Rate The Last Movie You Saw.

[Still Servant]

Thanks, Mike! I really appreciate that.

And you're right that it's a great example of how a good person can find themselves in a bad situation. I think that's a huge part of the draw for me. How does someone who (seemingly) had everything going for them--and a bright future--have such a downward trajectory?

And I considered a slightly lower score (say 8.5) because as I was leaving, I realized there was hardly any music/score in the film. But I don't think it detracted from it (and only would've added to the film), so I didn't. But Sorkin's films always seem to have music as an understated element.

I waited all week for the weather to clear so I could go see MOLLY'S GAME today. I wish I had seen something else instead. 6 out of 10.

Really? That seems like one of these easy crowd pleaser movies. What didn't you like?

[allasorte]

Went to see Three Billboards a few weekends ago. Really good film, although it was a bit more depressing than I was expecting. But I guess considering the subject matter, I should have expected it. Both Sam Rockwell and Frances McDormand were wonderful in it.

I liked it, but I was hoping the billboards, for what they said, would....I don't know......force the cops to

spoiler

open the case and investigate. We the viewers had no closure as to what happened to her daughter. I was expecting the 3 billboards to get the cops moving to solve the case.

[Shannon]

Mother!
Rating: Three out of Five

I'm not entirely sure what I just watched. One thing I CAN say is that unlike A Ghost Story and Killing Of A Sacred Deer, this was 100% NOT boring. As everyone knows, I'm not a fan of artsy, metaphor movies. On one level, this was definitely one of those movies. On another level, it wasn't. Beautifully shot and wonderfully acted on one side, then "fuck the story, let's just go NUTS" on the other, which isn't always a good thing. I won't be recommending this movie to anyone, but I think I'd like to have conversations about it with people that have seen it.

[Heather19]

I just watched it recently too. I had to go online and look up what it was about because I had no clue when I watched it. I wouldn't recommend it either. Yes it was well acted and sound was on point, as was the setting and cinematography. And I can enjoy an artsy film if done right, but this is one I have no desire to ever watch again. I felt like he could have made a less symbolic film, and maybe explained it a little better and then it would have been a lot more enjoyable. A Ghost Story was slow, but at least you could follow it and knew what was going on.

[Shannon]

Nope, or the sequel: Mother Tells A Ghost Story Then Kills A Sacred Deer.

[fernandito]

you fuckers

[allasorte]

Nope, or the sequel: Mother Tells A Ghost Story Then Kills A Sacred Deer.

I love your honesty. I guess we won't see that movie, or the sequel together then.

[allasorte]

The Snowman
The fatal flaw of loving Fasbender, and doing research.
I watched the trailer and I do love a good murder, mystery, serial killer theme. I truly enjoyed the trailer and decided to look into the book. I found out Jo Nesbo wrote it, is a famous author, and has sold over 50 million copies and his character, Harry Hole, is in several of his books. So I found the book and read it. I felt Nesbo overall was a good writer, and his twists and plots in this book were pretty impressive. I felt after reading the book, I had a clear image of what was in store for the movie. I was pretty excited to see this movie.

Well, I had read some reviews and they were not kind. The talked about the book missing key points, plots, and parts of the novel that truly made the movie a lackluster adaptation. I thought to myself, "there was no way they would cut out that much and ruin the movie," and I was wrong. There were some great plot twists in the book that were eliminated in the movie. JK Simmons should not have been in this movie because his character was a young womanizer, not an old man barely in the movie. They negated the reason as to how the serial killer came to be who he was today, eliminated all together where bodies were hidden, and how he stalked his victims. I was so disappointed with the movie. It was a slow crawl into nothing compared to the novel. Does this mean I am supposed to stop reading books?! 5/10

[Ricky]

Glad I wasn't alone with mother! I felt pretty stupid Googling the meaning when I left the theater.

[Still Servant]

Mother!
Rating: Three out of Five

I'm not entirely sure what I just watched. One thing I CAN say is that unlike A Ghost Story and Killing Of A Sacred Deer, this was 100% NOT boring. As everyone knows, I'm not a fan of artsy, metaphor movies. On one level, this was definitely one of those movies. On another level, it wasn't. Beautifully shot and wonderfully acted on one side, then "fuck the story, let's just go NUTS" on the other, which isn't always a good thing. I won't be recommending this movie to anyone, but I think I'd like to have conversations about it with people that have seen it.

I was so in tune with Mother! that I could have sworn I nailed what the film was going for. I was shocked to find out that I was wrong and what it was really about. I thought it was about the creative process of a writer. I expounded about it around here somewhere. I will see if I can find it. Anyway, Shannon, if you haven't Googled it yet, the film is an

Spoiler:

allegory for the Bible.

Went to see Three Billboards a few weekends ago. Really good film, although it was a bit more depressing than I was expecting. But I guess considering the subject matter, I should have expected it. Both Sam Rockwell and Frances McDormand were wonderful in it.

I liked it, but I was hoping the billboards, for what they said, would....I don't know......force the cops to

spoiler

open the case and investigate. We the viewers had no closure as to what happened to her daughter. I was expecting the 3 billboards to get the cops moving to solve the case.

I wasn't disappointed with Three Billboards because I assumed we were going to get an ending like that. It's just that kind of film.

Spoiler:

Unfortunately, cases like this go unsolved in real life all the time. I have no problem with the film leaving it open. It makes it feel more realistic and less Hollywood.

So you guys won't be going to see, MOTHER TELLS A GHOST STORY, filmed in a cell phone video aspect ratio and coming soon to a theater near you, I take it?

There was a film released a few years ago that was literally shot in a 1x1 cell phone aspect ratio. I believe it was called Mommy. I refuse to watch it.

[Still Servant]

Here is my Mother! theory that I wrote as soon as I got back from the movie, before I Googled it. While it's completely off, I feel it can still be adapted in many ways and still reflects the spirit of the film -

Spoiler:

creation.

Spoiler:

This is a film that should literally be shown in any fiction writing class.

Think about it, the house represents the structure of a story. It has a foundation and lots of empty rooms that need decorating and painting. How do you decorate a story? You create characters. That's who we see in the beginning of the story, but they're just characters with a few character traits, but they don't have a plot, they don't have a purpose. Until the writer (Bardem) finds his inspiration (Lawrence). He literally impregnates her with an idea. From that point, he writes. He creates his story. The second part of the film we see random people who represent us, the consumer. A writer, or anyone who creates something, must forfeit ownership over their creation. It no longer belongs to you it belong to the people. They take all of it, or they take pieces of it and they make it their own. That's what we are seeing when the baby is taken, killed and then eaten by the crowd of people.

There's a scene where we see the publicist (Wiig, what the fuck is Kristen Wiig doing in this film? LOL) killing people on the ground. This is a publicist editing the writer's work. You've heard of the phrase "Kill your darlings"? Well, that's what any writer must sometimes be faced with. Removing characters or ideas for the sake of the story. The end of the film? The burning down of the entire house and everything that comes with it? That would be the rewrite.

[Ricky]

I looked up the meanings of MOTHER, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, THE TREE OF LIFE, A CURE FOR WELLNESS and I forget what others. Most of the explanations made sense, and I found I enjoyed the movies more because of it, even though during the initial viewings I had little or no idea what was going on, although all these movies fascinated me.

Now as to THE NEON DEMON, I can't decide whether I liked it or hated it or both at the same time.

I enjoyed The Neon Demon, but Mulholland Drive can go eff itself.

[Heather19]

What! Mulholland Drive is awesome. Love that film.

Mike, your theory actually works well for Mother as well.

[Tommy]

I liked to show a group of people mother! while they are under the influence of LSD and see what theories they come up with...

[Shannon]

Mulholland Drive is a movie, like Mother, that I truly enjoyed, even though I don't know what the hell was going on or why. To be fair though, I'm 99% sure that the director of Mulholland Drive doesn't know what the hell was going on either. The Club Silencio scene is fantastic, and the Diner scene is fantastic.

[Heather19]

I love David Lynch. I'm sure he knows exactly what is going on. His movies to me are almost like dreams. They're very surreal, but I love it. It took a bit to get into Inland Empire. I think I gave up the first time I started watching it because I wasn't paying as close attention as I needed to. But when I went to watch it a second time I really got into it.

I haven't seen Neon Demon, but now you guys have got me curious about it.

[Shannon]

MD makes perfect sense (after I read the explanation on the internet that is).

I love David Lynch. I'm sure he knows exactly what is going on.

OK ... go for it. Explain Mulholland Drive in a way that makes sense. And if you find, while typing out explanations that might or might not be plausible, if you find that your writing is taking up thousands of words, consider revising your original statements that the movie makes sense and that he knew exactly what is going on.

Mulholland Drive is a jigsaw puzzle where half of the pieces were immediately thrown out and the other half are from fifty different puzzles.

Great collection of scenes, but trying to piece together a story from them is pointless.

[fernandito]

MD makes perfect sense (after I read the explanation on the internet that is).

I love David Lynch. I'm sure he knows exactly what is going on.

OK ... go for it. Explain Mulholland Drive in a way that makes sense. And if you find, while typing out explanations that might or might not be plausible, if you find that your writing is taking up thousands of words, consider revising your original statements that the movie makes sense and that he knew exactly what is going on.

Mulholland Drive is a jigsaw puzzle where half of the pieces were immediately thrown out and the other half are from fifty different puzzles.

Great collection of scenes, but trying to piece together a story from them is pointless.

Yeah see you're operating under the false assumption that art -especially abstract art like Lynch's- needs to have an explanation. It doesn't always have one, as maddening as that might be.

[Still Servant]

I love David Lynch. I'm sure he knows exactly what is going on. His movies to me are almost like dreams. They're very surreal, but I love it. It took a bit to get into Inland Empire. I think I gave up the first time I started watching it because I wasn't paying as close attention as I needed to. But when I went to watch it a second time I really got into it.

I haven't seen Neon Demon, but now you guys have got me curious about it.

I was really looking forward to seeing Neon Demon, but Nicolas Winding Refn's previous film Only God Forgives left such a bad taste in my mouth that I still haven't seen it. That said, like the film we are discussing, there's more to Only God Forgives that meets the eye, which I learned a year after watching it. If you've seen it, go on YouTube and search for the true meaning of Only God Forgives. It's pretty crazy.

Oddly enough, the film is also

Spoiler:

religious

in nature.

[Shannon]

MD was originally supposed to be a TV series. Now does it make sense? No? I give up!

All I remember is the woman won a dance contest (the opening credits), and won a trip to Hollywood to be in a movie (I think). But she went nuts and stole another girl's identity. Yes, that about covers the entire thing. And, in less than a thousand words. Oops, almost forgot - THE END!

Spoiler:

At least ERASERHEAD is totally comprehensible from start to finish

Yeah, and the Stand is about Good Vs. Evil. THE END.

[Shannon]

MD makes perfect sense (after I read the explanation on the internet that is).

I love David Lynch. I'm sure he knows exactly what is going on.

OK ... go for it. Explain Mulholland Drive in a way that makes sense. And if you find, while typing out explanations that might or might not be plausible, if you find that your writing is taking up thousands of words, consider revising your original statements that the movie makes sense and that he knew exactly what is going on.

Mulholland Drive is a jigsaw puzzle where half of the pieces were immediately thrown out and the other half are from fifty different puzzles.

Great collection of scenes, but trying to piece together a story from them is pointless.

Yeah see you're operating under the false assumption that art -especially abstract art like Lynch's- needs to have an explanation. It doesn't always have one, as maddening as that might be.

https://www.theguardian.com/artandde...art-milo-moire

Art.

[fernandito]

you're not really comparing cinema to a lady laying eggs out of her vagina

are you

[Shannon]

Definitely.

And because you all love A Ghost Story so much, here's one of my favorite clips from it. Don't look away, this is fantastic stuff here, this is GREAT FILMMAKING right here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=takph4VxJ1o

[Heather19]

I'm still confused, do you not think Mulholland Drive means somethig to David Lynch? He reminds me of a surrealist artist, like Dali. They just see stuff in a different way, but I'm positive it has to have some meaning to him otherwise why would he have made it?

[Shannon]

I would say that Mulholland Drive means something to Lynch in the same way that someone writes down a vivid dream they just had. Doesn't have to make sense, just get it down on paper. People can read into ANYTHING any way that they want and come up with their own conclusions, but that doesn't mean that these paintings



and



should be considered "great" ...

The good thing about film is that what people take from it rarely has anything to do with what's on screen but rather how people FEEL about what's on screen. And since we are all different people and we've all led different lives and had different experiences, we all go into a movie (or book, etc.) and get something different out of it. To reiterate, I liked Mulholland Drive a lot, and it's fun to talk about the theories, but Lynch made the movie in such a way that no one IS or COULD BE correct about figuring out what the movie is about.