Random Movie Talk XV: You Asked For It, Cobbler

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Manchester was ... fine. I didn't love it, but it wasn't bad.

the score/soundtrack, however, seemed really out of place through most of the movie.
 
The use of score during the dramatic flashback was fucking obnoxious, pure New England maple syrup pouring all over the place. I would rather it have been completely silent.

Otherwise, I'm on board and need to see more Lonergan.
 
I felt good about the music. It's the one element that theatrically heightens an otherwise more formally naturalistic film. I can see where that would only distract some people but I think that kind of stuff is great.
 
1. Hell or High Water
2. Manchester by the Sea
3. La La Land
4. Lion
5. Fences
6. Hacksaw Ridge
7. Moonlight
8. Arrival
9. Hidden Figures

I finally finished seeing all of these.

Excellent
1. La La Land
2. Hidden Figures

Great
3. Moonlight
4. Fences
5. Hacksaw Ridge
6. Hell or High Water

OK
7. Lion
8. Arrival

Awful
9. Manchester by the Sea

I was gonna make La La Land and Silence equal top, until I realised I misremembered Silence being nominated :eyebrow:
 
I felt good about the music. It's the one element that theatrically heightens an otherwise more formally naturalistic film. I can see where that would only distract some people but I think that kind of stuff is great.
I'm all about movie scores. I thought this one had a handful of moments that went over the top. The melodrama felt unworthy of the fantastic scene it was in, specifically thinking of the scene with the
fire.
 
I mean, it is a melodrama.

I know I previously said it's formally naturalistic, and it is for the most part, but it chooses certain times to go all in which I at least personally feel are earned.
 
I get that. I mean, you already know how I felt about Michelle Williams' big scene as well. Those were the only down parts of the film for me.
 
I'm all about movie scores. I thought this one had a handful of moments that went over the top. The melodrama felt unworthy of the fantastic scene it was in, specifically thinking of the scene with the
fire.




That unmentioned scene is when the movie lost me.

And that was what I meant earlier -- it was presented as just a part of the ongoing tragedy that is life when you are working class and unable to pronounce the letter R, so that's why we drink and pick fights with people in suits in bars and why instructions in wills are our only means of redemption.
 
Really enjoyed Get Out. Not THAT funny or scary, but enough of both to win me over. What I really enjoyed though was the direction and pacing. Great, slow build that ended with a very satisfying final act.

Part of me wants to say that Donald Glover (whose song Redbone is in the opening sequence) did this woke white liberal satire a little better on Atlanta (specifically in the episode Juneteenth), but it was handled more deftly in Get Out than it could have been. In less capable hands this could have been insufferable, so hats off to Jordan Peele for walking that line and delivering a really well written and directed film.
 
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Welp, I was in tears for pretty much the last 20 minutes of LOGAN. Awesome movie.

Seeing GET OUT next week.
 
My Life As A Zucchini: lovely stop-motion animation that tops Kubo and the Two Strings for me. Less ambitious, but the little details and sentiment are perfectly executed. The nomination (over a middling Pixar effort) is the reward here, and testament to how powerful it must have been for those animators who put it on their ballots.
 
Logan was good. Plus the AMC theatre I went to served alcohol so that helped. My only complaint was the film was too clear and I felt like I was watching a gigantic LCD tv. It's sad noticing the "soap opera effect" in movies now after seeing it on tv all these years.
 
My main takeaway from Lego Batman was that the DCEU should have just been Lego movies. A million times funnier, higher degree of emotional depth with brighter color palettes and less pompous Zack Snyder nonsense getting in the way. Lower budget too. The two Suicide Squad references were funnier than anything in Suicide Squad.

I didn't think it was as good as the original Lego Movie though.
 
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It was close. They're both really solid. Lego batman is my third favorite iteration of batman, too
 
My main takeaway from Lego Batman was that the DCEU should have just been Lego movies. A million times funnier, higher degree of emotional depth with brighter color palettes and less pompous Zack Snyder nonsense getting in the way. Lower budget too. The two Suicide Squad references were funnier than anything in Suicide Squad.

I didn't think it was as good as the original Lego Movie though.

I enjoyed it, and got a fair amount of laughs out of the references to all the previous Batman movies, especially the shark repellent.
 
I loved them mocking "you complete me" from Jerry Maguire, which was funny enough on its own but got even better when I remembered Heath Ledger's Joker quoted it as well. The attention to detail in Lego Batman was pretty damn impressive and I'm sure I'll catch a lot more references on second viewing.
 
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There's definitely a lot of subtle stuff that could easily be missed. Took me a second at the beginning to pick up on when Batman was telling Joker how he had foiled him in the past... "Like the time with the parade and the balloons....like the time with the 2 boats?" Didn't grasp the Nicholson reference until hearing the Ledger reference that followed.

And Alfred wearing the 1960's Batman TV show costume and them having put a moustache on the mask made me chuckle, but I think I may have been the only one in the theater who did.

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Will certainly be some more stuff to pick up on at home re-watching.
 
I was a little let down by Lego Batman if only because the first one set such a high bar. Half of the joy of the first one was that it was such an unexpected delight, so now it's not a surprise to realize a clever, funny movie about Lego toys can be a blast.

It was very entertaining and I laughed at a lot of the jokes/references.
 
I was shocked by how good it was. The trailer just made it seem like it was going to be all one-liners and no plot.

Not only was it a well-developed Batman movie, it had just as much heart as the Lego Movie did. Somehow it not only exceeded my expectations, but absolutely soared above them.
 
GET OUT - Very good, creepy and funny and ultimately satisfying. The cast makes it work I think...the lead is super likable and easy to cheer for and everyone in the twisted, evil family is diabolical and easy to cheer *against*. Especially once shit really goes down.

KONG: SKULL ISLAND - Brie Larson is the most amazing and beautiful and wonderful person on the planet.
 
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Just saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch's Broadway run here in Chicago and god damn I forgot how good this shit was. Definitely revisiting the film soon.
 
Time for a fairly unpopular opinion:

Stanley Kubrick is one of my favorite directors and Lolita is one of my favorite novels, but Kubrick's Lolita is pretty terrible. Not that I don't garner some enjoyment from how bizarre and darkly humorous it is - the innuendos they used in lieu of the actual, you know, plot are amusing - but the new story is a poorly edited, inconsistently acted and tentative one. Really frustrating to watch. They replaced all the lust and self-loathing with Peter Sellers screwing around and threw in some ham-fisted exposition to spackle over the plot they wrote. The last minute is amateurish, a bunch of shit recycled from the beginning of the movie with a stapled on epilogue. Shelley Winters is fucking obnoxious here, partly because of her line reads and partially because of the awful characterization of Charlotte. Kubrick's version of Humbert Humbert is simply a possessive asshole that's attracted to a 16 year old playing a 12 year old. Where can we sympathize with this man? The hook of the novel is gone.

The censors robbed the story of anything of worth and Kubrick replaced it with nothing, which is where his personal failing was. Probably my least favorite film of his.
 
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