Phantom Thread - It's not a grand exit for DDL. It's inconceivable to place high hope at this movie being billed as the grand final of Daniel Day Lewis career. Unfortunately it does not hit the high note of There Will Be Blood. Don't get me wrong this is not an interior movie at all cost, just the fanboy in me wanted more out of this. By the glance of the trailer it's the familiar alpha personality who is a genius at what he does but alienate the whole world. The character of DDL plays out almost like Pablo Picasso who overcompensate his talent by becoming a notorious womaniser. His latest conquest of a muse led to all the dramas. From being smitten by his new love and slowly evolves to a toxic relationship like his past women.
At the bare minimum the cinematography and performances are top notch. Leslie Manville even able to upstage Daniel Day Lewis couple of times. A well deserved Oscar nominations for her.
Double Lover - Easily the most WTF I've watched recently.
Initially thought this it some sexy erotic thriller but it went full on Cronenberg's Dead Ringer. The whole premise had you thinking whether it's split personality or a really sick game of the twin brothers. Depending on how receptive of you are to the ending twist...it's either illuminating or just downright cheap. Not only the story is WTF....the visual equally WTF. The opening shot itself enough to collect your jaw from the floor. Glad I watched this and may even look into the older films of the director.
This post has been edited by 6so: Feb 19 2018, 06:48 PM
Initially the poster put me off from watching this cause it has those shallow Hollywood vibe about it. But after reading couple of illuminating reviews, worth all the praises and good word of mouth. It's European cinema so it's your arthouse-esque pace. Close to an hour nothing happens except a repressed girl falling in love with an over bearing parents behind her back. Once the layered mysteries started to peel away, everything clicked. If you are looking into something bombastic well this is not for you. Just a sophisticated spin at Carrie without the cheese but more thoughtful writing and up to date taste.
Okay, right off the bat, the production looks... more authentic
Monkey King 2 and terrible "architecture". Not remotely "silk road" like.
Weta is not involved with Special Effects, the new Special Effects team, has much better "Asian" sensibility, in term of Architecture.
I would not call it accurate, just more Asian-centric, which is most welcome.
The good thing about this movie, is they got the whole team back for the main character, that worked well in 2, but, for some odd reason, they did not interact like the previous movie... Which is weird.
And since Aaron Kwok had shown how he can channel Monkey King, here his performance is kinda... blah...
While in the book, the emphasis was on Tangseng, Zhu Bajie and Shaseng so they can learn about "unconditional love", here the love between Tangseng and the queen of the lady country was emphasized...
I am.... not quite sold on that
So, from a story telling point of view, I like the 2nd, 3rd and than the tragic 1st.
I cannot think of anything else to add
Will they make a 4th?
If this is profitable, you bet your bottom dollar...
My Two Sen
This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Feb 22 2018, 07:21 PM
After the harsh flop of WOW, this release was perceived as a comeback vehicle for Duncan Jones. Alas this is not that movie. Although it's a genre that Jones familiar with but the whole movie just missed the mark completely. The story itself does not warrant a futuristic set-up and came off as bladerunner wannabe. A typical film noir with not enough mileage and depth to be engaging. Sad to see a promising film director falter this hard and hope there will be another movie from him to course correct otherwise film director jail it is.
Black Panther (2018) - when i watched Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) in cinema, my experience was wow, so good, but this Black Panther movie, i didn't have that ummm feeling,,, so so movie....
Allied (2016) - romantic wartime movie, stunning, very good, at least this one i have that ummm feeling....
Get Out (2017) - impressive....
Girls vs Gangsters (2018) - love to watch those beautiful girls.....
This post has been edited by Mickey C: Feb 27 2018, 10:09 PM
Heart Blackened - The polar opposite of Mother (not the Jlaw one.)
If you have 2 plus hour to burn...it's ok to watch this but your typical Korean drama tropes are all out there in your face. Over reaching, fluffy and terrible unreliable narrator mechanics. If you are nitpicky of plot details and naturalism, this is not for you. It still stuck in the 90s legal thriller mould.
Paddington 2 - A revelation. This is my first time watching this cuddly bear. The first thing that struck me the most is the craft behind this movie. Granted it's a children movie, the editing and story structuring very tactile. Scenes trotting along nicely without unnecessary set-ups. Every Chekhov's gun came through to drive the story forward. The 3d character realization is one the best I've seen. Hugh Grant gave a wonderful campy villain performance no less. Actually this movie made me realized how crappy has modern cinema lost their attention to details. Scenarios not overcooking and more importantly plenty of heart in it. Now need to hunt down the following first one!
Lemme tell you this, I signed up Netflix for it and I'm not happy. The CGI were great but the fucking storyline is the worst. Tbh, I cant decide which one is worse, FMA live action or Kingdom anime. Disappointing.
The Outsider - The Last Samurai rehash with yakuza skin. If you grow up with HK triad/Yakuza movies basically you can anticipate beat by beat what gonna happens next. Instead of finding new angles to tell a cliche story it was lensed with a western eyes that unable to bring nuances to the yakuza culture. Jared Leto terribly miscast as he is too much of a pretty boy here. Tadanobu Asano did his best to inject life into this dull picture. Originally this supposed to be a Tom Hardy and Takashi Miike collab but all studios bailed on it. Your time will be better spent on rewatching Black Rain or Beat Takashi's Brother.
The irony is there a true story of a gaijin became a Yakuza. A wash-up boxer who performed in Japanese porn and rose up the yakuza ranks. That story is 100 times more interesting than this. Netflix need to hire someone who can put together a library of films as good as their shows. Hope this will not be a standard thing for them.
This post has been edited by 6so: Mar 10 2018, 03:37 PM
Feb 19 2018, 10:34 AM
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good entertainment.....
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