Jump to content

Watch, Watched, Watching: Looking for the Light


Ramsay B.

Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, Veltigar said:

The Banshees of Inisherin

It's been impossible to block out the time to watch this film from start to finish w/o any interruption, giving it the attention people like you say it deserves.  It's in my queue, I am impatient to see it, but there just hasn't been the time to properly watch.  In fact, there hasn't been the time to even improperly watch -- or read anything -- even silly 'just entertainment' stuff.  (Which means I'm actually living life, am very fortunate too, since the lack of time isn't due to bad stuff, just the opposite!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

The banshees of inisherin is great to watch and looks beautiful, the acting is amazing (especially Kerry Condon) but the central premise is just too stupid for words. 

And boring if we're being honest. 

Watched a different Irish movie for the first time, The Secret of Roan Inish. It was good, but not great, and the premise of this story makes you go "WTF!?" Overall I liked it though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

And boring if we're being honest. 

Royal "we", is it? 

Finally got to see the movie myself and it's easily my favorite film I've seen from 2022. Beautifully performed, really well-measured direction, great writing ("Well, there goes that dream.") ... and, you know, loved the animals. "Ah, Jenny." :crying: Surpasses The Northman for me, a film which is deliberately rougher and more pared down, but has some similar notes in using a somewhat surreal (from our perspetive) approach to its narrative.

Still waiting to see Tár, though. 

 

11 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

the central premise is just too stupid for words. 

This is like calling Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" stupid because a guy inexplicably turns into a giant bug.

Would someone like Colm really do what he did to himself for the reason he said? And carry on like normal? And others around him treat the mess as just some tiff? Of course not. It's all surreal. Which means tha there's a reason for this surreality, because it's telling you not to look at the "text" but rather figure out the subtext, or in this case the metaphors, that the text is alluding to with this strange and outlandish narrative.

Spoiler

Besides the very obvious riff on the Civil War and the fractious feuds and vendettas it left behind, which I had figured from remarks people had made... I had not expected Dominic's story to also be something of a metaphor for institutional abuses against children, and the way society at large for too long looked the other way. Sure, his father isn't a priest, but he's next thing to it on the island -- he's the constable, he's an institution unto himself, the only other authority figure we see in the film, and everyone knows the physical and sexual abuse he metes out on his son and at best they feel sorry about it while doing nothing to help Dominic.

Though speaking of priests, Colm's confessional talk with the priest was maybe the funniest moment in the whole film.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ran said:

Royal "we", is it? 

Finally got to see the movie myself and it's easily my favorite film I've seen from 2022. Beautifully performed, really well-measured direction, great writing ("Well, there goes that dream.") ... and, you know, loved the animals. "Ah, Jenny." :crying: Surpasses The Northman for me, a film which is deliberately rougher and more pared down, but has some similar notes in using a somewhat surreal (from our perspetive) approach to its narrative.

Still waiting to see Tár, though. 

Interesting The Northman was still your fav of the year. 

And Tar was kind of a bore for me too, so you'll probably love it. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/9/2023 at 7:18 PM, Corvinus85 said:

The Legend of Vox Machina dropped its final episodes of season 2. I am surprised about how much I like this show, since it's not something I typically watch. Season 2 was even better than season 1.

I'm in the middle of watching Season 1 and I too was quite surprised by how much I've been enjoying this show -- which is weird since it's adult fantasy. I also absolutely love the idea behind it's creation. A bunch of voice actors just started filming their DnD campaign and then turned it into an animated show via crowdfunding. Whole concept is feel good. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Mexal said:

I found Tar immensely compelling. I was surprised.

I thought the first act was engaging, but then it just dragged. Blanchett gives a great performance and deserves all the awards she's received or been nominated for, however, I don't think that necessarily means the film was all that good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been tearing through the second season of Vox Machina over the past couple of days. It's rather addictive, so I am sad that I finished it already. On the other hand, I can't imagine watching this show on a weekly basis. There are just too many cliff hangers, so it is better for my heart to watch it all in one go.

Thanks to @Corvinus85 for posting about it and I do agree with his assessment that this second season was even better than the first outing. I suppose mostly due to the increased focus, as the first season had two arcs, while this only had one main arc.

It's not ground-breaking storytelling by any means, but I do feel like this whole show is a testament to the power of well-executed tropes. A lot of things you can predict from a mile off and of course no one of the principal heroes is actually ever in any meaningful danger (not to mention the fact that they all have a tragic backstory straight out of central casting), but this show's earnestness and its sense of humour are enough to power through the predictability. You genuinely wish these characters to succeed, which is something other Amazon fantasy shows could learn a great deal from.

22 hours ago, Zorral said:

It's been impossible to block out the time to watch this film from start to finish w/o any interruption, giving it the attention people like you say it deserves.  It's in my queue, I am impatient to see it, but there just hasn't been the time to properly watch.  In fact, there hasn't been the time to even improperly watch -- or read anything -- even silly 'just entertainment' stuff.  (Which means I'm actually living life, am very fortunate too, since the lack of time isn't due to bad stuff, just the opposite!)

I'd recommend a cinema outing for this. Watching this together with a respectful audience is a real treat and it will help you find some mental rest. I know it helped me on that front!

18 hours ago, Ran said:

Royal "we", is it? 

Finally got to see the movie myself and it's easily my favorite film I've seen from 2022. Beautifully performed, really well-measured direction, great writing ("Well, there goes that dream.") ... and, you know, loved the animals. "Ah, Jenny." :crying: Surpasses The Northman for me, a film which is deliberately rougher and more pared down, but has some similar notes in using a somewhat surreal (from our perspetive) approach to its narrative.

Still waiting to see Tár, though. 

It's no Top Gun: Maverick (:P), but The Banshees of Inisherin would definitely rank high in my 2022 list. I wonder whether it has a chance to prevail against Everything Everywhere All At Once.

18 hours ago, Ran said:

 

This is like calling Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" stupid because a guy inexplicably turns into a giant bug.

Would someone like Colm really do what he did to himself for the reason he said? And carry on like normal? And others around him treat the mess as just some tiff? Of course not. It's all surreal. Which means tha there's a reason for this surreality, because it's telling you not to look at the "text" but rather figure out the subtext, or in this case the metaphors, that the text is alluding to with this strange and outlandish narrative.

  Hide contents

Besides the very obvious riff on the Civil War and the fractious feuds and vendettas it left behind, which I had figured from remarks people had made... I had not expected Dominic's story to also be something of a metaphor for institutional abuses against children, and the way society at large for too long looked the other way. Sure, his father isn't a priest, but he's next thing to it on the island -- he's the constable, he's an institution unto himself, the only other authority figure we see in the film, and everyone knows the physical and sexual abuse he metes out on his son and at best they feel sorry about it while doing nothing to help Dominic.

Though speaking of priests, Colm's confessional talk with the priest was maybe the funniest moment in the whole film.

 

Spoiler

It's a nicely layered film, although I do think its message is somewhat more obvious than a lot of critics make it out to be. I found the allusions to the Civil War and towards the institutional abuse of children (and really the community as a whole, as the constable wasn't exactly peaceable against other villagers either) easy to spot, but I think the film's main message revolves around the value/virtue of friendliness and nicety. 

Colm looks down on Padraic's reflexive nicety and only really thinks of him as interesting when he provokes conflict. By the end of the movie however, it is clear that Padraic's nicety has been stripped from him and that Colm has traded a silly tune and four fingers for the soul of his friend and a deterioration of the collective existence of everyone on the island.

In other words, art is important. Art is valuable, but the artist should not forget that they also have the responsibility of being a good human being as well.

One of the (perhaps unintentional) funniest moments in the film was the confrontation between Padraix/Siobhan and Colm in the tavern. If I recall correctly, Colm sums up his main argument for rejecting the friendship of Colm by making an incorrect reference to Mozart and claiming that no one has ever been remembered for being nice.

... but this is Ireland in the 1920s and all the houses we see in the film are festooned with images of Jesus and depictions of the cross. He's literally the most famous person ever to these people and we remember Jesus because he was exceedingly nice and caring. So Colm really has some proper reflecting to do on his claim towards intellectualism XD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think there is a bit of an issue with Banshees in that there is an element of surreality to elements of the movie, the central premise, cutting off fingers etc.. but I’m not sure the entire movie reinforces that surreal tone. Mostly it feels like a pretty grounded historical drama.

That’s why it’s easy to not totally be convinced by the main characters actions. I think it’s a difficult tone to get right and it’s walking a line that I’m not sure works for everyone 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I have been tearing through the second season of Vox Machina over the past couple of days. It's rather addictive, so I am sad that I finished it already. On the other hand, I can't imagine watching this show on a weekly basis. There are just too many cliff hangers, so it is better for my heart to watch it all in one go.

3 episodes at a time, so not too bad, but yeah, the cliffhangers. The worst one was

Spoiler

Grog's badass moment when he calls out his uncle. Worse than any of the death fake outs. How dare they end the episode there?!!! :P

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/10/2023 at 4:18 AM, Corvinus85 said:

The Legend of Vox Machina dropped its final episodes of season 2. I am surprised about how much I like this show, since it's not something I typically watch. Season 2 was even better than season 1.

I'll be damned, I was convinced I'd seen season 2, but I was really thinking about the second half of season 1.

Thanks for the heads up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I watched the Extended Edition of The Two Towers yesterday. It's really been a very long time since I sat through the entire theatrical cut of this film (I used to usually fast-forward through all the hobbit stuff) and I forgot just how long of a film it is. An issue that is further exacerbated in the extended edition of course.

All in all, I think the extended edition of The Two Towers is worth a watch from the moment you become a moderate fan of this franchise (which I'm going to define as having watched and loved the theatrical cut of the trilogy, not necessarily being into the books). On that front it's definitely more accessible than Fellowship's extended cut, which in my opinion is only worth it if you are a really committed fan of the franchise.

That being said, if I watch this again some time in the future (and am at liberty to pick either the theatrical or extended cut), I'll probably stick to the theatrical cut. I guess it's even less faithful to the lore than the extended cut, but as a film experience I think the theatrical cut remains superior.

14 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

3 episodes at a time, so not too bad, but yeah, the cliffhangers. The worst one was

  Hide contents

Grog's badass moment when he calls out his uncle. Worse than any of the death fake outs. How dare they end the episode there?!!! :P

 Yeah, I'm definitely glad that I'm binging this XD I just think cliff hangers like that would detract from the experience.

8 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Puss in Boots 2 is out of control. After a catastrophic opening weekend it's about to cross $400m world wide. Good for them. I liked that movie. 

It's definitely way better than it should be and I am happy to see that it is rewarded for it. I can imagine positive reviews like my own kept it going, so good that the stars are aligned on a good film for once.

I do always wonder about these numbers though. I'm not deep enough into them to understand how that 400 m haul translates to its relative performance. Is that a lot for a(n animated) film in general? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

I do always wonder about these numbers though. I'm not deep enough into them to understand how that 400 m haul translates to its relative performance. Is that a lot for a(n animated) film in general? 

Historically it isn't that impressive. But 2022 hasn't exactly been a banner year at the box office for big screen animation.

Minions: The Rise of Gru did incredibly well (almost topping Dr Strange 2), and Puss in Boots 2 will be a bonafide moneymaker, but things look pretty grim after that. The Bad Guys likely turned a small profit. DC: League of Super Pets likely lost money. Lightyear and Strange World both bombed. Almost no one bought a ticket for the Bob's Burgers movie, though I think that one was intended to be more of a streaming movie.

So $450-$500 million by the time it's done; and it opened opposite Avatar 2? Nothing to sneeze at. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

I watched the Extended Edition of The Two Towers yesterday. It's really been a very long time since I sat through the entire theatrical cut of this film (I used to usually fast-forward through all the hobbit stuff) and I forgot just how long of a film it is. An issue that is further exacerbated in the extended edition of course.

All in all, I think the extended edition of The Two Towers is worth a watch from the moment you become a moderate fan of this franchise (which I'm going to define as having watched and loved the theatrical cut of the trilogy, not necessarily being into the books). On that front it's definitely more accessible than Fellowship's extended cut, which in my opinion is only worth it if you are a really committed fan of the franchise.

That being said, if I watch this again some time in the future (and am at liberty to pick either the theatrical or extended cut), I'll probably stick to the theatrical cut. I guess it's even less faithful to the lore than the extended cut, but as a film experience I think the theatrical cut remains superior.

 

Probably if your intention is to consume the movie in one go then the Theatrical cut of any of these movies is the way to do it. I will always prefer the extended editions, but it becomes impossible to watch it all in one stretch. I used to do it in one hour batches over multiple days and that seemed to work quite well.

I think Two Towers is the movie that is most improved by the Extended Editions actually, because the theatrical cut is really pretty patchy. The pacing is odd and it jumps around a lot. The Treebeard stuff in the TE just doesn't work and feels tacked on and rushed. 

Fellowship's EE is more like an indulgent nod to the fans, with extra bits thrown in for those people who want to just sit and savour all the new nuggets, I always felt like the EE of TT was more of a fix to a flawed movie. 

ROTK, I'm not sure the EE really added very much of value, it's my least favourite of the trilogy and I don't think the additions make it much better. I remember it was popular with fans because of all the Faramir stuff, but I never felt it made ROTK much better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I watched the Extended Edition of The Two Towers yesterday. It's really been a very long time since I sat through the entire theatrical cut of this film (I used to usually fast-forward through all the hobbit stuff) and I forgot just how long of a film it is. An issue that is further exacerbated in the extended edition of course.

All in all, I think the extended edition of The Two Towers is worth a watch from the moment you become a moderate fan of this franchise (which I'm going to define as having watched and loved the theatrical cut of the trilogy, not necessarily being into the books). On that front it's definitely more accessible than Fellowship's extended cut, which in my opinion is only worth it if you are a really committed fan of the franchise.

That being said, if I watch this again some time in the future (and am at liberty to pick either the theatrical or extended cut), I'll probably stick to the theatrical cut. I guess it's even less faithful to the lore than the extended cut, but as a film experience I think the theatrical cut remains superior.

As someone who automatically watches the EE without giving it a second's thought this is an interesting question you pose. There are pros and cons to both the TE and the EE. For me FOTR is the best film, it's a single linear narrative - so adding in some extra stuff that's nice doesn't do it any harm and the Lorien scenes are nice. The extras for TTT are maybe the best addition as you get some A&A backstory plus some more Faramir stuff. The ROTK gives us the most awful scene in the trilogy (Gandalf and the Witch King), that stupid pirate scene, (is the stupid drinking game scene is in this one as well?), the HoH which was ok but could have been MUCH better, the MoS which again was ok but could have been better. The only one that was nearly good was the Saruman death scene - generally good but I cannot stand that bit where Gimli wants Legolas to shoot Saruman or the bit where Gandalf is like 'please tell us Sauron's secrets!' URGH

Still watching Lockwood & Co - spotted one of our friends as an extra last night, which was nice. I am starting to get the ick from the romantic vibes angle though. Really hope they start sending that in a better direction as whatever is happening so far is not working for me.

We also watched a documentary about the making of The Exorcist on iplayer. It's called Fear of God I think it was made for the 25th anniversary of the release of the film. It was a Mark Kermode doc from the late 90's and it is almost entertaining in its own right just for that vibe - the director, especially. It's a bunch of interviews with all the cast and production team. I've never been big into The Exorcist. In fact, I have only seen it once and turned it off before the end because I was bored. The reason we watched this is that Mark Kermode was interviewed on a great podcast called Talking Scared (which is about horror literature) and for a Halloween special they interviewed Mark Kermode about his favourite book to film horror adaptatiopns and that was great. I think my own problem with The Exorcist is that it was billed as this terrifying horror film yet it isn't really like any other type of 'classic horror' - it's more complicated than that. But I was expected something more straightforward so I didn't really engage with it. I feel like I will watch it again after this. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...