Random Movie Talk XV: You Asked For It, Cobbler

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Watched Florence Foster Jenkins this weekend. I wasn't expecting greatness, so enjoyed it fine. I wanted to see it immediately when I heard they were making a movie out of this. Heard about the story in college, from a music professor.

Meryl Streep should get another Oscar just for the singing. It's hard to sing that off key when you're actually a decent singer.
 
I watched Montage of Heck as well as Oasis: Supersonic over the weekend. I'm not a major Oasis fan (I enjoy the first two albums to a certain extent) but I find their story pretty interesting, and Noel cracks me up, even now. The brothers were/are often insufferable but the odds of a meteoric rise like that are infinitesimal - and there was a lot of great footage from their early days.

As for the Cobain doc, I mean, it certainly posed more questions than it really answers but I thought the combination of the footage, the sound collages and the animation was captivating to say the least. And it was pretty fair overall; it seemed to me to present his strengths and a lot of the warts, too - it was not a smear job nor worshipful. I cannot remember watching a doc like this and feeling like I knew the person way more intimately than prior to. I have nothing specific to say/add that a million people have not said before as it pertains to Cobain himself, so I'll just add that the last 15 minutes or so were just so fucking sad.....and perhaps infuriating too. I

It is also very difficult to process, for me, that his death occurred almost 23 years ago.
 
corianderstem said:
Fuck, I wasn't serious! I wouldn't have picked her for a nom this year.
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She will always be nominated when the opportunity presents itself. Haven't seen the movie so can't judge. Many had predicted Amy Adams for that slot in what would have been her 6th nomination.

Hell or High Water is awesome. My favorite so far but I have only seen that, Hacksaw, and Arrival for best picture noms.

I like that there are 9 nominations meaning there were enough first place votes for each film.

Quite a comeback for Mel. Hacksaw Ridge is such a powerful dichotomy of a statement on war and anti-war values.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
You'd think that with my love of film combined with my living the bulk of my adult life in LA and having friends in the industry that I'd give a shit about the Oscars or whatnot, but, I literally could not care less and cannot recall the last time I watched. Not saying that I don't understand why people do pay attention, I of course understand that.....but for me, it just does not matter. Not sure why.
 
No spoken words said:
You'd think that with my love of film combined with my living the bulk of my adult life in LA and having friends in the industry that I'd give a shit about the Oscars or whatnot, but, I figuratively could not care less and cannot recall the last time I watched. Not saying that I don't understand why people do pay attention, I of course understand that.....but for me, it just does not matter. Not sure why.
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Ditto! I've grown more and more disconnected from the Oscars with every passing year, and often can't bother to watch it these days.

That said, I'll be mildly annoyed for a few minutes if La La Land wins over Moonight.
 
Considering Moonlight is about gay black men and has an unconventional structure, it's a miracle it has gone this far with mainstream awards (as well as its box office success). I hate to say its advocates (I consider myself a moderate one) should be happy with what they have, but it should still win a couple awards and it's a major triumph whatever happens.

But despite whatever shortcomings it may have in the script department (the one category I really hope it loses), La La Land is a breath of fresh air, is very well directed. and I appreciate the nods to classic musicals both American and French. So I'm certainly happy for its success.
 
Yeah, I didn't walk out of La La Land thinking it was the best movie I'd seen in ages or all year, but, I definitely walked out happier than when I walked in. I had a smile on my face throughout most of it, which I probably say less and less as it pertains to film/TV. Part of that pertains to my own choices and tastes, obviously, but still.
 
No spoken words said:
You'd think that with my love of film combined with my living the bulk of my adult life in LA and having friends in the industry that I'd give a shit about the Oscars or whatnot, but, I literally could not care less and cannot recall the last time I watched. Not saying that I don't understand why people do pay attention, I of course understand that.....but for me, it just does not matter. Not sure why.
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It's really the only awards ceremony of any kind I care about. But I care about it almost OBSESSIVELY.
 
I like La La Land a great deal. But if the Academy can't make a point of choosing a critically acclaimed unconventional movie about gay black men a year after #Oscarstoowhite and three months into Mr. Orange's term, it's a problem. Particularly if they go for a movie about jazz in which the only black character is a pop musician and sort of the "villain". I get why La La Land could (and probably will) win, and I would probably be defending it most years, but it's a shame still. Again: just mildly annoyed, as Moonlight has already received all the critical praise it deserves.

I thought the SNL skit was spot on, by the way.

'SNL' unleashes 'La La Land' police on all the haters
 
I thought La La Land was more or less amateurish Film Bro crap. Yes we get it Damien Chazelle, you've seen a couple Minnelli and Demy movies, but you have no idea what makes them compelling.
 
gump said:
the only black character is a pop musician and sort of the "villain".
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That's reductive, and Chazelle has said himself that he agrees with some of the points made by Legend's character in what is a fair discussion about the future/preservation of jazz.

Re: Moonlight, the voters aren't choosing what is the most acclaimed. Each person votes for what they connect to the most. Considering the makeup of the voting body, I don't think we're quite there yet with something small and culturally specific like Moonlight. Personally I think it's very encouraging that such a film inspired enough passion amongst the membership to get enough #1 votes to secure so many nominations, but it won't be a travesty or surprising if it doesn't win Best Picture.
 
I agree with you on mostly everything. And yes, the nomination itself is an accomplishment for an independent movie that is "challenging" for most viewers. But I'll still see this as a missed opportunity if/when it ends up losing, given the historical context. And I think part of the point of Moonlight is that, as specific that experience was, the humanity of it is universal. Of course the Academy will identify more with a movie about Hollywood/LA/Jazz/musicals, which in itself is a synthom of the diversity problems in the country more broadly.

I agree that my statement was reductive, but there were some grating aspects to La La Land's story that, again, are reflective of bigger issues: the white man trying to save jazz; the white man mansplaining to the woman why she actually does like jazz; etc. Fair point on the Legend character, and his trajectory in the movie is more nuanced than one would expect, but still.

I'm not even sure why I'm insisting on this point, as I like La La Land a lot. The final sequence in that movie was wonderful, one of my favorite experiences of the year. I guess I'm just a huge fan of Moonlight not only as a movie, but as a pièce de résistance.
 
lazarus said:
Re: Moonlight, the voters aren't choosing what is the most acclaimed. Each person votes for what they connect to the most. Considering the makeup of the voting body, I don't think we're quite there yet with something small and culturally specific like Moonlight. Personally I think it's very encouraging that such a film inspired enough passion amongst the membership to get enough #1 votes to secure so many nominations, but it won't be a travesty or surprising if it doesn't win Best Picture.
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I'm through 7 of the 9 Best Picture Noms. Still have to see Lion and Fences. Should be done by Wednesday. Moonlight does have a niche audience. It felt very authentic. Just got boring in the 3rd Act.

If I were a voter I would say I'm undecided between Hell or High Water, La La Land, Manchester-by-the Sea, and Hacksaw Ridge at this point.

I think only Hell or High Water is a 10/10 execution in the movie it sets out to be. Modern Western set against a Socio-Economic environment where the 'townsfolk' see the line between law/robbers blurred.
 
Anything but Hacksaw Ridge. Well-meaning overall and I liked that a risk was taken in utilizing such a jarring tone between the two halves, but the first half felt like generic Oscar bait fare and the protagonist was fairly one-note throughout in a Ned Flanders kind of way despite his rough backstory. The other characters weren't much better, mostly cannon fodder with a standout trait here or there (my problem with Rogue One as well). Andrew Garfield's performance was great, and Mel Gibson is always great at filming people getting slaughtered, but that wasn't enough to save the bland script.
 
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LemonMelon said:
Anything but Hacksaw Ridge. Well-meaning overall and I liked that a risk was taken in utilizing such a jarring tone between the two halves, but the first half felt like generic Oscar bait fare and the protagonist was fairly one-note throughout in a Ned Flanders kind of way despite his rough backstory. The other characters weren't much better, mostly cannon fodder with a standout trait here or there (my problem with Rogue One as well). Andrew Garfield's performance was great, and Mel Gibson is always great at filming people getting slaughtered, but that wasn't enough to save the bland script.
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Mel knows how to take a viewer on a romanticized journey with a hero character. I fell in love with Dorothy right along with Desmond. I had a tear in my eye when he finally came off the ridge. However, the sugar mixed with Mel's carnage is an jarring pairing. I gave the movie 9/10.

I think La La Land and Hell or High Water are both better movies.
 
Has anyone watched Paterson? I've had it on my list for a while but finally managed to catch it this weekend, and I'm pretty sure it's one of the best films of 2016 (top-5 or so for me). Paterson's broad theme - the beauty of everyday life - really resonated with me. Jamursch and Elmes bring that theme to life through impeccable camerawork and composition that bring even the most mundane things to life. Seriously, I'm not sure there is a single scene in the entire film that is not perfectly shot.

Adam Driver is great in it. Between his work here and in Silence, he's looking more and more like an emerging star (his Star Wars performance was not that convincing, I thought).
 
gump said:
Has anyone watched Paterson? I've had it on my list for a while but finally managed to catch it this weekend, and I'm pretty sure it's one of the best films of 2016 (top-5 or so for me). Paterson's broad theme - the beauty of everyday life - really resonated with me. Jamursch and Elmes bring that theme to life through impeccable camerawork and composition that bring even the most mundane things to life. Seriously, I'm not sure there is a single scene in the entire film that is not perfectly shot.

Adam Driver is great in it. Between his work here and in Silence, he's looking more and more like an emerging star (his Star Wars performance was not that convincing, I thought).
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I am far from a Jarmusch fan, probably can count the films of his I liked on one hand (Ghost Dog, Dead Man to name a couple). But the trailer interested me and I enjoy poetry, so I thought I'd check it out.

Really dug this. A great character study, but also a great portrait of a place. The touch of mysticism with the recurring twins and the Japanese tourist at the end elevated it beyond the mundane as you put it, as nice as it was without it.

Driver was solid, though nothing superlative IMO. Loved the girlfriend.

I don't think I ever got around to posting any kind of year-end list, so here's mine:

1. Julieta (Pedro Almodovar, Spain)
2. Silence (Martin Scorsese, USA/Taiwan)
3. The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, UK/Ireland/Greece)
4. The Handmaiden (Park Chan-Wook, South Korea)
5. My Golden Days (Arnaud Desplechin, France)
6. Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra, Colombia/Venezuela/Argentina)
7. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, Germany/Austria)
8..Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weersethakul, Thailand)
9. Fences (Denzel Washington, USA)
10. Paterson (Jim Jarmusch, USA)

And my honorable mentions (a lot this year), in no order:

Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone, Italy/France/UK), Hail, Caesar! (Joel & Ethan Coen, USA), The Nice Guys (Shane Black, USA), La La Land (Damien Chazelle, USA), Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, USA), Midnight Special (Jeff Nichols, USA), Knight of Cups (Terrence Malick, USA), Evolution (Lucie Hadzihalilovic, France), Arrival (Denis Villeneuve, USA), The Fits (Anna Rose Holmer, USA), Rules Don't Apply (Warren Beatty, USA), Elle (Paul Verhoeven, France), Things to Come (Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany), Cafe Society (Woody Allen, USA), Aferim! (Radu Jude, Romania/Bulgaria), Jackie (Pablo Larrain, USA/Chile), Indignation (James Schamus, USA), Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman, Ireland/France), The Red Turtle (Michaël Dukok de Wit, France/Belgium/Japan), Dheepan (Jacques Audiard, France), Manchester By The Sea (Kenneth Lonergan, USA)
 
Lion was alright. The first half is kinetic, surprising filmmaking full of discovery and show-don't-tell writing. Sunny Pawar is absolutely unmissable as a young Saroo Brierley and the effect of it all is haunting and emotionally stirring. What a fucking great first hour. This was really gunning for my top 5 for a while there.

Then, because Weinsteins, the rest of it is this weird, Oscar bait romantic drama that's clumsy, poorly paced and has no idea what it's trying to say or do. Things happen so quickly it's impossible to keep track of motivations or get invested in anything. The romantic storyline with Rooney Mara is a huge waste of time and adds nothing but name value. They put their noses together a lot and sad music plays. Who fucking cares? I love Rooney, but her character blows.
There's this one argument she has with Dev Patel that's literally just noise. Her character might be on drugs here...maybe? And there was a dance sequence to Blind by Hercules and Love Affair to establish what year it was, so that set up some tension, I guess. Then they go outside and scream random bullshit at each other that wasn't established as being in character at all. "WE'RE ALL SO PRIVILEGED," shouts Dev Patel, who not 20 minutes before acted like India was a shithole worthy of his ire. Then he ate some Indian food and now he can't breathe unless he reunites with his mother. OK. This argument is only here to separate the two characters for a while and inject some drama, which this movie doesn't need more of.

Nicole Kidman must be a fucking wizard because most of her lines are way too obvious or telling to land and, yet, they somehow do when she delivers them. Very good performance. Patel is good too, doing his best with a character that doesn't know whether he's coming or going in any given scene.

Anyway, after all the nonsense,
everything is solved by chance and sets up a big emotional ending and hey it's a true story so this is great give us all the awards please now many thanks!!

I'm giving this a 7/10 because I can't just ignore that half of the movie is fantastic, but what a clusterfuck. Go over to metacritic and if you read any of the mixed reviews for Lion, they're all saying the exact same thing: the first half is excellent and the second half is awful.

In better news, Paterson and Toni Erdmann are coming to the NoHo Laemelle, so I should be seeing those soon. Fences tomorrow, La La Land sometime next week.
 
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Seeing all the best picture noms has been a tradition for me since 2012, for better or worse.
 
We were supposed to go, but my schedule at work is so unpredictable, I ended up working two out of the last three weekends. Hopefully it's still in next weekend, I'm taking a mini vacation, because I think I'll implode soon otherwise.
 
Also I fell asleep during the last 25 minutes of Lion, but from what I saw, I basically agree 100% with Travis' assessment.
 
2017 ICS Award Nominees


PICTURE
• Cemetery of Splendor
• Certain Women
• Elle
• Jackie
• Julieta
• Manchester by the Sea
• Moonlight
• Silence
• Things to Come
• Toni Erdmann

DIRECTOR
• Maren Ade – Toni Erdmann
• Pedro Almodóvar – Julieta
• Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
• Martin Scorsese – Silence
• Paul Verhoeven – Elle
• Apichatpong Weerasethakul – Cemetery of Splendor

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
• Aquarius
• Being 17
• Cemetery of Splendor
• Cosmos
• Elle
• Embrace of the Serpent
• The Handmaiden
• Julieta
• Mountains May Depart
• Things to Come
• Toni Erdmann

ACTOR
• Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
• Adam Driver – Paterson
• Colin Farrell – The Lobster
• Andrew Garfield – Silence
• Jae-yeong Jeong – Right Now, Wrong Then
• Peter Simonischek – Toni Erdmann

ACTRESS
• Sonia Braga – Aquarius
• Sandra Hüller – Toni Erdmann
• Isabelle Huppert – Elle
• Natalie Portman – Jackie
• Zhao Tao – Mountains May Depart

SUPPORTING ACTOR
• Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
• Tom Bennett – Love & Friendship
• Alden Ehrenreich – Hail, Caesar!
• André Holland – Moonlight
• Issei Ogata – Silence

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• Viola Davis – Fences
• Lily Gladstone – Certain Women
• Sandrine Kiberlain – Being 17
• Nicole Kidman – Lion
• Masami Nagasawa – Our Little Sister

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• Cemetery of Splendor – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
• The Lobster – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
• Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan
• Things to Come – Mia Hansen-Løve
• Toni Erdmann – Maren Ade

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• Certain Women – Kelly Reichardt
• Elle – David Birke
• Julieta – Pedro Almodóvar
• Love & Friendship – Whit Stillman
• Moonlight – Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney
• Silence – Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese

CINEMATOGRAPHY
• Embrace of the Serpent – David Gallego
• Evolution – Manuel Dacosse
• Jackie – Stéphane Fontaine
• Moonlight – James Laxton
• Silence – Rodrigo Prieto

EDITING
• Arrival – Joe Walker
• Elle – Job ter Burg
• Jackie – Sebastián Sepúlveda
• Moonlight – Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders
• Silence – Thelma Schoonmaker

PRODUCTION DESIGN
• Hail, Caesar! – Jess Gonchor
• The Handmaiden – Seong-hie Ryu
• Julieta – Antxón Gómez
• La La Land – David Wasco
• Silence – Dante Ferretti

SCORE
• Elle – Anne Dudley
• Jackie – Mica Levi
• Julieta – Alberto Iglesias
• The Neon Demon – Cliff Martinez
• The Red Turtle – Laurent Perez Del Mar

ENSEMBLE
• Certain Women
• Elle
• Julieta
• The Lobster
• Moonlight

ANIMATED FILM
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• My Life as a Zucchini
• The Red Turtle
• Your Name
• Zootopia

DOCUMENTARY
• Cameraperson
• Francofonia
• Fuocoammare
• No Home Movie
• O.J.: Made in America

BEST PICTURE NOT RELEASED IN 2016
• Brothers of the Night
• The Death of Louis XIV
• Despite the Night
• Happy Times Will Come Soon
• The Lost City of Z
• Nocturama
• The Ornithologist
• Personal Shopper
• A Quiet Passion
• Sieranevada
• Slack Bay
• The Son of Joseph
• Staying Vertical
• Sweet Dreams
• Yourself and Yours
 
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