still trying to get all possible Oscar nominated films in the bag before the announcement this Tuesday. I saw two more in the last week and will be gleefully seeing Phantom Thread tonight :)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...C_Missouri.png
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

I've seen a ton of praise for this both here and elsewhere and i have to say....this one really floored me. What a perfect mixture of classic Greek and Shakespearean tragedy mixed with modern day existentialism. I was not expecting this to turn into what it did and can't even explain that without giving away a major plot turn (not twist)

By far the movie of the year and easily one of the best of the last decade

https://static.goldderby.com/wp-cont...-tom-hanks.jpg
The Post

out of all the Oscar fodder this last year this was by far the lowest on my list, but as it turned out yesterday it worked perfect in our schedule.

the concessions area of the theater was fucking packed with moronic jarheads all there to see 12 Strong....i swear i have never seen so many oversized jack up pick up trucks in my life

i mention this because, while yes, 12 Strong is about some heroes who sacrificed in the early days of the Afghanistan conflict, The Post is about unrelenting patriotism and real heroes who risked in all in the name of the first amendment and the right for the public to know when the government is lying to them

I have to admit i really enjoyed this film....although it is very cookie cutter Spielberg...i was completely involved from the very beginning to the credits. There was obviously stellar acting (and the return of Bob and Dave from Mr Show!) and the film really moved quickly.

While not movie of the year....one i think everyone should see

finally watched Take Shelter.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/takeshel...filmmakers.jpg

Great acting, etc. Definitely one of the stronger movies I've seen in a while.
I think I pretty much have to watch everything Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain have played in.

The movie kinda hits a bit close to home, since I've got two cousins with schizophrenia.

He was good in Shape of Water, but I felt like they wrote him as a far more flat character than he could/should have been. Unambiguous evil is sooooooo boring.

I still want to see that movie, but yeah, I'm convinced Shannon can handle just about any part, no matter how challenging/subtle/complex. But I guess every actor has to make a living. He also played general Zod, after all...

So glad you dug it. Ya, definitely hits close to home for me too.

I watched Groundhog Day for the first time last year. Never actually noticed it was Shannon... even though he pretty much looks like himself.

.

Not enough character development and an unnecessary remake of the animus.

Action and plot was cool tho.

.

Dallas Buyers Club

Damn. New member of the Frownland top 50.

ooh, that one is very, very good!

My sister hated it, I loved it, so we had a small fight over that movie. Things were said, heads were shaken, eyes were rolled :laughing:

Outstanding movie.

SE7EN

Another outstanding movie. Fincher is so freaking brilliant.

I saw Darkest Hour last night, and it was damn good I gotta say. Really liked Gary Oldman's performance, and while it wasn't a funny movie they did loosen up with a few good light-hearted moments. Highly recommend, especially for history nerds.

Uh oh. Does she uh...feel passionate about certain religious freedoms?

I really like your avatar btw. Though I have to say that it's kind of jarring compared to your others. I keep thinking you're Chio.

Luckily it's nothing more than she feels very opposed to any movie that doesn't follow all the most straight forward genre tropes in the book. She probably felt conned into seeing the movie, thinking it was something more "normal". Like a bog standard thriller or something. If I remember correctly, she hated the movie because the main character was (paraphrasing) "an ******* and also unattractive". We uh, don't talk about movies much...

And yeah allright, my new avatar is a bit unlike the previous few. I've been getting into reading about symbolist painting since I got a book about it in December. Trollheart called it right when he predicted that my next avvy would be a symbolist painting :D

EDIT: It's from a painting by František Kupka. I'm already thinking that I need to start looking for a book with his works.

Lol @ people who can't appreciate the beauty of a flawed character. Like how the **** are you supposed to reach conflict to make the film interesting if everyone's just going to be unrealistically nice to each other? Tell your sister that Frownland from the internet hates her.

I've found that to be typical of people who don't watch movies much, or only watch the most mainstream movies (so just nearly all regular people). The number of times I've heard people complain that a drama movie main character was unlikable...

To a lot of people, a movie is supposed to be about a relatable character overcoming difficulty. Hence why I never really talk about movies with most people I meet, beyond whether they've seen the latest X-men movie or whatever.

Tell your sister that this unattractive ******* says she can kick rocks.

I better not pass on any of these messages, but she'd just tell you to go **** yourselves anyway :laughing:

IT

Pretty solid adaption. Really good acting by the kids invovled.

Saw Downsizing last night at the second-run theater... holy **** was that a quick transition. Anyways, despite the bad reviews, I did want to see this just because it looked like it might have a few good laughs and some entertainment value - not enough to warrant full ticket price or even a matinee really, but it looked intriguing enough. It wasn't half bad. It got a little bit long, they could've shaved 30-40 minutes off of it and it would've been better. There were a couple of characters with some promise that never got fleshed out at all, and the plot is exactly what you think it's going to be from the trailers so it's kind of predictable. It was still worth the $3 and dare I say, the $5 matinee even. I liked the kitschy vibe as as well as the more subtle satirical moments that are scattered throughout the movie, although some things are overemphasized and it gets a little tiring.

http://www.cinemanova.com.au/media/f...-landscape.jpg

Went to see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri two days ago. I must say I'm pretty disappointed with the movie. It was a complete tonal mess, had a very obvious manner of handling character dialogue and dramatic moments that often felt either hamfisted, sentimentally manipulative, or both. The scene with the deer? Ridiculous and unconvincing. The scene where she scolds the priest? Feels like the director pressing pause on the movie to deliver a self-rightous rant. The movie feels like a less witty, less poignant version of what Tarantino or the Coen Brothers do when at their best. This McDonaugh fellow (the director & writer of this movie) seemingly has a tin-ear for dialogue.

It's also interesting how some people hold up McDormand's character as an anti hero, when it's clear she was a completely unhinged, psychopathic *******. Maybe that's how she was supposed to be read? As a terrible person who legitimizes all her actions by virtue of her grief.

Many have framed the movie as some sort of political allegory for current day USA, but it's a horribly hamfisted one at best and I think the movie is... kind of... terrible...? Maybe not quite that, but I don't think its good.

---

http://img5.bdbphotos.com/images/ori...y.jpg?djet1p5k

And the other movie I saw most recently: The Man In the Iron Mask. The 1976 version, starring Richard Chamberlain, Ian Holm and more. Aside from how it arguably didn't have much of an aesthetic to it (it's very plainly lit, shot and edited), I found it quite involving. Right from the first scene, where our main character is abducted from his home by armed guards, I was feeling invested in the story. Quite a simple old tale, really, with a sort of silly "let me explain my clever plan to you, the villain. This is how I tricked you! Hah! In your face!" ending that wrapped the movie up nicely but wasn't really the most dramatically stirring climax of any movie ever made.

Still, a good movie to watch if you want to experience that old literary classic in movie form. As with many movies of this sort, I'm now curious about what other movies exist that base themselves on the same book. It was good, but perhaps this movie is not the best version filmed?

Yikes. I think you need to watch it 10 times until you can tackle films better and be on my level. The dialogue is a strong point of the film.

Can't accuse you of lacking confidence. Although you could be improved with a tad less arrogance.

------------------------

https://themuslimissue.files.wordpre...pg?w=610&h=480

Just finished watching first half of a mini-series called Jesus of Nazareth. It is effectively two movies, each of over 3 hours in length. It is directed by Franco Zeffirelli who also oversaw that 1990 Hamlet movie with Mel Gibson that I saw last year.

I'm not religious, but I often find religiously themed movies very interesting. Jesus of Nazareth is by far the most thorough telling of the story of Jesus that I've seen so far. Now that I'm just about halfway through, we've only reached the point where Judas joins the diciples and Herod has just beheaded John the Baptist. Every single plot point of that Mel Gibson Jesus movie I hate so much has yet to come, so I'm very curious how that all plays out in Jesus of Nazareth. It sticks (as far as I can tell) rather close to the Bible, managing to neither come off as sanctimonious, nor as really questioning the material.

It's quite a mouthful and I am cutting it up in four parts to get through more easily. It honestly starts a bit slow, but gets steadily more interesting. I'm thinking it might even be a keeper, when once I'm finally all the way through, which I guess isn't bad for a 6 hours and 22 minutes long movie about Jesus.

Wrong. Try again.

I won't "try again", because that is how I see it.

I'm aware and you're wrong. Try again...or watch Prince of Egypt idgaf.

Grow up.

Wrong. Try again.

In Bruges is still McDonagh's magnum opus though.

Breaking news, apparently Martin McDonagh and John Michael McDonagh are TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE.

lol

Mad Max: Fury Road

For the second time. Gotta find the "making of" to see how some of those crazy ass chase scenes were done.

Still my all time favorite chase scene by a wide margin. Hard to believe that Friedkin could top the one in French connection, but he did it by a pretty wide margin.

Makes me want to go play GTA

https://static.rogerebert.com/upload...ution_ver4.jpg
Évolution (2015)

A little boy finds a dead body at sea. I'd say more but you should definitely go into this more or less blind plotwise. It is stunningly shot in a beautiful yet stoic manner that almost overwhelms the minimalist plot and cold atmosphere. Don't be fooled by my adorement of the film's visuals though, it definitely goes into some dark territories. Thematically it's a little hard to unpack exactly what it's trying to say but that just makes me want to watch it again. A 4/5 at the very least.

http://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/...-vee.jpg?w=464
Phantom Thread

so as far as film making and cinematography this is by far Anderson's opus. Writing though....he has done better. That's not to say that this is not good...actually it was enthralling and almost too perfect

Lewis and Krieps were stellar in it but Manville really stole the show

Basically it is a love story with a P T Anderson twist

For a love story it is unbelievably sterile in every way....which actually works so well in this

I really cannot go much into it it with out revealing it so i'll just say that in every way this film is very well done and while it's not his best film it is in my opinion of high ranking

I read someone describe Phantom Thread as ''basically Gone Girl, but for repressed gays."

Very hyped for Phantom. Too bad it's the last we will see of Daniel Day Lewis (probably).

It's fantastic. Sort of PTA lite though, but nonetheless worthy of best picture. Maybe.

If you think I'm not watching the third Cloverfield after the game tonight you're sorely mistaken.

I don't really know what to think. It's overly complicated to a brutal fault. That last shot was not how I wanted to remember the first Cloverfield.

I don't know what the fuck happened. 10 Cloverfield Lane was a solid film, but this one... This one's frustrating. Theirs a decent flick somewhere in this, but have fun finding it.

I last saw the movie SUPER FUZZ (1980) on VHS :)