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What Was The Last Movie You Watched?


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Green Book

Reviews seem to be fairly average for a best picture nomination but I thought this was excellent. Not a huge amount happens and every time it looks like something exciting is about to kick off, it fizzles out but that is in no way a slight on the film. The classic 'odd couple' troupe is played out to perfection by Mortensen and Ali with some excellent acting and dialogue between the two of them.

It's a film that could easily have strayed into 'white saviour' territory but it thankfully avoids that. Been teaching the civil rights movement to my third years this year and it was interesting to see a hitchhikers guide to racist as f**k hick towns in the American South.

Only got to see Roma now and I'll have ticked off all the best picture nominations

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On 31/01/2019 at 21:30, Christophe said:

 

If Beale Street Could Talk 7/10

Read this as If Beale Could Talk Street and assumed the actor who played Ian Beale had finally snapped.

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On ‎02‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 01:10, paul-r-cfc said:

Green Book

Reviews seem to be fairly average for a best picture nomination but I thought this was excellent. Not a huge amount happens and every time it looks like something exciting is about to kick off, it fizzles out but that is in no way a slight on the film. The classic 'odd couple' troupe is played out to perfection by Mortensen and Ali with some excellent acting and dialogue between the two of them.

It's a film that could easily have strayed into 'white saviour' territory but it thankfully avoids that. Been teaching the civil rights movement to my third years this year and it was interesting to see a hitchhikers guide to racist as f**k hick towns in the American South.

Only got to see Roma now and I'll have ticked off all the best picture nominations

Went to see it as well and it was excellent. As you argue it just got the tone right. I had worried when I saw a Bobby Rydell singing scene ( I was part of the "thanks for the Beatles" in 1962) but I thought the soundtrack was really good for my nostalgia kicks.  Makes me want to see more  of  Ali via Netflix etc.  I have been watching a series called "soundtracks" on Sky and both the Vietnam one and the Civil rights took me back to my teenage/university years in the mid sixties,. Good luck in your teaching input.

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"They Will Not Grow Old"

 

This could have been disastrous in Jackson's hands after the OTT plot misfires of The Hobbit Trilogy but this works.

 

No narrator.

 

Just the voices of real soldiers telling how it really was with a mix of black & white and colourised footage.

 

I know some have said that he avoided the politicisation of the film but I think there was no need to. The video speaks for itself - the horrors and the mundaneness of war side-by-side.

 

10/10

 

PS Give Jackson extra credit for restoring all 100+hours of footage he was given - because he felt it had to be done.

 

 

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Have now watched all of the Oscar nominees. These are my rankings (from least favourite to favourite).

8. Black Panther
7. Bohemian Rhapsody
6. Vice
5. A Star is Born
4. The Favourite
3. BlackKKlansman
2. Roma
1. Green Book

Technically speaking, I think Roma is the ‘best’ film and it probably deserves to win. However, I enjoyed Green Book more. Would love to think it stands a chance of success, but it would surprise me to see such a simple and likeable film winning the prize.


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I saw the last of the best picture nominations yesterday, so to rank them in order of preference, it would be:

1. Green Book
2. BlacKkKlansman
3. Vice
4. A Star Is Born
5. Bohemian Rhapsody
6. The Favourite
7. Black Panther
8. Roma

Wouldn’t be surprised if Green Book ended up being my favourite film of the year. Absolutely loved it. Viggo Mortensen was excellent, even though his character went overly stereotypical at times for cheap laughs (although I suppose that may have been purposeful) but Mahershala Ali was unreal for the full thing.

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Destroyer (2019):

Really intense and gloomy thriller about Nicole Kidman (played by Mildred Hayes from Three Billboards) running to and from something from her past.

It's shrouded in mystery early on and relies on you hating the supporting characters rather than rooting for the main one, but it begins to unravel through time jumps and I ended up really swept up. Juxtaposing the past and present (visually, how the characters speak, the tone) manages to say plenty that would've seemed unnatural through dialogue. 

A crime/revenge flick in which the first gun doesn't get fired until the hour mark. If that sounds like your kind of thing, go for it. 

Alien 3 (1992):

Christophe touched on most of this (I'd be lying if I said I read his entire post), however I'd like to add that it falls in a void between trying to be Alien and Aliens and doesn't succeed in doing either: the "scares" are too telegraphed to be shocking, and the characters were pretty indistinguishable to me - other than the priest, probably - which didn't give the actiony stuff any weight. 

Green Book (2019):

This wasn't really for me. 

I found Tony's fish out of water routine grating after a couple of minutes between him and Shirley. Mortensen nails the physicality of the character, but it was the character itself that I found problematic. He's a working class guy with middle class people - I get it. He likes food - I get it. He's, erm, vaguely (?) racist - I get it. This and their odd couple routine just felt tired. So much so that I predicted the emotional climax by their second scene together. 

I heard from it today which I actually found quite funny, but I'm sure it was from midway through the film so the damage was probably already done. 

It had good intentions (I think), but didn't manage to pull off giving the moments of racism any substance. I'd say it's one of the safest portrayals of racism I've seen. 

Avatar (2009):

I watched a wee bit of this as a kid, before switching it off due to boredom. That didn't change. 

The unbelievable spectacle was let down by a poor script that insists on so much exposition and cliched, undeveloped characters. It assumes and expects care because one side contains the bad army guys and one side contains the nice nature guys. 

There were two moments of emotion that were achieved due to imagery as opposed to any involvement with the characters or story. 

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Tried watching Roma three times now and keep nodding off before the opening titles are over. No reflection on the film; I just need more sleep. 

Did manage to catch Green Book (Odeon Luxe) on Saturday. Glad I saw it in the cinema for the music but the best thing has to be the interaction between the two lead characters. Both flawed, funny, likeable. Heard it described as Driving Miss Daisy but this time the racist is in the front. It's quite basic and clunky at times but funny and goodhearted and features some spectacular gold loafers early on.

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One thing about Green Book is that I felt they shirked out of dealing with Tony's racism. The scene at the start with the glasses suggests he was a racist and would struggle to come to terms with serving the whims of a black man. Everything after that though, suggests otherwise

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7 minutes ago, paul-r-cfc said:

One thing about Green Book is that I felt they shirked out of dealing with Tony's racism. The scene at the start with the glasses suggests he was a racist and would struggle to come to terms with serving the whims of a black man. Everything after that though, suggests otherwise

It just goes with the tone of the rest of the movie. Touch on a difficult subject. Don't really dig into it.

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(28-31)

The Class 9/10

2008 French film about a French teacher (of French) and his stroppy and diverse 13 year olds in the Paris banlieus. Very provocative film that can play to the prejudices of any political persuasion and the central stories are brilliantly executed. (Amazon) 

Daisies 7/10

Strange Czech film about two women who decide that because the world is spoiled, they too will be. Obscure meanings but some great visual moments and original, if a bit annoying at times. (BFI Player)

Jabberwocky 10/10

Svankmajer animation drawing on Lewis Carroll’s poem in a bizarre and Freudian manner, absolutely crazy stuff but genius too. (torrent)

Closely-Observed Trains 9/10

Tar black satire about a Czech malingerer from a family of ne’er do wells and lazy b*****ds (hypnotist grandad dies trying to hypnotise Nazi tanks into turning around, gets his head run over) just trying his best to get through WW2, even though I think it’s also suspicious about Stalinists and indeed any kind of big ideological movement. I was laughing throughout but it’s in that mordant/hilarious mould that some will just find weird/sad/unfunny. (DailyMotion)

Edited by Christophe
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