Some Dude's Reviews

08/11/2019

The Lighthouse (2019)
A (for artists)

Okay, so this rating requires a bit of an explanation.
This film must be viewed with its intent in mind, which is a visceral experience . Artists and filmmakers who love the craft of filmmaking will likely love this, but the casual viewer will likely hate it. I've read many reports of viewers walking out and I get that (kinda) but I've watched it three times so far and I'm in love with this film.
Yeah...I'm IN LOVE with this film. It's a remarkable work.
I generally don't go too far into what the films I review are about, mostly so I don't create any spoilers, but this one needs to have expectation levels set to get the most enjoyment out of it.

The Log-line: "The hypnotic and hallucinatory tale of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s."

First and foremost it's a genre-defying film, despite the deceptively rational log-line, but I'll try to dial it in:
It's a black comedy, an odd couple-cabin fever-nautical-historical-fantasy-character study.

The 1.19:1 aspect ratio took you to another time and from the first frame. It was clear that nothing from that point on would be familiar, or comfortable...and it wasn't. As the film progressed the boxed-in visuals increased the claustrophobic feel of the island, and he magnified the feelings of isolation.
At no point beyond about the 10-minute mark did I trust that what I was seeing was reality. It was clear that we had an unreliable narrator from the jump. The twists and turns reached insane levels, despite the bulk of the film being filled with mundane tasks. The power struggle was literally the whole film. There were exterior elements that came into play, but it all boiled down to the two of them. Ephraim Winslow (Pattison) had the worst of it. Not only was he dealing with the over-the-top, plucked-from-a-Melville-novel Thomas Wake (Dafoe), but he struggled with his ever present inner demons, belligerent seabirds, and the ever-present lustiness of the churning sea.

The commitment to the characters and the unreal physicality of the action had me in awe of the two actors. The dancing, the maintenance, the burying, and even the ma********on were delivered at full-tilt.

A lot has been made of the farting and mermaid va**na. These are fun additions, but are incidental to the other madness that is so pervasive throughout the film. His inevitable confrontation with the bird was maybe the most shocking moment of the film for me.

So yeah, the "story" is the relationship between the two men, their environment, and their mental state.
The isolation/boredom/fantasy/etc. erodes Ephraim’s already fragile mental state. He was unprepared for the experience of a 30+ day lighthouse turn and cabin fever set in surprisingly quickly. He quickly begins to experience hallucinations and paranoia. Every bit of input he receives from his surroundings gets over analyzed to the point that the very wind can bring hellish messages from the darkest parts of his psyche. Both men were nutty. Hell, they a couple of s**t-house rats! They lived in a daze, be it from boredom, isolation, drink, or regret.

Don't look for logic.
It exists, but it exists in THEIR perspective. It’s impossible to tell what’s real and what’s not, so there is no clear cause-effect in their actions and no consistency in either man's reactions. For a while I was fooled into thinking that Ephraim was the voice of reason, but he certainly was not.
I've barely scratched the surface, I can't talk any more without getting into major spoilers, but I'll wrap this up with this: Willem is my bloody hero! I want to get the kind of roles that stretch and challenge you like this role did to him. I'm in awe. Pattinson showed me a side I have come to respect and admire from the former "Twilight" star. He is super dedicated and makes bold choices. These two men work so differently from each other, but the final product was simply mesmerizing.

For those who don't know, (Caution: Shameless bragging ahead) I was blessed with working with Willem for 5 weeks. He discussed his "process" at length and I absorbed as much as I possibly could. Not only does he bring the physicality of a damn ninja, he is meticulous in his preparation. So prepared, and with such an understanding of his character that he can make astounding choices that both make total sense and still surprise you. He is in my Top 5 most respected living actors.

This is a remarkable film with remarkable performances and amazing writing. Max and Robert Eggers have delivered a masterwork. That said, it's not for everyone, but if you love the craft of filmmaking, this is the total package. I'll be discussing this film for years to come.
This film is RATED R

One of my favorite scenes:

Thomas Wake:
Yer fond of me lobster aint' ye? I seen it - yer fond of me lobster! Say it! Say it. Say it!

Ephraim Winslow:
I don't have to say nothin'.

Thomas Wake:
Damn ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead Winslow! HAAARK! Hark Triton, hark! Bellow, bid our father the Sea King rise from the depths full foul in his fury! Black waves teeming with salt foam to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye, engorging your organs til' ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more - only when he, crowned in cockle shells with slitherin' te****le tail and steaming beard take up his fell be-finned arm, his coral-tine trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest and plunges right through yer gullet, bursting ye - a bulging bladder no more, but a blasted bloody film now and nothing for the harpies and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the Dread Emperor himself - forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god or devil, forgotten even to the sea, for any stuff for part of Winslow, even any scantling of your soul is Winslow no more, but is now itself the sea!

Ephraim Winslow:
Alright, have it your way. I like your cookin'.

*Not the craziest scene!

If you read this far, comment "What?!"

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7984734/reference

16/09/2019

Makes it all worthwhile!

07/08/2019

07/08/2019

The Professor and the Madman (2019)
(A Redbox Exclusive!)
C
Now I know why Gibson was sporting that huge beard these last few years. Ostensibly, this is a movie about the creation of the first Oxford Dictionary. In point of fact, this is a character drama that finds a self-taught professor, James Murray (Gibson) in desperate trouble and far behind in the task to compile a full accounting of every word in the English language in the 5 years he promised (SPOILER: It would take 70 years to complete.) and an unlikely ally, a deeply disturbed former American Civil-War Army surgeon, Dr. William Chester Minor (Penn) who delivers accounting on some 10,000 words while imprisoned at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum for killing a man whom he thought was stalking him. The real emotional anchor, such that there is, comes from the dynamics between Minor, an asylum guard, and the wife of the killed man.
Although the drama is fairly solid, it's tough to invest too much because of Minor's mental deterioration that cuts the balls off any lasting chance of a happy ending in the situation. For as much as Penn would like this performance to really shine through, the rest of the movie is not a match. Despite his adroit character work, the main conflict relegates him to a footnote in the antagonist's middling bureaucratic machinations.
As to that, the "bad guy" is some dude that wants the dictionary finished quickly so that they can get it to market and compete with their other best-seller...the bible. This character is so two-dimensional that I half expect him to sprout a curly mustache or command the First Order.
After all of the drama and posturing of the film, it ends flat. The "What Happened Later" text doing some heavy lifting to complete the story and apologize for the characters.
I will say this, with their quest for an Oscar-ready production, it was beautifully done. It really does look great. I loved the costuming, sets, and dressing. It is a work of art, ha ha.
This is not a show I'd re-watch. It's pretty, and there are some really great moments, but the approach to the story just pushes a hackneyed attempt to be emotionally significant.
The one character I could truly relate to was the guard, Mr. Muncie (Eddie Marsan), but that's not enough to carry this one through.
Word nerds (of which I am one) will get to the end credits a bit more informed, but not much entertained. The rest of the world will likely just quietly forget this one.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5932728/reference

The Professor and the Madman (2019) Reference View

25/02/2019

Paddleton (2019)
A
This film was wonderful. Bro love is a subtle and beautiful thing and this film captured it so well. Anyone confused about what a close platonic relationship between two men looks like...This is an excellent example. We guys make jokes to diminish the importance of these bonds, but if you can build one, it is priceless.
This is a show depicting two ordinary guys. Neighbors and single and okay. The show was 100% relationship with no fancy locales, no epic adventures, and nothing flashy at all. It was two guys going going through a thing and what that journey looks like.
I empathized with Ray Ramon's character, Andy, immediately. I know this guy. He's a regular guy. He's a guy without a lot of friends, but he only needs the one, Michael. Mark Duplass is Michael. His characterization was perfect. I can't imagine how someone going through what his character was going through would feel and many movies have tackled this arc before, but this tack was wonderfully specific and honest. The amount of vulnerability portrayed by these two just brought you into their lives and made empathy so easy.
The cinematography, the lighting, the sound design...they were all so well executed and so understated, that the film had an almost voyeuristic quality that helped suck you in.
I am unashamed to admit that the climax had me in tears for easily 5 minutes straight.
The denouement was pretty perfect. It was real and honest and just uncomfortable enough to remind us of what really happens after such an event. It dried my tears and let me exhale for these two characters. Everything felt so well balanced.
It's available on Netflix. It's rated TV-MA. I recommend this film to anyone, but it is a must-watch for any guy over 40.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8041276/reference

26/12/2018

Okay...so I guess it's obvious that I'm going to do this again.
Hope you enjoy reading the new reviews, and feel free to join the conversation.

26/12/2018

Bird Box (2018)

Bird Box (2018)
B
This is an odd little film. It had a real "The Happening" sort of vibe, but with a much more likable protagonist.
Sandra Bullock heads this tense mind-control-monster film and holds our hand as we navigate the weird rules of this...invasion? It felt like a Shyamalan film as it took various elements found in his canon and incorporated it here.
The leaf-blower "monster" felt a little cheap. I get what they were going for, which is to save money....I mean, to not screw up their monster with it looking too weird, or fake, or whatever. You do get an idea of it, and understand that it's beastly...although I wasn't clear on WHY it was doing what it was doing. Did it want to eat people, (it didn't seem to) or was it trying to take over the Earth, (it was global, but didn't seem to WANT anything) or what exactly? That bit I didn't make out.
The story-line is jumbled and I don't know that it ups the stakes much. I'd rather see the story unfold in a linear way and not know in advance that at this stage, these people are still alive, and at this other stage, only these other people are alive, and then go back and see their disappearance play out.
Regardless, it's not difficult to follow...although there seems to be a huge time jump that is not altogether clear.
I really enjoyed the camerawork. it had an earthy traveling-through-the-wilderness vibe that I appreciated.
Not a ton of surprises, and the tension came mostly from the peril the children were in. I figured the adults knew what they signed up for, but the kids were at the mercy of the...rules of the world.
The ending was not super-satisfying. It had an acceptable ending, don't get me wrong, but it felt like it was not really the end. It was like they still had some serious questions left to answer. The kids were great. I felt their performances were just as strong as Sandra's.
If you like tense kid-peril films...then you'll probably enjoy this. Just be sure not to ask too many questions.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/reference

Bird Box (2018) Reference View

26/12/2018

Watership Down (Netflix/BBC 2018)
F
Yeah, an F. It's awful. It made me angry, in fact. I shouted at the screen many many times.
What made me most angry was that the Netflix model is such that it can make a book adaptation that's true and take as long as they wish doing it. If it takes 7 hours, fine...13 hours, whatever.
They devoted 4 hours to this, and fair play, I figured it would be trimmed a bit. I started the first episode:
The animation was kinda cheap and stylized with most of the rabbits looking very much the same, so that was weird immediately. The voice casting felt off from the jump as well. It also struck me as the wrong tone. The encounter with Frith and El-Ahrairah where Frith is bestowing gifts has diverted from every previous incarnation of the story by portraying El-Ahrairah as an impudent prat, telling Frith to basically kiss his ass. I shrugged it off as an artistic choice, since El-Ahrairah is supposed to be a little cheeky.
Then there was one thing after another that was just wrong. I can list the myriad sins (and I will name quite a few) but the bottom line is that this is nowhere near what the book was like and made the characters so weak, and so unlikeable, and so...human, with all the up-to-date political rhetoric shoehorned into it that it only superficially resembled the source material...minus a single drop of blood spilled in anger.
It was not so much a case of "adapting" it from the book as it was Tom Bidwell completely rewriting it to spoonfeed a ham-fisted SJW agenda in the form of an edgy-but-safe rabbit movie to a generation unfamiliar with the source material. The story was not just truncated, like the 1978 version, but was literally rewritten front to back.
My biggest problem is that Watership Down is my favorite book...period. The last 2 sentences of the book have brought me to joyful tears every time I read them. The 1978 film was able to capture some of this magic. It's as though this version didn't understand what the ending even meant...and screwed it over good. It had zero impact. Instead of using the beautiful words and message of the book...well, they did something different...
I almost forgot I don't write spoilers in my reviews.
So, without spoiling it (they do it very well on their own) here are some of the biggest sins:
1- Fiver yells at the chief rabbit. What?!
2- Fiver's "gift" can be turned on and off when he wants. He's a walking crystal ball and can just be asked to look into the future. Also, he sees literally what's going to happen. Not a version, but literally...minus blood and graphic death...I sort of understand leaving that bit out, but the graphic death seems necessary to me frankly. Remember, this isn't a kids book!
3- The horrors that Fiver warns of are toned down to the point that they have very little impact. The concepts are very easily understood by the audience, but it no longer feels like the rabbit's perspective anymore. (or ever in this version!)
4- They cut several key characters, re-assigned story elements to other characters, and invented side-stories.
5- The rabbits were so anthropomorphic that they didn't seem like rabbits at all. They were more political, had love story arcs, and invented rivalries.
6- It was basically propaganda. The main story elements were there to push anti-gun, anti-hunting, anti-capitalism, feminist, anti-fascist, and honestly...anti-human messages. Those messages were not in the book and are not what the book is about. It's about leadership, fear, determination, and survival...of rabbits. They share the world with humans and cross paths with them, but it's not about the humans.
7- Efrafa is not a warren bulging from their own forced safety measures and paranoid about attracting human attention lead by Woundwart, a fierce leader who has protected his people to the point of oppression. Instead, Efrafa is a sprawling compound, build on what is clearly supposed to resemble a burnt-out Auschwitz, with Woundwart: a mustache-twirling overlord and his band of equally dastardly police-force.
8- Kehaar is an as***le. No reason for it. He's essentially useless until he's used as deus ex machina. Also, I love Peter Capaldi and all, but what a s**t choice for Kehaar's voice. So, he's Scottish now?! What the fuuu.....?!
9- The Cat doesn't speak...at all. There is a bunch of extra cat/rabbit chasing, but zero dialog. I don't understand this at all.
10- One single drop of blood...not from a fight, or a snare, or a shotgun blast...but from Fiver skinning his gums a bit while chewing through the snare peg. The fighting, the dog, the train, the fox, not a single drop of blood is shown. They talk of death, but it's just rabbits that have stopped moving.
11- All of the many stories the rabbits tell each other throughout the book are left out except for the origin story at the beginning. The Black rabbit shows up mid-show to give Hazel a pep-talk and spoils the ending. This effectively cuts the balls off the ending. What's worse, is he's barely mentioned the rest of the show. It's not clear who it is and why it's so special...I believe on purpose. He's a spiritual element that lives in the mythology of rabbits and they have a very specific idea about that he is and how he operates. The subversion of this attitude and the revelation of his true nature is what made the ending so powerful...in the book.
12- This is a storytelling critique: There is a huge difference between fore-shadowing and spoon-feeding set-ups for future plot points. This version says-then-does so many times, and it never defies expectations. It's s**t storytelling. So rather then relate a (in my opinion) sublime story from the point of view of the characters...who are rabbits through-and-through, they re-write the story to continually set-and-spike their way through every lazy trope in the SJW handbook.
Oh look, it's so timely and relevant! Balls!

There were far more sins than these, but these are the major points.
Bottom line...what a waste of money and opportunity.
I dare you to watch this and then we can fight about it, lol! It's sad that this was not anything like what it could have been, but in our world of over-sensitive, agenda-driven media, it should come as no surprise. It's not the Watership Down we need, but as a society at large, it's the Watership Down we've earned!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5670764/reference

01/11/2017

Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)

Transformers: The Last Knight
C+
Okay, I knew going in that this was going to be a low-brow spectacle flick. I also understood that as far as story goes, this could go in several directions, from simplistic to indecipherably complicated. It was refreshing with this one that there was a story that I could follow. It was rather sorted and had several elements that didn't make a lot of sense, but were there simply to tie in the fan service elements and to pretend that the other movies were building to this. It was also pretty long at 149 minutes.
Some of these elements were actually kinda fun. There were throw-back characters and character designs from the WW1, WW2 era that I really enjoyed.
There was a lot of action. Tons of action. I started to experience 'splosion fatigue by the middle of the film and it grew until the sequel-promising end where I was just exhausted.
Motivations were all over the place and the dialog was just bananas, especially the robots. It was like they were just saying crap to be saying something, always talking and it often had nothing to do with anything, just random one-liners.
Regardless, it was not a terrible movie, in fact, it was one of the better installments of the franchise.
Anyway, as fun as it is to crap on Michael Bay movies, this was not too bad. For me it's a one-watch for sure, but I can see why the sequels keep getting made and I'm actually looking forward to the next one, which is a Unicron story. There is potential for a fun movie.

This film is Rated PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of sci-fi action, language, and some innuendo
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3371366/combined

Directed by Michael Bay. With Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Duhamel. Autobots and Decepticons are at war, with humans on the sidelines. Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Visit IMDb for Ph...

20/05/2017

Monster Trucks (2016)

Monster Trucks (2016)
D+
First off, I really wanted to like this, I thought the trailer looked cute, so I rented it to watch with my daughter. Well...
This film was shameless from front to back! The story was so lame my 8 year old daughter was in near constant eye-roll mode. The sins were great and many, here are a few:
-The 26 year old "awkward teen" hero
-Heavy-handed pseudo-environmentalism
-Unmotivated mustache-twirling villains
-Magically appearing/disappearing/reappearing vehicles
-The obvious and nonstop Dodge commercial
-Blatant disregard for physics, engineering, and time/space
-Miracle-level custom truck build times
-Stereotypical one-dimensional characters

These were not all of the sins, mind you, but some of the worst.
Our hero (Lucas Till) was an whiny teen dealing with 16 year old problems at school but didn't look, act, or otherwise resemble the kid he was supposed to be, what with his advanced engineering and metal fabrication skills. Of course he did work in a scrapyard, so I suppose that accounts for the metalwork education. Then there is his rival, the guy driving around with the girl he likes (in a lime-green truck, no less)! He was nothing but a 2D paper cutout who meant nothing to the story and was there because our hero needed to feel bad about having an old green truck instead of a new green truck and our romantic interest needed to be hanging with a di****ad for some reason.
The sidekick was the the only kid in the show that seemed slightly right for the part, except that the part was awful. He was the fat kid trying to hang with the "cool kids" except that he was trying to hang with our hero, who was supposed to be a loser, and even the hero ignored the poor guy...until they needed to exploit his assets, that is.
The step-father character (Barry Pepper) was a jerk who had had it with his step-son...for some reason that is not clear. Their troubled relationship had no setup at all so it just made his behavior seem odd and made him seem unreasonable, vain, and fairly oblivious.
Rob Lowe plays the unscrupulous oil magnate who will stop at nothing to bring in the well, including murder, environmental disaster, and the destruction of a weird new species. The message is as shallow as it was over the top.
One character I actually liked was the environmental scientist (Thomas Lennon) and although cartoonish, was the one character that actually behaved somewhat like a real person!
The "monster" was ridiculous. Kinda cute, but ridiculous. They tried to explain how it even worked, but it didn't make any sense.
There is a lot more, but the last thing I'm going to touch on is gravity. It's a thing. Things have mass. Mass in movement creates kinetic energy. Without teaching a class on physics, I'll sum it up with this, if a human falls a couple hundred feet and then experiences a sudden change in speed or direction, like hitting water or bouncing, they will likely die. If you do this in a vehicle, you are even more likely to die. If this has been happening all day, you have died already. What I'm saying is that several of the characters would have been dead very early in this film.
Anyway, if you dislike your children or perhaps think they are just drooling idiots who can't think, go ahead and put this in front of them. Otherwise, skip it.

This film is Rated: PG
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3095734/combined

Directed by Chris Wedge. With Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Thomas Lennon. A young man working at a small town junkyard discovers and befriends a creature which feeds on oil being sought by a fracking company. Visit IMDb for Photos, Showtimes, Cast, Crew, Reviews, Plot Summary, Comments, Discussions, Tagli...

10/11/2016

Who is interested in seeing new reviews?

21/04/2016

Hey, are you a producer/director/writer with a short film you made? Want to get more people to see it? Would you also like to get some honest, kind, constructive criticism from industry professionals so that your next project is even better?
Lexerot Entertainment's new show "Indie Aftermath" does just that and is now open to submissions of under 30 minute films. Looking for 8 films for now, more later.
PM me with a link to the film and we'll talk. Episodes filming in late May for June launch.

20/09/2015

I watch a lot of movies. I have 1 more to have seen all of the top 100 films. I just need to watch the rest of Vertigo.
How many have you seen?

AFI Top 100 greatest American movies of all time (2007 update):

(X) 1. Citizen Kane, 1941.
(X) 2. The Godfather, 1972.
(X) 3. Casablanca, 1942.
(X) 4. Raging Bull, 1980.
(X) 5. Singin' in the Rain, 1952.
(X) 6. Gone With the Wind, 1939.
(X) 7. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962.
(X) 8. Schindler's List, 1993.
(O) 9. Vertigo, 1958.
(X) 10. The Wizard of Oz, 1939.
(X) 11. City Lights, 1931.
(X) 12. The Searchers, 1956.
(X) 13. Star Wars, 1977.
(X) 14. Psycho, 1960.
(X) 15. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968.
(X) 16. Sunset Blvd., 1950.
(X) 17. The Graduate, 1967.
(X) 18. The General, 1927.
(X) 19. On the Waterfront, 1954.
(X) 20. It's a Wonderful Life, 1946.
(X) 21. Chinatown, 1974.
(X) 22. Some Like It Hot, 1959.
(X) 23. The Grapes of Wrath, 1940.
(X) 24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982.
(X) 25. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962.
(X) 26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939.
(X) 27. High Noon, 1952.
(X) 28. All About Eve, 1950.
(X) 29. Double Indemnity, 1944.
(X) 30. Apocalypse Now, 1979.
(X) 31. The Maltese Falcon, 1941.
(X) 32. The Godfather Part II, 1974.
(X) 33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975.
(X) 34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937.
(X) 35. Annie Hall, 1977.
(X) 36. The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957.
(X) 37. The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946.
(X) 38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948.
(X) 39. Dr. Strangelove, 1964
(X) 40. The Sound of Music, 1965.
(X) 41. King Kong, 1933.
(X) 42. Bonnie and Clyde, 1967.
(X) 43. Midnight Cowboy, 1969.
(X) 44. The Philadelphia Story, 1940.
(X) 45. Shane, 1953.
(X) 46. It Happened One Night, 1934.
(X) 47. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951.
(X) 48. Rear Window, 1954.
(X) 49. Intolerance, 1916.
(X) 50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001.
(X) 51. West Side Story, 1961.
(X) 52. Taxi Driver, 1976.
(X) 53. The Deer Hunter, 1978.
(X) 54. M-A-S-H, 1970.
(X) 55. North by Northwest, 1959.
(X) 56. Jaws, 1975.
(X) 57. Rocky, 1976.
(X) 58. The Gold Rush, 1925.
(X) 59. Nashville, 1975.
(X) 60. Duck Soup, 1933.
(X) 61. Sullivan's Travels, 1941.
(X) 62. American Graffiti, 1973.
(X) 63. Cabaret, 1972.
(X) 64. Network, 1976.
(X) 65. The African Queen, 1951.
(X) 66. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981.
(X) 67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966.
(X) 68. Unforgiven, 1992.
(X) 69. Tootsie, 1982.
(X) 70. A Clockwork Orange, 1971.
(X) 71. Saving Private Ryan, 1998.
(X) 72. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994.
(X) 73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969.
(X) 74. The Silence of the Lambs, 1991.
(X) 75. In the Heat of the Night, 1967.
(X) 76. Forrest Gump, 1994.
(X) 77. All the President's Men, 1976.
(X) 78. Modern Times, 1936.
(X) 79. The Wild Bunch, 1969.
(X) 80. The Apartment, 1960.
(X) 81. Spartacus, 1960.
(X) 82. Sunrise, 1927.
(X) 83. Titanic, 1997.
(X) 84. Easy Rider, 1969.
(X) 85. A Night at the Opera, 1935.
(X) 86. Platoon, 1986.
(X) 87. 12 Angry Men, 1957.
(X) 88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938.
(X) 89. The Sixth Sense, 1999.
(X) 90. Swing Time, 1936.
(X) 91. Sophie's Choice, 1982.
(X) 92. Goodfellas, 1990.
(X) 93. The French Connection, 1971.
(X) 94. Pulp Fiction, 1994.
(X) 95. The Last Picture Show, 1971.
(X) 96. Do the Right Thing, 1989.
(X) 97. Blade Runner, 1982.
(X) 98. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942.
(X) 99. Toy Story, 1995.
(X) 100. Ben-Hur, 1959.

99/100

26/02/2015

Focus (2015)

Focus (2015)
B+
Saw an early screening of this. I enjoyed it. It was a great con-man movie. It kept me guessing until the end. I like that it was describing exactly what it was doing the whole time and I wasn't catching on...just like it said I wouldn't. It was a lot of fun. I couldn't tell who was conning who and it took me down the rabbit hole with then characters. Will was a great choice for the lead role. He's cool enough to buy the character and soft enough to really sell the action. He also did most of the heavy lifting in this one.
I'm not familiar with Margot Robbie, but she did a pretty good job. Her character was believable and had a great arc.
Adrian Martinez was by far the most fun and added a lot of laughs.
I've been re-watching it in my head for a couple days now, trying to see the set-ups. I'll definitely need to watch this one again, but this time it can't have the impact of the first viewing. Much like The Game, and The Sixth Sense, there's no putting the genie back in the bottle.
I did enjoy how much and how often the camera work itself got into the act of the storytelling.
It's funny that the interwebs are blowing up over this in*******al relationship. People will complain about anything!

It's a delicate juggle to pull off a film like this and I think they did just that.

Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381941/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Directed by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa. With Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, BD Wong. In the midst of veteran con man Nicky's latest scheme, a woman from his past - now an accomplished femme fatale - shows up and throws his plans for a loop.