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Wood Goblin wrote: Fri Apr 28, 2023 4:08 pm Same here—didn’t care for it much when it came out. (I loved FWWM from the get-go, however.)

Worth seeing! Much better than I’d remembered. I’d still put several of his movies above it, but I’d put a few below it too. The last fifteen minutes is weaker than the rest of the movie, but even then, there are still arresting visuals.

I also watched Inland Empire recently, this one for the first time. I’d expected not to like it but instead loved it.

I like Lost Highway (maybe like the song more). I found Inland Empire unwatchable but I need to revisit.

jfv wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 3:21 am Tár - I like Cate Blanchett as an actress and think she looks super attractive in a suit. Plus, she plays an orchestra conductor. So I should like it, right? Well, the aforementioned were enough to get me through to the end of the film, but not much else. Whatever message the film had, I don’t really care enough to try to parse it out. Meh.

I watched this recently too, and thought it was good, but felt like I didn't have a full grasp of it. Maggie Mae Fish has a review/interpretation up on YouTube that seems to confirm it's one where repeat viewings become rewarding. Assuming you probably won't watch a 40-minute YouTube video about a movie you didn't like all that much: the "message" she parses from it is exactly what you'd expect. Tár is a wildly hypocritical control freak who only cares about her own power. Every principle or idea that she lays out in the interview / masterclass scenes is contravened later in the film somehow.

brephophagist wrote: Fri Apr 28, 2023 7:34 pm

jfv wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 3:21 am Tár - I like Cate Blanchett as an actress and think she looks super attractive in a suit. Plus, she plays an orchestra conductor. So I should like it, right? Well, the aforementioned were enough to get me through to the end of the film, but not much else. Whatever message the film had, I don’t really care enough to try to parse it out. Meh.

I watched this recently too, and thought it was good, but felt like I didn't have a full grasp of it. Maggie Mae Fish has a review/interpretation up on YouTube that seems to confirm it's one where repeat viewings become rewarding. Assuming you probably won't watch a 40-minute YouTube video about a movie you didn't like all that much: the "message" she parses from it is exactly what you'd expect. Tár is a wildly hypocritical control freak who only cares about her own power. Every principle or idea that she lays out in the interview / masterclass scenes is contravened later in the film somehow.

I kinda got that, but the movie made both sides look like shit.. the accused, and the accusers. It got to the point where I didn’t know what the main message was and I wasn’t rooting for anyone. At the end, I just kinda hoped they all died horrible deaths.

andyman wrote: Sun Apr 30, 2023 4:56 am

jfv wrote: Fri Apr 28, 2023 8:57 pm I kinda got that, but the movie made both sides look like shit.. the accused, and the accusers. It got to the point where I didn’t know what the main message was and I wasn’t rooting for anyone. At the end, I just kinda hoped they all died horrible deaths.

I kind of agree with all of the criticism, but I think it was really well executed. As for rewatching, people pointed out lots of fun little easter eggs like how the 'masseuses' in the fishbowl toward the end are arranged like an orchestra.

Another one: The interlocking-diamonds pattern that Krista Taylor drew in the book reappears in a few places.

Maybe I missed something, but I didn't feel like the accusers were portrayed even remotely as bad as Tár. I also assumed that the film's perspective - camera, editing, etc. - was somewhat an extension of Tár's bias/perspective, so I didn't trust it too much.

Because this one stuck in my head so much, I went back and watched Todd Field's last film, Little Children, which is not nearly as good but has its moments. There is a voiceover through the whole thing by the same guy who does voiceover for Frontline, which is a little off-putting. There is a football scene that feels like a great satirization of how (American) football is portrayed in film.

brephophagist wrote: Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:00 pm Maybe I missed something, but I didn't feel like the accusers were portrayed even remotely as bad as Tár. I also assumed that the film's perspective - camera, editing, etc. - was somewhat an extension of Tár's bias/perspective, so I didn't trust it too much.

It’s probably more likely that I missed something, since I only watched it once, but will try to explain what I recall:

- The quick shots of all of Krista’s e-mails. At best, it seemed ambiguous whether Tár was responsible for her undoing. She could have just been completely off-her-rocker crazy.

- I get the feeling that the people immediately surrounding Tár all have ulterior motives to get ahead through their relationship with her.

- The scene where they showed the horribly edited social media post of Tár going off on that kid during the master class.. sure, the original scene did not portray Tár well, but the edited video made it so much worse. Someone was trying to get her.

Kinda felt a little bit of an analogy between Tár and Trump in the way they use their power to get their way, but also didn’t feel sorry for anyone around her, kinda like I don’t feel sorry at all for Melania.

Maybe a bad analogy. At least Tár appeared to have some actual talent, unlike Trump.

This discussion is tempting me to watch it again.

Watched the Morricone documentary over the weekend as part of a local film fest. The good: was definitely worth hearing through a great theater system, relatively little Americanizing overall ("where's Dave Grohl", we joked). The bad: 2 hours and 40 minutes, with some bits that definitely could have been cut (graphic scenes of 9/11.. really?). Still NC.

(the ugly: Pat Metheny's hair..)

Watched a really shit horror movie called Smile. In my defence, I was trapped on a plane.

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 1:00 pm Watched a really shit horror movie called Smile.

I put-off watching this one forever because I hated everything about its campaign. Ended-up liking it in the end. Didn't think it was a game-changer, but I dug it and I'm glad Parker Finn stuck the landing CGI and all. Really wasn't expecting that.

Recently watched Husera: The Bone Woman and didn't care for it much. Was hoping to, but didn't

I just saw The Pope's Exorcist at my wife's request. Pretty dumb Catholic horror, but Russell Crowe was decent as the exorcist priest. Also, Franco Nero plays the Pope.

We went to see "Showing Up" Friday night, it was great!

It's crazy how much feeling and tension Kelly Reichardt can wring out of seemingly ordinary situations and interactions.