Films I've watched over the holidays.

The Sisters Brothers
Director : Jacques Audiard
Year : 2018

I was slightly apprehensive about Audiard's The Sisters Brothers largely because this was his first step in working with an American production and I'm a big fan of the guys work.Should I have have been slightly concerned ? no.
The Sister Brothers is one of the more refreshing westerns I've seen in recent times and ,particularly, one with a beautifully executed subtle ending that will stay with me for sometime.
★★★★

The Old Man & the Gun
Director : David Lowery
Year : 2018

A charming lighthearted heist film with Robert Redford,the leading man ,as Forest Tucker a "gentleman" career criminal who,along with his trusted wise headed group of heist experts such as Danny Glover and Tom Waits, goes on a set course to charm his way in extracting as much money as possible from various small town/city banks.

Though the thought that was running through my head for the majority of this film was *Think my parents would enjoy this* and they probably would because Old.
★★★

Phantasm
Director : Don Coscarelli
Year : 1979

I've been meaning to watch this film for sometime now and to some degree it doesn't disappoint. Sure its daft ,poorly acted and unintentionally funny at times ,and the editing can become irritable,but its fun,dumb and occasionally creatively gory.
Plus it stars Reggie Bannister,who's one of select few of actors to be associated with a long running horror franchise.So,what's not to like.
★★★

Less can be said for its sequels though,which are practically the original Phantasm on repeat but much,much worse.
*sigh*Bannister's uncomfortable pervy charisma can only go so far.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Director : J.A.Bayona
Year : 2018

The dumbest shit.
★

On The Basis of Sex

This was actually really cute and enjoyable. It's really nicecore. Left me feeling the same way Old Man And the Gun did.

I got about 15 minutes into Fallen Kingdom, for the record

Demolition (Jean-Marc Vallée)

What a weird film. It's definitely an hard film to wrap your head around, but overall I think I liked it.

No wonder it flopped lol, but I'm surprised to see this has almost unanimously bad reviews. Definitely thought it'd be divisive at least. Gyllenhaal fans HAVE to see this, this may just be his greatest performance.

Classic solid Vallée editing-soundtrack, it's an head-scratcher, but even if you don't like it, it's worth at least a watch.

In an interview, JMV said that this was his best film (I don't agree, but FYI)

I love that movie. I'm not sure if this says more about my personality or what I look for in movies, but it resonated with me emotionally; the need to destroy everything so you can build everything back up again. It is patchy and weird in places, but Gyllenhaal and Cooper are what kept the movie going for me.

Saw The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen double feature last night.

It was litty titty.

BlacKkKlansman (2018) - I really liked it a lot. The opening had me cringing at the unfortunate accuracy, which this film is brimful of. I’m aware of certain dialogue and critiques of this proposed by others, and I watched it with that in mind. I cannot pretend to have a very strong opinion either way for a few reasons, but I can certainly understand it. Regardless I think it’s a very well made, witty and profound film. I found the cross cutting sequences of mild prob non spoiler very powerful and striking. All in all, I think it’s just surreal how much of the klan racist bullshit is still.being.parroted.today in the very exact same manner, you almost have to uncomfortably laugh because it’s so pathetically recognizable at this point. The very end, whether you think the footage should’ve been shown or not, just strengthens that feeling.

Locke

Pretty damn good, and kept me engaged, considering the setting of the film. Tom Hardy was good in it. Some of the bokeh shots didn't work and the cinematography could've been a little bit more refined.

It's been a while since I last posted in this thread so I'll do a quick catch-up:

Bohemian Rhapsody: the fact that this is anything but factual aside, it's quite a crowdpleaser nonetheless. Malek aces it as Mercury.

The Sound of Music: remains such a powerful emotional punch. Great lead performances, wonderful music, one for the ages.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: and this remains my all-time favourite trilogy and favourite fantasy. What an absolute epic. Of the three films I think I still prefer the first one in terms of sheer introduction to Tolkien's world and the great journey they go through as a fellowship. Two Towers and Return of the King both have their strengths with ROTK having the benefit of having one hell of a narrative. I will forever feel blessed we got this trilogy.

The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions: the first film is still the best but I just love Reloaded so much, it's so much fun. Revolutions is still a step down in terms of story and often feels repetitive, funnily enough only in the matrix, but I still admire what the Wachowski's made of it. The philosophical ideas behind it are still very much intriguing. Also, very impressive 4K remasters, even the all-CG shots look more convincing than they did before.

White Boy Rick: quite a real life story but I just couldn't find the lead actor convincing at all. And that while almost all supporting roles deliver quite good work.

Alexander: as seen in the Recommend me a movie topic, if interested: here

Girl: a heavy hitter, quite daring in what they show and how incredibly tough life is as someone transgender. I thought this was a story very well told and quite beautiful, too.

Predator 2: so lol, been a long while since I last saw this. It starts off ridiculous and gets even more crazy along the way. There are some nice scenes but overall can't match the original.

AvP: remains one of my biggest guilty pleasures. Although I must admit I don't feel that guilty about it. It's just an Alien/Predator fan's wet dream and it's widely entertaining. Love it.

Chappaquiddick: this failed to make a real connection to me. Clarke delivers but that's basically where it stops... This could've been something but it ends up feeling lacking.

The Mercy: a real life story I wasn't aware of before I saw this and it's quite intense. But I felt they didn't really succeeded in doing this man's story justice, as far as they could. Firth and especially Weisz do great work but that's about it.

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool: I liked this more than the previous two films^. Bening is the MVP and I quite liked the way they structured the story of the two lovers. I thought it was effective.

Tag: lol, some funny moments the rest is a drag

All that Jazz: so I had some trouble getting through this at first but my god, it's an amazing film. The flow is something you have to get used to but once you do, it's an emotional ride. The last sequence gave me shivers down my spine. Great stuff, please watch this if you haven't already.

Dangerous Liaisons: incredible, some words on it here

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