Movies you've been watching...

[wankerness]

The oscar nominations are a complete goddam joke. Black Panther is only pretty good by SUPERHERO movie standards. They just kowtowed to all the public pressure to nominate the dumb thing.

The ridiculous thing is it's not even close to the worst movie nominated.

 

[Xaios]

Agreed. Some of the Oscar nominations this year, especially in the Best Picture category, are utterly and completely incomprehensible. Black Panther was good, but it is *extremely* overrated. It wasn't even the best superhero movie of 2018. Then there's Bohemian Rhapsody and Vice, movies that really didn't fare that well critically. But I guess that shows all the more that these awards are being voted by people in the industry itself.

In the past, they've been accused of not acknowledging things like popularity and representation. These are criticisms that I never really agreed with, because ultimately neither of these are aspects which should be used when judging the quality and merit of art. Yes, art is often a reflection of what's happening in society, but just because a piece of art is topical doesn't make it more meritorious for it. Unfortunately, now they're overcompensating, and it's more obvious than ever that the voting committee is more worried about the perception of art through the lens of popular culture than they are about how that art stands on its own.

But hey, at least they nominated Driver. Glad my little review proved at least a slight bit prescient, if only by about 18 hours.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Agreed. Some of the Oscar nominations this year, especially in the Best Picture category, are utterly and completely incomprehensible. Black Panther was good, but it is *extremely* overrated. It wasn't even the best superhero movie of 2018. Then there's Bohemian Rhapsody and Vice, movies that really didn't fare that well critically. But I guess that shows all the more that these awards are being voted by people in the industry itself.

In the past, they've been accused of not acknowledging things like popularity and representation. These are criticisms that I never really agreed with, because ultimately neither of these are aspects which should be used when judging the quality and merit of art. Yes, art is often a reflection of what's happening in society, but just because a piece of art is topical doesn't make it more meritorious for it. Unfortunately, now they're overcompensating, and it's more obvious than ever that the voting committee is more worried about the perception of art through the lens of popular culture than they are about how that art stands on its own.

But hey, at least they nominated Driver. Glad my little review proved at least a slight bit prescient, if only by about 18 hours.

oscar noms/wins are always a fucking farce. I'm still mad after all these years that Ken Watanabe didn't win for Letters from Iwo Jima, and that Lupita Nyongo won for 12 years a slave (she wasn't even that good compared to Chiwetel Ejiofor or Michael Fassbender). Also still salty about Kubo not winning best animated film, that definitely deserved the win.

 

[wankerness]

Bohemian Rhapsody is not only bad, not only whitewashes the main character's homosexuality, but was made by someone who may outdo Kevin Spacey on the Hollywood sex creep rankings. If they were really listening to the PC crowd, they shouldn't have touched that one with a ten foot pole.

Green Book is a joke and goes in the same category as Driving Miss Daisy and Crash, it seems like this kind of movie shouldn't be getting made anymore at this point.

 

[wankerness]

oscar noms/wins are always a fucking farce. I'm still mad after all these years that Ken Watanabe didn't win for Letters from Iwo Jima, and that Lupita Nyongo won for 12 years a slave (she wasn't even that good compared to Chiwetel Ejiofor or Michael Fassbender). Also still salty about Kubo not winning best animated film, that definitely deserved the win.

Kubo is fucking great. That year was a farce, good word. Zootopia is absolutely nothing even compared to Moana, and Red Turtle and Kubo are vastly better than either.

Oscar nominees are not always a farce, though. Often some of the best pictures of the year DO get nominated. This is the first year I can think of where I don't care about one single nominee in the best picture or any of the four best actor categories. It is THE worst in the last 10 years for sure. I can't remember before then. Roma is the only thing in the best picture category I have even any positive feelings about, and I wouldn't put it anywhere close to the two I've been talking about most recently (Leave no Trace and Eighth Grade), plus there are plenty of other movies I saw on tons of top 10 lists from plenty of critics/people that I haven't seen yet that aren't represented here.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Kubo is fucking great. That year was a farce, good word. Zootopia is absolutely nothing even compared to Moana, and Red Turtle and Kubo are vastly better than either.

Oscar nominees are not always a farce, though. Often some of the best pictures of the year DO get nominated. This is the first year I can think of where I don't care about one single nominee in the best picture or any of the four best actor categories. It is THE worst in the last 10 years for sure. I can't remember before then.

I honestly hope The Favourite wins some awards because it was one of the few truly standout films of the year for me. I have no clue how Olivia Colman got nominated for lead actress in it though, the core drama of the film revolves around Emma Stone/Rachel Weisz's characters. She's a supporting character basically. Oh well, at least Weisz and Stone got nominations, those were very well deserved. I think Saoirse Ronan should have gotten a nom for Mary Queen of Scots though, she was incredible in it.
Black Panther being nominated for Best Picture is fucking hilarious, it was good, but not better than Infinity War/Ant Man/Aquaman and definitely not better than Spiderman. Spiderman was the best superhero movie of year by far imo, though aquaman was a hell of a lot of fun too.
I'm not even going to bother watching the others best picture nominations since my sister said Bohemian Rhapsody was meh, A star is born is meh, and Vice/Green Book look tedious af.

 

[wankerness]

I saw A Star is Born. It was fine. I like Lady Gaga, I don't mind Bradley Cooper, but the back half of the movie gets tedious as hell when it asks us to care deeply about Mr. Mumbly acting self-destructive while she basically gets pushed off the screen. I'd suggest watching the first half sometime.

Vice sounds horrible in concept, but maybe I'll watch it someday and think it's great. I haven't seen The Favourite yet, I just loathe costume dramas in general. I haven't liked Olivia Coleman since like, Rushmore. I couldn't stand her on Peep Show and unfortunately Sophie's kind of all I can think when I see her anymore. I know everyone says it's funny/great, but they also tend to say "it's the first good movie from [that director]" and I actually LIKED his last movie, meaning I might dislike this one!

Saoirse Ronan is, IMO, the new Meryl Streep as far as quality is concerned. People are already taking her for granted. The Oscars just haven't rewarded her yet and aren't to the point where they will nominate her over everyone else even for lousy movies like Into the Woods or Margaret Thatcher: The Movie. I adore her, but again, have zero interest in that movie. Then again, that's what I said about Brooklyn and I ended up loving that one.

I still haven't seen Spiderman or Aquaman, but I"m really excited to see Spider-Man and I am guessing it's just as good as everyone's said. And yes, I definitely liked Black Panther less than Infinity War and even Ant Man 2. It was MASSIVELY overrated. Best Marvel movie my ass. It's not a standout in any way other than the cultural impact and the absolutely stunning costume design, which DOES deserve an oscar. Oh, and the ending with the villain is pretty good, but again, not really anything to get excited about.

 

[Xaios]

Honestly I felt kind of let down by Killmonger. The character had such potential, and Robert B. Jordan's performance was great, the best in the movie in fact (and, honestly, also probably a bit above John David Washington's), but the script was designed in such a way so that what he was talking about specifically was only strongly suggested instead of outright stated, and that pisses me off. Choices like saying "people who look like us are suffering" instead of just outright saying "black people and minorities are suffering" completely kill whatever impact that what he's saying should have. But I get it, this isn't a Spike Lee movie, it's a Marvel movie. Marvel really had the chance to deliver something brave with this one though, but instead we got what is simply a good, at times very good but arguably never great, comic book movie.

 

[wankerness]

I agree with what you say, and was really frustrated by the massive hype about it acting like it was what you say. It wasn’t. And like, that’s fine, it’s impressive they put ANY of that in the movie, but it’s still getting so much more credit than it deserves. The hype killed it for me, maybe. If I saw it without reading anything first maybe I would have liked it a lot more.

But yes, Kilmonger isn’t even in the movie for like 45 minutes. And then he turns into a crap cgi model for the climax. He is great when he’s on screen though. It’s shocking how much better he is in the fight scene than Boseman, who needed more stunt doubles.

 

[mongey]

haven't seen most of them but hopefully blackkklansmen wins every category its nominated in

 

[wankerness]

Just watched Blackkklansman. It was pretty good, but seemed like maybe the script had been lying around for a while and then he just did a quick draft to bring it up to 2018. Like, the majority of it is good, has some interesting ideas, does great work with the characters, does a good job of showing how while the Klan members are pathetic they're much more grotesque and hateful than laughable, etc.
But, the ending feels like it came out of left field and was grafted onto it. It certainly WORKS, but the movie has a fairly neat bow tied around it before the cut to news footage. There's also one short exchange in the middle of the movie (no one could ever elect someone like David Duke president! *WINK WINK*) that seems like it was added after the fact. Obviously it ties in with the end, where we see David Duke might as well be the president, but that just points more to it seeming like it was retrofitted on. The really, really heavy scene with the old man describing the torture and lynching by a whole town in contrast to the KKK lighting their stupid candles and ghoulishly laughing at Birth of a Nation seems like it was always there; the ending does not. I definitely approve of the content and the message of that ending, just...it seems like it should have been more of a coda than a "this was always meant to be here!" But, maybe it was, and it just coeexisted uneasily with the rest of the movie.

Whatever, it's good.

 

[Xaios]

Just watched Blackkklansman. It was pretty good, but seemed like maybe the script had been lying around for a while and then he just did a quick draft to bring it up to 2018. Like, the majority of it is good, has some interesting ideas, does great work with the characters, does a good job of showing how while the Klan members are pathetic they're much more grotesque and hateful than laughable, etc.
But, the ending feels like it came out of left field and was grafted onto it. It certainly WORKS, but the movie has a fairly neat bow tied around it before the cut to news footage. There's also one short exchange in the middle of the movie (no one could ever elect someone like David Duke president! *WINK WINK*) that seems like it was added after the fact. Obviously it ties in with the end, where we see David Duke might as well be the president, but that just points more to it seeming like it was retrofitted on. The really, really heavy scene with the old man describing the torture and lynching by a whole town in contrast to the KKK lighting their stupid candles and ghoulishly laughing at Birth of a Nation seems like it was always there; the ending does not. I definitely approve of the content and the message of that ending, just...it seems like it should have been more of a coda than a "this was always meant to be here!" But, maybe it was, and it just coeexisted uneasily with the rest of the movie.

Whatever, it's good.

For the record, the movie is based on the book "Black Klansman" written by the actual Ron Stallworth, which was published in 2014. It seems as though the script was written between 2015 and 2017, and was probably finalized right when the Charlottesville rally happened. So, honestly, it couldn't have been sitting around for very long, but it was definitely added in after everything else, given that the rally only happened a year and a half ago, right before this movie went into production.

 

[mongey]

the ending was obviously an after thought when the violence happened but I thought it was ,sadly, perfect

the story closes out with the KKK coming off as moronic buffons rather than the evil beings they can be .to me it made the whole thing much heavier to bring it back to a real world context.Id consider it an epilogue rather than part of the main movie

 

[wankerness]

The Favourite - hated it!!! (Wayans voice) I am just revolted by powdered wigs and the 18th century, not to mention Olivia Colman/her character, so I didn’t find it funny for a single second. I got into the groove of the same director’s “Killing of a Sacred Deer” and found the rhythms with the dialogue darkly funny, not the case here. Only good thing was Rachel Weisz being in a movie that is getting her attention. I was miserable the entire time, and that wasn’t the intent of the film.

Crazy Rich Asians - for a movie talking out of both sides of its mouth, extolling the virtues of conspicuous consumption while giving our pure-hearted heroine that wants to leave it behind to continue being a college professor the moral high ground, I kinda liked this. It has way too many characters for the runtime, but about fifteen of them are good, so whatever. I could have done without the wedding porn in the last twenty minutes.

 

[PunkBillCarson]

Exactly why you don't let the hype of others dictate your expectations...

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I still stand by The favourite as being my favorite movie of the year. Unlike Wankerness I love period pieces and costume dramas, plus it's just too much fun to watch Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz be emotionally manipulative conniving bitches. Plus it's kind of an absurd film at times, and I like that.
I rewatched Company of Wolves last night. It was a cool atmospheric take on red riding hood/werewolves, but mostly I just like it for the transformation scenes, especially the flesh ripping one, though the later transformation scene is still cool where the wolf bursts from the man's skin. The practical effects hold up quite well like other films from that time period (ie American Werewolf, Aliens, etc).

 

[wankerness]

I still stand by The favourite as being my favorite movie of the year. Unlike Wankerness I love period pieces and costume dramas, plus it's just too much fun to watch Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz be emotionally manipulative conniving bitches. Plus it's kind of an absurd film at times, and I like that.
I rewatched Company of Wolves last night. It was a cool atmospheric take on red riding hood/werewolves, but mostly I just like it for the transformation scenes, especially the flesh ripping one, though the later transformation scene is still cool where the wolf bursts from the man's skin. The practical effects hold up quite well like other films from that time period (ie American Werewolf, Aliens, etc).

I understood everything that was going on, apart from the allegedly humorous tone. I mean, I get that the characters were kind of absurd, but everything was played so straight and vindictively and all the emotional hurt there was real. The only thing I liked, apart from what I said about Rachel Weisz, was the ending, cause fuck her. Haha.

I am totally fine with period pieces and costume dramas, I love plenty of them, and I like them from the same era if they take place in say, America or east Asia, just something about that particular era in high society Europe turns me off, bigtime. Everyone looks so disgusting, especially men. It viscerally revolts me. Rachel Weisz looked good in this, though. Meaning her hair was probably anachronistic. The only movie I can think of offhand with those kinds of puffed overdone costumes and wigs that I like is Amadeus.

Oh, and the Victorian era is terrible too! Maybe I just hate callous rich people and that era/accent are what most accentuate the whole concept of out-of-touch asshole that needs to be guillotined, with all their social mores and ridiculous protocols and whatnot on top of their wigs that were mainly to cover up the rot (syphilis) beneath.

Company of Wolves is pretty good. That's one of those movies that's weirdly MIA on blu-ray here in this country. I like the strange artificial look it has, that was a very unique 80s thing. Neverending Story and Legend kind of have it too, but CoW has an even more stagey look to the sets. I dunno if the effects "hold up," they're really rickety compared to American Werewolf in London or even The Howling, but they're certainly unique. The incredibly gruesome one is like nothing else I've seen and is very memorable!! It's a really cool movie.

Exactly why you don't let the hype of others dictate your expectations...

Huh? Are you saying I did that, and that's why I didn't like The Favourite? Or are you saying my reaction is like that cause I DIDN'T, since almost everyone else on the planet apparently loves it? The steady parade of hype on this one probably didn't affect it one way or the other, my dislikes with it were pretty personal I think.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

yeah, sounds like you have some weird subconscious hatred of 16th -18th century europe.

 

[wankerness]

yeah, sounds like you have some weird subconscious hatred of 16th -18th century europe.

It’s not subconscious, I fully acknowledge it! I just am not sure if my explanation is true. So I guess it be partly subconscious.

My mom watched Masterpiece Theater constantly when I was a kid and I thought it was really boring and wanted to watch Godzilla movies instead, maybe that plays into it.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Just saw that black panther won a bunch of SAG awards. Also Emily Blunt somehow won best actress over Rachel Weisz or Emma Stone for Quiet Place