Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted January 26 Paid Members Share Posted January 26 (edited) One Life - Seen a lot of strong reviews for this but it just felt like a completely ordinary Oscar-bait movie to me. The 'Thats Life' scene is obviously very moving but you'd be better off just watching the actual viral clip than bothering with this, I reckon. I want Johnny Flynn to start picking more interesting stuff too. Disclaimer - I watched it on about 4 hours sleep which may explain why I wasn't as high on it as everyone else. Good Grief - A lovely little first-time directorial effort from Dan Levy. Good performances all round with Himesh Patel the standout. Never knew Ruth Negga was Irish! The Disappearance Of Shere Hite - A strong documentary about one of the eminent feminist writers of the 70s and 80s and the circumstances that lead to her disappearing from public life. Engaging viewing with some horrible parallels to the political climate today. The Boys In The Boat - A period sports movie directed by George Clooney, you know exactly what you're getting with this. The definition of 'solid'. I enjoyed it but ymmv depending on how much you like the genre. Joel Edgerton is always great too. The Kitchen - Was really impressed by this. I don't think it all completely hangs together in the end, but the world-building is fantastic and shows that Kaluuya and Tavares have a very promising future. Ian Wright (yes, that one) is great! The Holdovers - As fantastic as everyone is saying. One of those films that just feels lived-in, there's no artifice here at all. Can see it becoming a staple Christmas film in the future. Lift - I finished it! It's shit. Also, for those of you who liked Still, the Michael J Fox movie. I'd recommend David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived which is a similarly uplifting 'triumph over adversity' documentary. Edited January 26 by Lorne Malvo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 26 Paid Members Share Posted January 26 28 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said: Also, for those of you who liked Still, the Michael J Fox movie. I'd recommend David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived which is a similarly uplifting 'triumph over adversity' documentary. I liked this, too. Daniel Radcliffe seems like the nicest lad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
organizedkaos Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 (edited) On 1/22/2024 at 4:19 PM, Chris B said: Saltburn was okay, but I'm baffled as to why they played it like the ending was some big reveal. In fact, I think they did the final scene purely to prevent people going 'was... was that it?' at the end. Overall, if it wasn't for the more outrageous stuff, I think nobody would have paid attention. I thought it was a fairly amusing dark satire about rich people in England. Possibly mostly because of Rosamund Pike and to a lesser extent Richard E Grant as both their characters felt real and completely exaggerated. The problem, as ever with things that make it big in cultural zeitgeist, everyone made to big a deal of it and banged on about the particularly OTT moments. So instead of them being some interesting stylistic moments they became the focus. It's also fairly niche, skewering a particular strata of English society. State school kid who went to posh uni here probably found more jokes landing than others might... If it hadn't been for the hype it's the sort of film that would grow a cult following as people stumbled across it (like "Death of Dick Long" another film that ends up being funnier and more insightful than initially appears, with a couple of OTT moments thrown in for good measure). It's best place is as a "oh if you've not seen that you should, it's fairly up you street" film rather than "how have you not seen this, it's a must watch!". Instead it's been the latter and everyone judges it as such. Edited January 26 by organizedkaos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 8 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said: Also, for those of you who liked Still, the Michael J Fox movie. I'd recommend David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived which is a similarly uplifting 'triumph over adversity' documentary. Just finished watching this, it was lovely and never strayed into “Inspiration porn”. The bond of friendship they all have is incredible and seem like a fine bunch of lads. The stunt coordinator clearly has some PTSD issues that needs resolving but how do you go about forgiving yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 Watched Badland Hunters earlier, released on Netflix today. Ma Dong-seok’s latest Korean action fest based in a post apocalyptic world, the 90 odd minutes flew by Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 26 Paid Members Share Posted January 26 5 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said: Watched Badland Hunters earlier, released on Netflix today. Ma Dong-seok’s latest Korean action fest based in a post apocalyptic world, the 90 odd minutes flew by Excellent, been looking forward to this, might stick it on over the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 29 Paid Members Share Posted January 29 Finally got round to compiling my Oscars, except mine are good with better categories. Quote BEST FILM Godzilla Minus One How to Blow Up a Pipeline John Wick: Chapter 4 The Killer Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One Past Lives Sick of Myself Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Tár BEST DIRECTOR Celine Song (Past Lives) Chad Stahelski (John Wick: Chapter 4) Damien Chazelle (Babylon) Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One) Todd Field (Tár) BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE Alden Ehrenreich (Fair Play) Cate Blanchett (Tár) Greta Lee (Past Lives) Kristine Kujath Thorp (Sick of Myself) Lubna Azabal (The Blue Caftan) Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex) Michael Thomas (Rimini) Park Ji-min (Return to Seoul) Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean) Zelda Samson (Love According to Dalva) BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE Catalina Saavedra (Rotting in the Sun) Charles Melton (May December) Donnie Yen (John Wick: Chapter 4) Forrest Goodluck (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) Glenn Howerton (BlackBerry) Jason Momoa (Fast X) John Magaro (Past Lives) Nina Hoss (Tár) Teyonah Parris (They Cloned Tyrone) Vanessa Kirby (Napoleon) BEST DOCUMENTARY Bad Axe Kokomo City Ronnie O'Sullivan: The Edge of Everything Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour BEST ANIMATED FILM Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Nimona Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST Abby Ryder Fortson (actor- Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret) Celine Song (writer, director - Past Lives) Chloe Domont (writer, director - Fair Play) Georgia Oakley (writer, director - Blue Jean) Kristoffer Borgli (writer, director - Sick of Myself and Dream Scenario) Molly Manning Walker (writer, director - How to Have Sex) Nida Manzoor (writer, director - Polite Society) Philippou brothers (writer, directors - Talk to Me) Raine Allen-Miller (director, Rye Lane) Rina Sawayama (actor, John Wick: Chapter 4) BIGGEST SURPRISE A Day and a Half Babylon M3GAN Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour BEST SCENE Bomb roll (Fast X) Botched hit and build-up (The Killer) Divorce scene (Napoleon) First sound shoot (Babylon) Final scene (Fair Play) Maneater (No Hard Feelings) Pearl's monologue (Pearl) Prison escape / truck fight (Extraction 2) Sofa scene (Rotting in the Sun) Train escape (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One) BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT Accused Afire Sisu Women Talking The Wrath of Becky WORST FILM #Manhole The Black Demon The Collective Heart of Stone Mummies Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire Retribution Sound of Freedom Strays The Whale WORST PERFORMANCE Gal Gadot (Heart of Stone) Gillian Anderson (The Pale Blue Eye) Jim Caviezel (Sound of Freedom) Josh Lucas (The Black Demon) Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer) MOST COMMENDABLE PERFORMANCE IN A NOT VERY GOOD FILM Dave Bautista (Knock at the Cabin) Jorma Tommila (Sisu) Mia Goth (Pearl) Roger Allam (Tetris) Sophia Lillis (The Adults) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted January 29 Moderators Share Posted January 29 I'm not likely to watch it but I'm very curious as to what the Taylor Swift one did to win such high acclaim. What's special about it? Is it a documentary or just a video of a live concert? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 29 Paid Members Share Posted January 29 Separate point, but I've never understood Best Film and Best Director being separate categories. Surely the winner of Best Film is also the Best Director because they made the best film? How can you separate the work of a director from the film? Doesn't making the best film make them the best director too? "Ok, you're the best director this year but you didn't make the best film...that was a different film by a different director, but you were a better director than they were" makes no sense to me at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Directors are hired hands though and the best picture is a recognition of the producers who put it all together. Seperate roles with crossing paths. The director is the head chef but the producer runs the restaurant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 29 Paid Members Share Posted January 29 1 hour ago, Chest Rockwell said: I'm not likely to watch it but I'm very curious as to what the Taylor Swift one did to win such high acclaim. What's special about it? Is it a documentary or just a video of a live concert? It's a concert film. So it's a piecing together of, I think, three or four of the shows she did on the Eras Tour. There's no documentary footage attached to it. When I saw it and reviewed it, I compared it to Stop Making Sense. I'd actually only seen that for the first time a couple of months beforehand (it got a cinema rerelease after a remastering) but I think they're comparable. I came out of both of them thinking, "I liked this artist beforehand but now I'm thinking they're among the greatest". I'd never been interested in concert films, I don't care for live music that much, but the performances and the artistry and the production design and the shooting of it all in both cases were inventive and added so much to the already very good-to-amazing music. It's a point of debate whether a live concert film counts as a 'proper' film but all I can say was this was a year where films came out in the two greatest action franchises of all time and my two favourite films of the year were these two. I think that counts for a lot if you know how much I love John Wick and Mission: Impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 2 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said: I'm not likely to watch it but I'm very curious as to what the Taylor Swift one did to win such high acclaim. What's special about it? Is it a documentary or just a video of a live concert? It’s Taylor Swift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted January 29 Paid Members Share Posted January 29 @Devon Malcolmdid Boy and The Heron not get your nomination because you didn’t like it or because you haven’t seen it yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted January 29 Paid Members Share Posted January 29 8 minutes ago, FLips said: @Devon Malcolmdid Boy and The Heron not get your nomination because you didn’t like it or because you haven’t seen it yet? It just missed out behind those others. I thought it was excellent, it was just a strong year for animation, I thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted January 29 Paid Members Share Posted January 29 18 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: It just missed out behind those others. I thought it was excellent, it was just a strong year for animation, I thought. Fair! I’ve been waiting for your review in here but must have missed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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