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This indie family drama about the millinery milieu (women's hat makers) in Budapest during the early 1900s is an extended metaphor for Eastern Europe at the onset of World War I. The good news is, you just became an intellectual by simply reading that sentence. The bad news is, the film made me feel like I was on a train trip in a strange country and got off one stop too soon.
I did like the feeling of the film, though I must admit that the feeling wore off before the end of the 2 1/2 hour runtime. Director László Nemes was able to make me feel like I was there, but I didn't really want to be there, especially for that long.
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@saint-pauly Haha, like it.
Like a soap opera digest: skips over the facts to focus on the romantic drama.
Like this year's Napoleon, there was a lot I wanted to know about the subject and none of it was in the film.
Credit where it's due, though, the film did a nice job recreating the era and Adam Driver was one, but if you want to be truly entertained watch Ford v Ferrari again or maybe an episode of Succession, which at least has the decency to be shorter.
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@saint-pauly thank you for the advice, I'll put it in my whatchlist.
Shout by Saint Pauly
Like Rob Schneider, I thought people didn't like Shazam 2 because of the anti-vax rhetoric but in fact it's because it's infantile and it sucks.
This pale Disney knockoff suffers from an insistence on bad jokes, a glut of product placement and a rash of bad acting. I mean, come on, this made Thor: Love and Thunder look like a comedic masterpiece.
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@eric-v-mazzone I'm sure he meant Marvel. But since Disney ruins pretty much everything it touches, calling it a Disney knockoff is far more spiteful.
Shout by Saint Pauly
The main message is the film is, "Yes the Armenian genocide was serious, but not as serious as this melodramatic love triangle!" WTF?!
To use the attempted extinction of a race of people as a backdrop for a romance is criminal. The subject merited a 3-hour, big budget epic film rather than whatever this was.
P.S. If you do see this film (and you have no one to blame but yourselves), wait around for the credits to listen to #ChrisCornell singing the film's theme song, 'The Promise'.
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@saint-pauly good criticism of the film's misguided priorities
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Like candy cigarettes: a fun idea but very old fashioned.
The gimmick of having (practically) zero dialog because the protagonist is voiceless starts out as cute but finishes as annoying because there are moments when it would be ridiculous not to say something yet no one does so it is.
Also, Woo apparently is stuck in the 80s because the real hero of this film is the wife who's relegated to the background and not the macho vigilante who takes her for granted and treats her like shit.
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@saint-pauly lol the real hero being the wife is a stretch...her husband loses his voice, not his hearing. So she chooses to stand in another room and text him, while literally looking right at him.
Literally everyone in the movie seemed to not realize he isn't DEAF, he just can't SPEAK. Holy hell this drove me mad
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Like a big mouth putting his foot in it, this didn't know when to shut up.
The first Songbirds and Snakes movie is better than what I remember of the Hunger Games, but then they tack on another half movie at the end and it all unraveled for me.
I was 6 stars deep through the second half of this Cornholeanus Snow origin story, but then realized there was a third half coming and I had to witness the pacing and story-telling get sacrificed on the altar of setting up a sequel.
Plus, Rachel Zegler is an amazing young woman, but her excess of talent in everything she takes on does not justify turning the movie into a near-musical for her... Just sayin'.
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@saint-pauly Her singing put me off so bad. It didn't fit the theme of the movie at all. At some moments, I really felt like I was watching a cheesy disney musical.
This film is, in fact, a whodunit. As in "Who thought this movie was a good idea, and who in the hell green lighted it?"
But the biggest mystery is why in the world would Carrie Fisher agree to appear in it?
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@saint-pauly Maybe as a favor to Bruce Willis & Demi Moore? (Rumer Willis is their kid)
Like a man at a feminist parade, it tries hard but is more self-serving than it realizes.
Historically, movies were often centered around white males who were banal and self obsessed. Well, in these modern times, women now have their turn in this spotlight.
Julie is a 29 - 30 year old woman in Norway who can't make decisions and to whom nothing exciting ever happens, except resembling a lot of other heroines in a lot of other movies. Or maybe I'm just too old and have experienced all of these things in my life, repeatedly, and so don't need to see them reiterated back to me by a narcissistic stranger.
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@saint-pauly is a a slice of the life of a person with narcissistic personality disorder. she gives up everything where she doesn't excel. she is unhappy with the success/prominence of her partners and happy with their failures and difficulties. all out of envy not being the center of attention
Shout by Saint Pauly
Like most of my dates, what I think is going to have action turns out to be psychological drama.
If the poster were four people sitting in an empty room instead of a lone outpost surrounded by a furious storm, I might've been better prepared.
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@saint-pauly Lol. Well said. I can handle a low budget slow burn, but this really tested my patience. 4.8
A family of three is trapped in the upper floors of their building by a poisonous fog that has settled over Paris. Sadly, of all the stories that could be told from this situation, the one they've chosen is no doubt the least interesting. I'd be more interested in the masses atop Montmartre or the group stranded in the towers of Notre Dame, but that's not they tale we're told. Instead, we get a small budget story of a big budget idea.
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@saint-pauly ... I agree with you and would have liked to see other groups of survivors on Notre Dame or Eiffel Tower in between ^[^
As exciting as packaged sheets on the shelf in a suburban Ikea.
Maybe if I knew more about Bergman? Maybe if I liked Bergman? Maybe if I liked movies about relationships tucked inside movies about relationships?
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@saint-pauly I know it wasn’t your intent but this review just made me so fucking excited to watch this movie
Like a sharpened pencil with no paper, Great Freedom has a point but nothing to say.
This Austrian film about a man who's constantly in prison due to his homosexuality (the film is set in Germany, where homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969) excels in many areas: most notably a tour de force performance by lead actor Franz Rogowski, but also the superb directing by Sebastian Meise.
Great Freedom is gorgeous like a woman waking up into a hangover with a fat lip, no makeup, and puke matted in her unruly hair, yet who remains effortlessly beautiful the entire time.
Unfortunately, what the film lacks is everything else. There's no narrative arc, no story, the characters don't have dreams or aspirations and the conflict doesn't live up to the cruelty borne by the images.
Meise even suspects this himself because he takes that short cut all directors do to liven up a boring film: chop the time-line into pieces and mix it up so we have to puzzle it together to distract us from thinking about how not a whole lot happens in the film.
Still, there's enough happening below the surface to justify a viewing, though maybe not a 116-minute run time.
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@saint-pauly it was clear enough from the music and the styling and especially the amused remark of his cellmate about having been in a Nazi camp and now a prison for the same offence, that little had changed on the outside between the end of the war and the sixties... And that by then it was too late because he was effectively institutionalised. How is a whole lot meant to happen in a prison film. That is such a false premise otherwise people might find it an attractive place to beIt is that premise that makes most films too incredible to be taken to heart. I applaud that film that makes do without the obligatory car chase, super villain, hostage scene yadda yadda. Tedious and very forgettable. That's not why Shawshank is one of the most loved films. Or Forrest Gump.
This is a film about a man who struggled to be himself at a time when that was always going to lead to imprisonment. And yet he still changed the life of a teacher and a murderer/drug addict, in the process finding a situation he could live with. I am glad it wasn't a glossy production because the story was great enough to stand on its own. And the leads performance, was compelling.
Like a toy left out by a toddler: not very entertaining for an adult and even a bit painful if you should chance upon it unawares.
You don't need me to tell you what to think about this flick because you know what you're going to see here even before you walk into the cinema. It's more formulaic than baby's milk, but that also may be their target audience.
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@saint-pauly The main reason children's movies are so successful is that the parents need to come with them. At least one parent, and the younger the child the more likely both parents.
Very misleading trailer and title. What comes at night? NOTHING!. Incredibly slow pace and I was glad it was over (as was everyone in the theatre).
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@erulezz This a movie for cinema lovers. Not cheap horror popcorn movie lovers.
I'd always wondered what I didn't like about manga gaming films, and now I know: too much dialogue and repetitive, unoriginal fight scenes.
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No!! You guys doing it wrong! This is the internet! Where is the shouting, swearing and insulting each other??
The perfect zom-com! It starts off dead (some people even walked out and I thought perhaps the critics' raves were ravings) but then it comes alive and bites you in the ass. And once it sinks its teeth in you, you're hooked!
Stop reading here if you plan on seeing the film! You should go in as blind as possible!
Synopsis: The first half hour is a low budget zombie film, shot real-time and in one take. This is NOT the comedy, no matter how much intellectually Parisians chortled at what they were convinced were the appropriate places. No, the comedy takes place in the faux 'making-of' that follows, and I haven't laughed so hard in the cinema in a long time. Stick around for the credits, which is the real making-of the short that begins the film.
Creative and outside the box, One Cut of the Dead is not the movie you expect, but it is the zom-com you deserve.
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@saint-pauly Idk, this idea of the director character using ‘real’ zombies in order to draw better performances out of the actors got a good laugh out of me
Shout by Saint Pauly
Do me a favour and don't see this because of me. That way I can feel I'm getting my revenge for sitting through an hour and a half of PG-13 boredom. I just hope they make another so I can not see it.
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@saint-pauly I saw the poster and wondered "Why or how come I didn't watch this?! Did i forget to click -Add to history- ? "
Then i saw it:
I liked (thumb up) your comment Years ago. Here is another :thumbsup:
Ratsasan ('Demon') was my first ever Indian film (Tamil language), and what an adventure it was. A 2-part, 2 1/2 hour movie about a frustrated film director who becomes a police officer and investigates murders of young girls using research he did for one of his scripts about serial killers, and I hardly felt the time pass.
What I appreciated about the film was the simplicity and straight forwardness of the directing, which harkens back to the old school style of filmmaking. Imagine Howard Hawks or Orson Welles making a film like Seven and you have an idea of what Ratsasan is like.
Also surprising was the subplot of the #MeToo movement, where men who harassed women in various situations all received their come uppances. I'd read that India is beginning to experience a sea change as concerns the treatment of women, and while this film won't resolve all the issues, it at least is on the right side of them.
As for the downside of the movie... It felt like too much time was spent stating the obvious and connecting the dots, but then again, in a nation of 1.3 billion people with 22 major languages, I imagine they have to keep the story somewhat low context to make sure everyone can follow along.
But this is a minor inconvenience, because the movie is loads of fun and the re-watch value is rather high. Ratsasan may have been my first Indian / Tamil-language film, but I'll take pains to ensure it isn't my last.
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@saint-pauly I've reported this page as duplicate, it'll take up to 2 weeks for the staff to remove it. Might want to copy your review/comemnt to https://trakt.tv/movies/ratsasan-2018
Like designer tampons: not just important, it's also very well made.
A perfect introduction to womanhood for young women at that stage, though the clown father figure was a cliché that stood out in a film with very few clichés.
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@saint-pauly love the analogy but also have to disagree with the father stereotype as I have had every single conversation and awkward silence represented by the father
Like a Happy Meal: not disgusting but not enough meat and made for kids.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife isn't a film for all ages, it's more for just the younger ones. It was nice to see the original cast reunited and the references were cute but I prefer the 2016 reboot, tbh.
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@saint-pauly I mostly agree... But come on NOBODY likes that 2016 abomination
Don't believe the pack mentality concerning The Snowman. This Cult of Rotten Tomatoes and piling on after one bad review is a tad ridiculous, especially concerning solid films like this one. For example, I liked the filming style here and found the cinematography often gorgeous.
On the other hand, the story was like a child who tries too hard to be clever, and watching Michael Fassbender act is like making love to someone who's always looking in the mirror when he fucks because he's more interested in his own image than your pleasure. On top of that, what was up with Val Kilmer's voice that they had to dub all of his scenes? Whatever the reason, the Christian Bale Batman voice they chose was extremely distracting...
Bottom line: don't believe everything you read. Like with every other movie, see it and judge it for yourself. Don't let other people tell you what you think!
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@saint-pauly - Val Kilmer suffers from Throat Cancer and needs a machine to talk.
Like an NFT of a classic musical: it was technically well-made and looked really good but I got no emotion from it.
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@saint-pauly Just watched this in theaters and kind of agree. It was just... kind of there. I can't even count the number of times that I checked the time on my phone.
Shout by Saint Pauly
The reason I don't like documentaries is that they aren't enough like this one. No narrator, no melodrama, just authentic home videos and interviews with the people involved. A must-watch if you saw the film Foxcatcher.
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@saint-pauly Couldn't agree more. I actually saw the film first and knew it was based on a true story so immediately looked for a Docu on it... and boy did we find it!
Shout by Saint Pauly
The Rise of Skywalker is like sex with your spouse of many years. Sure, it's sex so it's cool, but you know their routine, there are no surprises and the climax is better than nothing, but not much more. I mean at least episodes 7 and 8 were visually gorgeous, but this one doesn't even bother to put on anything sexy, it just lies there and you wait for it to be over.
This is the Star Wars you've been coming home to for years, so familiar that you can predict its jokes and even finish its sentences. Oh well, at least you're still in love, right? Right?
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@saint-pauly I applaud your colourful analogy :joy:
I'm the only bloke on the planet who didn't like the first Guardians of the Galaxy, and here's another unpopular opinion: I like this one more than the first, despite the third act going on far too long.
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@saint-pauly We are Groot... I mean two! :sweat_smile:
Why would anyone make a sequel and not try to surpass or at least equal the original? As much as I didn't hate the first one, this "film" is a waste of everyone's time, cast and director included.
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@saint-pauly I liked it a lot!
Like eating the right amount of your favorite candy, Godzilla vs Kong is a visual sugar rush that will keep you buzzing for hours.
Where Godzilla (2014) dragged in places and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) was all adrenalin with nothing to grasp, Godzilla vs Kong is a perfect popcorn and Coke movie with the sweet action and the savory visuals. The right length, some gorgeous cinematography, flawless CGI, a perfect balance between action and story, Godzilla vs Kong is the best movie in the monsterverse and caps off the franchise gloriously.
It's not art, but that's OK, I didn't need it to be.
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@saint-pauly this is exactly what I thought of it, GREAT COMMENT!
They should've called this film People Who Know Dumbo because when you replace the talking animals of the original cartoon with human actors, the movie stops being about Dumbo and more about people's drama. It's sad, actually, because the cartoon about Dumbo had more heart than anyone in this technological display.
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@saint-pauly this is exactly how I felt after watching this movie...
Deux / Two of Us is the kind of film you've never seen anything like before and wonder why the hell not.
It's the story of a romance between two closeted elderly women that, following an unforseen incident, turns incredibly intense. First time feature director Filippo Meneghetti delivers a magistral movie that mixes romance and suspense with taut writing and a wonderful use of sound that heightens each emotion like light on a masterpiece. Not a minute is wasted, and you won't waste any in seeing it.
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@saint-pauly - Ok, thanks. I'm closer to the equator so might have to wait a while. :smile:
Deux / Two of Us is the kind of film you've never seen anything like before and wonder why the hell not.
It's the story of a romance between two closeted elderly women that, following an unforseen incident, turns incredibly intense. First time feature director Filippo Meneghetti delivers a magistral movie that mixes romance and suspense with taut writing and a wonderful use of sound that heightens each emotion like light on a masterpiece. Not a minute is wasted, and you won't waste any in seeing it.
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@saint-pauly - Hey, if you don't mind saying, where did you watch it? I'm trying to find it.
