Jan 10, 2015

Rewatched he knight of cups trailer a few minutes ago.. And I'm having doubts about this one.

 

Jan 10, 2015

 

Jan 10, 2015

I may be expecting something on par with Tree of Life but with a more urban, modern taste. It looks pretty different from other Malick movies. Only I've not seen are Badlans and the last one.

 

Jan 10, 2015

Idk, something about the partying scenes and some of the shots just seem like they're trying too hard to be weird. And they don't seem like elements that Malick would do very well, given his penchant for nature and organic imagery.. I could be wrong, it's just a trailer after all, but for every shot that's beautiful and gets me excited there's one that seems kinda crappy and tonally unlike Malick. The end product could be Thin Red Line caliber for all I know.

 

Jan 10, 2015

Getting a copyright notice because you downloaded American Sniper <<<

 

Jan 10, 2015

Doubting Malick in 2015? Couldn't be more out.

I just saw Winter Sleep at the cinema and I must say it is quite powerful. It did seem a bit drawn out at times but the end product makes it all worthwhile and I don't think I would want it any other way. Melisa Sozen won my heart

 

Jan 11, 2015

Watched my second Dolan feature, Heartbeats. So this chest level camera stuff is a permanent characteristic apparently. Thought maybe it was just a decision for I Killed My Mother. I guess it emphasizes the shots that frame the body differently while also truly depicting the conversational line of sight.

This film feels just as personally concerned with his sexuality, though further removed from his life. Whereas IKMM felt biographical, this film felt more like a vehicle to explore romanticism, foolish love, and an interesting symmetry. The only time he felt vulnerable was the walk down the apartment steps.

While Dolan is a wunderkind with a strong voice unlike any other director at his age, I can't help but to feel slightly alienated. This film turns its nose up at the audience. I understand the audacity of somebody like Lars von Trier to do that, but he doesn't beg your sympathy either. I have a hard time feeling sorry for the cool kids. He may expertly explain the conflict without a word or convey subdued tension, but how many slow motion scenes paired with classical music can you have before you parody yourself? Stop beating me over the head with your talent and taste. I feel like his mother in the first film by comparison. The world is too refined and shiny, like an art student's wet dream. Also, in both of these films, it feels like nobody exists besides the main characters. Maybe if he defined the world a bit better and gave it a flavor, we could just assume there was more. As of now, they just feel like they happen in a vague, upper class vacuum.

Knowing what I do about Laurence Anyway, I'm hopeful that at least one film will shed the sexually alternative theme. Still excited to see his other films despite the few criticisms I have. His hubris is the only thing holding him back.

 

Jan 11, 2015

lol @ that weak drama actor category

 

Jan 11, 2015

Have even less desire to watch The Theory of Everything now than I did going into tonight.

 

Jan 12, 2015

I've put off watching Antichrist for years because I had some of the gruesome details spoiled for me. Hard to get in the mood to watch something you know one disturbing thing about. Decided to have a go anyway seeing as Trier was on my mind after watching a Dolan picture.

My gut reaction tells me this is Trier giving the audience what they think they want. Horror had become a stale, exploitative genre by the late 2000s. Torture p--- was in full swing a la Hostel and Saw and so Trier decides to take the Funny Games route and service the fetish with stomach-churning execution. There will be sorry results for all teenage couples who wander into this circle of h---. No more watered down jump scares servicing teenage riff tracks, this is Satan's Church.

I can see the precursors for Melancholia and Nymphomaniac here clearly. The same slow motion shots. The same fixation on the female body and psyche and sexual perversion. Dude must've had a h--- of a break up prior to this stretch of his career. In some ways, I think Nympho was trend shocking as well given Fifty Shades exploding prior. The guy definitely rides the line between exploitation and just taking things to their foreseeable limit, almost comically. It's definitely instep with his distaste for American culture.

 

Jan 12, 2015

Fixed.

 

Jan 12, 2015

Fair point. I guess "this decade's breed of stale, exploitative horror" would be more accurate. Welcome to the post-slasher era, where you're either possessed or moving into a haunted house. Oh, and something as awful as The Blair Witch Project is the biggest influence around. At least the original Saw kept you guessing before it devolved into knife f---ing.

Rosemary's Baby would bore these people to tears.

 

Jan 12, 2015

True!

I guess my point was that by 1981, 99% of mainstream horror was trying to copy Halloween and Friday the 13th. The 90's, bar a few foreign films, was largely awful when it came to horror. The late 90's and early 2000's were trying to copy Scream, the mid 2000's were trying to copy Hostel/Saw, and the 2010's have been trying to emulate The Blair Witch Project (which I loved when I was younger, can't comment on it now) and now the tides seem to be turning back to paranormal films.

If I was to make a top 30 horror films list since 1980, most of them would be foreign/indie films. If it wasn't for great directors like Von Trier, and indie filmmakers in France, Asia, and to a lesser extent the UK, horror would be completely dead right now. And I say that as a massive fan of the genre.

Very sad.

 

Jan 12, 2015

Nice summary. Lots of great B movies though, charming in their incompetence. Let's not forget the self aware horror comedy bandwagon: Shaun of the Dead, Tucker and Dale, Cabin in the Woods, Housebound, What We Do In The Shadows. Kind of like if Scream was balanced the other way.

 

Jan 12, 2015

For sure. There are plenty of "bad" horror films I couldn't logically defend that I enjoy. So long as a horror flick knows what it tries to be and doesn't take itself to seriously I can have a good time with a lot of films that I probably wouldn't if they weren't in the genre just because I grew up watching them.

 

Jan 12, 2015

I just finished Ida and I'm a huge fan. From the black and white grading to the music being an organic product of the environment, this film embodies the repression of its titular character. She rarely speaks, defined entirely by her dress. She doesn't even have a name until the end of the film. With the reserved nature of the character comes the mystery of her inner workings, our drive to deconstruct her, and the director's opportunity to obstruct us the whole way.

While the world is polarized by religion, and quick to attack or defend, the film is not. No accusations are made. We project our own convictions. While I side with the hedonistic aunt, is she not in the wrong for breaking in houses and drunk driving? Is she not corrupt despite the root of her behavior? She sentences people to death just as unilaterally as the man she resents. Even her name, Red Wagna, stands for communism. She draws the Mary Magdalene comparison herself. She is a temptation as potent and inviting as jazz. Yet the constricting force of religion might be the only evil you notice if you are predisposed to see things as black and white.

The ending should not frustrate me as much as it does. We see Wagna dispassionate and hollow in her indulgence. The cigarettes, music, sex, and drinking are not reasons to move on passed the closure she received. Finally the veil is lifted. Ida finds the same emptiness when she dabbles in sin. Though we want her to crack a slight smile and the film to end with her embracing the world, it is a world that doesn't compel her.

 

Jan 12, 2015

d---, @CharlieWork is in beast mode.

 

Jan 12, 2015

My appreciation for film was cultivated by visiting this thread. Glad I'm in position to at least contribute a little these days.

 

Jan 13, 2015

 

Jan 13, 2015

can you make a list?