What Movie Have You Seen Today?

If he’s one of the best things about it, you know you’re in trouble!

Sounds like all of the OCEAN movies past OCEAN’S 11. Hopefully they’ll just let it be after this one.

I still like Oceans 13.

Personally I love Ocean’s 13 and think 12 is underrated too. Ocean’s 8 is by far the worst in the series and the only one I a) never want to watch again, and b) wish I hadn’t wasted my time watching the first time.

Also just remembered a particularly bad part of the script in which Bullock’s character explains to the audience why they have an all-female lineup. She says that she wants the crew to ‘be invisible’ and that men will be noticed. Fair enough… Except the heist takes place at The Met gala - surely women are much more the focus than men when it comes to a glitzy ball where everyone is obsessed with what the women are wearing…

To take my mind off Bond 25 heartbreak, I’m re -watching Ronin, with the triple Bond villain performances. Some film nothing is superfluous in it Mamet’s dialogue crackles and I love the chemistry between Reno and DeNiro.

Blackhat

Hence my nomination for Michael Mann as director on Bond 25.

I liked the concept but the reality of the finished product completely swept the floor away from under me.

If they could get whatever it was they wanted from near the waterfall, and make noise with impunity, why didn’t the family just live there instead of creeping around in otherwise silent surroundings?

This and a handful of other such inconsistencies left me scratching my head. The pregnancy being a huge one other head scratcher whereby an abortion would have been the only answer. Or, Live By The Waterfall…

Dunno.

Live under the waterfall? Build a house there? C´mon…

It is clearly shown that they love each other and that they cling to the hope of a better future. Having sex during those years is not unreasonable. Getting pregnant is the, uh, possible side effect. They know how big a risk that pregnancy is. They take every precaution for the birth and the future of the baby. They want the baby. They do not want to abort it. (Which would present an extreme infection risk for the mother without the necessary equipment and sanitary situation, by the way.)

I see no inconsistency there at all.

I said Near, not Under a waterfall. C’mon. From memory, they could run and laugh and skip and play Near the waterfall with impunity,

Picking out the eplotholes in this film has been a universal past time.

Both of which actually mention the same thing.

Okay, those articles are typical for the all too quick cynicism that garners lots of applause these days in a “oh, see, these filmmakers are sooo stupid, I was not scared at all and can’t be bothered with that”-attitude.

All those questions posed in the Esquire thing could easily be answered (As for the waterfal - no they could not run and laugh and play there. The father had to take his son very close to it before they started the conversation. Living in a soundproof room - good luck finding one and breathing in it if you really close everything down etc.).

But in general: if one does not want to suspend disbelief, as you need to with every piece of fiction, you can dismantle everything.

Oh, why did Elsa walk into Rick´s café when there are so many other cafés?
Why didn’t they just choose a bigger boat to kill the shark? Duh?!
I would not have driven around with Tracy, knowing Blofeld is on the run. How stupid is this James Bond?

I rewatched FYEO. Funny, Bond (or rather the parrot) on the phone with Thatcher. Imagine Rambo on the phone with Reagan?

1 Like

Finally got to see “Ocean’s 8” yesterday… No way is it as bad as some people are saying… Great cast and overall fun and very enjoyable. :sunglasses: Yes, the plot is a bit muddled here and there but I was generally surprised how well it was done. Great to see cameos from Rubin and The Amazing Yen but I was VERY disappointed that Matt Damon’s cameo obviously got cut…oh well. Overall, I’d give it a 7 out of 10.

Watched Barry Seal - Only in America today and really liked it. Doug Liman can make a Bond film for me anytime.

3 Likes

Where are you based sir? This film is called American Made in the US and UK…

I enjoyed it to (American Made in the UK and US). Liman would knock out a very watchable Bond movie.

First Reformed

Paul Schrader’s been consistently making interesting auteur movies for years (despite many directors saying this is now virtually impossible).

His back catalogue has a couple of duds, but many gems. First Reformed is definitely the latter. Ethan Hawke turns in a focused, nuanced performance. It’s slow burner with a great finale.

Great thing about Schrader’s writing and directing is that he can talk about big, profound subjects without ever preaching or judging. He paints the faults and virtues in everyone, good or bad, protagonist and antagonist. His characters are always 3-dimensional.

And his appetite to dissect the male psyche hasn’t diminished with time; in fact it appears to have increased, though it’s far more sophisticated here. Taxi Driver paints the paradox of a madman doing a good deed by rescuing an underage prostitute; though by that point we know the motivation is more likely a simple bloodlust - a lashing out at a world that rejects his naive, adolescent advances.

First Reformed is far subtler, far more moving, but no less shocking study of a man in a lot of pain. That sounds like a movie to avoid, but trust me, it’s very rewarding.

If they ever do an R rated Bond i’d love Schrader to write it.

3 Likes

As a director he has sat comfortably in the middle budget films, only having to do studio fodder films on occasion. I’m guessing if you wrote down the ones you consider duds it’d be the same as the entries on his CV that I think look like studio fodder (Dominion: A Prequel to the Exorcist for example)

They even went as far as to reshoot the whole movie from scratch with Renny Harlin directing instead. Both versions a absolutely awful.

David Lynch and Jonanthan Glazer have bemoaned how difficult it is to find money for their medium budget movies (astounding that should be the case for Lynch). But they are a marginally more niche product than Schrader’s i guess.

1 Like

i´m austrian.

Have just seen Orson Welles’ THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND and it is superb. First impression is that it is the third part of a trilogy of betrayal with CITIZEN KANE and OTHELLO being the other two parts (though the theme of betrayal turns up in other films as well).

The film also complements F FOR FAKE, made during the filming of TOSOTW, with F FOR FAKE now seeming like an answer film–tackling the same subject–the making of a film–but from a lighter, more bemused perspective–the filmmaker less serious artist than endearing charlatan.

Just first thoughts, but if the film does play on a screen in your vicinity, try and see it and not just stream on Netflix (though I offer a deep bow to them for providing the completion money that was elusive for nearly five decades).

2 Likes