Dec 30, 2015

The narrative is clunky, but it's the most genuine emotional core that Nolan has ever had. The world building and score are top notch. That stretch where he intercuts the docking with the fire is monumental. It's certainly uneven, but its highs totally eclipse The Martian.

 

Dec 30, 2015

Interstellar (2014)


Emotional affirmation is the last thing that I expected from a Nolan epic.
Love is the real spectacle here. 4/5

http://boxd.it/7W1VB

 

Dec 28, 2015

Just watched the Martian (@Clive)

I really dug it for what it was, Damon was great. Watched it with my family which was also a plus. Obviously it doesn't leave me grappling with the meaning of existence or anything like Interstellar, and it seems like pure nasa propaganda, but there was just somethin about its spunk I loved haha. Basically knew nothing really bad was gonna happen the whole time, but I still enjoyed the ride. Pure entertainment, I'm not mad at the people who love it

Not about to watch it again right away like with Interstellar tho, but wouldn't be mad if I was forced to watch it again at some point down the line u digg? Nothing I really hated about it, but that's mainly because once I got a grip for the film's tone I stopped excepting something profound to happen

 

Dec 6, 2015

Ex Machina: It's amazing how a robot can be so pretty and yet so creepy. Ultimately, Nathan's vision came into fruition although the circumstances were not ideal. Domhnall was ok but Oscar and Alicia really stole the show. Ending was interesting- I wonder what would have happened if Caleb chose not to stay? Hmmmm. 8/10.

Predestination: Go f--- yourself. 8/10.

 

Nov 12, 2015

• 
  House of Flying Daggers 2004
  ★★★★★ Watched 07 Nov, 2015
  
  [REVIEW] 90/100 - House of Flying Daggers
  
  By the time that the snow begins to fall and the climactic battle begins, the viewer is so fully immersed in Yimou’s visual foreplay that the final 10 minutes is a purely ecstatic feast for the eyes. This phenomenon is certainly due to the accumulative density of both story and style; as the film progresses, it builds to a thematic and cinematic genius that is difficult to deny, easily absolving the certain few awkward moments of melodrama.
  
  Read more:
  nextprojection.com/2015/11/12/beyond-badass-female-action-heroes-house-flying-daggers/
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Far from Heaven 2002
  ★★★★½ Watched 10 Nov, 2015
  
  Not so much a remake as a spiritual counterpart, using the same world to speak retroactively about taboo prejudices.
  
  87/100 - Excellent.
  
  1 like
  
  
• 
  Goosebumps 2015
  ★★½ Watched 08 Nov, 2015
  
  A fun throwback with affable characters and a SYNECDOCHE: NY like twist. But overly casual with missing links to the books.
  
  63/100
  

 

Oct 7, 2015

Went to see The Martian. Thought it was fantastic! Matt Damon's character was so d--- entertaining!

 

Oct 3, 2015

it's officially the season for campy b-horror movies from the 80s


Super entertaining premise and the campiness is out of control in this one. Still need to check out the sequel because it seems to be just as cool. Underrated 80s gem.


Amazing mix of horror and comedy. Really original idea and the practical effects are disgusting to look at. The end of this movie is one of the best you'll find in horror.

 

Sep 27, 2015

 

Sep 20, 2015

• 
  Elegy of a Voyage 2001
  ★★★★★ Watched 19 Sep, 2015
  
  Published at Aesthetics of the Mind: aestheticsofthemind.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/elegy-of-a-voyage-sokurov-2001/
  
  As with Russian Ark, Sokurov creates an all encompassing atmosphere through narration and open form montage, yielding a sense of presence throughout the film. Open montage, the use of nondescript (yet no less arresting nor beautiful), non representational images, which resonate both forwards and backwards throughout a film, like refrains in the use of a tonic/key note in music, leaves the film’s sense of time unbroken. Even with cuts and scene changes, the film remains fixed, as if the entirety of the work encapsulates a single moment. Shots such as the swimming boy, the moon, and the soldier’s face serve as the ‘tonic’, providing structure to an otherwise poetic form which resembles music more closely than any visual art, such as theater and painting. Films like The Tree of Life, Werckmeister Harmonies, Mirror, and Man With a Movie Camera are comparable in this regard, as are the films of Nathaniel Dorsky and Robert Bresson, to name a few.
  
  Elegy of a Voyage is perfectly observational and contemplative. A narrator, presumably Sokurov himself, leads us through landscapes, a church, a coffee shop, and a gallery. He serves as a proxy for our own selves, as we travel with him on his voyage. Speaking in a contemplative tone, he observes his surroundings with acute awareness, noticing the shifting moon, sun, and clouds, an angry face, an innocent one, those who are kind, and those who scrutinize. Sokurov charms his films with a great deal of texture. The grainy snow, visible wind, and high contrast are all exceptionally affective. The use of such contrast, together with his DOPs ability to photograph the unimaginable, only deepens his ability to elicit feelings of scale and grandeur. One might be overwhelmed by Sokurov’s distinct aesthetic, which carries a somewhat eerie waviness amidst the mise-en-scene, making objects appear almost life-like. There is a certain sense of urgency and even psychological or psycho-sexual emergency in the film’s rhythm, bolstered ever more by a cathartic orchestral score and the use of ominous sound effect. Thoughtful philosophy, though rather incidental, provide direction and narrative backing to superb cinematography.
  
  100/100
  
  No likes
  
  
• 
  Amy 2015
  ★★★★½ Watched 15 Sep, 2015
  
  Benefiting from the absence of cliche talking heads, home video and presented lyrics draw a deep and intimate portrait of a troubled yet exceptionally lively girl. It's not easy to make a cinematic documentary, but Kapadia did it. The accelerated editing and final montage among the best of the year.
  
  86/100 - Excellent
  
  3 likes
  

 

Sep 6, 2015

Murder on the Orient Express 1974
★★★½ Watched 01 Sep, 2015

Review Published at Next Projection:

nextprojection.com/2015/09/04/celebrating-ingrid-bergman-centenary-murder-orient-express/

74/100 - Good. True to the book, Lumet’s feature film succeeds in transcribing script to screen, but unfortunately does little to transform the literary into the cinematic.



Also watched a strange as h--- movie, Baby Bump, which was for Venice Film Fest. Had its North American release on Sept 3. It's not on letterboxd or anything so I'll post the whole review here. It's worth a read. Really f----- movie.

http://nextprojection.com/2015/09/06/venice-baby-bump-review/


Undoubtedly, Kuba Czekai’s Baby Bump (2015) will divide audiences. It is certainly one of the strangest films to ever be made, boasting furthermore some of the most explicit shots of taboo objects such as piss, penises, c-m, blood, vaginas, breasts, and masturbation. It is vulgar beyond reproach and unapologetically so. Czekaj wanted to show how the grotesque nature of reaching puberty and facing bodily changes is not for the faint of heart.

The film takes place in a kind of mythological world, where reality and imagination coexist and there are no boundaries. In this way, Czekaj can trace Mickey Hart’s (Kacper Olszewski) experience of growing up by seamlessly intertwining real life, Mickey’s perception, and Mickey’s imagination. Baby Bump is not so much a story as it is a tapestry of the disturbing and uncomfortable experience of growing up. Without much of a narrative, and by blending reality and imagination, the film functions more like music, with each nonsensical event gaining power through the film’s superbly formal and stylistic evocation of emotion.

Highly saturated colours, split frames, CGI, animation, and sound effects are just some of the manners by which Czekaj commits his aesthetic preferences to film. The result is a highly sensory wall of images and sounds which grip the viewer and hold one hostage. Some images intrigue, some images offend, but every image is carefully designed to express the feelings of fear, and torment, and depravity which are linked with the theme of ‘growing up: not for children’.



To some, the imagery will be obnoxious and off-putting. It’s rather difficult to watch everything shown. Czekaj’s Baby Bump makes Harmony Korine’s Gummo look as normal as a Disney movie, and there are many who cannot sit through the latter. It might not be comfortable to watch Baby Bump in public. During a viewing, one might find oneself thinking, “Ew Gross!! Why is this happening? What is the point?” But this is part of the experience, the vulgar experience, and with this film, Czekaj could easily reach a number of cult followers or perhaps the vulgar auteurist crowd. While the film is rather offensive and obnoxious at times, it is in no way boring, banal, superfluous or poorly constructed. It is what it is, and it has many artistic qualities hidden beneath all the tawdry images.

Some of the plot-centred ideas in the film involve a urine network, wherein Mickey provides clean urine for paying customers, an incest theme, wherein Mickey’s newfound sensations and his mother’s projection of pre-pubescence coincide in a sickly, semi-perverted surge of libidinous tension, and there is a little mouse named Jerboa who has exited the television, entered Mickey’s imagination, and tells him what to do and what to think, like a little devil on his shoulder with an innocent English lady accent. These three stories develop and culminate into Mickey’s panic of growing and changing, and only help to confuse the already confused boy.

In fear of his development, Mickey tapes his ears shut and glues parts of his body together. He has radical dreams of ripping his penis off in a big pool of blood, of entertaining a large pregnant belly and full breasts, and of chopping a chicken’s head off as some sort of cathartic end to the cycle of birth-giving. A recurring motif of eggs, his mother eating eggs like she’s eating his pre-pubescent life-force, and of eggs hatching, as if to become, through puberty, an adult chicken. It is all very strange, very abstract, and requires one to be open to sometimes off-putting images in order to see some of the mad genius at the core.


To some extent, Baby Bump is a case of style over substance, but it’s not because there is no substance. The style and artistic method which Czekaj has employed is the way in which substance is realized. The film’s style, its visual and aural experience, expresses itself on a less literary and more poetic level. While there is not much going on in terms of storytelling and development, the film is brimming with affective images, cinematic intentions, and authentic exposition.

One of the most powerful scenes of the film is particularly nonsensical. After stomping Jerboa mouse and thus becoming free to exact ‘revenge’, Mickey is dreamily seen wearing a King’s crown and parading through the school hallway to an electronic beat. His classmates run in fear, as he is all powerful. An intertitle appears at a well edited moment and then Mickey’s reality is shown, with him sitting against a wall by his lonesome. The scene is highly captivating, well edited, and transitions perfectly between imagination and reality.

Ultimately, while Baby Bump is a tough watch, can be obnoxious or even headache inducing, it is doubtless thoughtful, ambitious, and technically fortuitous. It will certainly develop a cult following as it is one of the better films to use vulgarity and the super-sensational and hyper active tone of twenty-first century media to authentically replicate personal experience, in this case the personal experience of growing up.

8.0 Great
Baby Bump is not so much a story as it is a tapestry of the disturbing and uncomfortable experience of growing up.

 

Sep 3, 2015

Cast Away [2000]

 

Aug 31, 2015

 

Aug 19, 2015

A Perfect film, and definitely one of my favorite Noir's. It gets better every time..10/10



I love this film so much, one of Sandler's finest performances, other than 'Rein Over Me'..these are the type of films he needs to do more of, this seriously needs a Blu-Ray release as well.. 9.3/10

 

Aug 16, 2015

Stalag 17 (1953)


Ikiru (1952)

 

Aug 14, 2015

Zodiac (2007)


Fincher's 3ish hour passion project reviving the character-driven, slow burn of 70's Hollywood. Savides on the camera and Vanderbilt adapting Graysmith's original material. Murderous vinettes, an enticing mystery, quiet tension, and one of Fincher's favorite themes: obsession.

Fight Club cut both ways, criticizing extreme corporate life and anarchy. It held a mirror to empty obsessions and passionate constructive, or rather destructive, obsessions the same. The Social Network debunked that money and power are shoulder to shoulder with happiness. Meanwhile Zodiac revisits what might have inspired Seven, a relentless hunt for the most dangerous animal, man. This time, Fincher has a personal connection with the insatiable desire.

This might been his most minor subject to date, which the film admits towards the end. The Zodiac is a blip on the radar yet manages to captivate and terrorize one of the most populous cities in the US. Fincher doesn't use this to condemn the media who enable it. Neither does he put the killer in the starring role. Instead he goes after what he identifies with, the human interest. Our fascination with serial killers embodied most by the people on the case. Personal conflicts. Familial drama. Substance abuse. Sleepless nights. All propelled by a simple urge instead of a complex philosophy. John Doe's manifesto has no place here.

I think I'd only seen this in its entirety once before. I didn't catch Trotsky paying for the final meal being such a huge resolution the first time around. A much more graceful statement than the hardware store staredown which was a lot more rushed by comparison, set up maybe a half hour prior with a line of dialogue. Instead we see Trotsky eating off of his partner's plate and bumming animal crackers off him early and often. They have no relationship. Trotsky isn't a people person. He doesn't even know his partner's birthday. His trivial parting words with him call back to the night the Zodiac first came into their lives on the corner of Cherry and Washington. The last conversation before they ran into the case that would drive them apart beyond repair. Not until Graysmith vindicates his frustration does Trotsky return the favor by picking up the tab. A lunch just like the one that Graysmith paid for to get a sit down with him in the first place.

I see it as second to The Social Network only because of the effortless enjoyment that TSN has to offer. They do not cater to the same era of filmaking which makes perfect sense given their subjects and time periods. Zodiac is a much more taxing watch. By the end, you feel as exhausted and grateful as the characters do. It's a shared experience.

 

Aug 7, 2015

Ace in the Hole (1951) ★★★½

Douglas' acting was ahead of its time. An outstanding performance.

 

Aug 6, 2015

Sunset Boulevard (1950) ★★★★★

 

Aug 5, 2015

"This Is The End"

 

Aug 4, 2015

Double Indemnity (1944)

The only classic noirs that I'd seen previously were In a Lonely Place and Touch of Evil. Both left me feeling like I needed to watch the more conventional noirs to really appreciate what they were doing with the genre. For instance, I could tell that In a Lonely Place was focusing more on the realistic romantic side of things and was less about "cracking the case" and "unraveling the mystery" as I presumed most noirs were. Similarly, Touch of Evil was playing on the handsome protagonist in his prime quality and appeared to serve as an analogy of sorts for where Orwell was at in his life when he made it. I could be wrong, but both films left me feeling like they weren't the best starters for the genre. Double Indeminity did everything to justify these suspcions as I hoped it would.

From the jump, I loved how Walter Neff was a savvy insurance salesman instead of a hardened detective. He doesn't stand for absolute good and actually plans and carries out the murder at the heart of the film's conflict. We kind of forgive him for doing it out of love, increasingly so as Phyllis' true nature comes to light. The murder isn't a mystery but drives the character archs forward, Neff towards redemption and Phyllis towards destruction.

Nola as the definition of innocence. Keyes as the definition of justice, yet somehow the antagonist for a good part of the film. All great characters with purpose. I did, however, find the supporting cast to be a little too shallow to support any kind of doubt as to how it would all play out. Zachetti becomes an obvious tool even when the film is still trying to shroud its conclusion.

I'd heard so much praise for Billy Wilder and I can finally see why. It's so easy to love a director who takes part in his own screenwriting. The classic noir lighting, the classic noir dialogue, the opening elevator shot, the apartment door scene pictured above, the tension in both murders, the tension in the phone call with Keyes in the room, the anklet shot of Phyllis coming down the steps. setting up the car not starting with an offscreen engine misfire earlier on, one of the best uses of narration that I've seen, etc. Not to mention using two top billing actors to their fullest extent in roles out of their comfort zones.

Loved it. I can't decide if I want to watch more noir or more Billy Wilder next. Sunset Boulevard it is.

 

Jul 29, 2015

I raised It Follows to 84/100 - Great. It's def a film that lingers... prob tons of rewatch potential too, which is uncommon for a horror flick.