What's The Latest Film You Have Seen?

~~MicShazam~~ · 09-20-2018, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

It takes a lot more than money to make something look like it costs a lot of money. He's great at building suspense and conveying intricate plots. He's a little Spielberg-y in his camerawork though I guess.

I just though a lot of scenes in Arrival looked kind of dead and like an old TV series. The hamfisted use of color grading in that movie did a lot to make it visually bland.
(As mentioned a few pages ago, I did like the movie though.)

I can see the Spielberg comparison. Munich might as well have been directed by Villeneuve. Spielberg seemed to get worse with time, at least to me. His old 70's and 80's classics are way more visually vibrant than those movies he made in the 90's and up.

Villeneuve also kinda feels like Nolan light to me. A bit difficult to put into words exactly how. It's both visually and in terms of some of the more subtle sides of movie direction.

**Frownland** · 09-20-2018, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I just though a lot of scenes in Arrival looked kind of dead and like an old TV series. The hamfisted use of color grading in that movie did a lot to make it visually bland.
(As mentioned a few pages ago, I did like the movie though.)

Do you think that the plot demanded a more vibrant colour scheme?

Quote:

Spielberg seemed to get worse with time, at least to me. His old 70's and 80's classics are way more visually vibrant than those movies he made in the 90's and up.

Just as far as camerawork goes though. He has some canned pan shots and such, but they're pretty different as directors in most other senses.

~~MicShazam~~ · 09-20-2018, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Do you think that the plot demanded a more vibrant colour scheme?

Not necessarily, but I do find it annoying when all sorts of movies these days use fancy color schemes where natural colors would have worked better. The movie feels more grounded if it doesn't have those simplistic color gradings where everything has a yellow tint, or leans teal & orange, or whatever else has been popular. Arrival looked kinda like a cheap TV show or horror movie in some ways. I think it would have benefited, however slightly, from more natural colors. Even muted natural colors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Just as far as camerawork goes though. He has some canned pan shots and such, but they're pretty different as directors in most other senses.

Camera work is one of those things I think I'm the leats attuned to noticing.
It's hard for me to explain why I feel like Villeneuve lies somewhere between Spielberg and Nolan, because a lot of it is down to intuitive experience and not something I can necessarily point out very specifically.

**Frownland** · 09-20-2018, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

Not necessarily, but I do find it annoying when all sorts of movies these days use fancy color schemes where natural colors would have worked better. The movie feels more grounded if it doesn't have those simplistic color gradings where everything has a yellow tint, or leans teal & orange, or whatever else has been popular. Arrival looked kinda like a cheap TV show or horror movie in some ways. I think it would have benefited, however slightly, from more natural colors. Even muted natural colors.

I guess that's just preference since I'm cool with it. Have you seen Beasts of the Southern Wild? I was a big fan of how they use colour and tints in that.

~~MicShazam~~ · 09-20-2018, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

I guess that's just preference since I'm cool with it. Have you seen Beasts of the Southern Wild? I was a big fan of how they use colour and tints in that.

No I haven't seen that. Is it good?

I googled some images and it looks like it has a more nuanced sort of approach to color. I'd probably think it looked great in motion. A lot of the movies that I think had the best visuals had subtle modulations of a natural looking color scheme. It's not like it's a rule, of course. Some movies pull off more extreme looks well. I just think a lot of color grading in movies ends up looking like cheapo horror film aesthetics with no feeling of place/groundedness.

**Frownland** · 09-20-2018, 12:59 PM

Wait, no, I'm stupid. Beasts of the Southern Wild is very good but I meant Beasts of No Nation. And yes it's very good too.

Chula Vista · 09-20-2018, 01:01 PM

Depends on the movie for me.

Arrival had such a cool and captivating story that it didn't need overwrought acting or lots of flashy colors or cinematography.

Sicario was the same but in a different way. The maintained level of suspense kept it moving along without the need for lots of visual bells and whistles. I could have done without the night vision viewpoint stuff towards the end.

Bladerunner 2049 had some big shoes to step into and needed to match the atmosphere and visual styling of the original - which it did remarkably well. 10 minutes in and I thought I was watching an extended cut of the first movie.

Another of my fave movies, Traffic, is great in the way that Soderbergh used filters. The scenes in Mexico are awash in yellow hues, the ones in Washington in blue, and then San Diego is vibrant without any obvious filtering. Worked great IMO.

YorkeDaddy · 09-20-2018, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I'm not trying to be a contrarian, but I just can't see what Villeneuve really has going for him as a director. Give him a lot of money and the movie is of course gonna look like it cost a lot of money, but I don't really see the artist's tocuh. That eye for cinema. He's very bland to me. Arrival (the only Villeneuve film I've liked so far) felt like it survived on a fairly interesting script and good actors. The direction was working against the movie, if anything.

lmao

~~MicShazam~~ · 09-20-2018, 01:05 PM

Oh, a Netflix film. I like the pics I'm finding, but I don't have any Netflix subscription.

The color grading gives it that hot, but oppressively humid feeling. Which I could imagine going well with the story & themes.

~~MicShazam~~ · 09-20-2018, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

lmao

It's accurate. I often have contrary opinions, but I'm not forcing them. It's not my fault I see things so differently when it comes to movies, games and music. It's just how it goes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

09-20-2018, 12:59 PM	#22086 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	Wait, no, I'm stupid. Beasts of the Southern Wild is very good but I meant Beasts of No Nation. And yes it's very good too. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

09-20-2018, 01:01 PM	#22087 (permalink)
Chula Vista Toasted Poster Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: SoCal by way of Boston Posts: 11,332	Depends on the movie for me. Arrival had such a cool and captivating story that it didn't need overwrought acting or lots of flashy colors or cinematography. Sicario was the same but in a different way. The maintained level of suspense kept it moving along without the need for lots of visual bells and whistles. I could have done without the night vision viewpoint stuff towards the end. Bladerunner 2049 had some big shoes to step into and needed to match the atmosphere and visual styling of the original - which it did remarkably well. 10 minutes in and I thought I was watching an extended cut of the first movie. Another of my fave movies, Traffic, is great in the way that Soderbergh used filters. The scenes in Mexico are awash in yellow hues, the ones in Washington in blue, and then San Diego is vibrant without any obvious filtering. Worked great IMO. __________________ “The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

09-20-2018, 01:05 PM	#22089 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	Oh, a Netflix film. I like the pics I'm finding, but I don't have any Netflix subscription. The color grading gives it that hot, but oppressively humid feeling. Which I could imagine going well with the story & themes.