I'm normally a sucker for this sort of sentimental film but I found this one distinctly average. The music wasn't particularly good, Emily Blunt's OTT cut glass accent was grating and, whilst Lin-Manuel Miranda may be the lyricist, playwright, singer and actor who created and starred in 'Hamilton', I found him unconvincing here as the Cockney lamplighter. On a more positive note, it was good to see Dick Van Dyke throwing a few shapes at 93 years of age.
Just saw a preview showing of Stan & Ollie. Had a real charm about it and beautifully acted by the 2 leads Steve Coogan & John C Reilly. I would certainly recommend seeing it.
Went and see Stan and Ollie tonight ... having been bought up watching their films - my late father favourites - bought back some great memories while watching it - superb story and brilliant portrayal of them both ...superb acting -
The Favourite Thought this was extremely entertaining - bawdy, witty, full of arch humour. It made me laugh out loud numerous times. The three leads were superb, with a great supporting cast. The sets were sumptuous, and though the plot was pretty straightforward, it was two hours very well spent. Highly recommended. 8/10.
The Favourite Thought this was extremely entertaining - bawdy, witty, full of arch humour. It made me laugh out loud numerous times. The three leads were superb, with a great supporting cast. The sets were sumptuous, and though the plot was pretty straightforward, it was two hours very well spent. Highly recommended. 8/10.
The Favourite Thought this was extremely entertaining - bawdy, witty, full of arch humour. It made me laugh out loud numerous times. The three leads were superb, with a great supporting cast. The sets were sumptuous, and though the plot was pretty straightforward, it was two hours very well spent. Highly recommended. 8/10.
The dance scene was quite bizarre though.
You could argue that the whole thing was a bit bizarre - that director's not exactly known for mainstream films, though this one will have much wider appeal than his last couple (both of which I enjoyed, but nowhere near as much as this).
'Life Itself' - Sky Cinema exclusive - Rom/com 8/10 Long film 2 hours About a guy who has just gone through trauma as he is no longer with his long term gf (wont post spoiler) basically his life unfolds then it knocks onto several others stories that are all linked. I enjoyed it, found it very feel good aswell and also quite a few twists so sometimes you are not sure quite where it is going. Recommended, Note to people i do like a rom com so not for you if you dont (probably)
Edit- just seen some of the ratings on Rotten Tomato, i must be truly unique with my movie choices sometimes
Finally got to a screening of First Man. So glad I managed to see it on a cinema screen, but regret missing it on IMAX. I’m a sucker for Damien Chazelle’s stuff (La La Land notwithstanding).
I was really impressed by how personal it was. Not only in the way Chazelle avoided the fanfare and American histrionics, but how it didn’t feel like we’re watching legends as much as young men living on the edge of death.
Couldn’t help but notice there were lots of close ups, very few establishing or mid-shots. It was as claustrophobic on Earth as it was in space. The performances were subtle, understated - like much of the film - and even though it had to be underpinned by multiple flights, it didn’t get repetitive. The music - especially on the landing - was especially notable. Downloaded the soundtrack as soon as I got out!
Interesting that space was depicted as a black void with no stars. It was shot as though it was filmed in the 60s, I suppose the minimilism and blackness was a part of that, as well as making it more like a void.
An utterly fantastic piece of filmmaking, I haven’t been as blown away by a film in a long time. I can’t wait to see what Chazelle does next.
'Life Itself' - Sky Cinema exclusive - Rom/com 8/10 Long film 2 hours About a guy who has just gone through trauma as he is no longer with his long term gf (wont post spoiler) basically his life unfolds then it knocks onto several others stories that are all linked. I enjoyed it, found it very feel good aswell and also quite a few twists so sometimes you are not sure quite where it is going. Recommended, Note to people i do like a rom com so not for you if you dont (probably)
Edit- just seen some of the ratings on Rotten Tomato, i must be truly unique with my movie choices sometimes
The man choosing the movies to release for those people wouldn’t know a decent film [redacted]
Watched probably a month ago but not seen a review on here. Good cast, funny all the way through and very easy to watch. All very far fetched and predictable, but still decent and funny
Watched it on the plane in the Summer - Was glad I had nothing better to do at the time as I thought it was poor.
Think i need to go back to the drawing board on my ratings above average 3/5
To be fair i have been told my film taste/ music is shocking
I thought it was predictable in places but pretty enjoyable.
I'd happily put it at 7.5/10 too. Almost 140,000 reviews on IMDb put it at 7 and Rotten Tomatoes gave it 85/100 so we certainly aren't in the minority.
The question I found myself asking was, would Bird Box be particularly notable if it didn’t have a fractured narrative? Does that add anything to the story, or is it a cheap device to add mystery to a formulaic genre movie?
I think it might be a cheap device, that said, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. I enjoyed wondering what would happen to each survivor, who the lunatics might be and what the birds actually do. I tried not to think too hard about the practicalities of the situation (suspend your disbelief or walk away is my advice).
Bullock is excellent in the lead role, and Malkovich had way more going on than ‘generic loony’ which was a welcome surprise.
It was shot beautifully too, and it’s a rare occasion where I actually noticed the rather brilliant sound design.
Also, the world is big enough that this film and A Quiet Place can both exist without one having to be better than the other. They’re similar movies and both a lot of fun if you simply go along for the ride.
Finally got to a screening of First Man. So glad I managed to see it on a cinema screen, but regret missing it on IMAX. I’m a sucker for Damien Chazelle’s stuff (La La Land notwithstanding).
I was really impressed by how personal it was. Not only in the way Chazelle avoided the fanfare and American histrionics, but how it didn’t feel like we’re watching legends as much as young men living on the edge of death.
Couldn’t help but notice there were lots of close ups, very few establishing or mid-shots. It was as claustrophobic on Earth as it was in space. The performances were subtle, understated - like much of the film - and even though it had to be underpinned by multiple flights, it didn’t get repetitive. The music - especially on the landing - was especially notable. Downloaded the soundtrack as soon as I got out!
Interesting that space was depicted as a black void with no stars. It was shot as though it was filmed in the 60s, I suppose the minimilism and blackness was a part of that, as well as making it more like a void.
An utterly fantastic piece of filmmaking, I haven’t been as blown away by a film in a long time. I can’t wait to see what Chazelle does next.
7/7.
The soundtrack is great! It stayed in my head for a long time after I watched the film.
I don't get your ratings though what is 7/7? And 4/6?
Finally got to a screening of First Man. So glad I managed to see it on a cinema screen, but regret missing it on IMAX. I’m a sucker for Damien Chazelle’s stuff (La La Land notwithstanding).
I was really impressed by how personal it was. Not only in the way Chazelle avoided the fanfare and American histrionics, but how it didn’t feel like we’re watching legends as much as young men living on the edge of death.
Couldn’t help but notice there were lots of close ups, very few establishing or mid-shots. It was as claustrophobic on Earth as it was in space. The performances were subtle, understated - like much of the film - and even though it had to be underpinned by multiple flights, it didn’t get repetitive. The music - especially on the landing - was especially notable. Downloaded the soundtrack as soon as I got out!
Interesting that space was depicted as a black void with no stars. It was shot as though it was filmed in the 60s, I suppose the minimilism and blackness was a part of that, as well as making it more like a void.
An utterly fantastic piece of filmmaking, I haven’t been as blown away by a film in a long time. I can’t wait to see what Chazelle does next.
7/7.
First Man was my favourite film of 2018, saw it a few times. Even though I am something of a spacenut and was fascinated by all the technical gubbins and rattling depiction of primitive 60s space technology, I was impressed that it had such a powerful emotional punch while depicting a man so restrained in his outward displays of emotion. I have issues with bits of it, but its a movie, not a documentary so I understand why it's done.
I liked how it was shot in retro fuzzy 16mm style, but then switched to pin sharp HD on the moon, which is correct physics-wise but also adds to the intensity of the moon landing sequence. Space appearing as completely black was an interesting choice. In NASA Apollo mission photos space appears black due to camera exposure times not being sufficient to pick up the light from stars. There are parts of the film that are Armstrong's direct PoV, like a video game almost, and with the human eye stars are visible from the moon, though because of the ambient light probably only as many as you'd see from London. It fit the restrained nature of the film. Flashy stars and the Milky Way in the background would have distracted from what it was all about - the surface of the moon.
Finally got to a screening of First Man. So glad I managed to see it on a cinema screen, but regret missing it on IMAX. I’m a sucker for Damien Chazelle’s stuff (La La Land notwithstanding).
I was really impressed by how personal it was. Not only in the way Chazelle avoided the fanfare and American histrionics, but how it didn’t feel like we’re watching legends as much as young men living on the edge of death.
Couldn’t help but notice there were lots of close ups, very few establishing or mid-shots. It was as claustrophobic on Earth as it was in space. The performances were subtle, understated - like much of the film - and even though it had to be underpinned by multiple flights, it didn’t get repetitive. The music - especially on the landing - was especially notable. Downloaded the soundtrack as soon as I got out!
Interesting that space was depicted as a black void with no stars. It was shot as though it was filmed in the 60s, I suppose the minimilism and blackness was a part of that, as well as making it more like a void.
An utterly fantastic piece of filmmaking, I haven’t been as blown away by a film in a long time. I can’t wait to see what Chazelle does next.
7/7.
First Man was my favourite film of 2018, saw it a few times. Even though I am something of a spacenut and was fascinated by all the technical gubbins and rattling depiction of primitive 60s space technology, I was impressed that it had such a powerful emotional punch while depicting a man so restrained in his outward displays of emotion. I have issues with bits of it, but its a movie, not a documentary so I understand why it's done.
I liked how it was shot in retro fuzzy 16mm style, but then switched to pin sharp HD on the moon, which is correct physics-wise but also adds to the intensity of the moon landing sequence. Space appearing as completely black was an interesting choice. In NASA Apollo mission photos space appears black due to camera exposure times not being sufficient to pick up the light from stars. There are parts of the film that are Armstrong's direct PoV, like a video game almost, and with the human eye stars are visible from the moon, though because of the ambient light probably only as many as you'd see from London. It fit the restrained nature of the film. Flashy stars and the Milky Way in the background would have distracted from what it was all about - the surface of the moon.
I thought First Man worked because it wasn't glamorous and it got across the fear, danger and claustrophobia of space travel. One of my favourite films of 2018
Finally got to a screening of First Man. So glad I managed to see it on a cinema screen, but regret missing it on IMAX. I’m a sucker for Damien Chazelle’s stuff (La La Land notwithstanding).
I was really impressed by how personal it was. Not only in the way Chazelle avoided the fanfare and American histrionics, but how it didn’t feel like we’re watching legends as much as young men living on the edge of death.
Couldn’t help but notice there were lots of close ups, very few establishing or mid-shots. It was as claustrophobic on Earth as it was in space. The performances were subtle, understated - like much of the film - and even though it had to be underpinned by multiple flights, it didn’t get repetitive. The music - especially on the landing - was especially notable. Downloaded the soundtrack as soon as I got out!
Interesting that space was depicted as a black void with no stars. It was shot as though it was filmed in the 60s, I suppose the minimilism and blackness was a part of that, as well as making it more like a void.
An utterly fantastic piece of filmmaking, I haven’t been as blown away by a film in a long time. I can’t wait to see what Chazelle does next.
7/7.
The soundtrack is great! It stayed in my head for a long time after I watched the film.
I don't get your ratings though what is 7/7? And 4/6?
The soundtrack is a big part to why that moon landing works so well, and @Missed It made some excellent points on that above too.
I think that rating thing all started with a Reddit post. There's a racist guy and every time he Facebook posts, another guy makes him look stupid. It's quite a funny thread. Ah here it is - https://imgur.com/a/Gjcb5 (scroll down to find the Fight Club - 5.7 review). I just find silly ratings quite funny!
In other news, I started a movie site to get tickets to Spider-Man and a couple of other screenings, and then forgot all about it. Then a few weeks back I got an alert saying I had to renew my membership, so I opened it up and lo and behold, it was getting loads of traffic! No idea how or why, maybe just good SEO. So I started posting to it again. Here's the full review for First Man if you fancy it...
This is a reissue of Antonioni's 1975 film about a cynical and world-weary journalist who discovers the body of a man he's briefly met in the adjoining room of his hotel in the North Africa desert and decides to assume his identity. A slow-moving and complex film about alienation, with Jack Nicholson and Maria Maria Schneider on top form - 7/10.
No longer on release in cinemas but I have caught up with some very good films recently at film club. The first and third are available on streaming services, whilst all three are likely appear on BBC4 or Film4 at some stage:
‘I Got Life !’ (France, 2017)
A woman in her 50s is separated from her husband, has lost her job and finds out that she is going to become a grandmother. She feels that she is being pushed to the margins of society when an unexpected meeting with an old flame from her youth reignites her lust for life and love. The result is a joyful, life-affirming and heart-warming menopause rom-com. French romantic comedies are in my experience, often a bit hit and miss but this one proved hugely popular - and not just with ladies of a certain age - 8/10.
‘The Fencer’ (Finland, 2015)
Set in the 1950s post-War period, the film is very loosely based upon the life of champion Estonian fencer, Endel Nelis. A young fencer is hunted by the KGB as a result of having been drafted into the Estonian contingent of the Nazi army. He returns to his homeland as a sports coach in a remote village school but finds there is no place to hide. The film was a 2016 Golden Globe nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film but got no meaningful cinema release in the UK. I thought it was excellent - 9/10.
Happy End (France, 2017)
Michael Haneke’s latest film is a biting satire on bourgeois European prosperity, set in Calais in the shadow of the refugee crisis. Featuring a cast of top actors, including Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant (‘Amour’) and Toby Jones, it is a piercingly dark take on the blind preoccupations of middle-class angst and dysfunctional families. Some of the ‘surveillance’ - type camerawork and the emphasis on electronic gadgets reminded me of one of Haneke’s earlier films, ‘Hidden’. ‘Happy End’ certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I thought it was very good - 8/10.
I'm normally a sucker for this sort of sentimental film but I found this one distinctly average. The music wasn't particularly good, Emily Blunt's OTT cut glass accent was grating and, whilst Lin-Manuel Miranda may be the lyricist, playwright, singer and actor who created and starred in 'Hamilton', I found him unconvincing here as the Cockney lamplighter. On a more positive note, it was good to see Dick Van Dyke throwing a few shapes at 93 years of age.
I quite enjoyed it apart from the awful acting by Ben Whishaw
Saw ‘The Favourite’ yesterday. Excellent performances all round and very interesting as not a period of history I knew much about.
Language was bit on the ‘fruity’ side. Not sure what some of the old dears in the audience thought about that.
I saw it too. The performances are great . Far better than the film itself in my opinion. Not sure it’s an Oscar winner but it’s better than the trash that’s won best picture that last few years . How the hell Shape Of water won anything is beyond me.
This is the true story of an 18-year old kid who’s dad runs a car dealership and is the local baptist preacher (Russell Crowe). When the lad begins to suspect he’s gay, the father freaks out, blames the devil and sends his boy on a course of gay conversion therapy, hoping to make him straight.
It’s an interesting story, but it’s jumbled up with a fractured narrative which is cheating a little. Like Bird Box, it’s a way of making a pedestrian story more interesting.
Still, it does a decent job of punctuating the key moments at No Gays Camp with what came before in the boy’s life. It’s got some excellent, convincing performances (Kidman especially as the emotionally torn mother) and there’s something about Joel Edgerton’s direction I really like, but can’t quite put my finger on (he made the excellent The Gift). Edgerton also plays the camp’s leader to great effect.
Not the sort of film I’d ordinarily seek out, but glad I watched it.
Saw ‘The Favourite’ yesterday. Excellent performances all round and very interesting as not a period of history I knew much about.
Language was bit on the ‘fruity’ side. Not sure what some of the old dears in the audience thought about that.
Lots of the c word, but I suspect, though I havent looked into it, that it may have been in much more common use in that period anyway, so perhaps more historically accurate than the average BBC costume drama in that respect
Talk about running late, finally saw "Theory Of Everything."
Not at all what I was expecting. Very little about his work and a heavy dose of his relationship with his first wife "Jane." Loved the first 1/3, which moved along at a nice clip. Felt is was a bit repetitive in the middle half and slow, but then sped up again once their relationship started to evolve apart. Was surprised that a movie whose previews were so positive actually turns out to be much more complex than that. The score by Jóhann Jóhannsson was incredible! Eddie Redmayne was even better than I expected. Felicity Jones was very good as the tenacious wife, June. It was hard not to see David Thewlis and not think of Harry Potter. The ending, where Hawking goes back in his mind to the "beginning of time" which turns out to be the moment he laid eyes on his wife... that actually made me tear up.
Finally watched The Shape of Water. Not terrible but how that won best picture I'll never know. Del Toro is definitely overrated
THE worst film ever to win best picture in my opinion.
Million Dollar Baby for me. Then Crash and Shakespeare In Love (ahead of Saving Private Ryan!).
I thought Crash was surprisingly good.... Shakespeare in Love though was indeed very average.
It must be my age, but I'm shocked that no-one mentions Forrest Gump or in Titanic in such illustrious company.
By no means the best films of the year, and, in the case of Titanic, utter shite.
But, then again, I'm a miserable oul fecker.
For what it's worth: Shakespeare in Love is a good film but nothing like as good as 'best film of the year'.
I can see how Crash picked up the Oscar as it's an excellent piece of film making.
Forrest Gump was too American and almost like a Spielberg film in the way it presses buttons at particular times to make you feel certain emotions. Hanks performance was very impressive, as were the Zelig-like insertions of him into historical footage.
Titanic is the biggest load of fatberg, ever. Yes, they built a 3/4 scale half of a ship. Yes, they made a load of stuff in mirror image so it turned out the right way when they reversed the footage of the 'other' half of the ship. So what? The performances are limp and the story telling is crap of the highest order. Give it a technical Oscar by all means but Best Picture?
The Favourite Thought this was extremely entertaining - bawdy, witty, full of arch humour. It made me laugh out loud numerous times. The three leads were superb, with a great supporting cast. The sets were sumptuous, and though the plot was pretty straightforward, it was two hours very well spent. Highly recommended. 8/10.
The dance scene was quite bizarre though.
You could argue that the whole thing was a bit bizarre - that director's not exactly known for mainstream films, though this one will have much wider appeal than his last couple (both of which I enjoyed, but nowhere near as much as this).
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
The dance scene does stand out as being very much not of its time but that was, I heard, the director's intention.
The three central performances are great but Olivia's isn't as stand out "That's the Oscar right there" as Cate Blanchett's was in Blue Jasmine.
The duck racing was originally going to be cock fighting but they were told they couldn't even simulate the latter so swapped it for the former. This resulted in a great line being cut: "Gentlemen, shall we get our cocks out?".
Comments
I'm normally a sucker for this sort of sentimental film but I found this one distinctly average. The music wasn't particularly good, Emily Blunt's OTT cut glass accent was grating and, whilst Lin-Manuel Miranda may be the lyricist, playwright, singer and actor who created and starred in 'Hamilton', I found him unconvincing here as the Cockney lamplighter. On a more positive note, it was good to see Dick Van Dyke throwing a few shapes at 93 years of age.
Thought this was extremely entertaining - bawdy, witty, full of arch humour. It made me laugh out loud numerous times. The three leads were superb, with a great supporting cast. The sets were sumptuous, and though the plot was pretty straightforward, it was two hours very well spent. Highly recommended. 8/10.
Long film 2 hours
About a guy who has just gone through trauma as he is no longer with his long term gf (wont post spoiler) basically his life unfolds then it knocks onto several others stories that are all linked. I enjoyed it, found it very feel good aswell and also quite a few twists so sometimes you are not sure quite where it is going. Recommended, Note to people i do like a rom com so not for you if you dont (probably)
Edit- just seen some of the ratings on Rotten Tomato, i must be truly unique with my movie choices sometimes
Finally got to a screening of First Man. So glad I managed to see it on a cinema screen, but regret missing it on IMAX. I’m a sucker for Damien Chazelle’s stuff (La La Land notwithstanding).
I was really impressed by how personal it was. Not only in the way Chazelle avoided the fanfare and American histrionics, but how it didn’t feel like we’re watching legends as much as young men living on the edge of death.
Couldn’t help but notice there were lots of close ups, very few establishing or mid-shots. It was as claustrophobic on Earth as it was in space. The performances were subtle, understated - like much of the film - and even though it had to be underpinned by multiple flights, it didn’t get repetitive. The music - especially on the landing - was especially notable. Downloaded the soundtrack as soon as I got out!
Interesting that space was depicted as a black void with no stars. It was shot as though it was filmed in the 60s, I suppose the minimilism and blackness was a part of that, as well as making it more like a void.
An utterly fantastic piece of filmmaking, I haven’t been as blown away by a film in a long time. I can’t wait to see what Chazelle does next.
7/7.
I'd happily put it at 7.5/10 too. Almost 140,000 reviews on IMDb put it at 7 and Rotten Tomatoes gave it 85/100 so we certainly aren't in the minority.
The question I found myself asking was, would Bird Box be particularly notable if it didn’t have a fractured narrative? Does that add anything to the story, or is it a cheap device to add mystery to a formulaic genre movie?
I think it might be a cheap device, that said, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. I enjoyed wondering what would happen to each survivor, who the lunatics might be and what the birds actually do. I tried not to think too hard about the practicalities of the situation (suspend your disbelief or walk away is my advice).
Bullock is excellent in the lead role, and Malkovich had way more going on than ‘generic loony’ which was a welcome surprise.
It was shot beautifully too, and it’s a rare occasion where I actually noticed the rather brilliant sound design.
Also, the world is big enough that this film and A Quiet Place can both exist without one having to be better than the other. They’re similar movies and both a lot of fun if you simply go along for the ride.
4/6
I don't get your ratings though
I liked how it was shot in retro fuzzy 16mm style, but then switched to pin sharp HD on the moon, which is correct physics-wise but also adds to the intensity of the moon landing sequence. Space appearing as completely black was an interesting choice. In NASA Apollo mission photos space appears black due to camera exposure times not being sufficient to pick up the light from stars. There are parts of the film that are Armstrong's direct PoV, like a video game almost, and with the human eye stars are visible from the moon, though because of the ambient light probably only as many as you'd see from London. It fit the restrained nature of the film. Flashy stars and the Milky Way in the background would have distracted from what it was all about - the surface of the moon.
I think that rating thing all started with a Reddit post. There's a racist guy and every time he Facebook posts, another guy makes him look stupid. It's quite a funny thread. Ah here it is - https://imgur.com/a/Gjcb5 (scroll down to find the Fight Club - 5.7 review). I just find silly ratings quite funny!
In other news, I started a movie site to get tickets to Spider-Man and a couple of other screenings, and then forgot all about it. Then a few weeks back I got an alert saying I had to renew my membership, so I opened it up and lo and behold, it was getting loads of traffic! No idea how or why, maybe just good SEO. So I started posting to it again. Here's the full review for First Man if you fancy it...
https://moviegulp.com/2018/12/17/review-first-man/
This is a reissue of Antonioni's 1975 film about a cynical and world-weary journalist who discovers the body of a man he's briefly met in the adjoining room of his hotel in the North Africa desert and decides to assume his identity. A slow-moving and complex film about alienation, with Jack Nicholson and Maria Maria Schneider on top form - 7/10.
‘I Got Life !’ (France, 2017)
A woman in her 50s is separated from her husband, has lost her job and finds out that she is going to become a grandmother. She feels that she is being pushed to the margins of society when an unexpected meeting with an old flame from her youth reignites her lust for life and love. The result is a joyful, life-affirming and heart-warming menopause rom-com. French romantic comedies are in my experience, often a bit hit and miss but this one proved hugely popular - and not just with ladies of a certain age - 8/10.
‘The Fencer’ (Finland, 2015)
Set in the 1950s post-War period, the film is very loosely based upon the life of champion Estonian fencer, Endel Nelis. A young fencer is hunted by the KGB as a result of having been drafted into the Estonian contingent of the Nazi army. He returns to his homeland as a sports coach in a remote village school but finds there is no place to hide. The film was a 2016 Golden Globe nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film but got no meaningful cinema release in the UK. I thought it was excellent - 9/10.
Happy End (France, 2017)
Michael Haneke’s latest film is a biting satire on bourgeois European prosperity, set in Calais in the shadow of the refugee crisis. Featuring a cast of top actors, including Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant (‘Amour’) and Toby Jones, it is a piercingly dark take on the blind preoccupations of middle-class angst and dysfunctional families. Some of the ‘surveillance’ - type camerawork and the emphasis on electronic gadgets reminded me of one of Haneke’s earlier films, ‘Hidden’. ‘Happy End’ certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I thought it was very good - 8/10.
Language was bit on the ‘fruity’ side. Not sure what some of the old dears in the audience thought about that.
This is the true story of an 18-year old kid who’s dad runs a car dealership and is the local baptist preacher (Russell Crowe). When the lad begins to suspect he’s gay, the father freaks out, blames the devil and sends his boy on a course of gay conversion therapy, hoping to make him straight.
It’s an interesting story, but it’s jumbled up with a fractured narrative which is cheating a little. Like Bird Box, it’s a way of making a pedestrian story more interesting.
Still, it does a decent job of punctuating the key moments at No Gays Camp with what came before in the boy’s life. It’s got some excellent, convincing performances (Kidman especially as the emotionally torn mother) and there’s something about Joel Edgerton’s direction I really like, but can’t quite put my finger on (he made the excellent The Gift). Edgerton also plays the camp’s leader to great effect.
Not the sort of film I’d ordinarily seek out, but glad I watched it.
3.5/5
Not at all what I was expecting. Very little about his work and a heavy dose of his relationship with his first wife "Jane." Loved the first 1/3, which moved along at a nice clip. Felt is was a bit repetitive in the middle half and slow, but then sped up again once their relationship started to evolve apart. Was surprised that a movie whose previews were so positive actually turns out to be much more complex than that. The score by Jóhann Jóhannsson was incredible! Eddie Redmayne was even better than I expected. Felicity Jones was very good as the tenacious wife, June. It was hard not to see David Thewlis and not think of Harry Potter. The ending, where Hawking goes back in his mind to the "beginning of time" which turns out to be the moment he laid eyes on his wife... that actually made me tear up.
8.0/10
Shakespeare in Love is a good film but nothing like as good as 'best film of the year'.
I can see how Crash picked up the Oscar as it's an excellent piece of film making.
Forrest Gump was too American and almost like a Spielberg film in the way it presses buttons at particular times to make you feel certain emotions. Hanks performance was very impressive, as were the Zelig-like insertions of him into historical footage.
Titanic is the biggest load of fatberg, ever. Yes, they built a 3/4 scale half of a ship. Yes, they made a load of stuff in mirror image so it turned out the right way when they reversed the footage of the 'other' half of the ship. So what? The performances are limp and the story telling is crap of the highest order. Give it a technical Oscar by all means but Best Picture?
The others I haven't seen.
The dance scene does stand out as being very much not of its time but that was, I heard, the director's intention.
The three central performances are great but Olivia's isn't as stand out "That's the Oscar right there" as Cate Blanchett's was in Blue Jasmine.
The duck racing was originally going to be cock fighting but they were told they couldn't even simulate the latter so swapped it for the former. This resulted in a great line being cut: "Gentlemen, shall we get our cocks out?".