It's happening!

I'm liveblogging "Lady Macbeth".

First of all, the whatever-you-call all the credits of the people that paid for this. They're all British! And this was funded in part by th National Lottery! In America, we fund education and graft with our lotteries but in Britain I guess they fund cineman.

So a young girl got married. Then her husband came in and made her strip. Then he went to bed. She just stood there. No music. Scene could have used some music; even porn music would have helped.

The next day - they have a maid. No one talks much or smiles.

The maid dresses the wife. Pretty boring. The wife descends some stairs. She doesn't fall, which is disappointing. Nor do any ninjas, zombies or terrorists appear. Also disappointing. She sits on a couch in silence. It's her Sitting Couch.

The men have shown up for dinner but only the wife sits at the table. She gets up, which is a major breach of British protocol. She is told by another British man that she has to wait up for her husband. But she's sleepy. The maid is put in charge of keeping her awake. The maid's name is Anna. The wife's name is Mrs. Lester.

The husband comes in and makes her stand. Still no music. This film needs music in th worst way.

She again strips as her husband sits by the fire and watches. He is an asshole. He makes her face thw wall while he dances with Rosie Palmer and her five sisters. Amazingly, he is not played by Louis CK.

Some old guy lives with them. He eats horribly. He tells her that Mr. Lester has gone away, as there has been an explosion somewhere. He is also an asshole. Hopefully he dies soon. In an explosion, and one that we get to see this time.

She leaves the house and goes to the sea. As we all know, every old British house is BY THE SEA. Nothing happens at the sea.

The workers have a girl suspended from the ceiling, and she's in a bag. The wife makes them free the woman. I think it was the maid. Apparently Britsh men were racists and women-haters. One worker picks up the wife in an attempt to see how much she weighs. She fights back and then asks Anna the maid who the guy was that had her in the bag. Maybe Mrs. Lester is going to go Hobo With A Shotgun on him. We can only hope.

Mrs. Lester looks out the window some more.

She also goes to the sea again and now Anna thinks she has cold skin. This movie REALLY sucks so far but I'm hoping for some bloodshed in order to lighten the mood.

And here comes the worker who had Anna in a bag! He forces his way into Mrs. Lester's room and calls her "Katherine". She asks "What do you want?" Three guesses. Oh, and after fighting awhile, she pulls a 180 and gives it to him. She was winning the fight, too. We have no idea why she suddenly became his sex slave.

The vicar coms by. He figures she is sick because she goes outdoors, and also doesn't go to church. He, like everyone else, wants her to stay indoors. So she does, and continues to boink the workman.

More boinking ensues. Anna the maid watches through the keyhold.

It turns out the old guy is Mr. Lester's father, which makes him Katherine's father-in-law. He wants some flourie (a wine, I guess), but Katherine has drank it all. However, the maid is blamed but she knows who really drank it all.

The father-in-law beats He Who Did The Boinking but I assume it had something to do with either the flourie or the dogs he is in charge of. But wait - his name is Sebastian. And, somehow, the father-in-law knows about the boinking. I guess the maid was tired of being made to walk on all fours like a dog, and spilled the beans.

Sebastian has been locked in a dungeon or something. Katherine wants him freed but Daddy In Law won't do it.

Still no music. I miss music. Much more of this and I might not even complain if they play Cardi B or some other horrible music, like Ed Sheeran or something.

Katherine locks Daddy In Law out of the dining room, and lets Anna the maid eat. This makes Daddy In Law pretty mad. Mr. Lester, the husband, is still not home and Daddy In Law won't tell Katherine where he is. Maybe it was Mr. Lester locked in the dungeon, but I think it was Sebastian. Yeah, it was Sebastian.

Katherine breaks into the dungeon, licks all the blood off Sebastian's back, and gets a doctor to look at him.

They have a really ugly cat. I don't like cats to begin with, but this one is really ugly.

Hey, the father-in-law died! I missed how, but I'm really glad he died. He's in a casket. Katherine passes up the chance to spit on him. His son - Mr. Lester - still has not shown back up.

Katherine makes Sebastian the "man of the house". Keep in mind that Sebastian is not a good guy.

Ah, it was the poisonous mushrooms that Anna had picked that killed the father-in-law. For some reason they think Anna is mute but she isn't.

The husband has returned!

He tells Katherine that she's fatter.

And later, also a whore.

It turns out that everyone knows she has been boinking Sebastian. It also turns out the Mr. Lester didn't just marry Katherine, he bought her too.

Surprise! Katherine brings Sebastian out of the closet and begins to boink him in front of her husband, which leads to a fight between Sebastian and Mr. Lester. Katherine wins the fight by killing her husband with a poker.

Sebastian buries her huband in a secret grave. Then Katherine shots the husband's horse and they bury it, too. I guess the plan is to assume no one else knows the husband came home, so eventually everyone will assume he died somewhere and isn't coming back. This plan has been tried many times in history, and has never worked. Will it work this time?

Unfortunately, Sebastian is not really cut out for murder although I wouldn't have called this murder. He is now repulsed by Katherine but she gives up the booty and he is seemingly cured now.

PLOT TWIST! Mr. Lester had boinked a maid and a little boy was the result. He is introduced as the ward. You know, like Robin was for Batman. But I don't know if this kid has Robin potential. However, I have no doubt Katherine could be a Batman. Or Batwoman. She's actually pretty badass.

Sebastian is perplexed because he knew Mr. Lester could not boink Katherine. And yet, he apparently boinked a maid and now there's a ward. He is not convinced about all this. But to be honest, Teddy The Ward looks a lot more like Sebastian that he looks like the dear departed Mr. Lester.

I'm guessing Katherine is pregnant. Extracurricular boinking can do that to you.

For some reason, Sebastian is back to sleeping on the floor in the stables. Apparently, because the ward is around, he/Sebastian can't be seen in the house. Then they would be "found out" and Sebastian would "hang". So that's the "end of it".

Katherine is mean to Teddy while he is playing cricket. And now Teddy is missing. Hmmm, maybe Sebastian took care of his Teddy problem.

Nope! Not yet, anyway. He finds Teddy sitting on the rocks by some rushing rapids. It's pretty clear what he can do but in case you are not into British Murder, what he can do is push Teddy into the water. Which, I think he does although we don't see it.

What we do see is Sebastian running into the house with Teddy. He says he fished Teddy out of the water. Then later, I think he confesses that he pushed Teddy into the water and then fished him out. Maybe Sebastian has a conscience. But Teddy is still alive although he's in bad shape.

Teddy's grandmother is for some reason living with them. She's pretty bossy. She yelled at Sebastian for bringing Teddy into the house. I guess "mother of maid" rates above "stable hand" in British royalty. Anyway, Teddy's grandmother is watching Teddy but is tired. Katherine offers to take over.

Guess what?

Katherine and Sebastian smother Teddy.

I'm guessing Sebastian is going to feel really guilty about killing a five-year-old kid. We'll see. Katherine pretends to feel bad but I think it's an act.

Yep! Sebastian feels bad about murdering child! He goes into the woods to cry.

Uh oh - the doctor found there were bruises and he suspects something. Katherine tries to tell them the bruises were from the waterfall but then Sebastian bursts in and tells everyone that Katherine killed the father-in-law, her husband, and Teddy. Katherine says Sebastian is lying, and that it was Sebastian and Anna the maid that killed everyone. Because "everyone knows Anna is the one that picks the mushrooms".

Remember - they all think Anna the maid can't talk.

And I guess she can't, because she doesn't say anything when accused of all this. So she and Sebastian are taken away.

Hey! There's some music! It's just whole notes, but still! Music!

The music builds and builds. It's getting louder! Katherine goes to her Sitting Couch. She stares at whatever it is she stares at on the Sitting Couch.

The screen goes black. This can't be the end.

BUT IT IS.

Well, I did it. I watched "Lady Macbeth". And you know what?

It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen. Hey - it had some sex, some blood, and a Sitting Couch. It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than "War on Everyone".

RodeoSchro said:

Well, I did it. I watched "Lady Macbeth". And you know what?

It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen. Hey - it had some sex, some blood, and a Sitting Couch. It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than "War on Everyone".

hah, i wasn't completely mental in thinking you might not hate it. i'm calling that a win.

i'd watch animal house to keep the playing field level, which i've somehow managed never to see, but it's not streaming out there anywhere as far as i can see right now.

sexton said:

The Post (2017) - A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.

It's by the numbers and we all know how it ends, but as someone who has worked in publishing for over 20 years, watching this felt really good. 4/5

I'd give it .5. I liked the cast as well.

It was largely about the invisibility of women in the corporate and professional worlds, and Katherine Graham's role in changing that. It's as good a performance I've seen from Meryl Streep in some time.

Valerian and the City of 1000 Planets.

(8 out of 10).

I watched this on DVD last night but I wished I had watched it at the movie theater because the visuals are really stunning and this is probably a beautiful experience on a large screen, even though my TV is pretty big, too.

You can tell that director Luc Besson put a lot of effort into this production and that he is a fan but, like Luc Besson, I have been a decades long fan of the graphic novels, too, I think Mr. Besson went a bit overboard occasionally.

He put two or three of the graphic novel storylines into one single movie, using one spectacular background after another while sacrificing a bit on the plot and dialog side.

I mean, don´t get me wrong, it´s a great sci-fi fun movie but the graphic novels are so late 1960s to mid 1970s utopia, with a lot of tongue in cheek dialogue between the two characters, lots of liberal politics, full of great dialogues between the strangest characters, and a lot more focus on the planets that are part of the storylines.

This movie, on the other hand, jumps from one strange place to another without giving its audience enough time to let it all sink in a bit ,and the feminist or rather anti-patriarchic agenda of the graphic novels is not that strong in this movie but I am still glad that there´s finally a Valerian and Laureline movie.

The title is a bit misleading, the graphic novels were called Valerian and Laureline (or Veronique, in some countries), and the story is a bit derivative of Avatar but hey, it is still a highly watchable and enjoyable movie .

The actors are much too young for their roles though and don´t look like their graphic novel namesakes at all.

[Edited 1/28/18 13:58pm]

It seems that The Greatest Showman is not mentioned around her, perhaps because it is more the people's choice rather than a critical darling. It actually has had the best word of mouth of any movie this year, as evidence as it's unbelievable legs at the boxoffice. I often don't often go with the crowd, but it is very entertaining unless you hate musicals. A 4.5 out of 5.

Also enjoyed Billboards (4.5) and Lady Bird (4.0).

gandorb said:

It seems that The Greatest Showman is not mentioned around her, perhaps because it is more the people's choice rather than a critical darling. It actually has had the best word of mouth of any movie this year, as evidence as it's unbelievable legs at the boxoffice. I often don't often go with the crowd, but it is very entertaining unless you hate musicals. A 4.5 out of 5.

Also enjoyed Billboards (4.5) and Lady Bird (4.0).

I've heard it's enjoyable. I think there was some criticism of it not getting into Barnum's use of racist/blackface bits that were common to the era, which pretty much caused me to tune out.

Phantom Thread (2017)

Daniel-Day Lewis is in top form as the head of a great fashion house in postwar London, and Vicky Krieps gives a wonderful performance as his muse. It's film with a couple of real twists, with a great score, but it was overlong and a little disjointed in spots.

But Lesley Manville really holds the movie together. I'm glad she got the Oscar nod.

.5

(looked at my rating for The Post and it's at least as good as that one so I changed it.)

[Edited 1/29/18 8:46am]

Question About Your Rating Style:

do you rate your films based on your initial reaction, or do you rate them based on how they rank with all the films you've seen before/the great films of all time?

Part of my rating process is to compare them to my "gold standards" in terms of film (e.g., the first 2 Godfather films, etc.).

We've got serious cinephiles here so I was just wondering.

[Edited 1/29/18 8:44am]

damosuzuki said:

RodeoSchro said:

Well, I did it. I watched "Lady Macbeth". And you know what?

It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen. Hey - it had some sex, some blood, and a Sitting Couch. It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than "War on Everyone".

hah, i wasn't completely mental in thinking you might not hate it. i'm calling that a win.

i'd watch animal house to keep the playing field level, which i've somehow managed never to see, but it's not streaming out there anywhere as far as i can see right now.

Neither you NOR Sexton has seen "Animal House"?!? I expect the world to explode any moment!

Because of the fast pace of my liveblogging - I mean, I was typing "Nothing happens. Someone needs to die." about every 45 seconds - I missed a few observations about "Lady Macbeth". Here they are:

First, let me say that REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY WORKS. Because the more I think about this movie, the more I like it. Dang you guys! I know it's only because y'all said I would hate it. A pox on all your houses.

Or, alternatively, I will tell you that you're going to HATE "Animal House" with a passion and you will not laugh. Not even once.

<Experiment over>

I did not know you could buy people in Ye Olde England. Could you? I mean, beyond the obvious answer regarding the heinous practice of slavery. If you bought land, did you own all the people on it, too? That's what Mr. Lester told Lady Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth was pretty awesome, what with the killing of all male full-blooded Lesters. But I didn't see what Mr. Lester did that was so horrible. He was rude, yes. His dad was a dick, yes. He couldn't get it up, even with a hot wife. Yes. He always told her she looked sick, yes. Until he told her she looked fat, yes.

Did that warrant getting killed? For reference, here are some of the lyrics from Tom T. Hall's seminal 70's country anthem, "Put Another Log on the Fire":

Now don't I let you wash the car on Sunday
And don't I warn you when you're gettin' fat
Ain't I a gonna take you fishin' with me someday
Well, a man can't love a woman more than that

NOTE: Tom T. Hall is still alive. Even though this song is set at a fireplace, which means there was definitely a poker at hand, Tom T. Hall did not have his skull crushed in by said poker. Therefore, telling a woman that she is getting fat should not get you killed. I invite all males who voted for Donald Trump to test this theory. Congregate women around a fireplace and then tell them they look like they're getting fat. For the sake of scientific research, make sure to have plenty of pokers on hand. Probably none of you will get killed but if you do, we'll blame Lady Macbeth and/or liberals.

ANOTHER NOTE: For some reason. "Put Another Log on the Fire" was never released as a single. Luckily for you, I was raised in a country and western bar so I know all about songs like this.

AND YET ANOTHER NOTE: One Tom T. Hall song that WAS released as a single is called "The Monkey that Became President". Prescient! I'm surprised no one has re-released it. Maybe I can scoop the rights up for a pittance, and then retire to my private island in Belize.

As we so often see, murder is like tattoos - you do it once, you're gonna do it again. Although I couldn't understand why Lady Macbeth went RodSkullcrusher (my favorite internet screen name of all time) on Mr. Lester, I guess because she had already killed his dick of a father that she figured "Why not?" If I ever get Tattoo #1, I am sure my reasoning for getting Tattoos #2 - #50 will be "Why not?"

Sebasstian was an enigma. On the one hand, he had no problem putting Anna the maid in a sack and suspending her from the ceiling. I'm not really sure what the point of that was. And also on that hand, he had no problem forcing himself on Lady Macbeth. Again on that same hand (it's a big hand), he had no problem parading around as the man of the house, right in front of all the staff.

And yet, on the other hand (which is smaller than the first hand), he was later shown to be a Man of Morals. He got all creeped out when little Teddy showed up, and then he didn't actually finish Teddy when he could have by pushing Teddy into the raging river rapids. So he helps Lady Macbeth do it but then his conscience immediately gets so bad that he confesses to what he did, with the full knowledge that it is going to get him hung post haste.

I will not make these kinds of confusing character changes in my script(s). You will know who is good, and who is bad, and they ain't gonna change.

Well, I guess I'd better rate "Lady Macbeth" now. So let's do it. Hmmm, what would be the proper scale? How about:

3 Rotting Horses out of 5 Rotting Horses

or

3 Dowdy Slave Mothers out of 5 Dowdy Slave Mothers

or

3 verses out of "Put Another Log on the Fire" out of 5 verses of "Put Another Log on the Fire".

You get the drift! In case you don't, what I'm saying is that the first 40% of the movie kind drags, but there's some first-class bloodshed in the final 60% of it. Enjoy!

namepeace said:

Question About Your Rating Style:

do you rate your films based on your initial reaction, or do you rate them based on how they rank with all the films you've seen before/the great films of all time?

I do the latter. There

It depends on the rating system. For instance, with "Lady Macbeth" I used Rotting Horses. There really is no precedent for that, although you do not know how badly I wish I could have rated "War Horse" with Rotting Horses. Gosh, what an awful movie that was. But unfortunately the War Horse never became a Rotting Horse.

But usually, I rate it on any scale of how close the movie comes to achieving Total Entertainment Bliss.

RodeoSchro said:

namepeace said:

Question About Your Rating Style:

do you rate your films based on your initial reaction, or do you rate them based on how they rank with all the films you've seen before/the great films of all time?

I do the latter. There

But usually, I rate it on any scale of how close the movie comes to achieving Total Entertainment Bliss.

That's a part too. For example, The Shape of Water isn't all that much better than Post or Phantom Thread. All 3 were made by great directors and featured at least 3 great performances. But I rated Shape higher than the other two because I was entertained and charmed more by Shape.

namepeace said:

I saw Phantom Thread over the weekend and I honestly have no frickin' clue how to rate it.

On the one hand, it is an absolutely gorgeous film with performances (by D D-L, especially) that are absolutely riveting. On the other hand, not since Five Easy Pieces have I seen a movie in which every last one of the characters was completely unsympathetic and just plain awful. I wanted to feed them all toadstools.

gandorb said:

namepeace said:

I've heard it's enjoyable. I think there was some criticism of it not getting into Barnum's use of racist/blackface bits that were common to the era, which pretty much caused me to tune out.

I agree that their mostly positive portrayal of Barnum is problematic, but at the same time the movie's celebration of "the freaks"made it hard to resist while watching it.

It looks like an entertaining film. Jackman is great at that.

Genesia said:

I saw Phantom Thread over the weekend and I honestly have no frickin' clue how to rate it.

On the one hand, it is an absolutely gorgeous film with performances (by D D-L, especially) that are absolutely riveting. On the other hand, not since Five Easy Pieces have I seen a movie in which every last one of the characters was completely unsympathetic and just plain awful. I wanted to feed them all toadstools.

Well, the seamstresses seemed like good people.

Good point.

Last night my wife, son and I decided to watch a movie. We finally agreed on a movie about some slackers who work in a store and slack off all the time. They're constantly getting interrupted by other slackers. All these slackers have raised slacking to an art form. This movie about slackers and slacking was called:

"Clerks".

I think this was Kevin Smith's first movie. Wow, was he a lot skinnier! Then he got real fat. We all know about him getting kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight because he was too fat for one seat, and refused to buy the second seat that his love handles were occupying. Well, dude lost 65 pounds after that but according to my Google Image search, he put all that and lots more back on. And for the record, my Google Image search was "Kevin Smith skinny".

NOTE TO SELF: Do not try the "Lady Macbeth" technique of telling Kevin Smith he looks like he's getting fat. Although it's doubtful he could swing a poker around his belly, you never know. Better safe than sorry.

I'd heard about "Clerks" for a long time. It is a cult movie, which I think means that if you're in a cult, you will like this movie.

I'm not in any cults (that I know of).

But yet, this flick has some laughs. We giggled some. We guffawed once or twice. We chortled several times. Thankfully, no one spit wine through their nose.

Basically the guys in this flim are losers. They are nowhere, they are going nowhere, this is their life. And their life ain't one you want!

The lead guy is Dante. He's actually not a slacker in that he is very responsible when it comes to running the convenience store he works at. And what a crappy store it is! But Dante gives it his all, such as it is.

His best buddy is Randall, who's one of those guys who has all the answers - for everyone else. You know that kind of guy. Everyone else is either a druggie or a smoker, except for Dante's girlfriend. But it turns out she wasn't as chaste as Dante thought, so they argue.

This film is apparently based on the "Divine Comedy" which is a novel that I imagine exactly 0.00% of dopeheads have read, or even know exists. I guess that's ironic. I'm surprised Alanis Morrissette didn't include this fact in her song "Ironic". It could have potentially had this verse:

"It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the movie based on the book that you never read and thus will never get all the inside jokes and references but it turns out there are very few other kinds of jokes in the movie, and
Who would've thought, it figures…"

I have lots of Alanis Morrissette stories but I'm too bored...errrrr, busy to relate them here. Suffice to say that I am not a fan.

There's really not a lot to like about this movie, either. I mean, I want to like it. I assume that given its cult status, I'm supposed to like it. Especially given that Jay and Silent Bob turn out to be giant fans of The Time and have them appear in another movie. I kind of have to like it.

But I'm really just "Meh" on it.

What I think I will do is watch this other movie about clerks, who have to clerk in a store and interact with lots of other clerks but in reality, do very little to no actual clerking.

I think that movie is called "Slackers".

"Clerks" gets 1 1/2 helpings of lasagna out of 5 Helpings of Lasagna. Be glad I didn't rate it on the Jackie Mason ripoff guy who died while...meh.

namepeace said:

Genesia said:

I saw Phantom Thread over the weekend and I honestly have no frickin' clue how to rate it.

On the one hand, it is an absolutely gorgeous film with performances (by D D-L, especially) that are absolutely riveting. On the other hand, not since Five Easy Pieces have I seen a movie in which every last one of the characters was completely unsympathetic and just plain awful. I wanted to feed them all toadstools.

Well, the seamstresses seemed like good people.

Good point.

Especially when they had to remake that entire wedding dress in one night.

Genesia said:

namepeace said:

Well, the seamstresses seemed like good people.

Good point.

Especially when they had to remake that entire wedding dress in one night.

I'm saying though!

[Edited 1/29/18 10:35am]

I try to avoid movies with snow in them in the winter. lol

****... 4 star point system

1. Dunkirk *


2. Darkest Hour - **


3. Three Billboard Signs Out .... " ***


4. The Shape of Water - ** 1/2

1. How does one make a bad War Movie? How? Plot less (though its based on true events), characterless, and boring... watching paint dry boring. How this movie came to be nominated for any Academy Awards is astounding and ridiculous.

2. This is the flip side to the movie above. I already saw a pointless movie from the soldiers point-of-view at Dunkirk. I endured watching the same tedious movie from the political side, newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill . The movie was to long, the editor should have cut about 15 minutes of the film. A suggestion: The ridiculous scene were Mr. Churchill take the Tube and ask ordinary citizens what he should do about soldier's marooned in France.... totally unbelievable. As much as I like Gary Oldman work, his portrayal of Winston Churchill was wanting. Someday someone will get the Dunkirk fiasco right because former and the latter films failed.

3. The acting by all was superb. Frances McDormand, sister always knocks it out of the park. Sexton is correct I also thought this was going to be a quirky movie comedy. Yet, Three Billboards Signs... addresses anger, guilt, vengeance and violence. I would have given this film 4 stars but the writer obviously didn't know how to end the move and blew iT!

4. If it wasn't for the excellent actors, the premise of this movie could be written off. Watching the film I kept thinking, I've seen this creature before: "The Creature From the Black Lagoon". Seriously, this is the remake? What kinda saves the movie, the gentle loving relationships between Zelda(Octavia Spencer), and Zelda (Octavia Spencer) have with Elisa (Sally Hawkins). This relationships these 3 share is counter balance to the unbridled hatred and violence that's ever present.

==================

[Edited 1/30/18 5:12am]

namepeace said:

Question About Your Rating Style:

do you rate your films based on your initial reaction, or do you rate them based on how they rank with all the films you've seen before/the great films of all time?

Part of my rating process is to compare them to my "gold standards" in terms of film (e.g., the first 2 Godfather films, etc.).

We've got serious cinephiles here so I was just wondering.

[Edited 1/29/18 8:44am]

i think i mostly rate based on how well i think the movie succeeded in achieving what i imagine the makers were hoping to reach, & how personally engaged i felt, & what more could i have wanted from it.

if i were setting some sort of baseline metric using a film that i thought was perfect, like maybe 8 1/2 or blow-up or something like that, then i suppose a lot of things that i rate as 4.5 or 5 might settle down to a 3.5 or 4.

but i really just prefer to think of whether the movie is a success on its own terms. like paddington 2. it's a hopelessly sweet movie, comfy as a cup of cocoa, not the creation of marxist art-terrorists out to storm the barricades - but i thought it was perfect, and can't imagine that anyone trying to make that movie could have done any better than what we were given. completely different film, but i basically felt the same way about call me by your name, that anyone trying to tell that story couldn't have done better.

i'm sure there are some metrics that can be used to judge some things, levels of technical difficulty, whether the film can transcend its era, & so on. experts can speak to that stuff - that's not me - but i don't think there's a formula that's going to give the right answer to a rating, that's going to rank degrees of difficulty & achievement and give you the right answer. i don't think films are like some physics equation to be solved. they're emotional experiences, and the ways our experiences differ perhaps are reflective of different ways of thinking & navigating the world, or maybe they're just mysterious & inexplicable.

(sorry if that was too long & wankerish).

the battle of algiers (1966) 5/5 a film that feels like an analog for almost any civil war or radicalized group or area of strife you could probably name, & just a terrific, exciting, tense movie - the bombing sequence in particular is really something to behold.

martin (1978) 3.5/5 the zombie thread prompted me to give romero's 1978 vampire oddity a revisit. it's probably his most interesting movie from what i've seen, i think, & probably his most underappreciated. martin himself is quite a character, deeply & enjoyably creepy but a sad, sympathetic figure too.

Just saw The Shootist on TV this morning; hadn't seen it since I was a teen. Whatever you think about Western movies or John Wayne, this is a great movie. Not the usual western flick. Speaks to a a lot of societal issues as an aging gun-slinger realizes he is dying and that he is outmoded by the times he's living in. One of John Wayne's best roles and his most poignant as the dying "shootist." Great directing and restrained performances by the whole cast, including Jimmy Stewart, Anne Bancroft, and Ron Howard. 5 stars out of 5. Makes me want to start a whole thread on the greatest Western films, which speak to larger issues about America--Unforgiven with Cling Eastwood comes to mind...

damosuzuki said:

namepeace said:

TD3 said:

****... 4 star point system

1. Dunkirk *


2. Darkest Hour - **


3. Three Billboard Signs Out .... " ***


4. The Shape of Water - ** 1/2

3. The acting by all was superb. Frances McDormand, sister always knocks it out of the park. Sexton is correct I also thought this was going to be a quirky movie comedy. Yet, Three Billboards Signs... addresses anger, guilt, vengeance and violence. I would have given this film 4 stars but the writer obviously didn't know how to end the move and blew iT!

I think the end fit the theme of the movie. No one was going to tell anyone in that movie what they were going to do, and the movie seemed to tell the audience, "you don't tell US how this should end!"

4. If it wasn't for the excellent actors, the premise of this movie could be written off. Watching the film I kept thinking, I've seen this creature before: "The Creature From the Black Lagoon". Seriously, this is the remake? What kinda saves the movie, the gentle loving relationships between Zelda(Octavia Spencer), and Zelda (Octavia Spencer) have with Elisa (Sally Hawkins). This relationships these 3 share is counter balance to the unbridled hatred and violence that's ever present.

I'd also add that in the hands of a lesser director, this would have been a disaster. Also, Richard Jenkins provided an essential dimension to the film. I think Sam Rockwell is the only thing standing between Jenkins and the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

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[Edited 1/30/18 5:12am]

[Edited 1/30/18 8:55am]

namepeace said:

TD3 said:

****... 4 star point system

1. Dunkirk *


2. Darkest Hour - **


3. Three Billboard Signs Out .... " ***


4. The Shape of Water - ** 1/2

3. The acting by all was superb. Frances McDormand, sister always knocks it out of the park. Sexton is correct I also thought this was going to be a quirky movie comedy. Yet, Three Billboards Signs... addresses anger, guilt, vengeance and violence. I would have given this film 4 stars but the writer obviously didn't know how to end the move and blew iT!

I think the end fit the theme of the movie. No one was going to tell anyone in that movie what they were going to do, and the movie seemed to tell the audience, "you don't tell US how this should end!"

4. If it wasn't for the excellent actors, the premise of this movie could be written off. Watching the film I kept thinking, I've seen this creature before: "The Creature From the Black Lagoon". Seriously, this is the remake? What kinda saves the movie, the gentle loving relationships between Zelda (Octavia Spencer), and Giles (Richard Jenkins) have with Elisa (Sally Hawkins). This relationships these 3 share is counter balance to the unbridled hatred and violence that's ever present.

I'd also add that in the hands of a lesser director, this would have been a disaster. Also, Richard Jenkins provided an essential dimension to the film. I think Sam Rockwell is the only thing standing between Jenkins and the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

==================

[Edited 1/30/18 5:12am]

[Edited 1/30/18 8:55am]

Absolutely! Guillermo del Toro Gómez really threaded the needle with this unique story line. I thought I'd mentioned Richard Jenkins character Giles; I'd think Jenkins be the person to beat. Though I have yet seen all of the Academy nominated films, yet.

TD3 said:

namepeace said:

[Edited 1/30/18 8:55am]

Absolutely! Guillermo del Toro Gómez really threaded the needle with this unique story line. I thought I'd mentioned Richard Jenkins character Giles; I'd think Jenkins be the person to beat. Though I have yet seen all of the Academy nominated films, yet.

Sorry, that said Zelda and Zelda at first, and I didn't know if you meant Jenkins. Agreed.

I've seen 6 of the 9 nominees, but not Dunkirk, Call Me By Your Name and Darkest Hour. I think I'd rank the ones I've seen as follows:

Shape of Water
Three Billboards
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post

I think Billboards is the better movie, but Shape isn't far behind and I just enjoyed Shape more.

Call Me By Your Name

No stars.

Anyone who thinks is fine for a 24 year old grown man to have a sexual relationship with a 17 year old

boy is clueless. I'll keep this a brief as I can. Save me the bullshit about the age of consent or the apparent sophisticated of a 17 year boy old wise beyond his years. This a predatory relationship and to justify it not being so... I'd accuse you of moral relativism.

I never heard of this movie nor knew it was based on a book (author André Aciman) until last year on NPR. Granted I came in mid-stream of Terri Gross interview with the director of the movie. In lite of the political climate, the MeToo campaign, allegations of sexual harassment/violence and in lite of Hollywood and Award Show's have taken political stances about everything; I find the silence or the shutting down of any criticism of this movie hypocritical. LBGT community is full of it.

====================

[Edited 1/30/18 16:04pm]

namepeace said:

TD3 said:

Absolutely! Guillermo del Toro Gómez really threaded the needle with this unique story line. I thought I'd mentioned Richard Jenkins character Giles; I'd think Jenkins be the person to beat. Though I have yet seen all of the Academy nominated films, yet.

Sorry, that said Zelda and Zelda at first, and I didn't know if you meant Jenkins. Agreed.

I've seen 6 of the 9 nominees, but not Dunkirk, Call Me By Your Name and Darkest Hour. I think I'd rank the ones I've seen as follows:

Shape of Water
Three Billboards
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post

I think Billboards is the better movie, but Shape isn't far behind and I just enjoyed Shape more.

"Dunkirk" is the most boring movie I've seen in maybe my whole life. There is NO plot. My advice is wait and see if it wins Best Picture and if it does, you can go see what all the hype is about.

But be forewarned - it's not a movie as much as it is a History Channel mockumentary, except without a narrator. It's main claim to fame is the way in which it's filmed. It works best (if that's possible) in an iMax screen with 5,000 speakers.

I have a feeling that this movie would be even worse if you watched it on a TV, iPad or God forbid, a phone.