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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3310 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 3, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Am I the only one who found Everything, Everywhere All at Once to be excruciatingly boring? I liked Daniels's first move and have enjoyed other somewhat similar films, but this one basically went nowhere after the set up (or more accurately, it went to the same place over and over).

It might have been received too many plaudits but I wouldn't say it was boring. Visually interesting and had a lot of heart (its message of unconditional love and the rebuke towards the post-ironic cynicism in our society landed nicely to me), though it leaned into the zany a little too much for my liking. I'd give it an 8/10 if you held a gun to my head. For reference I would say something like Annihilation or Oldboy (2003) are functionally perfect films for me, I love great visuals and think good acting and compelling stories are less important (not that I can't appreciate an excellent performance, There Will Be Blood is in my top 10 all time and I will sit down and re-watch it any time, if asked).

Speaking of performances, have you seen The Whale yet?

There Will Be Blood had great visuals as well as a great lead performance; the entire first 10-15 min or so, for example. I don't offhand recall the visuals of Oldboy, since I saw it 20 years ago, but it was an amazing film. I haven't seen Annihilation.

I saw The Whale, and Brendan Fraser was certainly the best thing about it. I might give the Oscar to Colin Farrell, though The Banshees of Inisherin was more of an ensemble film than was The Whale. But it also had great visuals; every interior scene, basically.

Re visuals, have you seen The Assassin

And, if you liked the visuals in Everything, Everywhere All At Once, you might like Neptune Frost.

It might be a distinction without a difference, but I categorize visuals (the use of movie magic, set/costume design, mattes/CGI/miniatures) and cinematography (camera work, lighting and framing) slightly separately though I also lump them together for most purposes since they go hand in hand, and while TWBB has excellent cinematography it only has a couple setpieces (the oil Derrick, the church) that elevate the visual aspects of the film for me. Not to say PTA isn't an accomplished director for a visual medium.

Fraser's performance was great in The Whale, but I also found myself really appreciating the set as well. I've personally known people who've failed in life, and they all lived in a place like that, with a similar sensibility towards housekeeping (though his apartment was still too neat to be true to life, I'll accept it as necessary to keep continuity from shot to shot, hard to do if everything is covered with loose wrappers and empty food or drink containers). I've found that I have a soft spot for stage plays adapted for film, The Sunset Limited is an example of my being pleasantly surprised by such a movie.

Hard agree on Banshees, people that bemoan the state of the film industry these days just aren't looking in the right places, I think. Many of my favorite films I've ever seen have been made in the past 10 years.

Haven't seen The Assassin but I'll check it out soon, and report back. I'm always excited to watch good foreign language films, I don't have near enough of a knowledge base to start working through the best of what's out there. I'll take a look at Neptune Frost as well, looks like I might possibly receive it as well as I did Beyond the Black Rainbow (an example IMO of a movie with ZERO story or high quality performances but heavy on the visuals: I shut it off after 45 minutes, I suppose I'm not a purist for visuals) but I'll give it a fair shake. Thanks for the recs!

Sure thing. If you can figure out what is going on in The Assassin, let me know. But it looks great.

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