Media itt: movie/film discussion - Beware Spoilers

vonFiedler

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vonFiedler maybe next year I'll see enough movies outside my comfort zone to actually make an oscar list. Have marvel/star wars movies ever been up for best picture/best actor before tho?
Point of fact Star Wars HAS been nominated for best picture. And TLJ has gotten a ton of critical love for it's intelligence. So why not?

I know why not. Because they failed to nominate Empire Strikes Back. TLJ won't be compared to other potential nominees, but against Empire. And even though a LOT of critics think it's better than Empire, that's still a big statement to commit to.

There was also legitimate oscar buzz for Logan when it came out and I think it definitely deserves best picture. But the reason it won't get nominated is because Fox would be smarter to campaign for Three Billboards or Shape of Water.

Mind you, my wishlist is an attempt to meet halfway. It's why I excluded the three actual Marvel movies.

And I thought the academy hated the lego animation studio and excluded them from animation for some reason.
It certainly seems that way with how Lego Movie, a historic film that single handedly reinvigorated the animated movie landscape for years, got snubbed. But maybe they've learned from that. And really, this year was sparse enough that I could only nom four movies and that was with the generous inclusion of Captain Underpants. So I think a Lego Batman nom is actually fairly likely.

I'm shocked you wouldn't put 2049 on best cinematography :(
I think he's a good director for cinematography but I can't be too excited by such a faithful sequel. Sort of how I feel about the movie in general. Only Ryan Gosling really stands out.

and what would you think if Disaster Artist wins best picture, repeating last year's example of Hollywood praising a movie that glamorizes hollywood itself :blobthinking:
Glamorize? Well, it certainly increases its chances by being about Hollywood. But I actually like the Disaster Artist, so I wouldn't mind it winning. If at least an 8/10 wins best picture, that's a win in my book. So realistically, I hope Get Out or Disaster Artist wins over Dunkirk (I guess Three Billboards is actually a top contender now too, which is nice... or it's not a contender?).

Dunkirk is a baity Oscar film. It's far from Nolan's best film, but his rabid fans have been hounding the academy for years and this might be the year they bite the bullet and get it over with, knowing they'll never seriously have to entertain the thought of doing so again. Quickly people will realize that Nolan won a best picture for Dunkirk and not The Dark Knight or Inception (not to mention his best movies, Memento and Batman Begins), and this will go down in history as another academy failure. For this reason I sincerely believe that Dunkirk will win. I guess you didn't ask me about Dunkirk, but you wanted to.
 

Tera Melos

Banned deucer.
This is very upsetting


Also are people really "rioting" over Wonder Woman? It was good but it wasn't like, groundbreaking or breathtaking...
 

Martin

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My family dragged me out to watch The Greatest Showman last night. It was exactly what I expected—a mediocre “feelgood” film where you can predict every single beat it hits over 15 minutes before it hits it, complete with generic writing which is poorly executed all around and a series of mediocre musical numbers that it forces down your throat every 5 minutes (<—not an exaggeration; it literally couldn’t go five minutes without them breaking into singing and it was fucking retarded). The music would be mostly decent or good if it weren’t for the fact every character (including the supposed “greatest singer in the world”) was all autotuned to shit and the fact the style they all used turned every number into a fucking infuriating-to-listen-to pop song; it was just totally out of place in a film that’s meant to be set in 1800s America. Despite everything bad I have to say about this all around forgettable+not very enjoyable film, I will admit that its choreography was fucking spectacular, as were a lot of the directional choices. I have no other praises for this film though.
 

vonFiedler

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I finally did it

I've watched all movies on Rotten Tomato's Top 100 for 2017. Well, all real movies. I stopped torturing myself with documentaries when they added a 5 hour doc about a library.

All in all this was probably one of the worst fucking ideas I've ever had. Out of all the films I watched, the only ones I was really glad to see were Their Finest, Brawl in Cell Block 99, and Gook. Everything else I either would have watched anyway or was meh.

Cleanup still isn't over until March. Gonna binge some lower fare over the next few days, like Bright and Hitman's Bodyguard. Only have Loving Vincent left to see for oscar noms. Will give full report later.
 

vonFiedler

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It's Oscar movie rundown time again

#9: Call Me By Your Name (3/10)
Moonlight filled a genuine hole in the kinds of stories I've seen in film. Call Me By Your Name did not, as I have seen American Pie, and I would not think of that film as best picture material. If this was about a straight couple, no one would see this as anything more than some hipster fartabout romantic comedy, and we already have Ladybird holding the fort there. And because I've seen BPM and God's Own Country, I know that this isn't even the better gay movie of the year. Good music though.

#8: Darkest Hour (4/10)
The worst of three Dunkirk films of the year. Filler biopic shit. This film will make it or break it for you depending on what you think of Gary Oldman's performance as Batman's The Penguin. I thought it was garbage. Love you Gary.

#7: Phantom Thread (5/10)
I'm open to someone telling me what Phantom Thread was about cause I don't fucking know. Maybe cause I fell asleep for a few minutes. Beautiful movie. It's probably a character piece, but I don't know what is said about the characters at all. Also another great actor playing a cartoon character. He at least does a good job, I just really don't get what he thinks he's doing.

#6: The Post (5/10)
Spotlight won best picture, so it makes sense that Spielberg would want to try to make a movie that's just as boring. He doesn't quite succeed though. And after 42 years, did anyone really want an All the President's Men prequel?

#5: Dunkirk (7/10)
Really middle of the road for Nolan.

#4: Ladybird (7/10)
Fairly charming throughout, but somewhat shallow. Wouldn't rewatch.

#3: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (9/10)
McDonagh's best film. A man who probably deserves to win best picture some day. Might win it this time. That would not be a bad result. But this isn't the best movie of the year.

#2: The Shape of Water (10/10)
Not as good as Pan's Labyrinth, but pretty close. Definitely the kind of quality I want to see Del Toro nail more consistently.

#1: Get Out (10/10)
I read an article by an academy voter that said he "didn't get" why Get Out was politically relevant. What? As important as #MeToo is, that's Hollywood's #1 issue. For the rest of us, I think it's still race. This was a horror movie, and a really good one, where you walked out of the theater and you knew it would be nominated. Even with Logan, I only ever hoped. And that's a movie that leaves an impact.

Overall thoughts
Sigh... you fucking blew it again. Everyone is so proud of themselves for fixing the diversity problem in the Oscars, but is it really any better? I look at this list and I see Darkest Hour, white man movie, Phantom Thread, white man movie, The Post, white man movie. I don't have a problem with white man movies being nominated, just not mediocre ones. And these three, three films were thrown in as filler just because of the powerful white men who made them. So don't be so fucking proud of yourselves. Like, I'll agree to disagree with Call Me By Your Name. I know someone out there wants that to win. But absolutely nobody wants Darkest Hour, Phantom Thread, or The Post to win. They will be immediately forgotten even if one wins. In spite of three great movies, I think this list is much worse than last year's. And not that this was necessarily a better year for movies, but with the whole Weinstein thing, I was promised an end to this empty elitist bullshit. This would be a year where more and more unorthodox, fantastic movies would get nominated. Maybe not Logan, but at least The Big Sick. Maybe not Baby Driver, but at least Disaster Artist. Even Wonder Woman would have been an improvement for fuck's sake. You blew it. You had one job.

Continuing that thought, animated nominations tomorrow...
 
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RODAN

Banned deucer.
i watched i, tonya yesterday and really really enjoyed it. i expected a boring ass biopic but it really surprised me. felt almost like a shane black movie, with a wicked sense of humour. margot robbie is incredible in it, as is sebastian stan. highly highly recommend.
 

vonFiedler

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RODAN I don't think I, Tonya was one of the best films of the year but I'd be happy if it got the biopic slot over Darkest Hour, and it seems like most people were way more interested in it as well.

Now for the noms people really about

#5: Ferdinand (2/10)
At the very least, I expected this film to be a little better than Boss Baby. Not much worse. A good moral and some almost dark moments keep this from being a 1. This is cringe throughout. It's just a complete wreck. John Cena does nothing for it. 80% jokes about European nationalities even though this is supposed to be about Spain. Ugly as fucking shit too.

#4: The Boss Baby (5/10)
I blame Gato. Not as bad as you'd think. You can tell that there were talented people who wanted to make a good movie. It's visually creative. The animation on characters if very good. And it's actually trying to tell a message in a complex meta fashion ala Inside Out. Too bad it's a Dreamworks movie. Ultimately mediocre.

#3: Loving Vincent (8/10)
Quite easily the best looking rotoscoped movie ever. Plays like a detective movie about the death of Van Gogh, which sounds odd cause I was taught he committed suicide, but turns out there are some interesting theories out there and the movie treats them with a lot of ambiguity and nuance. It's a slow burn and a bit formulaic, but it turns out well in the end.

#2: Coco (8/10)
Toy Story 2 tier Pixar. Really good film, but not top tier. Still a better than a lot of Pixar films.

#1: The Breadwinner (9/10)
Dope film. I've never read the book, but I understand this changes a lot. Understandably a very dark film. I like really dark children's movies. Builds up to this huge intensity, though I don't know what to feel about the ending.

Overall thoughts
Animated noms were always a clown fiesta until two years ago. The last two years were very classy. Then we get Ferdinand and Boss Baby, which is like nominating Transformers for best picture. Obviously this year in animation was not as good as last year, but I watched most of the films that were considered for nomination (couldn't see Birdboy). In This Corner of the World and My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea (also best soundtrack of the year) are the films that should have been nominated. That would be a solid list. A Silent Voice and Captain Underpants are acceptable alternatives.

Bad year for the oscars. Let's see if the views sink again
 

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
Black Panther: Very Good

Killmonger is amazing.

Sterling K Brown doesn't know how to not make you cry.
 

brightobject

there like moonlight
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black panther was awesome! the visuals: really, really, REALLY stellar. The aesthetic is so new, fresh, and fucking wild that everything just works. Fight choreography and action sequences are AMAZING.

The kind of "politics" between the different tribes, etc. was really really cool. The world building was mostly successful and had some really interesting concepts, although in a way it struck a kind of melancholy note for me on account of how contrary it is to Africa's current position on the world stage

some of the writing and dialogue is new and timely af (killmonger), others cringey (Zuri (WHAT ARE THOSE made me shiver)).

this film is so fucking ambitious, and for the most part I'd say it succeeded

problems:
-obnoxious product placement
-bad koreans. those ppl had some weirdass accents
-some weird pacing at the beginning.

they never address the consequences of killmonger burning the heart-shaped herbs. like wtf. ud think theyd mention some kind of work in progress solution in the end!???? also: martin freeman's character sucked. also the rhinos were kind of silly, the cgi didnt do it for me there.
 
I give black Panther a 7/10

Awesome visuals and costumes
But I hate the trope where the hero is defeated by the villain only to miraculously survive, re-evaluate his positions/place in the world, then comes back to defeat the villain
 
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vonFiedler

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When I first started trying to watch every movie on the IMDB top 250, I got one question from a lot of people. Almost verbatim: "Well, why don't you watch a more respectable list, like AFI's?"

And I thought I had a pretty good explanation. AFI is exclusively American (except for some English movies we took the credit for), predominantly old, and highly elitist. I've made no bones about disliking the old Hollywood studio system, it being heavily censored and giving little power to directors. Since I'm not a film critic, I never felt the need to like those old films just because I'm supposed to. And since the AFI list is also only American, it wouldn't even expose me to non-Hollywood old films.

The IMDB list is heavily influenced by dudebros who think Christopher Nolan can do no wrong. Voting drives vote great Marvel movies out and shitty Bollywood films in. And at one point, whether this is a fair point or not, no female directors were represented on the list at all (not sure if this is still true). But even if sometimes I don't agree with the democracy of IMDB, it's incredibly varied. Domestic and foreign. New and old. Weird and safe. Indie and blockbuster. With so much variety, it's easier to find movies that you think are good, and it's much better at expanding your palate.

That was my theory. But it didn't mean a lot until I had seen BOTH the IMDB and AFI lists. Which I have now.

My average scores of the top 100 movies on IMDB vs. the original AFI top 100:
IMDB: 7.83
AFI: 6.61

That's a difference of 1.22 points on average. For perspective, here's a breakdown of my average scores per genre on IMDB


As you can see, the difference in quality between IMDB and AFI is bigger than the difference between my favorite and least favorite genres. That's fairly sizable. And even the average score of IMDB's 101-200 films was 7.56.

AFI's lists weren't exactly not worth watching. The original list does have some good movies, most of which I'd seen, but it did give me My Fair Lady and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. The AFI 10th anniversary list is somewhat better with an average score of 6.82. It added great films like In the Heat of the Night, Swing Time, and Sophie's Choice. It also got rid of the dumpster fire that is Birth of a Nation.

Coincidentally, I also just finished the Rotten Tomatoes Top 100. I hadn't been working on it, but enough 2017 movies ended up on it that it basically finished itself. This wasn't a legitimate list when I started. It used to be that a movie with only one review (a fresh one) had the same weight as a movie with 200. That has been fixed. It's still not a perfect list. Old movies are treated strangely. For starters, they don't have a lot of reviews. But on the other hand, retrospective reviews are almost always positive. It's still a decent list with an average score of 7.13.

The metacritic list is still garbage.

While there are plenty of movies left to watch, I'm gonna be doing that while at the gym and maybe one or two on weekends. This year I'm gonna tackle a different kind of list entirely... MAL

It's probably going to be the worst one
 
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vonFiedler

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Why not just use the Sight & Sound list? It's infinitely better than iMDB and AFI
Because I'd rather watch Birth of a Nation again than a 9 documentary.

34 critics also said that a 7 hour film was one of their top 10 favorites films of all time. A simple search on Satantango reveals that it achieves this with multiple 10 minute dance sequences where the camera doesn't move and the crew just faffed about. Is this the equivalent of the aristocrats joke for comedians? Like, if you say this is an unsung classic, no one will argue when no one in their right mind would watch it.

I like some of these movies, I'd be interested in seeing some I haven't seen. But as a whole this seems like wankery level 11
 
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termi

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Because I'd rather watch Birth of a Nation again than a 9 documentary.

34 critics also said that a 7 hour film was one of their top 10 favorites films of all time. A simple search on Satantango reveals that it achieves this with multiple 10 minute dance sequences where the camera doesn't move and the crew just faffed about. Is this the equivalent of the aristocrats joke for comedians? Like, if you say this is an unsung classic, no one will argue when no one in their right mind would watch it.

I like some of these movies, I'd be interested in seeing some I haven't seen. But as a whole this seems like wankery level 11
pretty sure satantango is divvied up in several parts so you might as well treat it as a miniseries and watch it in several sittings. not that i blame you for not watching it (tarr films require a lot of patience, i can't say i'm a fan yet) but with very long movies there is no shame in watching them in more than one sitting. it's peculiar that a 7-hour film sounds so daunting when many of us have no problem bingewatching shows.

while i'm here talking about long movies i'll rep Fanny och Alexander, specifically the 5-hour long miniseries version (divided into 4 parts of 60-90 minute each). i watched it over the course of, like, a month, because i've been slacking with regard to movies as of late. it's a very strong drama with some typical Bergman themes like the silence of God and whatnot, i liked it especially for how well the characters and their interactions were written though. it's very difficult to make characters both interesting and "real", oftentimes when we watch movies we see highly stylized versions of persons because real persons are very complex and may appear boring on the surface, the characters in Fanny och Alexander meanwhile are complex but never hard to understand or empathize with. also, it looks absolutely gorgeous, pure eye candy.
 

vonFiedler

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pretty sure satantango is divvied up in several parts so you might as well treat it as a miniseries and watch it in several sittings. not that i blame you for not watching it (tarr films require a lot of patience, i can't say i'm a fan yet) but with very long movies there is no shame in watching them in more than one sitting. it's peculiar that a 7-hour film sounds so daunting when many of us have no problem bingewatching shows.
If it's meant to be watched as a tv show, then it's a tv show. Very different medium and I don't think it should make the list then. Hell, when I watched Fanny and Alexander, that's how I did it, and I always wonder if it hurt the intended experience (I love other Bergman movies, but not so much F&A. Also keep in mind I watched the movie, meaning we watched two different things. I understand the mini-series is supposed to be definitive, but the movie was on the IMDB list... and is also on the current sight and sound director's list).
 

termi

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If it's meant to be watched as a tv show, then it's a tv show. Very different medium and I don't think it should make the list then. Hell, when I watched Fanny and Alexander, that's how I did it, and I always wonder if it hurt the intended experience (I love other Bergman movies, but not so much F&A. Also keep in mind I watched the movie, meaning we watched two different things. I understand the mini-series is supposed to be definitive, but the movie was on the IMDB list... and is also on the current sight and sound director's list).
satantango was released as a movie that happens to be divided up into several chapters, objectively speaking it's a movie but you don't have to sit through the whole thing in one go unless you prefer that to the alternative of watching it in multiple sittings. this goes for any movie, really. art isn't sacred and how the author intends you to view it doesn't really matter.
 

tcr

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If you guys had to pick 5-10 movies everyone should see at least once, what would you pick?

i just saw hateful eight and inglorious basterds for the first time and it makes me realize i really dont watch that much movies and certainly dont know the cult classics
 
The Prestige
Hail, Caesar!
The Big Lebowski
What Dreams May Come
The Princess Bride
Young Frankenstein
High Anxiety
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Roxanne
The Jerk

Actually, I could make a list of ten Steve Martin or Mel Brooks movies and call it good.
 
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If you guys had to pick 5-10 movies everyone should see at least once, what would you pick?

i just saw hateful eight and inglorious basterds for the first time and it makes me realize i really dont watch that much movies and certainly dont know the cult classics
The Foundations: Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
The Comedy Classic: City Lights (1931)
The Classic: Citizen Kane (1941)
The French New Wave: Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
The Short Film: La Jetee (1962)
The Past Predicting The Future: Playtime (1967)
The Ahead-Of-Its-Timer: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Noir: Chinatown (1974)
The Comedy Masterpiece: Airplane (1980)
The Under-viewed Masterpiece: Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters (1985)
 

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