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If I had any skills I'd be photoshopping Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott into Daniel Day Lewis' bowling alley right now.
Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)
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If I had any skills I'd be photoshopping Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott into Daniel Day Lewis' bowling alley right now.
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I mentioned that I forgot Adaptation and added to the list. I'll have to rewatch There Will Be Blood.
Edit: I'd add Amores Perros to my list as well. I thought that was '99, but it was 2000.
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I hadn't seen you say this so apologies. Truth be told though, many of them films we listed where as you said, great but not greatest movies.
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Ha, no prob. I actually had to watch Adaptation for a college class. The prof goes, "Now, it has Nicholas Cage and Meryl Streep as the lead actors." And everyone groaned.
But once the movie was on, we were all glued to the screen. We had to watch a lot of Spike Jonze stuff for that same class.
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My wife and I took in the first two of the Godzilla CGI films on Netflix.
I am really taken with just how ambitious and smartly written it is. This is such a high concept interpretation of Godzilla, such a grand vision of the franchise's themes with hard edged real science fiction.
There is no way they would ever make this as a live action trilogy. It's too intelligent and philosophical an examination of humanity and its extremes to ever get green lit for an audience that just wants monster fights.
There was a time when I could never believe a Godzilla film would ever return to the thematic roots of the original, but this and Shin Godzilla (which is also fucking great) did just that. This CGI trilogy sort of examines what happens after Godzilla has his way with the world and what it means for mankind. Just for good measure, there are also two space faring alien races that represent the extremes of human potential.
In the first two films, human beings and one of the two alien races take a stab at taking down big G with everything they can bring to the battle as a species. The third one looks to be the other alien race's attempt using their own methods and outlook.
I'm duly impressed.
I am really taken with just how ambitious and smartly written it is. This is such a high concept interpretation of Godzilla, such a grand vision of the franchise's themes with hard edged real science fiction.
There is no way they would ever make this as a live action trilogy. It's too intelligent and philosophical an examination of humanity and its extremes to ever get green lit for an audience that just wants monster fights.
There was a time when I could never believe a Godzilla film would ever return to the thematic roots of the original, but this and Shin Godzilla (which is also fucking great) did just that. This CGI trilogy sort of examines what happens after Godzilla has his way with the world and what it means for mankind. Just for good measure, there are also two space faring alien races that represent the extremes of human potential.
In the first two films, human beings and one of the two alien races take a stab at taking down big G with everything they can bring to the battle as a species. The third one looks to be the other alien race's attempt using their own methods and outlook.
I'm duly impressed.
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Yeah the 90s up thru 9/11 was a bad era for horror. The slasher franchises all petered out, Blockbuster taking over the rental industry meant there was less of a market for weird, low-budget shit and then the post-Scream meta bullshit was an abomination.
The 2000s at least had shit like The Descent, The Ring remake, The Mist, Trick r' Treat and Slither. The first Saw movie was pretty good too even if the rest were formulaic garbage and gave birth to crap like Hostel and Human Centipede.
The 2000s at least had shit like The Descent, The Ring remake, The Mist, Trick r' Treat and Slither. The first Saw movie was pretty good too even if the rest were formulaic garbage and gave birth to crap like Hostel and Human Centipede.
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Just rewatched The Descent last week.
oliverclaude
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You got me, I'm a traditional moviegoer, thus I'd call Memento original. Even though Pulp Fiction presented the blueprint, Memento's consequent radicality and irreparable sorrow ups the ante noticeably. And as tradition goes, I declare Gosford Park (2001) my favorite film of the decade. Elephant (2003) close second. Setting the terms of writing or filmmaking or originality, etc. are a highly subjective matter.
This genre is perfect for newcomers and old hands alike to push originality and storytelling, think of Sixth Sense or Rosemary's Baby, Psycho, The Stepford Wives. Recently Get Out reinvented Blaxploitation and A Quiet Place established 4'33'' as the terror-fraught it always was.
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I wouldn't call Pulp Fiction the blueprint for Memento. That's giving Pulp Fiction too much credit and Memento not enough. Memento is much more linear, just going the opposite direction.
oliverclaude
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Agreed, blueprint is a bit heavy, still, it makes a difference to watch Pulp Fiction cut in chronological order, just like Memento. The nonlinear structure is important to both, with Pulp Fiction being six years ahead. Yet, being the forerunner doesn't automatically mean to be the better picture like in the case of 12:01 & Groundhog Day -- so the correct credit placing remains untouched.
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The 2000s also gave rise to almost every horror movie except the ones you mentioned being PG13 CGI garbage.
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Not exactly movies, but I just finished Dekalog tonight, which is astounding. I had put it off for years because it's a bit of a time sink, but I definitely recommend watching it either when the Criterion Channel launches or when the next Criterion sale starts.
I really like [rec] and its sequel.
I really like [rec] and its sequel.
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The Suspiria remake was bonkers. Argento not liking it is probably a positive sign since he hasn't made anything worthwhile in 30 years.
You clearly missed a lot of foreign and independent movies.
You clearly missed a lot of foreign and independent movies.
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I couldn't even finish that movie. I'd heard it was bad, but it was only $5 at Best Buy so I figured there was nothing to lose. But I was wrong, because I lost almost almost all the respect I had left for Argento after he'd already pissed almost all of it away with the abysmal Giallo.Dracula 3D
I defy anyone to name me any director who has fallen off worse than Argento. Even Lucas looks like a rock of stability and high quality compared to what happened to Argento.
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We watched this one a few weeks back, haven't seen it in years. I do wonder how long it would have taken to learn all of that...years?
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Bare minimum would be a decade.
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Finished off the Godzilla movie trilogy last night and I was very pleased with how it all turned out.
These films are very somber. My wife and I had an hour long conversation about these flicks afterwards, where we discussed how intelligently it was written. The motivations of the three races in the film are very well thought out and organically executed. There is no convenience of plot to move the story along, IMO. If characters would act in a certain way, the story bravely moves forward with that and introduces new consequences that must be navigated. It's how you tell a story. What's more amazing is that true philosophical questions are asked and resolved in a way that serves the story itself and the usage of these narrative components is very well implemented so that while it may seem ponderous, its actually not.
In a strange way, without spoiling it too much, one of the characters makes a decision in the closing act that hopes to settle the matter once and for all of whether or not Godzilla will be a threat moving forward and, unlike other entries in the franchise that try to have their cake and eat it, there really IS a solution on hand that is more than merely 'living in harmony with the planet'. That stuff is there TOO, but...well, I don't want to spoil it.
If I have ONE complaint about these films, it's that they're not live action. But not because I don't like CGI films. I can handle them just fine. It's just that this is such a human story, maybe the most human Godzilla films I've ever seen, that the visuals feel at odds with the fundamental questions being asked. The screenplay is making some deep existential cuts about humanity but there's not a single real human being on the screen. It doesn't invalidate the films or their premise. It's just dissonant.
But I'd definitely recommend watching them when you're a thinking mood.
These films are very somber. My wife and I had an hour long conversation about these flicks afterwards, where we discussed how intelligently it was written. The motivations of the three races in the film are very well thought out and organically executed. There is no convenience of plot to move the story along, IMO. If characters would act in a certain way, the story bravely moves forward with that and introduces new consequences that must be navigated. It's how you tell a story. What's more amazing is that true philosophical questions are asked and resolved in a way that serves the story itself and the usage of these narrative components is very well implemented so that while it may seem ponderous, its actually not.
In a strange way, without spoiling it too much, one of the characters makes a decision in the closing act that hopes to settle the matter once and for all of whether or not Godzilla will be a threat moving forward and, unlike other entries in the franchise that try to have their cake and eat it, there really IS a solution on hand that is more than merely 'living in harmony with the planet'. That stuff is there TOO, but...well, I don't want to spoil it.
If I have ONE complaint about these films, it's that they're not live action. But not because I don't like CGI films. I can handle them just fine. It's just that this is such a human story, maybe the most human Godzilla films I've ever seen, that the visuals feel at odds with the fundamental questions being asked. The screenplay is making some deep existential cuts about humanity but there's not a single real human being on the screen. It doesn't invalidate the films or their premise. It's just dissonant.
But I'd definitely recommend watching them when you're a thinking mood.