Movies

waruv said:
Some short thoughts on some fairly recently releases - four fairly strong recommends and one "if you like that kinda movie" promotion

Licorice Pizza - Saw this one yesterday, really solid movie that felt like a lot of drive with no direction. I mean this as a positive. The more I think on it the more I like what PTA did and the vision he had for the characters and film. Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman do a lot of lifting and while I didn't care for some decisions, most of it really worked. Good soundtrack, great cameos/casting on the back end, just a good overall watch. I will say I think it's being a BIT overrated but that's more personal taste than anything. Worth a watch at home or in theatres.

Spiderman: No Way Home: Pure glorious fan service rewarding newbies and diehards alike. Just a ton of fun and creative plotting. First billion dollar movie of the year and well deserved.

Encanto: I was kind of surprised this wasn't a Pixar movie. It had the plot of a Pixar movie - it makes me wonder if they were afraid of it being a little too Coco reminiscent in culture. GREAT songs and kind of underpromoted for a kids movie. I wish it had gotten some more love as it's the best kids movie in sometime, or at least among the best of 2021. Strong recommend for the audio-visuals and generational lessons. Like Bennnnn it was REALLY refreshing how "small" it stayed. We need more small movies.

Belfast: Probably my favorite movie of 2021. It's hard to say much about it fairly, but it takes all of the good of a movie like Jojo Rabbit, takes out of a lot of the absurdity, and adds even more heart with some top tier filmmaking. It's also the most enjoyable Van Morrison has been in decades

Don't Look Up: This all hinges to me on if you like Adam Mckay. His sledgehammer messaging and style don't cause me issues so this was aggressively my jam and the star studdedness of the cast is a joy, but if you like your messaging subtle and nuanced stay away.
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Growing up in the 70's Licorice Pizza was a fun watch.

Thanks for mentioning Belfast, need to watch that one if looks like the early favorite for the Bafta's
 
Bennnnn said:
Watched a couple of movies yesterday...

C'mon C'mon - a fairly small plot sort of film, but that adds to its overall feeling and charm. The relationship between Joaquin Phoenix and the kid is obviously the biggest thing the film as going for it - and it works better than I imagined considering I'm not that into Joaquin Phoenix. The cinematography and aesthetic choice to have it in black and white is fantastic - especially seeing how the various cities look. The sound design is also something I ended up paying attention to (as it is called attention to by virtue of Joaquin's job). But like hearing those sounds of the beach, then sounds of the NYC and the skateboarders...I don't know it just made me appreciate sound design. That all said, I mean I think it's a pretty solid movie, but not phenomenal or mind blowing. Worth a watch.

Encanto - I barely knew anything about this going in, and I feel like it's because of how sort of fumbled the release strategy of it was from Disney. They put it in theaters and it didn't do well, so they wound up putting it on Disney+ on Christmas Eve - which I didn't know even happened initially. And it's all kind of a shame cause this is a pretty unique movie for Disney. It does still follow a certain trend of reluctant lead character, but the journey itself is not what I expected and I wound up pretty surprised by how it unfolded. It's unique for a Disney film. It's a very sweet movie, and a true ensemble - much more so than Disney's recent output. On the scale of Disney / Pixar releases this year, I'd say it's right under Luca, but easily above Raya. I wish it would catch on a bit more, and maybe it will, cause I think it could pave a more interesting way for more diverse, unique stories rather than the typical hero's journey type storytelling. That said I'm not trying to oversell it. It's not THE most unique thing I've ever seen, I just appreciate it for what it does - and I was surprised by where the plot goes - and how sort of small it stays.
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Oooh, I had no idea Encanto was on Disney+. I want to check that one out.

Also, @zomgbear Elf is such a great movie!!!!
 
tvham said:
Don't Look Up was fine. Some really good performances but felt overlying and meandering.
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I don’t know what I was expecting with that movie. But I was not expecting it to be a comedy and over the top mocking of our current political environment.

I went in watching it fir the cast. One of my coworkers said ☄️/impact movies are all the same. All you need to watch is Armageddon. Well, this movie certainly through in a new twist.
it was an alright movie. Would probably watch again.
 
Watched Belfast, nice little story on the PG side of things, good soundtrack from Van Morrison. On a weak year for big pictures it may get some accolades.
 
One of the top letterboxd reviews of Don't Look Up refers to it as a 3 hour version of the Gal Gadot "Imagine" video and I'm inclined to agree. Awful.
 
ayayrawn said:
One of the top letterboxd reviews of Don't Look Up refers to it as a 3 hour version of the Gal Gadot "Imagine" video and I'm inclined to agree. Awful.
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McKay’s cutesy direction and editing style works for Vice and The Big Short, but here it’s just straight up distracting and annoying. I’m not really sure who his target audience is here. Is it the fence-sitters? I can’t imagine anyone changing their ways after watching this. Mostly because when the light goes out, it’s out. There’s going to be no one left to say “I told you so”, so what’s the point of yelling into the void?

Mark Rylance stole every scene for me personally as the aloof sociopathic billionaire.
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
McKay’s cutesy direction and editing style works for Vice and The Big Short, but here it’s just straight up distracting and annoying. I’m not really sure who his target audience is here. Is it the fence-sitters? I can’t imagine anyone changing their ways after watching this. Mostly because when the light goes out, it’s out. There’s going to be no one left to say “I told you so”, so what’s the point of yelling into the void?

Mark Rylance stole every scene for me personally as the aloof sociopathic billionaire.
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Vice I think is genuinely my least favorite movie I've seen in theaters in my adult life Didn't despise DLU as much as I did that, but it's just as satisfied with itself. His target audience is liberals who already agree with him, so not even sure what the point of these movies are. Just staggeringly lazy filmmaking.
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
This is all I’m looking for tbh. The Matrix was groundbreaking, none of the sequels have been.
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I dunno, I rewatched Reloaded for the first time since theaters and actually rather liked it. You can see the action sequences from every modern blockbuster gestating in there. Absolutely influential.
 
kvetcha said:
I dunno, I rewatched Reloaded for the first time since theaters and actually rather liked it. You can see the action sequences from every modern blockbuster gestating in there. Absolutely influential.
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I’d agree there. The highway scene and rain fighting scene come to mind (those might be from two separate sequels, can’t recall)
 
RenegadeMonster said:
I don’t know what I was expecting with that movie. But I was not expecting it to be a comedy and over the top mocking of our current political environment.

I went in watching it fir the cast. One of my coworkers said ☄️/impact movies are all the same. All you need to watch is Armageddon. Well, this movie certainly through in a new twist.
it was an alright movie. Would probably watch again.
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We watched last night and enjoyed it. I mentioned to my wife that it's interesting when these end of the world asteroid movies were coming out in the 90s, the central themes were how humanity came together to avert our impending doom. Even Independence Day and those dumb invasion movies had that scenario. Back then I could see that. Don't Look Up struck me because even though it was a farce, it's really not that far off from the reality of our fractured world thanks to social media. It was over the top and some elements were too ridiculous but there is a tinge of truth to what might happen if we faced that very scenario in real life. Especially in this dumb country with how the 2010s to present have played out.
 
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