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| bartist |
 Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:10 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6963
Location: Black Hills
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gromit wrote: Anyone know anything about the following recentish films:
When We Were Young
The Fault in Our Stars
Rainy Sunday, Rainy ... (Ok, I need to figure out the actual title)
Murder of a Cat
Words & Pictures
I saw a synopsis of Murder of a Cat, and cast list, that led me to think it could be a fun little movie. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:32 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Yeah, that was the one that caught my eye.
But now I see Murder of a Cat has a 5.2 rating on IMDb, which either means a lot of folks didn't get it, or it's not good.
J K Simmons is usually good, but he's also in at least half a dozen films per year. So who knows? |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 11:36 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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I picked up Bruno Dumont's Li'l Quinquin. Shall report back when I get to it (soon, I imagine).
Another '15 film that looked possibly watchable -- Love & Mercy.
Anyone know that?
or Phoenix (Christian Petzold) |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:53 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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[quote=Another '15 film that looked possibly watchable -- Love & Mercy.
Anyone know that?
or Phoenix (Christian Petzold)[/quote]
I thought Love and Mercy was excellent. Good story and great music.
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 12:42 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Li'l Quinquin.
No idea why they stretched the film out to 3.5 hours.
A rural french murder mystery, but really an examination of an eccentric small town and its secrets.
The characters all have interesting faces. The main inspector has lots of facial tics, and his lieutenant is missing a front tooth. They make for an odd team and by then end they both get to live out their (minor) fantasies. Lil QQ looks like a future hooligan. But he has this lopsided sneer and odd look. The girl next door, Lil QQ's girlfriend is sweet. the other two kids in their gang are underdeveloped and just extra bodies. I'm not really sure why idiots pop up frequently, except maybe to comment on the idiocies of everyone else. Idiocy like most other things is really a continuum, not either/or.
Some of the small town mockery seems rather cliched -- such as the taciturn farmer and the decidedly amateurish village marching band and baton twirlers. I did like how the police drive this crummy little car (Gremlinesque), but the driver dreams of racing and fancy driving tricks, and so even the car gets a quirky driving workout. The film seemed to riff on other French detective stories/films, with some philosophizing and talk of evil. But I wasn't sure which. I was reminded of Quai des Orfèvres, mainly just because the quirky detective dominates the film (though he only enters midway through in QdesO.
It's watchable enough, and I liked the characters, but the story somewhat fizzles and the runtime is bewildering. I should IMDb it -- maybe I have the super-extended director's cut dvd or something.
So if you like quirky detective stories, eccentric rural folks, some lovely white horses, and sneering kids for 3 1/2 hours, this was made for you! |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 8:51 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12933
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Straight Outta Compton is the story of NWA from its foundation through the death of one of its founding members. The group was extremely popular in its time (roughly 1986-1991) and was a major influence in the rise of hiphop and gangsta rap, and continues to be influential today through its alumni Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, although Easy-E seems to have been the lead singer at the time. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre are co-producers along with Easy-E's widow, and Dr. Dre's character has been sanitized somewhat (he was violent toward women). Ice Cube, who was accused as misogynistic and anti-Semitic, and who wrote a lot of NWA's controversial lyrics, seems to have become a model citizen as well as a talented actor.
I can't fault the acting of the three leads, O'Shea Jackson, Jr. (Ice Cube's son, playing his father), Jason Mitchell (Easy-E) and Corey Hawkins (Dr. Dre). Aldis Hodge (MC Ren) and Neil Brown, Jr. (DJ Yalla) sort of disappear. Paul Giamatti plays their manager and future subject of law suits. Plotting suffers from the problem that real life doesn't follow plots, but I was never bored and liked the music, performances and view of the music life. Don't be surprised if one or more of the leads gets an acting nomination. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 10:18 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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American Ultra: Jesse Eisenberg is playing a meek convenience store clerk who is living with Kristen Stewart, who we discover is a person of interest of the CIA for absolutely no apparent reason, until the day that he is activated and eliminates a couple of assassins, showing skills that totally baffle him. It seems he is a product of some experimental program of the CIA, and is to be eliminated for reasons that escape me, and to argue against this is treason for no discernable reason except it gives the hero and his girlfriend reasons to kill lots of people who mostly deserve it.
Basically, this film wants to be Hanna (or The Bourne Identity)so much it hurts and fails badly. The central nefarious plot makes no sense and is orchestrated by a desk jockey at the CIA who has no authority to do it (as is pointed out by Kristen Stewart's character at length.) I don't understand how he escaped being fragged. And the movie's predictable If you don't figure out in the first fifteen minutes that Stewart is his handler and possibly another sleeper, than you've never seen a movie like this. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:12 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Syd wrote: Don't be surprised if one or more of the leads gets an acting nomination.
The nomination belongs to Giamatti. who IMO almost steals the movie. He's brilliant. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 11:29 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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billyweeds wrote: Syd wrote: Don't be surprised if one or more of the leads gets an acting nomination.
The nomination belongs to Giamatti. who IMO almost steals the movie. He's brilliant. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 12:54 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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The Diary of a Teenage Girl is quite an accomplishment. It is the true story of a 15 year old girl's highly sexualized struggle to find an identity and to discover self-worth as well as autonomy. Bel Powley, who plays the teenager, deserves an Oscar nomination. Marielle Heller, who earlier had played the same role of the teenager on stage, does a wonderful job directing this movie.
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 3:51 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Difret is an Ethiopian film about a 14 year old girl who is kidnapped on the way home from her rural school. Abduction and rape apparently is a time-honored traditional way of getting a bride in parts of Ethiopia. She escapes with a rifle and when the gang of men -- this is a clandestine social event of sorts -- try to recapture her, she shoots and kills the rapist.
A women's rights legal foundation in the capital takes on her case pro bono. The police and villagers have to get used to dealing with a powerful, educated woman. Conflicts abound -- between city and rural; modern/traditional; men and women.
I liked the village council held beneath a large tree. The traditional punishment would be death, but they find mitigating circumstances, including the girl's age, and decree that the girl's father pay a sum to the dead man's father, and the girl be exiled from the village.
The cast and characters are good, the storyline a bit predictable in its telling, the hairstyles interesting throughout. It's interesting to see Ethiopia on film -- the countryside is lovely -- and the contrast between the poor villagers and bustling Addis Ababa. I've always wanted to go to Ethiopia ...
This is based on a true story from 1996, and the case resulted in bride abductions being banned and punishable by 5 years in jail.
The film did the global film festival circuit in 2014 and early 2015. Not sure if it will ever get a theatrical release in the US. But worth catching on cable if they show new foreign movies there ... |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:04 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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Timbuktu is a stark and grim dramatization of life in an African village which is being controlled and run by radical Islamists and their austere Sharia laws. Simple but disturbing.
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:11 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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I've been waiting for Timbuktu to come to my local Dvd shop.
Actually it did last week, but in a French edition, sans Anglais.
It's already at the pricier stores, but then I pay more and get a plastic box that either takes up space or needs to be thrown away. I can wait.
Heard good things about the film. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 10:17 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6963
Location: Black Hills
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If you saw any promo for The Visit, you probably thought, oh no M. Night Shyamalan sawed off his ankle bracelet and got loose again in directorland. But there seems to be some actual good buzz for his latest....here is a buzz sample:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/calendar/film/2015-09-11/the-visit/ |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 11:20 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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| I don't think I've ever seen one of his films. |
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