Rate the Last Film you Watched

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

Another 1001 Movies film ticked off the list.

The Great Train Robbery (1903)

dir. Edwin S. Porter

I've watched the first sci-fi film and now I've seen the first western.  I didn't enjoy this as much as A Trip to the Moon, but it was entertaining nonetheless.  The story is very simple and easy to follow, and like A Trip to the Moon, there aren't even any interstitial titles, so everything is conveyed through performance.  This leads to some great over the top death scenes, in particular the two people the outlaws shoot, they both dramatically flop to the ground with their hands in the air.  There was one killing that I thought looked pretty brutal, one of the outlaws wrestles the train fireman to the ground and appears to bash his head in with a bit of coal.

I liked how there was some rudimentary camera movement in this film, there are a couple of wonky pans, and in one scene they mounted the camera on the train for a fight scene, so there is real movement going on, giving it a nice sense of energy.  Like A Trip to the Moon did for sci-fi, this film cemented some of the classic tropes of western cinema, my favourite being the scene in the saloon where some rowdy townsfolk are shooting at the feet of some guy, making him dance  

I also loved the ending of the film.  The last shot is of one of the outlaws shooting his gun straight down the lens of the camera, like he's risen from the grave for revenge against the posse who killed him, and the audience themselves for being passive participants.  Scorsese "borrowed" this for the end of Goodfellas, with Joe Pesci coming back from the dead to haunt Ray Liotta.

 

Like I mentioned earlier, I didn't enjoy this as much as A Trip to the Moon, but it was still entertaining and definitely worth 15 minutes of your time to appreciate a bit of film history - 7/10

 

[Con 5,703]

Impact After The Crash (2013) ...5/5...This was recommended by @Sinister , so thank you for that. This is a tough documentary about the worst DUI accident in American history that occurred in the state of Kentucky.  A sad and familiar account of a drunk driver driving the wrong way , that of course survives the accident but is responsible for taking twenty-seven lives by making the worst choice of his life. The gut-wrenching part is that the accident could have just caused broken bones and concussions at worst, but due to the school bus manufacturer building the bus just days prior to a mandatory fuel tank safety cage implementation, the collision with the unprotected gas tank created what ultimately would kill so many and deform others. There is sadness, anger, hope, forgiveness, and more importantly, safety reforms in school buses and harsher DUI penalties as a result of this horrible, horrible tragedy. It's heartbreaking and a reminder to use your intelligence when drinking alcohol, know your limits, and always tell the ones you love, just how  much value you put into that word when you say and express it. 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Con

[Con 5,703]

The Tunnel (2011)...3/5...An Australian found footage film about a reporter and camera crew exploring underground tunnels in search of evidence of a rumor that homeless people are disappearing in the tunnels. What I liked about this was how realistic it was, at one point it didn't feel like a movie and that is hard to pull off. This was a crowd-funded film and that was a pretty cool aspect. The scenes are spooky and well done. I think where I was let down was with some of the character actions, like not a single one of them grabs anything to defend themselves with and while they are in tunnels, we see plenty of wood and metal pieces, surely I would have grabbed at minimum a slab of stone or rock or how its obvious they have to stick together, especially when they get down to one single light source and yet we see them walking with moderate distances from one another, even after they KNOW something is hunting them. I also felt the creature was a bit inconsistent with its behavior and that is the writer's fault. I did enjoy the minimalist approach here, but just have had more fun and dread watching other films in the genre. But if you are a fan of the genre, this is a must see of course. 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

JoJo Rabbit

dir. Taika Waititi 

Jojo Rabbit is about a ten year old boy (Roman Griffin Davis) who is a member of the Hitler youth, wants to be the nest Nazi in the world, and has Adolf Hitler for an imaginary friend.  Life seems good for him, he has fun at his club burning books and learning about why Jews have scales, he believes all of the propaganda and thinks that Germany is winning the war, and he has a mother who loves him.  Then one day he discovers that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl in their house.  Jojo is scared of her at first, thinking she can read his mind and can turn into a bat, but he soon discovers that she's just like him, and that all of the Nazi ideologies that he believed were all a load of crap.  

This is a fantastic film that deftly walks the line between portraying the Nazis as comedic buffons who are there to be mocked and ridiculed while at the same time treating their actions and beliefs as something serious.  Taika Waititi, who wrote and directed the film, also stars as imaginary Hitler, and really goes for an over the top caricature of a needy, self obsessed, idiotic, childish jerk, which I like, because Hitler is someone who deserves to only be laughed at for the rest of human history.  The rest of the cast are all great, particularly Sam Rockwell and Alfie Allen, who made a great double-act, and Rebel Wilson who got a laugh out of me with every line she had.

It was well directed, Waititi has a kind of Wes Anderson vibe to him, very quirky and a lot of interesting shot choices, and the soundtrack was used really well.  I especially liked the use of the German version of I Want to Hold Your Hand over real footage of Nazi rallies.  

A well made comedy about Nazism and the pointlessness of hate with real heart to it that had me welling up during a few scenes, I highly recommend watching Jojo Rabbit - 9/10

 

[Con 5,703]

@LimeGreenLegend man I wanna read that review so bad but I wanna see the film first. I will try and find it tonight. 

Also you have been silent about Parasite. I started watching  it without English subtitles a few weeks ago but I was so lost that I stopped it and thought it was just “meh”, the images were awesome but all that talking and I had no idea what was being said. So naturally seeing it get all this praise all of the sudden has made me want to give it another chance and try and find a version with English subtitles. 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

Just now, Con said:

@LimeGreenLegend man I wanna read that review so bad but I wanna see the film first. I will try and find it tonight. 

Also you have been silent about Parasite. I started watching  it without English subtitles a few weeks ago but I was so lost that I stopped it and thought it was just “meh”, the images were awesome but all that talking and I had no idea what was being said. So naturally seeing it get all this praise all of the sudden has made me want to give it another chance and try and find a version with English subtitles. 

No spoilers in the review dude, just my general thoughts.  It's safe to read  

Parasite isn't out here until the start of next month, but I'll definitely be going to see it.  Next trip to the cinema for me will be for 1917, can't wait to see that.

[Con 5,703]

10 minutes ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

No spoilers in the review dude, just my general thoughts.  It's safe to read  

Parasite isn't out here until the start of next month, but I'll definitely be going to see it.  Next trip to the cinema for me will be for 1917, can't wait to see that.

I guess I shouldn’t be worried about spoilers when I know what the film is about and how it could relate to the history . Yeah 1917 looks amazing and I watched something on YT about it and how the camera never stops, it looks amazing. 

What did you think about the A Quiet Place 2 trailer? 

I think you are going to LOVE Parasite. Cannot wait for your review of it. It’s a film made for people with an eye for cinema like you.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Con

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

3 minutes ago, Con said:

What did you think about the A Quiet Place 2 trailer? 

Just watched it now.  It looks interesting, but I haven't seen the first one, worth watching?

Have to say, I don't love the creature design, but hopefully you don't see much of them.

[Con 5,703]

24 minutes ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

Just watched it now.  It looks interesting, but I haven't seen the first one, worth watching?

Have to say, I don't love the creature design, but hopefully you don't see much of them.

You never saw the first one? The first one isn’t really about the monsters and more about the family. It’s worth a watch for sure, bro. 

Yes in part 2 they are showing us more of the creature but I trust John Krasinksi, even if the second one appears to be more “campy” than the first one.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Con

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

@Con think the first one is on Netflix, I'll check it out soon and let you know what I think  

[Con 5,703]

Just now, LimeGreenLegend said:

@Con think the first one is on Netflix, I'll check it out soon and let you know what I think  

Non-spoiler review...I gave AQP 4/5...so you know I’ll be at the sequel even if it’s crap. 

 

[Con 5,703]

Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary....5/5....Maaaaan, it hit me in the feels cause as I was watching this I remembered that besides i finding this a real fun story, I did watch it during a very sad time in my life and the film literally cheered me up on a personal level. So I have always kept Galaxy Quest on all my fave lists and now we get a documentary about it and it was way overdue....sadly, Alan Rickman is the only one from the cast ensemble to have passed away, made it sadder when I learned that in 2016 they were going to do a reunion tour but Alan died a few weeks before and everyone was so devastated that the entire project was cancelled. This documentary was fantastic because after all these years, these actors hold this film close to their hearts. It was fun learning that Sigourney Weaver forced her way into the role because she wanted to show a different side of herself and not just the Ripley from Alien character. Or how Sam Rockwell hated the role and did NOT want to be cast but the casting director just would not leave him alone and when he finds out that Galaxy Quest would be released around the same time as The Green Mile, where Sam plays Wild Bill Wharton, and it dawned on him that it would be amazing for him as an actor to feature his flexibility portraying two vastly different characters, and it was awesome to see him admit he almost made the mistake of not being in Galaxy Quest. If you love the film, you have to watch this because its just good. I love the way the film has the actor interviews but also we follow this family that is just in love with the movie and they cosplay as a family, it's a cool touch. There is an issue with the sound at times but I didn't care, the editor could have done better but I can overlook that as nothing major is ruined by the audio issue and is why I didnt take a point off for it. I was very disappointed that there is no mention of Sarris, the main and amazing villain, now I know the actor, Robin Sachs passed away but there was no mention of him or the role at all and that was hugely disappointing. I also felt like this should have been way longer. I mean, its a documentary, it could have been three hours long to fit everything in. I also would have liked way more behind the scenes footage of the shoot but I'll take what they showed, it's better than nothing. If Galaxy Quest lives in your heart, you can't miss this documentary. 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

The Lighthouse

dir. Robert Eggers

The Lighthouse is a story about two men going absolutely insane on an isolated island off the New England coast.  It stars Willem Dafoe as Thomas Wake, a salty old sea-dog in the classic Captain Ahab mould, and Robert Pattinson as Ephraim Winslow, his new assistant, and a man of few words.  They are pretty much the only two characters we see for the entire film, and they pull it off with style.  It really reminded me of Sleuth (1972), which only stars Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine, but with incredible writing, direction, and performances, that's all you need.  The first half of the film is very slow burn, we're getting to know these characters as they're (trying) to get to know each other, but there's always this undertone of discomfort and unease.  

Winslow is there to do repairs, clean, dig holes and basically anything Wake tells him to do, while Wake's main responsibility, other than cooking "tell me ye liked my lobster!", is to tend the light during the night, and he is very possessive of this responsibility, keeping the very top of the lighthouse locked, saying things like "the light is mine" and how he is wedded to it.  This is where the creeping Lovecraftian horror elements really kick in, and like The Killing of a Sacred Deer, goes to show what a modern horror film can be.  By the midpoint of the film their time on the island is up, and they get shitfaced to celebrate, but a storm blows in and leaves them stranded.  This is where the film turns into a real descent into madness, cabin fever, confusion, violence and ecstasy that all culminates in the most unsettling last ten minutes of a film you could ever see.  No spoilers, but it starts with a slow tracking shot into Wake's face as he's delivering one of his incredible Moby Dick style monologues, all the while something is happening to him, and as we get closer, and closer to his face it becomes so unsettling and truly horrific that I actually found myself holding my breath, and from there, through distorted screaming and the seagulls...oh lord, the seagulls, we get to the end credits, and I couldn't believe what I just saw.  You all need to watch this, because I need to talk about this with someone!

The script is so good at keeping you uneasy throughout, never knowing the true intentions of each man, and whether Wake is the mad one, or Winslow.  At times the film will have you wondering if you're the mad one as both characters deceive and cajole and intimidate and love one another so intricately, moving between one emotion to the next with skill that left me stunned by how good an actor Robert Pattinson actually is!

The direction is incredible, all shot in black and white and 1:19:1 aspect ratio (the whole film is square, no widescreen) it feels like a film from the 20s, which adds to its mythic, sailor folklore feel.  The whole thing feels like a dream that descends into a nightmare with incredibly haunting imagery like the one-eyed gull, the spiral stairs of the lighthouse which are shot at times to look like a tentacle ensnaring the two characters, a terrifying shot where Wake is the lighthouse, and the lighthouse itself, at times battered by huge stormy waves, sometimes standing eerily still under a clam sky.  The sound design is also incredible, with one noise particularly that started to send waves of dread down my spine whenever it's heard.

If you can't tell by now, I quite likes this film, and I can see no reason to give it any other score than a perfect 10/10

tis bad luck to kill a seabird

[Con 5,703]

The Return of the Living Dead  [Part 2] ... 1/5 ... The first one is my fave zombie film of all time as it traumatized me at a young age but it was worth it. I never watched Part 2 out of respect for the 1st one, as i felt we didnt need a sequel. The 1st one says and shows all it needs to in order to deliver. Part 2 is lame starting with casting the two leads that DIE in the 1st part and its not like they gave them new haircuts or personas, in fact, they even say things like..."It sure feels like weve been here before?", the other replies, 'yeah like we've done this before or something.' I think the biggest fail is that none of the creators from the 1st one were involved with Part 2 and would sue if any of their designs were used or copied, so we get an entire new makeup style and while most worked, there were many cringe moments, like the Michael Jackson Thriller zombie, back then, maybe it was funny, watching it in 2020 was brutal. The slapstick and jokes dont land the way they do in the 1st one and thats probably because Part 2 was written as a comedy with zombies unlike Part 1 were comedy was born out of putting the characters in those situations. Why should you watch it?  You haven't rolled your eyes at the TV screen in a long time and are interested in how to make a bullshit sequel no one wanted.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Con

[Con 5,703]

@LimeGreenLegend the film I’m excited for is Underwater. Too bad they show the monster in the trailer. 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

4 minutes ago, Con said:

@LimeGreenLegend the film I’m excited for is Underwater. Too bad they show the monster in the trailer. 

That looks pretty interesting.  Shame about seeing the monster in the trailer, they could have just shown them being dragged away, save something for the film.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

dir. Buster Keaton

Another film from the 1001 Movies book, Sherlock Jr. is a black and white silent comedy directed by and starring the legendary "great stone-face" Buster Keaton in a dual role as a downtrodden cinema projectionist and, in the film-within-a-film, the titular Sherlock Jr.  The film has nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes, the name Sherlock is just used to show that he is a great detective.  

The story is very basic.  Buster is a poor projectionist and wannabe detective with not enough money to buy the fancy chocolates for his sweetheart.  While visiting her, his rival for her affections steals her father's pocketwatch, pawns it, and frames Buster.  Thrown out by his sweetie and her father he returns to work where he falls asleep while a film is playing.  In an incredible sequence his spirit rises from his sleeping body and walks into the screen, becoming part of the film.  There were parts during this where I have no idea how they did it, it's so impressive.  The film he was watching mirrors his real life situation, but with pearls instead of a watch.  All of the characters in the film transform into their real life counterparts, with Buster assuming the role of the great detective.  Through an incredible series of set-pieces, stunts, slapstick, and hilarious performances Sherlock Jr. solves the case, just as his sweetheart in real life discovers that he is innocent.  He is woken by her where she tells him that she knows the truth, and in a really funny and touching scene Buster mirrors the end of the film still playing where the hero embraces and kisses the girl, but in his own inimitable style.  

You may think that a silent film from nearly 100 years ago wouldn't be very funny, but I was laughing for the entire 45 minutes.  Everything in this film is funny, from the big stunts to the small character moments.  The main event of all Keaton films are the stunts, however, and here they are jaw dropping.  Particularly the motorbike scene where he is sat on the handlebars of a motorbike, but unknown to him, the driver falls off, and we watch him ride a motorbike from the handlebars as he weaves through traffic and in front of trains!  In another scene, after running the length of a train's roof, he jumps onto a water pump thing, where a huge spout of water dumps onto his head.  He didn't know it at the time, but this broke his neck.  Fucking mad lad.

I was also amazed by how meta it was.  Cinema was still very young, but here we have a film about a film, where the main setting is a cinema, and one of the biggest stars of the time played a projectionist who dreams of being a star.  It's an incredibly advanced story for the time.  

If you're hesitant at watching a film this old, don't be.  This is funnier than anything Will Ferrell has ever done.  9/10

 

[DavidCore89 7,402]

Few quick ratings without a review, because I'm lazy 

A Quiet Place (2018) - 8/10.

Joker (2019) - 7/10.

Ford v Ferrari - 5/10.

[Spinnaker1981 974]

On 1/8/2020 at 10:38 AM, LimeGreenLegend said:

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

dir. Buster Keaton

(...)

If you're hesitant at watching a film this old, don't be.  This is funnier than anything Will Ferrell has ever done.  9/10

 

 

I love Buster Keaton´s movies... The General is my favourite (the movie that started my love for him), but this is a close second!

Though, it is hard to choose because he was featured in no less than 125 different movies (though not always has starring actor).

He was also great friend with Charlie Chaplin and you have several lines that evoke one another on several pictures (yes, they also teased each other and included easter eggs in movies to make fun of each other).

 

Curiously, he was not very successful (Chaplin and Lloyd were much more successful, moneywise), only gaining the majority of his followers in the 50s and 60s.

Still, he is my favourite of the 3.

[Con 5,703]

The Lighthouse (2019)

The Awesome: Where the film worked for me most hauntingly was in the set design. I hated being in those spaces, i hated every room, every piece of furniture, even the indoor antique water pump, i hated it all and that is a great thing because while I didnt care very much at all for the "greek mythology" aspect, I did care about wanting to get the fuck off that rock. I hated being there. Take me to the beach with blue skies, turquoise water and palm trees. One thing is clear, lighthouse work is not for fucking me. I hated it. I hated the idea of having to push coal in a wheelbarrow on a rainy cold day. This is where the film excelled for me, the illusion that these men had it rough. Both men really sold the illusion for that 1 hour and 50 minutes. and is what had me captivated and engaged. Both performances were amazing but our National Treasure, Mr. Willem Dafoe plays the character Thomas Wake to perfection. I mean, some of those monologues he says rarely have a break for him to take a breath and it was just amazing to hear and watch this world class actor do his thing and to learn that there was no formal script made it even more amazing. I have to give @LimeGreenLegend credit for telling me that the B&W shouldnt deter me from watching it and he was right, while in Roma (2018) the B&W almost conveyed "hope" to me with its bright whites and sunlit scenes but here the B&W is used to enhance the bleakness of these men's surroundings and interiors. Cannot proceed without saying how much i loved the fucking fog horn. That shit was creepy and foreboding but thrilling, it sure made my imagination jump with anticipation of what was to come. I can still hear that thing now and I want to use it as my ringtone. The sound design was super-amazing with the crisp cacophony of the ocean, sea birds, and weather filling every part of your ear and then the sudden vacuum of quiet when they would go indoors was always an audible treat, even the fapping was in surround sound which i've been trying to get out of my head ever since. The dialogue and speech, especially the way Defoe speaks is absolutely detrimental to selling us this time period and I found him Oscar-worthy in this role. The cinematography was impressive and no doubt colorization would have took so much of the creepiness away and the B&W made some of the hallucinations much more effective. 

The Good: The discussions about all the theories the film has produced. I for one just saw it as two men that probably wouldn't get along in real life but have to work together and one has a seniority obsession and a dictatorship complex making everything harder than it should for Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) the new lighthouse guy. But I accept the theory that both men were in purgatory because they both had caused the deaths of innocent men and this lighthouse island is where the souls go for penitence. The vibe I got was that of Charon carrying these men over the Styx like in Dante's Inferno. I really like that purgatory theory  as it could explain that very last image of Ephraim. There are other theories but I think the purgatory one makes more sense to me, although with all the alcohol and inhalants they end up drinking, the strange things we see could be the result from a combination of despair from feeling abandoned, intensely isolated, and murdered brain cells from the shit they start drinking once the liquor runs out. The dialogue was tremendous because it makes you feel like you are watching something that was shot in its time period. The weather effects were some of the best I've seen or heard, I kept looking at my bedroom saying to myself, "right now some guy is on an island with a lighthouse and a storm may be approaching....maaaaan, im glad im not that guy."  I enjoyed the images of the mythological as it reminded me of illustrations from Dante's Inferno and only "A House That Jack Built", did them better. I really like this director, he directed The Witch (2015) and I felt that was an awesome piece of story-telling, in that one we have the goat and in this one its a sea bird.

The Bad: The masturbation scenes are probably awkward if you are watching with the family. The ambiguity of several scenes may not sit well with people looking for a film that is more straight to the point. The confusion the film wants you to experience in the third act when the dialogue contradicts the visuals could turn many right off and has been some of the criticism the film has received, and I understand that because without spoiling anything about another recent film that uses a similar element except we are eventually shown the truth and it works wonderfully in that film, here it is left to interpretation by the viewer and can cause distractive-confusion as to what we are being shown. I thought it could have made for a more interesting and creepy story had they stuck with the original idea of it being a ghost or horror story and I'm not saying it needed to be that but the way the first half of the film is presented, I would have loved more creepy discoveries and we do get some of those, think the lobster trap, at that point you aren't sure what is a hallucination or not. 

The Ugly: Some people will dislike it because it lacks a structured plot. It's more of an observation piece than a full character study or formulaic story. You have to be in the mood to want to experience a slow burn and then be made feel disoriented by it all, so it's not one of those disposable films you can just throw on and expect everything to be explained to you. The problem with having characters hallucinate is that you lose the sense of what is real and what is fake and if the hallucination is scary...we get snapped out of it, never to see it again, it feels wasted and I kind of felt that the film would have also succeeded as a supernatural or paranormal story than just a character observation piece. One thing that I found odd was a few times Pattinson loses his accent and one of those times is after one of Dafoe’s amazing monologues and Pattinson's accent is completely gone and he does this on several occasions where I said to myself, "that dude just ruined the scene." That might have been a result of the different way the two actors approach their craft, per the director himself, Dafoe loves to rehearse, while Pattinson, not so much, cause we see Dafoe delivering his dialogue in all it's fury and complexion only to have Pattinson just say the line like he forgot to practice the accent. I don't know if anyone caught it but I feel like I heard his accent drop a few times. 

Final Verdict...4/5... If mythology, specifically the Greek kind turns you on, then you will love the metaphors and mythology in this interesting black and white film. I didn't roll with the Greek mythology angle at all, I went with the theory that these are two men that lose their god damned minds because they start drinking kerosene and honey...that shit will fuck your ass right up. I enjoyed this because I went with the flow and unlike some people, I connected with these characters because I just didn't want to be them. Like I admire that they want to do that type of work, but fuck that, I'll just watch ya'll from here type-thing. I think it left too much open for interpretation for me and is the only reason I didn't give this a 5/5. I loved the last scene of the film, i just didnt like the setup since that is not the last place we see Pattinson land after he sees the light and felt almost like the writer said, oh by the way, I based this character on this mythological figure. Don't get me wrong, I love me some mythological figures and loved the snippets of Dafoe as Poseidon as that made full on sense for the setting but I preferred to interpret the material like this:

Spoiler...

 

...An old timer lighthouse attendant traded in his job for his family and the lighthouse is the only thing he knows. He is aging and eventually will have to relinquish his position to a younger man that he has to train and is why he evaluates Pattinson in his notebook so unfavorably and has even gone as far as making helpers go mental, as he has manipulated the despair by pretending they are out of provisions and more importantly alcohol, he wants his helpers to get to the point where they will even drink fucking kerosene for a high. And when the helper is fucking unconscious, he misses the boat that is supposed to pick him up and bring him back to land. Motherfucking Thomas Wake (Willem Defoe) orchestrates the entire thing and just happened to meet his match this time around as he finally found someone more obsessed with the light than he ever was. I mean, Ephraim Winslow (Pattinson) kills a man just to see the light.

Sure I wanted it to go more paranormal or serial killer-ish in the end but I wasn't disappointed with what we get at the end just wish the last scene would have been used more literal, what I mean is: 

Spoiler...

 

I would have loved to have seen our survivor stumble out of the lighthouse and slip on a damn rock, tumble down the jagged rocks, and end up in that last position...have a sea bird land on him as if showing compassion towards the fallen sailor only for us to see the sea bird peck his eye out and start eating those intestines...give me that scene and 5/5 would have been an easy score.

The Lighthouse is a trip down madness lane and you better be equipped for the ride cause once it gets going, you'll be looking for that fog horn sound for comfort. If you like feeling uneasy and disoriented, this is the film for you and you will love it for that. I'm just glad I will never need sea-legs, baby.

"Let Neptune strike ye dead, Winslow! Haaaaark! Hark, Triton! Hark! Bellow, bid our father, the sea king, rise from the depths, full foul in his fury, black waves teeming with salt-foam, to smother this young mouth with pungent slime… … to choke ye, engorging your organs till ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more… only when he, crowned in cockle shells with slithering tentacled tail and steaming beard, take up his fell, be-finnèd arm — his coral-tined trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest and plunges right through yer gullet, bursting ye, a bulging bladder no more, but a blasted bloody film now — a nothing for the Harpies and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the dread emperor himself… forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god or devil, forgotten even to the sea… for any stuff or part of Winslow, even any scantling of your soul, is Winslow no more, but is now itself the sea."

-Thomas Wake

Edited January 10, 2020 by Con

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

Love the write up @Con, that quote at the end gave me chills just remembering that scene!  I see what you mean about the ending, but personally I love not knowing what happened between Winslow falling down the stairs and his final position, it makes it creepier when you let your imagination fill in the blanks.  I imagined he just went full on primal, stripping naked and bellowing at the sky in the middle of a raging storm, falling from exhaustion only to have the gulls descend upon him.

I've read a couple of interesting theories too.  One is that Winslow died early on in the film when he falls while painting the lighthouse, and the following madness is his trip through purgatory.  Another theory I really like is that Wake and Winslow are the same person.  Winslow is alone on the island, and imagines this tough old father figure to help him, but as he gets madder his imagination gets more hostile, to the point of absolute madness.  

And you're right about that foghorn, I've been hearing it in my dreams and waking full of dread, covered in a fine film of sweat.  The light.  The light.  

is mine.  

I still feel weird a couple of days after watching this  

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

1917

dir. Sam Mendes

1917 is a First World War film from director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead, Skyfall) starring the relative unknow actors George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman as Lance Corporals William Schofield and Tom Blake.  The story is very simple.  They have been tasked with delivering a message to cancel an attack as it is a trap.  They only have until morning to get to the unit, or else all 1600 men will be massacred.  Along the way they have to contend with no man's land, abandoned German bunkers, a downed German pilot and many other harrowing obstacles.  

The star of this film is undoubtedly the director, Sam Mendes.  This is because the entire two hour film was shot to look like one single take, the camera following the two leads like we are the third man of their unit.  It's truly incredible the way the camera moves throughout the world presented to us in this film.  Without using any cuts he's able to get so many different types of shots throughout the film, the camera moving fluidly from close-ups to tracking shots to gorgeous establishing shots of the French countryside, or burnt out village, or a blazing church.  

I'll tread lightly on the story details, so there won't be any spoilers, but there is quite little action for a war film.  It's mostly about building tension until you can't take it anymore, before giving you that cathartic blast of activity.  There are some emotional moments at a couple of points throughout the film, but it never becomes sentimental.  The characters have a job to do, and they're soldiers, so the mission always comes first.  I also loved how the very first and very last shots of the film echo each other, just with a slight difference.  

There are a few recognisable faces in the supporting cast, Mark Strong, Daniel Mays, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Benedict Cumberbatch and Colin Firth all pop up very briefly, and all do a very good job with the time given to them.  Especially Andrew Scott, I loved the couple of minutes we got with his character.  The music was good, but nothing incredible.  I did like the song sung by the soldier toward the end of the film, that was really haunting and gave me the chills.  

I only had one real nitpick with the film, and that is that the German soldiers all seem to have gone to the Stormtrooper school of marksmanship, but that's a problem a lot of films have.  Overall it's a very restrained but powerful film, delivering a strong message with quiet confidence.  8/10

 

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by LimeGreenLegend

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

Parasite

dir. Bong Joon-ho

Parasite is described as a thriller/black comedy, which is true, but it also has the feel of a haunted house story about it.  It was directed by Bong Joon-ho and written by Bong and Han Jin-won.  It's the story of two families, one rich and one poor.  The son of the poor family becomes, through some nefarious means, an English tutor for the rich familie's daughter.  From there, every member of the poor family gains employment from the rich family, but they all pretend that they don't know each other.  The first half of the film builds up a real sense of tension as they poor family insinuate themselves into the lives of the rich family.  Then there is an incredible twist halfway through the movie that kicks off the momentum towards an incredible ending.

This is such a well written movie, the characters are all so well rounded, no one is one dimensional.  The rich family aren't portrayed as out of touch or snobbish, and the poor family aren't shown as being virtuous just on account of their poverty.  The class difference is shown through their attitudes and perspectives.  There is a rainstorm at one point in the film, the rich family comment that it was so refreshing for the gardens, and how the skies are always so clear after a storm.  Meanwhile, down in the slums, everything has been flooded and there is sewage washing through the streets.  The direction and the locations really sell the economical difference too.  There is a great sense of verticality to the city, the rich up high and the poor down below, and this is shown throughout the film, especially the storm scene where we watch the water wash down the city.  

The acting is fantastic all around, particularly the poor father, Kim Ki-taek, played by Song Kang-ho.  He really portrays a man who has spent his whole life hustling for every buck.  I think I remember @Con saying he tried watching it without subtitles and got boreda short while in.  Dude, get a copy with subs and watch it again, this is a brilliant film and rightly deserves all of the Oscar buzz it's been getting. 9/10

 

 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

The nominations are in for the 2020 Academy Awards, with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 1917, and The Irishman all getting ten each, and Joker leading the pack with 11.   My predictions for each category is in bold.

Best Picture
1917
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

Best Director
Bong Joon Ho, Parasite
Sam Mendes, 1917
Todd Phillips, Joker
Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Actress
Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Renée Zellweger, Judy

Best Actor
Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix., Joker
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

Best Supporting Actress
Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Best Supporting Actor
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Irishman (Steven Zaillian)
Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi)
Joker (Todd Phillips & Scott Silver)
Little Women (Greta Gerwig)
The Two Popes (Anthony McCarten)

Best Original Screenplay
1917 (Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns)
Knives Out (Rian Johnson)
Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino)
Parasite (Bong Joon Ho & Jin Won Han)

Best Cinematography
1917 (Roger Deakins)
The Irishman (Rodrigo Prieto)
Joker (Lawrence Sher)
The Lighthouse (Jarin Blaschke)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Robert Richardson)

Best Costume Design
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
The Irishman

Best Film Editing
Ford v Ferrari (Andrew Buckland & Michael McCusker)
The Irishman (Thelma Schoonmaker)
Jojo Rabbit (Tom Eagles)
Joker (Jeff Groth)
Parasite (Jinmo Yang)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Bombshell
Joker
Judy
1917
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Best Original Score
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
1917
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Original Song

I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away from Toy Story 4, Randy Newman
(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again from Rocketman, Elton John & Bernie Taupin
I’m Standing With You from Breakthrough, Diane Warren
Into the Unknown from Frozen 2, Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Stand Up from Harriet, Joshuah Brian Campbell & Cynthia Erivo

Best Production Design
1917
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

Best Sound Editing
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Sound Mixing
Ad Astra
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Visual Effects
Avengers: Endgame
The Irishman
The Lion King
1917
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
I Lost My Body
Klaus
Missing Link
Toy Story 4

Best Animated Short
Dcera (Daughter)
Hair Love
Kitbull
Memorable
Sister

Best Documentary Feature
American Factory
The Cave
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
Honeyland

Best Documentary Short
In the Absence
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)
Life Overtakes Me
St. Louis Superman
Walk Run Cha-Cha

Best International Feature
Corpus Christi (Poland)
Honeyland (North Macedonia)
Les Miserables (France)
Pain and Glory (Spain)
Parasite (South Korea)

Best Live Action Short
Brotherhood
Nefta Football Club
The Neighbors’ Window
Sariahs
A Sister

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by LimeGreenLegend

[LimeGreenLegend 4,175]

Knives Out

dir. Rian Johnson

Knives Out is a murder-mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper) and starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, a private detective investigating the death of famous mystery writer Harlan Thrombey, played by Christopher Plummer.  The rest of the Thrombey family are made up of a fantastic ensemble cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette and Chris Evans who all deliver brilliant performances, but the standout to me was Ana De Armas who plays Harlan's nurse, Marta.  She really captured the sense of her being an outsider, even though she comes across as the one person closest to Harlan.

Rian Johnson got a lot of shit for The Last Jedi, but this shows what a talented writer and director he is.  The script for this film is incredible, with twists and revelations coming naturally, and they make sense, while also not being predictable.  I had no idea about what was really going on right up until the last scene, at which point Daniel Craig gets an amazing speech where he lays out all of the information and leads us to the conclusion in such a satisfying way.  Craig is also incredible in this, playing Blanc with a cool, laid back air, but you can tell that he sees everything.  I would love to have a full Benoit Blanc film series, like the modern Poirot.  

I can't say anything about the plot without spoiling it, so I won't.  All I will say is that it is one of the most finely crafted murder mysteries since Agatha Christie last wrote a book.  Just watch the film and enjoy the roller-coaster ride of a story.  9/10

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by LimeGreenLegend