this was the best movie I have seen this year. The best horror movie since Hereditary, and this the better of the 2. Excellent script, acting, photography, music. It never ceases to amaze me how first time directors can be capable of such work.
I seldom write reviews anymore as they go ignored, but this is my favorite movie of the year, even better than Nobody (starring Bob Odenkirk, directed by the guy who did the brilliant Hardcore Henry). Craig Gillespie displayed genius of camera control and editing in I, Tonya, but here everything was next level. Emma Stone gives career best performance, costumes are Edith head caliber, everything just popped. set in england just before punk revolution, the zeitgeist of fashion is brought to life in the fashion of Batman Begins.
What astounded me the most was Cave's sense of empathy, how he so fluidly is able to put himself in the shoes of his wife, fans, son, previous self, etc. he intellectualizes his grief so well and explores the cathedral of pain he is experiencing. For myself, having so little, it is strange to see someone with so much fortune and family and friends experience a loss so deeply, knowing he would have to lose so much more to be where I am in life. I could really relate when he said he had lost faith in himself and in good in the world.
This is such a great movie i cannot express how surprised and entertained I was by every minute of this movie. 5 star photography meets 5 star music and direction. It's sad also, the little boy only made 1 other movie before getting mutilated in a car accident and he is so good in this.
This was very well made and creepy. I like how the desire to fit in made her sacrifice more and more. good acting, photography and social commentary. I really related to when she was attacked for having a cat.
Saw it back in the day, didn't really appreciate how well made it is. The director did a whole bunch of Breaking Bad episodes and the production values are par with that. Good effects, photography and even acting from Hartnett (his best performance, least hammy) and the interesting Melissa George, who makes more money from inventions than from acting, wow.
This was excellent, it is like 70% The Terminator, the director of this was married to James Cameron at the time. Very well made, good script and excellent performances and production values all around.
A wonderfully well made movie with excellent performances all around. Malcolm McDowell is rarely as entertaining as he is here as HG Wells chasing Jack the Ripper through time, yes that's really the plot and it's amazing.
i just realized that Katherine Hepburn has a massive orgasm when they go over the falls. it is even foreshadowed and afterwords they are in a flooded boat, and he says "The skin's nice and tight."
It is not a true story and for some reason that is a big deal to me. It's procedural, there are just so many good true stories that if it not going to be super artistic it should be true.
This is a movie with a lot to say. About community, family, privacy and trust. I don't really see Robin Williams as the villain, I think it is interesting that we feel inclined to call him a villain when he is as much a part of the community as anyone, if not the family. I think it is interesting his character lives in a time that doesn't really exist anymore, like the video store person or librarian.
A much better movie than I remember originally seeing. Well acted by Saoirse Ronan (I just love that name), Cate Blanchett (I am appreciating a lot more after Notes on a Scandal and The Aviator) and Eric Bana who is somehow always good though not displaying very much range. The photography is amazing-every shot is beautiful, and Saoirse does a lot with a pretty thin character.
Nice photography, the first role for Christopher Lambert, who blew up after this in Highlander. nice costumes, the idea of Tarzan struggling to adjust is good. Ian Holm is the best actor in the movie. This movie died for me at the halfway mark when he growled and it was a lion dubbed in.
Had to see this after the refernce on Ready Player One (the best way to take it in is the audiobook read bu Wil Wheaton). It was not impressive to me despite the cast. For my money, Robocop is the defininitive 80s Peter Weller movie.
rewatching Hitchcock movies in a row, this one does not for me stand up to the best. He mastered the disaster movie (The Birds), the slasher (Psycho-the first slasher movie), the spy movie (North by Northwest), film noir (Shadow of a Doubt), the thriller (Strangers on a Train), the voyeur (Rear Window) but to me this one is boring. lots of cool scenery, postcard backgrounds. I loved Kim Novak as the love starved pretty girl when I was younger but now a hot girl who cannot find love seems implausible. I get tired of Jimmy Stewart, he is always skeptical about something. The opening is amazing, you can see it referenced in The Matrix, how better to be scared of something than see somebody die that way. I also did not like "Dial M for Murder" or "Rope" but the 39 steps was great.
i just realized on this viewing that you can see Norman turn into his mother on screen. When he is peeping on Janet he gets shamed and becomes her, his mother is his shame. Janet also was absolutely amazing, her being Jamie Curtis' mom makes it 2 generations of scream queen headlining. The only difference is by the 70s it had become ok for the girl to be the dominant factor. my favorite shot in the movie is the first time he sits there sipping tea like an old lady, getting worked up to kill. Also, the mom is a liar, she pinned it all on Norman, he got a raw deal.
John Cassavettes gets more interesting to me as time goes. This story of a mixed race couple where the man finds out after dating that his girlfriend is half black. At the time this was shocking, but to me the shocking thing is how she flaunts gender expectations. She makes out with a stranger in front of her boyfriend to show that she belongs to no one. She cannot escape being property, whether with a boyfriend, or in her own mind.
I have seen it 3x in the last decade, it becomes vastly better each time, now one of my favorite movies of all time. It reminds me of Rosemary's Baby, which starred the director Nick Cassavetes as the husband. He is also considered the father of independent cinema, primarily for this, though by thisn point he had been directing for 15 years. Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk take turns being the crazy person in this fantastic film. Her time in the asylum is never shown, but was a point of fascination for filmmakers at this time, most notably a year later when Jack Nicholson was electrocuted in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Of note, in modern times Electroshock therapy has found new support through celebrities like Carrie Fisher, who famously said electroshock "has an appetite for your memories."
It's excellent in many ways. Delroy Lindo is always amazing, few actors are capable of delivering so much range at once. Shame, pride, strength, delusion, wisdom, Dwayne Johnson could learn a lot, but he's called The Rock for a reason, should really be called the Log because he's wooden. Photography was excellent, by Newton Sigel (Drive), acting was ok but they all pale next to Lindo. The action was well done, Vietnam is like an endless well of passable action. Some scenes were amateurish, cgi snake and landmine especially. I may have expected too much after the masterpiece that was Blackkklansman, that was far superior to the best picture winning Green Book.
it really becomes a great movie because of the ending. Bobby Duprea (Jack Nicholson) grew up an aristocrat, rejected the scripted identity associated with it. He spends his next phase of life as a laborer, his eccentricities accepted but he is unable to accept the lack of respect of personal boundaries. he attempts to steal his brother's fiancee, who gives him sex but finds him dead inside, preferring his idiot brother who provides stability. Jack is too self aware to love himself, unable to love anyone else, only really happy when the center of attention. He is a narcissist, doomed to unhappiness and devoted to the destruction of himself and everyone around him. He is a better person than contemporary narcissists, who destroy everyone they know rather than just abandoning them.
I adore Gena Rowlands, she seems the muse for John Cassavetes (the abusive husband in Rosemary's Baby, and scumbag from The Dirty Dozen). Julie Carmen (Fright Night 2) is super sexy, the little boy is brilliantly misogynistic "I am the man!", this is my favorite Gena Rowlands Cassavetes movie, even better than A Woman Under the Influence.
Granted I am not the target audience for this sort of movie, it was like watching an episode of Friends, light, pretty and forgettable. I loved Garden of Words and so checked out Your Name which was beautiful but to me not magical like Garden of Words. Comparatively this was forgettable.
Beautiful black and white photography. Ryan O Neal had some wonderful movies in the 70s, my favorite is The Driver. The con games are hilarious and Tatum o Neal still holds the record for youngest oscar winner at 9 years old. its a shame she was molested by her dad's drug dealer a couple years later.
camerawork, photography, acting and lighting are all top notch. The script is very boring, up to 75 minutes in there are no relationships or plot points. blaaaah. High scoring reviews indicate Amazon is on top of the review as advertisement game.
It's difficult for me to see Bob Hoskins without a cartoon rabbit. The absolutely luscious Rhona Mitra (sexiest in Hollow Man) was the original Lara Croft, pretty close to Jessica Rabbit, i would watch her brush her teeth for 90 minutes and call it solid. Neil Marshall made the excellent The Descent and the underrated reboot of Hellboy. This movie is panned as a mashup of various post apocalypse movies. As films are very rarely original in any capacity, a good question is what makes the difference between a reference to other movies versus plagiarism. I think it comes down to duration, anything over 3 seconds is too much. Here I saw about 10 straight minutes of Escape From New York. Photography is solid, if you don't expect too much this is a watchable time. This movie reminds me of a saying "All food makes a turd."
I have greatly admired Elizabeth Moss since she clawed her way up the ladder on Mad Men about a decade ago. I think she will go down as the next Bette Davis or Katherine Hepburn, seductive without being sexy. Her performances have a rhythm that pulls you in and gets you to hang for hurdles that are both chronic and acute. As an example, at 1hr5min of this movie, she resolves to go a party in defiance of her philandering husband. Out of the blue she is forced to wrestle with agoraphobia in a way that is hilarious in a very subtle way. The next scene she is seductively exploring her own homosexuality, it is seamless in a way no other actor could attempt. the acting here is all solid, the photography is understated and the direction is extremely well done in an obscure non signature fashion. A very good movie.
Beautiful photography, choreography, editing and directing. Gore Verbinski had just finished the equally beautiful The Ring prior to this and was on a run, with The Weatherman coming after, he was up there with Ridley Scott for a few movies. The sequels all **** and the plot is very implausible, as I age any movie where the characters are not all selfish backstabbers seems implausible.
nice photography, snappy dialog. Hugh Grant nearly unrecognizable. fun and light pot mafia tale. I think of Guy Ritchie as what Nicolas Winding Refn would be if Madonna had him neutered.
apparently a sequel of sorts to Wargames, the cast doesn't get stronger than this: River Phoenix, Robert Redford, Sydney Poitier, Ben Kingsley. 1992, a good year. River Phoenix still alive, Mary McDonnell just fresh off Dances with Wolves. Photography looks great, a fun light movie, part Three Days of the Condor, part Wargames. My favorite scene is when the hack a computer with Scrabble tiles, so innocent and fun. Plotwise, it's a very tame Mission Impossible.
it is nice to see Tom Cruise as a villain, I cannot think of another movie with him as the bad guy. Michael Mann signature style is here, not as good as Heat or especially Manhunter (his best overall is Last of the Mohicans). Jamie Foxx is ok, he really only gets to be a spectator. Jada Pinkett Smith is actually sexy for once, and not a **** eraserhead.
Very nicely photographed, acted, edited and directed. An excellent historically accurate story of the creation of the first dictionary (hard to imagine an interesting story about a dictionary). Sean Penn and Mel Gibson (both good crazy people) both carry a strong role.
This was a total surprise. i never knew I needed a Polish musical about carnivorous mermaids working at a strip club until it happened. Excellent photography, above all an excellent script, made this memorable. I like the idea of the main character dying in the start of the third act, it kind of happened in No Country For Old Men, but the possibility happened here and it was genius.
it's ok, mostly interesting to see Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix, and how much of their adult selves they already were at that age. Effects are very good for the time, but the premise and payoff were not up to par with other movies of their genre and time, just too many better options.
This was pretty good, has that nice amber photography that was big in the 80s. Catherine Mary Stewart has a good strong character, together with The Last Starfighter she had a good run. 80s horror had a lot of high marks, this isn't top tier but it's solid fun.
This is a very underrated movie. First of all, the photography is very sharp and beautiful, about as good as it gets. The script is really very well done, the performances and editing, This is in my top 5 80s movies.
This was so good, like a modern take on Rosemary's Baby, Haley Bennett gave a wonderful performance, in Hardcore Henry she was excellent, that is a hard movie to stand out in. Here as well she became the role in a very strong way. The photography was beautiful, reminiscent of my favorite guy Chung Hoon Chung (Stoker), lots of primary colors and contrasts, natural greens and such. The camera never moves, giving a portrait feel, felt like Tokyo Story kind of, the camera never moved in that whole movie. A very well done movie, claustrophobic and somehow beautiful for every frame.
it's interesting with movies like this to try to understand why it's not better. Technically well made, decent photography, detailed practical effects and no specifically bad performances. i get the sense that the director micromanaged everyone, all the performances and really every element of the movie has a monotone of attention. I think more patient characters should get longer shots, the more disorganized the subject, the more erratic the camera. it's a thought. I also think they should try people taking turns being megalomaniacal or level headed, like if at any given time one character could portray these traits but trade off who.
scored mostly for the photography and Riley Keough, the script was too thin to really enjoy fully. lots of potential, definitely Goodnight Mommy was far superior.
a good movie, but after reading what a slimeball the real Phillips is (he purposely navigated through forbidden waters), I lost interest in the movie. I support Woody Allen movies as being good though his behavior is questionable, but a hero who is not genuine to me spoils the movie.
the photography is very good, pretty much every shot seems thought out for effect and artistic value. Good performances but the script loses all steam in the second act. I quit at 1hr.
This is very underrated. Beautiful photography, seamless cgi, good performances, excellent audio and editing. Also much closer to the comic than the Del Toro versions (also excellent, but more Del Toro than Hellboy). Gory and through most of the movie, conflicted about his destiny. Creative monsters, I think when people get around to this they will regret missing out.
i don't think the term 'mind-boggling' ever applied to a movie more than this. The effects, editing, stunts all are amazing. Not to mention that it was shot on GoPro cameras, or on a budget of $2million, over a 3 year period, effects all done open source on blender, funded by kickstarter. I never felt so behind the times, it's like I'm 80 years old writing this review.
The problem with this is that the villian was garbage, but more so that it is so outdated. Heroes like this are boring, and the movie had 1 good joke (Superman's mom telling Lois Lane he said she was a 'thirsty girl'). We needed more of that kind of humor. This whole structure was updated in The Boys so well, it just looks like dinosaurs here, so surprise since these characters go back 80 years.
After watching both the theatrical cut (apparently 30 minutes removed for PG rating) and the 3 hr extended cut, the latter was a pretty good movie. The theatrical cut just didn't make sense. The weakest thing to me was the fight itself, Batman just made an armor suit to get pummeled in, not very charismatic.
This was the best of the Cavill Superman movies to me, mostly because Michael Shannon was so strong as Zod. It wasn't too long and though overuse of cgi gives me a headache, enjoyable. I liked Superman as kind of a momma's boy and the moral questions of loyalty were done well. It was interesting to see him more dangerous than Reeves, though Christopher Reeves had a tongue in cheek awareness that was Rolls Royce to Cavill's Honda. Amy Adams is underrated, her characters are as developed as possible, given a structure of storytelling nearly a century old.
