Movie Record 2023 Edition - The Bear and Badger

davyK

Moot_Geeza wrote:

I've got a Cassavetes dvd boxset. I wonder if some of those director collections are worth a few quid.

The Criterion boxset isn't cheap that's for sure.

hylian_elf

13. True Lies - 29 May
Standard 90s action flick with Arnie going Bond-with-a-family.
[5]

14. Requiem for a Dream - 30 May
Interestingly edited movie about drug addiction. Couldn't connect with or care about most of the characters, but what a performance from Ellen Burnstyn.
[6]

15. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - 3 June
A brilliant sequel not unfairly likened to Empire Strikes Back. Long but never feels like it. Great action and beautifully animated. The third cannot come soon enough.
[8]

b0r1s

Ahh you reminded me I needed to come back to Requiem. I’d say the score of 6 is spot on. While Burnstyn steals the show the other actors are solid enough but don’t think they are being challenged to do much.

And what you call interesting editing I would say is the films weakest part and probably what numbed me to the spiralling state of the characters. The lack of “taking a breath” in the edit seemed to indicate a director not yet comfortable with their craft (I don’t know how far along Aronofsky was in his career).

I’d also add that not just the edits but the choice of effects was like some who first opens Photoshop and decides to add every effect to their design. It led to the film having not style because it had every style thrown at it. I’m sure this was to convey the chaotic, drug-fuelled nature of the situation but it just came across as someone lacking creative vision.

hylian_elf

I said interesting as it certainly seems to have its fans, but I found the editing a bit.. haphazard? Didn’t like it.

Yeah. I agree on the mishmash of styles point too. Think I mentioned that before in the other films thread.

acemuzzy

Nah it's a [10]

davyK

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Yeah.

Now I can watch a slow film. I've bathed in Bela Tarr and Andrei Tarkovsky. But this was hard to watch..... but not for the reason you may think, dear reader.

I sat down thinking I'd do this over 2 nights (it's 3 and a half hours long , give or take). But I did it one sitting and I never felt like stopping even though there are natural breaks (it is broken into 3 days and each day is announced on a title card).

It was harder to watch because of the drudgery of domesticity. Stuff we all do (I hope in these more enlightened times), shown in all its humdrum detail. It's superbly acted and as each day passes you see the character starting to wilt. I thought it was going to end

Spoiler:

but I was wrong. Something does happen though - it isn't one of those films.

The lead actress is very easy on the eye, especially for a man of my age and tastes. She is on screen 99% of the time. So that helped too. There's probably a website somewhere devoted to nice looking women doing the dishes and peeling spuds.

It's hard to say why this is good. It is good. It's better than good, But I'm really trying hard to think that if this wasn't flying high in current "best ever" polls, would I feel the same way.

I think I would.

But best film ever? I think that's a preposterous idea by the way. No. It isn't. But I think for some people it might be close. But for those people who enjoy the challenge of a film, not a movie , they will enjoy this. And you will be thinking about it the next morning , which I always use as a test of a good film.

And I will try that wee bit harder in the house.

We can always do better.

hylian_elf

Nice. On my to-watch list. I’ve seen quite a lot of the Sight and Sound Top 100, but still quite a few to get through!

davyK

Just realised I should have spoilered something there. Have done that even though it isn't that much of one.

davyK

There's some continuity howlers. For a film with so little in the way of settings it's hard to fathom how it happened.

There's a kitchen chair that disappears and reappears. When I noticed it I thought .... now what's going on there and started stroking my beard thoughtfully....

xray told me in the trivia section it's a continuity gaff. An all woman crew. Typical!!

Heh.

Cos

27. The Quiet Girl
A young girl in early 80s Ireland is sent to live with relatives for the summer, experiencing a completely different type of home life. Finding it difficult to summarise this one other than to say it's an absolutely beautiful and quietly devastating film. Incredibly well shot, moves at a gentle pace and embraces silences throughout. Superb. [9]

28. Marriage Story
Not for the first time with a Baumbach film, I found there's an interesting story at the heart but it's partly drowned in boring, extraneous detail. Two great central performances are what inevitably kept engagement, even with Johansson going a bit OTT and the continued naivety of Driver's character difficult to buy into. Above average but not by much. [5]

29. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Documentary charting the early success of Fox's career and the impact of his early onset Parkinson's. Fox is of course at the centre but rather than rely on talking heads style doc, the film uses footage of his performances, behind the scenes and media with cleverly structured stand ins on similar sets to help tell the story. It's hard to describe but it works so well and helps chart the change he experiences in a much more interesting way. YMMV on this depending on personal association with Fox but BTTF is an all timer for me and I was at the age where he was a superstar when I was young so hearing about his journey in this way is equally heartreaking and encouraging. [8]

Cos

30. Aniara
Mars has been coloninsed and Earth is being evacuated. A cruise-style spaceship carrying settlers is knocked off course with no immediate way to right themselves, they are left drifting through space. Lots of concepts at play here from what happens when a society devolves into chaos to humanity's place in the universe via AI along with a mixed execution of them all. Divided up into time periods post-disaster - 2 weeks, a year, 5 years, etc - some of the stages are predictable and others more surprising but there remains an interesting core throughout as we experience the changes in this newly isolated group through a few key characters, all of whom give excellent performances. Ultimately feels like some of the themes are not explored enough and subplots are forgotten but they stand out as missed opportunities in a solid film rather than significant issues. Worth a watch for scif-fi fans. [6]

31. Confess, Fletch
Jon Hamm stars as the titular journalist/investigator in a reboot of the role played by Chevy Chase. It's light fare, interesting and funny enough to keep the attention without doing much more. The mystery of the plot was overly convoluted and underwhelming in its resolution. A great cast helps to carry it through, a good enough watch if you find it but wouldn't go out of my way. [5]

32. Black Panther: Wakanda Forver
Oof, this is a bit of a stinker. Would be interested to know if this was retooled after Boseman's death but felt like they jumped to the other end of the scale from the first BP and it suffers for it. Wright just doesn't have the presence to carry this film so it was sensible to put more focus on the supporting cast but a shame they've got so little to work with. A terrible villain, boring story and no action sequences of any note but rather feeling like a hodge podge of other Marvel films which is perhaps no surprise to some extent. Did I mention the villain was awful? Possibly the worst of all Marvel's output. [3]

hylian_elf

3 seems overly harsh for Wakanda Forever but yeah, not a good one.

Cos

It puts it on par with Once Upon a Time in America which seems about right

hylian_elf

No-one's perfect, such a masterpiece is clearly beyond your capabilities to appreciate.

LivDiv

From what I could stomach of Wakanda Forever a 3 seems fair. 2 of those points are for the opening tribute.

The Daddy

Cos wrote:

29. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Documentary charting the early success of Fox's career and the impact of his early onset Parkinson's. Fox is of course at the centre but rather than rely on talking heads style doc, the film uses footage of his performances, behind the scenes and media with cleverly structured stand ins on similar sets to help tell the story. It's hard to describe but it works so well and helps chart the change he experiences in a much more interesting way. YMMV on this depending on personal association with Fox but BTTF is an all timer for me and I was at the age where he was a superstar when I was young so hearing about his journey in this way is equally heartreaking and encouraging. [8]

We enjoyed this too.

Kow

I think The Quiet Girl is my favourite film of last year. A masterpiece of understatement.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Yeah Quiet Girl definitely in my top 5 of last year. Although I thought it was very mean

Spoiler:

ShabbyMcCrabby

67. The Rock
Can't really remember why I liked this film back in the day. Maybe I didn't know good action then. The story is fun but all the action sequences are dull and unexciting. Must suck to be a stunt person on a Bay film as you put your life on the line only for the camera to be moving so fast and the editing so haphazard that you can't see anything.
[4]

68. The Inventor: Out for Blood
Definitely an interesting story and a weird person. Was just a shame the doco is a bit dull and mostly plods along in the flow.
[5]

69. Tiger
Kind of a film I guess. Interesting if you have an interest in Tiger Woods. I think it could have been shorter and spent more time on his golfin achievements and less on the small, more tabloid style details of his downfall. Some good footage though and good tracking of his career.
[6]

70. Elvis
I must confess that I didn't finish this. I couldn't. It's fucking trash garbage shit. I don't understand what the point of it is. Am I supposed to know Elvis' story and so the film doesn't have to tell me? It just jumps forward with no context or character growth or change. Tom Hanks is genuinely woeful in it. The only points of this review going to the Elvis actor who does a great job in the role.
[2]

71. EO
I really couldn't like this either. It does say they took care of the animals at the start of the credits but I still couldn't help but feel like they were putting the donkeys into scenarios they probably didn't want to be in. I know it's the cruel life of animals now anyway so maybe I'm just a hypocrite.
[3]

72. Across the Spider-verse
Well it's definitely one of the best looking animated films ever made. So glad big animation is really pushing stuff now, it looks so fresh. I think this crumbles a little under the weight of the breadth of the story it's trying to tell but it still does a great job of what it does and manages to be exciting and heartfelt and clever in equal measures. I do kinda wish the voice actors would make it sound like they were putting in some effort talking whilst flying about and doing action stuff. Probably by design but I feel like Spiderman always had that "real person but strong" element to it where it still was hard to do the things he does.
[8]

Cos

Had pretty much the same reaction to Elvis. Not sure what I expected but it certainly wasn’t that. Didn’t finish it either.

Dark Soldier

You've just absolutely ripped the arse out of Muggins' favourite film of the last five years

Cos

33. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
If this and BP2 are indicators of the new Marvel phase, perhaps I’ve finally reached saturation. In fairness it did improve slightly after an absolutely woeful start - those first sequences in the quantum realm had some of the worst green screen I’ve seen in years. It all felt a bit too wacky at points, weirdly reminded me of prequel era Star Wars. A few good laughs and a decent villain helped keep the interest long enough (for me, my wife fell asleep before halfway point) but mostly forgettable. [4]

hylian_elf

Decent villain is a true villain and now we don’t know who we will get

ShabbyMcCrabby

Dark Soldier wrote:

You've just absolutely ripped the arse out of Muggins' favourite film of the last five years

Yeah I know, please don't tell him...

Although I think it would definitely help already being a fan. If you know the full details of his career then a fever dream hopping and jumping journey through with no real aim but a bunch of before drops would probably be a good watch.

Kow

Also hated Elvis. Couldn't see any point in it at all.

Moot_Geeza

I know a couple of big Elvis fans and they always seem pretty eager to rant about how shite that movie is.

g.man

Was it perhaps funded by the current owners of his back catalogue?

davyK

Living Bill Nighy leads a great cast in a Brit remake of Ikuru (which I haven't seen yet). Lovely film. All kinds of wonderful.

nick_md

davyK wrote:

Living Bill Nighy leads a great cast in a Brit remake of Ikuru (which I haven't seen yet). Lovely film. All kinds of wonderful.

Watched that on plane recently and thought it great aye.

Minkymu

the gray man on netflix

i rather enjoyed this tbh, although most of my fun came from spotting the cod multiplayer references, i did enjoy the action

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