What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

Just watched Wind River on Netflix. Really enjoyed it. It's not light, and involves a hunter so I'm glad my wife didn't watch with me. But a very good film.

Just watched the Andre the Giant documentary on HBO. It was really great, and I'm not a wrestling fan. I enjoyed it way back, as a kid of course. It was neat seeing all of the old footage, and hearing stories about him.

Just got back from Isle of Dogs. I'm a Wes Anderson fan and my favorite of his is Moonrise Kingdom... and maybe that's where I had a bit of a problem with this film. I enjoyed it and liked all the usual Anderson aspect: high attention to detail, tiny jokes that you have to be quick to catch, quirky characters that are nonetheless quite human (canine?), etc. But I really feel like I've been here before. In fact, this felt a lot like an animated retelling of what is essentially the same plot of both Moonrise and Grand Budapest Hotel. There's nothing wrong with that. I guess I was just hoping for something a little less obvious.

Also, the Tracy Walker character was rather jarringly "white savior" (outsider who saves the passive natives from themselves.) I don't think it would have been very difficult to translate (ahem) that character into the surrounding culture, such that it was simply young people, like the human star, Atari, who pushed society to change, rather than the Japanese boy being the iconoclast and the Westerner having to motivate everyone else to join in.

So, worth seeing, but perhaps worth waiting for Netflix or whatever.

Michael the Barnes wrote

So yeah, a really good one and a really surprising choice for Best Picture. I think it's better than Pan's Labyrinth,

There's no need for clickbait in a closed forum, sir. Step away from the keyboard. Disclaimer: I have seen neither.

MetaBarnes:

Shape of Water - 90
Pan’s Labyrinth - 75

Pans Labyrinth a 75?! What the actual fuck

Fakenews

In America we call that a “C”.

You’re a bit of a « C » yourself.

It’s a MASTAHPEECE

Jackwraith wrote: Just got back from Isle of Dogs. I'm a Wes Anderson fan and my favorite of his is Moonrise Kingdom... and maybe that's where I had a bit of a problem with this film. I enjoyed it and liked all the usual Anderson aspect: high attention to detail, tiny jokes that you have to be quick to catch, quirky characters that are nonetheless quite human (canine?), etc. But I really feel like I've been here before. In fact, this felt a lot like an animated retelling of what is essentially the same plot of both Moonrise and Grand Budapest Hotel. There's nothing wrong with that. I guess I was just hoping for something a little less obvious.

Also, the Tracy Walker character was rather jarringly "white savior" (outsider who saves the passive natives from themselves.) I don't think it would have been very difficult to translate (ahem) that character into the surrounding culture, such that it was simply young people, like the human star, Atari, who pushed society to change, rather than the Japanese boy being the iconoclast and the Westerner having to motivate everyone else to join in.

So, worth seeing, but perhaps worth waiting for Netflix or whatever.

I burned out on Wes Anderson last year. I saw Rushmore first, which was great and ruined me a bit for everything else he has done. Then I saw The Life Aquatic, and that was pretty good. But I was annoyed and disappointed by The Darjeeling Limited, Bottle Rocket, and The Royal Tenenbaums. I slept through most of Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Moonrise Kingdom just didn't work for me. I really want to like all his movies, because I like his visual style, but he keeps substituting quirkiness for character, and the plots usually feel more inevitable than interesting. I will eventually give his other movies a try and even watch Fantastic Mr. Fox again to see what I missed, but I think I need to wait a couple more years.

My wife and I went to see A Quiet Place yesterday, I was pretty excited because I had read reviews here and elsewhere and although I enjoyed it, it did not lived up to the hype.

SPOILER

The scene I was expecting the most was the birth but it simply wasn’t there. It got axed in the editing room or something because so much builds to that and then… nothing.

Gregarius made some of my points for me in Barney’s review thread but basically the movie fall trap to its own premise. The father seemed to be the worst of the bunch in sign language and failed to communicate proper safety measures, unity and love to his family.

I liked when movies could do both micro and macro level stories of global situations, in one hand it is always good to see movies that show and don’t tell, but the hints of other survivors close enough that can be hailed by beacons, the list of international frequencies that don’t work and the seemingly stupid monsters ‘AI’ (If sound then attack) all unite to paint an unbelievable world.

Why are we following this specific family? Is it that they have a deaf daughter? They have a baby on the way? Are the measures they took to stay silent particularly interesting? Apparently it is because they find the weapon to combat the monsters, but it is such a trivial weapon that it baffles me that it wouldn’t been find already by those with the equipment to do so. What would be the first thing you try against an enemy that has amazing hearing?

The movie is full of narrative devices and interesting concepts that work if you suspend your disbelief enough, but they keep piling on and on to the point where the story doesn’t matter anymore.

Why didn’t they set up a nursery by the waterfall? The nail, the flooding, the faulty doors on the silo, turning off the hearing device, is this all coincidence?
What bothers me most is the ending where, (like Logan) after all, nothing quite does it like a gunshot to the head.

I went looking to see if I could find a link between both productions, but all I could find was that the music was by Marco Beltrami and the same location security company (Reel Security Corps) was used. In both movies I imagine if this was mere coincidence, zeitgeist, a political stance by someone involved or paid ad for the gun industry.

PS: An assault rifle and a muffler would be too much in your face?

I was going to say “I agree with Barnes,” but fuck it, I’m saying Barnes is right. Shape of Water is better than Pan’s Labyrinth, no doubt about it. For all the reasons he listed, and maybe because I’m getting older and soft, but also because I want to watch it more than once. Pan’s was amazing when I saw it, but it’s not really anything I’d put myself through ever again. Shape, on the other hand, I started over as soon as I hit the credits. I literally watched it twice in a row in one sitting. I haven’t done that in 10 years (last time was Wall-E, but I also got out of The Dark Knight, went to the lobby and bought another ticket and went back in on opening day that same year).

"I knew she would play you like a banjo at an Ozark hoe down"

Emily commandeered the main TV and Xbox since I bought her Minecraft. I remember Barnes posting years ago some great castles his kid was making. I’ll resist doing that but it’s a pretty cool farmhouse with all sorts of animals in pens, stables and aviaries.

Anyway I tried watching THE COLONY with Fishbourne and Paxton after hearing it was a good zombie movie or something. Gave it ten minutes but the screenplay is so bad I channel flipped to THE MAZE RUNNER and I think I’ll stay there, ugh

Just finished doing a bike ride / scooter ride with her too so it’s not like I’m avoiding going outside or anything

Disney cruise tomorrow!!

Black Barney wrote: Emily commandeered the main TV and Xbox since I bought her Minecraft. I remember Barnes posting years ago some great castles his kid was making. I’ll resist doing that but it’s a pretty cool farmhouse with all sorts of animals in pens, stables and aviaries.

Anyway I tried watching THE COLONY with Fishbourne and Paxton after hearing it was a good zombie movie or something. Gave it ten minutes but the screenplay is so bad I channel flipped to THE MAZE RUNNER and I think I’ll stay there, ugh

Just finished doing a bike ride / scooter ride with her too so it’s not like I’m avoiding going outside or anything

Disney cruise tomorrow!!

Have a safe journey! Make sure you wash your hands a lot. I hear people get sick on these cruises.

I watched The Circle with Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks. It was kind of like an after school special...

Re-watched The Wave, a Norwegian disaster flick from a few years ago. One of the better offerings of its genre, imo. The scenery around the Geiranger area is beautiful and effects are well done. The script isn't anything special, but definitely rises above Tommy Lee Jones fighting a volcano in Los Angeles level of stupidity.