The Favourite. 4/5. Who was it? Seriously.

Capernaum (2018) - While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.

Manipulative? Maybe--the main character truly has a miserable life--but you can't deny the incredible performance of 12-year-old actor Zain Al Rafeea. 4/5

iZsaZsa said:

Phantom Thread. 4/5. "Love" can make some people do and live with crazy goings on.

Relationships like this is why I try and keep my nosey butt out of other peoples relationships, cause some are just so...uh...unique.

onlyforaminute said:

iZsaZsa said:

Phantom Thread. 4/5. "Love" can make some people do and live with crazy goings on.

Relationships like this is why I try and keep my nosey butt out of other peoples relationships, cause some are just so...uh...unique.

And it's why I'm scared. You give love a bad name!

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Saw it as i found out it's a Richie film, and Richie used to be good. This movie is neither fish nor flesh, a mix of different other movies and serials together, but not boring. There's no real memorable scene but overall watchable...

peedub said:

damosuzuki said:

sorcerer (1977) 3.5/5 men from different parts of the world on the run from their past take refuge in the same south american town. the bridge set-pieces are some of the most intense, chair-gripping scenes i've ever seen in a movie. it is just a bit plodding in the first half, but the second section is great, in a herzog-ian 'man vs the pitiless indifference of nature' way.

i watched 'sorcerer' a couple of years ago as part of a william friedkin retrospective. great movie. based on a french (?) novel/film, 'wages of fear' (which i regret not watching when i had my filmstruck subscription).

i read friedkin's memoir around then, also. very recommended. plenty of anecdotes about the production of his films up to 'killer joe'. one of the first stories he relates, maybe in the preface, is of turning down prince's offer to have him direct the video for 'little red corvette'.

i've never seen (or read) wages of fear either. it's received a criterion release, so hopefully it will be on the streaming site when it starts up in april. i'm probably being a touch too stingy in giving a something that has as many great moments as sorcerer only a 3.5, but i did find that first 45 minutes or so a bit droning. i just checked, & we have friedkin's memoir in our library system, so i'll give it a read once i'm through the books i've got in my queue. thanks for the heads-up.

wavelength (1967) experimental 45 minute film that mostly consists of a shot of a wall.

for the first 20 minutes or so, all i could think was that this was a pile of pretentious art-school wank, and i spent most of that time wishing i'd never taken it upon myself to watch all of the sight & sound 250.

but at some point i gave myself over to it, and tried to go into a meditative state, and i think i ended up kinda loving it. or maybe i'm just a wank myself.

it's shorter than stalker, and it serves the same purpose, i think.

headshot (2016) 3.5/5 indonesian action film with iko uwais. not half as good as last year's the night comes for us, and it doesn't even inhabit the same galaxy of greatness as the raid films (the two greatest action films of all time in my books), but it does have some pretty decent fights, though they're all marred by shaking camera syndrome. watch the better films first, by all means, but give this a go once you've done that.

[Edited 2/15/19 7:13am]

Isle Of Dogs. 4/5. I pick this one to win at the Oscars.

iZsaZsa said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

The Last Jedi 8/10 I watched this again and liked it much better the second time around. I can see where they cut have cut scenes. The feminist thread throughout surely had insecure man boys wetting their panties, but overall it’s far better than The Force Awakens. Time will be kinder to this than that film.

VIII has its flaws, but I agree that in hindsight everybody will claim they always loved the film. IMO, an argument can be made that it's better than any film in the canon other than V or IV.

namepeace said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

iZsaZsa said:

Isle Of Dogs. 4/5. I pick this one to win at the Oscars.

Love this movie. So charming

Can hardly wait to see it again very soon.

Roma

still not sure how i feel about this film. Beautiful to look at. I like films with subtlety, and this delivers, along with more obviously powerful moments.

I liked the film... not sure how i'd rate it though.

phoenix (2014) 4/5 disfigured concentration camp survivor, unrecognizable after surgery, searches for the husband who might have betrayed her to the nazis. often what feels like a great film can be betrayed by its ending.
this is a case where i think the ending redeems a film that i felt wasn't quite working until that point for me.
through most of its running time, i think it asked us to accept a bit too much, but it lands its ending so perfectly, i completely forgave it.





fear of a black hat (1994) 3.5/5 genuinely funny rap faux-documentary that i'm surprised hasn't developed more of a reputation & following over the years. not quite spinal tap level greatness (& it's perhaps a little too openly inspired by it in some ways), but it constantly made me laugh, never bored me, and unlike almost every comedy i've seen, it didn't run out of steam at the end.

[Edited 2/17/19 7:09am]

Free Solo 7 / 10

Solo

ok, but what was the point of that movie?

2.5/5 was OK, just a nice sunday afternoon movie.

sexton said:

Capernaum (2018) - While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.

Manipulative? Maybe--the main character truly has a miserable life--but you can't deny the incredible performance of 12-year-old actor Zain Al Rafeea. 4/5

A beautiful story told from a Dickensian level of despair. Al Rafeea was a revelation. Director Nadine Labaki did a fantastic job of getting the most out of a largely unknown and inexperienced cast . . . the scenes with the babies and toddlers were masterful.

Instant Family

2 hours advertisment for Foster Parents in a sugary real-life setting. Nothing what happens here is 'cinema', you know it all from the real thing, hence I wonder why make a movie of the real life when the real life is what you're into when not watching a movie.

TheFman said:

Instant Family

2 hours advertisment for Foster Parents in a sugary real-life setting. Nothing what happens here is 'cinema', you know it all from the real thing, hence I wonder why make a movie of the real life when the real life is what you're into when not watching a movie.

That's what I figured this would be.

Kind of like "Night School". I watched 30 minutes of it, fell asleep, and woke up with 15 minutes left - and I wasn't lost at all. It wasn't a bad movie but since I felt no desire to create a review category called "Movies I Started, Then Fell Asleep In The Middle, And Then Woke Up For The End", I decided to skip the review.

hereditary was added to netflix last week, so i gave it a rewatch this past weekend.

meshes of the afternoon (1943) 4.5/5

experimental short film that guy maddin fans ought to love. i'm deducting a 1/2 star due to a silly sound effect that pops up repeatedly. apparently this was shot as a silent film with no soundtrack, and all the music & sound effects were added in the late 50s, so i probably shouldn't hold that against it.

i won't pretend for a second to understand a thing that happened, but i loved every moment of it.





ladies and gentlement, the fabulous stains (1982) 3.5/5 young diane lane runs away to play punk rock. enormously winning, shambolic, all over the place punk movie that captures the feel of the scene as well as any non-doc i've seen.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Rami Malek turns a pedestrian biopic about Queen into a really good and truly entertaining one with his turn as Freddie Mercury. I particularly enjoyed the delicious irony of Mike Myers playing skeptical EMI exec Ray Foster. The performance sequences were well shot.

If Malek walks away with the Oscar I'd say he earned it.

.5

Fight Club (1999) Starring Brad Pitt, Ed Norton, Helena Bonham Carter and directed by David Fincher. One of my fav films of the 90s, that entertains and enlightens. With amazing performances and a cool soundtrack to boot. I give it a 5 out of 5

5 stars out of 5

Very good movie

Rewatched Black Panther, first time since the cinema ... enjoyed it again, but I still think its fairly standard superhero fare, relatively predictable plot, and unlikely happenings like hero characters falling two hundred feet on to solid floors and jumping straight up without a dent on them.

Not the best Marvel film but it just scrapes in to its top five IMO.

Colossal

Now here's an interesting, weirdly film. I'm not sure what to make of the story, full of metaphores and allegories, or did it 'really' happen? Maybe i'm looking for things that aren't there.
If you want to see a movie around the exciting happening of an adult man making some steps in a children playground, this is surely the one!

TheFman said:

Colossal

Now here's an interesting, weirdly film. I'm not sure what to make of the story, full of metaphores and allegories, or did it 'really' happen? Maybe i'm looking for things that aren't there.
If you want to see a movie around the exciting happening of an adult man making some steps in a children playground, this is surely the one!

i liked that movie a lot too. weird & quirky, & it had a good little emotional kick as well as i recall. definitely a good film to catch if you want something off-beat, not cookie-cutter.

kong skull island (2017) 2/5 is it me, or was there a little cannibal holocaust tribute during the spider attack? sure looked that way to me.

a fun first third devolves into a turgid big budget bore. i think there are enough fun, exciting large budget movies made by the hollywood machine each year to justify its existence, but this is not one of them.

oslo, august 31st (2011) 4/5 recovering addict is given a day's leave to go to a job interview. i can't quite say that i got emotionally involved in this - i always felt very much at arm's length from all involved. but i really appreciated its quiet, modest & sympathetic tone.

phunkdaddy said: