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

[Werthead]

It's been a while since I watched some films so decided to have a spree on Apple TV+. Greyhound was excellent, very dramatic and focused on this super small period of time with complete carnage and exhaustion. Very well done, even if the lightly unconvincing CGI is a shame (one yearns for the 1980s or 1990s when this would have been shot on real ships with model work), albeit much safer to work with. Tom Hanks gives an excellent performance.

Tetris has a very pedestrian opening half-hour, to the point that I started to ponder turning it off, and then goes freaking nuts. The latter part turns into a Cold War corporate thriller with tons of political and corporate manoeuvrings, insane deal-making and a quite spectacular and never-gets-old smashing to pieces of the Maxwell corporate empire. Roger Allam as Robert Maxwell (under ludicrous makeup) is 100% solid gold. Could have started better, but well worth it in the end. The way they set up the hope for post-USSR Russia but hint it won't be as good as they think is presumably a post-2022 editorial shift. Also, for once genuinely impressed by the Moscow car chase given they didn't film a single frame of footage in Moscow. The greenscreen and CG seemed much less obvious than normal (unlike the military parade, which felt like a Red Alert 2 cutscene).

On 3/16/2024 at 4:05 AM, DireWolfSpirit said:

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.

After Masters of the Air, Manhunt and Tetris, Anthony Boyle has moved on my "actor to watch" list. He is excellent in three completely different roles (apparently he was in GoT for five seconds as a Bolton soldier, which I have no memory of).

[DireWolfSpirit]

Also Tobias Menzies 

Man is that guy smashing the part as Secretary Stanton in Manhunt.

[Heartofice]

Started to watch The Flash

Maybe some of the most atrocious CGI visual effects in a blockbuster movie ever. What is the most mind blowing is someone thinking that they could pull off the shots without it ever looking corny and rubbery as shit.

For instance there are moments where Batman is jumping around and it looks awful, but no computer on the planet is was going to make that shot look realistic. It’s bad direction, and it goes back to that Gareth Edwards thing, he knows how to use effects, and it’s so obvious that most of Hollywood don’t. 

[Isis]

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.

[Veltigar]

I spent quite a bit of time staring at the screen this week. I saw Dune 2 in theatre, the latest episode of Shogun and finally Casino.

Dune 2 was marvellous, well worth the (IMAX) price of entry. Visually it's stunning, even better than the first film. However, the biggest step up was in terms of engagement. The first one could be a bit ponderous at times, but I thought this second film zipped along tremendously well.

The latest episode of Shogun gets pretty much the same review as all of them so far. Visually, it's breath-taking. I like the actors, but the story is not always gripping me. I have picked up the book and have now surpassed the point we arrived in the show, so curious how that will influence my appreciation of the rest of the show.

We then switched to Casino, which I have to admit was a disappointment. The first hour was all voice over and I'm just not a fan of it as a storytelling device. Scorsese is pretty much the only director who can sometimes get away with it, but in Casino it was just too much.

It also felt a bit like an inferior knock-off to Goodfellas in some parts, particularly with Joe Pesci's character. Like, his performance was legitimately great, but it felt very similar to the ground he already thread on in Goodfellas. I hear that his performances as mobsters are often regarded as the most realistic ever by former gang members, so I can't blame him too much for it, but still I can't pretend to say that I was gripped by the film.

On the upside, I did feel like Sharon Stone gave a great performance in the film. Very out there and it actually makes me wonder how she wasn't able to build on this in her later career, because of the top of my mind, I can't think of a meatier role for women in a Scorsese film than this.

So yeah, I'm glad to have finally seen it, but I don't believe I'll rewatch it any time soon.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

25 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Very out there and it actually makes me wonder how she wasn't able to build on this in her later career

From her perspective she got blacklisted for her AIDs activism. 

I really liked her in The Quick and the Dead. She's in some bad movies, but they're not bad because of her. However there is this:

Fucking hilarious death scene. 

[Heartofice]

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

From her perspective she got blacklisted for her AIDs activism. 

I thought she had a stroke?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

54 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

I thought she had a stroke?

She did, but that was after her run weirdly dried up. Stone was in a number of good movies and then just didn't get a ton of work afterwards which she in part blames on what I mentioned above. Then she had a stroke and couldn't work for a while. 

[Maithanet]

I read somewhere that in the 90s she/her agent was very aggressive in salary negotiations, and that as a result many parts went to other (cheaper) actresses. 

[Veltigar]

3 hours ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

From her perspective she got blacklisted for her AIDs activism. 

I really liked her in The Quick and the Dead. She's in some bad movies, but they're not bad because of her. However there is this:

Fucking hilarious death scene. 

The Guardian apparently published this article last week:

Sharon Stone names producer who ‘told her to sleep with co-star’ | Sharon Stone | The Guardian

She details why she think she didn't get any bigger roles after this. It's quite sad really.

3 hours ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

From her perspective she got blacklisted for her AIDs activism. 

I really liked her in The Quick and the Dead. She's in some bad movies, but they're not bad because of her. However there is this:

Ah yes, I love that film. The beginning of Leo's luck with the ladies, I'm sure of it.

 

[Heartofice]

Amazing to think that someone thought the reason William Baldwin was a shit actor was because he wasn't able to sleep with his co-stars. What is Stephen Baldwin's excuse?

[Maithanet]

2 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Amazing to think that someone thought the reason William Baldwin was a shit actor was because he wasn't able to sleep with his co-stars. What is Stephen Baldwin's excuse?

While I'm sure he had plenty of other roles, the only thing I know Stephen Baldwin for is The Usual Suspects, and he was awesome in that.

[Heartofice]

9 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

While I'm sure he had plenty of other roles, the only thing I know Stephen Baldwin for is The Usual Suspects, and he was awesome in that.

I think the height of his career was playing Barney Rubble in Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas.. and maybe celebrity Apprentice.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

Poor Things

WHAT IS THIS FUCKING MOVIE?!?

I think I liked this better than Oppenheimer. 

Brilliant. 

[Ran]

35 minutes ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Poor Things

WHAT IS THIS FUCKING MOVIE?!?

I think I liked this better than Oppenheimer. 

Brilliant. 

Very different thing, but just as good, I agree. Lanthimos and Stone are an incredible team.

[Mexal]

2 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Amazing to think that someone thought the reason William Baldwin was a shit actor was because he wasn't able to sleep with his co-stars. What is Stephen Baldwin's excuse?

William Baldwin killed Backdraft (and that terrible movie Sliver). Will forever love him for that.

[Ran]

Eh, Backdraft was pretty well-regarded at the time, as I recall. I certainly had no problem with him in it, his faults didn't really seem to matter much given the form of the thriller and the cast around him. But YMMV.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

37 minutes ago, Ran said:

Very different thing, but just as good, I agree. Lanthimos and Stone are an incredible team.

It's like Wes Anderson woke up one day and got fed all the drugs and all the wrong drugs.

That's a bit reductive, I'll admit. Tongue planted firmly in cheek. people. 

It does what it does without ever tipping over into the worst aspects of it. The visuals are trippy and stylized, without being gimmicky or derivative (Gilliam comes to mind). The film could be dismissed as being incredibly misogynist, but I think it handles the subject matter well. I'm still a bit disturbed about:

Spoiler

The fact that it depicts the sexuality of a woman who literally has the mind of a child.

I don't know how to feel about that. 

And Stone is great in it.

I'd definitely watch it again. 

[Veltigar]

^something, something by far the best film of last year which sadly didn't get more awards.

[IlyaP]

On 3/18/2024 at 9:38 AM, Heartofice said:

Maybe some of the most atrocious CGI visual effects in a blockbuster movie ever. What is the most mind blowing is someone thinking that they could pull off the shots without it ever looking corny and rubbery as shit.

Some of the stuff shown in the movie - especially when inside the speed force early on in the first half of the movie in particular, is apparently intentional, as the director, Andy Muschietti, wanted to give viewers a sense of something different, and strange, to convey the weirdness of what Barry experiences. Points for at least thinking about these things and wanting to try something weird and different?