The central metaphor is about as on-the-nose as you'll get but I didn't think it was a boring film. I don't think Von Trier is ever boring. It's also one of the best depictions of depression I've seen. I found it supremely uncomfortable in that regard. Almost had to walk out of the theatre at one point. I appreciate your contrary, and concise, opinion though. It's certainly not for everyone.
Have you seen Antichrist yet? That's as full-on as he gets. Also very divisive.
Whatcha Been Watching?
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ThirdMan
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ThirdMan
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Uncut Gems (Netflix)
"Look in my eyes and they'll tell you what I'm feeling".
It's a throwaway line of dialogue and yet it serves as a good summation of Adam Sandler's work so far, including his many, many turkeys. Even when at his worst there's still something in his eyes that says this boy ain't right. When he's on form he does crazed and self-destructive burnouts as good as anyone but he also needs good direction more than any actor I can think of. Thankfully that's exactly what the Safdies offered him and he's never been better than he is here.
His performances in Punch-Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories were mature, cleverly directed variations of his blander work, and manna for those of us that love the guy, usually (in fact almost always) against our better judgement. But this is a different type of character. It's rawer and harder than anything else he's done. He's a relentless degenerate and a dangerous liar. He's a horrible bastard and you're rooting for him all the way.
I'm now a full-on Safdies fan. It's expertly directed from top to bottom. An incredibly tense and suffocating experience. Good Time was solid work and enough to wash the excerable The Pleasure of Being Robbed from my mind. This, however, places them in the top tier of contemporary cinema. Two NYC brothers making 70s cinema in 2020. Sign me up.
"Look in my eyes and they'll tell you what I'm feeling".
It's a throwaway line of dialogue and yet it serves as a good summation of Adam Sandler's work so far, including his many, many turkeys. Even when at his worst there's still something in his eyes that says this boy ain't right. When he's on form he does crazed and self-destructive burnouts as good as anyone but he also needs good direction more than any actor I can think of. Thankfully that's exactly what the Safdies offered him and he's never been better than he is here.
His performances in Punch-Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories were mature, cleverly directed variations of his blander work, and manna for those of us that love the guy, usually (in fact almost always) against our better judgement. But this is a different type of character. It's rawer and harder than anything else he's done. He's a relentless degenerate and a dangerous liar. He's a horrible bastard and you're rooting for him all the way.
I'm now a full-on Safdies fan. It's expertly directed from top to bottom. An incredibly tense and suffocating experience. Good Time was solid work and enough to wash the excerable The Pleasure of Being Robbed from my mind. This, however, places them in the top tier of contemporary cinema. Two NYC brothers making 70s cinema in 2020. Sign me up.
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Yeah he's a weird one. Seemed loved and revered as a great comedy actor in his early days, but then seemed to end up being the subject of ridicule and despised in more recent years. I've not seen him perform in a serious role before, so interested in Uncut Gems. Added it to my list when I saw it come on to Netflix the other week.
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ThirdMan
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
I'll check them out. I like that theory actually! It would mean there's some excuse for the large number of terrible films he's worked on. I'm sure Sandler would thank them. It beats the straight-up awful reviews that he's surely become accustomed to.
My brother switched it off after 20 minutes. Didn't enjoy the character, the performance, the mood it was going for and he also hated Oneohtrix Point Never's score. It's going to be quite divisive but I think (and hope) that will be because of the film itself and not the hype surrounding it or people's justifiable aversion to Sandler.
I cringe every time I find myself saying "it was better than I expected" or "it was worse than I thought" etc. We all walk into a film with a set of ideas in our head because of the director's past work or whatever. But ultimately those are little more than biases, outside factors that we're imposing on a new work. I do it all the time and find it quite difficult to watch a film purely on its own terms. But I try. I'm happy for people to hate Uncut Gems so long as they give it a fair crack of the whip.
I said I love the guy. By that I mean he has a handful of goofball comedies that I can sit back and watch with my family at Christmas, just having a few beers and enjoying ourselves. It's a residual and resilient fandom. They're not great movies or performances by any stretch and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone per se. But like Jim Carrey's comedies or anything by Jean Claude Van Damme, they transcend my critical faculties and scratch that lizard part of my brain. I'm rendered helpless by their charmless charisma.
So when a film like Punch-Drunk Love or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes along I can feel both of my worlds crossing over. I feel justified for having seen something, anything, in their previous work. It's a classic case of me absolutely failing to leave my biases at the door. And in this instance I'm glad that I didn't. Uncut Gems, like Punch-Drunk Love, is heightened because of how it riffs on Sandler's other weirdos and fuck-ups. But it's also more than that and if I wasn't gushing so much I'd have said a lot more about the Safdies' achievement because this is their film, not least in how they cajoled Sandler into committing to a role like this.
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Caligulas Horse
- Member
- Posts: 135
- Joined: March 28th, 2019, 5:08 pm
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
I bloody loved Uncut Gems, such a thrilling experience to see it in the cinema. I was buzzing for a few hours after I left.
What impressed me most was the way it managed to tap into the pure adrenaline rush and excitement of high stakes gambling without ever making it seem attractive.
What impressed me most was the way it managed to tap into the pure adrenaline rush and excitement of high stakes gambling without ever making it seem attractive.
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
ThirdMan, have you seen I Love You Philip Morris? Aside from Eternal Sunshine, that's probably my favorite Carey movie. Not a huge fan of his comedy stuff, and I admit I'm a bit prone towards disliking the guy for the anti-vaxing stuff too.
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
I had to turn Uncut Gems off after 40 minutes. I had no idea what it was about and I didn't need 40 minutes of stress after a horrendous day at work. Will go back to it
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ThirdMan
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Yes, I agree. It's both his best film and best performance after Eternal Sunshine. I went into it completely blind. Ewan McGregor's involvement suggested it wasn't going to be a typical Carrey comedy but I could never have expected the end result. Very good film.
It's notable that his seven films between 1999 and 2004 included The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, The Majestic and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The Majestic was poorly received but I feel it's underrated (although I'm a complete nerd for that era and subject matter). In any event the problems it had weren't Carrey's. So overall that's a very good return and with one or two more of those choice roles he could have carved out a very different career. However the critical mauling of The Number 23 in 2007 brought that run of dramatic form to a brutal end.
I still haven't watched his TV series, Kidding. My girlfriend said it's funny but also quite dark, which sounds perfect for him. I believe it was produced by Michel Gondry so hopefully it has at least some of the Eternal Sunshine magic, although I shouldn't burden it which such expectations.
I haven't heard anything about the anti-vaxing stuff but I'm aware that he's been 'out there' for quite some time. He certainly received some bad press in Ireland after the suicide of his Irish girlfriend. I tend (or I try) to ignore the gossipy end of film coverage, however tragic, but I was rather struck by the photos of Carrey helping to carry the coffin in rural Tipperary. Seeing one of my childhood stars in that context, a typical small-town Irish funeral, was surreal.
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
I think we'll be throwing Dr Robotnik in Sonic The Hedgehog by next weekend.Taking my 3 year old to see it over the next weekend
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ThirdMan
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
I'll be going on Saturday and unfortunately I don't have a 3 year old I can blame! Maybe I can talk one of my nephew's into it.
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Jon Cheetham
- Member
- Posts: 524
- Joined: October 29th, 2019, 12:49 pm
- Location: Singapore
- Contact:
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Parasite
Finally got to watch this. Even by the lofty standards of Bong Joon-Ho this is an incredible film. He described it as "a comedy with no clowns, and a tragedy with no villains."
I don't want to spoil any part of it as everyone should see this and get the maximum impact (and for UK peeps it is in the cinemas now, I believe - try to go in as blind as possible). But the acting is superb on all fronts, particularly Song Kang-ho delivering enormous pathos as he always does, the dialogue crackles, and the tension that slowly seeps into the film is utterly palpable.
Edit: OH AND LOOK WHAT JUST HAPPENED
Finally got to watch this. Even by the lofty standards of Bong Joon-Ho this is an incredible film. He described it as "a comedy with no clowns, and a tragedy with no villains."
I don't want to spoil any part of it as everyone should see this and get the maximum impact (and for UK peeps it is in the cinemas now, I believe - try to go in as blind as possible). But the acting is superb on all fronts, particularly Song Kang-ho delivering enormous pathos as he always does, the dialogue crackles, and the tension that slowly seeps into the film is utterly palpable.
Edit: OH AND LOOK WHAT JUST HAPPENED
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ThirdMan
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Parasite (Cinema)
I had to travel to Dublin to see this on the big screen. 6-hour return trip but worth every second. It's currently the highest-rated film on Letterboxd, having eclipsed The Godfather some months back. Is it that good? Not for me, but it's great to see it doing so well. More and more poeple are primed for foreign-language cinema and now the Establishment appears to be upping its game as well.
Hopefully it leads people back to Bong Joon-ho's earlier work. It sometimes feels as if he's looked upon as a kooky oddity. Fun, 'typically Korean' but not in the same league as Park Chan-wook or, in particular, arthouse favourite Lee Chang-dong. Parasite swiftly and brutally brings that line of argument to an end.
I had to travel to Dublin to see this on the big screen. 6-hour return trip but worth every second. It's currently the highest-rated film on Letterboxd, having eclipsed The Godfather some months back. Is it that good? Not for me, but it's great to see it doing so well. More and more poeple are primed for foreign-language cinema and now the Establishment appears to be upping its game as well.
Hopefully it leads people back to Bong Joon-ho's earlier work. It sometimes feels as if he's looked upon as a kooky oddity. Fun, 'typically Korean' but not in the same league as Park Chan-wook or, in particular, arthouse favourite Lee Chang-dong. Parasite swiftly and brutally brings that line of argument to an end.
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ThirdMan
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Yep, that's them. In fact the character of Nick, the young man with special needs, is played by co-director Benny Safdie.
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ThirdMan
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Richard Jewell (Cinema)
Clint Eastwood's latest. It's based on the true story of a bumbling security guard, the eponymous Richard Jewell, who finds himself as the key suspect in the bombing of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. It's been alleged that the script takes huge liberties with the factual account and that it grossly misrepresents Kathy Scruggs, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution journalist who (according to this account) bought the story with sex and then cruelly pursued it to advance her halting career. Eastwood has past form in this department. His retelling of the Miracle on the Hudson, Sully, has been strongly contested by... ugh.... Sully. Unfortunately (and perhaps conveniently) Kathy Scruggs died in 2001 and cannot defend herself, although her former employer and colleagues have come out very strongly against the portrayal.
This bugs me because it's simply not necessary. I read a little around the topic before and after my screening and the uncontested accounts are damning enough on their own. The news-media and the FBI behaved disgracefully. Eastwood and screenwriter Billy Ray didn't need to go slumming to tell this story. However if you can accept that rather large caveat then this is an entertaining and well-acted film. Kathy Bates, Sam Rockwell, Jon Hamm and Paul Walter Hauser are all on fine form, Bates particularly so. I hope that her multiple award nominations lead to a renewed profile and much greater opportunities because she's being wasted on television with that American Horror Story shit.
A number of the critical reviews I read referred to Eastwood's uncomplicated, unfussy, box-ticking style of direction. That's true and it's getting even truer. This is perhaps the worst (or best) example of that so far. When I think of his early work such as Play Misty for Me, High Plains Drifter or The Outlaw Josey Wales, it's as if they're films by some other, possibly European director. He was experimenting back then. There was something of the excited cineaste in that early work. I don't think anybody thinks of him in those terms now. Almost everything post-Unforgiven has been very conventional, even if the subject matter pushed at his thematic extremes (euthanasia, child abduction, the afterlife).
A strange fruit is old Clint. 89 years old and still kicking it. He's practically turned into a different, much leaner director, even during my lifetime. And he also has people convinced he's some sort of angry old Republican bigot despite his recent work being more ambiguous than that. Long may he reign. And if he can stop telling lies, well that would be even better.
Clint Eastwood's latest. It's based on the true story of a bumbling security guard, the eponymous Richard Jewell, who finds himself as the key suspect in the bombing of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. It's been alleged that the script takes huge liberties with the factual account and that it grossly misrepresents Kathy Scruggs, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution journalist who (according to this account) bought the story with sex and then cruelly pursued it to advance her halting career. Eastwood has past form in this department. His retelling of the Miracle on the Hudson, Sully, has been strongly contested by... ugh.... Sully. Unfortunately (and perhaps conveniently) Kathy Scruggs died in 2001 and cannot defend herself, although her former employer and colleagues have come out very strongly against the portrayal.
This bugs me because it's simply not necessary. I read a little around the topic before and after my screening and the uncontested accounts are damning enough on their own. The news-media and the FBI behaved disgracefully. Eastwood and screenwriter Billy Ray didn't need to go slumming to tell this story. However if you can accept that rather large caveat then this is an entertaining and well-acted film. Kathy Bates, Sam Rockwell, Jon Hamm and Paul Walter Hauser are all on fine form, Bates particularly so. I hope that her multiple award nominations lead to a renewed profile and much greater opportunities because she's being wasted on television with that American Horror Story shit.
A number of the critical reviews I read referred to Eastwood's uncomplicated, unfussy, box-ticking style of direction. That's true and it's getting even truer. This is perhaps the worst (or best) example of that so far. When I think of his early work such as Play Misty for Me, High Plains Drifter or The Outlaw Josey Wales, it's as if they're films by some other, possibly European director. He was experimenting back then. There was something of the excited cineaste in that early work. I don't think anybody thinks of him in those terms now. Almost everything post-Unforgiven has been very conventional, even if the subject matter pushed at his thematic extremes (euthanasia, child abduction, the afterlife).
A strange fruit is old Clint. 89 years old and still kicking it. He's practically turned into a different, much leaner director, even during my lifetime. And he also has people convinced he's some sort of angry old Republican bigot despite his recent work being more ambiguous than that. Long may he reign. And if he can stop telling lies, well that would be even better.
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ThirdMan
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Underwater (Cinema)
A deep-sea Aliens ripoff that at least has the good manners to acknowledge, in its opening scene, the debt it owes to James Cameron's sequel. I brought in a beer from the foyer and also silently chewed on a mouth-ulcer for 90 minutes so it wasn't a complete waste of an afternoon.
A deep-sea Aliens ripoff that at least has the good manners to acknowledge, in its opening scene, the debt it owes to James Cameron's sequel. I brought in a beer from the foyer and also silently chewed on a mouth-ulcer for 90 minutes so it wasn't a complete waste of an afternoon.
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Jon Cheetham
- Member
- Posts: 524
- Joined: October 29th, 2019, 12:49 pm
- Location: Singapore
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Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Uncut Gems
That was absolutely cracking! I think someone described it as like having a two hour heart attack? It really doesn't let up for a minute.
Never expected to see an Adam Sandler performance I was completely sold on, either (I may have missed some things). He absolutely nailed this character.
That was absolutely cracking! I think someone described it as like having a two hour heart attack? It really doesn't let up for a minute.
Never expected to see an Adam Sandler performance I was completely sold on, either (I may have missed some things). He absolutely nailed this character.
- Spoiler: show
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
I saw the Sonic movie last night and was pleasantly pleased despite it not being anything out of the ordinary regarding the plot.
It's a fun watch which made me chuckle but watching in 4DX (my first, and only, time) made it the funniest experience I've had in the cinema.
It's a fun watch which made me chuckle but watching in 4DX (my first, and only, time) made it the funniest experience I've had in the cinema.
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
I really enjoyed Sonic also. Jim Carrey as Robotnik was a perfect fit
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ThirdMan
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
The Wire (Now TV)
60 episodes in three weeks. The Wire will do that to you. It was my third full viewing and my second in HD 16:9. I still prefer the older 4:3 presentation. I even prefer it in SD! Nostalgia gets better every year.
I was prepared to watch season 5 through my fingers but it's not as bad when you know what's coming. On previous occasions I was so distracted by the serial killer storyline that I didn't fully appreciate just how well the final episodes tie up the series' many loose ends.
Marlo Stanfield is one of the finest antagonists I've ever laid eyes on, be it the big screen or the small. His final scene contrasts brilliantly with Stringer Bell's. The venture capitalist that couldn't break away from the street-corners and the newly-minted businessman that doesn't want to.
60 episodes in three weeks. The Wire will do that to you. It was my third full viewing and my second in HD 16:9. I still prefer the older 4:3 presentation. I even prefer it in SD! Nostalgia gets better every year.
I was prepared to watch season 5 through my fingers but it's not as bad when you know what's coming. On previous occasions I was so distracted by the serial killer storyline that I didn't fully appreciate just how well the final episodes tie up the series' many loose ends.
Marlo Stanfield is one of the finest antagonists I've ever laid eyes on, be it the big screen or the small. His final scene contrasts brilliantly with Stringer Bell's. The venture capitalist that couldn't break away from the street-corners and the newly-minted businessman that doesn't want to.