Welcome back to another week of the BEST & WORST edition of 'what movies did you see last week?' thread. For those who haven't been part of it before, basically your host (me) posts my weekly movies and you can comment on those and list your movie for the same time frame. I will get back to you on yours and you can talk to other users here about their films. It's a great place to talk about film.
FIRST TIME MOVIE VIEWING
The Irishman (2019, Martin Scorsese
CinemaThe Irishman feels like the fond farewell and the capper in a trilogy of gangster films based on true stories after Goodfellas (1990) & Casino (1995). All three films have starred Robert De Niro & Joe Pesci but this time a much more aged and reflective pair in a film that could be described as their Unforgiven.
This epic has a slower pace than Scorsese’s other films in the genre but no less intriguing. It touches on many famous moments from history but doesn’t over explain them. For some who do not have a good knowledge of the American history from these decades they may miss a lot of context to what was going on. I didn’t have a problem myself but it could for others.
Now to the de-aging effects, whilst I am not personally a fan, my experience went like this. The first time I saw the de-aged De Niro character I was kind of horrified. However after a time I got used to it and came to realize that the problem my brain was having was only partly the special effects but more so two other factors. Firstly, knowing what he really looked like at that age is quite different to how he appears. They may have got rid of the wrinkles but the nose grows throughout your whole life and he has the larger old man De Niro nose on the younger mans face. Secondly and more importantly is the light blue contacts he wore throughout to match the real life character he was playing, I never got used to these fully but after 20 minutes the de-aging effect was mostly a non issue. Other characters that were de-aged worked much better without additional changed like the fore mentioned eye Colour.
In the end this was a great and mature work from a master film maker nearing the end of his career that will dot nearly along side the best work of all those involved.
8.5/10
The Report (2019., Scott Z. Burns)
This is the true story of an idealistic Senate staffer (Adam Driver), tasked by his boss (Annette Benning) to lead an investigation into the CIA's post 9/11 Detention and Interrogation Program, uncovers shocking secrets.
It is all played out pretty straight forward but I love these type of true stories so this was a win for me.
7/10
Farming (2019, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje)
Based on the writer/director's childhood, FARMING tells story of a young Nigerian boy, 'farmed out' by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a white skinhead gang.
The movie does not quite work as realistically as maybe they had hoped but it is still filled with compelling scenes and a good central performance.
6/10
Daniel isn't Real (2019, Adam Egypt Mortimer)
This lower budget horror sees a troubled college freshman (Patrick Schwarzenegger), suffer a violent family trauma which resurrects his childhood imaginary friend Daniel to help him cope.
Some interesting ideas here with more development and maybe a touch more money behind it could have been a home run, still solid though.
6/10
Rebel in the Rye (2017, Danny Strong)
Two years before Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies) played fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkein he played another author, the reclusive J.D. Salinger. This is a pretty good biopic about one of the most interesting authors of the 1900's.
6/10
REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING
The Terminator (1984, James Cameron)
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James Cameron's first and best film still delivers. The superb tone and minimalism of the story sets it apart from the many failed sequels and pretenders that have come since.
9/10
Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet)
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This film was made just a few years after the events it is based on occurred where two men tried to rob a bank in Brooklyn and caused a massive media circus. Excellent acting, assured direction from a good script make this an all timer, it has a couple of areas where pacing could be better but all in all, still one of the best.
8.5/10
The Gingerbread Man (1998, Robert Altman)
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This is Altman's lone attempt at a plot driven thriller but he tries to make it as non generic as he can. The film has a superb cast with Kenneth Branagh in the lead with strong supports from Daryl Hannah, Embeth Davidtz, Robert Duvall, Tom Berrenger, Famke Jansen and Robert Downey Jr. The real stars however are the direction, cinematography, score and sound editing.. quite a striking film that stretches believability a little too far at times but no more than many films of its type from the era.
7.5/10
Scent of a Woman (1992, Martin Brest)
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This crowd-pleaser sees a prep school student (Chris O'Donnell) needing money that agrees to "babysit" a blind man (Al Pacino), but the job is not at all what he anticipated.
It is pretty obvious in its manipulative strokes but it has a great score and a certain something that makes it work regardless. Also a great smaller role for Michael Seymour Hoffman goes a long way and it was the performance that led Paul Thomas Anderson to cast him in his films.
7/10
WEEKLY FILM AWARDSBEST FILM: The Terminator
BEST ACTOR: Al Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon
BEST ACTRESS: Linda Hamilton - The Terminator
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Joe Pesci - The Irishman
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Allen - Dog Day Afternoon
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Changwei Gu - The Gingerbread Man
BEST SCRIPT: Frank Pierson - Dog Day Afternoon
BEST SCORE: Thomas Newman - Scent of a Woman (close call this week)
BEST DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese - The Irishman
10/10 - Perfection (or as close to it as possible)
09/10 - An Excellent film
08/10 - A VERY Good film
07/10 - A Good film
06/10 - A Solid film
05/10 - An Average film
04/10 - Below Average film
03/10 - A mostly bad film
02/10 - A mostly terrible film
01/10 - Awful through and through
00/10 - Not only awful but offensive too
The Irishman 10/10
Glad you loved it.
Masterpiece, for me. The ending, wow...
The Terminator 9/10
Haven't seen it in a while, but yeah, classic.
Dog Day Afternoon 10/10
Really a classic. Also, truly a New York movie, IMO.
Al Pacino was amazing.
The Gingerbread Man 7/10
I've seen it quite some time ago, I remember thinking it was O.K.
Scent of a Woman (1992) 8/10
Again, haven't seen it in a while. I remember liking it.
Mine:
A Rainy Day in New York 7.5/10
Woody Allen movie. Got a chance to catch it. I enjoyed it.
It's not one of his best movies, maybe, but I thought it was funny though. The cast is good, loved Elle Fanning, I liked Timothee Chalamet too.
Frenzy 9/10
Hitchcock movie. It's about a man who just lost his job, who gets mistaken by the cops for a serial killer. Love it, I thought it was really great, some scenes are really masterful, IMO. It's kind of kinky, I wasn't expecting that.
I loved that the lead is really not likeable. The acting is great, in general.
The Creature of the Black Lagoon 8/10
I really like it. It holds up. The effects too. The creatures still looks great, IMO, even in the close-ups.
The Scarlet Letter (1973) 6/10
It's Wim Wenders' version, with Senta Berger. It's nice visually, and I like Senta Berger, I found it kind of dull, though. But I did read that Wenders wasn't satisfied with it either. It was his second movie, I think.