Movie Record 2023 Edition - The Bear and Badger

b0r1s

Triangle was great. Always forget about that.

Wookienopants

Oh yes to Boss Level! Lots of fun!

acemuzzy

poprock wrote:

The 355
A solid cast (led by Jessica Chastain) doing a girl gang spy flick action thriller thing. By the numbers, but still quite entertaining.

Why does every modern spy film have to be about magic boxes and algorithms that can hack into anything in the world ever? It’s starting to feel really samey.

Midway through and in finding it pretty awful. Maybe not helped by me being in the apparent minority who doesn't find J.Chas all that... probably bottom of the list in this movies cast

davyK

Watched The Killer on Netflix last night. David Fincher job. Another assassin revenge plot but it's rather stylish and neither is it OTT a la John Wick. I found that refreshing. I think it's based on a comic and I can see that influence. Some of the shots I could guess would be lifted from the original work.

Fassbender is great in it and his look is changing as he ages. Really looks the part. He's on screen most of the time and carries this himself. Some nice support/cameos from the likes of Tilda Swinton.

I've always preferred this style of tale with short bursts of violence used sparingly as it builds the tension nicely and provides a satisfying payoff. Not earth shattering but splendid stuff.

tin_robot

Samsara

OK. Where to start?

Two things. This is not the 2011 non-narrative documentary of the same name. Nor is it, as I had been told before going, "some sort of animated psychedelic thing". I have no idea where this completely incorrect description came from, or why I didn’t think to check it, but it meant I spent a good 30 minutes wondering whether I'd walked into the wrong movie entirely. (Having arrived a couple of minutes late).

So that's what it's not. So what is it?

Hard to describe. Two films, which link in a tenuous but extraordinary fashion. I'm going to do a spoiler bit at the end for those who want details, but I think not knowing is perhaps better, so I'll start vaguely.

The first half of the film is set in Laos and follows some novice Buddhist monks. It is slow, dreamlike, and feels a little like Picnic at Hanging Rock. There are some striking images, and some interesting ideas – particularly as one of the characters helps an elderly woman prepare for her imminent death. (The acting is largely terrible, but it almost adds to the slightly unreal quality of everything.)

The second half of the film follows a little girl in Zanzibar, who lives with seaweed farmers, and adopts an unbelievably cute baby goat. This half of the film feels more solid and tactile – though narratively it is, if anything, even more aimless. A snapshot of lives we don’t often see.

And then there's the bit in the middle. The bit that left me glad to have gone, but which I can imagine might leave others cold. The bit that gets buried in spoiler tags.

Spoiler:

Not a film for people looking for thrills and spills – or even for any real narrative as such. A lot of it is slow moving and thoughtful, but as ultimately aimless as the word "Samsara" implies. (It's a Sanskrit word that means aimless wandering, though it relates specifically to the cyclical nature of life, death and rebirth.)

Whilst much of it is beautiful and familiar, the experiment that lies at its core is unique and (for me at least) incredibly successful. An experiment that, I fear, will only really work in a proper cinema.

I still can't quite decide what I thought of it, but I'm glad I watched it.

Kow

I watched The Killer as a comedy about a kind of rubbish hitman. I'm not sure that was what was intended

LivDiv

I turned it off after 20 minutes of fart sniffing waffle.

Kow

I think that's actually part of the comedy. He waffles seriously about the job and how to carry it out, with his repeated professional mantras, and then makes a dog's dinner of everything.

LivDiv

Damn I didn't get as far as the dogs dinner.

The only dinner was when he had 10g of protein from McDonalds which made me think of them weightlifting influencers who are hench but look like they are having a constant heart attack.

davyK

Kow wrote:

I watched The Killer as a comedy about a kind of rubbish hitman. I'm not sure that was what was intended

There was occasional intended comedy. When he pulled a cheese grater out of a kitchen drawer during the film's main fight for example.

And there is an actual dog's dinner made......

davyK

Possum Bleak, surreal, creepy psychological tale with the ever excellent Sean Harris in the lead as a clearly disturbed man returning home after some sort of scandal.

This is a bizarre and unsettling tale that is nevertheless very watchable. If there was an award for bleak surroundings this one would win it. Superb support from Alun Armstrong. It's odd seeing Harris play a vulnerable role like this after seeing him in Mission Impossible and Harry Brown but he shows his range here. Good stuff.

Moot_Geeza

Loved that one.

The Daddy

Dark Soldier wrote:

Red Rooms (2023)

By far my film.of the year, it absolutely captivated me. A fantastic work and one I'll hold high for a long long time.

[10]

This is indeed a solid film.

davyK

Is there a means to view this without any hanky panky? I can't be arsed otherwise.

poprock

Barbie
Plastic crap. I didn’t like it.

Dark Soldier

davyK wrote:

Is there a means to view this without any hanky panky? I can't be arsed otherwise.

Afraid not. It's technically not out here until January. It showed on a couple French streaming sites for a short while hence the high seas.

ShabbyMcCrabby

davyK wrote:

Kow wrote:

I watched The Killer as a comedy about a kind of rubbish hitman. I'm not sure that was what was intended

There was occasional intended comedy. When he pulled a cheese grater out of a kitchen drawer during the film's main fight for example. And there is an actual dog's dinner made......

I mean it's Fight Club 2.0 kinda. At least in the investigation of the male ego sense. Just less of an unintentional motivational film for douchebags like Fight Club is.

ShabbyMcCrabby

davyK wrote:

Possum Bleak, surreal, creepy psychological tale with the ever excellent Sean Harris in the lead as a clearly disturbed man returning home after some sort of scandal. This is a bizarre and unsettling tale that is nevertheless very watchable. If there was an award for bleak surroundings this one would win it. Superb support from Alun Armstrong. It's odd seeing Harris play a vulnerable role like this after seeing him in Mission Impossible and Harry Brown but he shows his range here. Good stuff.

Love Possum. Such a grim, bleak, weird thing to come from the mind of Mr Garth Marenghi.

ShabbyMcCrabby

122. Totally Killer
Time travel slasher film that doesn't really do enough with either part of that concept. It's fine.
[5]

123. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Not scary enough for an exorcism movie and not courty enough for a court drama film. It's fine.
[5]

124. TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
Animation in this is stunning and distinct from Spiderverse. The score for the film is mostly for the animation, the film itself is a fun watch but doesn't do anything particularly new.
[8]

125. Mirror Mirror
I liked this more than I thought I would. Partly carried by Tarsem's visual eye for direction and set/costume design. But it also has a fun sense of humour.
[7]

126. Blackberry
You know what you're getting with these now. Strong willed people create a product and then succeed or fail or both. Good acting but once the initial part gets setup it loses it's way and doesn't really become about anything or any particular character journey.
[6]

127. The Adults
An indie drama with Michael Cera, you know what you're getting with this. Not overly twee but I could see some people hating it if they don't like this kind of thing. I liked it.
[7]

128. The Conference
Swedish slasher that is carried by a good sense of humour. It's not scary or anything but it wasn't a complete waste of time.
[5]

129. The Killer
Fincher returns to Fight Club esque area of male egos. Solidly made as you'd expect and good performances. A shame that he maybe has lost his knack for invisible special effects as too many shots looked like processed shite to me and it made the real location shots stand out. So many modern filmmaking techniques and visual styles can get in the bin. Flat images with no depth as it's just a blurred out green screened background. Bleugh.
[7]

Coopers Green

davyK wrote:

Is there a means to view this without any hanky panky? I can't be arsed otherwise.

I thought you were asking for a version without sex scenes. I know nothing about this film but the query had me confused.

davyK

Heh.

ShabbyMcCrabby

130. The Marvels
Well this is what you expect. Some good ideas, some great ideas, and all not very well executed or hampered by the obvious reshoots and messing about. Main shame is that they didn't really know how to do Ms Marvel who I really liked from the tv show, apart from a couple of scenes. She probably should have been the main character and focus throughout. The main swappy action sequence near the start is cool but also weirdly executed, why cut between characters when the characters are jumping between spaces anyway. Loki has given me faith that Marvel can do good stuff again but maybe not in movie form anymore.
[5]

hylian_elf

Agree with all of that. Watched it yesterday. Kids forced me. And they didn't even like it!

49. The Marvels - 19 Nov
Not as bad as they say, and certainly on par with other recent MCU shite. Biggest flaws I thought was how rushed it all felt, a bit messy. Some of the exchanges were nice and action was OK in parts, but there were some odd decisions with new characters and plot devices. The whole movie just felt unfinished, or tampered with too much. Cool mid-credits scene though. I imagine

Spoiler:

[5]

Cos

72. On the Count of Three
A comedy-drama with a dark sense of humour following two friends on their last day after agreeing to a suicide pact. The bleakness dominates for the most part from the two central characters with occasional splashes of optimism from those they encounter. The down notes are well balanced with some laugh out loud moments and astute observations, just great lines throughout. It perhaps doesn't do enough to be at the top level but it does pretty much everything well and will probably turn out to be one of my favourite things I've watched this year. [8]

73. The Killer
Some kind of anti-John Wick? Might be a bit reductive but in the sense that Wick is loud, brash and flashy The Killer is focussed and has a simple brutality. I'd hoped for some of the meticulously planned kills hinted at early on but ultimately this is about revenge so direct makes sense. Fassbender is on strong form, only betraying emotion a few times and remains stoic otherwise. There are some savage moments, a few surprising laughs but through it all is outstanding sound design that drives a somewhat mesmeric quality to this, had me totally hooked from the start. [8]

74. M
Somehow odd to think this film is almost 100 years old. It's an absolute masterclass in building tension as both cops and criminals close the net on a serial child killer. Peter Lorre is creepily quiet as the killer until the final scenes in which he tries to defend himself to an underworld court where he suddenly explodes. That final sequence is incredible, for the arguments it displays and performances from those involved. Easy to see why it stands the test of time. [9]

hylian_elf

Fritz Lang classic that I have yet to watch!

Cos

It's on BFI player if you have it. I've enjoyed working through some classics this year.

hylian_elf

I do, thanks for that. Haven't really taken advantage of BFI player (of late). Even less so with MUBI which I have wasted a lot of money on now. If I can get through a movie a week on MUBI for a bit, I can catch up on 'value' - have started a list of stuff to watch on it.

Have a BFI list too to get through and will add M onto it.

Cos

75. The Fabelmans
Found this to be quite an uneven experience. The elements about the kid's fascination with movies, from learning the basics of filming through to editing and how to create effects on a low budget is great and I thoroughly enjoyed the focus on details. The family melodrama that creates the backdrop feels largely mishandled. I'm not sure how much of the details are biographical but I certainly got a creepy vibe early on and Williams' performance is so over the top it feels like it's from a different movie. There's also some borderline Dawsons Creek level dialogue between younger characters that feels out of place. Really odd effort from Spielberg, probably enough here of interest and YMMV on some of those issues. That last shot is beautiful though. [5]

76. Renfield
Well this was great fun. Cage is obviously good value as Dracula, going just far enough to sell it whilst still keeping the edge so that it doesn't become hammy. Hoult is great in the lead though and does well to play straight man (mostly) and keep it sincere. It also embraces the OTT action and gore, and has enough laughs so that it all clips along at a good pace. The only downside is the gangster/cop subplot that's straight out of screenwriting 101 and feels tacked on. There's a bit of heart to Hoult's performance that means it stays on track overall though. [7]

77. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The varying quality of the stories in this anthology meant the 2h 15m run time felt long. Maybe better as separate short films, one real dud but felt the rest all had something to offer so more the nature of watching back to back that was a drag. Scruggs was arguably the best, the cries of 'pan shot' another and the mostly solo gold digger were strong and the others suffered from too much meandering. [5]

Cos

hylian_elf wrote:

I do, thanks for that. Haven't really taken advantage of BFI player (of late). Even less so with MUBI which I have wasted a lot of money on now. If I can get through a movie a week on MUBI for a bit, I can catch up on 'value' - have started a list of stuff to watch on it. Have a BFI list too to get through and will add M onto it.

I know what you mean. Always try to watch at least a couple a month on BFI. Tempted to get MUBI but similarly, not sure I'll get the value. Maybe when I've rinsed everything on BFI.

davyK

I'm pretty sure I'm getting value out my BFI sub thus far. I used to own M on DVD - had the Eureka Masters of Cinema edition. Not sure why I got rid of it to be honest.

Glad to hear of someone else who enjoyed The Killer. I was beginning to think I was alone in that.

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