Big Lebowski was what originally got me interested in the spread between critic's reviews and what at the time was called "word of mouth." When BL came out, it lasted a week at most theaters, while it kept running on and on at one or two others. Reviews were meh.

Definitely Noir.

(Brick is another Noir film I really like, but set in high school.)

yeah... Star Wars is a crime drama too.

The LEGO Batman Movie - 6.5/10 (recommended/highly enjoyable)

I'm about halfway thru Boyhood and bored out of my skull. Never been much of a Linklater fan apart from Dazed and Confused.

Umm.

Nothing gets past you, Clovis! It's true, I retain much of my youthful joie de vivre.

I liked Boyhood. I prefer the Before trilogy. I keep thinking about it.

I watched John Wick yesterday. After all the praise, I thought it would be better. It's pretty good, but I thought it would be a good as Taken, and it wasn't.

Slacker, A Scanner Darkly, School of Rock. What's not to like?

I loved Boyhood, but I can see how it has a limited audience. You may need to...



jmo (short for 'just my opinion'.)

Oh I did like School of Rock, more due to Jack Black than Linklater probably.

While I am a Before fanboy, Boyhood didn't do much for me.

I loved Boyhood but if you didn't enjoy the first half you're unlikely to enjoy the second. Not like it has some Full Metal Jacketesque change of pace.

I didn't like Boyhood because the kid's a prick.

Lolwhut? Haven't heard this before. Thought he was a soft-spoken kid.

It's a nice concept but the film is just really really boring. The kid is uninteresting and not likable at all.

i watched this for the 2nd time last night after watching it 18 months ago or whatever. it was still really entertaining but my god some of the character decisions were hilarious and bad


starter for ten- 2006 british comedy of age comedy type movie with james mcavoy and benedict cumberbatch and a super sexy alice eve


it was well acted but nothing special. pretty much exactly what i expect from this genre. surprised i had never heard of it though. on hbogo

Frances Ha

Never has stunted adulthood felt so true and lovely. Frances is a 27 year old girl, not a 27 year old woman. She is a backup dancer for a modern dance company, not exactly setting the world on fire as far as career aspirations. She has a boyfriend who wants to get serious, but of course she's too immature for those big decisions. That's where she starts her journey. This is a coming of age story, but for the next generation.

It is filmed beautifully in black and white. Directed by Noah Baumbach, he clearly got a lot of inspiration from Woody Allen. NY is showcased as that awe inspiring magical city, where anything and everything is possible.

Frances is played by Greta Gerweig in a fantastic performance. She is needy, emotionally stunted, grating, tiresome, and yet totally lovable. Two scenes stand out to me. One is the dancing montage down the street to Bowie's 'Modern Love.' If you watch that scene and feel anything other than happiness, check your pulse. The other scene is her at the dinner party, taking over the conversation with incoherent ramblings and unintentional insults. It was such an honest portrayal of how vulnerable and immature this character is.

The films tromps through several different buroughs, Sacramento, Paris, and upstate NY. Each scene takes on a different feel as we watch Frances grow up. The catalyst for her growth is her best friend Sophie, played by Sting's daughter. When Sophie starts dating a yuppie that Frances doesn't particularly like, it puts a fairly large strain on their relationship that may or may not break up their friendship for good.

I am at a point in my own personal life where I have grown up somewhat, however I clearly remember the times where I resisted this change, channeling my inner Holden Caulfield. I imagine Frances went through those same struggles along this journey we call life. I for one enjoyed watching a brief glimpse of her journey.

Hell or High Water - How the hell or high water did this get nominated for Best Picture? It's OK, but it's nothing special and has a lot of problems. The first problem is of course the fact that lol Jeff Bridges is in the movie. Crazy that he was nominated for Best Supporting for this role. All he does is mumble. The second problem is that the story is just plain bad. The brothers are robbing banks to pay off a reverse mortgage on a piece of land that they know has oil on it. There is absolutely no reason to rob banks to do this when things like factoring exist. They would be flooded in offers even if they somehow didn't already know. The entire premise is faulty. Third problem is that Ben Foster treats his role as a parody or caricature of what he is supposed to be. This is the director's fault. Fourth problem is the horrible strings-heavy score. Fifth problem is the over the top heavy handed expositionary dialogue. These things added up all make it a no brainer for this film to be nowhere near Best Picture status.

All that said, this is a phenomenal movie given that it was made for $12m. It's nice to see small budget movies like this having success. I'd much, much rather see 20 of these made for $250m than a single comic book blockbuster for the same budget. Chris Pine did a great job, as did Alberto Parker. Lots of small moments worked really well, like the casino chick targeting Toby, the used car guy, and the Christian TV show argument. The old lady waitress thing was cringeworthy but I'll forgive it in light of the other stuff. The dialogue was decent. The overall mood was well-handled. Lots of little things here and there to like.

Very good movie, I recommend everyone giving it a chance even if it doesn't sound like your genre.

It was more at the college-age where I found his unearned world-weariness quite irritating. IIRC his girlfriend dumps him precisely because she's so fed up of his downbeat, stoner-like "hey man, the universe is so empty man" (I'm paraphrasing) ramblings. By that point I was in full agreement with her; I didn't want to spend any more time with this tiresome guy either.

i enjoyed frances ha a lot and the whale and the squid. greta playing the same character every movie gets kind of annoying though. i was less than impressed with mistress america. while we are young or whatever it was called was good though

My ranking of Baumbach movies:

Kicking and Screaming
The Squid and the Whale
Frances Ha
Greenberg
Mistress America
Margot at the Wedding

Margot really sucks!

Boyhood and Manchester by the Sea are both like watching paint dry. Both are universally praised by the critics for some reason that I don't get.

Dazed and Confused is still one of my favorites though.

And which is an homage to this:

Woooooow I had no idea that was an homage. Freaking cool man, thanks for sharing.