Watch Watched Watching: Indie Art Cinema Wave #__?

[Veltigar]

Saw two great films in the theatre recently. First off there was Kelly Reichardt's First Cow, a western comedy about two buddies on the northwestern frontier in Oregon who strike out to try and capture a slice of the American dream for themselves. It's a reminder that I really should get to Meek's Cutoff which has been on my watchlist for years and is based on a novel by the same author as the one Reichardt used for First Cow. It's a very deliberate, slow-paced and sweet film build around some great performances  by the two leads and a wonderful cast of supporting actors (including Toby Jones and Ewen Bremner, both great as always). Watching it you really feel like you are having direct access to a forgotten era, straight into the daily lives of the characters. There might be a somewhat conventional plot, but there is so much attention to detail and daily life here, it really sets the film apart from most contemporary cinema.

 

The second film I saw was David Lowry's hotly anticipated The Green Knight. It's a film I am a bit conflicted about. On the one hand it is a great film, full of arresting imagery, superb acting and an interesting, non-conventional storyline. On the other hand it is a terrible adaptation of the source material, which will definitely warp everyone's understanding of it. I predict generations of students who will skip past this wonderful old story and just watch the movie instead and they will be missing out.  That's all good and well if the source material is shit like it was for Michael Mann's Last of the Mohicans, but the original Gawain and the Green Knight story is one of those staples of English literature that has more than earned its place in the canon.

Up until pretty much  the very end, I was inclined to describe it as a perfect movie. However, I feel like Lowry's choice to wrap up the story in the way he did drastically reduced the effectiveness of his version and betrayed the source material. If that wasn't bad enough, I later read a couple of reviews that called it derivative. As someone who hasn't seen

Spoiler

the Last Temptation of Christ

yet, that doesn't really bother me, but it is noticeable that people with a knowledge of the original story and/or

Spoiler

The Last Temptation of Christ

tend to give it a considerably lower rating. 

Despite that criticism, it is still very much recommended to watch this film. I'd wager that this will be a very influential film going forward and I'm highly interested in seeing more of David Lowry's work (both future work and past films). It has some of the best costumes, sets and special effects I have seen in a long time and visually it's stunning. It's a tremendously dark film, but unlike what seems to be the rage nowadays thanks to the likes of Zach Snyder, you don't have trouble following the story. Instead, it makes the whole experience more intimate and mysterious. I hope the cinematography and lighting get some recognition here. Visually this film is just brilliant. The acting is also otherworldly. Dev Pattel has never been better imo, it was also good to see Alicia Vikander back in a role of note and most surprising of all, this film even found a way to make Joel Fucking Edgerton watchable. A higher achievement I cannot think off. Such a shame they had to ruin it in the last 5 minutes. 

 

Coincidentally, both The Green Knight and First Cow are A24 productions, which just proves that this is by far the most interesting studio in Hollywood at the moment.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Remaking great movies is usually a terrible ideal, but this sounds interesting:

 

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Remaking great movies is usually a terrible ideal, but this sounds interesting

Erck.  If that's what Tarantino settles on for his "last" movie, I'd be quite disappointed.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

17 minutes ago, DMC said:

Erck.  If that's what Tarantino settles on for his "last" movie, I'd be quite disappointed.

I seriously doubt he's only going to make one more movie. Especially if he's thinking about something as random as rebooting Rambo (and wasn't he also linked to wanting to make a Star Trek movie?).

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Remaking great movies is usually a terrible ideal, but this sounds interesting:

Hopefully he'd be more faithful to the book. That or this'll be the parallel universe version where Rambo kills Ho Chi Minh. 

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I seriously doubt he's only going to make one more movie. Especially if he's thinking about something as random as rebooting Rambo (and wasn't he also linked to wanting to make a Star Trek movie?).

First, yes, he's been linked to a Star Trek movie, but that's not happening - they're already moving forward with a "Star Trek 4" with another script and director.  Second, he's been linked to a lot of movies potentially being his last one since OUATIH came out, and even before - it seems as if he's enjoying the speculation (and/or speculating himself).  Third, as far as I know he continues to maintain his next one will be his last - most recently in an interview with Maher in June wherein Maher spent the first half of the interview trying to convince him to continue to make more movies.  Fourth, do I really believe he'll only make one more movie?  Not really, no, hence the quotations around "last."

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Jo Jo Rabbit: Pretty good. Impressive production values and cinematography, especially considering the claimed budget ($14m). Some genuinely touching moments. Scar Jo was great.

It felt like diet Wes Anderson at times. Don't know how the humor would hold up on re-watches but I liked it.  

[WarGalley]

Tarantino doing sci-fi would be so weird.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

49 minutes ago, DMC said:

First, yes, he's been linked to a Star Trek movie, but that's not happening - they're already moving forward with a "Star Trek 4" with another script and director.  Second, he's been linked to a lot of movies potentially being his last one since OUATIH came out, and even before - it seems as if he's enjoying the speculation (and/or speculating himself).  Third, as far as I know he continues to maintain his next one will be his last - most recently in an interview with Maher in June wherein Maher spent the first half of the interview trying to convince him to continue to make more movies.  Fourth, do I really believe he'll only make one more movie?  Not really, no, hence the quotations around "last."

I saw the Maher interview and I generally agree with you (and a QT ST movie would be bonkers). It's hard to believe someone as creative as he is would just shut it down for good, especially without claiming that top prize which he possibly deserves for a couple of films.

[DMC]

35 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

especially without claiming that top prize which he possibly deserves for a couple of films.

Heh.  Well, cynically, one way to maximize the possibility you'll get the top prize (which I suppose could be either Best Picture or Director..or both in Tarantino's case) is by insisting you won't be making any more movies.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

17 minutes ago, DMC said:

Heh.  Well, cynically, one way to maximize the possibility you'll get the top prize (which I suppose could be either Best Picture or Director..or both in Tarantino's case) is by insisting you won't be making any more movies.

Likewise, the failure to win with that strategy and then come back with your next masterpiece! 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Just started Suicide Squad, despite having to be at a meeting in 9 hours. 

@Veltigar, your credit is on the line here.

[TheLastWolf]

7 hours ago, Veltigar said:

Coincidentally, both The Green Knight and First Cow are A24 productions, which just proves that this is by far the most interesting studio at the moment 

No doubt , mceu DCEU pceu can all go... 

[Teng Ai Hui]

I am watching CNN's History of Sitcoms.  It's bringing back a lot of good memories.  It's also providing a lot of "Wow, I'm surprised that person is still alive" moments -- Ed Asner, Hal Lindon, Loni Anderson, Howard Hesseman.

[Veltigar]

10 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Just started Suicide Squad, despite having to be at a meeting in 9 hours. 

@Veltigar, your credit is on the line here.

I"m feeling very confident here :p What did you think?

9 hours ago, The_Lone_Wolf said:

No doubt , mceu DCEU pceu can all go... 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I"m feeling very confident here :p What did you think?

I started too late and had to stop midway through, but what I saw was pretty good. Certainly better than any DC stuff I've seen in ages. 

[RumHam]

6 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I started too late and had to stop midway through, but what I saw was pretty good. Certainly better than any DC stuff I've seen in ages. 

Easily the best DCEU movie. Though I never got around to Shazaam which I heard was one of the better ones. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 minutes ago, RumHam said:

Easily the best DCEU movie. Though I never got around to Shazaam which I heard was one of the better ones. 

Wonder Woman was great, but I also suspect it's probably best a one watch film.

[RumHam]

Just now, Tywin et al. said:

Wonder Woman was great, but I also suspect it's probably best a one watch film.

Yeah, I liked Wonder Woman. But personally I'm always gonna prefer dark comedy over a traditional origin story type deal. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

2 hours ago, RumHam said:

Easily the best DCEU movie. Though I never got around to Shazaam which I heard was one of the better ones. 

If you thought Ant-Man was good you'll enjoy Shazam!. Saw it once. Some things I liked & some I didn't. I thought the way one of the sub-plots was resolved was really dumb.

Once it was done, I didn't care anymore.