Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
I loved this movie. It’s a basic courtroom drama except if revels in the ambiguity that most crime films use as catharsis. No catharsis here! The performances are amazing by everyone.
Grade: A-
Talk to Me (2023)
It’s really good but too much for me. I almost had to tap out a couple times. I guess that makes it effective.
Grade: B for me but higher as a film.
I saw this last year and liked it more than I ever thought possible.
Being home with my Mom means watching lots of movies. She normally doesn’t like what I pick and I don’t like what she picks. So far it’s been…
Everything Everywhere All At Once- figured this to be a slam dunk. I cried. My mother complained about the subtitles and it being weird.
Blood Father (picked by my mother) - She liked it. I didn’t think it was exactly bad but it was a pretty predictable, formulaic movie that took no chances. Mel Gibson was the lone positive of the movie.
Trainspotting - Again, figure this is gonna be a hit. My mother found it hard to follow what they were saying due to their accents and thought it dragged on. I sort of agree with the latter point but the movie isn’t a typical beginning-middle-end plot. It’s a darkened slice-of-life film about drug addiction in Scotland.
Whiplash - Another film I thought crushed it. My mother seems to like it but was totally put off by the meanness of the instructor. Ummmm… that’s kind of the point of him. He’s supposed to be aggressive and borderline psychopathic. If you hate him, then he’s doing a good job acting.
In short, my mother does not have great taste in movies and seem to dislike anything that deviates from predictable formulas.
My mother picks one tonight.
Whiplash- it was so relenting as to be unenjoyable.
So quality does not necessarily equal fun.
As stated elsewhere, great film, just ok movie experience.
I think the performances far outweigh the narrative. At its core, its no different than a win at all costs sports movie except the coach doesnt have a heart of gold and is essentially a man full of paychopathic drive, that ends with a fairly ambiguous “what the hell did we learn” ending.
But its one of Simmons’ strongest ever characters, so its tough to not enjoy it if you go in looking for a great actor killing a pretty difficult role.
I agree with your mom on Trainspotting, SUB. But then again I often have trouble with quick talking british accents in movies.
I think thats what lead so highly to my enjoyment of Banshees. I was able to just go along with the flow of the conversations that I often have quite a bit of trouble with when watching film from that part of the world.
I can appreciate wo enjoying. It just tipped over too much for me the day I watched it (years ago now).
really enjoyed once upon a time in hollywood. great extended shot of margot robbie’s bare feet in a movie theater and then another extended shot of margaret qualley’s bare feet in a car. other stuff happened i guess. i think the whole point of the movie for quentin was to film those two scenes and go back into retirement
4 bags of popcorn
My personal top 20 of 2023:
- Oppenheimer
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Past Lives
- Across the Spider-verse
- Godzilla Minus One
- M:I - Dead Reckoning Pt. 1
- The Color Purple
- Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
- Bottoms
- The Killer
- American Fiction
- John Wick: Chapter 4
- Poor Things
- The Holdovers
- Anatomy of a Fall
- May December
- Barbie
- The Iron Claw
- Ferrari
- Creed III
Very solid list. I’ve seen them all but 4 and will be covering 2 of them this week.
Only surprise to me is MI. I thought it was ok and most critics rank it pretty low on the MI listing. What did you like so much?
Loved Edge of Seventeen. I appreciate this recommendation.
https://collider.com/napoleon-global-box-office-200-million/
Napoleon just grossed 2M internationally. Why are people paying money to see this?
I guess I haven’t realized that the consensus put it lower than the other films in the franchise; it had the unfortunate fate of dropping a week before Barbenheimer, getting immediately forced off IMAX, and then existing in the shadow of the undeniable big two of the year, so I understand that - through really no fault of its own - its prospects for making a big cultural impact were unintentionally sabotaged to pieces.
Anyway, it definitely landed as one of my favorites, but with it being M:I, it’s not like I can point to any specific justification aside from “the action was incredible.” Like every installment after the first one, the movie is full of utter nonsense from a plot standpoint, but I was transfixed and I thought both the handcuff/car chase sequence and especially the entire final train segment were fantastic.
Obviously trying to compare crazy action movies to broad comedies to dramatic epics comes down to little more than vibes. There’s so little relative separation from 5 to 20 that it easily could have been lower, but that spot felt right to me.
Same. I actually didn’t realize until after I was done with Margaret that it was the same director, but it was an immediate reaction of, “Yup, makes sense.” Since you’ve been watching The Curse, it will also feel jarring to you to see Benny Safdie in the entirely wholesome father role he plays in this one. He’s background to Rachel McAdams (his wife in the movie), who really shines, but I liked having him in there too.
It’s a good movie. Fun times.
Lol this I gotta see
I felt like the action was sort of lacking for an MI film. The big set piece motorbike jump didnt compare to the previous films for me like the skyscraper stunt.
It also think it was hurt by the part 1 status.
Glad you loved it. I liked it for sure.
It’s tucked away on Starz for now, which I only really have because I bumped into a “$20 for six months” deal. I realize that’s just about the last service most people have. Hopefully it gets onto something more people have before long.
Most happy to see Past Lives so high. It was my number one. More people need to see it.
Another thing with it is that I usually scoff at the notion of “this didn’t even feel like three hours!” Even when I love a movie like the ones at the top of my list, I feel that length. M:I being 2:45 didn’t feel long to me in the slightest; as it was signing off, I honestly would have guessed there was an hour left. I realize that this is partly owing to the fact that it didn’t go into the beats of a final act the way that most movies do, but I still remember going, “Wait WTF?? It’s not actually over, is it?” And I’m pretty sure I felt it more from a length standpoint than just a “there was no ending” standpoint.
Obviously the fact that it wasn’t its own self-contained story is a ding against it, but I’d have to knock Spiderverse for that too, and ultimately I don’t find that it cut into my enjoyment too much even though I fully understand where it might for others.