Serious Movie Discussion XLII

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@chickenluver has you covered.

Also iirc Clive played the character of Dan in the theater version (which is hard to imagine after seeing the film).

That's hard to imagine indeed. I mean, everything about Clive Owen screams brutish caveman.

Watched Nightcrawler for the ??th time, man that movie is so goddamn great. Jake not even getting nominated for Best Actor is way beyond my understanding of the Academy. Has there ever been a more convincing sociopath in film?
 
That's hard to imagine indeed. I mean, everything about Clive Owen screams brutish caveman.

Watched Nightcrawler for the ??th time, man that movie is so goddamn great. Jake not even getting nominated for Best Actor is way beyond my understanding of the Academy. Has there ever been a more convincing sociopath in film?

LOL. I like you man: enthusiasm is off the charts.

Nightcrawler is phenomenal.

Kubrick might want a word with you though (about the bold), though I enjoyed Nightcrawler far more.
 
I was underwhelmed by the first 45 mins of Baby Driver, but as soon as Jamie Foxx shows up on screen it picks up and becomes a really fun and exciting film.

And boy does this Film need Foxx because the "Baby" character is boring as fuck.
I didn't care for the "Crime Musical" stuff either, but fortunately it becomes more of a Crime Thriller later on with some great tension between Foxx/Baby/Hamm & Spacey.
I also expected some more & better car chases.
 
That's hard to imagine indeed. I mean, everything about Clive Owen screams brutish caveman.

Watched Nightcrawler for the ??th time, man that movie is so goddamn great. Jake not even getting nominated for Best Actor is way beyond my understanding of the Academy. Has there ever been a more convincing sociopath in film?

LOL. I like you man: enthusiasm is off the charts.

Nightcrawler is phenomenal.

Kubrick might want a word with you though (about the bold), though I enjoyed Nightcrawler far more.

Agreed. That movie was great, and I didn't realize Jake didn't get any props for that performance at all. Definitely worthy of a nomination, IMO.
 
I rewatched this show I had only seen once a few years ago Flesh and Bone (TV show making use of Black Swan's popularity)... but it's much better this time around. When I first saw it I thought it was really basic and like... it just wanted to be aesthetically beautiful and that was it, but now I'm actually appreciating the show and the people in it. And it's also aesthetically perfect at all times. Music, visuals, bodies, everything is gorgeous. A real feast to watch.
 
Anyone seen On Body and Soul?

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Watched Nightcrawler for the ??th time, man that movie is so goddamn great. Jake not even getting nominated for Best Actor is way beyond my understanding of the Academy. Has there ever been a more convincing sociopath in film?

Honestly though I think theres a clear limit in terms of content when it comes to what the academy will recognise, probably moreso today than in the past where something like Taxi Driver could get nominations.

Its an interesting film also in that it pretty much rejects the idea of the character needing some kind of arc, much more a case of his true nature being revealed across the film.
 
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Watched both Dawn and War for The Planet of The Apes. I rate them the same but dawn is far superior. The problem with Dawn is that the third act sucks, even with the Koba fight which i didnt like the location of. Everything preceding that was great though.


War was the opposite. Meandering first half, but picks up later on. The trailers were very misleading about the war, but it was still enjoyable. I dont know where the story.goes from here if they ever make another though.


@Bullitt68 you see these?
 
Watched both Dawn and War for The Planet of The Apes. I rate them the same but dawn is far superior. The problem with Dawn is that the third act sucks, even with the Koba fight which i didnt like the location of. Everything preceding that was great though.


War was the opposite. Meandering first half, but picks up later on. The trailers were very misleading about the war, but it was still enjoyable. I dont know where the story.goes from here if they ever make another though.


@Bullitt68 you see these?

One of those rare trilogies where all three are damn solid movies. That said, I think Dawn is head and shoulders above the other two. Koba is by far the best villain. Woody is the shit- no doubt- prolific actor who can play any type of genre, but I just found his character far less compelling in War than I found Koba. The deterioration in the relationship between Koba and Caesar was a great element of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and because the original established the type of shit Koba had to go through, there was also an element of understanding where he was coming from in certain portions of the film.

For me War was an interesting, well-made movie, but it just lacked that impact of the second film. Thought Zahn's character was great though and I really liked how the film explained the notion of mute humans and the idea that certain apes were able to communicate purely through spoken word rather than signing. Nice little wink to the original series.
 
@chickenluver has you covered.

Also iirc Clive played the character of Dan in the theater version (which is hard to imagine after seeing the film).

Its easier to imagine with Ciaran Hinds as Larry I'd say out cavemanning Owen although the latter is definitely the best thing in the film at points.

Watching it again though I confess I don't think it really works entirely, there are some great scenes/lines in it but it feels rather too in the thrall of the play for me where as on screen the time jumps don't really come off with the drama a bit fractured. Mike Nichols direction as well feels rather too romcomish, not much in the way of atmosphere and the performances(bar ironically Julia Roberts) feel too sure of themselves IMHO, snappy dialog coming rather too easily
 
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At this point, I'm beyond terrible when it comes to staying current with new releases. I'm just a straight-up embarrassment. However, I recently watched Snowden on Netflix and thought it was pretty good. Not a huge Oliver Stone fan (though he went up in my esteem thanks to the job interview scene with not just the explicit Rand reference but even quoting from Atlas Shrugged :cool:) but I love JGL and I thought he did a great job.

That then sent me off on a mini JGL marathon.* I rewatched The Lookout which is such a great unassuming and modest thriller. I love both JGL's and Jeff Daniels' characters individually and the oddball relationship they formed. I also rewatched Uncertainty. I couldn't really remember anything about it (though I had an oddly vivid memory of the act of watching it on IFC) and it turns out that was probably because it wasn't very good. It could've been awesome, but the way they dealt with the "uncertainty" theme left me feeling empty and wondering what the point of watching the film was.

Lastly, I rewatched (500) Days of Summer. That's just a phenomenal fucking movie. Like Uncertainty, I'd only seen it once around the time it came out. Unlike Uncertainty, I had a pretty good memory of it and remembered loving it. Now, with it fresh in my mind, I can say unequivocally that it's one of the best films about love/relationships out there. It had a particular resonance this time around, as I not only broke up with the gf a few months ago, but towards the end, I was honestly feeling on repeat occasions that my gf was Summer and I couldn't shake the desire to rewatch (500) Days of Summer - what it says about me that the most prominent thought in my mind as my relationship was disintegrating was how badly I needed to rewatch (500) Days of Summer I'll leave to somebody else to diagnose - and it was fucking surreal.

*I also tried to watch The Walk, but not only do I have no desire to listen to JGL do that accent, I just wasn't feeling the style or tone of that thing.

@Bullitt68 you should check this and see what you think

To be perfectly honest, I don't dig zombies. Night of the Living Dead is the only zombie thing I truly enjoy. I don't even really like Romero's other Dead films.

Have you guys seen Closer, if so what did you think?

After I rewatched (500) Days of Summer, I was actually thinking about rewatching that, too. I remember very little about it, though I do remember that it was because of Will Jacobs pushing it that I watched it the first time around. Were you on that bandwagon back then, too?

Watched Nightcrawler for the ??th time [...] Has there ever been a more convincing sociopath in film?

First off, just for the record, I fucking love Nightcrawler. However, in response to your question, I think it'd be more accurate to characterize Jake's character in that film as a psychopath. @Caveat can let me know if I'm talking out of my ass here, but as far as I know, the distinction between a psychopath and a sociopath is that a psychopath doesn't have a conscience whereas a sociopath has the capacity to and does feel remorse.

Given those definitions (and off the top of my head because I'm too lazy to research and see if I'm forgetting something blatantly obvous) I'd immediately nominate Robert De Niro in Cape Fear as a more convincing psychopath than Jake in Nightcrawler (though Nightcrawler is easily twice the film Cape Fear is).

And then, just for the hell of it, I'd nominate Tom Noonan in Manhunter as the best sociopath in film history. That's at once one of the most chilling and sympathetic characterizations ever, which is a hell of an acting feat.


Just the first one.

I watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes last night. It had some problems, but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Too much technology for my taste, but I liked the story enough to forgive that, and while I felt the beginning portion dragged on for too long and the "climax" was extremely perfunctory, the parts that counted (basically the shit with Caesar) were strong and affecting and very enjoyable.

The biggest structural problem, beyond the introductory portion dragging on, was the apparent indecision on whose story this was, Franco's or Caesar's. Is it about the doctors and the testing and the ethical quagmires there or is it about the animals and the (mis)treatment and the ethical quagmires there? It felt like they were trying to shove too much story with too much ethical baggage into the film, which made it bloated and tiresome in parts.

I think the best scene was when Caesar saved John Lithgow from the douche neighbor. Lithgow really stole the show for me, and that scene was very moving. I also can't deny how bad ass it was seeing Caesar run shit in the monkey cells. I've seen a lot of prison movies and this was a really fun and fresh take by featuring a chimp prison saga :icon_lol:

Far from a masterpiece, but definitely a respectable and enjoyable effort.

Haven't gotten around to the others. And I'm not particularly chomping at the bit. Neither zombies nor talking monkeys are what I'd consider to be a go-to for me o_O
 
First off, just for the record, I fucking love Nightcrawler. However, in response to your question, I think it'd be more accurate to characterize Jake's character in that film as a psychopath. @Caveat can let me know if I'm talking out of my ass here, but as far as I know, the distinction between a psychopath and a sociopath is that a psychopath doesn't have a conscience whereas a sociopath has the capacity to and does feel remorse.

AFAIK there's no actual clinical distinction between a psychopath and a sociopath, though you'll often see the former term employed in popular media or to communicate particularly malevolent intention (the vast majority of sociopaths are benign as a societal threat).

Sorry about the breakup dude. I couldn't watch (500) Days of Summer for about a year after mine because it literally made me nauseous, especially that god-forsaken scene toward the end where he follows up with her. Still pisses me off to this day, though of course I love the film as a whole.

Closer is recommended at any time though. If you're the kind of person who can come to terms with discomforting relationship complexity then you'll appreciate it.
 
AFAIK there's no actual clinical distinction between a psychopath and a sociopath, though you'll often see the former term employed in popular media or to communicate particularly malevolent intention (the vast majority of sociopaths are benign as a societal threat).

Is there a reason why there's no actual clinical distinction? Just curious.

Sorry about the breakup dude. I couldn't watch (500) Days of Summer for about a year after mine because it literally made me nauseous, especially that god-forsaken scene toward the end where he follows up with her. Still pisses me off to this day, though of course I love the film as a whole.

Funny enough, the first movie I watched after we broke up was Premium Rush. I think JGL is my official break-up mascot :D

Anyway, yeah, that scene near the end with them is a brutal scene. A kick-in-the-balls line for me is when he asks her why she danced with him at that wedding when she knew the dude she ends up marrying was already a part of her life. She just says, "I wanted to," and he responds, in a way that so clearly conveys his utter shock at the way her brain works, "You just do what you want, don't you?" That's the Summer in my ex. Forget about other people's feelings: Other people simply don't exist except in relation to her, and even then, that's only if she needs something from them.

And then, as opposed to coming from Zooey, and as opposed to being after the break-up the way it was for the characters in that scene, it was during the break-up that I actually said something that was basically her line about how JGL was right about everything but "it just wasn't me you were right about." I said something about how I felt like I did everything right, I just didn't pick the right person. That's what sticks with me. For a guy who likes to think he's right about just about everything just about all the time, it's hard to accept that I was so wrong about something so important.



Closer is recommended at any time though. If you're the kind of person who can come to terms with discomforting relationship complexity then you'll appreciate it.

It's been on my Netflix list for a while now and I've been meaning to rewatch it. Having recently rewatched (500) Days of Summer, now would seem to be the time to do it.
 
To stay current with the latest releases, one needs only watch The Disaster Artist because it's great

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Easily one of my favorite of 2017

Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond was a solid documentary as well
 
After enjoying Three Colours Blue a lot more second time around I picked up Red and gave it a first viewing.

Very effective indeed I felt, Irene Jacob doesn't IMHO have the presence of Binoche but I don't think the film really calls for it, unlike the Double Life of Veronique where the atmosphere carries the film here its Jean-Louis Trintignant. Always nice to see an older character provide the centre drama to a film rather than being a foil for others and he does it incredibly well selling both a cold challenge to her romanticism and a believable shift. Ignores the old "show don't tell" very nicely as well for arguably the key scene of the film to great effect.
 
Yeah bull i think you would dig the apes sequels. Theyre not the most traditional action movies
 
Honestly I felt it looked rather dodgy, those CGeyes......

I am kind of supprised Rodriguez got such a big budget film.
 
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I was surprised by how much i didnt like Dunkirk. The first Nolan film I dont like. I saw it in IMAX today (real deal imax) and was bored out of my mind. I didnt give a shit about anyone or anything. It felt like a collection of scenes, over and over. It might as well have been a NatGeo special. There was no tension or excitement. By the time the 2nd ship sank I was tired of it.




Split on tthe other hand was fantastic. Even without the connection to a certain other movie, it's great on its own. Mcavoy was great, and i loved that they went all the way with the beast concept
 
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