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I have I, Tonya it downloaded but haven't seen it yet. What didn't you like about it?
Saw The Darkest Hour today, 3 out of 5. Interesting enough, but I felt it didn't say or show enough, especially at the end. That being said, the camera work and editing on this thing was amazing.
Actors or characters? There's been plenty of films I've seen where all of the characters are just so unlikeable that I don't give a shit what happens to any of them.
Unlikeable characters don't mean bad characters. If all movies and stories had likeable characters, there would be no conflict and nothing ever happens. Some of the greatest films of all time feature almost entirely unlikeable characters and characters you're not truly supposed to care for. Sometimes stories want you to try to care about people you shouldn't care about because that's a tremendous challenge. That's what makes The Sopranos such a good show. Tony isn't a man we're supposed to like, yet he's written in such a way we want him to be happy, despite the fact he doesn't deserve it.
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Rarely does a film have extreme gratuitous violence, no redeeming social value, and makes a person so uncomfortable that they consider leaving the theater.
Mom and Dad is that film.
5/6 beers on the RFSRS! Go see it, it's wildly blackly humorous.
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Phantom Thread:
3.5/6 Beers on the RFSRS
Daniel Day-Lewis has a fine performance (but not Oscar winning IMO). At points it almost seems like a conscious effort on his part to "win the best actor Oscar".
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Hostiles: Fine performances from Bale, Pike, Foster, and Studi, cannot save this film. The opening scene is phenomenal in it's unflinching brutality and tension, and the closing shot is unearned. I was long with this movie for the first half, and then it just meanders and frankly gets so boring not even the flashes of violence could really rouse me. It doesn't really explore any of it's themes and it's musings really weren't all that unique. It does have some very nice photography, but the story and pacing is bullocks. 2/5
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I'm surprised to see the negative Hostiles reviews. Scott Cooper is a fine director.
Most Westerns can be very slow, so I'm expecting that going in.
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It's not slow paced, but good, it's slow paced, and not good. It's not slow because of it's pacing, it's slow because there is nothing of interest happening for half the run time. It just feels like a string of events with no glue holding it together. I wouldn't see this one in theatres. it's not a good western. It's not a good movie. Hell or High Water it is not.
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12 Strong: What's this? A competently made war/action movie devoid of shaky cam, with intelligible editing which makes it easy to follow the action? Glory be! This movie was a real surprise to me all around. Not only is it competently made, written, and acted (with especially fine performances from Hemsworth, Pena, Negahban, and a great all around cast with supporting performances from Shannon, Rhodes, Fichtner, and Riggle [only serious thing I've seen him in!], and the villain played by Numan Acar was chilling in the one establishing scene he had, and just looks like a bad guy...great choice). Surprisingly, it's not heavy handed, probably because it wasn't directed by an American, and the first feature from Danish director Nicolai Fuglsig really lays down it's American Bravado with some understated restraint. It shows the horrors of war without being a preachy anti-war film and without glorifying the battles. It's an extremely brutal movie at times. And it has good humour that doesn't feel forced, and the relationship between Hemsworth's character and Negahban's character truly defines the film and gives it heart. With a lesser script and cast, this could have been a corny, up its own ass disaster, but instead it becomes probably the best modern era war film since The Hurt Locker. There are cliche elements to the film (not sure how accurate to real life this is, so it could be 100% true and therefore just an accurate depiction), such as Rhodes' character and his 'shadow' and Uzbekistani child soldier, yet it's handle with enough grace it actually adds to the film instead of making the eyes roll.
4/5
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Enjoyable review, but you really need to work on your paragraphs.
Saw I Tonya and loved it. Being from Massachusetts, I remember all too well the ridiculousness of this whole event. The film captures the stupidity of those involved. The pseudo-documentary style was so much fun. I can see why it was gotten so many accolades. Well deserved. 9/10.
We must have seen a different film because I loved Hostiles.
I'm not sure how you can say there's nothing going on for half of the film. There's an entire narrative of a man coming to terms with the fact that his entire career he has been just as brutal and savage as the men he's been calling brutal and savage his entire life. There's so much going on under the surface in this film that I'm not sure how anybody can say nothing is happening.
Matt, I'm also not sure why you would compare it to Hell or High Water. One is a traditional Western, one is a modern Western. Other than that, they share nothing in common (except Ben Foster). I think it would have made more sense for you to use Unforgiven as an example because many have been touting that it's the best Western since Unforgiven (it's not), but it's certainly worth seeing in theaters.
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This is established in the first scene with Bale. The entire second half is meandering and superfluous. Could have been an 90 min movie and been far more effective. The entire second half of the movie did nothing more me. The theme of being as savage as the savages is nothing new. It's been done to death in westerns and more. Hostiles just takes the slow lane on a road we've been down a bunch of times. The last scene was just dripping with pointing at the main theme of the movie. It couldn't be anymore obvious.Spoiler:There are themes, sure, but they're inside a hollow story which drags on, and despite them covering several hundred miles, the story basically goes nowhere.
Was the most recent Western film. I don't differentiate between modern and traditional. All the same ideas. I didn't use Unforgiven as an example because they don't belong in the same sentence for me. I'd heard it was the best since Unforgiven, and it's not close for me. Hell or High Water, Assassination of Jesse James, No Country for old Men, 3:10 to Yuma, Django Unchained...all much better films than Hostiles to me. According to critic consenses on RT: Hostiles benefits from stunning visuals and a solid central performance from Christian Bale, both of which help elevate its uneven story. Me and the critics share the same consensus here.Matt, I'm also not sure why you would compare it to Hell or High Water. One is a traditional Western, one is a modern Western. Other than that, they share nothing in common (except Ben Foster). I think it would have made more sense for you to use Unforgiven as an example because many have been touting that it's the best Western since Unforgiven (it's not), but it's certainly worth seeing in theaters.
It seems the ciritics either thought it was deep and thought provoking, or thought it was patronizing and insulting in it's execution. I'm on the latter side. One critic summed it up beautifully. "Hostiles is another Western in which Indian characters are props for white man problems." The movie wants to make us sympathize with the natives, but does nothing to breathe any humanity into them or give them anything interesting to do. That's just bad storytelling.
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First, let me say that I don't think the film is amazing, but I don't think it's nearly as bad as you guys are making it out to be. It's nowhere near as good as Unforgiven, and it's not as good as the other Westerns you listed. That being said, I think it's a welcome addition to the genre.
Just because a theme in a film has been done to death, doesn't mean it's bad. You and I had this same conversation a while back about It Comes a Night. I said it's been done to death and poorly executed, you disagreed. I suppose we're just going to have to agree to disagree on both fronts.
I also don't think you can say we found that out about Bale in the opening scene and that should be the end of it. That's not fair. It took him the entire film to come to the realization that just because he's doing something because it's the job he was asked to do doesn't make it right. In fact, it's not until Ben Foster enters the film that we finally see Bale's character truly change. The conversation with Foster is where he really comes to the realization that he's no different from this man, and in turn, no different than the men he's been killing.
I also don't think you're giving enough credit to Pike's impact on Bale's character and the story in general. Yes, he saved her, but she saved him as well. Here's a woman whose whole family was brutally murdered by Indians, yes she doesn't hate them. He watches how they interact with one another and it's one of the main reasons he starts to change. This is an arch that takes the entire film, so it's not fair to say we got all that from the opening.
Lastly, while the American Indian characters could have been fleshed out more, there are quite a few strong scenes that prove they are noble and worth fighting for. Bale and the Chief have more than a few conversations that are pretty powerful. There is also the scene where the young American Indian woman shares her clothes with Pike's character.
You also can't use crtitics to feed your argument. In general, critics feelings on the film more closely align with mine than yours. You can't just use the one sentence consensus RT lists.
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Hostiles.
2/6 on RFSRS.
Should only be one beer, but I added one for brevity....
Not good at full length reviews, but Mick LASSALE Nailed it:
http://m.sfgate.com/movies/article/C...m-85307-tbla-5
Saw I, Tonya last night. Loved it. It's really crazy that that actually happened in real life.
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Damn, I just realized how long it's been since I've written a movie review. Wonder which film it'll be to break the deadlock.