|
Post by queenzod on Jan 8, 2023 21:04:36 GMT
Pattinson’s been acting for, what? 20 years? If he hasn’t got it by now he probably won’t ever get it, lol. But he’s a pretty face so he still gets hired.
llminnowpea, I have the same squick with Del Toro and his insistence on mutilating people’s faces. What’s up with that? They’re always getting shot in the face, or bashing them in, or even a knife through the cheek like in Crimson Peak. It’s gross. Does he need to talk to his therapist?
But then I don’t really understand the horror genre at all and there’s sooo much of it these days. My nervous system is already shot to pieces so I don’t need to see anymore that’ll upset it further. Kudos to you who can stand it, though. You’re stronger than me. I like a good, steady drama, or something sweet (not pablum or mush, tho), and classic movies. Spent most of last week watching musicals just for the incredible talent.
My type of horror is the old fashioned kind, like Dracula. It amazes me that they kill Dracula off screen! All you hear is him screaming and then the protagonists come back in, brushing off their clothing, lol. Today you get 4 or 5 camera angles, blood gushing, in slo-mo, of the moment of death (and then they’re not *really* dead b/c they have to rise up again for one final jump scare!
|
|
|
Post by queenzod on Feb 2, 2023 3:13:28 GMT
I just finished Tár, now playing on Peacock. My god what a movie! I was riveted. Long, at 158 minutes but I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. Has anyone else seen it? I’m interested in knowing what you think. Cate B was terrific, amazing, really, and such a good script and score (naturally). I feel transported into an elite world I know very little about. Super rich, super stuffy arena of serious music and the dynamics involved in being a certain type of powerful and famous person, especially a woman. I think it posed more questions than it answered, which I find very rewarding in a film. The nature of power, influence, taking advantage, cancel culture, ego, media, etc. Lots to think about.
|
|
|
Post by roverpup on Feb 2, 2023 12:44:02 GMT
That's one film that is definitely on my checklist.
We watched Blonde and we both found it too unrelenting disturbing. And way too long. Very depressing movie.
The lead actress, Ana de Armas, was excellent in her role and the cinematography is inventive, but I have to agree with the Indiewire critic who called it a "bizarre, miserablist biopic".
Also accurate is the LA Times' critic when he said "Blonde…is the worst kind of feminism, one so absorbed in the desire to 'save' a woman that it victimizes her as much as possible to make its redemption of her that much more praiseworthy."
And I have to agree with the opinion that the film contained too many manipulative distortions/lies (ie. The abortions/ rape depicted) that was done solely to "hyper victimize" the protagonist, when sticking to the actual facts would have been more effective at getting the point across. It seemed like artistic license gone wild.
Justin Chang from the Los Angeles Times stated that the film "isn't really about Marilyn Monroe. It's about making her suffer".
And as a result, unfortunately, the audience suffers too but there isn't a feeling that anything can be learned from this suffering, so the film loses it whole point.
|
|
|
Post by mllemass on Feb 2, 2023 15:00:48 GMT
I watched Emily the Criminal on Netflix the other day. It was ok. I wish they’d stop making these movies so dreary! I know that Emily is down on her luck, and nothing seems to go her way, but it went on too long and became infuriating! And we knew that a somewhat happy ending was waiting for her, so that came as no surprise. I think it would have been better as a three-part limited series of half-hour episodes.
|
|
|
Post by queenzod on Feb 6, 2023 1:01:58 GMT
Has anyone watched “Cunk on Earth?” It’s on Netflix and stars Diane Morgan, that funny woman who was on Graham Norton with Ben that one time who talked about buying her entire wardrobe for her show off one person on eBay. I’m sure she’s in some British tv show but I don’t know which one.
It’s a mockumentary (5 parts, 1/2 hour each), and she guides us through the history of civilization and talks with a bunch of real experts who are rendered somewhat speechless at the stupidity of her questions, but some of them rally and manage to build their response on the wise center of what she meant. It’s fresh with silly tones of Monty Python, but some very sharp points are made. I laughed out loud a number of times. Recommend highly! 😃
|
|
|
Post by mllemass on Feb 6, 2023 1:44:50 GMT
I haven’t seen it yet, but I know the actress from After Life, the series with Ricky Gervais. It’s weird - it seems like she’s always playing the same character in everything she does. She was like that even that time on Graham Norton.
|
|
|
Post by queenzod on Feb 6, 2023 11:57:12 GMT
I’ve been wondering the same thing about women who rise to positions of power. I’ve had a few women bosses and they were a lot like men in that they focused on the work first and the feelings/concerns of the workers second or not at all.
I worked in the mailroom at our large University many years ago. I used to help out this male co-worker (not my boss, an equal), when he had projects and one of the things I would do was there was a machine that cut and pasted names and addresses off paper onto envelopes for mass mailings. Sometimes the machine would jam and there’d be a thousand or so names that got mangled and I would find the salvageable ones, cut them into a little square, and glue them to envelopes with school glue. It wasn’t my job but I would help out because I had the time. Anyway, once he came in, threw this large pile of crap onto my desk, said, “do this,” and left. It was so rude and dismissive (and I was getting my period), and I unfortunately started crying. I mean, if someone is helping you, you could ask nicely and not treat them like garbage, right?
So I started working on them, feeling like a complete worm, lower than the lowest, just a worker grunt with no humanity whatsoever. My lady boss came in, asked what was wrong, so I told her I felt hurt because he’d been dismissive of me as a person. She didn’t understand. All she could say was “the project has to be done.” And I said (while cutting and gluing and crying), “I know, and I’m doing it even though this isn’t my job. I just want to be treated nicer, with respect,” and she’d say “well, it has to be done.”
She really couldn’t understand why I was upset. The thought in my mind towards her was “she’s a MAN.” She was acting just like a man, even more dismissive of my feelings than the actual man had been! Granted, I may have overreacted in the situation, but I’ve had my eye on lady bosses ever since. Most of them do (imo) get promoted because they are similar to men in certain ways.
I thought it was genius in Tár to have the character be a lesbian, even though I think that was a bit controversial for some. It made her closer to a man in some way yet still clearly a woman so her manlike behavior was more intriguing. I’m not explaining that very well. I think the corruption is in the person to start, and since we as a society tend to reward those kinds of behaviors (ambition, drive, perfectionism, focus on work above people), those people rise to the top.
Sorry if this doesn’t make sense, lol. I’m not sure I can articulate it as well as you did, @jbc.
|
|
|
Post by roverpup on Feb 27, 2023 20:23:21 GMT
While we were staying over in TO, Dan and I went to see The Banshees of Inisherin. We both liked the film but found it a bit too esoteric to appeal to a broad audience. The photography was absolutely stunning - you could actually feel the salt air and mist and dampness. And of course the acting was top drawer. All the cast was superb but the whole movie heavily depended on the two leads having a great acting chemistry - which Colin Ferrall and Brendan Gleeson did in spades!
If you just took the story at face value then the movie did appear kind of lacking in any point - it only works I think when you understand and realise it is a metaphor for the Irish Civil War. It's a very grim story actually, especially in the second half. It does have many scenes that are truly funny but the dark nature of the film takes over and is truly terrifying by the end. I found this film far more gory and violent than All Quiet on the Western Front.
PS: This was the first time since before the pandemic that I have been in a cinema! It was strange. I felt completely out of sync with the times - not used to having food delivery in your seat! And no person to buy tickets from! The theatre was very small - only held maybe 30 people. The popcorn was very good!
|
|
|
Post by queenzod on Feb 27, 2023 21:04:33 GMT
Wasn’t Barry Keoghan just heartbreaking? He’s won a bunch of awards for his performance, all well deserved, imo. Poor, abused lad, thought of as the village idiot but he had more brains and soul than most of them put together. I’ve only watched it twice (I usually watch things I love at least 4 or 5 times), but dear god I love that movie. So devastating.
I watched a clever and really excellent film last night - you might have heard of it. The Power of the Dog? 😉 It really holds up well, and the lead actor (Bramble Cumerbund?) is incredibly, wildly, gobsmackingly good. Surely he’ll win all the awards for his nuanced and perfect performance. *grumbles*
|
|
|
Post by roverpup on Feb 27, 2023 21:52:24 GMT
Yes, that was another outstanding performance in this film!
As an aside, I don't think I've ever been in a show that used the word "fecking" so much! Lol!
Yeah, I'm still bitter about BC not getting the Best Actor Oscar!
|
|