* Did you watch a film last night (on Blu or DVD), and what was it? *

[audioguy]

2001: A Space Odyssey. (Newly acquired Blu Ray of this movie)

I last saw this when it came out in 1968. I had forgotten way more than I remembered but what an incredible film. The special effects were over the top excellent. I kept forgetting, while watching, it was filmed almost 50 years ago. And, at the end of the movie, I had a flashback to when I saw it the first time. 48 years ago, a bunch of folks were standing in the lobby of the theater after the film completed, scratching their heads and trying to get their heads around what we had just seen. Forty eight years later, not much has changed.

I have my own rating system and I rate this film T.E. for Totally Entertaining.

 

[YashN]

​

Directed by Denis Villeneuve who was also responsible for the very good "Prisoners" with Hugh Jackman, this thriller lives up to the hype around it.

Villeneuve's direction is solid as can be already appreciated from the opening scene, camera work somewhat reminiscent of Scott (Alien) or perhaps Fincher (Se7en).

The picture in 4K is excellent, the surroundings are not too colourful but you can't say the movie is overwhelmed by digital filters as some others are prone to be (actually the filters are there sometimes, but somehow they didn't bother me as much in this movie). Here again, be it stretches of land or roads or street traffic or character closeups, Villeneuve delivers.

The script and directing uses good pacing to install the atmosphere and provides space for the actors to do great work. Nothing is rushed and this is very welcome, apart from perhaps a couple of interactions between Blunt's character and her good friend, where the repetition and the pace seem to slow things down too much.

The music is understated but the backdrop it provides right from the very start fits very well: it is ominous.

The cast is great: Del Toro, Brolin the son, Blunt and Bernthal. Bernthal succeeds yet again, despite a very short role, to bring a lot of additional intensity to 'Sicario'.

The story is compelling but the payoff takes some time to appear. It doesn't mean that the development isn't interesting though, on the contrary. It is about the drug trade and cartels, so if you've watched 'Narcos', you'll enjoy this movie. However, although chronologically it is best to watch 'Narcos' then 'Sicario', I think I'd recommend watching 'Sicario' first then 'Narcos' if you haven't watched either, the reason being the way a cartel is evoked in 'Sicario' is powerful: it is done with awe, fear, terror and other dark sentiments in the voice, so it appears fitting to watch the movie first before then understanding how this name become so feared: the mythology of it just becomes more powerful.

I only have one more negative criticism about this movie (skip this paragraph as I wouldn't want to spoil your enjoyment) and that is about some of the protagonists being a little shallow in terms of character development. This is quite noticeable with Blunt who seems to always have the same sentiments and the same expressions throughout the movie. It's probably a result of how the script was written or the movie directed or both. But a couple of other characters also are like this, including Brolin's.

But this is a small point in an overall excellent movie. It could have been even better, but that won't make you enjoy it less at all.

The directing seems top notch most of the time and the real gem of the movie here is Del Toro, who just as Freeman in Se7en, provides a completely arresting performance despite being understated (like the music) throughout.

 

[NorthStar]

Love those two last movies above, from Chuck and Yash.

 

[NorthStar]

Last night I watched this weird comedy:

I wasn't too fond of the strange/fantasy/drama story, but the actors were fun to watch in their own peculiar ways; they sure drew my attention.

Watch @ your own risk; this is not your typical comedy/abstract.

Overall: 64.5

 

[NorthStar]

A revisit:

Overall: 89

 

[NorthStar]

I thought this would be different...

I was almost right...overall: 35
______

 

[still-one]

View attachment 28150​

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Sicario was one of the better movies from last year. Glad you enjoyed it. A couple of surprising twists throughout.

 

[MadFloyd]

I thought this would be different...

I was almost right...overall: 35
______

That good, huh? Did it make you nauseous?

 

[NorthStar]

Ian, it plays like a virtual video game, with the camera inside your goggles (eyeglasses), or on top of your helmet.
So it has that "shaking" camera style which is also shaking your head while watching with your eyes jumping up and down.
I guess kids like that. :b It's like a "trampoline" movie, where you are the trapezist yourself.
And it's that type of game with guns; gun's games sell, more than romance's games. It's just the twisted world the way we built it. :b
________

It reminded me a little of this film, which I also have on Blu-ray, plus in 3D.

 

[YashN]

Ian, it plays like a virtual video game, with the camera inside your goggles (eyeglasses), or on top of your helmet.
So it has that "shaking" camera style which is also shaking your head while watching with your eyes jumping up and down.

"First Person" is the term.

We saw "Afflicted" in the same style for some shots I believe, sometimes also shot in the "found footage" style.

​

 

[YashN]

Sicario was one of the better movies from last year. Glad you enjoyed it. A couple of surprising twists throughout.

Still disappointed with the use of filters, although here the story is captivating, so you notice it less (but there's the rub).

Looking forward to his "Arrival" next.

Does that pic look natural to you? Does the grass look green or yellow?



He'll also be working on "Blade Runner 2".

 

[NorthStar]

The grass looks both green and yellow; it's the natural light on that day of filming...I think.

________

Yash, you are keeping up-to-date on the waterfront of cinema art.

And why not;
Denis Villeneuve is a French-Canadian filmmaker (Gentilly, Quebec). ...Sicario, Incendies, Prisoners... ...Have them three flicks on Blu (powerful films, very).
? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_(2013_film)
? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incendies

And Arrival is next (this Fall). And wow, I did not know yet about him directing the sequel of Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner'.
? http://collider.com/blade-runner-2-director-denis-villeneuve-talks-sci-fi-sequel-harrison-ford/

 

[YashN]

The grass looks both green and yellow; it's the natural light on that day of filming...I think.

It could be the light of the end of the day, or else it's another use of digital filter.

Looking at the trailer, there are a lot of bi-coloured scenes (but you can also see other colours for grass, some quite dark and unnatural as well).

I'm not keeping at the forefront of cinema, because currently it's the Dark Ages of Cinematography (digital filters, washed out colours, cadaver skin tones, monochrome scenes).

At the fore of thinking, perhaps (all that solid improved technology for resolution, dynamic range and wide colour gamut going to waste with the currently produced material).

I don't care much for Quebec cinema (or anything Quebecois for that matter, sorry), although I did like "Les Invasions Barbares" by Arcand and I have yet to watch "Le Déclin de l'Empire Américain" and one of his other movies (I had it on DVD I think but I probably swapped it, started to watch it but it wasn't very interesting).

However, I did enjoy both "Sicario" and "Prisoners", and making a sequel to the utter SF Cult movie "Blade Runner" is a very, very tall order.

I think Villeneuve can pull something interesting off but fans of the first movie will be very difficult to please as well.

 

[YashN]

​

We liked this on Netflix. Quite a remarkable direction by Karyn Kusama, quite well-acted for most of the protagonist, a suffocating air although the plot itself can be predictable. A good thriller.

Others we watched:

Catching up:

​

What a fun movie by Marvel Studios. This looks like it's a stand-alone, but will most probably be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Super fun ride, action, wit, an OK plot (nothing we haven't seen before) and excellent picture quality - no washed-out colours here or overdose of digital filters, the CGI is excellent although you can still recognise it where used. Acting is OK for the story, nothing spectacular.

​

Another one we watched before we can watch 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. I never was a big fan of Captain America during my Comics reading period around the 80s, I preferred X-Men, Spiderman, Daredevil, Iron-Man, the Fantastic 4 and some less known characters like 'ROM' (unsure about the English name here).

The first Captain America movie was nice, and this one delivers a lot of action and great visuals and great picture quality including CGI much at the level of Guardians of the Galaxy. There does seem to be more digital filters in this one though compared to GOTG. The plot is not too original but it quite interesting as it correlates a lot to the ambient story of the world unfolding before our very eyes (hints of the New Word Order as well as Predictive Analytics for 'precog'-level detection). The main protagonist is powerful and the fight and actions scenes depict this very well. Scarlett Johansson is very bad (such an over-rated actress), but Cobie Smulders is great and we don't see enough of her.

​

All right, I had high hopes for this one, which technically is set to start in the future of the X-Men franchise, but as the story makes for an alternate timeline you can actually see this right after 'X-Men: First-Class' which was quite wonderfully done.

Good picture in 4K, but the film just looks at an attempt to make one more movie using the usual time-travel plot devices. We see a few new X-Men and they're in grave danger but since we don't know them (haven't yet watched X-Men Last Stand), we can't really connect or care for them. The plot is explained rather than depicted in a few places, and even is a little senseless in a couple of scenes involving Mystique and Magneto.

It looks to me that the time-travel plot device is too clever for the writers, the movie wasn't boring, but wasn't moving or intense like First Class. Another bad point for me: Ellen Page and her stiff upper lip and horrible acting. George St-Pierre makes an appearance, you know he's Quebecois as soon as he speaks, supposedly incarnating a French pirate in the movie - we laughed at that - there's nothing French in that.

​

Put together two of the most powerful and iconic superheroes ever in an age where you can film and process and watch in 4K, and use the most complex and organic CGI ever and what do you get?

A very disjointed (for the good part of 2 hours) and utterly empty and boring movie, not making good use of 4K at all: there's a grain throughout, an overdose of monochrome or two-toned scenes, lots of digital filters, extremely obvious CGI for the characters during fight sequences, one villain which looks like they re-used a bad guy from Lord of the Rings, and the most patently ridiculous and obnoxious acting ever by Jesse Eisenberg. Superman looks like he's soul-searching throughout the film too. They also managed to make the Batmobile less impressive than the Tumbler in Chris Nolan's trilogy. How many scenes with characters looking at news on TV do you need to artificially install 'tension'?

It almost looks like they wanted the Eisenberg character to be another 'Joker' (that could be for a future plot, maybe).

In brief, nothing works in this movie, it is an utter waste of time and of 4K. The ending scene in the 'Ultimate Edition' does look like 4K but it must be about 4 minutes.

Suprisingly, Amy Adams, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot play well despite the film being an abyss.

Poorly written, very poor plot, very poorly directed by Zack Snyder and very bad picture quality.

 

[YashN]

The grass looks both green and yellow; it's the natural light on that day of filming...I think.

I don't think so at all: look at the skin tone - very unnatural.

It's yet another big digital filter.

 

[NorthStar]

I don't think so at all: look at the skin tone - very unnatural.

It's yet another big digital filter.

Does the sunset count as a digital filter? :b ...I don't know Yash; you are probably right. And what about that big almond @ left? Certainly not natural. :b

I want to see that film...I'm curious. ... Arrival

 

[NorthStar]

A Hologram for the King

Not your usual Hollywood blockbuster. Tom Hanks is one of my top favorite actors...so it was easy to watch him do his art of acting.
The storyline is simple. With Alan Clay's life circumstances we go along for the pitch tent and observe his chops and interactions with other characters including his chauffeur, his crew, the women he encountered (three), his goal, the people he's dealing with.
But to me it is the lady doctor, Zahra (Sarita Choudhury) who is the main attraction here...their relationship, their mutual interest with subtle touches.

It's a humble, fun movie...love story. It goes smoothly and without fireworks. Nothing fancy here, just a normal ride in another country where the sand is more prominent than the trees, and the water blue transparent.
I enjoyed it. In my book it's an overall 73. It seems that some critics agree with my assessment. They must have felt my state-of-mind.

Some might find it not lively enough, but others are going to enjoy the smooth ride...the under water transparency and special touches.
Yes, this film is about all the delicate nuances; it makes it more real. ...And all happening overseas, in the mystic of the desert soon to be transformed into a new city.
Pitch that hologram so that it looks cool to the King, and everything else that comes with it...like being reborn again...that's the exoticism of its ride. ...A smooth and rewarding ride.

Don't stumble unto the written words, it is a distraction...like an abstract impression from a painting. Go for it, I found a light in it, an enlightenment.

 

[audioguy]

A Hologram for the King

I might need to check this one out. Hollywood has 20 or 30 or more movie genres. We have two: "relationship movies" and "all others". My wife says most of my movies fall into the "all others" category, and she usually prefers relationship films. So I might get some points for trying this one - plus Tom Hanks is an excellent actor.

Thanks for the post!

 

[Hipper]

A New Leaf 1971.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067482/?ref_=nv_sr_1

A quirky romantic comedy with Walter Matthau.

 

[NorthStar]

I might need to check this one out. Hollywood has 20 or 30 or more movie genres. We have two: "relationship movies" and "all others". My wife says most of my movies fall into the "all others" category, and she usually prefers relationship films. So I might get some points for trying this one - plus Tom Hanks is an excellent actor.

Thanks for the post!

Hologram is a present-day look into the interactions between world cultures on a human learning and appreciation level, an apprentissage of higher essence.
Hologram is an open door to a beautiful real world. It breaks free beyond wisdom. And I know that I will revisit it and pay even more attention.

I could have easily rated it higher, not lower, a number, number 83 (film merit alone, no technicalities...video/audio).
I cannot see anyone here who wouldn't find the pure magic in it, the simple reality present today here, there, over there.

Last word: High appreciation, where different cultures harmonize without clashing. ...An above and under water experience, a holographic real experience.
Best film so far since the Rio Olympic summer games.

* If only beautiful films (and beautiful music) could make this world better everywhere...