Film and Episodic Content Discussion Thread

Scavengers Reign on HBO is beautiful. A very fictional, but honest 'nature documentary' of man vs. nature.

 

Purely by coincidence I viewed two recent films by acclaimed directors w/in the past 24 hrs. Last night it was THE KILLER by David Fincher (streaming/Netflix); this afternoon it was SILENT NIGHT by John Woo. Despite very approximate correlations of the stories in each film, I found the contrast between them rather extreme and not in favor of THE KILLER.

It has been awhile since I saw a David Fincher film, but I have seen a number of them (GONE GIRL was the latest) and very much appreciated Fincher's talents in cinematography and meticulous visual story telling. Both qualities are on full display in THE KILLER, one of the better looking, better photographed films I've seen in a some time. Yet I remained uninvolved, even bored by the story. My biggest problems were with the writing, not the directing: I simply wasn't drawn into this diffident, slow, painstaking depiction of an anonymous assassin having to become far less anonymous to settle a score. Some scenes just didn't work for me, particularly the long, dialogue-free opening scene; IMO it was too long, too slow, and the assassin's interior narration was too mundane and listless. Fincher lost me in the first 20 minutes of the film, and I never quite caught up again. Ultimately the story was too meticulous and muted. Having said all that, the shot sequencing and vvisual design of this film (like so many of Fincher's films) will likely be taught in film schools.

John Woo's SILENT NIGHT couldn't have been more different. It's visually flambouyant and emotional to the point of being morose & lachrymose, in the manner of any number of Chinese films I've seen that focus on the kinder, gentler emotions of a man who takes bloody revenge using multiple weapons. The cinematgraphy and editing are pure Woo: hyper-kinetic, bloody to an extreme, veering between slow motion and head-snapping speed action. The body count here could populate a small New England town. I've always liked Joel Kinnamon, and liked him here. He was ultimately quite sympathetic; I was rooting for him. I appreciate that Woo doesn't tell us for sure whether Kinammon's character and the heroic cop die from their myriad injuries. He leaves that door open a crack; maybe they somehow lived. If I was a young Hispanic male (or gang member), I would want to kick Woo's ass for the endless conveyor belt of vicious Hispanic gangsters in this film...but I digress.

 

Yep, I'm thoroughly enjoying this. Extremely solid sci-fi with the WTF world. Solid slices of humanity with the range of very believable characters. A good mix of subtle and smack-you-over-the-head themes about the corrupting and healing influences of both man and nature.

I have two episodes left, and am desperately looking forward to it.

 

Just got back from The Abyss special edition and... I'm very emotional right now. Seeing it on a big screen for the first time since 1989 when I saw it as a kid... it had a massive effect on me tonight. It's an amazing film, but its qualities are just magnified on a 50 foot screen... all the drama, emotion, action, excitement, thrills, chills... not to mention Alan Silvestri's amazing majestic score... it's been so long since I've seen a genuinely amazing movie in theaters that I get choked up even thinking about what cinema used to mean. Really powerful experience tonight.

 

Last two episodes of Scavengers Reign are great. You probably already know how it is going to 'end' - but it's the world that matters more than anything.

 

Saw Godzilla Minus One last night at the theater. How can a little $15M dollar Japanese monster movie embarrass mainstream Hollywood and their bloated, infantile multi-hundred million dollar flicks? With fantastic writing and direction that's how... but I doubt anyone in that town will pay attention and continue to pump out sludge and be paid handsomely for it.

 

Thanks for this recommendation, loving it so far (about half way through). Hadn't given it a second thought when I first saw the tile in the Max app.

 

I saw the original in theaters back in '84, but I was a small kid and only really remember the scary opening. I really enjoyed Afterlife a couple years ago, it was alot of fun, and this looks the same.

 

"The Western Forces of Texas and California" LOL

 

^I've been driving Uber at nights in LA. Picked up two women in front of the Greek Theatre one night, chatted with them for about ten minutes before realizing that Kirsten Duntz was in the back seat of my car.

 

A film I missed back in the 80s and had been meaning to see for a long time finally got my eyeballs on it tonight.

It's an above average "spy" thriller with some pretty good performances (Penn in particular is stellar), though I felt the film was only ever dealing with the story's concerns on a surface level. There was alot of dramatic meat to the situation but it never rose above "standard thriller" levels. Shame, since it was written by the very talented Steven Zaillian.

I did like it though and am glad I finally watched it.

 

Another franchise brought back from the dead

 

I'm no expert on the BEVERLY HILLS COP franchise. Saw the 1st and didn't love it (IMO too much like BARNEY MILLER w/exterior shots), then ignored #2 & #3 because I read they went downhill from #1.

So why now, 30 years after #3, do we get #4 in the franchise? Is this a film we really need?

My inner skeptic says, "It's only happening because it's a known storyline with familiar characters--but isn't a superhero film (those have been tanking recently)--and Eddie Murphy again seems somewhat bankable, for whatever reason."

I'd much rather they make a movie based on a real story that isn't already overly familiar and wasn't originally aimed at 12 year old boys.

BTW, to me this is a wholly different thing from bringing back classics like ABYSS and DIE HARD to the big screen in limited runs. That's a great thing, at least for me. But reviving dinosaur franchises that already tapped out decades ago? I don't see it.

 

Whatever happened to Sean Penn? Have not seen him acting in anything for a long time, I assume he is enjoying his retirement. My favorite role of his was early on in At Close Range, which also happened to have Christopher Walken, one of may favorite actors. Still a worthwhile movie for those who have not seen it, now over 35 years later.

 

Sean Penn Hiding from El Chapo

 

This is one of those movies that I could swear I watched, but turns out I didn't. I think I was thinking about the Ben Affleck/Morgan Freeman one from 2002 (God I feel old).

Anyway caught this tonight on HBO MAX (I refuse to just call it MAX like they want me to) and it was a decent thriller, not bad, not great, but adequate enough where I don't feel like I wasted my time.

I feel like this was their attempt to start a franchise with Pine as Ryan when the Affleck version failed to bring about a follow up movie. I think Affleck's failed movie Gigli aborted him from the role. Nobody beats Harrison Ford as Ryan, who brought the perfect mix of "fish out of water/ah shucks-ism" and "confident leading man/hero"... Baldwin was pretty good, but he just doesn't do both as well as Ford. Both Affleck and Pine don't really come close, though Pine does an admirable job. Anyway Pine admitted they never got to do a sequel since it didn't do well financially.

Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) summed up the movie's issues fairly well:

It's a pretty by the numbers thriller... perfectly watchable and even enjoyable, but you forget about it as soon as its over.

I think I watched an episode of the Jack Ryan TV thing on Amazon and never went back to it... just not my thing. I feel this series will never reach the heights it achieved during the Baldwin/Ford movies. The bottom line is they had better writers back then.

 

I know they've both recently become available on Netflix, but it's become an annual ritual for me to rewatch Band of Brothers and The Pacific. WWII sagas don't come much better than that (from the Allied perspective), and on Blu Ray with a decent modern Surround Sound setup, they both kicks ass.

Generation Kill is also really good for a modern take on the genre.

All are HBO original series.

 

Band of Brothers was excellent. Have not seen The Pacific, but if it in the same league I'll definitely be adding it to my list. Thanks.

 

A personal piece by an industry VFX artist. Eventually people will be able to do stuff in their basements that will surpass what Warner Brothers / Lucas Films / Marvel Cinematic Universe have been putting out for the past few years.