Amph At The Movies (film discussion thread)

Feel we need one of these. Hard to talk movies in the "last movie you saw" thread. Has a set purpose.

So given that I love movies and I like discussing movies I figure why not make a place where they can be discussed. If we have one already, then mine is better.

Here you can talk your Favorite films. Upcoming films. Film reviews. Film criticism.Films you would like to see. Film making. Art of film. Film festivals. Hollywood. Anything involving film.

Personally, I've been keeping tabs on Cannes the pass week. Today was the last day I believe. Ending with MACBETH, starring Fassbender and Cotillard.. Really looking forward to it ever since it was announced a few years back. Looks like the response was very divisive. Foreign reviewers hated it. Specifically the French and the Italians. English speaking reviewers seem to have loved it for the most part. 89%'on RT, with the one negative thinking it the worst film at Cannes this year. Some say Cotillard gives an Oscar worthy performance and some say she mumbles every line. She apparently did her best to have a Scottish accent for the film, even had a voice coach. Didn't work though. Still have high hopes for it. Either way I'll watch it, for the actors alone. Usually I'm a review watcher, but it's Fassbender and Cotillard, so come on. It's a performance movie anyway. It's a Weinstein production( one they're big on)so you know it's gonna be pushed for award buzz. Hoping for the best.

Inside Out was screened out of competition, but has received stellar reviews so far. Critics love it when Pixar gets ambitious. Even better when they stick the landing.

A film called, Love. I'll let you look more into that one. Interesting alternate one sheet.

Plan on taking more time to see what got talked about this year later. Awards should be handed out tomorrow I guess.


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I've been anticipating Macbeth for some time. It's my favorite Shakespeare play, it's spawned many great adaptations (my favorite being Polanski's nihilistic masterpiece and Kurosawa's Throne of Blood) and Fassbender and Cotillard are among the most charismatic actors of their generation. Consequently, it's impossible for this film NOT to rock my world.

I'm also looking forward to Wild Tales, the Latin American anthology film. Someone described it as a Marxist Tales From The Crypt, which means it could very well be the greatest movie ever made. And honestly, we need more and better anthology pictures. Most proved awfully disposable, yet I'm always looking for a diamond in the rough. There's nothing quite like a 25-minute cinematic jolt (everyone remembers George Miller's Nightmare at 20,000 Feet mini-masterpiece), rarer still is the exhilarating, successive triumph (e.g., Bava's Black Sabbath and the Japanese Kwaidan and Three Extremes...).

 

I love Throne of Blood. The sound the lady Macbeth character makes as she walks in her dress in creepy as hell. Love most of Kurosawa's works. Not a fan of kagemusha however.


Thinking of foriegn films makes me think of the Korean horror film Audition. Great movie. Films doesn't have any shock scares, save for one, and that one was perfectly timed. It's not the scares that will horrify you during the movie(not many, if any) it's the dread of knowing where it's all leading and just waiting for the hammer to drop that will get you.


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Well, the next movie I'm definitely planning on seeing in a theater is a revival showing of "Wings", with live organ accompaniment. I saw it that way a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

Beyond that, it's BlobFest in July. This year, I'm split between the early showing ("The Blob" and the 3-D version of "The Creature from the Black Lagoon") and the later showing ("The Blob" and "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein"). Any suggestions?

I'll probably see something else between those, maybe "Tomorrowland". I'll think it over.

 

Wild Tales is a ******* great movie. I thought all of the stories worked really well and the majority were genuinely great. It's easily the best anthology film I've ever seen.

I'm definitely pumped for Macbeth. Fassbender & Cotillard are two of the best actors working today, so I'm way on board. I'm also interested in Fassbender's other big film this year, The Light Between Oceans. I actually know nothing about it other than the people working on it. Fassbender, Alicia Vikander (who I am dying to see more of after her amazing turn in Ex Machina) and the criminally underused Rachel Weisz. Plus, it's directed by Derek Cianfrance. He made waves with his debut, Blue Valentine, and I absolutely loved his followup, The Place Beyond the Pines. Flawed movies, but he gets great performances out of his actors (Bradley Cooper is career best in Place Beyond the Pines and it's also the movie that introduced me to Dane DeHaan, a really exciting young actor) and he has the ambition to want to do something unique and different and epic and I love that about him, even when he fails.

Oh, I gotta go, but DarthMane2, let's talk Kagemusha. It's lesser Kurosawa, but I still find it transfixing and wonderful. What are your issues with it?

 

It wasn't bad, just my least favorite of his films. Beautiful movie, well acted, but I guess I'm not a fan of King Lear.

 

I've been watching AMC Movie Talk on YouTube for (IIRC) a little over two years. It's a daily show that talks about mostly upcoming movies.

Here's today episode of AMC Movie Talk:

 

Favorite Movies: Star Wars and Schindler's List
Favorite Actors: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler, Melanie Laurent and Diane Kruger
Favorite Actors of Golden Age: Bergman and Garbo

I really love the golden age movies and stars, spent time to watch 35+ and still have a lot of movies/stars to develop.

 

Bergman's my favorite participant in the Golden Age as well.

... We're talking about the Golden Age of European Cinema, right? Ingmar Bergman?

 

While I'm not sure Ex Machina would get a nomination for Best Picture (too early in the year, sci-fi by a director who doesn't already have academy cred) I would hope Alicia Vikander would get a best actress nomination cuz she was gat-damn amazingly heartbreaking / scary weird in that flick. Maybe outside shot at Best Supporting Actress, they tend to go a little weirder on those (also I think it's a coinflip if you think the character of Ava in the film is a lead or supporting. But probably a lead)

 

Sad to see the "IT" movie come to a halt. Personally I feel it's kings all around best work. Don't see a reason to split it like the mini series did though. I think it works better switching from back and forth like In the book. Especially when we get to the end and it all converges to them battling IT in both time lines. There's a reason it's that way in the plot.

As sad as I am to see the brakes put on the film, I was never sure about the casting choice for IT. Kid could have done great,but an odd choice.

Anyone ever see Bergmans( the other one) "Persona" ?


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Yeah, I watched it because I enjoyed The Seventh Seal so much. It's nothing like that, but it was interesting and unnerving, though I'm not exactly sure I could explain why. Great shots, though, and I loved how it occasionally presented itself as being... well, a film.

 

I honestly believe the twist to that film is that one of girls doesn't exist. The last 15 minutes of that movie blew my mind. Great movie, I think.


Bergman is one of my favorite directors. Mostly because he could tell a story about anything and keep my attention. Thought I was going to be bored to death with Wild Strawberries, but ended up enjoying it quite a lot.

 

I sort of took it to be the young boy attempting to reconcile his image of his mother with a character she was playing in a movie, though honestly I think that might be trying to take it too literally.

 

Maybe. I don't know. You see some analyze the movie as the nurse not existing at all and that she's just a persona of the actress. It seems to me to be hinting at this in some scenes at the end. Especially the shots of their faces connected.

Still just as many who watch it seem to believe that it's all played straight.


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I mean, certainly the beauty of it is there are a significant number of ways you can interpret various scenes. Bergman was sufficiently versed in some then-contemporary philosophical trends that he was probably well aware that there would be outside views imposed on the work and might very well have had several of them in mind.

 

Oh, no, you're thinking of Ran. That's the one based on King Lear. Kagemusha is the one where the poor guy gets trained to be a double for the emperor.

Adding to the Bergman discussion, I have to recommend Wild Strawberries. I've only seen that one & The Seventh Seal. I caught them both in one night on a TCM showing. Boy, that was a strange evening. I've since seen Wild Strawberries on the big screen as well. It's just so, so amazing. Sjostrom's performance is incredible. Wish I'd seen Persona now; seems like a fun film to talk about.

 

Yeah, I'm getting them mixed up . Seen both. I liked kagemusha better than Ran, I know that much.

 

Ran is one I haven't seen. I need to catch up to it; I love Throne of Blood, his other Shakespeare adaptation, and Ran is generally considered one of his best, though apparently you differ. But I need to see it anyway. Kurosawa's one of those guys that I feel like I just need to see everything he's ever done. What's your favorite?

 

Ingrid Bergman.

 

I know; it's a lame joke.

 

I loved Wild Strawberries, but goddamn Fannie and Alexander is a flipping masterpiece. Loved it so goddamned much.

 

I've just seen the trailer to the Point Break remake. I'm not even going to link to it, it is that dispiriting.

 

Johnny Utah was my fantasy football team's name. I've been meaning to watch the original Point Break for the last couple of months, but instead I was catching up on Daredevil and Sons of Anarchy.

I'm bummed that IT lost its director and the film is in limbo. I remember the miniseries when it was on ABC. That clown terrified me. I would love to see a modern take on it. Cary Fukunaga was an excellent choice for director of the film.

Ex Machina is definitely on my watch list. Hopefully I'll be able to catch it before it leaves the theaters.

 

Which character is Liam Neeson's best role?