Watch, Watched, Watching: Watching Severance and working for Lumon

[Isis]

On 3/12/2024 at 9:51 AM, BigFatCoward said:

Wife wants to watch American Fiction tonight, I'm always loath to watch Oscar worth films, they are so dull.  Is it any good?  I do quite like Wright.

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. 

[BigFatCoward]

Just now, Isis said:

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. 

 

No, but enough of them are that I enter with caution.  Watched the first half last night, it was pretty grim but had some genuine laugh out loud moments. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I'm going to have to give it a second viewing in a few weeks, but I thought Poor Things was pretty mediocre. The actors in general did a good job, and at times the cinematography was good, however the end result was just okay.

[DMC]

1 hour ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

I'm going to have to give it a second viewing in a few weeks, but I thought Poor Things was pretty mediocre.

Do you like anything?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

27 minutes ago, DMC said:

Do you like anything?

Last year I loudly said Everything Everywhere All At Once would sweep the Oscars. Swish. I just think 2023 was a down year that will largely be forgotten. That's pretty typical. I'm curious see five years down the road what the consensus hidden gem from this year is.  

[3CityApache]

45 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

I'm curious see five years down the road what the consensus hidden gem from this year is.  

The Holdovers of course.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

43 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

The Holdovers of course.

Haven't seen that one yet, but it says it's on Peacock so I'll check it out. One of the things I've mentioned before is that a lot of the big films took forever to come out on streaming services and/or still are pending unless you want to pay $20-$25 for them. This feels like the first year in a while where I only saw like half the films nominated (I like watching all of them, but I'm not paying that much for something I meh about going into it. $5.99? Fine. $24.99? Pass). 

[Ran]

Last month, I watched William Friedkin's Sorcerer for the first time, and thought it was pretty incredible. By some happenstance, an acquaintance mentioned he was going to rewatch To Live and Die in L.A., a 1985 neo-noir from Friedkin that a lot of people say was influenced aesthetically by Miami Vice. Regardless, I decided to check it out as well, never having seen it before... and man, it's actually pretty incredible. The script is a little so-so on the dialog level, but the sheer cynicism of it, especially in the final minutes, is breathtaking. Also, a phenomenal car chase sequence, which I had to look up and has apparently been listed on a lot of "best car chase" lists over the years alongside Friedkin's own The French Connection. 

William Petersen plays a Secret Service agent by the name of Richard Chance, an amoral man with a deathwish who'll do anything to get his target, including stepping on the wrong side of the law. He's after Rick Masters, played by Willem Dafoe in one of his biggest roles to date, a con turned noteworthy artist... who also dabbles in counterfeiting US currency. There's lots of violence, there's sex, there's unlike partnerships, moral dilemmas, and more. Stylish as hell, too, of course. I'm not sure if Miami Vice was really an influence or if it was just the mid-80s and Friedkin was adapting to the styles and forms.

 If you have not seen it, do not read the spoilers:

Spoiler

My jaw dropped open and I kept just saying, "Holy shit!" over and over when Chance got a shotgun slug to the head. My expectation was that he'd end up getting his man but then the Feds would close in on him and arrest him, or maybe kill him at the very end... but nope, he doesn't even get to see Masters's fate! 

And then, the last minutes as Vuckovich visits Chance's informant/bed-partner Ruth, and his seeming to have absorbed the spirit of Chance, becoming just as amoral and hard-bitten after his previous straight-laced morality... what a turn. Astonishingly cynical, but what a turn. Made the whole movie.

 

[DMC]

Requiem for a Dream was just about what I remembered.  It is..completely Coney Island and Brighton Beach.  Didn't quite remember how much that was a part of it.  Like, every outside scene, for the most part.  It's still a tough movie to get through. 

One thing I'd emphasize - Jared Leto was totally wrong for that role.  Wikipedia tells me Giovanni Ribisi turned it down.  Woulda been so much better.  Leto's attempt at the accent is cringe at best..I did not remember how much that sucked.

Another thing I didn't remember and isn't much of a spoiler - Christopher McDonald as the the "Be Excited" guy!  That's awesome!  It sucks Shooter McGavin doesn't get much work anymore, but that was great.  As for the rest...

Spoiler

Is Marlon Wayans' character the dumbest criminal ever or just the best friend ever?  You take your friend to the hospital cause his arm is about to drop off.  K, you're already a good guy at that point.  But..you could leave.  Instead of essentially waiting around to be arrested while on withdrawal.

Totally did not remember Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis) was the pawn dealer.  That was really cool!

Ellen Burstyn's storyline is not particularly realistic either, for that matter.  She should have just been put in a home.  ECT isn't much of a thing (even back then), especially if you're committing to the seasons thing.

Jennifer Connelly deserves better.  I will kill you Keith David!

  

[Heartofice]

Watched a couple of episodes of The Gentleman, the series on Netflix by Guy Ritchie. I will say going in that I turned off the movie less than 30 minutes in, it felt like a parody of a Guy Ritchie movie, all of his worst excesses and cliches bundled into a boring half hour.

The show however seems to be less in your face with the Ritchie-isms. Oh they are there, it has some weed selling burnouts, a bunch of cockney geezers, a rag tag bunch of blokes Ritchie met down the pub playing hardened criminals, an Irish gypsy boxer, Vinnie Jones... it's all there.

The structure is a bit more straightforward, there are some fun characters and for the most part it's quite enjoyable. Main negatives are those weak cockney accents. The main female character is doing what I can only describe as a 'Kate Nash' (One hit wonder singer from the 00's who did a pretty silly chirpy accent) or Lily Allen, which is a bit distracting, but not the end of the world. Oh and Gus Fring is in it, doing Gus Fring. 

[Darryk]

One episode in and really enjoying The Gentlemen. Haven't liked any Guy Ritchie stuff in awhile so this feels like a return to form for him.

[polishgenius]

This is a couple weeks old, but I remember there were a few people here who were interested in the how of Gareth Edwards filmed Creator. Turns out it was way closer to the guerilla way he filmed Monsters than I could have suspected. The fact that not a single mo-cap suit was involved is mental. 
 

There's also a follow-up ep about his other projects, not watched that yet though.

Edited March 14 by polishgenius

[Heartofice]

10 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

This is a couple weeks old, but I remember there were a few people here who were interested in the how of Gareth Edwards filmed Creator. Turns out it was way closer to the guerilla way he filmed Monsters than I could have suspected. The fact that not a single mo-cap suit was involved is mental. 
 

There's also a follow-up ep about his other projects, not watched that yet though.

Mentioned this in another thread, but he really puts a lot of big studios to shame, doing lighting in his bathtub is nuts.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Darryk said:

One episode in and really enjoying The Gentlemen. Haven't liked any Guy Ritchie stuff in awhile so this feels like a return to form for him.

 Every great fortune iand title/position/rank is built from great crime.  No different to maintain said criminally acquired great title and fortune, es verdad!

[IlyaP]

Finally watched Dune: Part One.

Good stuff. 

Seeing Part Two in cinemas tomorrow. (Avoided part one in cinemas 'cause of the spicy cough.)

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Wonka

Still trying to process this, so here goes:

Muad'Dib, tripping balls on spice, dreams he came to earth to sell hallucinogenic chocolate. He seems very cheerful despite many hardships.

The Lady Jessica gave him some chocolate once that is very special to him. 

The Spacing Guild says to him, "Fuck off Muad'Dib! We sell the chocolate around here!"

The Harkonnens tricks him into forced labour doing laundry (?) or something .

He meets Chani in the laundry prison. They milk a giraffe for some reason. Apparently it's really easy to do if you give them mints first.

So yeah, pretty good movie. I'm about half-way through. It's got all of Chalamet's skinny charisma and he sings too. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Apple TV just keeps churning out content I like.

Finished "Masters of the Air" just in time to move onto thier newest series this week "Manhunt".

Loved first 2 episodes, the events center on the Lincoln assassination and the manhunt and investigation into Wilkes-Booth and his fellow conspirators.

Edited March 16 by DireWolfSpirit

[DMC]

Dunkirk is on Hulu right now!  I don't have much to say.  I think it is my favorite war movie ever.  Apocalypse Now is a better movie, but a lot of that is the heart of darkness, not essentially war.  And Dunkirk is all, essentially and relentlessly, about war. It's also just so polished and expertly simplistic.

Further, watching it again grants appreciation for the merging of the timelines.  It makes Branagh's lines hit home more.  It makes Fortis 2 rooting and having faith in Fortis 1 that much better.  It makes the point they're clearly making at the end more poignant.  I just adore this movie so much.

[Ran]

Having recently watched Kore-eda's Monster, I saw that he had directed a series for Netflix called The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, which seemed intriguing. It was not entirely what I expected, but was actually even more interesting. First, it's very much a slice-of-life, low drama show [ETA: Just learned it's based on a manga, Kiyo in Kyoto], but the setting is what's interesting. Two 16-year-old girls, Kiyo and Sumire, are best friends who set out from their home (Aomori, a city in northern Japan) for Kyoto in hopes of becoming maiko, apprentice geisha. Kyoto prides itself as the center of traditional Japanese culture, and getting a glimpse into the lives of maiko and geiko (the regional term for geisha in Kyoto) was really unexpectedly fascinating.

There's a lot of details that I would never have realized. A small one is the fact that two men, father and son, seem to have some special relationship with Saku House (the yakata, apprentice house) that appears to be a family tradition based on a joke that the father's own father had been doing the same sort of work. They are handymen, but they also help the maiko dress in their elaborate kimonos on certain occasions, which I wouldn't have expected. And makanai, the title of the show, is a term for the custom of making a daily meal for staff (or in this case the residents of the yakata) rather than for customers. Kiyo turns out to have no talent for being a maiko, but is a first-rate cook and loves nothing more than to be in the kitchen, so despite her youth she ends up becoming the makanai for the house.

I mean, I need to emphasize, it's a slice of life show. Stakes are low. No one ever raises their voice in anything like anger. But it's pretty neat to get a look into Japanese traditional culture, and the performances are sweet and gentle. It's a nice way to while away the time from heavier stuff. 

(Saku House is associated with the provinces leading geiko, Momoko (playd by the striking Ai Hashimoto). Kore-eda and his writers have fun with her, as we soon learn she's a fanatic for zombie films with a bunch of zombie paraphanelia in her apartment, where she plays Splatoon with her erstwhile boyfriend who'd like to be more than that... but the life of geiko is very tradition bound, and if you marry or have a child, you have to leave the profession; this is one of the aspects of the show that adds a little tension... but just a little, as characters are not given to making dramatic, precipitous decisions.)

Beyond that, Netflix also added Ford vs. Ferrari, which I've never seen before. What can I say? It's good! Really professionally directed and composed, and Damon and especially Bale are great. As I understand it, a part of the film -- when Ford courts Ferrari -- is seen from the other perspective in Michael Mann's Ferrari.

And finally, as it appears on a bunch of indie best of lists, I checked out Passages from director Ira Sachs, the story primarily of Tomas, a gay married film director who is one of the most incredibly malignant narcissists ever put to screen. Played by Franz Rogowski, Tomas ruins his relationship with his husband (played by the ever-wonderful Ben Whishaw) when he has a one night stand with a woman (played by Adele Exarchopoulos), and then can't help himself but going back for more as it strains the relationship to the breaking point. And then... well, he wants his cake and he wants to eat it too, and proceeds to cause chaos in everyone's lives as he tries to get everything that he wants without any seeming genuine care or, even, understanding of what the people he's screwing (quite literally) are thinking or feeling. 

Edited March 17 by Ran

[Isis]

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.