Talk About Movies: Part 4
Somehow threads merged, so here's part 4 of our ongoing movie discussion.
This was filmed before he learned to make himself invisible. Snap.
lol and before he was an SOB
I didn't think there was any way Gladiator 2 was as bad as they made it out to be. I was wrong.
Completed Christmas double feature of Bad Santa and My Night at Maud's.
My Night at Maud's is, for me anyway, one of the great Christmas movies. Two old friends run into each other, and a Christmas Eve, one of the friends, Vidal, a philosophy professor, invites the other, Jean-Louis, a Catholic who studies the work of Blaise Pascal, to accompany him to Maud's house for a visit.
Maud is an atheist and Jean-Louis is a Catholic. Seems Vidal is a former lover of the divorced Maud. Vidal makes an excuse to leave after a couple hours, leaving Jean-Louis with Maud. Much of the rest of the film features the conversation between Maud and Jean-Louis. Although attracted to Maud, his Catholicism gets in the way of any serious relationship.
They spent much of the conversation talking about chance and Pascal's Wager, which concerns betting on things with the lowest odds. Maud speaks of her ex-husband cheating on her.
The rest of the film features Jean-Louis decision to marry a blonde woman he has seen once in Church. They marry. Five years later Maud runs into Jean-Louis, his wife, and their son.
A chance encounter. My Night at Maud's concerns the way chance and faith plays a role in our lives. Do we really have free will? Should we bet on the lowest odds?
I know most would be bored by Rohmer's film, but isn't two people talking to each other a great thing?
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Completed Christmas double feature of Bad Santa and My Night at Maud's. My Night at Maud's is, for me anyway, one of the great Christmas movies. Two old friends run into each other, and a Christmas Eve, one of the friends, Vidal, a philosophy professor, invites the other, Jean-Louis, a Catholic who studies the work of Blaise Pascal, to accompany him to Maud's house for a visit.
you might be the first person who ever did this double-feature, John. Congrats!
Our Christmas double-feature was two films by Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander. The first one - one of the all-time greatest Christmast movies -
Rare Exports
The economy of filmmkaing in this movie is amazing....so much fun. And if you've ever wanted to see a hundred naked old men running down a snowy mountain, penises flapping in the breeze, this is the movie for you.
The 2nd movie, while not a Christmas movie, was too good to pass up, as my GF had never seen it.
Sisu
A 60-something gold prospector in Lapland in 1944 has to fight off a horde of Nazis, who are trying to flee back to Germany with kidnapped women and his gold. Not on his watch, dammit.
Sisu is one of the greatest action movies ever made, and it just keeps ramping up and up and up....Goregously shot, too. No big messages, just a movie where a bunch of evil Nazis get their comeuppance over and over again lol.
Rare Exports is really good from memory and I also thoroughly enjoyed Sisu, looking forward to catching the sequel.
Bugonia
I've liked most Lanthimos films, and while Bugonia has its moments, I found the more didactic elements didn't work for me.
But I really liked the whole internet conspiracy theory plot line and even the "reveal" that you can see coming. There's a kind of Silence of the Lambs scene that pays off at the end.
Spoiler
She asks him how many aliens he has found, and when he tells her two, you know it's true.
I might have liked it more without "humans are destroying the planet" stuff.
Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone deliver nice performances.
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Had I seen Bugonia after Poor Things, I may not have liked it as much as I did. But seeing after Kinds Of Kindness made me appreciate it. I absolutely hated that film.
I didn't think there was any way Gladiator 2 was as bad as they made it out to be. I was wrong.
My dad has been staying with us for the last 2 weeks and he's been CRUSHING movies. (TLDR mom is in the hospital, easier for him to stay here) he binge watches all the dad movies and I caught the last hour of Gladiator 2 with him and I kinda want to see the rest? hah It felt like a far departure from the first. He'll watch every Jason Statham movie. He said he needs to watch action otherwise he'll fall asleep. I believe he's 75 years old.
Caught the last 20 minutes or so of Wahlberg Apes. Obviously horrendous, though I remember thinking at the time HBC deserved an Oscar nom.
But I’d forgotten all about Estella Warren. Yowza. She was the original prototype for Syd The Kyd. About a foot taller too. Pity about the acting part of it but she certainly ruled the lad mags fir a couple years. Turned 47 on 12/23. She would’ve been nominated herself if someone had thought to remake The Sure Thing right before 9/11.
Ad Astra came on after. Seems tiring.
Saw a very different Scrooge version called Carol for Another Christmas, with Peter Sellers. Sterling Hayden is shown the aftermath of the warhawk mentality when the bombs flew. Sellers is just sick priceless.
Been working through all sorts of movies, topped off most recently by Nightcrawler (2014) -- hadn't seen it since release. Very very good still, Gyllenhaal's performance especially.
*pushes up glasses* I was quoted in the Nightcrawler red band trailer, "Wicked fun," is yours truly. One of the highlights of my online film critic days.
The Night of the Hunter Some of the most haunting images I’ve ever seen. Mitchum riding a horse on the horizon while singing is beautiful and terrifying. I can definitely see how this film provided the blueprint for so many other films. An essential viewing for every film lover. I cannot get over the images, like the woman underwater, or ALL the shadows. There's a night shot of the house with a ton of smoke/mist and perfect lighting that was just... *chefs kiss* I definitely need to pick up the Criterion blu-ray during the next sale.
The Night of the Hunter Some of the most haunting images I’ve ever seen. Mitchum riding a horse on the horizon while singing is beautiful and terrifying. I can definitely see how this film provided the blueprint for so many other films. An essential viewing for every film lover. I cannot get over the images, like the woman underwater, or ALL the shadows. There's a night s
The scenes you mention are marvels... but it's just the tip of the iceberg.
I think this might be the greatest movie ever made.
Let me present my case....
Greenland 2, anyone?
Original made 52.3 off 35 budget, obviously released at height of covid. 2’s budget?
Spoiler
90. Also, they got a different kid, not the Doctor Sleep one.
Film palettewise, it might pair ok with The Odyssey.
The Night of the Hunter Some of the most haunting images I’ve ever seen. Mitchum riding a horse on the horizon while singing is beautiful and terrifying. I can definitely see how this film provided the blueprint for so many other films. An essential viewing for every film lover. I cannot get over the images, like the woman underwater, or ALL the shadows. There's a night shot of
The scenes you mention are marvels... but it's just the tip of the iceberg.I think this might be the greatest movie ever made.Let me present my case....
Interesting story about that song
I went to see Marty Supreme.
First, some backstory - when I was in university, I played some low level competitive table tennis and it was pretty fun. I wasn't any good but it had a nice social element to it and was good exercise. As part of my brief foray into the world of table tennis, I looked in our university library for books about it, and came across exactly one: "The Money Player" by Marty Reisman. He'd been a world class table tennis player in the 50s, and had written a book about his life, which detailed both his experience in world class tournaments, but also how he'd hustled table tennis for money his whole life, and had learned all manner of ways to win without revealing himself. It's a super entertaining book and I'd love to read it again.
Imagine my surprise when I heard they were making a movie based on this book and his life, and I was as excited to see anything as I had been since the TV adaptation of Queen's Gambit (another all time favorite book of mine).
The movie is not good. Essentially he's in a state of constant hustle against everyone in the world - his friends, his family, his boss, random strangers, and all of it for basically nothing. Just to get the chance to "prove" he's the best. A lot of his behaviour and antics struck a little close to the world of poker in terms of how he tries to rustle up money.
Overall, the biggest takeaway from the movie isn't "when you might be the best, you have an obligation to do whatever it takes to see it through" but instead "if you know someone like this, you need to cut them out of your life immediately." I didn't enjoy it.
Bring Her Back by the Philippou Brothers.
Creepy as hell. Scary and gory. Sally Hawkins!
Just wondering about the snatches of Russian in the film and the opening. Has Hawkins' character been tortured?
Might be the best horror film of the year.
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*pushes up glasses* I was quoted in the Nightcrawler red band trailer, "Wicked fun," is yours truly. One of the highlights of my online film critic days.
hahahaha that is so cool!
I went to see Marty Supreme.First, some backstory - when I was in university, I played some low level competitive table tennis and it was pretty fun. I wasn't any good but it had a nice social element to it and was good exercise. As part of my brief foray into the world of table tennis, I looked in our university library for books about it, and came across exactly one: "The Mon
Except for the Adam Sandler jewelry movie, I have not liked any Safdie movie, brothers or one at a time.
