UKC

A lot of praise has been given, on these threads, to Lulu Wang's 2019 film "The Farewell". 

I finally managed to watch it on Saturday and I will agree with this praise. It is of course, by its very nature, a bit "soap opera", but that's fine in this case. It is done with a lot of charm and warmth, and doesn't overplay the comedy OR the drama. 

It felt a bit like Alexander Payne (notably About Schmidt and Nebraska) was directing Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet". I mean this as praise. 

 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Outlaws and Angels.

Bit of a one man show (writer, producer, director) and it shows. 

People don't generally watch westerns to have half of the action confined to the interior of a log cabin but even apart from that there was a amateur hour (or two) feel to the whole thing. Using old films and lenses might appeal to the jury at film festivals but it can't save an otherwise lost cause.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

L'Immortale.

Film prequel/sequel to the tv show Gomorrah.

Probably mostly of interest to those who knew that it would take more than a bullet to the chest and a dunking in the Bay of Naples to see Ciro off.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Watched Eurovision on Netflix the other night. Best film I've seen for years.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Got round to seeing The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Not brilliant by any means, cartoonish and a long way from a real good courtroom drama. Some interesting casting.

What made it worth watching was it's timeliness. Anyone saying these are unprecedented times in the US lacks even basic knowledge of their recent history.

4/10

In reply to Removed Userwaitout:

I  thought it was OK as courtroom drama but bitty in its overall execution. Great cast and  worth more than a measly 4 

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I toyed with turning it off a few times. Yeah good cast, but no one did anything interesting. SBC's most forgettable role to date, as a fan of Abbie Hoffman it was very two dimensional. The Jerry Rubin portrayable was excruciating, the Bobby Seale role said nothing about the guy. MK was good but also forgettable by his standards, in a role that should have been an entire film in it's own right.

It all felt too contrived. Yes it's historical, but it seemed like a string of 60's clichés with no depth, said zero about things like the Yippies or Panthers, or even Nixon's attitudes. For what was a major event in post-war US domestic politics it didn't relay that. Instead it had the quality of a tv drama.

The 4 it gets is for the gumption to bring it to film, but it will only further shelve away as a lackluster film what ought be remembered as a critical political event.

In reply to Removed Userwaitout:

. Yeah good cast, but no one did anything interesting. 

I must admit that I was looking forward to seeing Jeremy Strong in action, being a massive fan of his character in "Succession",  butwas a bit disappointed.

On the other hand I 've never found Rylance to be anything other than interesting and that haircut has to be the most cinematically significent this side of Anton Chigurh. 

I ought to declare my complete ignorance of the whole historical episode, though, so perhaps that's why i don't feel your level of disappointment.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

If you haven't seen 'In the Heat of the Night', a 1960's Sidney Poitier film, its on i player again and well worth watching. 

In reply to Phil1919:

I know it well enough, but thanks for the tip! 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I watched "The Devil All the Time", a new film on Netflix, attracted solely by the astonishing ensemble cast. 

It was a slightly rambling muddle that really needed to be a short mini-series to cover the story, even though the story was simple. 

Quite a nasty piece of pulpy fiction that doesn't really need to exist. It seemed to be trying to have a bit of a feel of Winter's Bone crossed with The Place Beyond the Pines and various Jim Thompson classic pulp, but it just came across as grubby and misogynistic. 
Someone at the studio must have agreed it was a muddle because they have the author of the original novel provide an intrusive voiceover narration which at times literally describes the on-screen action. 

A real shame as the cinematography (all on location in Alabama) and acting was actually top notch, but I can't recommend it really. 
 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

My review last month actually found favour in the author voiceover. I think i mentioned the mini-series business, too. It's a better film than you make out, I think, but I've read some of his stuff and like the literary genre so I'm probably biased.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

There is a reason that I didn't give it my usual "marks out of ten". It was a hard one to judge, it seems to hit all its marks and achieve what it wanted. I just didn't much like what it wanted, if that makes sense. The music was excellent. 

Funnily enough in August you mentioned Swallow starring Haley Bennett and I inaccurately said she might be off our screens for a couple of years. There she is, in The Devil All The Time, and she is currently in Sicily filming Cyrano de Bergerac under the direction of her husband Joe Wright! 

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I agree with that. Rylance was adequate, well cast, just not well presented. 

Re knowing about the events; this should have been your chance but the film missed it. We should be discussing the events not the actors like any good courtroom drama.

My disclosure is I've just come off watching Better Call Saul, so maybe my dial for courtroom stuff hasn't recalibrated yet.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

You won't have to wait for Cyrano because she has a lesser part in Hillbilly Elegy, scheduled for a November 24 release on Netflix. Just watched a trailer and  a bulked out Amy Adams and Glenn Close look superb.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I think Ms Bennett has a couple of other things either in the pipeline or out already. Netflix has "The Red Sea Diving Resort" but that looks rather dull. 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Watched He Got Game last night. Not Spike Lee's best. Denzel was excellent as ever, Milla Jojovich was OK, some of the other actors were a bit crap. I got the feeling that some of them were 'real' people and not actors. Some of the racial stereotypes were ridiculous, bordering on outright racism. 

In reply to aln:

I vaguely remember when that came out, to a bemused and muted critical reception in the UK. Nothing about it appealed to me but I admit I was only vaguely paying attention to the reviews and marketing. 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

If you want to watch it I can post the DVD to you. 

In reply to aln:

Watched Detroit last night, as excellent as I had hoped. The resonance with more recent disgusting US police lethal actions, that are still rarely regarded as crimnal by juries in US courts, was depressing.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/detroit_2017

In reply to Offwidth:

Saw this at the cinema in 2017, gave it 8/10, and observed that Will Poulter's performance is one the most terrifying screen performances I've seen in a feature film. 

You are the only person that I know, that has seen it! 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

In contrast I give you Ice. More of a long B movie than a mini-series

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1510984/

Worth recommending as its so bad that it is funny, plus the list of actors who signed up to this nonsense is surprising, and most of all as it has several bits of truly bad climbing footage.