Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 90306 Location: Formerly Known As 24
Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2021 6:48 pm Post subject:
non-player zealot wrote:
Cutheon wrote:
non-player zealot wrote:
Rewatched The Place Beyond The Pines, been a couple yrs. One of the most 50/50 movies of recent memory, Full Metal Jacket ain't even close. Gosling top notch, very less is more. Uses straight-faced, nonverbal pauses and looks/stares to good effect. Seems to be one of his sensibilities, also evident in La La Land. Doesn't try to effect a brooding quality with those kind of roles, which would possibly be the inclination of an over-actor. His bank robbing partner was an excellent cast, looked and sounded pure white trash.
What is a 50/50 movie and how does that tie into Full Metal Jacket? Do you mean like: the first half of the movie is 'movie one' and the second half of the movie is 'movie two'?
I just mean half great and half meh. I like the 2nd half of FMJ, but it's kind of a posterchild to many for a movie that deflates after the prostitute scene. Not me, but I've read such comments at imdb/YT/etc over the yrs. Ermey was hard act to follow, admittedly.
FmJ is really two complete films, and while the crowd pleasing scenery chewing Ermy routine is the more popular, the second is where the rubber of the black comedy meets the road of the horrors of war. You are eased into it with some more black comedy, including the famous prostitute scene, but it is really all a setup for how bleak and pointless war is. _________________ “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel
Rewatched The Place Beyond The Pines, been a couple yrs. One of the most 50/50 movies of recent memory, Full Metal Jacket ain't even close. Gosling top notch, very less is more. Uses straight-faced, nonverbal pauses and looks/stares to good effect. Seems to be one of his sensibilities, also evident in La La Land. Doesn't try to effect a brooding quality with those kind of roles, which would possibly be the inclination of an over-actor. His bank robbing partner was an excellent cast, looked and sounded pure white trash.
What is a 50/50 movie and how does that tie into Full Metal Jacket? Do you mean like: the first half of the movie is 'movie one' and the second half of the movie is 'movie two'?
I just mean half great and half meh. I like the 2nd half of FMJ, but it's kind of a posterchild to many for a movie that deflates after the prostitute scene. Not me, but I've read such comments at imdb/YT/etc over the yrs. Ermey was hard act to follow, admittedly.
FmJ is really two complete films, and while the crowd pleasing scenery chewing Ermy routine is the more popular, the second is where the rubber of the black comedy meets the road of the horrors of war. You are eased into it with some more black comedy, including the famous prostitute scene, but it is really all a setup for how bleak and pointless war is.
Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't seen it (and go frigging see it whaddya waiting for?) I don't see it as two distinct films at all. The first part is essential to second part. The horrors of war, the mentality builtup to get inured to what they go encounter in the second part, accustomed to it, and keep moving. (spoilers now) Joker stares at the mass grave in horror, but temporary horror. Cowboy sniped, Joker finally does "shoot...me" the killer girl, and what happens then? mickey mouse singing as he joins everyone else walking through a burning city they likely caused. Pyle was in a world of shut. Same world Joker sings through a hemisphere away, and admits he's in.
Rewatched The Place Beyond The Pines, been a couple yrs. One of the most 50/50 movies of recent memory, Full Metal Jacket ain't even close. Gosling top notch, very less is more. Uses straight-faced, nonverbal pauses and looks/stares to good effect. Seems to be one of his sensibilities, also evident in La La Land. Doesn't try to effect a brooding quality with those kind of roles, which would possibly be the inclination of an over-actor. His bank robbing partner was an excellent cast, looked and sounded pure white trash.
What is a 50/50 movie and how does that tie into Full Metal Jacket? Do you mean like: the first half of the movie is 'movie one' and the second half of the movie is 'movie two'?
I just mean half great and half meh. I like the 2nd half of FMJ, but it's kind of a posterchild to many for a movie that deflates after the prostitute scene. Not me, but I've read such comments at imdb/YT/etc over the yrs. Ermey was hard act to follow, admittedly.
FmJ is really two complete films, and while the crowd pleasing scenery chewing Ermy routine is the more popular, the second is where the rubber of the black comedy meets the road of the horrors of war. You are eased into it with some more black comedy, including the famous prostitute scene, but it is really all a setup for how bleak and pointless war is.
I appreciate how Joker's character blends in with his squad's other characters. It moves back n forth betw the film thru his 1st person view and narration to parts where he fades into the background among not just Animal Mother, but the rest to some extent. It has the ease of the shifting of the teens and their POVs/attitudes/selves in Dazed And Confused. I watched Vision Quest a month back, hadn't seen it all in one sit in prolly 20+ yrs. It's painfully obvious that role got Modine on the radar of the casting director as the sarcastic, yet introspective/intelligent character that Joker was. Same basic role only 2 yrs prior and Modine was good at juggling that mix. Not that I don't get bein hot n bothered for Linda Fiorentino. _________________ GOAT MAGIC REEL SEDALE TRIBUTE EDDIE DONX!
Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 90306 Location: Formerly Known As 24
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2021 8:24 am Post subject:
non-player zealot wrote:
Omar Little wrote:
non-player zealot wrote:
Cutheon wrote:
non-player zealot wrote:
Rewatched The Place Beyond The Pines, been a couple yrs. One of the most 50/50 movies of recent memory, Full Metal Jacket ain't even close. Gosling top notch, very less is more. Uses straight-faced, nonverbal pauses and looks/stares to good effect. Seems to be one of his sensibilities, also evident in La La Land. Doesn't try to effect a brooding quality with those kind of roles, which would possibly be the inclination of an over-actor. His bank robbing partner was an excellent cast, looked and sounded pure white trash.
What is a 50/50 movie and how does that tie into Full Metal Jacket? Do you mean like: the first half of the movie is 'movie one' and the second half of the movie is 'movie two'?
I just mean half great and half meh. I like the 2nd half of FMJ, but it's kind of a posterchild to many for a movie that deflates after the prostitute scene. Not me, but I've read such comments at imdb/YT/etc over the yrs. Ermey was hard act to follow, admittedly.
FmJ is really two complete films, and while the crowd pleasing scenery chewing Ermy routine is the more popular, the second is where the rubber of the black comedy meets the road of the horrors of war. You are eased into it with some more black comedy, including the famous prostitute scene, but it is really all a setup for how bleak and pointless war is.
I appreciate how Joker's character blends in with his squad's other characters. It moves back n forth betw the film thru his 1st person view and narration to parts where he fades into the background among not just Animal Mother, but the rest to some extent. It has the ease of the shifting of the teens and their POVs/attitudes/selves in Dazed And Confused. I watched Vision Quest a month back, hadn't seen it all in one sit in prolly 20+ yrs. It's painfully obvious that role got Modine on the radar of the casting director as the sarcastic, yet introspective/intelligent character that Joker was. Same basic role only 2 yrs prior and Modine was good at juggling that mix. Not that I don't get bein hot n bothered for Linda Fiorentino.
Small but of trivia, but spent a day getting out of school being an extra on that movie as part of the crowd at a wrestling match. Unfortunately I didn’t end up on screen. _________________ “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel
Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 67619 Location: In a world where admitting to not knowing something is considered a great way to learn.
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2021 11:15 am Post subject:
Omar Little wrote:
non-player zealot wrote:
Omar Little wrote:
non-player zealot wrote:
Cutheon wrote:
non-player zealot wrote:
Rewatched The Place Beyond The Pines, been a couple yrs. One of the most 50/50 movies of recent memory, Full Metal Jacket ain't even close. Gosling top notch, very less is more. Uses straight-faced, nonverbal pauses and looks/stares to good effect. Seems to be one of his sensibilities, also evident in La La Land. Doesn't try to effect a brooding quality with those kind of roles, which would possibly be the inclination of an over-actor. His bank robbing partner was an excellent cast, looked and sounded pure white trash.
What is a 50/50 movie and how does that tie into Full Metal Jacket? Do you mean like: the first half of the movie is 'movie one' and the second half of the movie is 'movie two'?
I just mean half great and half meh. I like the 2nd half of FMJ, but it's kind of a posterchild to many for a movie that deflates after the prostitute scene. Not me, but I've read such comments at imdb/YT/etc over the yrs. Ermey was hard act to follow, admittedly.
FmJ is really two complete films, and while the crowd pleasing scenery chewing Ermy routine is the more popular, the second is where the rubber of the black comedy meets the road of the horrors of war. You are eased into it with some more black comedy, including the famous prostitute scene, but it is really all a setup for how bleak and pointless war is.
I appreciate how Joker's character blends in with his squad's other characters. It moves back n forth betw the film thru his 1st person view and narration to parts where he fades into the background among not just Animal Mother, but the rest to some extent. It has the ease of the shifting of the teens and their POVs/attitudes/selves in Dazed And Confused. I watched Vision Quest a month back, hadn't seen it all in one sit in prolly 20+ yrs. It's painfully obvious that role got Modine on the radar of the casting director as the sarcastic, yet introspective/intelligent character that Joker was. Same basic role only 2 yrs prior and Modine was good at juggling that mix. Not that I don't get bein hot n bothered for Linda Fiorentino.
Small but of trivia, but spent a day getting out of school being an extra on that movie as part of the crowd at a wrestling match. Unfortunately I didn’t end up on screen.
Were you paid? $$$$$ _________________ Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Small but of trivia, but spent a day getting out of school being an extra on that movie as part of the crowd at a wrestling match. Unfortunately I didn’t end up on screen.
1985 - same yr as Teen Wolf w/ that extra who busted eyes nationwide with his junk. Different crowd, tho. Each crowd has its own dynamic. _________________ GOAT MAGIC REEL SEDALE TRIBUTE EDDIE DONX!
I'm not a coastal elite like most of the LG.com commentariat, so I haven't seen Licorice Pizza yet, but Alana Haim starriing in a movie reminds me of Les Blanks' wonderful short Gap-toothed Women.
(bleep) me. I double booked a showing of Drive My Car and Licorice Pizza this Saturday. Thankfully Drive My Car is still playing Sunday.
LP 70MM Saturday
Drive my Car sunday
heaven
So, so jealous _________________ Under New Management
Lovecraft, whose fiction was flavored by quack-scientific racialism and who died in penury with a bellyful of potted meat, is a crucial artist, and dear, sweet, perfectly progressive Guillermo del Toro, who has repeatedly announced his intention to film Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness and will expire well-fed, filthy rich, and surrounded by memorabilia, is no kind of an artist at all.
Nightmare Alley looks like (bleep).
I actually don't dislike GDT's stuff, but there's an Amblin-ish quality to even his darkest movies that keep me at a remove. Gonna still watch his Nightmare Alley remake in a theater, though lol. The original with Tyrone Power that Criterion just re-released is awesome BTW.
This bit from an essay by one of my favorite contemporary critics, Nick Pinkerton, always struck me as really funny even if I disagree - GDT is a real, technically skilled artist, but not as interesting of one as he could've been. _________________ Under New Management
Rewatched The Place Beyond The Pines, been a couple yrs. One of the most 50/50 movies of recent memory, Full Metal Jacket ain't even close. Gosling top notch, very less is more. Uses straight-faced, nonverbal pauses and looks/stares to good effect. Seems to be one of his sensibilities, also evident in La La Land. Doesn't try to effect a brooding quality with those kind of roles, which would possibly be the inclination of an over-actor. His bank robbing partner was an excellent cast, looked and sounded pure white trash.
What is a 50/50 movie and how does that tie into Full Metal Jacket? Do you mean like: the first half of the movie is 'movie one' and the second half of the movie is 'movie two'?
I just mean half great and half meh. I like the 2nd half of FMJ, but it's kind of a posterchild to many for a movie that deflates after the prostitute scene. Not me, but I've read such comments at imdb/YT/etc over the yrs. Ermey was hard act to follow, admittedly.
FmJ is really two complete films, and while the crowd pleasing scenery chewing Ermy routine is the more popular, the second is where the rubber of the black comedy meets the road of the horrors of war. You are eased into it with some more black comedy, including the famous prostitute scene, but it is really all a setup for how bleak and pointless war is.
Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't seen it (and go frigging see it whaddya waiting for?) I don't see it as two distinct films at all. The first part is essential to second part. The horrors of war, the mentality builtup to get inured to what they go encounter in the second part, accustomed to it, and keep moving. (spoilers now) Joker stares at the mass grave in horror, but temporary horror. Cowboy sniped, Joker finally does "shoot...me" the killer girl, and what happens then? mickey mouse singing as he joins everyone else walking through a burning city they likely caused. Pyle was in a world of shut. Same world Joker sings through a hemisphere away, and admits he's in.
Joker thought he was above and outside it all, but he was a deluded fool the whole time - the war machine spares no man.
Man, I read so many birdbrained critiques of the "Me love you long time" scene from bloodsucking social media gadflies after the Atlanta spa murders it was disgusting - watch the whole movie and actually engage with the young female sniper being executed in the film's climax before spouting off. _________________ Under New Management
Steven Knight's heavy-handed, metaphor leadened script weakens what could've been a great movie while director Pablo Lorrain also lays it on thick at times - one lengthy montage reminded me of the Simpsons "rake joke" - but Kristen Stewart is exceptional and elevates this to something better than the talents of her screenwriter and director. Claire Mathon as DP (a slightly faded tone that doesn't forget color), another sharp Johnny Greenwood score, and sumptuous costuming and production design also do a lot of heavy lifting.
- Overall: good, but a performance as wonderful as Stewart's deserved something great.
- Sally Hawkins may get overlooked, but delivers in a supporting role that deserves awards attention.
- There's a moment of restraint that reveals this to be a sneakily horny movie.
- The clothes! The food! The doggies!
- Would pair well with The Swimmer (1968).
The further I get from this movie, the more I dislike it. Kristen Stewart innocent, Pablo Larrain and Steven Knight very guilty. _________________ Under New Management
Rewatched The Place Beyond The Pines, been a couple yrs. One of the most 50/50 movies of recent memory, Full Metal Jacket ain't even close. Gosling top notch, very less is more. Uses straight-faced, nonverbal pauses and looks/stares to good effect. Seems to be one of his sensibilities, also evident in La La Land. Doesn't try to effect a brooding quality with those kind of roles, which would possibly be the inclination of an over-actor. His bank robbing partner was an excellent cast, looked and sounded pure white trash.
What is a 50/50 movie and how does that tie into Full Metal Jacket? Do you mean like: the first half of the movie is 'movie one' and the second half of the movie is 'movie two'?
I just mean half great and half meh. I like the 2nd half of FMJ, but it's kind of a posterchild to many for a movie that deflates after the prostitute scene. Not me, but I've read such comments at imdb/YT/etc over the yrs. Ermey was hard act to follow, admittedly.
FmJ is really two complete films, and while the crowd pleasing scenery chewing Ermy routine is the more popular, the second is where the rubber of the black comedy meets the road of the horrors of war. You are eased into it with some more black comedy, including the famous prostitute scene, but it is really all a setup for how bleak and pointless war is.
Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't seen it (and go frigging see it whaddya waiting for?) I don't see it as two distinct films at all. The first part is essential to second part. The horrors of war, the mentality builtup to get inured to what they go encounter in the second part, accustomed to it, and keep moving. (spoilers now) Joker stares at the mass grave in horror, but temporary horror. Cowboy sniped, Joker finally does "shoot...me" the killer girl, and what happens then? mickey mouse singing as he joins everyone else walking through a burning city they likely caused. Pyle was in a world of shut. Same world Joker sings through a hemisphere away, and admits he's in.
Joker thought he was above and outside it all, but he was a deluded fool the whole time - the war machine spares no man.
Man, I read so many birdbrained critiques of the "Me love you long time" scene from bloodsucking social media gadflies after the Atlanta spa murders it was disgusting - watch the whole movie and actually engage with the young female sniper being executed in the film's climax before spouting off.
It just hit me that I should have said that Joker admits he's in, and he's buttressing or making that world of shut himself now too. You come in innocent, get mindf'd into accepting horrors along with everyone else in boot camp thinking you're in a world of sht, then go o'er there and be shtworldcreators yourself unaware, telling yourself to just keep movin on past your crimes in the addedonworld you made. That's the verse they added.
Joined: 10 Jul 2009 Posts: 12161 Location: Bay Area
Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2021 9:08 am Post subject:
Baron Von Humongous wrote:
Cutheon wrote:
Baron Von Humongous wrote:
Quote:
Lovecraft, whose fiction was flavored by quack-scientific racialism and who died in penury with a bellyful of potted meat, is a crucial artist, and dear, sweet, perfectly progressive Guillermo del Toro, who has repeatedly announced his intention to film Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness and will expire well-fed, filthy rich, and surrounded by memorabilia, is no kind of an artist at all.
Nightmare Alley looks like (bleep).
I actually don't dislike GDT's stuff, but there's an Amblin-ish quality to even his darkest movies that keep me at a remove. Gonna still watch his Nightmare Alley remake in a theater, though lol. The original with Tyrone Power that Criterion just re-released is awesome BTW.
This bit from an essay by one of my favorite contemporary critics, Nick Pinkerton, always struck me as really funny even if I disagree - GDT is a real, technically skilled artist, but not as interesting of one as he could've been.
I really like Pans and SoW, but Nightmare Alley just looks so unnecessary and boring, especially compared to the re-release which is, as you said, AMAZING. But I sincerely appreciate his love for film and his work in promoting film history. And he's so good in It's Always Sunny, love his brief role in that show
Rewatched The Place Beyond The Pines, been a couple yrs. One of the most 50/50 movies of recent memory, Full Metal Jacket ain't even close. Gosling top notch, very less is more. Uses straight-faced, nonverbal pauses and looks/stares to good effect. Seems to be one of his sensibilities, also evident in La La Land. Doesn't try to effect a brooding quality with those kind of roles, which would possibly be the inclination of an over-actor. His bank robbing partner was an excellent cast, looked and sounded pure white trash.
What is a 50/50 movie and how does that tie into Full Metal Jacket? Do you mean like: the first half of the movie is 'movie one' and the second half of the movie is 'movie two'?
I just mean half great and half meh. I like the 2nd half of FMJ, but it's kind of a posterchild to many for a movie that deflates after the prostitute scene. Not me, but I've read such comments at imdb/YT/etc over the yrs. Ermey was hard act to follow, admittedly.
FmJ is really two complete films, and while the crowd pleasing scenery chewing Ermy routine is the more popular, the second is where the rubber of the black comedy meets the road of the horrors of war. You are eased into it with some more black comedy, including the famous prostitute scene, but it is really all a setup for how bleak and pointless war is.
Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't seen it (and go frigging see it whaddya waiting for?) I don't see it as two distinct films at all. The first part is essential to second part. The horrors of war, the mentality builtup to get inured to what they go encounter in the second part, accustomed to it, and keep moving. (spoilers now) Joker stares at the mass grave in horror, but temporary horror. Cowboy sniped, Joker finally does "shoot...me" the killer girl, and what happens then? mickey mouse singing as he joins everyone else walking through a burning city they likely caused. Pyle was in a world of shut. Same world Joker sings through a hemisphere away, and admits he's in.
Joker thought he was above and outside it all, but he was a deluded fool the whole time - the war machine spares no man.
Man, I read so many birdbrained critiques of the "Me love you long time" scene from bloodsucking social media gadflies after the Atlanta spa murders it was disgusting - watch the whole movie and actually engage with the young female sniper being executed in the film's climax before spouting off.
"New Guy"/Rafterman moved from innocent cherry who offered "freedom" for why they were all there, to which AM scoffed, to a sadistic character maybe the likes of numerous others. He graduated from a guy whose job could've been done by a high school gurl to a guy thrilled by shooting one. "Am I a lifetaker?! Am I a heartbreaker?! (maniacal laugh)". Then in a warped voice, "Joker!.... We're gonna haveta put you up for the Congressional Medal Uuv...UGLY!1..." Implication was that he became or was becoming a bona fide Lusthawk who might've been like the others in the birthday/peanuts scene. _________________ GOAT MAGIC REEL SEDALE TRIBUTE EDDIE DONX!
The Power of the Dog. What the hell did I just watch. Must've missed something all of the critics haven't.
Haven't seen it yet, but most people hate patient/quiet movies, which is their loss (but obviously irrelevant in the grand scheme of things). More Tsai Ming-liang for me.
2001: A Space Odyssey is rightfully considered a masterpiece but the initial response was very mixed with a lot of people who hated watching toy spaceships move around slowly scored to old waltzes. Hippie stoners helped give 2001 a second wind at the box office, so I hope there are a few folks out there getting ripped on magic mushrooms and grooving with Power of the Dog. _________________ Under New Management
Lovecraft, whose fiction was flavored by quack-scientific racialism and who died in penury with a bellyful of potted meat, is a crucial artist, and dear, sweet, perfectly progressive Guillermo del Toro, who has repeatedly announced his intention to film Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness and will expire well-fed, filthy rich, and surrounded by memorabilia, is no kind of an artist at all.
Nightmare Alley looks like (bleep).
I actually don't dislike GDT's stuff, but there's an Amblin-ish quality to even his darkest movies that keep me at a remove. Gonna still watch his Nightmare Alley remake in a theater, though lol. The original with Tyrone Power that Criterion just re-released is awesome BTW.
This bit from an essay by one of my favorite contemporary critics, Nick Pinkerton, always struck me as really funny even if I disagree - GDT is a real, technically skilled artist, but not as interesting of one as he could've been.
I really like Pans and SoW, but Nightmare Alley just looks so unnecessary and boring, especially compared to the re-release which is, as you said, AMAZING. But I sincerely appreciate his love for film and his work in promoting film history. And he's so good in It's Always Sunny, love his brief role in that show
GDT:
Quote:
Noir isn't about Venetian blinds and a husky voice-over and dimly lit streets. Those are the clichés. Those are the Coca-Cola commercials of noir. What I understand to be noir is the real grittiness that comes out of American realism - those films that channel the same spirit as George Bellows or Edward Hopper or Thomas Hart Benton. It's the poetry of disillusionment and existentialism, the tragedy that emerges between the haves and have-nots. And the have-nots are trying to breach their ambition through violence, and ultimately, worshipping a hollow god, which is money. So therefore it's literally an exploration of the flip-side of the American dream.
I think he really gets it, like you said. I just wish it translated more to the screen when I watch his stuff. But if he's the best Hollywood will put up with at the present moment, Hollywood is at least better off for having him.
ETA: Decided to catch it opening night, and like with most GDT movies, I liked it just fine and was impressed with how attractive it all looked - it's his most visually rich and distinctive movie to date - and with an R rating he added some of his signature spatterings of gnarly bits that are extra grotesque here (a nice blend of CGI and practical effects throughout). The guy really has a thing for mangled hands. But even though he understood the assignment and there's impressive care throughout, it's too slick and occasionally too light in-between the dark patches to really hit home like the thornier original, imo.
I do love that it exists and I had a good time with it. Few movies coming out of Hollywood get to be this aesthetically distinctive, this sumptuous, this strange, and this adult anymore.
- The circus sequences were oddly subdued. Not bad at all, often interesting, but... subdued. Cooper starts to pop more in the second half after leaving the carnival but Rooney Mara (Molly) just never seems to fully come to life in what's not a sexy role, but isn't a stereotypically underwritten mousy wife character in this version.
- An all-timer cast this side of The French Dispatch. Holt McCallany and Mary Steenburgen pop up 2/3rds of the way through the movie and had me hootin' and hollerin' for their minor characters. Willem Dafoe charms as an evil man while Richard Jenkins (Ezra) is a bit flat and Ron Perlman (Bruno) doesn't have much to do even though I loved seeing them.
- Cate Blanchett gets the juiciest role as Lilith Ritter and it's the one performance I think clearly improves on the original, which isn't a slight to Helen Walker at all; Cate's just that good. If the movie isn't a total box office bomb, I think she'll get a supporting actress nomination.
- The material has always been about performance, but this version of Nightmare Alley really plays up the mindf-ck power and perils of acting and being an actor. It's also the most "director making a movie about movie making" GDT has done so far. There's a perverse pleasure in Dafoe's carnival owner treating his carnie performers like raw meat I particularly enjoyed I assume GDT also enjoyed.
- Odd ADR issues throughout - mostly synching kerfuffles rather than line changes. Maybe GDT didn't like the original line reads he got, but some of the ADR changes are just ahead of or behind the actors' lips moving, which makes me think he had pacing issues in certain scenes. I assume he's not a crazy coverage guy. Just curious to me.
- I inadvertently lump del Toro and Bong Joon-ho together in my mind as highly skilled, slick (mostly) genre filmmakers whose auteurist signatures have a great deal to do with their similar commands of tone, blending darkness with drama, comedy, absurdity, pathos, etc. I think Nightmare Alley is one of GDT's best films, but it pales in comparison to Parasite. GDT just cannot shake that Amblin-ish quality even in what's his darkest English language movie whereas Bong tends to steer clear of cloying warmth altogether. Bong's movies aren't emotionless and they can be very generous, but GDT's darkest work never feels particularly dark to me because of that inclination to movie world faux warmth - do his thorniest films really earn a sincere emotional response? The funny thing is that his darker stuff tends to be unpopular with his main fan base of Blade II and Pacific Rim lovers.
- It's more sprawling and meandering than the original, fleshing out a different backstory for Stanton, and spending more time in the carnival both for leisurely visuals and more exposition. Ymmv. GDT chooses violence in line with the original novel but also chooses to make violent scenes novel to Nightmare Alley and his grisly updates are fascinating to see.
- Cooper is more naifish as Stanton than Power was, but I think they're both excellent performances. Cooper is more willing to degrade and dirty himself up as befits a post-Method actor, but Power turning geek in the original oddly has more charge despite being more subdued.
- If you've somehow read all this nonsense, thank you, I appreciate it. I think it's a good, ambitious, entertaining, lovely-to-look-at, lovingly made film that's distinct and rare in today's Hollywood climate and it does deserve to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Rarely does anyone in Hollywood get to helm a movie this grim and nasty even if it's not as grim and nasty as I'd like it to be.
- As an aside, I'm happy to see GDT find love with a hot, talented movie nerd like Kim Morgan, his co-screenwriter on this movie and now new wife.
ETA II:
A great review from critic Adam Nayman: The Ringer
I'm more bullish on the movie than he is, but this piece really elucidates my issues with del Toro as a filmmaker:
Quote:
In theory, the contrast between del Toro’s abiding, Spielbergian humanism and his R-rated sadism—the blood lust that saw Michael Shannon dragging Michael Stuhlbarg around by the gash in his cheek in The Shape of Water—should result in tough, pugnacious moviemaking, or at least an unsettling viewing experience. But Nightmare Alley is so outwardly accomplished and frictionless that even the splatter of brains fails to register. Instead of conveying Depression-era despair and possibly connecting those feelings to something in our own fraught, polarized political moment, the film fetishizes it. As ever, del Toro leans into his own period decor so emphatically that any potentially timeless or universal implications get obscured in the process.
_________________ Under New Management
Last edited by Baron Von Humongous on Sat Dec 18, 2021 8:33 pm; edited 2 times in total
I'm going to see the new West Side Story later today before it leaves theaters, and it strikes me that auteurist box office draws are basically dead outside of Tarantino and maybe Nolan. Spielberg doing a musical... and seeing it bomb? Disgusting.
The audiences of today truly suck.
ETA: One of Spielberg's greatest achievements. Hopefully it gets a second run around Oscar season - it's breathtaking on a big screen. _________________ Under New Management
This was the kind of thing young Larry Coon probably did with his teachers in jr high. Omen 2 had its moments, but couldn't top the first. The death scenes in 1 were on par with those in Godfather. They were unusually powerful such as the "It's all for youu!" hanging scene. They gave up using telepathic Rotties because a trainer got bitten in a dogfight, so they went with telepathic ravens for the sequel. Lame. _________________ GOAT MAGIC REEL SEDALE TRIBUTE EDDIE DONX!
Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 67619 Location: In a world where admitting to not knowing something is considered a great way to learn.
Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2021 2:21 pm Post subject:
Baron Von Humongous wrote:
I'm going to see the new West Side Story later today before it leaves theaters, and it strikes me that auteurist box office draws are basically dead outside of Tarantino and maybe Nolan. Spielberg doing a musical... and seeing it bomb? Disgusting.
The audiences of today truly suck.
ETA: One of Spielberg's greatest achievements. Hopefully it gets a second run around Oscar season - it's breathtaking on a big screen.
I have a bootleg version on my IPTV. The clarity of audio and visuals are lousy. It'll clear up in time. It was the same with No Time To Die when it first came out. Audio cleared to Dolby surround sound and visual to 4K. _________________ Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
I'm going to see the new West Side Story later today before it leaves theaters, and it strikes me that auteurist box office draws are basically dead outside of Tarantino and maybe Nolan. Spielberg doing a musical... and seeing it bomb? Disgusting.
The audiences of today truly suck.
ETA: One of Spielberg's greatest achievements. Hopefully it gets a second run around Oscar season - it's breathtaking on a big screen.
I have a bootleg version on my IPTV. The clarity of audio and visuals are lousy. It'll clear up in time. It was the same with No Time To Die when it first came out. Audio cleared to Dolby surround sound and visual to 4K.
I hope you eventually see the best version available to you because, by God, this film deserves it.
West Side Story (2021) is now my favorite Spielberg film, I'd argue it's at worst his fifth greatest achievement as a film director, it bests Wise's 1961 masterpiece, and it stands as one of the greatest depictions of movement ever captured on screen. This can only be a movie. Only movies can make this kind of magic, and Steven Spielberg is among a small handful of ever living directors who could've ever created something this kinetic and alive. Maybe the greatest cinematic flex in modern Hollywood history.
I hope more LG.com folk watch it on the biggest screen possible before it dies via Spider Man and The Matrix. I think it's one of the truly, truly great Hollywood films of my lifetime (1980s - 2020s). _________________ Under New Management
Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 67619 Location: In a world where admitting to not knowing something is considered a great way to learn.
Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:03 am Post subject:
Baron Von Humongous wrote:
jodeke wrote:
Baron Von Humongous wrote:
I'm going to see the new West Side Story later today before it leaves theaters, and it strikes me that auteurist box office draws are basically dead outside of Tarantino and maybe Nolan. Spielberg doing a musical... and seeing it bomb? Disgusting.
The audiences of today truly suck.
ETA: One of Spielberg's greatest achievements. Hopefully it gets a second run around Oscar season - it's breathtaking on a big screen.
I have a bootleg version on my IPTV. The clarity of audio and visuals are lousy. It'll clear up in time. It was the same with No Time To Die when it first came out. Audio cleared to Dolby surround sound and visual to 4K.
I hope you eventually see the best version available to you because, by God, this film deserves it.
West Side Story (2021) is now my favorite Spielberg film, I'd argue it's at worst his fifth greatest achievement as a film director, it bests Wise's 1961 masterpiece, and it stands as one of the greatest depictions of movement ever captured on screen. This can only be a movie. Only movies can make this kind of magic, and Steven Spielberg is among a small handful of ever living directors who could've ever created something this kinetic and alive. Maybe the greatest cinematic flex in modern Hollywood history.
I hope more LG.com folk watch it on the biggest screen possible before it dies via Spider Man and The Matrix. I think it's one of the truly, truly great Hollywood films of my lifetime (1980s - 2020s).
I'll get to see it with Dolby Surround Sound and 4K video. Just a matter of time. I'm going to watch Kingsman: The Golden Circle with Prime Video tonight. I'll let you know if I like it. _________________ Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
I'm going to see the new West Side Story later today before it leaves theaters, and it strikes me that auteurist box office draws are basically dead outside of Tarantino and maybe Nolan. Spielberg doing a musical... and seeing it bomb? Disgusting.
The audiences of today truly suck.
ETA: One of Spielberg's greatest achievements. Hopefully it gets a second run around Oscar season - it's breathtaking on a big screen.
I have a bootleg version on my IPTV. The clarity of audio and visuals are lousy. It'll clear up in time. It was the same with No Time To Die when it first came out. Audio cleared to Dolby surround sound and visual to 4K.
I hope you eventually see the best version available to you because, by God, this film deserves it.
West Side Story (2021) is now my favorite Spielberg film, I'd argue it's at worst his fifth greatest achievement as a film director, it bests Wise's 1961 masterpiece, and it stands as one of the greatest depictions of movement ever captured on screen. This can only be a movie. Only movies can make this kind of magic, and Steven Spielberg is among a small handful of ever living directors who could've ever created something this kinetic and alive. Maybe the greatest cinematic flex in modern Hollywood history.
I hope more LG.com folk watch it on the biggest screen possible before it dies via Spider Man and The Matrix. I think it's one of the truly, truly great Hollywood films of my lifetime (1980s - 2020s).
I'll get to see it with Dolby Surround Sound and 4K video. Just a matter of time. I'm going to watch Kingsman: The Golden Circle with Prime Video tonight. I'll let you know if I like it.
I know I'm hyping it too much, but it is a really beautiful movie.
The Kingsman series isn't good, but they're my guilty pleasure movies. Probably gonna see The Golden Circle in a theater, too, in-between catching the new Matrix and Licorice Pizza (finally!) _________________ Under New Management
I'm going to see a number of year end contenders in theaters over the next 2-3 weeks, and I need to catch up on a ton of stuff that's either streaming or has/will only show in NY/LA, but here's my 2021 list so far:
Top 4
1) Westside Story
2) The Card Counter
3) The French Dispatch
4) The Velvet Underground
Good
The Summer of Soul The Green Knight Old Nightmare Alley The Last Duel No Sudden Move Pig Wrath of Man
Fine
Malignant Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar Godzilla vs. Kong Army of the Dead
Interesting Failures
Spencer Belfast Reminiscence
Bad
The Tomorrow War Willy's Wonderland
Clint Eastwood Movie
Cry Macho
Couldn't Finish
Zach Snyder's Justice League Suicide Squad #2 _________________ Under New Management
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