Watch, Watched, Watching: Movies That Could Never Be Made Today Version

[WarGalley]

I finished S2 of Patriot on Amazon. I loved it though I think the first season was better. This is certainly a candidate for best drama or best comedy TV series this year in my mind.. maybe more toward the comedy category than drama for this particular season. It's deadpan humor, music, and outright ridiculous moments in serious settings hit my funny buttons pretty well. I truly do recommend this show for fans of the Coen brothers films.. and it's a shame that I fully expect Amazon to cancel it.

And speaking of Coen brothers films, I seamlessly moved right on to The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. I loved it. The Gal Who Got Rattled was my favorite story followed by Meal Ticket. The last story was a little deflating and boring coming right off of The Gal who Got Rattled but the entire movie as a whole was enjoyable in a morbid way.

Spoilers: Meal Ticket

Spoiler

Goddamn was that a depressing story. They took the most pitiful situation and descended all the way to the depths of ... ... ... I don't even know how to describe where they took it. The grim amusement was that the protagonist's orations were from these high forms of literature.. I heard at least the Bible, Shakespeare, and the Gettysburg Address. And yet, neither that nor being a human being made him worth more than a chicken. 

And his death.. damn. Allowing him time to realize his death was imminent and to be dropped in an icy river in the middle of nowhere was just ... cold. Being shot in the back of the head would have been a kinder fate than his last few days and moments.

 

 

[red snow]

I'm doing the odd thing of watching season 2 of "snowfall" and season 3 of "narcos" together. I like to think it's a bit like watching Dany's adventures on the mainland while Jon and co have their adventures in westeros

[red snow]

3 hours ago, Triskele said:

The more I reflect on this a few days after having seen it the more impressive I think it was.  All six stories have a lot to them to the point that I think that if one were to both ponder it and rewatch it, it's quite possible that one's preferred order of the six shorts could move around quite a bit.  

I have a hard time at this point even attempting to put them in order right now in part just because of few of them are so different.  

I wonder if we should start a thread just for this.  It seems like a lot of folks are watching this, and I don't want to get too detailed in this thread.

It could easily support its own thread (or maybe a generic western thread?). I read a good article picking apart each story as not just a reflection on the legends of the wild west but on Hollywood too. It makes "meal ticket" even more interesting and almost makes you wonder whether the first two shorts were a self-reflection. That story certainly feels meta considering this film was a Netflix film while superhero films and remakes rule the box office. 

[Isis]

Hmmm. I've got say I didn't take to it as much as everyone else here has. Might be because I watched it after a huge lunch and was suffering somewhat from indigestion. I don't normally have any issue with films being too slow or too serious - but I was pretty much just waiting for it to end by the last one.

Something I enjoyed more was a rewatch of The Village at the weekend. Think it was the third time I've seen it. It still stands up as a decent film, with some fine performances, even when you know the twist. Plus it has a beautiful soundtrack and it looks so good.

 

[Iskaral Pust]

I thought the The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs was excellent: quirky, thoughtful, veering from humor to tragedy, no over-arching narrative but a treatment of the human condition and the mythology of The West. 

Spoiler

And I think the point of the sixth is that the three passengers who first talk are all dead and being ushered to their fate by the two reapers.

 

[Theda Baratheon]

I've watched some absolutely CRACKING films recently! Krull the other day, really enjoyed it, equal parts ridiculous, silly, fun, ambitious with a genuinely emotionally powerful scene bang in the middle that was one of the best in any fantasy film I've ever seen (The Widow of the Web) 

and just now The Blood on Satan's Claw - absolutely fantastic folk horror film.The score in particular is superbly clever and creates a feeling of delrium and unease throughout - it starts off playful and sweet but there is something off about it, not quite right, much like the landscape of the film itself - the fields, the flowers and the forest look quaint but there's blood and bone in the soil and the rot has just begun to set in within the community ans the village folk. Absolutely phenomenal folk horror. 

[Teng Ai Hui]

GRRM is on Stephen Colbert's show tonight.

[Raja]

On 11/14/2018 at 5:37 PM, Isis said:

You are probably too young to remember the original series of Widows, which I have a big soft spot for. That's what really drove me to watch it, plus I hoped they'd take the concept and run with it... But they didn't really.

 

So I finally saw widows tonight, and man, I couldn't disagree more with your take on the movie. Gonna post more in spoilers 

 

 

I think there's so much going on in this movie, there's so much to chew on, even just the visual stuff. The opening shot of Neeson & Davis in bed, sharing that kiss, it like everything in the movie, was so unexpected, and viola davis said something like ( i'm paraphrasing)  'you're seeing a black women in this relationship with a white man, and she's not his prostitute or his slave' and things like that really stand out to me. There are so many just visual shots in this movie that are great ( farell in his car, and the camera panning over from one neighbourhood to another that changes drastically during a short conversation), I think McQueen is *so* kinetic with his camera, that I could just watch the movie with the sound off. I think there is a lot of plot in the movie, and that might be my main criticism.  

You don't really see this stuff, I expected a by the numbers heist movie, but I got a drama that I really wasn't prepared for - to me, the movie ended up being so much more than that. Daniel Kaluyya is so good too. I went in completely blind into the movie, all I knew is that it had a good cast, and nothing else, maybe that had something to do with me taking to it as much as I did. 

I think it subverted my expectations so much, that I couldn't help but be surprised, and by extension enjoy the film a lot. I love when movies take me somewhere I don't expect. I think the plot stuff can be a bit heavy, but I just think there is so much in this movie to like 

[Teng Ai Hui]

@Raja  When writing the spoiler code the word SPOILER has to be singular and, I think, all caps.

[dbunting]

Watched Overlord the other day and have to say I was entertained. Great movie no, but it wasn't half bad.

[RedEyedGhost]

1 hour ago, Teng Ai Hui said:

GRRM is on Stephen Colbert's show tonight.

I just saw an ad for that.  Will watch to see what he says about WoW, but it will probably mostly be about F&B...  Here's hoping a bomb is dropped.

[Raja]

Forum is being weird

[Isis]

6 hours ago, Raja said:

So I finally saw widows tonight, and man, I couldn't disagree more with your take on the movie. Gonna post more in spoilers 

  Hide contents

 

I think there's so much going on in this movie, there's so much to chew on, even just the visual stuff. The opening shot of Neeson & Davis in bed, sharing that kiss, it like everything in the movie, was so unexpected, and viola davis said something like ( i'm paraphrasing)  'you're seeing a black women in this relationship with a white man, and she's not his prostitute or his slave' and things like that really stand out to me. There are so many just visual shots in this movie that are great ( farell in his car, and the camera panning over from one neighbourhood to another that changes drastically during a short conversation), I think McQueen is *so* kinetic with his camera, that I could just watch the movie with the sound off. I think there is a lot of plot in the movie, and that might be my main criticism.  

You don't really see this stuff, I expected a by the numbers heist movie, but I got a drama that I really wasn't prepared for - to me, the movie ended up being so much more than that. Daniel Kaluyya is so good too. I went in completely blind into the movie, all I knew is that it had a good cast, and nothing else, maybe that had something to do with me taking to it as much as I did. 

I think it subverted my expectations so much, that I couldn't help but be surprised, and by extension enjoy the film a lot. I love when movies take me somewhere I don't expect. I think the plot stuff can be a bit heavy, but I just think there is so much in this movie to like 

I agree that as a thoughtful heist movie it works. (Just gonna put the rest in spoilers just in case...)

 

What I expected going in was that, plus some amazing performances, plus something additional to 'a thoughful heist movie' (which had been intimated from reviews I'd read). I think I was most let down by what was purporyed to be a "powerhouse" performance from Viola Davis. I was expecting GREAT THINGS. But they simply didn't show up. Good performance, yes. Great performance, no.

Liam Neeson phoned it in and should have been replaced by a cardboard standee of himself in Taken.

The best shot in the film? Yes, it's very cleverly done. Lots of good camera work/framing shots.

[Heartofice]

10 hours ago, Raja said:

So I finally saw widows tonight, and man, I couldn't disagree more with your take on the movie. Gonna post more in spoilers 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I think there's so much going on in this movie, there's so much to chew on, even just the visual stuff. The opening shot of Neeson & Davis in bed, sharing that kiss, it like everything in the movie, was so unexpected, and viola davis said something like ( i'm paraphrasing)  'you're seeing a black women in this relationship with a white man, and she's not his prostitute or his slave' and things like that really stand out to me. There are so many just visual shots in this movie that are great ( farell in his car, and the camera panning over from one neighbourhood to another that changes drastically during a short conversation), I think McQueen is *so* kinetic with his camera, that I could just watch the movie with the sound off. I think there is a lot of plot in the movie, and that might be my main criticism.  

You don't really see this stuff, I expected a by the numbers heist movie, but I got a drama that I really wasn't prepared for - to me, the movie ended up being so much more than that. Daniel Kaluyya is so good too. I went in completely blind into the movie, all I knew is that it had a good cast, and nothing else, maybe that had something to do with me taking to it as much as I did. 

I think it subverted my expectations so much, that I couldn't help but be surprised, and by extension enjoy the film a lot. I love when movies take me somewhere I don't expect. I think the plot stuff can be a bit heavy, but I just think there is so much in this movie to like 

I saw it this week too and I totally agree with you. I see a lot of the criticism of the film comes from viewing it as a pure heist movie, and those elements are clearly its weakest moments. It excels in so many other areas though that I can overlook its problems.
 

 

[Raja]

8 hours ago, Isis said:

I agree that as a thoughtful heist movie it works. (Just gonna put the rest in spoilers just in case...)

  Reveal hidden contents

What I expected going in was that, plus some amazing performances, plus something additional to 'a thoughful heist movie' (which had been intimated from reviews I'd read). I think I was most let down by what was purporyed to be a "powerhouse" performance from Viola Davis. I was expecting GREAT THINGS. But they simply didn't show up. Good performance, yes. Great performance, no.

Liam Neeson phoned it in and should have been replaced by a cardboard standee of himself in Taken.

The best shot in the film? Yes, it's very cleverly done. Lots of good camera work/framing shots.

 

Yeah, I think you're right in that Liam Neeson totally phones it in, I think all of his scenes after he 'comes back' don't really work, except for maybe the final confrontation with Viola, I think his line about 'saving himself' etc was kinda interesting in thinking about couples and how a marriage might disintegrate after losing a child. I think I'm a little different in that I read no reviews or watch trailers of the movies I go to, so I had no idea what to expect, especially all the political stuff with Colin Farrell & Brian Henry.  I agree that Davis' performance is not at an outstanding level, and tbh, I preferred Debicki & Erivo over Davis. 

 

[Isis]

One other tiny point that bugged me -

the hip flask thing - we'd already seen it early on in the film so we are aware of its significance when it appears again. But oh no, we need to have an additional flashback scene to make sure people REALLY KNOW what it means.

I actually really liked the whole political story. 

In terms of acting I think the 'Polish widow' did some great, subtle stuff. Hers was possibly my favourite performance in the whole film. 

I didn't hate it. Just wanted a little more in some areas. 

 

[Ran]

Saw Jim Jarmusch's Paterson. Lovely gem of a film, small in scale but nicely textured. Adam Driver's terrific, as was  Golshifteh Farahani.  Reminds me I still need to see Only Lovers Left Alive. 

Also watched Touch of Evil for the first time (yeah, I know, I know). Talk about a film that could never be made today -- not with that particular casting, anyways, of Charlton Heston in brown-face. Welles's performance as the corrupt Quinlan feels so modern among the rest of the cast who are much more of their era. He was a giant.

That led me to watching the documentary They'll Love Me When I'm Dead about his final film, The Other Side of the Wind, which has been pieced together and released on Netflix; I'll watch that next, I think.

[Raja]

5 hours ago, Ran said:

Saw Jim Jarmusch's Paterson. Lovely gem of a film, small in scale but nicely textured. Adam Driver's terrific, as was  Golshifteh Farahani.  Reminds me I still need to see Only Lovers Left Alive. 

I really liked Paterson, I mainly saw it for Adam Driver, but it's such a nice, at times weird, little film. I think I might need to catch it again at some point. The poems and the mood kinda stay with you. No one I know seems to have watched it, unfortunately. 

[Raja]

8 hours ago, Isis said:

One other tiny point that bugged me -

  Reveal hidden contents

the hip flask thing - we'd already seen it early on in the film so we are aware of its significance when it appears again. But oh no, we need to have an additional flashback scene to make sure people REALLY KNOW what it means.

 

I actually really liked the whole political story. 

In terms of acting I think the 'Polish widow' did some great, subtle stuff. Hers was possibly my favourite performance in the whole film. 

I didn't hate it. Just wanted a little more in some areas. 

 

Yeah, I found debecki & her performance pretty affecting, more so than the other actors. Hah, I know you didn't hate it, I hope you don't take my comments as bashing your take on it! I totally get feeling underwhelmed by it. 

[Knight of Ashes]

In the middle of Red Sparrow.