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Isis

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About Isis

  • Birthday July 5

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    Plague house

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  1. Wanted to watch The Holdovers but it had stopped playing so we saw Zone of Interest instead. Tell you what, that dog should get an oscar for giving the audience something that was not horrific to look at it/think about. Not the bleakest film I've ever seen but it is certainly up there.
  2. I went to the Royal Albert Hall yesterday for a viewing of ROTK (TE) with a live orchestra and choir. It was actually much better than I expected it to be. All the choral parts especially, I found to be ridiculously emotional. When you are watching the film on TV or in the cinema the music is usually in the background to some degree in most scenes. But in this scenario it is prioritised even over the dialogue (the film was subtitled). The music in the scene where Arwen is 'leaving' (I despise this entire plotline) and turns back after having a vision of her son and the scene where Arwen comes to Aragorn's coronation was voiced by an amazing soloist. Ditto the scene where Frodo takes the Ring and Gollum is fighting with him. Wowsers. Worth the entry fee alone. The lighting of the beacons and the ride of the Rohirrim also great, obviously. I went to the RAH to see Howard Shore conduct the score (selected bits) with the London Philarmonic in 2004 and that was pretty impressive (also quite seriously nerdy). But this viewing of the film yesterday was great fun, in part, due to the evident excitement in the audience. Some genuine good vibes right when I needed them.
  3. Come on, can all Oscar-worthy films be so dull? Or are you just being dramatic. It's pretty funny actually, and generally entertaining throughout. Worth a watch, especially if you have low expectations. I'm listening to a lot of film podcasts and also watching some docs about the making of films, like The Movies That Made Us. The whole 'process of Jurassic Park making physical animators extinct' thing is epic. Those game-changing moments in film are so interesting to go back and explore. It's just fascinating to me to learn the stories of how these huge classics were made. LIke Forest Gump - how they did all the 'historic shots' of Forest meeting famous people (the painstaking old-fashioned way). Things like how the scripts were developed, who was originally cast - all that stuff is so weirdly fascinating to me. I saw someone on Bluesky commenting that we need to make new stuff because trying to recapture old stuff doesn't work when the old stuff was someone else's niche interests... oh wait I'll just cut+paste: Star Wars reflects George Lucas's passion for hot rods, sci-fi pulp serials, samurai movies and WWII dogfights. Ghostbusters reflects Dan Aykroyd's passion for New Age paranormalism, New York architecture and HP Lovecraft. These sequels, mostly, reflect fandom's passion for fandom Also: Ghostbusters and Gremlins were both released on the same day? CRIKEY.
  4. We started watching The Movies That Made Us on Netflix and I almost wasn't going to bother watching the one about Die Hard (because even though the movie is fine I'm not as obsessivley into it as so many people seem to be). Interesting though. I was not aware of the stuff about taking Bruce Willis off the film posters because people thought he was a joke. Not sure I fully agree that Die Hard invented action films though. Sure, for things like Speed (normal dude becomes a hero) I can see it. But all action films? Also finished up Freud. I just feel like this was too long at eight episodes. There seemed to be too much retreading of similar grounds. It had an interesting premise (hynosis!) and Freud himself was a well drawn character but it did drag towards the end even though there was still plenty of action happening.
  5. Excuse me, but has someone made a series version of the Guy Ritchie film, The Gentleman? ???
  6. I don't always have complete recall of every film/TV episode I watch or book I read even if I really enjoy it at the time. Whilst my concentration is not what it used to be, I do try really hard to give my full attention to a film or show if I am watching it intentionally (i.e. not look at my phone or talk over it). I dunno, I have a full time job (which depending on staffing and workload leaves me mentally wiped out more often that not) plus two other part time jobs and most of my 'free time' goes towards a professional qualification I'm working on. So when I do take time to watch a film or whatever, I want to immerse myself in it. My lack of recall is probably something to do with lack of processing time, so stuff doesn't get filed into my memory long term. I'm too busy trying to memorise antibiotics! Went to see Dune part two last night. It's a nonstop/in your face/look away and you'll miss something film. I was desperate for a toilet break for the last hour but I opted to be uncomfortable instead as I knew I'd miss something important if I went out. I really feel like I need to see it again to decide how I feel about the way it all balances out. Maybe 8/10 on first viewing? Javier Bardem was my favourite thing about it. Felt like he was the most 'nailed it' of the characters.
  7. Same. When we got home (we live two minutes walk from the cinema) my first response to 'so what did you think?' was: I need to see it again. It was a relentless onslaught of story and action with no real quiet moments for you to process any of it. Bardem is PERFECT and I thought all the Alia bits were done well. As other's have said, I missed mentats, spice, the guild, a bit more of an active emperor role, and the other houses. It's a super busy film so a lot of stuff got pushed to the edges. The worms, the battle scenes and the fundamentlist story line overall (especially Chani's role) were all good. So how many films are planned? One more? Two more? Even the OST for the second film is more coherent than the first one.
  8. See, I don't really remember him all that much in that film (Sacred Deer) - all I really remember is the super creepy 'general anaesthetic' scene. Definitely can't remember him in The Green Knight either. Maybe he's just not very memorable, compared to other actors in the same films. Or, maybe it is just my aging brain. I downloaded the ASOIAF audiobooks onto my phone again recently and have been slowly working through them during bouts of insomnia. After the horror of the last couple of seasons it's easy to forget that there were some highly entertaining bits in the earlier seasons. I just watched the purple wedding and a supercut of the queen of thornes being disdainful of people on YT. We didn't deserve Diana Rigg.
  9. It took me at least four attempts to get through Maestro. Suffice it to say that I didn't enjoy it anywhere as much as I expected that I would. The accent used by Carey Mulligan (oopsy, forgot the character's name already) was just really distracting. I'm sure this was an accurate representation (because why would they do this otherwise) but that affected, absolutely artificial-sounding accent is so uncomfortable to my ears. Anyway, that's hardly the key feature of the film. I don't know, I just found Bradley Cooper's performance to be way, way too much. Yes, I know that's the point. Sure, LB's life story is interesting in the context of the times, but Jesus, it must have been exhausting to have to interact with someone so self-absorbed. I feel like maybe if I'd seen this film in the cinema and had to watch it in one sitting then maybe I'd have appreciated it a bit more? I really went in expecting to love this but I just found it tiresome and annoying. I mean, did he really 'train' for six months to act like he was conducting in one specific scene? Perhaps that is what is wrong with the film.
  10. This got cancelled just when it was getting REALLY interesting! It asked difficuly questions and was brutal in places. Tragic that The Wilds got that super weak second season and this only got one season.
  11. Yes, I feel like that ending is dliuted/made more comfortable to watch by the credits acting as a distraction. Now that I have seen the film I am going to go back and listen to that Sciamma podcast again, which I still have saved in Spotify. I remember talking about this on here at the time. I don't think that was VV just 'doing a poor performance' because of some inadequacy that specifically relates to him. I still think he was doing what he was asked to do. Watched a couple of TV mini-series during my little covid interlude: Deadwater Fell which is classic creepy David Tennant territory. Would definitely recommend if that is something you enjoy. Good performances from the rest of the cast. It's quite bleak. Only four episodes. Personally I find it a stretch to call it a whodunnit, more like a whydunnit? Also Penance, which is a three part mini-series about what happens to a family when the only-just adult son dies and they are all alienated by grief and a stranger appears to help them move forwards. (bleak, obviously!) Just started watching Freud on Netflix. I hadn't heard of this until a week ago, apparently it's from 2020 though. German with subtitles. It's about Freud getting involved with solving some mysterious crimes. We are only three episodes in but it's holding my attention, although we keep pausing it to discuss the associated history (it's a historical fiction basically). Lashings of cocaine - think constant vaping but with liquid cocaine - and hypnosis. Beautiful costumes too.
  12. Already booked my ticket for the Dune sequel. We rewatched the first one on TV but I'd have quite liked to see it on a big screen again. Who am I kidding? I know I will end up going to see them both at the IMAX on the inevitable two-part showing. I had a day off last week (pre-testing postive for covid the following day) and decided to watch Atonement as an acquaintance recently pointed out that it was on iplayer. I was sure I had never seen it yet I spent the first half an hour feeling sure that I must have watched it and forgotten it. But I think that must have been a consequence of having read the book and having seen so much imagery from the film. I've sworn off reading any more McEwan novels but this is such a gloriously bleak story on every level. It's so intentionally depressing, you have to admire it. Great cast as well. Glad I finally saw it. Will probably never do so again. On the flip side I also watched Portrait of a Lady on Fire which was amazing and deserves to be watched many times. It's filmed with an artist's gaze (obviously!) and it holds your eye and your attention the entire time. Just luminously beautiful. However...
  13. I think that he absolutely did come across like a problematic figure throughout the film. Although the film did have a sort of fairy tale happy ending because lots of things worked out (his plan!) and it also looked as if he underwent some (brief/initial) personal growth in relation to his children/his perception of what his family need towards the end. So it did feel like there was balance there. Whilst his story was interesting, as it was told. I would also be interested in the story from the perspective of Venus and Serena as well. I definitely was put in mind of Tiger Woods as I was watching. We just did a rewatch of The Talented Mr Ripley. It must be 20 years since I last saw it, and although I read the book maybe five years back, I didn't have a photographic recollection of all of the events, especially in the latter half of the film. HOW YOUNG THEY ALL LOOKED THOUGH OMG. Baby Cate, Gwyneth, Matt, Jude (kinda), and Phillip. Adorable! Definitely worth a rewatch.
  14. I watched King Richard last night. For a film that was 2hrs + it moved pretty fast. Without really knowing anything about Richard Williams I thought that was a truly absorbing performance from Will Smith. Did they give him fake teeth for this or just CGI that in post? I guess part of the pacing of this is that what we see took place over literally years and years but we kind of glance off the events, seeing very few of them in detail. It was a really absorbing film to watch but I feel a bit weird about it now, because it feels like such an incredible (Cinderella) story of achievement should be about the girls and what *they* achieved but it's a film about him. I know it says that on the tin. I don't know. Maybe I need to see a film from Venus and Serena's perspective now.
  15. Tested positive for covid yesterday morning so came home from work and watched some mind-numbing horror: Malevolent and Killer Book Club. KBC is meant to be like a modern-day, social media savvy Scream, I guess, but with killer clowns. In its favour I will say that it is short (90 minutes). Malevolent (with Florence Pugh and Celia Imrie) is a sad, could-have-been-a-moody-dark-little-horror but for some reason chose to be a predictable unimaginative story about a brother and sister who pretend to be ghost hunters. Meh.
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