxiously ambitious.
  
  Should be called Star Wars VII. The other two, a remake and a prequel, shouldn't count. Here's to the real beginning.
  
  79/100 - Very Good.
  

 

Jan 8, 2018

Thinner (Stephen King)

it was ok at best

 

Jan 8, 2018

Glad you dug it, that's well said! I wasn't big on Lowery's Ain't Them Bodies Saints, so I too was pleasantly surprised. Outside of that one sequence of extended dialogue, I really admired just how committed it was to its conceit. I look forward to revisiting it soon.

 

Jan 9, 2018

A conceit which never feels a touch out of place. An anti ghost story more haunting than a genre film. The ghost is the sympathetic character we follow, and human existence is the ghostly element in the shadows. Really quite beautiful. Doesn't really remind me of Eyes Without a Face, but it sort of offers a similar thing.

I too was a bit sour on that scene, but I think it's more @Vahn getting in my head. It's a bit on the nose, but I see its value to the story. It's definitely a jagged edge in the film's otherwise all too well tempered tone, but not enough to affect my thoughts on it.

 

Jan 9, 2018

i might get heat for this but I think I prefer Ain't Them Bodies Saints overall.

 

Jan 9, 2018

That one is fine as far as Malick imitations go, but A Ghost Story is dope! Movies about death are my favorite sub-genre.

 

Jan 9, 2018

I think the ideas are a lot stronger in A Ghost Story, but idk as an overall film it didnt completely add up for me. Aint Them Bodies Saints doesnt have the same highs but I really enjoy it for what it is as a whole and i think it’s personal enough to stand apart from the Malick immitator label. I also love Bradford Young’s work on that so much.

Anyways, both are dope. Lowery is a good guy.

 

Jan 12, 2018

I wrote an explanation of Mother! breaking it down scene by scene for those who are lost on it, confused (not sure why it confuses people), or think its overly blatant or simple-minded.

Yes, once the allegory is understood there's little to take from it. But like Animal Farm or other great allegories, is the creativity of the metaphors that are worth sinking into.

http://bit.ly/2CW3kEN

 

Jan 12, 2018

blade runner 2049, amazing film

 

Jan 17, 2018

• 
  Phantom Thread 2017
  ★★★★★ Watched 15 Jan, 2018
  
  PTA's most assured film, where every moment--every sound, every image, every movement--lends value to the canvas of a demanding man who finds gentleness in his soul (alma).
  
  95/100 - Amazing.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  The Shape of Water 2017
  ★★★★½ Watched 14 Jan, 2018
  
  Thoughtful evocation of humanity in the face of its dehumanization. A fight against hypocrisy in favour of humility. A stand for the much maligned.
  
  86/100 - Excellent. (4.5)
  

 

Jan 17, 2018

42, Jackie Robinson
75/100 - Above Average
About the baseball player

 

Jan 22, 2018

• 
  The Layover 2017
  ★ Watched 21 Jan, 2018
  
  William H Macy, what are you doing?
  
  30/100 - Awful.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  The Day After 2017
  ★★★★ Watched 21 Jan, 2018
  
  Fighting, Crying, Black and White. Is this an antipod of Claire's Camera? What a range Sang-soo has. Dialogue driven conversation scenes with such passion and life. Philosophy and poetry intertwine. Life and reality and everything in between.
  
  81/100 - Great.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Never Steady, Never Still 2017
  ★★★★½ Watched 19 Jan, 2018
  
  Carries elements of poetic cinema but peaks short of its own potential for transformation of that same cinematic poetry which it so poignantly alludes.
  
  Trim the (still engaging) junk and a fully realized tone poem/pure cinema might be found.
  
  Eager for her follow up.
  
  85/100 - Excellent.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  A Cure for Wellness 2016
  ★★½ Watched 18 Jan, 2018
  
  Dane DeHaan's performance the only redeeming element of this overwrought, underdeveloped fare.
  66/100 - Decent. (2.5)
  
  No likes
  
  

 

Jan 28, 2018

Really good film...saw it today at the theater ...Christian Bale needs to win an Oscar for this no lie

 

Feb 4, 2018

• 
  Mudbound 2017
  ★★★ Watched 02 Feb, 2018
  
  Exceedingly sluggish with a remarkably awkward rhythm. Interesting content and narrative and a great soundtrack make this unexceptional film seem better than it actually is.
  72/100 - Good.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Second Sighted 2014
  ★★★★ Watched 01 Feb, 2018
  
  Beautifully abstract and moving.
  80/100 - Great.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Wonder 2017
  ★★★★ Watched 01 Feb, 2018
  
  A visual and narrative demonstration of empathy. Not really great cinema, but so much emotion!
  80/100 - Great.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Lone Survivor 2013
  ★★½ Watched 31 Jan, 2018
  
  Berg's brand of highly american masculinity and heroism. Very well shot and rhythmically edited which partially redeems this.
  67/100 - Decent. (2.5)
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Dyketactics 1974
  ★★★½ Watched 30 Jan, 2018
  
  An interesting collage of flesh
  75/100 - 3.5
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Patriots Day 2016
  ★½ Watched 30 Jan, 2018
  
  Superficial 'true-story' exploits an incident in modern american history as a measure for glorifying american values--the kind of arrogant values which in turn inspire such events.
  
  Baseless, immoral filmmaking. A bit entertaining.
  
  48/100 - Bad
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  In the Fade 2017
  ★★★★½ Watched 29 Jan, 2018
  
  An exemplary procedural centers this thoughtful reflection on violence in society and the bureaucracy which surrounds its.
  85/100 - Excellent (4.5)
  
  1 like
  
  
• 
  Bright 2017
  ★★★ Watched 29 Jan, 2018
  
  Empathetic action film with interesting concept if questionable execution.
  
  70/100 - Good.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  I, Tonya 2017
  ★★★½ Watched 03 Feb, 2018
  
  Though the script conveniently subverts fact to engender sympathy, as a work of fiction I, Tonya is a riveting and energetic tale of abuse and perseverance.
  
  79/100 - Very Good
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Daughter of the Nile 1987
  ★★★★½ Watched 26 Jan, 2018
  
  Understated early work wherein Hou demonstrates the tools of his unique brand of slow cinema. Long still takes of the kitchen repeat with slight variations, always in mind of action in the fore and back ground. Abstractions of time and off screen drama.
  
  88/100 - Excellent
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Baywatch 2017
  ★★★ Watched 26 Jan, 2018
  
  Surprisingly funny and well put together; the satire and self-parody often on point. Stupid, yes, but the kind of entertaining & intentional stupidity which one can enjoy.
  70/100 - Good.
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  The Lucky One 2012
  ★½ Watched 25 Jan, 2018
  
  Contrived storytelling creating drama out of nothing for the purpose of faux heart swelling.
  40/100 - Bad.
  
  No likes
  

 

Feb 6, 2018

Anyone catch the emoji movie or phantom thread yet? Both looked great imo

 

Feb 16, 2018

A Fantastic Woman -- great lead, weak supporting. Decent cinematography and solid soundtrack

 

Feb 16, 2018

loved phantom thread, looking to see it again soon

 

Feb 16, 2018

Emoji movie was better imo. Better screenplay