also, I'm starting to hate The Descendants almost as much as Alfred & Armond do.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 16 December 2011 01:36 (twelve years ago) link
I didn't get The Descendants love at all. What did I miss?
Take Shelter was pretty A+ though.
― gukbe, Friday, 16 December 2011 01:44 (twelve years ago) link
B/B+
I recommend the Sl4nt comments for our editor's response to the gadfly who wants us to champion films that have never played in the US.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 16 December 2011 01:46 (twelve years ago) link
TS would've drifted into A territory if it weren't for the disastrous (har har) ending.
― Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 16 December 2011 01:49 (twelve years ago) link
I wasn't really grading it an A+ but yeah, I see what you mean. The ending didn't bother me though.
― gukbe, Friday, 16 December 2011 01:51 (twelve years ago) link
Ebert's top 20:http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/12/the_best_films_of_2011.html
― jaymc, Friday, 16 December 2011 06:25 (twelve years ago) link
i feel bad for criticising TS as being heavy handed, given that the signposting (why this job's timely provision of comprehensive insurance coverage is just what I need!) is part of what made it tense, but it was a lil straightforward i thought. & yeah, freewheeling at the end, it coulda/should stopped (vaguely-)ambiguously in the shelter at the end.
There were flashes of his, ahem, gifts.... the restaurant date w/ the coworker and listening to sis murder 'nyny'.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 16 December 2011 01:32 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink
ehh maybe. the part of the story following the restaurant scene exemplified so much of what i disliked about it in general - the utterly vapid (but not intentionally, knowingly vapid, afaict) characterisation, with them talking about the 60s/time travel; the preceding actually-a-sincere-'montage-scene' montage scene, in which he THROWS OUT ALL HIS PORN to be a BETTER MAN. i thought CM was v good throughout, too much of MF was just him seeming brooding, and it was hard to read his 'inemote grief face' as anything too complex with mcqueen's weird moralistic perspective attached.
― Never translate German (schlump), Friday, 16 December 2011 10:41 (twelve years ago) link
moralistic indeed. empty, compulsive sex so much more fun, at least in my exp
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 16 December 2011 17:18 (twelve years ago) link
the preceding actually-a-sincere-'montage-scene' montage scene, in which he THROWS OUT ALL HIS PORN to be a BETTER MAN
I was afraid of this.
― Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 16 December 2011 17:19 (twelve years ago) link
xpost Then why are you so miserable?
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Friday, 16 December 2011 17:20 (twelve years ago) link
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 16 December 2011 17:18 (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink
otm/yeah i just didn't understand why we were meant to attach our concern to his promiscuity; it could have been explored wrt the sex workers involved but that distinction wasn't pursued
there are two long passages in which the dramaturgy seems familiar from like '90s shitty studio john hughes movies - the above, & a long overhearing-a-couple-in-the-next-room scene followed by an aimless BUT HAUNTINGLY SCORED shot of fassbender going for a run. i just couldn't understand how SM could make a film so light, unchallenging & unchallenged
― Never translate German (schlump), Friday, 16 December 2011 17:30 (twelve years ago) link
yeah now i remember it the haunting string score w/intended greek-tragic gravitas was another frustrating element ROGER EBERT DO YOU SEE
― Never translate German (schlump), Friday, 16 December 2011 17:31 (twelve years ago) link
Malick wins FC poll; Joe 2nd! Am I alone in thinking Boonmee was merely good? Kiarostami all the way down at 7th.
http://www.filmlinc.com/blog/entry/film-comment-announces-2011-best-of-year-list
Unreleased films -- I've seen #1 and look fwd to #51.
http://www.filmlinc.com/blog/entry/film-comments-best-unreleased-movies-of-2011
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 17 December 2011 02:22 (twelve years ago) link
Boonmee left me pleasantly defeated.
― Simon H., Saturday, 17 December 2011 03:02 (twelve years ago) link
It let me tick 'watching a catfish fuck a person' off my bucket list.
― gukbe, Saturday, 17 December 2011 03:43 (twelve years ago) link
would like to watch an Apichatpong film without having to pause and take a nap halfway through. he's 3 for 3 with me on that count. i like him a lot, but they seriously just put me away completely.
― berg non, Saturday, 17 December 2011 04:57 (twelve years ago) link
The best part of Mysterious Object for me was when I fell asleep.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Saturday, 17 December 2011 05:14 (twelve years ago) link
anticipating you guys vs Mysteries of Lisbon
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 17 December 2011 13:27 (twelve years ago) link
personally my next test is going to be Extraordinary Stories.
― Simon H., Saturday, 17 December 2011 15:16 (twelve years ago) link
neither of those last 2 are boring, even in a good way
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 17 December 2011 15:27 (twelve years ago) link
I like that Film Comment list, pretty close to my own. for some reason I found Boonmee kind of riveting.
― ryan, Saturday, 17 December 2011 18:37 (twelve years ago) link
I'm not going to get to see Mysteries of Lisbon, but by the end of next week I should have seen 9 out of that top 10, which is pretty good going for me.
― gukbe, Saturday, 17 December 2011 19:13 (twelve years ago) link
and Indiewire also goes with The Lumber(ing) of Life; and Shannon and Paquin among the actors:
http://legacy.indiewire.com/survey/annual_critics_survey_2011/
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 17 December 2011 19:23 (twelve years ago) link
The Lumber(ing) of Life
stretching, but we'll allow it
― gukbe, Saturday, 17 December 2011 20:00 (twelve years ago) link
ages since i saw boonmee, but re: good or great; i remember talking to a friend who wasn't crazy about it & thinking that, perhaps if more films or all films were like weerasethakul's, i'd be more critical, but that a big part of what makes them special is just that they are & exist and are treading that path, which makes me less critical about the specifics. it wasn't as cohesive as a couple of others but i still think of a lot of it & think it's a p unique, interesting achievement
― Never translate German (schlump), Saturday, 17 December 2011 22:57 (twelve years ago) link
think of it a lot, probably what i was shooting for there
also why the fuck did everyone like melancholia so much. did anyone here like it? it was vague & unfocused, took the wrong tone or pursued the wrong threads, & compensated with a kinda generic autopilot-grandiosity.
― Never translate German (schlump), Saturday, 17 December 2011 23:01 (twelve years ago) link
I quite liked Boonmee but I've accepted that I risk foolishness explaining what makes this man's films worth watching.
― Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 17 December 2011 23:14 (twelve years ago) link
ha, i think that's part of it, that they're somewhere slightly off radar or out of reach. (i remember coming out of syndromes, having seen it with a few others, & each having as broad & entirely disparate a set of opinions about it as you really could about a single text (i don't think i'd even grasped it was about his family))
― Never translate German (schlump), Saturday, 17 December 2011 23:35 (twelve years ago) link
also why the fuck did everyone like melancholia so much. did anyone here like it?
I thought it was pretty great, but I'm no LvT fan.
― gukbe, Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:39 (twelve years ago) link
ha, that's a weird disclaimer. i like a bunch of von trier, i thought it was so confused though - maybe some of that is relative to how strongly he manages to embody a theme & stay on-point in dogville or whatever else. i was so surprised at how loose the first half was, & then how drably procedural & perfunctory the second half proceeded.
― Never translate German (schlump), Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:44 (twelve years ago) link
I really liked the end-of-the-world stuff, beginning and end; the wedding set-up (conceding they're bound together) seemed ordinary to me.
― clemenza, Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:44 (twelve years ago) link
I much preferred Antichrist.
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:45 (twelve years ago) link
I actually thought it was pretty straightforward. Messy, perhaps, but overall it had an emotional honesty I've never found in his work before.
Also it was really beautiful.
xpost
― gukbe, Sunday, 18 December 2011 00:49 (twelve years ago) link
I've only seen LvT's Breaking the Waves-and-after stuff, and I've only liked this, Antichrist, and The Five Obstructions.
Caught Young Adult this morning - admirably grim and, for Cody specifically, self-effacing. (Key scene near the end fails to deliver the goods, though.)
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 December 2011 02:07 (twelve years ago) link
Want to see it but ugh Reitman
― gukbe, Sunday, 18 December 2011 02:41 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, i'm weirdly anticipating it despite hating all of Reitman and Cody's previous work
― Number None, Sunday, 18 December 2011 03:01 (twelve years ago) link
fwiw it doesn't resemble the other Reitman flicks much at all. it's pretty close to a no-frills character study.
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 December 2011 04:00 (twelve years ago) link
and appropriately it will probably earn fewer accolades than all his other flicks.
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 December 2011 04:02 (twelve years ago) link
I liked the 'prelude' and the wow finish of Melancholia, but not a lot else. (so yeah it's way better than Dogville)
finally saw The Help tonight, which should definitely be a ride at Disneyland.
― Dr Morbius, Sunday, 18 December 2011 05:15 (twelve years ago) link
The least they can do is offer a Terrible Awful at the concession stand
― gukbe, Sunday, 18 December 2011 05:27 (twelve years ago) link
Liked Antichrist a good bit despite its legitimately questionable premise. Melancholia was mostly shit. The high-speed cam prologue was probably the worst part of the film. It was used effectively in Antichrist but it was pretty corny LOL Art Film in Melancholia.
And I'm glad The Tree of Life is on there even if I was one of 2 holdouts.
why exactly?
― berg non, Sunday, 18 December 2011 09:49 (twelve years ago) link
you know, Ambition, Pitt, Lubezki
(unless you mean why did I not think it was one of the 20 best?)
― Dr Morbius, Sunday, 18 December 2011 14:19 (twelve years ago) link
wow, was My Week With Marilyn vaporous -- an irrelevant movie.
― Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 18 December 2011 23:13 (twelve years ago) link
was it redeemed at all by MW?
― Never translate German (schlump), Sunday, 18 December 2011 23:14 (twelve years ago) link
The freckled lede is cute, and Williams had her moments, but Branagh wasn't the least bit convincing.
― Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 18 December 2011 23:14 (twelve years ago) link
*lead
Eddie Redmayne playing an unconvincing str8 again?
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 19 December 2011 03:05 (twelve years ago) link
Kept wishing Branagh would "dear boy" him into bed.
Guess I'll have to finally watch Savage Grace.
― Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 19 December 2011 03:08 (twelve years ago) link