The story is harrowing (I've read the book) but I wasn't a huge fan of how the movie presented it.
From a narrative standpoint, I really wish it had been presented purely as a mystery from the Osage perspective. It was hard to stay invested when at every point you're aware of exactly what is happening with both sides.
It simultaneously needed more and less. More background on the headrights structure would have helped a lot, and other than a few statements here and there it really undersells the scale of the bloodshed.
Important story and am glad its getting more attention, but I wasn't a massive fan of how the movie told it.
It's a fine movie, but in the context of Best Picture nominees its somewhere around 5 or 6 for me.
It was tense and thrilling up through the Trinity test but grinds to a halt for the last hour.
They'd set up enough of what was happening I didn't need to see the intricacies of the two trials. I'm sure they would have been a lot more interesting in the book, but that level of detail wasn't well suited to film.
I honestly expected the movie was going to end after the speech in the gymnasium and I would have been completely OK with that. It's a really good movie but not quite great.
Surprisingly I found the nature documentary bits fairly engaging. If there's one thing these movies do well is build a cool world that is fun to explore. When the humans show up again and the battle starts I completely lost interest.
There's a pretty natural ending around at around 2:15 but it just keeps going.
The first sign of trouble is the grand cinematic opening setting up his big break as a musician, but then it cuts away without even bothering to show it.
I don't even know what to focus on, that was just terrible top to bottom. "A closeted gay man, who seems to have had an unrelenting cold for 50 years and may or may not work in the music industry, repeatedly cheats on his wife". In no particular order:
We really don't see any of his passion for music until 90 minutes in, in possibly the only good scene in the movie. The surface-level biography of "Bernstein did this, then this, then this" without touching on his motivations, beliefs, or values. The second half of the film focuses more on Felicia but we don't know anything about her outside of the relationship. The wanna-be Sorkin grand monologues that manage to say absolutely nothing in 200 words. Cooper's bad SNL-esque impersonation of the man (look up some real interviews with him). It tries to convince us of his musical genius by scoring the film with music from other, better productions; but the net effect is nothing ever really fits the scene.
Then when things are mercifully drawing to a close, it tops it off with the worst needle drop I've ever seen. A better movie might have been able to pull that off, but not one that lost the audience 90 minutes earlier.
There are a couple small bright spots - the cinematography is excellent, particularly the early black and white sequences, and Carey Mulligan is always fantastic.
Kindof an oddball as I can't decide how to review it. On its own its a well written, tight, and efficient horror film. As an entry that comes after 4 films and 3 television season of a beloved horror/comedy franchise there are certain expectations that it falls short of.
I greatly enjoyed the splatterfest horror that had some great and inventive kills, and the "family" cronenberg thing was a fantastic new Deadite. It managed to shock me a few times as well, as I wasn't expecting it to go this hard and kill most of the kids. I appreciated getting out of the Cabin in the Woods setting for once as well (with a nice callback at the beginning/end), and its worth watching just for the keyhole scene alone.
My only gripe really comes down to it almost completely dropping the "comedy" aspect. I kept waiting for something cheesy and lighthearted to break things up and make it fit with the rest of the franchise. The standard items still present - the book, the shotgun, and the chainsaw - but I wanted something of the caliber of "groovy" or Ash fighting his own hand (not a straight callback, but something new like those scenes).
On pure technical merit its probably the best entry in the franchise, but as an Evil Dead film its almost too slick for its own good. Still a great watch though.
Surprisingly enjoyable. It's Power Rangers so obviously its never going to be high art, but for what it was it was excellent.
It really nailed the tribute/continuation of the 93-95 MMPR era feel that it was going for. Its cheesy and silly like the original (in a very loving way) but added a pretty strong emotional core that the live-action franchise has lacked for years. Basing it around Trini was a great choice that really paid off. I really appreciated that it chose to focus on characters who haven't gotten their chance to suit up again since the original run as well - we've seen all of the fan-favorites already in other specials, it was nice that this group got a chance to shine.
There are some obvious shortcomings - a lot of awkwardness regarding the timing around Tommy's death and Jason's legal troubles; and the Zord fight CGI could have been better (thought its a masterpiece compared to what the shows have been putting out for the last 10 years), and a few plot nitpicks.
Overall though, I just really appreciate how hard it tried, which is something the live action side has been missing since probably RPM.
A very odd film. It was pretty good and Cate Blanchett was amazing, but I feel like it missed out on being great by some odd editing choices that remove a lot of context. Some examples:
A huge number of shots from the first teaser appear to have been cut (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXK-tqy3QS0) which would have built on the horror/psychological elements; especially the recurring maze motif that just felt like a dangling thread.
When she was handed the headset in the final scene, that would have played a metronome in her ear, removing the last of her power that she alluded to in the first scene (about the conductors power to control time) - found this from a musician that commented on it elsewhere.
Without context, the last scene doesn't really establish how humiliating it is either - apparently its a video game symphony for Monster Hunter World. The costumes were odd, but without knowing what it was it didn't quite land for me at the time.
When she was meeting with the assistant conductor to force him out, there's a very deliberate shot of her stealing something from his desk, but it doesn't come up again.
How her symphony notes went missing from her home office should have gone somewhere - either there was a break in or her wife was complicit.
Looking back it seems like it went through an enormous rewrite in the editing room, and there are a lot of dead ends from the original movie that didn't get resolved. I don't know if the rewrite made it a better movie or not, but all of the loose ends made the final product worse.
As an isolated film we thought it was excellent - powerful performances that facilitated a deep debate about the horrific issues women universally struggle with around the world.
After it finished, we looked up the actual history of the Manitoba Colony and our opinions on it became a lot more complicated. In the real events that it was based off of, the women choose something closer to "Option A" with a little bit of "Option B" sprinkled in. When looking at the film with that knowledge it comes across as a bizarre wish fulfillment fantasy - "here's what we, as privileged western women outsiders (Miriam Towes - writer of original book, Sarah Polley - director) think these women should have done instead".
In retrospect it honestly feels insulting to the original women, as if they weren't strong enough to take the action that the writers/film makers think they should have.
As a piece of filmmaking it was phenomenal, but I really haven't figured out how to reconcile that with the awkwardness of the original work. I do appreciate that it is bringing the horrific events to prominence, but I think a lot of the film's message is lost when juxtaposed with real life.
Started incredible and steadily dropped off after the crater scene.
The boys signing up, getting their uniforms, first bomardment, the tank scene, and the crater were all fantastic and some of the more visceral and powerful war scenes I've seen. I really liked the parallel story with the diplomats as well, even if it took away from some of the POV rawness of the war.
After that the final hour starts getting a little ridiculous. Kat's story, the completely made up final charge, and Paul literally being the last casualty of World War 1 after an epic "Hollywood" fistfight was just too much.
I mostly liked it - a good satire/comedy about power dynamics and class that was entertaining most of the way through. A bit on the nose, but looking at the last decade maybe that's what's needed.
I struggled a bit in Act 3 though - it really could have been either:
- 30 minutes shorter as it made its point about inverting power dynamics fairly quickly and effectively; or
- 15 minutes longer, because the rest of the act felt like it was building to something that never really came.
Austin Butler is absolutely incredible and makes it worth watching, even if the rest of the movie is a lot more uneven.
Luhrmann's style works really well for capturing the fever dream of Elvis's life, but the movie kind drags when it "snaps back" to reality. I kindof wished Luhrmann had kept it cranked to 11 for 2 hours, only for it to come crashing down in the final minutes which would have been more impactful.
Also, man, was Hanks a complete disaster. Every time he reappeared and wouldn't shut up about snow I was completely pulled out of it. Its one of the worst casting and performances I've ever seen.
Like Burt Reynold's mustache-less face, this movie bears little resemblance to what you expect going in. Subsequent portrayals and parodies lead you to expect something like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Children of the Corn, but instead you get a pretty compelling man vs nature story.
At a high level everything about this is a great - performances, cinematography, and of course music.
Unfortunately it's a remake of a still-beloved musical from 60 years ago which brings along a lot of extra baggage - namely why does this exist?
The entire pitch of this movie seems to be "we noticed some problematic portrayals of race in a 60 year old movie, lets redo it". I really don't get the decision to only fix those; but not update the movie to reflect all of the other social changes that occurred in the mean time. If it had been set in the modern day with updated plots this movie could have actually become something interesting; instead of a movie that is still set in 1957 with a weird mishmash of 1957 and 2021 values.
We're left with a movie that is technically excellent but never really makes a case for coming out in 2021.
I really don't get how the action could be so terrible in a Matrix movie. There isn't a fight scene that I'd rank in the top 20 of the franchise, which is really unforgivable.
I mostly liked everything about the story and found it a worthwhile continuation of the original movies, with some decent enough character development and technological evolution. One major plus is it actually captured a bit of the first movie's disorienting "wtf is reality" that 2&3 really missed on.
But, the entire movie, I kept waiting for any fight scene that captured any of the magic of the original three. Instead, it was just nonstop clumsy shakeycam brawls.
For the entire runtime I couldn't shake the feeling I had accidentally started 7 of a 12 part documentary about early Hollywood instead.
Characters and events repeatedly pop up without any explanation to why they are important or relevant to the story. Some vague connections can be gleaned from context but they are frustratingly incomplete.
I'm sure there's a good movie here if you are intimately familiar with the early studio system, but I don't know if I've ever seen a movie so incapable of standing on its own.
It fully embraces the cheesiness of the originals - there were multiple scenes that still looked like a man in a rubber suit knocking over miniatures - while updating it for the modern day with some good effects.
It's the first Godzilla movie since possibly the original to have a compelling human story which is a welcome addition. Also, updating the "Godzilla" metaphor from nuclear weapons to the potential dangers of nuclear power post-Fukushima was a nice touch.
Comments 1 - 22 of 22
Movie comment on Killers of the Flower Moon
Caerus
Good, not great.The story is harrowing (I've read the book) but I wasn't a huge fan of how the movie presented it.
From a narrative standpoint, I really wish it had been presented purely as a mystery from the Osage perspective. It was hard to stay invested when at every point you're aware of exactly what is happening with both sides.
It simultaneously needed more and less. More background on the headrights structure would have helped a lot, and other than a few statements here and there it really undersells the scale of the bloodshed.
Important story and am glad its getting more attention, but I wasn't a massive fan of how the movie told it.
It's a fine movie, but in the context of Best Picture nominees its somewhere around 5 or 6 for me.
Movie comment on Oppenheimer
Caerus
It was tense and thrilling up through the Trinity test but grinds to a halt for the last hour.They'd set up enough of what was happening I didn't need to see the intricacies of the two trials. I'm sure they would have been a lot more interesting in the book, but that level of detail wasn't well suited to film.
I honestly expected the movie was going to end after the speech in the gymnasium and I would have been completely OK with that. It's a really good movie but not quite great.
Movie comment on Avatar: The Way of Water
Caerus
Surprisingly I found the nature documentary bits fairly engaging. If there's one thing these movies do well is build a cool world that is fun to explore. When the humans show up again and the battle starts I completely lost interest.There's a pretty natural ending around at around 2:15 but it just keeps going.
Movie comment on Maestro
Caerus
The first sign of trouble is the grand cinematic opening setting up his big break as a musician, but then it cuts away without even bothering to show it.I don't even know what to focus on, that was just terrible top to bottom. "A closeted gay man, who seems to have had an unrelenting cold for 50 years and may or may not work in the music industry, repeatedly cheats on his wife". In no particular order:
We really don't see any of his passion for music until 90 minutes in, in possibly the only good scene in the movie. The surface-level biography of "Bernstein did this, then this, then this" without touching on his motivations, beliefs, or values. The second half of the film focuses more on Felicia but we don't know anything about her outside of the relationship. The wanna-be Sorkin grand monologues that manage to say absolutely nothing in 200 words. Cooper's bad SNL-esque impersonation of the man (look up some real interviews with him). It tries to convince us of his musical genius by scoring the film with music from other, better productions; but the net effect is nothing ever really fits the scene.
Then when things are mercifully drawing to a close, it tops it off with the worst needle drop I've ever seen. A better movie might have been able to pull that off, but not one that lost the audience 90 minutes earlier.
There are a couple small bright spots - the cinematography is excellent, particularly the early black and white sequences, and Carey Mulligan is always fantastic.
Movie comment on Evil Dead Rise
Caerus
Kindof an oddball as I can't decide how to review it. On its own its a well written, tight, and efficient horror film. As an entry that comes after 4 films and 3 television season of a beloved horror/comedy franchise there are certain expectations that it falls short of.I greatly enjoyed the splatterfest horror that had some great and inventive kills, and the "family" cronenberg thing was a fantastic new Deadite. It managed to shock me a few times as well, as I wasn't expecting it to go this hard and kill most of the kids. I appreciated getting out of the Cabin in the Woods setting for once as well (with a nice callback at the beginning/end), and its worth watching just for the keyhole scene alone.
My only gripe really comes down to it almost completely dropping the "comedy" aspect. I kept waiting for something cheesy and lighthearted to break things up and make it fit with the rest of the franchise. The standard items still present - the book, the shotgun, and the chainsaw - but I wanted something of the caliber of "groovy" or Ash fighting his own hand (not a straight callback, but something new like those scenes).
On pure technical merit its probably the best entry in the franchise, but as an Evil Dead film its almost too slick for its own good. Still a great watch though.
Movie comment on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always
Caerus
Surprisingly enjoyable. It's Power Rangers so obviously its never going to be high art, but for what it was it was excellent.It really nailed the tribute/continuation of the 93-95 MMPR era feel that it was going for. Its cheesy and silly like the original (in a very loving way) but added a pretty strong emotional core that the live-action franchise has lacked for years. Basing it around Trini was a great choice that really paid off. I really appreciated that it chose to focus on characters who haven't gotten their chance to suit up again since the original run as well - we've seen all of the fan-favorites already in other specials, it was nice that this group got a chance to shine.
There are some obvious shortcomings - a lot of awkwardness regarding the timing around Tommy's death and Jason's legal troubles; and the Zord fight CGI could have been better (thought its a masterpiece compared to what the shows have been putting out for the last 10 years), and a few plot nitpicks.
Overall though, I just really appreciate how hard it tried, which is something the live action side has been missing since probably RPM.
Movie comment on Tár
Caerus
A very odd film. It was pretty good and Cate Blanchett was amazing, but I feel like it missed out on being great by some odd editing choices that remove a lot of context. Some examples:A huge number of shots from the first teaser appear to have been cut (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXK-tqy3QS0) which would have built on the horror/psychological elements; especially the recurring maze motif that just felt like a dangling thread.
When she was handed the headset in the final scene, that would have played a metronome in her ear, removing the last of her power that she alluded to in the first scene (about the conductors power to control time) - found this from a musician that commented on it elsewhere.
Without context, the last scene doesn't really establish how humiliating it is either - apparently its a video game symphony for Monster Hunter World. The costumes were odd, but without knowing what it was it didn't quite land for me at the time.
When she was meeting with the assistant conductor to force him out, there's a very deliberate shot of her stealing something from his desk, but it doesn't come up again.
How her symphony notes went missing from her home office should have gone somewhere - either there was a break in or her wife was complicit.
Looking back it seems like it went through an enormous rewrite in the editing room, and there are a lot of dead ends from the original movie that didn't get resolved. I don't know if the rewrite made it a better movie or not, but all of the loose ends made the final product worse.
Movie comment on Women Talking
Caerus
As an isolated film we thought it was excellent - powerful performances that facilitated a deep debate about the horrific issues women universally struggle with around the world.After it finished, we looked up the actual history of the Manitoba Colony and our opinions on it became a lot more complicated. In the real events that it was based off of, the women choose something closer to "Option A" with a little bit of "Option B" sprinkled in. When looking at the film with that knowledge it comes across as a bizarre wish fulfillment fantasy - "here's what we, as privileged western women outsiders (Miriam Towes - writer of original book, Sarah Polley - director) think these women should have done instead".
In retrospect it honestly feels insulting to the original women, as if they weren't strong enough to take the action that the writers/film makers think they should have.
As a piece of filmmaking it was phenomenal, but I really haven't figured out how to reconcile that with the awkwardness of the original work. I do appreciate that it is bringing the horrific events to prominence, but I think a lot of the film's message is lost when juxtaposed with real life.
Movie comment on Im Westen nichts Neues
Caerus
Started incredible and steadily dropped off after the crater scene.The boys signing up, getting their uniforms, first bomardment, the tank scene, and the crater were all fantastic and some of the more visceral and powerful war scenes I've seen. I really liked the parallel story with the diplomats as well, even if it took away from some of the POV rawness of the war.
After that the final hour starts getting a little ridiculous. Kat's story, the completely made up final charge, and Paul literally being the last casualty of World War 1 after an epic "Hollywood" fistfight was just too much.
First half is a 10, second half is maybe a 6.
Movie comment on Triangle of Sadness
Caerus
I mostly liked it - a good satire/comedy about power dynamics and class that was entertaining most of the way through. A bit on the nose, but looking at the last decade maybe that's what's needed.I struggled a bit in Act 3 though - it really could have been either:
- 30 minutes shorter as it made its point about inverting power dynamics fairly quickly and effectively; or
- 15 minutes longer, because the rest of the act felt like it was building to something that never really came.
Overall very interesting and entertaining.
Movie comment on Elvis
Caerus
Austin Butler is absolutely incredible and makes it worth watching, even if the rest of the movie is a lot more uneven.Luhrmann's style works really well for capturing the fever dream of Elvis's life, but the movie kind drags when it "snaps back" to reality. I kindof wished Luhrmann had kept it cranked to 11 for 2 hours, only for it to come crashing down in the final minutes which would have been more impactful.
Also, man, was Hanks a complete disaster. Every time he reappeared and wouldn't shut up about snow I was completely pulled out of it. Its one of the worst casting and performances I've ever seen.
Movie comment on Deliverance
Caerus
Like Burt Reynold's mustache-less face, this movie bears little resemblance to what you expect going in. Subsequent portrayals and parodies lead you to expect something like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Children of the Corn, but instead you get a pretty compelling man vs nature story.Movie comment on Convoy
Caerus
Even if it's a terrible movie in just about every way, I was thoroughly entertained the entire time. You can't ask for much more.Movie comment on Let Me Dream Again
Caerus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5-Uq-pOLhASeems to be an earlier version of Rêve et réalité (1901)
Movie comment on Hot Shots!
Caerus
Not the strongest parody of the era but still has some pretty good gags and is well worth the watch.Movie comment on Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Caerus
Not the best thing in the world, but the Eddie/Venom relationship is entertaining enough I liked it even with all kinds of other problems.Movie comment on West Side Story
Caerus
At a high level everything about this is a great - performances, cinematography, and of course music.Unfortunately it's a remake of a still-beloved musical from 60 years ago which brings along a lot of extra baggage - namely why does this exist?
The entire pitch of this movie seems to be "we noticed some problematic portrayals of race in a 60 year old movie, lets redo it". I really don't get the decision to only fix those; but not update the movie to reflect all of the other social changes that occurred in the mean time. If it had been set in the modern day with updated plots this movie could have actually become something interesting; instead of a movie that is still set in 1957 with a weird mishmash of 1957 and 2021 values.
We're left with a movie that is technically excellent but never really makes a case for coming out in 2021.
Movie comment on The Matrix Resurrections
Caerus
I really don't get how the action could be so terrible in a Matrix movie. There isn't a fight scene that I'd rank in the top 20 of the franchise, which is really unforgivable.I mostly liked everything about the story and found it a worthwhile continuation of the original movies, with some decent enough character development and technological evolution. One major plus is it actually captured a bit of the first movie's disorienting "wtf is reality" that 2&3 really missed on.
But, the entire movie, I kept waiting for any fight scene that captured any of the magic of the original three. Instead, it was just nonstop clumsy shakeycam brawls.
Movie comment on Mank
Caerus
For the entire runtime I couldn't shake the feeling I had accidentally started 7 of a 12 part documentary about early Hollywood instead.Characters and events repeatedly pop up without any explanation to why they are important or relevant to the story. Some vague connections can be gleaned from context but they are frustratingly incomplete.
I'm sure there's a good movie here if you are intimately familiar with the early studio system, but I don't know if I've ever seen a movie so incapable of standing on its own.
Movie comment on President McKinley and Escort Going to the Capitol
Caerus
Higher quality from the Library of Congress:https://www.loc.gov/item/00694335/
Movie comment on President McKinley Taking the Oath
Caerus
Higher quality, directly from the Library of Congress:https://www.loc.gov/item/00694336
Movie comment on Shin Gojira
Caerus
What a great reboot.It fully embraces the cheesiness of the originals - there were multiple scenes that still looked like a man in a rubber suit knocking over miniatures - while updating it for the modern day with some good effects.
It's the first Godzilla movie since possibly the original to have a compelling human story which is a welcome addition. Also, updating the "Godzilla" metaphor from nuclear weapons to the potential dangers of nuclear power post-Fukushima was a nice touch.