Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on Mar 7, 2020 22:11:34 GMT -5
#82: Emma. - Charmingly idiosyncratic dramedy centers on Anya Taylor-Joy playing Jane Austen's title character who sees her attempts at clever matchmaking run afoul. Think Hitch, if Hitch were a British lady who was more than a little full of herself. A lot of the movie's luster comes from its production design and cinematography, which pops and looks as delicious as candy. The performances add a certain cute awkwardness to this romance of complicated mixed signals. Taylor-Joy is fabulous, as is Bill Nighy and Mia Goth in their supporting roles. It's a cute film that's eye-catching.
#83: Onward - [Viewed in 4DX] There are a few lame moments in Onward that hold it back from feeling like it was totally what the creators envisioned, but it's almost there. Like painfully close. The majority of this movie is really good, right down to an unconventional, but satisfying, conclusion. It just has a habit of jerking back to something that's merely okay in certain moments. But it's a lot of fun and great for kids.
Note about 4DX: This is my first experience with the format, and I'm not sure this was the best movie to be introduced to it with (if it hadn't had been pushed back, No Time to Die might have been ideal). The opening scenes in fantasy suburbia didn't give me much optimism for the format, as a pet baby dragon is squirted in the face which prompts a water shot at the viewer. If that was the cheap gimmick I was in for, then I wasted money. But luckily most of the film is a road trip/car chase movie, which is ideal for the moving seats and environmental effects. There are some moments where the experience seems to be stretching itself thin, such as jabs in your back whenever someone falls (the only time this was used well was when a character walked on another's back) and I didn't care for how loud the gust of air/water shots were, but I think I leaned more positive than negative on the experience overall. I'd probably vote against seeing Onward in the format though.
My cinema has also just put in a ScreenX. They're playing Birds of Prey at the moment, but I watched that in regular format. I might revisit it to see if it added anything to the experience.
#84: The Way Back - Ben Affleck reportedly fought tooth and claw to get this film made, which he saw as a reflection of his rehabilitation from alcoholism. For what he wants the film to be, it does it's job. It tells a personal story that he's hoping certain people will connect with and maybe find something inside. The thing is that this film, and I've made this joke before many times among friends, is melancholy Mighty Ducks with basketball. I made that joke before seeing the film, and after seeing the final product I just can't unsee the similarities. It follows a lot of plot beats that we've seen before with nothing too noteworthy about it, except it's non-ironic use of cliches. Affleck is really good in this film and practically carry's the film's weight on his shoulders, and one can't complain too much while watching the film because it mostly works. The film feels incomplete though. Affleck's character stops drinking on a dime when it's convenient to the plot and restarts when the film needs to pump up more drama, making me feel this isn't a very thorough exploration of his vice. His connection to his basketball team feels underdeveloped, because most are generic personalities at best. A few are seemingly given arcs in the film, but they aren't given enough development to be fully satisfying. There's also the potential that the film's choppy editing might have left half this stuff on the cutting room floor. The Way Back is a solid movie with a strong message, but that message seems like it should be asking for the film to give more.
#85: Greed - I found myself reflecting more than once on the format of The Office while watching this satirical comedy, which pieces together the life and calculated/shady dealings of a billionaire trough a series of interviews for a memoir. One conclusion I came to was I think I would have been more into this movie if it were in a much shorter format. It's not a long movie, but most scenes just feel very similar and it would have benefited from a shorter format than feature length. The movie is smartly observational, which makes it more clever than it is humorous, and its most amusing moments are really too dry to generate a huge laugh. Steven Coogan and Isla Fisher and super-rich husband and wife are quite good in the movie, each with a series of zingers coming out of their mouths with ferocity. There are a lot of fun bits, such as a staged reality show being filmed, but while it's not a bad movie, it just doesn't hit a high note to make it memorable and its finale isn't really all that satisfying.
Next Week: Vin Deisel's latest failed franchise.
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on Mar 12, 2020 17:35:46 GMT -5
Well...that Coronavirus flapjacksed up my top five of March list at the last minute. Both A Quiet Place and Mulan got postponed.
Also Antlers was delayed, which, spoiler alert, was going to be my #1 for next month. What a shitshow.
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on Mar 13, 2020 21:31:34 GMT -5
2nd Viewing: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) - [Viewed in ScreenX] Since I saw Onward in 4DX, I thought I'd give the ScreenX a shot. Long story short, the theater forgot to turn it on for half the movie, so I missed out on a good portion of the presentation. When it finally got going, I found it an interesting experience. While I'm not sure the added information is necessary (and it's in a stretched format to try and match your eye gaze at the screen, which I understand but find annoying), some of it is fun. Like when Huntress is practicing her "They call me..." speech in the mirror, there's a fun bit where they word out what she's saying at the side of the screen. Overall, when the ScreenX is doing its thing, it feels like sitting in an inescapable movie box. I found it really fun, and would definitely try it again, and Birds of Prey is worth the money for it. The next movie that was up for the theater was Mulan, but that got pushed back recently, so it looks like the Birds have an extended life there.
#86: I Still Believe - This film boasts being based on a true story, and it is, but it does the worst thing a film based on a true story can do, which is feel artificial. Everything about this film, based on Christian rock singer Jeremy Camp and his ill-fated first wife who died of Ovarian Cancer at age 21, just comes off as a plastic, rose colored glasses take on reality, even its tragedy. The film's attempt at a sense of humor stems from stale, safe jokes that are a hundred years old and unlikely to offend its target audience. When it tries to be dramatic, its characters don't feel real enough to evoke an emotional reaction. Compare this to a film based on a true story of hope in the face of tragedy from last year that also had a Christian slant (albeit not as blunt as I Still Believe's), The Sky is Pink, which had characters that felt genuine, expressed dialogue that felt true to themselves and not scripted in the slightest, and actually was a successful tear jerker. The actors of the film, Zac Efron and Melissa Benoist lookalikes, do exactly what they're asked to do and I don't believe any of this is their fault; they're just trapped in a production that doesn't know how to efficiently utilize their charisma. The music doesn't save the movie either. While I'm sure Camp has his fans, a lot of the songs he sings feel exactly the same as the previous. Despite that, Camp's story probably could have been a good movie, and if I were him I'd be incredibly disappointed by this effort that turned his story, his wife's pain and suffering, and a message that seems very important to him into one of the worst movies of the year.
#87: Bloodshot - A comic book movie that would have been right at home in 1995, Bloodshot is an attempt by Valiant Comics to start a cinematic universe with their characters. The one thing I'll give them credit for is that they don't Dark Universe it up by using the film as a teaser for fifty movies they want to make and instead keep the story relevant to the character the movie is about. But if they were hoping for a legitimate shot, they would have to do a lot better than this movie to catch anyone's eye. The storyline of a nanotech enhanced assassin with altered memories has potential, but the script is minimal, the direction is lacking style, and the action scenes have no life to them. It's a passable, if flat, time waster, that at the very least sports a game cast. Eiza Gonzalez, Lamorne Morris, Toby Kebbell, and Guy Pierce are all very fun here. Unfortunately Vin Diesel is not. I don't normally have a problem with Diesel, it's just that he seems a tad out of his expiration date on roles like this. That and his grumbly monotone can't keep up with the energy of the rest of the cast.
#88: The Hunt - And the award for most frustrating film of the year goes to... This film, a thinly veiled satire of the bloodthirsty political feud between Democrats and Republicans, features a bunch of dim, redneck conservatives being hunted for sport by snobby, wealthy liberals has exactly two things working in its favor. The first is its gleeful sense of senseless violence, of which it lets loose so playfully that it's hard not to have just a little bit of fun watching it. The second is lead actress Betty Gilpin, who's focused/crazy performance holds the film together. Here's the thing, while the political point of the film is loud and clear, it feels like it was written by a fifteen year old on a rant based on views he deduced by watching South Park and nothing else. The film is absurdly childish and the majority of the political dialogue in the film is wildly stupid. I'm inclined to believe that the stupidity of the political stances in the film is part if the point it's trying to make, but it stops coming off as a stance and more of a declaration that stances are dumb. The film tries a little too hard to be subversive, as it introduces several "main characters" in the film that are dispatched quick, some played by easily recognizable faces (Smallville fans will hate this movie), but way too many films have done the exact same thing before so this is hardly an adequate subversion technique anymore. I like what the movie thinks it is, too bad it's too busy sniffing its own farts to notice that it's not succeeding at most of what it's doing.
Next Week: A Quiet Pla......wait...well, crap. Dunno.
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on Mar 16, 2020 18:33:34 GMT -5
Well, that's that.It was a good run. And I closed it with a screening of King Kong yesterday, so take THAT, Corona.
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on Mar 24, 2020 15:12:30 GMT -5
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on May 26, 2020 14:19:13 GMT -5
So these notes have been on my phone for about a month now. Last month Amazon hosted an online South by Southwest Film Festival presentation, as the actual festival was cancelled due to COVID-19. They offered to show these films for free on their website for anybody who is willing to give them a look. However, the problem was that since most of these films are trying to sell themselves, having them being posted online for free wasn't really an attractive investment. A potential line-up of hundreds was whittled down to four films and three documentaries, and if they were the ones to take this offer, they were probably the most desperate.
I got to watch five of them before the event ended. My thoughts?
Cat in the Wall - If Cat in the Wall has a flaw, it's that it might take a while to get going with its conflict of neighbors feuding over a seemingly abandoned cat, and even when it does get the ball rolling, it stays pretty casual about it. Though in its casualness lies a secret strength in that it feels very real. Character interaction feels natural, arguments feel like people who are actually arguing, situations feel genuine and true to life, and nothing about the movie feels staged, even down to a conclusion so unresolved that it could be seen as infuriating. It's probably not a great movie, but it's a good one, and it's an honest mirroring of our daily human interactions.
Gunpowder Heart - The opening intro to the film features the director letting the audience know the film, which is about a lesbian couple pondering violence as a solution to sexual assault, is based on events that happened to her and her friends in their youths, of which I don't doubt. The film feels very personal with nuggets of truth, but it fumbles the ball on the one scene it should have made strides to make work: the sexual assault scene. The blocking of the scene makes it feel staged, as our two leads urinate out in the open after checking to make sure nobody is around and their attackers casually stroll up to them right in their line of sight when the ladies are only startled by them when they're three feet away. When you start a scene this important with the idea that "the camera can't see them, that means the characters can't see them" then it breaks the illusion of the scene and it begins to feel fabricated. If the blocking were excused by "they didn't think anything of these guys" it might have worked, but they made an effort to put in the urination scene and the attempt to check for solitude. While the event itself is uncomfortable and harrowing, it does seem rushed through, possibly to say a traumatizing event can happen in only a few seconds, though for storytelling purposes it doesn't quite land. After that point, the movie's attempt at grittiness can't help feel faux, with some trashy attempts at power dialogue like "What would you rather see? Dicks or a gun?" failing to really get the movie back on track. It's not the worst execution this story could have, but it's frustrating, because I want this movie to work but once it starts feeling staged it can't climb out of its own grave.
I'm Going to Make You Love Me - This one is a documentary about a current gay man who lived as a trans woman during the 70's and 80's and relating his relationships and experiences. For those willing to jump down the rabbit hole of alternate lifestyle, it's a pretty interesting look at what kind of life a non-heteronormative person would live in both joy and hardship, and being who you feel you are on the inside even if it doesn't match who other people say you should be. I don't feel there is too much mind-blowing stuff here, just some solid biographical info.
Le Choc du Futur - This French film, whose title translates to The Shock of the Future, is about a composer in the 70's who experiments with electronic equipment as the synth boom of the 80's is about to dawn. I'm not a big music buff, it's just not my area. I like Evanescence, I like Queen, I like random songs, but I don't know many technical details. This movie feels like it should be something extra, but I don't know what that is. Someone who is more familiar with the mechanics and history of what's being explored here might be able to name what that is, but these aspects largely blew over my head. What I can tell as somebody who watches movies is that the film needs more momentum. It's largely a movie that takes place in one woman's apartment, and various people come and go while she fiddles around with a keyboard. It could potentially be an honest look at creative process, but it doesn't have much bite to it. And what hurts most is that the movie is less than 80 minutes long. If you start to feel slow with that length, something is going haywire. One thing I did appreciate was the third act, which finally showed the direction of the story being the fruits of your artistic labor not always aligning with your dreams, though it feels like the journey to that point needed a bit more. Not bad, somewhat charming and catchy with its tunes, but there is no X-factor.
Selfie - Selfie was one that didn't really stand out to me when I first read the descriptions, as it's a comedic anthology devoted to people on social media and I didn't really...care. I don't social media much and a lot of modern comedies flunk with me (most recently the seemingly beloved Sonic the Hedghog, which left me scratching my head with its popularity). That being said, I surprisingly got sucked into this movie pretty easily. It's humor is a broader in some places more than others, but it's constantly amusing and fun. The segments all seem to have different points and tones, with the first being a self esteem romance (which ends with probably the most realistic conclusion it could have had), the third an absurdist tale of advertisement affecting our lives, and the fourth a wacky screwball comedy of private info leaks, and they're all interconnected by small segments of a family's desperate attempts to become YouTube stars. The one that I'm not sure worked the way it wanted to was the second one, which doesn't really tell much of a story. It has a guy who interacts through a dating website and is pretty much the world's biggest douche nozzle, as the segment goes one he becomes a bigger douche nozzle, and then he gets hit by a truck. So the whoe story is guy is an asshole, he gets laid, and he dies. Great. That being said, Selfie is worth a look if you're looking for a cute, quirky comedy. I'd definitely give it a go again if it finds a distributor.
There were two more documentaries posted called My Darling Vivian and TFW NO GF, but I didn't have time to get to them. I did admittedly prioritize films over documentaries though, so I'm mostly content.
I also watched Axcellorator last month, a low budget sci-fi film from the director of Time Chasers. Really dumb, but I had fun.
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on May 26, 2020 14:20:56 GMT -5
Also, considering that real movies won't pop up for another month or two, I was thinking of getting a Netflix account and burning through what they've been releasing and posting thoughts in here.
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on Jul 13, 2020 17:23:32 GMT -5
The dollar theater opened back up. They had some stuff I hadn't seen, so I just bounced on in for a theater fix because I hadn't been in one since March.
Trolls: World Tour - I've only seen bits of the first. It seemed cute, but I just never took the time. Universal wanted me to pay $20 for the privilege of watching this sequel at home, to which my attitude was "f*** off." But seeing as it was pretty much the only thing at the theater I hadn't seen, I gladly sat down and just watched something that wasn't on my phone. True to my impression of the first, "cute" is the best word to describe it. I'd hesitate to call it a great movie, as sometimes it's humorous timing is a little wonky. But the film is undeniably charismatic, which is where its watchability comes from, and its moral of embracing differences and celebrating them is a good lesson for children.
Max Winslow and the House of Secrets - Five high school students win a trip to a billionaire's mansion where they partake in a contest to win the mansion itself. If this sounds familiar to you, that's because it's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, only more Millennial. Once inside, it turns into a cross between the recent Jumanji movies and Saw, where the games become a little too real and dangerous and the AI of the mansion (played by Marina Sirtis of Star Trek fame) is seemingly trying to kill them. This kids movie is very cheap, but it utilizes its budget fairly well. It's as if someone who specialized in Disney Channel movies saw the movie Upgrade and decided "I can do that." While it's not a movie I think is particularly great, it has virtues, especially when taking into account the family audience it's targeting. The morality of the story is very on point, and while scripting and plotting is an issue, effective things are done with it at times (there is a scene in a bathroom that is actually kind of creepy). I might think a little better had it reached a more satisfying final conclusion, which seems simple superficially, it's actually very convoluted and leaves some big plot holes (without giving anything away, the fact that the house continually tries to kill them, even after its intent becoming clear, is puzzling and unnecessary). Adults won't get much out of it, because while it has good morality, it's not particularly clever, but if you have kids and it's on streaming, take a family night and give it a watch. The family may just enjoy it.
Ouija Shark - Didn't see this in a theater. This was for sale at Wal-Mart and I just HAD to. Shot for $300 in Canada (true story), this movie has a demonic shark puppet unleashed on a bunch of partying girls by a Ouija Board. I loved it.
Relic - A mother and daughter visit grandmother's and find her not quite right in her mind, but is she ill or is there something demonic inside of her? One thing that's refreshing about this movie is that it's a softer, quieter horror movie than most. Instead of popping something at the audience and punctuating it with a loud screeching noise to ensure someone jumps out of their seat, the movie chooses to unsettle rather than startle, providing imagery and tension to leave a lasting impression rather than the in-the-moment "Haha, you got me" feeling. I watched this movie thinking "These people get it," but left slightly unsatisfied with the experience. The film is a lot like The Babadook, where it uses horror as a means to explore psychological issues, including mental illness and how we respond to it in others, even family members (and at one point it seems to be telling us that if our parent is mentally ill, we should cave their head in with a lead pipe). But it often seems to be trying too hard to be an allegory that it doesn't quite tell much of a story. I followed it just fine, and everything seemed to be there, but there seems to be a bare minimum of what details and directions they could have had. But as far as horror movies as allegories for mental illness this year, it's better than The Turning though I'll give the slight edge to The Lodge for being better made. I didn't love it, but that doesn't mean it's without merit.
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on Aug 26, 2020 10:23:25 GMT -5
GUESS WHO'S BACK
Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story - This documentary follows the creation and self destruction of the cult children's cartoon from the early 90's, going in depth with series creator John Kricfolusi's getting into cartoons, working with Nickelodeon, and ultimate failure to work with them. Those interested in animation and creation will want to give it a look, though whether they get anything from the documentary might depend on one's opinion of Kricfolusi as a human being. For the curious, yes, Kricfolusi's grooming relationship with a teenage girl is touched upon in this doc, and it's as uncomfortable as it should be. It's a bit of a tacked on epilogue though, as it feels like an entirely separate story than that of creating Ren & Stimpy. But it's almost impossible to talk about this guy today without bringing it up, so I'll give it a pass. I just wish it were interweaved in the doc's narrative flow better than "Oh, by the way, the guy is a child groomer too."
#89: Words on Bathroom Walls - Starring two alumni from Netflix's reboot of Lost in Space, Molly Parker and Taylor Russell, this film is a young adult romance (based on a novel, natch) about a high school senior who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and how that affects his family, his romance with a girl at school, and his dream of becoming a chef. The movie is pretty much exactly what you'd expect based on that description, though it has a strong cast, including AnnaSophia Robb, Devon Bostick, and Lobo Sebastian stealing the show as his delusion characters. Part of me is a bit cautious about it, because I feel like it's cutesy approach to a serious illness that almost makes it seem fun could be a little offensive, but it felt to me like the movie had a good heart and was hoping those would watch would try and understand the illness instead of judging based upon it. At any rate, it's third act is a bit of a thud, as I caught on to the movie's manipulation tactics concerning the stepfather character quite early on, and the movie ends in a feel good "dreams come true" manner that doesn't feel true to the story it's telling. Whether this character deserved a happy ending or not, his life is not a happily ever after and that was part of the point. Ending like it like it will be is a betrayal to itself. But I guess tween girls need the boy to kiss the girl at the end.
#90: Tulsa - Spunky orphan kid finds the dad she never met, who is a suicidal alcoholic, and she might just be the life change he needs. Yep, one of these. This trite storyline is nothing new, but an old story is worth visiting if its done well. This movie, not done well. None of the acting feels natural, and I can tell it's trying to be funny-cute, but the comic timing and staging is so muted that it's neither funny nor cute. It's just massive cringe. It becomes clear that this is a movie that's not trying to be a story but trying to be a sales pitch, as it constantly preaches that all anyone needs is to believe in Jesus. Telling a story with a message is one thing, preaching to the choir and pretending to tell a story while doing so is just silly. Like I Still Believe, I don't enjoy trashing religious movies, but I think audiences who believe in their message should push for them to be better. At least I Still Believe had a true heart at the center. Tulsa is lazy trash that thinks mentioning Jesus every two minutes will absolve it of its sins. I think it's an even bigger sin to take Jesus down with it.
#91: Cut Throat City - Directed by musician turned filmmaker RZA, this flick tells of four friends in New Orleans who are down on their luck after Hurricane Katrina and they have to conduct a series of heists to survive. I was digging the movie for about half of its runtime, but as it goes on, it has a tendency to drone and it's ending, which presents several fate options for its lead, is muddled, a little confusing, and in some points a little strange. I admire what RZA is trying to do, but I don't the movie is "quite there."
#92: Unhinged - This movie is about a man at the end, played by Russell Crowe of his rope and has just killed his ex-wife, who then road rages on a random woman who honked her horn at him at an intersection, and then proceeds to terrorize her and her loved ones. Word says this is the movie people are flocking to with reopened theaters, and it was indeed the theater that had the most people (though none were even a quarter of the way full). It's a fairly solid if standard thriller that has good mayhem in it, but at the end of the day is pretty disposable. It has some elements of the movie Duel in it, though since the killer is played by a famous actor, the movie has to get him out of the truck every once in a while. I'm not sure I was too into the story of him flipping out on a random stranger, though the movie works hard to sell it with its "You don't know who's driving next to you" story. I may have been more interested if the victim were a little less mundane though. It's okay, but it also could have been worse.
Next Time: After years of waiting, we finally find out why Fox's last X-Men movie don't need no education.
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on Sept 2, 2020 10:51:53 GMT -5
Bill & Ted Face the Music - What is this reality we live in? There's a long belated threequel to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and it's as bodaciously non-bogus as one would hope? Truly, this is the best reality! This 29-years-since-previous-installment entry has Bill and Ted spending their entire lives trying to come up with the song that will unite the world, only to come up empty, but they are informed by the people from the future that if they don't come up with the song by that evening, all of reality will implode. Not knowing what the song is, Bill and Ted concoct a scheme to visit their future selves and take the song from them, but their visions of the future aren't what they hoped. This movie is a nostalgia ride, first and foremost, probably a last gasp of the 80's nostalgia bubble that has crazed pop culture before it finally totally moves onto the 90's (get ready for that Twister remake, folks). What's most charming about the film is how effortlessly it recreates just what a nonsensically fun ride the previous Bill & Ted flicks were and just replicates it without feeling the need to update it. Showstealers are Brigette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving as Bill & Ted's daughters, who have the same doofus charisma and chemistry as Alex Winters and Keanu Reeves back in their heyday. In this COVID-19 world, Bill & Ted Face the Music may be just the movie we need, not because it will unite the world, because it's just a dumb movie designed to make people happy. Sometimes a smile is just enough. #93: The New Mutants - It's pretty "Eh." My full review is here.#94: The Personal History of David Copperfield - Adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, not the life story of the magician, is charmingly aloof. I was reminded more than once of this year's Emma in approach, though this film is a bit more whimsical and devil-may-care. Interestingly enough, the film was cast without catering to ethnicity, which makes what would traditionally be a very Caucasian storyline more diverse, and it's done to the point where a black woman can have a white child and so on and so forth. This actually gives the film a very liberating feel in its casting, which is excellent, and adds to the film's fantastical element, as if it were a stage reading by a drama group rather than something that caters to the norms of filmmaking. It's very charismatic and a lot of fun to watch. I can't say I loved it, but it's an easy recommend. #95: Tenet - [Screened in IMAX] The long awaited social-distancing-breaking movie event of the year is finally here and...if you're worried about going to a theater to see this, I wouldn't really worry about it. There are cool sequences in the film, but the story isn't really anything special. The film is somewhat structured like a Bond film take on Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (or John Woo's Mission: Impossible II) without the romance, as John David Washington uses the wife of a weapon's dealer to get close to him. The big twist is that the protagonist and antagonists both gain the ability to rewind time in convoluted Christopher Nolan ways. The set pieces are worth seeing on an IMAX screen, but we don't really see any that aren't in the trailer until the third act. And listening to that classically screwed over and off-putting Nolan sound mix in a theater is not the way I'd want to reenter a theater in the middle of a pandemic. In fact, it would ensure I wouldn't step in a theater until months after the pandemic is over. Bill & Ted is by far the superior time travel movie thia weekend. Notes about IMAX: Probably half of the movie has IMAX enhanced scenes, and they all look really good. This film was also playing in 4DX, but I opted for IMAX because I think Nolan would have wanted it that way. Maybe if nothing is playing next week I'll check that out. Next Week: I really don't know. The only thing listed is a re-release of 42 (RIP Chadwick Boseman). Tenet in 4DX, I guess. But I'd rather it be Bill & Ted in 4DX.
|
|
Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
|
Post by Torgo on Sept 7, 2020 18:53:11 GMT -5
Children of the Sea - Based on a manga of the same name, this anime film is as gorgeous as it is frustrating, telling a fable-like story about a tween girl who meets a pair of boys who live in the ocean and the strange journey she has with them. This movie has highs that make me want to love it, but truth be told, the story is a bit too methodical for something that can at times be perplexing. The drama isn't too compelling because the titular children of the sea are superficial magical beings that our heroine is infatuated simply because they're magical beings, though they somewhat lack basic personality traits outside generalities. The fantasy is sometimes a whirlwind of chaotic imagery that is striking, but incoherent. The result is a movie that has ambitions to be powerful, but doesn't exactly weild its weirdness to its advantage nor create a satisfying narrative to make it worthwhile.
Second Viewing: Tenet - [Viewed in 4DX] I wasn't exactly dying to see Tenet again, but I was curious how it would suit the 4DX format in comparison to IMAX. But I will say this viewing was better than the previous if only because the sound mix was better at this screening, making it easier to follow the plot. It's still convoluted as hell and a lot of noise, but I did enjoy seeing many of the little "easter eggs" in the movie, knowing how it was going to turn out in the end. The 4DX experience is a bit subdued, as there are quite a few sitting around and handing out exhibition scenes, so the 4DX can't replicate much momentum. When it does spring to life, I thought it was mostly well done. I found with action scenes the seats tried to move with the action, and gunshots featured shots of air shooting past your head, mimicking that of a bullet whizzing by you. I found the experience most effective during scenes on boat decks, where the chairs move with the waves, and the wind and water effects are used well. I'd say this was the better of the two screening I attended, and this is coming from someone who is still unsure if 4DX is a viable format.
Next Week: "My vibrator will never break my heart."
|
|