Media itt: movie/film discussion - Beware Spoilers

RODAN

Banned deucer.
My top movies change a lot but the top 5 is generally pretty solid. I don't really give a fuck about technical merit as much as I do pure enjoyment of the film itself

5. The Mummy (1999)
probably my favourite action movie. i've watched this like 4000 times and It never gets old to me.

4. Millennium Actress (2001)
my favourite animated movie, the ending to this makes me cry a lot. the whole story is told in a really interesting way.

3. The Big Lebowski (1998)
everything good about this movie has been said before. its a classic for a reason.

2. Conan the Barbarian (1982)
absolutely fucking love this movie. arnie is great in it. james earl jones is even better. the soundtrack is fucking amazing. idk, its good.

1. No Country For Old Men (2007)
this movie freaks me out. every time i watch it i get just as nervous as the first time i saw it. javier bardem puts in a fucking clinic acting job.

Honorable mentions: Walk Hard, Silver Linings Playbook, Beauty and the Beast, Spirited Away, Alien
 
goddamn war for the planet of the apes was dogshit

plot contrivance after generic trope after heavy handed "emotional" scene after incompetent lackey after another

people are giving them a huge pass based on the special effects and on andy serkis's acting but the movie itself just fucking sucked
Agreed. Felt like it was so enamoured with its own 'importance' that it forgot how to tell an interesting story.

I was so bored after the first half and then the second half revolves around half-baked plot points and some really dumb writing.
 
Also, not gonna get into a huge debate about Dunkirk but what I will say is that it, like Interstellar, is rly frustrating because I wanted to love it but there are some v noticeable flaws in it.

Sense of scale is all off, Harry Styles, despite being a fine actor, is a liability when the rest of the film is so immersive, and:

That fish-in-the-barrel scene felt like a completely different film. Not just because it's dialogue driven when the rest of the film is very visual, but because the actual writing is very hammy and needless when their actions could be explained without words, like the rest of the film


The action is top notch, its presentation is wonderful, and it nails the ending. But it's not perfect. :(
 

Hulavuta

keeps the varmints on the run
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Well, it was actually my idea to make these lists, but I am a huge procrastinator so I'm quite late. But better late than never! Gato wanted me to post it in this thread, so here it is. Apologies if it is a little on the long side, I tend to be a little long-winded. The list might be looking a little homogeneous too, but I have diverse tastes, I swear :pirate:. These genres just tend to be my favorite!


10. Remember the Titans
(2000)

I first watched this in 9th grade in Study Hall class (it was both a study hall and a class) and I found myself really drawn to it for some reason. After that, it became “that movie”, the one that I’ll always stop to watch if I find it’s on TV or something. Kind of strange, because I’m not a sports fan or a sports movie fan, nor am I a big fan of civil rights/slavery movies. I guess what I am a big fan of is coming-of-age movies, so the fact that this is set in high school is what brings everything in this movie together and just makes it work for me.

The movie doesn’t really have that much deep to say about racism or anything like that. People are clearly good or bad and some characters are outright cartoonish. It’s a movie that focuses more on catharsis and happy endings; in the end, it is a literal Disney movie. But being happy is a good thing! The performances are all great, especially from Denzel Washington and all the high schoolers who now seem to be professional cameo/supporting role actors, except for Ryan Gosling who is kind of a star now.

9. Psycho (1960)

I had the distinct benefit of somehow not having this movie spoiled for me before I watched it, despite its undeniable influence and 50+ years of age. In that spirit, I'll keep this entry unspoiled as well.

We watched the shower scene in class before watching the movie, but it was totally out of context, so I had no idea what it all meant. Even when watching the movie, I was totally in disbelief that Hitchcock actually killed his main character after spending over 45 minutes with her. At first, I thought she was still alive. Her eyes were still open, and she HAD to be alive, she was the main character! After Bates dumped her body and I knew for sure she was dead, I knew this was just going to go into unpredictable territory.

As for the final twist, as a savvy viewer watching in 2016 I had a suspicion that it could be a split-personality situation, but just the fact that I could not know for sure still kept me in suspense. When Bates pops out wearing his mother's clothes for the first time, it's a shock no matter what, as you piece all of the information together in your mind in that single moment.


This movie is also important to me for opening a lot of new horizons. At first, I thought I wouldn't like this movie because it was old and paced slowly, in black and white, etc. I was also not a "horror fan", I thought the genre was kind of trashy. But of course, I was surprised by how much I loved it. The killing was a masterful use of manipulation, suspense, and payoff, and not trashy or gratuitous at all. The deliberate decision to use black and white rather than color (tying back to its German Expressionism influences) showed me that black and white isn't just an outdated technological limitation, but a deliberate stylistic choice that can be made, with its own set of things it can do. Nowadays, I do identify myself as a horror fan and a fan of several black and white films.

8. Alien (1979)

Speaking of horror. Though incidentally, even before becoming a horror fan, this was a film I had wanted to watch for a long time. That was mainly because I am a big lifelong fan of two things it heavily inspired: Metroid and StarCraft. I had to watch it this year for class and I was expecting to really enjoy it.

Unfortunately the fact that this movie is so influential did mean that, unlike Psycho, I was completely spoiled going in. Which was sad, because this movie does rely a lot on unpredictability (not necessarily twists, but unpredictability). The movie has no main character and no character arcs, giving an "anyone can die" atmosphere. However, Ellen Ripley is such a pop cultural icon, I knew that she would be the survivor. The Alien's form changes throughout the film and is rarely shown in full, but the Xenomorph is so iconic that of course I knew what it looked like.

Still, I love this movie just for how good it is. I enjoy this film for all the technique that goes into it. Everything in it is great, the design, the pacing, and the cinematography. Of course I love the world too as I see things that Metroid and StarCraft pulled from it. I actually find this movie quite relaxing with how slow it is; all the dialogue is just so pleasing to hear as well, it really grips me.

I really liked Aliens too, even more than Alien when I first saw it. It just had a lot more heart. But in the months gone by, I've found Alien the one I've wanted to rewatch more often, so it gets the spot on this list.

7. Jurassic Park (1993)

This was my number one favorite film as a kid. I was a shameless dinosaur kid, the kind who told people my favorite dinosaur was Eustreptospondylus with total earnestness and without a hint of smugness. I could pretty much recite the entire film by memory and pulled out quotes in middle school Algebra class or whenever we played a game with sticks or rulers ("hey, see the stick? Stick, stupid! Eh, no wonder you're extinct...")

I say all of that because I'm not sure why this movie jumped down from number 1 so far except for the idea that maybe I'm just a bit burned out on it. I still find the film holds up; the effects are great and the fake continuity between the CGI and robots is still convincing, even when you know which is which. The characters and themes are still interesting to me too. It's still a great movie in my opinion, but maybe one I've seen a bit few too many times.

6. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Well, I can’t call myself a Star Wars fan without thinking this is the best movie in the entire series. And despite my best efforts to be different for the sake of being different…yeah, this movie really is the best. It really was a hard decision though! It’s what kept me from posting this list for so long. But yeah, this movie is just pretty much perfect. The pacing is amazing, it’s slow when it needs to be, it’s exciting when it needs to be. It’s just so good, lol. It switches up the epic formula as well, putting the big exciting (and impersonal) military battle first, then splitting up the party, then climaxing with an intimate moment between hero and villain, just two characters. What made me hesitate calling this a perfect movie is that I really was just never the biggest fan of Han and Leia, and C-3PO. But I can’t knock the film for personal preference.

I was debating for days whether to include this film, or The Force Awakens, which is what kept me from posting this list for a while. I wanted to be decisive so I didn’t want to make this a slashed entry. I ended up rewatching both and deciding to put Empire here. To be clear, I feel all three original films are better than Episode 7, but in many ways I feel like Episode 7 is the most important film to me. It really is the Star Wars of my generation. The originals were before me, and I saw the prequels while in elementary school. This is the Star Wars I’m getting as an adult when I’m old enough to have some perspective. It’s kind of unfortunate that talking about The Force Awakens is such a minefield nowadays; people will dismiss it as feminist propaganda or a shameless rehash, and it’s hard to get past that and into a real discussion of the film. To me, when rewatching, the biggest issue is that it just seems a bit…incomplete to me. Understandable, since they know they’re going to have a trilogy from the beginning, unlike with the original A New Hope. Hopefully, when the trilogy is complete, it can be something to call my favorite.


5. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

No apologies here, I have always felt that The Matrix Reloaded was the strongest of the trilogy. I have never understood why this movie was hated, aside from the very hokey Smith clone fight which has not aged well at all. While the first film is amazing, the first half of it is pure exposition and training, giving only about an hour for the real plot. As the second film, Reloaded is able to introduce more interesting supporting characters, build up the lore and mythology of the universe more, and have new unique action set-pieces like the epic freeway chase (all done with real stunts and on a constructed set). I love that Neo's powers are finally actualized and he has them throughout the film, yet, it never feels cheap or tensionless. He can't be everywhere at once, and there are great fights between other characters that give tension. The mythology added by this film is great too, and really explains a lot of things the first movie glossed over, such as why The One even exists in the first place, or how the Oracle actually is able to see the future. I can’t even imagine the first movie without the explanations offered by this one.

As for the third film. Yeah, it is quite awful for the first half. But the second half I find is a nice conclusion to the series as a whole. Better off with it, than without. I really love this series, if I had to wrap it up in one word it'd just be "inspiring". Really had a massive influence on how I wrote and played as a kid. I remember watching this as a kid and thinking: "why are movies ever bad? why don't they just do the same sci-fi war thing that The Matrix did? You can't go wrong with that."

4. The Dark Knight (2008)

Yeah, it's The Dark Knight. I realize it's almost a cliche to put on top movies lists, like the more casual version of Citizen Kane. But still, every time I watch this movie, I am still blown away by just how good it is. Some movies you watch, and then you think about it and then you say to yourself "yeah, when I think about it, that really was a great movie." The Dark Knight kinda beats you over the head and says "LOOK HOW GOOD I AM!" It is pretty much non-stop intensity throughout, with a great use of cross-cutting to parallel crimes, meaning you're always invested in multiple situations at the same time. The crimes are always filled with tension because of how small they are. In the other two movies, you know the villains aren't ever going to destroy the ENTIRE CITY. But The Joker can succeed in his schemes to kill a few important people, and still be stopped at the end (and in fact, some of his schemes are successful). It brings your excitement up to a point where you feel tired afterward.

Still, it's not a perfect movie. It's not all that subtle with its themes; a lot of the dialogue seems like the characters are analyzing the movie they're in as it's happening, though most of the lines are still defensible in-context. The ending really bugs me too, as The Joker basically won and they had to lie to the public to cover that up. But thankfully, the truth came out in The Dark Knight Rises, and we got our traditional happy ending. Biggest issue for me honestly, is the (albeit necessary) recasting of Rachel. Personally, I just can't reconcile that these two people who look nothing alike are the same person, and that means all of the emotions and development carried from the first movie are lost. Unfortunate, as she's the main emotional heart of the film.

On a final note, I find this film works a whole lot better if you see it as a companion piece / adaptation of The Animated Series.

3. Digital Monster X-Evolution (2005)

I first watched this movie in middle school, just because I like Digimon and this was a Digimon movie. I thought it was "ok". The CGI (this is the only Digimon film or show not hand-drawn) looked a little hokey to me, and there wasn't much action.

I rewatched it last year as an adult, and upon doing so I realized that this movie is actually incredibly fucking good. It's like the Logan of Digimon, in how detached it is from the rest of the franchise. It takes place in an ambiguous post-apocalyptic continuity, unconnected to any of the other continuities in the series. Knowledge of the series enhances the viewing and makes some of the symbolism clearer, but is not totally necessary. Though it has the same director as the first two TV series, the movie features no human characters at all and takes place completely in the Digital World, eschewing the traditional children's coming-of-age themes in favor of darker themes of genocide, maltheism, and the fallibility of God (or in this case, the Host Computer). Are the Royal Knights just unable to grasp the greater perspective of the plan, or can God's orders be wrong? The movie never got an English localized release, possibly because of how dark it is; the film is punctuated with several brutal murders, including of children (some of them get better though!).

I don't want to make it out as if it's a hard watch though, because it is still fun. I doubt the film was really meant to criticize any religion or topical event; but the use of these themes and archetypes does give the film the scale of a mythological epic and add some depth to the struggle of the characters. It's not that light on the action either, and the 2005-era CGI does hold up reasonably well.

2. Godzilla (2014)

I'm not going to use any of the classic defenses of this movie. I’m not going to say that Bryan Cranston dying early was a good idea to show that “anyone can die”, because really he should not have died that early. I’m not going to say Godzilla only being in the movie 11 minutes was enough, even if that was how long he was in the original movie, because he really should have been in the movie longer and not had those fights cut.

Rather than just defending the movie, I want to go the opposite direction explain why I love it so much. I've noticed a worrying tendency in criticism that focuses only on the narrative in films, as if they are just novels, and technique and "filmmaking" (as broad a term that is) counts for nothing. While I'd be hard-pressed to say that Godzilla was a great narrative, I would not hesitate for a moment to say it is a great film. When I first saw this film in the theater, it blew me away. It isn't a story as much as it is an experience. The cinematography is breathtaking, something I realized even before I knew anything abut film or what "cinematography" even was. Every shot is taken from the human perspective with a human scale, without relying on the headache-inducing "found footage" technique. When seen on the big screen, it puts you right there on the ground where the action is happening. I was surprised by the fact I was impressed by the CGI as well. The "Spielberg Face" reaction shots of all the characters really sell that they believe what they are seeing, and in turn, I do too.

The narrative problems do pull it down though, I can't completely exculpate them. It frustrates me because with a few tweaks this movie could have been perfect.

Just keep Bryan Cranston alive and make him realize that by obsessing over his dead wife, he is pushing away his son, the only part of her he has left. Make the main emotional arc of the film him reconnecting with his son, rather than the son trying to get back to his family. Give him some scenes with Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins. They want Godzilla and the MUTOs to fight, but Bryan would be more on the side of the Navy that doesn't trust Godzilla and wants to nuke them all, as the MUTO killed his wife. Show the first two fights with Godzilla, even if they're only 1 or 2 minutes long. There has already been enough build-up, plus it would make the final fight more of a climax, rather than the first battle.


So though it was an unforgettable experience in the theater the first time (I literally exclaimed "oh shit" in the theater when Godzilla first uses his atomic breath) it is somewhat frustrating upon rewatch. Still, if you change your mindset a bit this is a very good movie in my opinion. I did a video essay on it for a class and got a B!

1. Princess Mononoke (1997)

I've actually only ever seen this movie once. I'm not sure why it's my favorite, but after I saw it, I just decided that it was. Most people who have seen this movie will tell you that it's good, and it is. It has everything I like in a movie, action, mythology, depth, cool characters, romance. But I think the reason it's my favorite is more the external things than the film itself.

I saw this movie on Christmas day, 2013 (right after catching Ben-Hur on TV for the first time too, as well as finishing Pokemon Y). I found out my family wasn't going to be here until the 26th, and I didn't want my Christmas to suck, so I thought "I'll watch Princess Mononoke and then Christmas will be good!" I had already planned to start watching the Ghibli movies after rediscovering them, and for reasons unknown, I was drawn to this one first.

This was in a month where just everything was going right for me. It was my senior year of high school; my online school got a campus/office space, so I was able to actually go to school again and made some great friends. I finally got badged on Smogon, after a long journey with a lot of help (rip mentorship) so it felt good to make a lot of people proud too. I thought I was making a lot of progress with a girl I was really into. I was rediscovering my passion for being a musician (the music of the Ghibli movies is what got me into them in the first place, actually!). Plus, I'm just a big Christmas fan, it's always a fun and emotional time of the year for me. Everything was just really happy for me at this point.

They say you never know the good times until they're already gone, but in this case, I knew this was going to be the time I would be nostalgic about and look back on, as it was happening. So I decided "I'm going to watch this movie so it can be another awesome thing to look back on" and it ended up being so, especially with how emotionally powerful I found it. So now I always look back at this movie and the time it represents for me with fondness.
 

Shame That

TAKE IT ALL OR LEAVE IT
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So I’m next in line to post here, I think, now that Hula and Gato both have. There’s an inherent preference towards horror/thriller, and you’ll notice that a lot of the time a single actor played a large part in shaping my love for a whole movie. But anyway, here’s my overdue list of movies :)


10. Inglorious Basterds

This spot was actually a bit of a tossup, and something like Shaun of the Dead or Kingsman could easily fit in here, but I ultimately gave it to Inglorious Basterds because, despite its imperfections, it’s one of the most damn entertaining watches and rewatches I can think of beyond my genre preferences. The movie almost seems to have trouble paying attention; it builds these characters with introductions and shows multiple perspectives of the war, then spends a huge portion of your time on a something random, like a single scene in some dank bar. Still, I feel this adds to the film’s charm. It’s not some epic narrative about the would-be downfall of hitler. It’s actually a story of exciting, and sometimes funny, clashes of wits and ideologies. Hell, Christoph Waltz alone makes this movie worth watching, so when the movie itself is already really entertaining he just takes it above and beyond.

This pick came in with a lot of bias, because I recognise the movie is actually quite flawed and that there are a lot of movies out there (some of which I’ve probably seen) which would be more deserving of this spot. However, given what I guess is my personal bias, this movie makes my list for its style, cast, and disregard for the expectations of cinema (thanks Tarantino).



9. The Dark Knight

Hula has already mentioned some reasons for placing this on his list which I share. I actually kind of stupidly pride myself on some level of elitism when it comes to film and TV, but I’m not as contrarian as to attack this movie when it impressed me time and time again.

It always just astounded me that a superhero movie could be so good. I can’t put into words just how incredible Heath Ledger was (none that would do him justice or add anything new, anyway), and the plot and direction keeps the entire film feeling cinematic, riveting, and rewarding from start to finish. The Dark Knight is an incredible achievement of modern film and it can be appreciated across so many age groups and genre preferences. I hate to join my friends’ mainstream tastes in lauding it, but I can’t help it; it really is one of the greats.



8. The Green Room

I really liked Diehard, and Death Note, and I like the two movies above this one on the list — really, I love films where the good guys and the bad guys are both smart. The Green Room feeds into that preference of mine, and then smothers the whole thing with tense pacing, solid acting, and a very well thought out and interesting scenario.

Seeing something like this unfold, and feeling the paranoia develop between characters, is something that cannot easily be done overtly, and which requires a skilled director and cast to pull off effectively. I love that, knowing that Patrick Stewart is in the movie, the tension amps up alongside the suspense of wondering when he’ll show up, with both exploding onto the scene brilliantly at the same time.

The Green Room gets a spot on my list because it’s engaging, well-acted and super atmospheric, but above all because it’s smart and original. It doesn’t take much more than that combo in a horror film to earn high praise from me — incidentally, it’s also extremely rare for a horror movie or thriller to actually achieve both of those things. Its been a good few years for horror.



7. Alien

Somewhere along the way, B-horror movies started to make suspense artificially — as in, you can create it in any scene just by having the music gradually increase in pitch. It’s not as if this doesn’t cause your heart rate to quicken, but it creates predictable patterns and takes away from the whole atmosphere of a movie that desires that suspense throughout. I’m sure filmmakers started doing this because it’s easier than handcrafting a situation, plot, and directing a scene in which the suspense is found in the situation and every facet of the film instead of in the soundtrack.

Alien is a great concept even just to hear about — the ultimate killing machine lose in your spaceship. What makes it a great film, though, in my opinion, is the way it harnesses claustrophobia and isolation in the very fabric of its design. Ridley Scott has a vision of a movie where your lungs start to hurt from holding your breath, without feeling like you’re being cheesed by deceptive sound or visual effects: purely through the concept and situation. I love Aliens as well, but this horror is my true favourite genre (as bad as it usually is) and this movie is a nice reminder of why I started watching horror in the first place.



6. Silence of the Lambs

This one is more or less self-explanatory, I think. I revisit this film again and again, not only to see a wonderfully interesting and dark crime thriller, but to get another glimpse of Anthony Hopkins’ absolutely breathtaking performance as Lecter. No matter how many times I see this movie or the particular scene, the first shot coming around the corner of Hopkins in his cell gives me goosebumps every time.

This movie is perhaps considered a modern classic or a cult film by many, and I’d say it’s fairly deserving of the status. There isn’t much to say about the movie that hasn’t already been said, but suffice to say that it’s praised so highly for a reason and it reaches its goals — the psychological battle of purity and evil against the backdrop of a grisly and gripping detective tale — extraordinarily well.



5. Wolf Children

I am, or I guess used to be, pretty big on anime. There’s just so many clever content creators coming out of Japan that I feel like investing the time to become comfortable with anime as a medium rewards you with dozens of hours of extremely good content, even if you’re not particularly interested in Japan or animated girls on a fundamental level. I say dozens because 99.99% of anime is actually mediocre at best and garbage on average. The 0.01%, though, is the stuff that is good enough that you actually feel happy that you waded through the garbage to reach it.

Wolf Children is so, so beautiful. Its raw, simplistic scenes and bittersweet plot are in my opinion something of a backdrop to create a slice of life, coming-of-age shell for this film, and nothing more. Because the real value lies in its incredible art, its soundtrack, and its vivid representation of the small things in an artistic way which I feel only a medium like anime can truly capture. When I first watched this film, the unveiling of the wolf man gave me goosebumps, the countryside life scenes gave me overwhelming urges to visit the great outdoors, the branching paths of developing characters made me tear up…

There is a lot to appreciate here, but it feels more like appreciating a good painting than an entertaining film — what does something like this evoke for you? Do you feel overwhelmed when watching such simple scenes unfold? This is my top movie list, not anyone else’s, and for Wolf Children has an emotional impact value to it that I have yet to find in any other film I’ve watched to date.



4. Get Out

Going into this movie with no expectations and very little prior knowledge was probably the best case scenario. I didn’t even know who directed it until the opening credits (which perhaps made me even more apprehensive [boy was I wrong]). A fortnight later I had seen the movie three times, and each gave me something extra which I hadn’t picked up on the first time around. Hell, on one of the watches I simply focused on one single side character, and noticed how every single thing that was said or happened could be tied into his development in a way that explains his role in the film. It’s simply astounding how finely crafted and intricate the film is for such an overtly impressive experience.

There is just so much condensed into such a small package here. Excellent acting, soundtrack, pacing, camera work, plot, symbolism GALORE. The movie gives you all the pieces you need to connect things yourself, while you’re watching, while still making you feel as if you’re discovering something yourself, with all of this happening as you watch an enthralling and exciting audiovisual rollercoaster.

I watch A LOT of horror movies, and a large percentage of these are modern ones. Most horror is garbage. Most good horror is only okay by all genre standards. Seeing something as incredibly well designed and high quality as Get Out gives me hope for the future of my favourite genre.



3. Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler has all the stark reality and bleak world view to be called “gritty” on the level of its plot, but you can’t call it that after seeing it; its execution is entirely smooth. The whole film smacks of noir style, and it fearlessly approaches haunting subject matters with such stimulation and speed that you truly feel the psychotic perspective on an unnerving underworld. Gyllenhaal entirely owns this role, crafting a crazy bastard without needing direct passage into his thoughts in a way which I feel transcends even Christian Bale’s American Psycho. As an aspiring journalist myself, I can feel so many undertones and messages that speak to my growing understanding of the cutthroat brutality of the world of news — not only is this film gripping and beautifully shot, it hits home for me too.



2. Rear Window

This movie isn't something I'm going to write extensively on in its specifics, because it raises one of my greatest personal qualms with film -- the feeling that, in terms of gauging quality and the experience the film provides, old and new film should be compared on a level playing field. Obviously films from the 1900s provided enormous contributions to the development of film today, and when viewed through the lens of their times can easily be considered masterpieces, but for my personal list I unfairly compare everything equally, as I judge based purely on the experience the film provides and not its contexts.

That being said, I make a small exception in my love for Rear Window. To watch a film designed to provide tension, which has been parodied to death and appropriated in hundreds of faster-paced modern movies and pop culture in general, and to still feel the extent of the tension that (I imagine) someone in the original airing's theatre would have felt -- I consider that a monumental accomplishment. Rear Window is an absolute joy to watch for the fantastic use of isolation and paranoia it creates purely through its incredible camera work and soundtrack. Even Psycho could not replicate for me the edge-of-your-seat feeling I had watching Rear Window. I like to think that if this movie aired as an indie film this year, entirely the same (with a low budget to explain its extremely dated camera quality), that I would still consider it equally as excellent and would still rank it as a #2.

I love it for its ambition, its novelty, and above all, the fact that it overcomes these two risk factors to create something masterfully entertaining and surprisingly resilient to the passage of time, retaining a golden status above all the other thrillers that have come after it in terms of the tense atmosphere it creates for the viewer.


1. No Country for Old Men

I don't remember exactly when it came about, but I have distinct memories of two times I watched Fargo: one, originally, wherein I thought it was dumb and was wondering where the plot was (obviously I was a lot younger), and one a while after that where I was beginning to appreciate it a whole lot more. At some point, my opinion of these types of films did a 180, and little things and decisions in the films started to shine and sometimes awe me enough to tempt me to pause the movie and soak in what I just watched. There's something so entrancing and gripping about these "black comedy", gritty, unapologetic crime films that stirs me up.

It's probably connected with the amount of film I've watched (mostly horror and thriller) and the amount of appreciation I've gained for good literature and good stories; I've pushed studying the short story form as far as high school and uni could take me without a specialised degree, and what I've taken away more than anything is a newfound love for minimalism. Fargo, Killing them Softly, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, they've all become some real/surreal movie crack for me. But beyond those, No Country For Old Men stood out from the bunch as something that not only hits that giddiness I get from watching these films, but ups the ante with some great cinematography, deep thought, and outstanding performances from the entire cast.

It seriously feels impossible to write out exactly why I love this film. Every moment, every shot, every word exchanged has me backtracking and questioning "why", wanting to pick apart the scene and get inside the head of the writers and the actors. But I only want, because that sort of understanding is still far beyond me. Everything I understand (or think I understand), though, just makes me love the film even more. Javier Bardem's incredible villain, the branching, graceless story, the entire design of this crime situation in which all characters are intelligent but all are also prone to the falls of human nature. The shop scene with Bardem and the old man alone is so wonderfully tense and well-executed, right down to the crumpling plastic on the tabletop -- just as the entire film's attention to detail impresses in an equally gripping way. To top it all off, the entire thing is packed in this intensely appealing novelty which is meshed in a way that it doesn't conflict with the bleak realism in how the story plays out (the air bolt gun, drug deals gone wrong in the desert, highly principled bad guys and extended, visceral action scenes).

To me, my absolute favourite movie is something I cannot do justice in text. I've given my best shot to explain parts of why this movie is my #1, but truly the only way I can imagine someone to understand how I feel about it is to hope that they experience some of what I did when watching this movie themselves.
 

Tera Melos

Banned deucer.
I watched Final Fantasy Advent Children Complete edition last night...it's uh...pretty good. Made me rebuy FFVII so I could re-get the experience. I forgot why I hated FFVII...it's such a boring and confusing and badly mapped out game...also Aeris...

Anyways, the movie has about an extra hour (or close to) or footage. The footage explains SO much that was confusing in the original film. I kind of wish it explained more of the events of the game. There are scenes in the movie where characters from the game show up who haven't been introduced and never get introduced. Mainly characters like Vincent, he comes in and saves Cloud during a pretty intense scene and is never explained to the audience. As someone who doesn't know the source material, it's completely random and odd. There's a brief scene in the beginning that explains the plot of the game very quickly, essentially saying Cloud and Friends tried to stop Shinra from being evil but Sephiroth got involved and JENOVA was more evil and Cloud had to fight Sephiroth.

The movie felt like it was made exclusively for fans, which is why it was funny to watch my girlfriend react to it, having never played a main series FF game she was at all times confused by every aspect of the movie.
 
Bit late on this but here are all the 2017-release films I watched in July.

Okja - ★★★★
Bradshaw called this an ET for this generation, and I agree with him to some disagree, but my this has more swearing than any film I've seen since Wolf of Wall Street..
Luvly parable, Seo-Hyeon Ahn is superb, Gyllenhaal I'm less convinced by. Animal Liberation Front business was sometimes a little too much but it did produce the best set-piece of Okja, a wonderful chase through a subway.
Irritated that people can purport that the children's film Tomorrowland is too preachy, yet in the same breath praise the not-so-much-a-children's film Okja, which is just as preachy. Preachiness is fine for god's sake, what's the big deal.

Baby Driver - ★★★★
Not as clever as any of Edgar Wright's other films, but certainly as inventive (editing timed to music isn't entirely unique but it's used very well here, just wish it was used to a greater extent).
Hamm and Foxx steal the show, the first act is marvellous, and while there are many plot contrivances along the way, there's enough toe-tapping joy to keep the engine running.

The Circle -
By god this was awful - one uninspired monologue after another with a 30-minute plot stretched into two hours, yet still manages to rush the ending.
That midnight kayaking scene may go down as one of the most ridiculous film moments of 2017.

Aquarius - ★★★★
Has to go down as an overwhelming disappointment, if only because the first hour pointed to it being the best film in recent years. Unfortunately, the script's not quite sharp enough to excuse its 150 minute runtime, and the ending crumbles into a weak and overused swipe at corrupt businesses.
Still, Sonia Braga is magnificent, there are some truly breathtaking scenes, music is used to full effect, and it features some of the best uses of zoom ins and zoom outs I've seen in a while.

It Comes At Night - ★★★★
What a brilliant title.
Tense and intense, the fear of the unknown and the fear of fear of the unknown is beautifully orchestrated via sweeping photography, a pulsating score, and just enough evidence to piece together an incredibly terrifying story from all the strands it leaves you to pick up.

Before I Fall - ★★★★
Up until the confusing ending, this is genuinely superb - a wonderful surprise much like Tomorrowland in 2015. This is a film about broken people, about broken relationships, where every character is finely tuned and every piece of dialogue is significant. The cinematography is playful, the soundtrack is superb, the performances, oh the performances are wonderful. If only it ended on a better note.

The Beguiled -
Well, this went nowhere. A beautiful void, with nothing to say about anything - a shame when the performances are great (minus a few wonky accents). I give this film a Coppola stars.

To The Bone -
Wasn't the shitshow I thought it could be... until the last fifteen minutes.
Tells us nothing new about anorexia, but it's not exploitative as some purport. Keanu Reeves' character is bleurgh (as is that rain dance scene).
Also, for those criticising the 'ableism' in the film, don't be stupid, that's just how teenagers talk. You shouldn't criticise a film for having sexist characters because, hey, life has sexist people. What a ridiculous argument.
Still, with how little insight this gives, and how first-draftish the narrative feels at times (especially that ending), this film is very much like its protagonists: all skin and bones.

Dunkirk -
A flawed exercise in controlled tension, but it looks and sounds mesmerising. This is one of Nolan's emotive films, and complaints about characterisation should be targeted at a film that intends to characterise rather than do the exact opposite.
It's a frustrating four stars - Like Interstellar, I really really love this film but it's hard to look past some glaring flaws. Sense of scale is all off, the fish-in-a-barrel scene feels like it's from a completely different movie, and Harry Styles, despite doing a fine job, is a liability considering how immersive the rest of the film is.
Shame, because the action is cracking and the film nails the ending big-time.

War For The Planet Of The Apes -
Well intentioned, but War is so enamoured with its own ~grandeur~ that it forgets to craft an interesting story around its heady themes. A hugely disappointing end to this trilogy, but chimp fatigue is definitely a thing.

Tour De Pharmacy -
At least it's better than 7 Days In Hell, and it opens hilariously, but the comedy is still very hit and miss, and the story itself is overstuffed and uninvolving.

I Am Not Your Negro - ★★
This is a documentary that feels like it belongs on the shelves of Key Stage 3 History classrooms for bored teachers who distract their students in order to have a ciggy. Tells us nothing eye-opening on the subject of racism, and is delivered in such a bland way.

A decent month, with Aquarius / It Comes At Night / Dunkirk being the standouts.

Other films I saw in July were:

Lion - ★★★★ (rewatch)
The Celebration - ★★★★
Mad Max: Fury Road (Chrome Edition) - ★★★★
The Burmese Harp - ★★★
The Great Train Robbery - ★★★
Gone With The Wind - ★★★★
Floating Weeds - ★★

Toni Erdmann - ★★★★
(rewatch)
His Girl Friday - ★★★★
Ratcatcher - ★★★★
Summer With Monika - ★★★
Dead Ringers - ★★★

Dunkirk - ★★★★
(rewatch)
Following - ★★★
 

Tera Melos

Banned deucer.
The Circle -
By god this was awful - one uninspired monologue after another with a 30-minute plot stretched into two hours, yet still manages to rush the ending.
That midnight kayaking scene may go down as one of the most ridiculous film moments of 2017.

superb, the performances, oh the performances are wonderful. If only it ended on a better note.
Is this the one on Netflix with all the people in the circle and they keep dying? I watched it and it made no sense...I remember the ending had something to do with Aliens...I'll be honest I was super baked and I remember this movie just made me upset.
 
Is this the one on Netflix with all the people in the circle and they keep dying? I watched it and it made no sense...I remember the ending had something to do with Aliens...I'll be honest I was super baked and I remember this movie just made me upset.
Nah this is the Emma Stone / Tom Hanks anti-surveillance propaganda flick. But the one you're thinking of is also terrible :)
 

brightobject

there like moonlight
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-Okja : personally didn't enjoy the film for all of its contradictions...as well as its overt political overtones. It raises interesting issues but then simplifies both sides, seemingly for the benefit of the kids but the Animal Liberation Front propaganda was rather part of the forefront, wouldnt u think? several side plot lines/motifs are interesting but redundant. The lead actor was indeed phenomenal though!!! Okja too was really well done in terms of cgi. Just seemed to me like a movie that lost more and more nuance the longer I watched it.

-It comes at night: amazing film...some of the strongest fear-inducing atmosphere I've ever felt watching a movie, and I was late to the showing so we got there like 10 minutes late lol. Astonishing stuff.

Hulavuta and I also saw Scream 1 and Scream 2...Scream 1 is a tongue-in-cheek yet deadly playful self-aware parody that still functions well as a horror movie (especially the opening scene...awesome)! Scream 2 is a lackluster sequel that seems to think by making jokes about how sequels are worse throughout the whole movie it will somehow excuse itself from following the same trend. Scream 2 also uses way more asspulls with improper setup leading to the twists then Scream 1 did, to the film's detriment. The twist has virtually no catharsis because of what an ass-pull it is, which i guess highlights the problems with bad writing in horror slasher "mysteries." Seeing as people seem to say 3 and 4 only get worse, don't plan on finishing up the series.

Saw Mad Max: Fury Road last night and it's definitely one of my all-time favorite films. Just wow. Amazing sets/costume/visuals/characters/dialogue (except for "It's the Bullet Farmer. He's coming from the Bullet Farm." lol)...so much heart in this movie.so many quotables too.
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
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I have been interested in the film Equilibrium for some time. I really like sci-fi and action so it seemed like a great film to watch. I was looking forward to watching a standard gun fu action movie with some kind of overarching moral thematics, but instead got a really really boring dystopia with a couple shooting sequences. Those shooting sequences happen to be really really dumb and totally implausible, but that's gun fu for you. The weird thing is that this movie sort of created its own totally different style of gun fu, that I'm really disappointed hasn't caught on. The one original idea that the whole movie actually brought forward seems like it could be a great addition to silly action movies, but it's never really been done again. I just wish I could have seen more than 3 mildly interesting gunfights.

There's a lot of problems to list with the film. The plot is really thin and the characters seem to act like they're in a saturday morning cartoon episode, but the tone of the movie is all Serious Dystopia Sending A Message To The Audience. You can't have them both at the same time. Christian Bale's character seems to flip flop between acting emotionally and acting totally devoid of emotion, which makes no real sense with how his character should be developing. The movie's description seems to say that the movie will be about rebellion, but christian bale's character just sort of goes around the dystopia and watches stuff happen and then does a mini-revolt in 5 minutes. The film tried to be a moral sci-fi, a thriller movie, and an action shooter all at once and came up short on all three. If half the film was just Christian Bale jumping around and shooting people, that would have been great. Which is why it disappoints me that there's infinitely more Gun Kata on the description of the TV Tropes page than there is in the movie, and they invented the damn term!

Also the movie made its budget back before it was released (somehow?), so marketing and distribution was limited to avoid risk and the movie made a whole 5.3 million worldwide. A lesson in how NOT to produce a film.



DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO YOU'RE SUPPRESSING YOUR EMOTIONS FROM????? YOU AND YOUR CLERICS ARE DEAD!!!
 
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Tera Melos

Banned deucer.
recently I've watched The Dark Tower and to be honest I didn't like it :(
my favorite movies are movies by Christopher Nolan :D

The Dark Tower being bad makes me nervous for the IT Remake/reboot...I kept hearing amazing things about the original script but the fired the writer cause it was a little to extreme...apparently they (the studio) kept the ending because it sets up the sequel and they wrote it for him, and it was pretty awful...so I'm not excited for that.
 

Martin

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Ethel and Ernest (2016)
★★★★★

Based on the award-winning 1998 graphic novel of the same name, Ethel and Ernest tells the story of Ethel and Ernest Briggs (the parents of the author Raymond Briggs) from the first time they met to the moment of their deaths, stretching from their first first meeting in 1928, through World War II and into 1971, the year in which they both died. This review is based on my second watch of the movie.

As a character piece, this movie is just about as good as it gets. The twosome are so different in so many ways but regardless make for a very cute couple, and throughout the course of the movie (or I guess graphic novel? Seeing how it's an adaptation and all...) do an excellent job of getting you emotionally invested in the characters; it is also very clear that Raymond Briggs did everything that he could to accurately recreate the types of personalities, interactions, and attitudes of people who were born in that generation (source: my parents and grandparents repeatedly saying people were exactly like that throughout the course of my first watch) from what he could remember of his youth and his parents. It is very enjoyable to watch their lives unfold given that it is about ordinary people going through their ordinary lives (seriously, do not undersell just how many wonders making a movie just be totally normal can do), as well as it just being interesting to see just how middle class culture differed during that point in the 20th century. The voice acting was really superb, capturing emotion and accents extremely well, and the movie is hand-animated, which results in it being a breath of fresh air in an age dominated by CGI animation and makes me happy to see that even a handful of studios are holding onto this lost art in the west for feature-length titles.

That said, while the hand animation is certainly a breath of fresh air, at times it did look really weird; the coloration method was jarring in quite a lot of shots, with you being able to see the CGI textures moving around on top, and they often didn't manage the layering very well, with rows of buildings which don't line up to the same two-point perspective as other buildings being a common occurrence which resulted in it almost looking like a pop-up book at times; other CGI elements also didn't match the aesthetic of the rest of the picture at a few points, although they were used fairly minimally for the most part. Overall, it was outdone visually by the other hand-animated movie that the BBC aired over the Christmas period in 2016 (We're Going On A Bear Hunt) by a noticeable margin. It is otherwise beautifully animated, however, and beyond those small gripes I think that the movie would be extremely hard to improve over. All in all, I thoroughly recommend this.
 

Martin

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Are any other Brits here planning on seeing any of the movies which are showing during the BFI London Film Festival that runs for a little over two weeks at the start of October? I was at BFI Southbank yesterday so I picked up the magazine to see what was on, and a few of the films which caught my interest were The Breadwinner, Close-Knit, Summer 1993, I Am Not A Witch, and Kingdom of Us, with Close-Knit in particular being a very "me" film just based on its premise. Discovering this festival was a thing (and that I hadn't missed it) was a pleasant surprise to say the least lol, so I'm kinda interested to know if anyone else is gonna be seeing any of the films which will be shown while it's going on.
 
Are any other Brits here planning on seeing any of the movies which are showing during the BFI London Film Festival that runs for a little over two weeks at the start of October? I was at BFI Southbank yesterday so I picked up the magazine to see what was on, and a few of the films which caught my interest were The Breadwinner, Close-Knit, Summer 1993, I Am Not A Witch, and Kingdom of Us, with Close-Knit in particular being a very "me" film just based on its premise. Discovering this festival was a thing (and that I hadn't missed it) was a pleasant surprise to say the least lol, so I'm kinda interested to know if anyone else is gonna be seeing any of the films which will be shown while it's going on.
Yo I'm going to the LFF!

I've got public tickets for Foxtrot, On Chesil Beach, You Were Never Really Here, Surprise Film, Call Me By Your Name, The Party, Columbus, Thoroughbred and The Shape of Water! (Treat these as my recommendations to you)

I'll mainly go to press screenings though so chances are I'll see roughly 50 films (hopefully more) at the festival. Can't wait!
 

Myzozoa

to find better ways to say what nobody says
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Ok I've recently started subscribing to another streaming service that is like netflix only for art movies (called filmstruck), because of this, I've had the opportunity to watch several old Robert Bresson films which have been very mixed but most have been interesting:

1. Pickpocket

This is a really cool film, Bresson hired a professional pick-pocketing artist to help with the scenes and there are some very tense moments during the main characters attempts. This movie manages to be dramatically sad: the emotional impact of the film comes from the timing of revelations about the characters' past actions, or maybe I should say, the emotional impact of the film is driven by scenes where one character thinks they have some secret to keep from another, but actually that secret is known already to the other character, and the real secret becomes that they actually are aware of the 'secret', but the other character does not know that they know. Due to these revelations driving the plot, the film becomes a rich tapestry of moments of innocence and coinciding 'betrayals', that ultimately call into question the value of maintaining picturesque innocence.


2. The Trial of Joan of Arc

This one is about an hour long, but is a super cool historical film, based on research into Inquisition records of the trial. Highly recommend cause it is not too long.


3. The Man Escaped

This one is about a French resistor who is captured by the Nazis in France. The film focuses on how the protagonist copes with dehumanization and alienation (and thus paranoia and hopelessness) in order to collaborate on a project that might lead to a different world for him and the others imprisoned in proximity to him.

4. Les Dames di Bois de Boulogne

This was probably my least favorite, but maybe I'll come back to it. This film is about a rich parisian women who begins to suspect that her lover and friend is only continuing their engagement out of a sense of duty to their friendship. She 'confesses' to feel the same way in order to trick him into an identical confession in turn. Having confirmed that her lover's affection comes only from duty and that he would have kept their relationship going even despite this, she plots a revenge: she entraps some poor immigrant family (mother and daughter) that have turned to prostitution to survive in Paris and tricks them into a plot to ruin her ex-lovers reputation by entrapping him to fall in love with the daughter-prostitute which would ruin her lover's reputation.


I had a lot of fun watching these films, Bresson's films tend to be very minimalist, dialogues are kept short and never come close to being expository.
 
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Tera Melos

Banned deucer.
Watched some Movies lately, so here are some quick thoughts on them


Raw - Really great movieI was in total shock and suspense the whole time and I feel like the ending only makes it more and more rewatchable with each viewing. I can't say much about the plot since it's so simple and saying to much can give some things away, but please watch this film.

Sleep Away Camp (Trilogy) - I'm such a HUGE fan of the first movie that I HAD to watch 2 and 3...I was uh, really confused by Sleep Away Camp 2...since it absolutely ignored EVERY Question the first movie concluded with. Sleep Away Camp has such an iconic plot twist ending that It would make sense that the sequel followed up on that but they kind of just turned Angela into some weird Micheal Myers type of Vigilante. I'm absolutely convinced the third movie is a satire of the first two, especially with how unintentionally funny the sequel ended.

High Tension - Another French horror film (Raw also being French). I was absolutely blown away with how fucking intense this movie was up until the big plot twist during the climax...it kind of ruins the whole movie for me. I would recommend watching but not for some great horror climax but for an insanely powerful first and second act

XX - The all female horror anthology. It's awful don't watch it.

A Fistful of Dollars - One of the most influential films of all time and in my personal top 5. I suggest everyone check it out, I watch it every now and then.
 

Martin

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Did two film rewatches last week as well as another rewatch three weeks ago, so thought I’d talk about those.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Old score: ★★★★★
New score: ★★★★★

This is my favorite movie of all time, and rewatching it I honestly think I enjoyed it even more due to just picking up on more things as I was watching. The direction is crisp and imaginative, the soundtrack is brilliant all the way through, the plot is quirky and engaging, its main characters are lovable on every level, and it is very funny all the way through. Do I really need to say anything else here?

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Old score: ★★★★
New score: ★★★★

This quirky story is overall a very enjoyable watch. Walter Mitty is a likeable personality who does a lot of daydreaming, and it follows the last two weeks at his job as it is shifting from being physical to being online. In fact, his daydreaming creates a very fitting backdrop to the way the events of the movie play out. He’s a man who has never done anything and has no real goals, and it starts with his eharmony profile bugging out. He daydreams on the platform, in his office, and in a few other places to the point that when the second arc of the story gets going it leaves you questioning whether it is a daydream for a while, which just shows how effective the dream cuts prior to this are. There are lots of other things that I could talk about (such as the romance, which felt realistic rather than hollywooded up), but I won’t. Just watch it and I promise you’ll come out with a smile on your face.

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Old score: ★★★★★
New score: ★★★★

This is a very good movie and it is definitely one of Aardman’s best works, if not their very best. Wallace and Gromit are such a lovable duo, and between the films very crass sense of humour (the number of subtle sex jokes is much higher than your average children’s film) and the enertaining story, it still remains a very enjoyable watch even twelve years after first watching it. Also they 100% chose a rabbit for the sake of one pun in the entire movie (a 24-carrot gold bullet).
 

brightobject

there like moonlight
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watched blade runner 2049

even with its horrifically long runtime, i felt like it could have been longer. what an experience

the visuals are probably the best ive ever seen in a movie. EVERY SINGLE SHOT is amazing. literally EVERY ONE. there wrre a couple of weird dialogue moments (like two or three) and the ending left me blue-balled by not showing me certain things that the audience KNOWS will happen and would give massive catharsis and give more of a feeling of ending...anyway, its a solid 9/10 for me based on the visuals and world building alone, visuals 10000/10, sound design 10000/10. They also elaborated on some of the holes within the world of the original blade runner so that was nice. niander wallace felt underutilized tho, despite luv being a great villain in her own right. joi / k dynamic owned, harrison ford looks like a sad sack now damn

also blade runner original i watched shortly before 2049, definitely a lesser movie in terms of writing, peppered with boring and bad scenes like every Rachel scene but its visual presentation has barely aged. so flawless
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Old score: ★★★★★
New score: ★★★★

This is a very good movie and it is definitely one of Aardman’s best works, if not their very best. Wallace and Gromit are such a lovable duo, and between the films very crass sense of humour (the number of subtle sex jokes is much higher than your average children’s film) and the enertaining story, it still remains a very enjoyable watch even twelve years after first watching it. Also they 100% chose a rabbit for the sake of one pun in the entire movie (a 24-carrot gold bullet).
Holy crap it has been 12 years, hasn't it?

I've personally always preferred the short films more ("The Wrong Trousers" in particular is a must-watch classic), but that doesn't mean this movie isn't superb (because it is). Beautiful film with a lot of great humor.
 
I've been pretty busy with work the last few months and haven't seen many movies of late, but I caught Thor 3 and Blue Thing is my new favorite superhero.
 

Martin

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Murder on the Orient Express
★★★ - A somewhat unfaithful adaptation that is saved by its superb source material.

Murder on the Orient Express is one of my all-time favorite books. In general I think that Agatha Christie is a superb writer, and she really has earned her place as the queen of whodunnits. I went into this excited and came out deflated. The casting was impeccable and clearly very expensive, featuring big names like Judie Dench and Kenneth Branagh among its cast of actors, and I can’t sell them short on how huge an impact this had on the quality of what was happening on-screen; the acting was believable and engaging—especially Poirot. However the lack of faith to its source material was not such a good choice. I liked aspects of what they changed—the first few scenes, for instance, with the eggs and the events at the wailing wall did a superb job of introducing the character of Poirot in an entertaining and enjoyable way. However, the lack of faith really cuts into what had the potential to be a truly superb movie past these opening few scenes. Key plot points were cut out, suspense was lost (and before you say it’s because I already know "whodunnit," this is coming from someone who still feels suspense when re-reading the source material), and all in all it just doesn’t cut it by comparison. Would I recommend it? Yes, but only if you are new to Poirot. If not, stick to the book.

The Death of Stalin
★★★★★
- A caricature of chaos, and a wildly entertaining watch.

This movie was totally superb. I could explain why, but I feel like whatever I can possibly say would be a disservice to the film. The atmosphere of the setting was spot on, the acting, scripting and direction were all superb, and the sheer chaos of everything that went on was thoroughly enjoyable. If there is any must-watch movie of 2017, it is this.
 

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