What sort of movies do you have in mind? Most don't end with a battle?

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

He using using reductio ad absurdem to employ the 7 story archetypes.

for some reason, I thought they were called the Hitchcock Stairs...but I see no proof of that in my research lol.

I know they are a ***** to climb.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

So...Annihilation.

I have two different thoughts on this - as a stand-alone movie and as a fan of the book.

As a stand-alone movie, it's pretty good. It's different, interesting, and has some amazing visuals. However, it's just not staying with me at all. I don't think it quite succeeds. There's something missing, but I can't quite put my finger on what. It doesn't seem to know if it wants to be horror or a meditative study on what does "self" mean?

Now, as a fan of the book....

****WARNING - SPOILERS FOR BOTH THE MOVIE AND BOOK - DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, LIKE DUH, OBVIOUSLY****

While I have no problem with filmmakers changing things and making the movie different from the source material - in fact, I'd say it's absolutely necessary - the changes in this was a little disappointing.

I was really looking forward to seeing "the tower" and the wall of continuous writing, and what lived down there. What Garland did was fine, I guess...I just wanted to see it, and not whatever day-glow spandexed thing we saw at the end of the movie.

I was also kind of disappointed that the threats to the team in The Shimmer seemed to be standard monsters, and not the very weird and perplexing threats in the book.

I also wondered why Garland didn't retain the Psychologist's power of the team by use of hypnotizing them with certain trigger words and phrases.

********

Anyway...it's certainly worth seeing...not sure it's worth seeing again, though.

Devilman Crybaby felt more style over substance but it is a style I havent seen much of before.

Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts 2018 - These were all pretty good imo (better than half of the regular Best Picture nominees). The "worst" might be Edith+Eddie, about a mixed-race couple in their 90s. It's still decent, but they're presenting you what is so clearly only one side of the situation that developed, and it was unclear to me what was actually happening. A web search could potentially clear this up right away, but I shouldn't feel like I have to.

Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405 or Knife Skills would get my vote.

Game Night

Holy **** this movie is straight up hilarious. Funniest comedy I've seen in a very long time. Has a couple of scenes which will become part of comedy history.

Grade: A-

https://www.soundtrack.net/movie/have-a-nice-day/

https://open.spotify.com/user/dliang...t8gTzYVwXvdugv





best I could do.

YAY!!!!! Can't wait to see this later. If a film pleases Clovis, you know it is very likely awesome. But sometimes is just impenetrable dreck, aka art

I think both Clovis and I have a certain reputation 'round here.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

I can assure you Game Night is not art.

Jeepers Creepers 3 is definitely art.

Saw this today and it was seriously hilarious. So many lol moments! I think they might could have case Bateman’s older brother to a funnier / bigger name person but it was still really funny. Highly recommend-

I always found you easier to please. But that's not really right. I think it's that you like more movies than Clovis does. It's just that what you like can be a little...out there. IIRC, years ago you wrote a rave review about a movie that was simply a stationary camera recording three hours of different angles of the night sky

Thank you very very much. I thought the Shanghai Restoration Project might be involved, but I'm only familiar with a couple of their instrumental works.

That was La Region Centrale, Michael Snow's epic, which is over three hours, but the camera moves both day and night.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Annihilation

Trigger Warning: Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Shimmer shimmer: Cocoa pop

Strange Tattoo on the side of your head: It comes from the number nine coal.

All-chick patrol: Spread it out ladies, don't bunch up.

Sassy, street-smart minority: check.

Alien? Mutations.

Renegade killer tapirs: Masquerade as grizzlies.

In search of: Lost Time.

Omphalos: At the Center of the Universe.

2001: Makes the best endings.

Trigger Warning: More Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Fun to watch but don't overthink it. Check it out.

Always intimidating following a Phat Mack review but:

Nocturnal Animals - Enjoyable watch. I like when movies focus on simple themes (in this case, heartbreak/revenge). I thought Gylenhall, Amy Adams, and Michael Shannon (he’s been fantastic in everything I’ve seen him in) were all great. Gylenhaal is a such a good actor.

* side note: I recently rewatched Nighcrawler - his performance as a REAL sociopath was one of my all time favorite performances and I hope that movie will at some point be considered a modern classic. I can’t remember watching a movie (maybe Cape Fear) when I seriously considered how scary it would be to have this guy in your life - someone who literally doesn’t have feelings for others.

Anyways - nothing special but a decent watch. I read a NYT review after and the critic said smthg like Tom Ford’s direction felt a bit like a film student’s. That’s exactly how it felt.

72/100

Call Me By Your Name - Expected to hate this, but loved. It does the best job I'm aware of of evoking the feelings of summer vacations (or the way we'd like to remember them) and summer lovin'. It's "beautiful" in a much more accessible way than Phantom Thread. There are bits that will feel familiar and nostalgic and comfortable to you, but that you realize you never actually experienced yourself.

The two leads are extremely charismatic.

It does all this nostalgia and "beauty" stuff without making it obvious that it's trying; one of the keys there being an understated score. It doesn't overuse '80s music either, just a bit.

A must-see, and perhaps destined to be an all-time classic love story.

Ranking having seen everything except The Post:

Get Out
Call Me By Your Name
[The Florida Project]
Phantom Thread
[note: every single nominated short documentary belongs above this line]
Lady Bird
Dunkirk
Darkest Hour
Three Billboards



The Shape of Water - With every day that passes, and as it comes closer to winning (I overheard an insider saying it has a good lead in the ballots so far), I hate it more and more. By far the worst 2017 film I've seen.

Edit: I am now remembering that I've seen Wonder Woman and Cars 3. So perhaps this is closer than I thought.

Nightcrawler, while it has its flaws, is such a satisfying watch. Gyllenhaal really does just absolutely kill it. It's always tilting to think he didn't get a Best Actor nom for this. Here was the field that year:

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything as Stephen Hawking
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher as John Eleuthère du Pont
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper as Chris Kyle
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game as Alan Turing
Michael Keaton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Riggan Thomson


Haven't seen Gilroy's followup Roman J. Israel, Esq. yet. Despite mixed overall reviews, everyone seems to agree that Denzel's performance is top notch.

If you've disclosed why The Florida Project is in brackets, I must have missed it. Call Me By Your Name was great - a movie that has grown on me and stuck with me since I've seen it, whereas most films - even ones I loved - tend to trend the other direction.

Sorry, never explained. It wasn't nominated but to me is clearly better than most other nominees, so that's the honorary position.

I go both ways with movies ascending or descending in my mind as time goes on. The catalysts are often music (remembering specific music or re-listening to it), or some resonant line. It's something to be wary of though I think, because as time goes on you may be more likely to forgive a movie being way too long and dull in spots, etc.

To anyone with an opinion on shape of water, do you like it more or less than birdman?

> Birdman