IdleRich

IdleRich
The Hateful Eight - least Tarantionesque of his films. Kind of like an Agatha Christie but with guns and I enjoyed it a lot.
The Revenant - not bad, the scene with the bear was very impressive. I guess that watching someone crawl for 300 miles wouldn't be much fun so they packed it out with him meeting a native American or a fur-trapper or something every five minutes. My girlfriend said "this wilderness isn't very desolate is it?".
Smokin' Aces - very Tarantinoesque, real fucking mess.
The Lobster - not as clever as it thinks. Some good moments.
Bluebeard - quite cool. I preferred her version of Sleeping Beauty
Wise Blood - weird film and at the end you're not sure what it's about (finding God maybe?) but always interesting.
Go - also like a kiddy Tarantino. Sort of really annoying but also fun to watch.
Maybe I can go and see Star Wars this weekend...
 

droid

Well-known member
Turned the Tarantino off after an hour or so. I cant count the many ways it was awful.

Thought the Revenant was really beautifully shot and incredibly Malickesque, flagged a bit in the middle.

Sicario was really good - what season 2 of true detective should've been like.

Ant man had the best fight scene of any superhero film to date.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Was so disappointed with Sicario. Can't believe that so many people seemed to think that was good.

Thought the Revenant was really beautifully shot and incredibly Malickesque, flagged a bit in the middle.
Yeah, I think that's inevitable. I mean, it's completely amazing that a guy who was left for dead and with a broken leg etc managed to crawl so far to survive - but is it amazing in a way that can be filmed?
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I watched Sicario last night (on the strength of your comment Droid!) and have to say I was incredibly disappointed too. The camerawork was fantastic in places, and Emily Blunt gave a decent turn, but the story was so thin and cliched... plus Benicio del Toro must be one of the most overrated actors ever this side of Daniel Day Lewis, constantly reprising the same tired tough man schtick (admittedly there's lots of his films I haven't seen, so likely someone will post a counterexample now...and it's likely not his fault due to typecasting)
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Also, and not exactly a criticism of the film (more what I'd heard), but I had the impression it was gonna be some kind of feminist thing, was surprised and disappointed to realise that Blunt was playing a little girl who had no grasp of the real situation and kept having to have it mansplained to her - when she wasn't busy being rescued that is.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
*spoiler alert*

I thought at the beginning her character was portrayed as pretty competent, and 'out of her depth' only insofar as both the FBI agents were being cynically used by the CIA (although yeah, white men in the know, and a woman and black man as hapless accomplices - we've seen this before), but towards the end her increasing dependency really rankled. Would have been solved I think by having Josh Brolin's character as a woman, and to have Blunt shoot del Toro in the back at the end. As to del Toro's revenge mission - don't attempt to beat Breaking Bad at its own game...
 
Last edited:

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
sicario is a great genre film, its thrilling, has good action, all the rest of it, but it offers nothing new on its subject. its just one big lazy complacent shrug about drugs, the authorities, and above all, south america. 'we dont understand... well thats cos you CANT understand! these people are beyond understanding!' well youd hope a film about this subject might try and help you understand better. instead its just entertaining war on drugs propaganda, designed to make the viewer back the US govt's approach to tackling drug gangs, and torture, etc etc. it was also deeply irritating how she was still none the wiser by the end of the film. what a dope.

ps - i sort of hate emily blunt. though i found her generally hard to dislike in this. but thats just cos shes removed all traces of her personality as she is playing at being american.
 
Last edited:

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
yep, definitely lots of othering there. I thought the set pieces were quite exciting, granted. Though the last massacre at the chief narco's house was rubbish.

I quite like her, which is a combination of her looks and her having starred in a genuinely great film once (My Summer of Love). I'm not sure I've ever seen an interview with her though, so plenty of time to change my mind.
 

droid

Well-known member
sicario is a great genre film, its thrilling, has good action, all the rest of it, but it offers nothing new on its subject. its just one big lazy complacent shrug about drugs, the authorities, and above all, south america. 'we dont understand... well thats cos you CANT understand! these people are beyond understanding!' well youd hope a film about this subject might try and help you understand better. instead its just entertaining war on drugs propaganda, designed to make the viewer back the US govt's approach to tackling drug gangs, and torture, etc etc. it was also deeply irritating how she was still none the wiser by the end of the film. what a dope.

What I liked about it was the sense of sprawling futility, the huge insolvable complexity of the situation, and the scale of cynicism of all the players involved. I thought it had a tone of detached desolation that really worked. I guess I was more impressed by the world rather then the narrative. Dont really see how it could be read as anything but a critique of the war on drugs.

Agreed on Blunt's character. Really dont like Del Toro, but thought he was good in this.
 
Last edited:

IdleRich

IdleRich
The bit where he fought his way into the boss's house and killed him reminded me of the end bit of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and I thought it was rubbish the first time I saw it too.
The only scene I thought was good/tense was the one where they were bringing the guy back over the border.
Did I also say I watched The Counselor? Another misfire about Mexican drug trafficking with this invisible all powerful "the cartel" a kind of God from the Machine that can be invoked to solve any narrative problem as long as it's in a bad way. Didn't realise Cormac McCarthy could write something so bad. And Fassbender's accent was different in every scene just to add insult to injury. If these guys are gonna be paid millions for acting oughtn't they to be able to master the basic technical skills?
But what was wrong with The Hateful Eight? I found it a great way to put my head back together on New Year's Day.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
The End of the Tour is a great and very human film, even if you don't care much for David Foster Wallace.

Kill the Messenger very good too, about the uncovering of the CIA-crack-Contra scandal by journalist Gary Webb in the '90s. Incredible (and incredibly sad) story.
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
What I liked about it was the sense of sprawling futility, the huge insolvable complexity of the situation, and the scale of cynicism of all the players involved. I thought it had a tone of detached desolation that really worked. I guess I was more impressed by the world rather then the narrative. Dont really see how it could be read as anything but a critique of the war on drugs.

sure if you want to watch a film that keeps you and its leads in a perpetual fog, then its great. and it does that well (esp if you want to sympathise with our intrepid, but perhaps, simply inept officers). its a good, very well made 'movie', with great direction, tension and atmosphere, etc, but its also just empty, and wilfully lazy, making it far too easy for the audience to feel they dont have to really engage with the subject, beyond sympathising with the plight of blunt and her partner and being shocked and horrified by the cartels and witnessing the corruption of that one latino officer who gets gunned down. the film basically says - if the FBI cant get to grips with it, what hope is there for the rest of us?

anyway, didnt we see traffic already?

not seen the hateful eight yet, and i will, but i think im tired of QT's stupidity after the last two.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
It's funny, I enjoyed Django a lot when I saw it in the cinema but it didn't make a deep impression and I don't remember it that well. This latest one is a lot less silly - not difficult obviously.
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
i liked django, inglorious not as much. but theres something thats just stupid about the violence in his films now that doesnt appeal to me. its not that i dont watch violent films, but his brand of violence now seems especially dumb (even when it is inventive). it doesnt come with any meaning or subtext. maybe as his films dont seem to take themselves very seriously anymore. theyre these knowing, winking things, without any real heart of their own. im also starting to find his need to hitch his vacuous revenge fantasies onto real historical events a bit tasteless too, though im not sure why. it makes it more delicious, but also ends up feeling like hes just doing it to get away with something, rather than any real interest in those events.

hes a brilliant director, writer, and a great advocate for cinema, but i think hes been living too long in his self imposed grindhouse universe.

edit - obv i know these arent new complaints, but he hasnt changed either!
 
Last edited:

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
i saw the devil, the korean film = what an amazing film. i thought it was going to be a standard sort of police procedural/revenge movie, but it was much more original and surprising than i thought (but without trying to be all self consciously clever about it). less shocking than i anticipated too, though there were still a few horrific scenes. but even the action and fighting was inventive. apparently theres an american remake in the works.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I have slight reservations about recommending 'Brooklyn' on Dissensus because you're all such cynical bitter husks, but it might melt your icy hearts in spite of yourselves.

Speaking as a fairly icy-hearted cynic myself, a couple of contrivances in the plot and the odd moment of sentimentality amidst the sentiment couldn't sink it for me. It was a feel-good film in the best of senses. Beautifully shot, too. Well worth checking out at the cinema for the splendour of its colours and to share in a receptive audience's laughter.

So many films I've wanted to see lately - Carol, Sicario, Creed, etc. Must be awards season, eh?
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
So... Victoria... I hate to add my name to the list of people saying what an incredible and immersive experience it is, but it fucking is. Never been so caught up in a film as this I think. Totally felt I knew the characters, I spent ages afterwards wondering why the film affected me so much and eventually I tentatively concluded that it was because it seemed to have created these real characters and made you feel that you know them but you can never know them because they are not really real... and for that reason, even if you don't realise that's the reason, you are left with a feeling of emptiness when the film ends and you discover you have lost those people. That you never had them. Maybe that's it. Anyway, I'm rambling. Just watch it if you haven't seen it.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
sounds very good, must watch that.

I'd recommend 99 Homes as one of the more extraordinary films I've seen - intensely political, brilliantly acted, and viscerally upsetting in parts. Now going to check out the rest of Ramin Bahrani's oeuvre.
 
Top