Dec 25, 2015

So I'm hearing Joy could actually be great? Interesting.

 

Dec 26, 2015

Projector broke and I had to exchange my tickets for the Hateful Eight. Instead of 70mm, they were showing it in digital. It was pretty crazy, there was one line of refunds and one line of people trying to buy tickets to the sold out but heavily refunded show. Seeing it Tuesday.

 

Dec 26, 2015

I like David O'Russell and I like Jennifer Lawrence. I'm sure it's not bad and I think any disappointment is coming from those comparing it to his last two films instead of looking at it independently.

 

Dec 26, 2015

I'm actually hearing it's better than the last two tho.

 

Dec 26, 2015

The Visit might be M. Night's best picture to date.

 

Dec 26, 2015

yes its amazing

but The Happening and Village >>>>

 

Dec 26, 2015

I got a voucher to go back any time. I returned yesterday and caught the second half onwards. Despite seeing it in parts, I enjoyed it very much!

Mulholland Dr. Criterion Blu-ray
Sullivan's Travels Criterion Blu-Ray
Hunger Criterion Blu-Ray
Memories of Murder DVD
Wolf of Wall Street Blu-Ray
Mad Max: Fury Road Blu-Ray

This world is garbage, etc.

 

Dec 26, 2015

Just saw Reverse Shot's positive review...They've hated the last few Russell movies.

 

Dec 26, 2015

The Hateful Eight is one of Tarantino's best tbh.

 

Dec 26, 2015

Cautiously optimistic. Bracing for contrarian lies.

 

Dec 27, 2015

Joy (2015)


First, the bad news. Joy has schizophrenia. Not the character but the movie itself. It transitions between a magical fairytale and a paint-by-the-numbers overcoming-adversity biopic whenever it wants. There is no method to its madness which I could discern. Add to that, the fact that the overbearing social message is spelled out in the prologue before being driven home with a G.I. Jane haircut. Emphasizing your trendy humanitarian goals as a director that strongly is a good way to turn me cynical. No need to pat yourself on the back for being prowomen. It's 2015, and this special episode of Shark Tank isn't exactly a bra burning.

Now, the good news. This is David O. Russell's most convincing picture of late, proving he can still craft a narrative that isn't just a thinly veiled vehicle for Oscar noms. Jennifer Lawrence will probably get one anyway and I won't be terribly upset about it either. All in all, it might not have succeeded on every front, but it tried something daring where it could have played it safe. It has balls, and yes, that's the patriarchy talking. 3/5

P.S. Never go for the royalty. Mr. Wonderful is taking you for a ride.

http://boxd.it/7Tgkz

 

Dec 27, 2015

• 
  Ordet 1955
  ★★★★★ Watched 26 Dec, 2015
  
  [REVIEW] Ordet (Dreyer, 1955)
  
  Such perfect mastery of time and rhythm perhaps unequaled in cinema...The austerity of Ordet, its sense of balance, simplicity, humility, and unaffectedness, becomes a part of the characters’ experience, and so too does it become part of the viewers’ transformative experience musing Dreyer’s masterwork.
  
  99/100 - Masterful
  
  Read More:
  bit.ly/1MBxTM2
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1953
  ★★★½ Watched 23 Dec, 2015
  
  An affable performance piece with the innocence of Marilyn Monroe and the wit of Howard Hawks.
  
  76/100 - Very Good
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Ali: Fear Eats the Soul 1974
  ★★★★★ Watched 21 Dec, 2015
  
  So strange and surreal, cold, awkward, empty, yet so impressionistic and powerful beyond its means. Fassbinder's restraint and boorishly controlling nature makes it tough to watch but hard to forget.
  
  91/100 - Amazing.
  
  1 like
  
  
• 
  The Danish Girl 2015
  ★★½ Watched 20 Dec, 2015
  
  Lacking real development, the film sort of just escalates from one plot point to the next. The performances are great.
  

 

Dec 27, 2015

Ordet blew me away. Might be the next to join my 100s. Same score as his Passion which is one of my favourite films, but I think I prefer Ordet.


Such perfect mastery of time and rhythm perhaps unequaled in cinema. A chamber drama with few scenes, each austerely captured by the observing and detached gaze of a languid camera, which carefully tracks the actors deeply nuanced performances in long takes. With each new setting is the beginning of a sequence shot; a silent pause before and after each cut enhances the elliptical nature of the storytelling in spite of its real-time drama. In near silence, the actors and camera move about each setting as embodied creatures belonging to life and its constant presence of time passing, both symbolically and physically expressed by the ticking clock, which moves left, right, left, right, just as Dreyer’s camera slowly rotates or pans left, right, left, right, creating a visual ticking clock with the actors as its hands: Anders shifts from right to left seat at the table, Johannes turns his head as the rotating camera glides to his other side. There is a great balance and composure in Dreyer’s cinematography, often boasting visual symmetry, parallels, and balance.

When the clock is stopped, Inger enters the eternal presence of God. For a while, the soundtrack loses the the tick-tocking which held the characters fastened to their corporeal world. The absence of time’s ticking clock brings with it notions of God’s eternal presence, which is presented both visually and aurally through cinematography and soundtrack—zooms and pans instead of rotation, high contrast black and white of faces in close-up, silence rather than the ticking clock. Until at once she arises, the darkness disappears into light, and the clock’s ticking begins again.

Though highly nuanced in tone and cinematic language, Ordet narrates a more blatant defense of God through its dense script. The clever and spiritually resonant dialogue conveys the films beliefs and integrity without ever becoming patronizing or heavy handed. Though Dreyer’s intentions and religious fervor are unambiguous, and it is absolutely clear from the beginning where his stance lies, Ordet’s subtlety and the metaphorical possibilities of religious revelation speak of humanity and of humility much more than of religion itself. The miraculous event transforms hypocrites and lukewarm believers into men of true faith. The man once condemned to a life of solitude and madness rises with the strongest faith in the Kingdom of Heaven, that of a child.

Through his faith, the resurrection not only of Inger but of the old world wherein God was wholly believed brings the warmth of life and the glow of God’s eternal presence into their cold, skeptical, doubting human hearts. The revived woman embraces and shares the flesh of her lover, reborn into the joy of the corporeal world which God created, taketh her away, and returned upon her. Her agnostic husband now a believer shares a smile, understanding finally his wife’s faith, thus bringing God’s presence into his heart. He accepts now that his deceased son is alive at home in the Kingdom of Heaven. As well, a Christian ‘heathen’ and a fundamentalist whose hatred is spurned by a lack of identical faith are brought together at this sudden and shared revelation of the God of old, the same God for which their faith proclaimed, however diversely it lead religious practice.

Each in awe of God’s glory, the tone of the room changes. No longer does one feel the negative or impure thoughts stemming from a lack of faith, from doubt, disbelief, or skepticism. Though the clock continues to tick, and the men live in the corporeal world of time passing, the eternal presence of God remains with them. Finally, the spirits of these believers becomes equal to the realization of God in Dreyer’s cinematography. The characters warm feelings of God’s presence is tantamount to the warm, silent expression of Dreyer’s rhythmic sense of time and eternity. As with the film, the characters have finally found humility and peace. The austerity of Ordet, its sense of balance, simplicity, humility, and unaffectedness, becomes a part of the characters’ experience, and so too does it become part of the viewers’ transformative experience musing Dreyer’s masterwork.

99/100 – Masterful

 

Dec 27, 2015

http://letterboxd.com/film/the-captain-from-kopenick/

 

Dec 27, 2015

friend asked if i wanted to go tonight in 70mm but it's sold out. gonna try to see it Tuesday and then Star Wars in 70mm next week

 

Dec 28, 2015

Martyrs (2008)


I'm not sure if I was laughing to buffer myself from being exploitated emotionally, but I was definitely laughing. Whether profound or pretentious, I couldn't take it seriously enough to care. I will say, however, that it peaked too early. You have to save your crowd pleasers for the right moments. Xavier Dolan getting mowed down with a shotgun is a terrible thing to waste. 3.5/5

http://boxd.it/7UiSZ

Finally watched it. Remake should be hilarious. @Pinhead
Dolan might have lifted some of these ideas for the asylum sequences in Mommy btw.

 

Dec 28, 2015

Had no idea Dolan was in Martyrs

 

Dec 28, 2015

still dont know if I should give Joy a chance tbh

American Hustle is grade A+ basura.

 

Dec 28, 2015

can't imagine you liking it

 

Dec 28, 2015