Trying to bring it back on track - Triple Frontier
Printable View
Trying to bring it back on track - Triple Frontier
Thief (Michael Mann, 1981)
Thief was I think the first full-lenth feature Mann made, and has what have become trademarks: the city at night, rainswept streets illuminated by rows of street lighing, overhead shots of the city (Chicago, mostly) with intricate networks of buildings; cars moving at speed or gliding by; tough guys on the make, broads who don't wear bras. In this case, the cliche is the independent thief (James Caan) who wants one last big heist to retire in luxury with a wife and child (purchased, as the wife is infertile), and who agrees to do a big job for the mob, with predictable consequences. Nevertheless, the visuals are so good it is still worth watching, as it establishes Mann as one of the best directors of this kind of film. One odd thing that occurred to me, with all the cars, was that at one point I was looking at Caan's cadillac and it looked badly made, whereas I thought the Cadillac had a high reputation. The texbook corrupt cops are a drag, but it is still worth watching, and there are also, according to IMDB a couple of versions of the film. Lastly, I don't think James Caan ever got over being Sonny in The Godfather, he is miles better than fake muscle-men like Sylvia Stallion, or maybe he wasn't offered parts that helped him become a more diverse actor.
Twilight's Last Gleaming (Robert Aldrich, 1977)
I saw this film in the 1980s at the NFT and was keen to see it again. A rogue General falseley imprisoned, breaks out with three others, seizes control of a nuclear missile silo and demands money and that the US publish a secret NSC memo confirming the military knew the war in Vietnam could not be won and that young men would die to prove to the USSR that the US was capable and willing to sacrifice men to establish their military credibility. Orignally, the novel was concerned with the siege of the silo in return for money, but Aldrich -the scion of the Rockefeller dynasty who disowned him when he went to Hollywood- was a Democrat and in the aftermath of the Pentagon Papers wanted to make a political point. The film is mostly studio based, with exteriors shot in Bavaria, so it has dated in many senses, but it is well written, the acting is very 1960s with vintage actors, and the fate of the President quite extraordinary when you think the action is dated in 1981, more so in the present context. It remains an enjoyable film, but I always feel there is something missing in an Aldrich film.
Widows (Steve MQueen, 20180
Widows (Euston Films, 1983, Series 1)
Widows is the fourth full-length feature film by Steve McQueen and, in comparison to Hunger, Shame, and Twelve Years a Slave, it is his weakest. The film is a new version of the 1980s drama from the UK (which McQeen watched in his teens), a drama that was at the time reaching audiences of 18 million an episode and concerned the widows of three villains who died in a robbery that went wrong. Inheriting his plans for the robbery of a security van, the widow of gang boss Harry Rawlings recruits the widows of the dead men to re-attempt the robbery while fighting off the efforts of a rival gang to take over Rawling's business. The 1983 drama, which I also watched, for the first time since I saw it, has a largely competent script, low production values, and of the four women, only Ann Mitchell can act, the others being wooden to the point of embarassment (and none went on to greater things, indeed one died of an overdose in LA at the age of 31).
McQueen has replaced the rivalry between two criminal gangs in London by moving the scene to Chicago where the robbery that goes wrong leaves Rawlings' widow liable to the people to whom the money belonged, including corrupt city cops and a rival whose close assciate is trying to get out of crime and into local politics through election to the city council. The robbery and the politics collide as the target is a safe in the politicians house that contains ove $3 million, and as such is one of the many problems with credibility the films has. Cruciallly, instead of the heist being the dramatic core of the film, takes place late on and is lacking in tension. But the films is poorly structured and one can only hope this usually brilliant director returns to form in his next feature.
The one noticeable feature of the film is McQueen's constant playing with opposites: mostly black and white: black woman, white husand; black skin, white sheets. Black woman, white dog. Dark night, bright windows of the Loop; a poster on the wall of Bellini's opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi. White men in a black car, and so on. The photography is good, but the film is a flop.
US
A family's serenity turns to chaos when a group of doppelgangers begins to terrorize them.
W hat we do in the shadows Attachment 1145029Lot's of people are disregarding this movie due to "Lack of plot" or "Poor cinematography".
This isn't supposed to be that sort of movie, it's a mockumentary, done in the style of a documentary.
They have nailed that look perfectly, and the plot doesn't matter in a comedy.
What we do in the shadows
The comedy is great, the deadpan nature of it is hilarious, the jokes are brilliant.
Go in with the open mind that it's not your classic style of comedy.
I think it's a great movie.
The Shallows (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2016)
Blake Lively surfs on a remote Mexican beach in homage to her dead mother, and for the challenge. She surfs alone, other than two young Mexicans, a seagull and a deadly shark. When the tide is low a rock protrudes in the bay and when the shark arrives for its breakfast, lunch and dinner, surfer girl spends the rest of this mercifully short film (85 minutes) perched on the rock with the seagull that has dislocated a wing, though even when this medical student fixes it the gull remains with her. The shark, when not taking part of her thigh for a snack gorges on the two young Mexicans, and later, and presumably from desperation, the metal bars of the light buoy to which she clings and that through a complex manoeuvre becomes the fatal nemesis of the shark, though why this enormous fish does not leave the bay for the ocean where it can find fresh food, or munch away on a dead whale is not explained. Blake Lively looks great in a bikini, and that is as good as it gets.
The Shallows was on broadcast tv, and I watched it having given up on Searching (Aneesh Chaganty, 2018 ) a film framed entirely through the screen of a laptop. I found this so irritating that I gave up just under half-way through, much as I find it hard t watch films seen through a hand-held camera, like Cloverfield. I understand the reaon why, but the format doesn't work for me.
The Favorite (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018 )
If you wonder why the last of the Stuart monarchs has been so forgotten, this film about Queen Anne (queen from 1702-1714) will help, as it is a forgettable film.
Singularity (Robert Kouba, 2017)
With a score of 3.9 on the imdb, this film is so singularly bad I can only concede in shame that I paid £1.50 for it.
The Magnifient Seven (Antoine Fuqua, 2016)
They can remake Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954) seven times but it will never be magnificent as the original still is, whereas in this 2016 case, it is not even magnaminous, just maggoty.
If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins, 2018 )
And if it could talk it would, like Baldwin, be angrier, more tense, more aggressive than this tepid if worthy attempt.
Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019)
This sad, pathetic fantasy is tedious to watch. The script is flat, almost lifeless compared to the director's first two features, and the acting either over the top or matter of fact. The ending, which I am not to disclose, comes after two hours of what some consider a homage to the Western, network tv shows, and 'Hollywood' in the era when the Studio system ended and actors were independent and MGM stopped making musicals and so on. Who cares? Tarantino cares, and to some extent he matches the scenes from the Westerns being filmed with a scene at Spahn's Movie Ranch where the Manson family watch Cliff Booth stride up 'Main Street' toward, not the Saloon, but an old house. But once you see it the comparison becomes trite and overall has no other role in the movie. At a party at the Playboy Mansion, Steve McQueen shares a joint with a young woman, but is played by Damian Lewis in a blonde wig that makes him look not like Steve but an old Hollywood Queen, and is seen no more.
The fundamental problem is that the fading star of TV's Bounty Hunt and numerous Westerns, Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo di Caprio is a drunk, and as interesting as a drunk, which is not very much, just as his boyfriend Cliff is the Stunt Man who is closer in real life to the mean bounty hunting cowboy he lives for.
That's about it, other than to suggest Tarantino has a problem with women, but that is a discussion for another day if anyone can be bothered.
Oh, I forgot, just as Tarantino usually names characters after gay porn stars, there is a real 'Thick' Rick Dalton, a 'twink' with a thick cock who does gay porn. Go Figure.
Re: Once Upon a Time in HW
Too much DiCaprio, not enough Pitt. At least a half hour too long. Fabulous 70’s fashion and the usual killer soundtrack
Wouldn’t you have loved to imagine a Charles Bronson revenge fantasy on the Manson Family and all those middle class girls giving in to murder getting the tables turned on them? All because Manson couldn’t cut it as a musician and went to the wrong house by mistake (record producer Terry Melcher)
I found DiCaprio’s machinations tedious but Pitt epitomizes cool.
As much as I loved the movie (surprisingly violent for a mockumentary), I like rhe FX TV series even more.Quote:
Originally Posted by marchbball
Small point: 1960s fashion, not 1970s -film concerns events that took place in 1969. But yes, at least 30 minutes too long.Quote:
Originally Posted by Torris
Finding Dory.
It was no Finding Nemo!!!
Foxtrot (Samul Maoz, 2017)
This Israeli film concerns the family of a soldier on duty at a remote road block somewhere in Israel (looks like it is either the north or the far south). Although the core of the film is a mix-up in the identification of a dead soldier, and the boredom of four guys manning a remote road block the films makes some subtle, and not so subtle points about contemporary Israel -the accommodation of the soldiers sinking into the mud; the solitary camel that won't go away; the atheists in Tel-Aviv who smoke dope. The script is fine, the acting good, the direction to be admired. The title refers to a dance whose steps always take you forward and then back to where you began, with a exquisite foxtrot danced at the checkpoint by a soldier, one of the highlights of the film.
The Flood (Anthony Woodley, 2019)
The film may star Lena Headey and Iain Glen from Game of Thrones, but the excitement ends there. A worthy film about an asylum seeker that is well made and well acted but is predictable from the start and never really sparks into life.
Okay, I'll ask the question.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
Why do you think Tarantino has a problem with women?
Hidden Figures
It is true that women play a prominent role in Jackie Brown and Kill Bill, but neither are films that offer much to the audience other than senseless violence ripped from Asian films, or the failed attempt to 'shaft' Shaft with Jackie Brown, a film about survivors who have no moral right to survive. Tarantino's moral confusion is a major weakness in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood where there is not one substantial role for women -that women were crucial to the identity and maintenance of the 'Manson family' is beyond doubt but one of the many aspects of them that Tarantino leaves out even in the scenes shot at Spahn's Ranch where they appear to be hippies livin' a life or free love and getting high.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackchubby38
Mia Wallace has a prominent role in Pulp Fiction, but the film is a sequence of episodes in which each star has his or her own episode in which to dominate. I can think of only one loving relationship between a man and a woman in Tarantino's films -Butch and Fabienne in Pulp Fiction- as even with Django Unchained, the rescue of the lost wife is merely a plot device, the wife has no substantial part to play in the film and Django's relationship wth his 'daddy' and White Saviour Dr King Schultz (a dentist, note -hard things in the mouth) is the driver of the film. Jackie Brown may have a love element in the relationship between Jackie and Max Cherry but it doesn't get beyond a kiss, and anyway the sex between men and women in his films is rare, but note when it happens: anal sex in Jackie Brown (de Niro and Fonda), sex with a comatose Uma Thurman in Kill Bill; but gay sex is prominent: anal sex between men in Pulp Fiction, whle the men waving guns at each other in Reservoir Dogs are basically willy-waving in search of blow, and come, aka bullets.
I don't know if that satisfies you as an answer, but it is the best I can do without having to endure his fims all over again, and admit I don't recall a lot of The Hateful Eight or Inglourious Basterds, two forgettable films.
What Tarantino was trying to do with Once Upon Time In Hollywood was to remove the horror and mystique that surrounds the Manson family and show them for what they actually were. A bunch of girls with daddy issues and inept home invaders. He also made the movie to remind me people that Sharon Tate was a person and not just a murder victim.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
When it comes Jackie Brown and Kill Bill, while its true that Tarantino pays homage/rips off other genres of film, I don't know what else the audience should have expected from them. Also Pam Grier was starring in blaxploitation films before she starred in Jackie Brown. So if anything it was an attempt to make his version of Foxy Brown.
Tarantino films deal with crime, violent periods in time, and the darker side of the human psyche. So I don't expect to see loving relationships between men and women in them. That doesn't mean he has a problem with women.
Finally, that wasn't anal sex in Pulp Fiction. That was rape.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dns4809
That movie could have benefited from some gratuitous Janelle Monae nudity
Shin Godzilla 2016
The absolute best
Last movie I watched was: Chanel Santini: TS Superstar
https://images03-evilangel.gammacdn....nt_400x625.jpg
Looks good...but not showing at my local Vue cinema...we rarely get those radical, indy films...Quote:
Originally Posted by african1
All fair points, particularly the last one, where I stand corrected and agree it was rape, my apologies to all.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackchubby38
I appreciate a lot of the references in his films, but also find them irritating as it often looks like he wants the audience to congratulate him for being so clever, though I don't get the music references as they are, to me, obscure. In the end I can take or leave his films, Tarantino is just not the kind of director who bears comparison with the auteurs I can't live without, but he may be making films which are more purely American than most of his contemporaries, but is this the American people want to live in? And how many Americans are involved in crime at any level?
I always appreciate your intelligent comment, (and corrections!)...thanks.
IT: Chapter 2.
Knives Out (Rian Johnson, 2019)
An entertaining way to spend a couple of hours not worrying about the mortgage, Boris Johnson or the latest complaint from America's No 1 Liar about light-bulbs and the number of times Americans flush their toilets.
References abound, from Agatha Christie to Game of Thrones, from Hitchcock to CSI, and there is some sort of crackle and fizz to the script which is well performed by Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Johnson in particular. I am not sure if Daniel Craig has mastered a Southern Accent or if he intended to, but he is ok and unlike Southern Gentlemen, does not shave.
The film tries to match Wes Anderson's snap, crackle and pop films and fails, indeed, one wonders if Anderson would have done a better job. But hey, it was ok, and I am not complaining about the £4.99 ($6.56) it cost to buy a ticket, though the Vue chain may want to review the tea they use for customers, as the tea I bought was tasteless. How hard can it be?
The Iron Lady.
Just saw MIDSOMMAR. I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to whatever else Ari Aster delivers in the horror field because I also loved HEREDITARY.
The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)
at the beginning of his career Scorsese made a film- Mean Streets- about local mafiosi and wannabe mafiosi that was funny and tragic, fast and fluent. At the end of his career Scorsese makes a film about the guys at the top, grim and inevitable, slow and garbled. That it concerns real people from history- Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa- does not add credibility or depth as the claims made, on the assassinations of JFK and Hoffa, are either not true, or have not been verified as true. The overwhelming theme, of loyalty and betrayal is so embedded in Mafia tales as to be predictable here, but the film, with a stodgy, repetitive script, becomes a miserable three and a half hours and was, without doubt a waste of my time.
If this is Scorsese's last film, he went out with a whimper, not a bang. At least I did not have to pay for it seeing it on someone else's Netflix account.
Ella Hollywood and Daisy Tailor have awsome sex in this movie! A must see for shemale fans!!
https://i111.fastpic.ru/big/2019/121...c8836297c.jpeg
cdcyn
Re:Irishman.
45 minutes too long. Pacino was unbelievable as Hoffa. Nicholson did a much better job. Pesci was the best of rhe 3 main stays.
Very disappinted since Goodfellas is my favorite movie of all time. And Casino is in my Top 10 of all time
Robbie Robertson usually does a great soundtrack, but not this time. Can’t recall a single song.
The movie is as tired as the 4 senior citizens involved. Kind of depressing viewing experience.
Last movie for myself: Uncut Gems
I was surprised as to how much i liked this film and actually wanted the sleezeball Sandler to get over on everyone. He plays the role unlike others he has had before and, as a new yorker who bought his wife's ring on 47th street, he really is convincing.
Last actual movie: Moana
My daughter decided she had to watch it before going to sleep last night because I left Disney+ after watching the Mandolorian finale.
Storyville: 'Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle' (2019)
This two part film (each around 80 minutes long) takes the viewer through the history of Jim Jones and Jonestown from its origins in Indiana to the jungle of Guyana where a mass suicide/murder took place that has fascinated or puzzled people since it happened in 1978. The film is based on archive footage of Jones throughout his career, with the compelling evidence of those involved, including two of his 'sons'. On the one hand, it is an object lesson in the ability of charismatic individuals to persuade people to believe what they want to believe, on the other it exposes the lies and the cruelty that enabled Jones to survive as long as he did.
It exposes the lie of faith-healing: a woman with a broken leg who can walk had first been drugged, then told when she came round she had fallen and broken the leg she now saw in plaster, only it wasn't broken so of course she could walk and run when the cast was taken off. Bu there is no clearly stated explanation of what Jones believed, whether it was religious or political, and most of the footage consists of Jones shouting and screaming. There is also no deeper look into the multi-racial claims of the People's Temple and whether Jones sincerely believed in de-segregation of just found it a convenient tool to build his empire.
It also made me wonder why in the US there are so many 'preachers' -many of whom are self-invented or self-ordained- whose careers are based on large scale meetings where they bark, bleat, shout and scream as if they were rock stars inflaming the audience into rapture, rather than religious men delivering sermons on the moral basis of daily life as a preparation for salvation.
Deluded into thinking they were going to live a better life, his flock went to Guyana with him, only to discover that it is actually hard to produce food and drink on a daily basis for nearly 1,000 men, women and children without first investigating the fertility of the land chosen for the Promised Land. A third weakness being the absence of any detailed explanation why the government of Guyana allowed this ridiculous cretin into their country to create a 'state within a state' that they eventually had to deal with.
But fascinating and worth it if you can access the BBC iPlayer.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...ngle-episode-1
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...ngle-episode-2
Midsommar (Ari Aster 2019)
A stylish film with exquisite detail that concerns the visit some Americans make to a Pagan festival in Sweden, even if three of the main characters are either English or Irish born in America. There are some scenes which I suppose some might find horrific, but you need to buy into the commune living on the basis of ancient rites to sit through to its predictable end. It treads a fine line between intriguing and plain daft, but it is just a film, detail not equalling depth, various homages to Bergman and Tarkovsky which some might find pretentious, but at least I managed to accept it and admire it for its quality -7/10.
I also thought he was terrific as a manic thrill junkie. I wonder if exposing the seedy underbelly of the NYC Jewish diamond trade hurt the film come award season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cereal Escapist
The diamond trade has had a bad reputation for as long as I have been alive, and that includes the blood diamond scene where, for example, Robert Mugabe and his Generals helped themselves to whatever they could grab in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when the situation there was worse than it might be now. Lebanese merchants were instrumental in facilitating the flow of uncut diamonds from West Africa to Israel, it is a global problem, and these days I am not even sure if Jews dominate the trade in Hatton Garden in London as once they might have done. Other than their use in medical instruments and other industries, I have understood that diamonds are useful, but as ornaments for the human body or an insurance against divorce, no, don't understand that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Torris
The movie started with a scene in Ethiopia but for the most part it didn't include too much controversial information about the acquisition of diamonds or in this case opals. What could have been controversial, but really didn't generate much controversy was that the main character was Jewish and a hustler who pawned things that weren't his, gambled with money that wasn't his, and was mostly a self-destructive, selfish loser.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
I agree with cereal's review. I enjoyed it and found it to be a thrilling ride. If I had to guess, I think the lack of awards is probably because it was not a film for everybody. Its reviews among critics were generally very good whereas the audience response was mixed on most sites that track these things. If you don't know anything about basketball, don't know who the weekend is, or don't like loud movies with profanity you might not enjoy it.
Star Wars 9 - It Coulda Been a Contender...
Went in with low expectations. Left thinking "I can leave star wars behind now".
It's just getting money for the curiosity factor of George Lucas having declared Loooooong Ago that it was supposed to be a 9 part story, so we want to see it wrapped up at the end of 9.
It wasn't done in service to the story setup in the first 6 movies, it was done in service to the new characters and new merchandising, and was rushed through, and could have been 25minutes shorter. A sad day for lovers of stories and movies to see this rich property turned into a business opportunity. The original 3 had enough story and character to get people to care enough to want merchandise. This one just seems like a merchandise maker with little thought to character developement or story telling...
Got to make multiple posts because I've seen multiple good movies lately:
Star Wars 9. eh. Ok. Not sure what we expected. Wasn't great, wasn't terrible. At least they wrapped up who the heck Rey was.
Knives Out. Man that was fun. Actual character development and old fashioned movie making. Really enjoyed this movie.
Once Upon a Time. Again, just a fun movie. And how in the heck to you make a movie that is leading up to a horrible heinous crime fun? You let Quentin rewrite history that's how.
1917 The Great War was fought in black & white, right? But from the opening scene the movie reminds us that these were real people, fighting a gruesome, awful, war in vivid technicolor with real blood and guts being spilled. Aside from the historical aspect the film is a must see for every movie fan to witness this fine ONE LONG SHOT.
Wow. How did they pull that off?
Star Wars 9 - wasn't great wasn't terrible, 3.6 out of 15,000
Knives Out - it's on my "to watch" list
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - another tarantino movie I have no interest in watching, too much controversy over showing Bruce Lee wrong, among other things. I think he lost whatever touch he used to have.
1917 - GREAT movie, it will win awards, I didn't like some parts of it that distracted from the dialogue. The cuts between takes are there if you watch for them, like going through a dark doorway early on. It DOES feel like one really long shot though :)
Fans of 1917 should definitely watch Peter Jacksons 2018 "They Shall Not Grow Old"