Roma (2018).
Beautifully made film. (Once you get past the b&w and subtitles). Mexico City in 1970 is the setting for this story about a seemingly well-off family and their peasant girl maid "Cleo".
The patriarch of the family (and Cleo's boyfriend) are utter bastards, the family held together by the Mum and serving staff. Set amid the student riots, and political upheavals of the time, this is a moving story with superb cinematography and slightly surreal happenings. The girl playing "Cleo" is apparently not even a full time actor, but plays an amazing role here.
I thought it was going to be boring at the start, but got hooked around 20 minutes in, and really enjoyed this film. (The missus did too). I want to watch it again later, tbh.
9/10. Might upgrade after a second viewing.
^Excellent film. Panned by almost all of the insecure clods on this forum who think that any film that is artistically crafted is somehow not manly.
^ Nevermind, another CGi-extravaganza Marvel film will be along in 2 minutes.
Yeah, that interminable water washing over the tiles did not auger well.
Heaven knows where you get the "not manly" idea from.
It seems that your artsy craftsy opinion is the only one that counts.
BTW, did I pan the film, or just the totally fkcen boring opening scene?
^ Correct.
But, paradoxically, not a gay Jew.
The Favourite (2018) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
A dark and bawdy period drama with excellent acting performances by it's three female leads. Both humorous and serious. Beautifully filmed, candle lit interiors and strangely appropriate, intermittent fish eye lens camera shots. Well worth a watch.
9/10
Indeed Roma is a special film...
Reminds me of when I read One Hundred Years of Solitude...Was driving a U-Haul down to St Louis with my GF and had only read the first 100 pages...I couldn't stop talking about the effing book...My Colombian friend had made me read it...
Yes, the film is slow...An effort, perhaps...For those of us who are used to a different form of entertainment...
But some of the images really stay with you, like Marquez' book...The lead actress was brilliant...
I liked the water washing over the tiles at the start...It contained one of the key images in the film...The airplane flying high overhead...Indeed, it was the final image of the film, as well (including the credits), if I'm not mistaken...
Took a few film classes at university with The Mighty Quinn...Usually we watched shorter films because our mentor taught us that you shouldn't talk about a film unless you'd watched it at least twice...And right to the end, too...Which means, as I said, even the credits...Sure enough, the plane appeared one last time... So far above the rubble of our young maid's life...
Anyway, I watched it twice, with respect to Quinn, and myself...It spoke more clearly the second time...Some powerful thought in this simple film...
looking forward to that signature sceneI liked the water washing over the tiles at the start.
did you cry at the end?
I quite enjoyed that book on the 3 occasions I gave it a go. But for some reason I never did finish it.
Funny you should mention it since the opening paragraph of 100 Years, where he describes the large stones in the river being like dinosaurs eggs from being washed by the river, is one of the literary passages that always stays with me and is vaguely of reminiscent of the water washing over the stone tiles.
Velvet Buzzsaw (Netflix, 2019)
Set in the pretentious and cringeworthy art world, this is a stylish supernatural horror movie with an impressive cast.
One of them finds a cache of artwork in a dead neighbour's flat, and as they salivate over it and plot their fortune, they start getting bumped off one by one.
Jake Gyllenhaal in particular must have enjoyed hamming it up alongside Toni Collette, Rene Russo and John Malkovich.
Not bad.
7/10
^Yep, not bad. Good cast looking like they're enjoying themselves in a pretty original horror / parody film.
Overlord (2018).
Bonkers action film, encompassing more than a few genres (War, zombies, adventure).
A plane full of US paratroopers drop into France before the final push before D-Day. Tasked with a mission to take out a vital communications tower, they encounter more than just German soldiers, but the horrifying results of diabolical Nazi experiments waiting for them.
Not Oscar fare, but great action and a satisfying quota of realistic gore and off-the-charts violence. Makes for an enjoyable movie if you're in the mood.
7/10.
Very pretentious and cringeworthy. I watched it and thought of mentioning it here for our own art buff to (ironically) criticise.
John Malkovich was very suited to play in that art world being quite pretentious himself.
The Host.
An alien species has taken over human bodies, but the subconscious of one human mind resists.
A nice enough casual sci-fi adventure to watch on a rainy day. The premise was very interesting though. The invading aliens were ultimately benevolent, and it brings up an intriguing philosophical idea; To lose human identity for peace and enlightened life.
A satisfying conclusion thanks to the steady old wisdom of William Hurt's character.
7/10 for us mere mortals, 2/10 for art buffs I'd guess.
Only watched the first 5 minutes of T-34. Russia's shamelessly jingoistic homage to the most famous battle-tank in the history of warfare.
But it is looking properly good like a proper war movie is supposed to with pornographic details of slo-mo shell's flying through the air from an opening scene swastika bedecked Panzer IV antagonist.
^Got a link? Can't find it.
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