This is the thread where we discuss matters pertaining to the detrius that accompanies the "End of the Year in Cinema" -- 2018

It is mystifying to me why people rave about Cuarón films

I can’t tell if this is just contrarianism or not! I guess I’ll have to watch it.

― Leaghaidh am brón an t-anam bochd (dowd),

We've been eagerly promoting it as twaddle for the last month.

xp really. there’s nothing about his films that you can recognize as something some people would get excited about. huh.

this is the first time I've been let down by him, probably the hype, probably wasn't in a good mood & didn't get good sleep. still, even having only read Alfred's part in the back and forth about the movie on here, I'm completely with him. this isn't a movie that would make my top 10 or 20 of the year even if I saw it in ideal conditions.

but yeah y tu mama, the 3rd harry potter, children of men, and gravity were all great imo

just so thoroughly pedestrian, even the cinematography was a letdown.

It's not that there's nothing to like, but the relatively rapturous critical responses for all of the aforementioned (even Y Tu Mama Tambien to a lesser degree) has seemed a bit much (though that could go for a lot of people tbf). Maybe I was being over-zealous with 'mystifying', but I'm just not a fan at all.

I just find his films bloated and a struggle to get through. Films like Children of Men and Gravity just felt weighed down (no pun intended) with overly long scenes and repeated motifs and themes wanting for exploration. I'll still watch Roma though...

Roma = total fucking garbage

― flappy bird, Monday, December 24, 2018 2:52 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I am taking your statement at face value, but apparently Netflix is sending out a 70mm print (mind you, that's a classic Oscar-baiting tactic these days). If I am going to see Roma, in the face of all the criticism here, is it worth waiting to see what a big-screen presentation can do for it?

I already said this in the Roma thread, but I don’t think its that good looking of a movie. It looks like an HD image set to B&W.

Of course, I watched it on Netflix, so I can’t directly speak to the theatrical experience.

j.lu - I suppose so, yeah. I’d go to see almost any movie in 70mm tbh. But I agree, it’s not a good black and white, it’s v boring digital. And aside from a few scenes I can’t imagine the size of a 70mm image improving my opinion of the movie.

and fwiw I saw it in a theater

I wish y'all were film critics

We've been eagerly promoting it as twaddle for the last month.

That doesn’t stop it from being contrarianism!

don't get me started on the C word

lazy way of dismissing a dissenting opinion - I was genuinely let down by this

So you insisted telling us on two separate threads

yæs

Romæ

this is the first time I've been let down by him, probably the hype, probably wasn't in a good mood & didn't get good sleep. still, even having only read Alfred's part in the back and forth about the movie on here, I'm completely with him. this isn't a movie that would make my top 10 or 20 of the year even if I saw it in ideal conditions.

but yeah y tu mama, the 3rd harry potter, children of men, and gravity were all great imo

― flappy bird, Monday, 24 December 2018 22:45 (two days ago) Permalink

Its quite something how the same human being can both think and type the 1st and 2nd para of the post above.

Going to watch Bros again. pic.twitter.com/QzLmtkVbXO

— John Rain (@MrKenShabby) December 25, 2018

I wish I'd seen this on the big screen but it had a really limited run I think.

_this is the first time I've been let down by him, probably the hype, probably wasn't in a good mood & didn't get good sleep. still, even having only read Alfred's part in the back and forth about the movie on here, I'm completely with him. this isn't a movie that would make my top 10 or 20 of the year even if I saw it in ideal conditions.

but yeah y tu mama, the 3rd harry potter, children of men, and gravity were all great imo

― flappy bird, Monday, 24 December 2018 22:45 (two days ago) Permalink_


Its quite something how the same human being can both think and type the 1st and 2nd para of the post above.

the third harry potter

It was good

I’ve never been disappointed by him per se. I disliked Y Tu Mama back in ‘02 but I didn’t really know who he was back then so.

And I stopped watching Harry Potter voluntarily after the first one.

I was in the Harry Potter fandom while the movies were coming out, but even back then I wouldn't have defended them as films. While I do have general favorable impressions of Cuarón, they are heavily dependent on the hot man-on-man action in Y Tu Mama Tambien and the space for slashy interpretations of Prisoner of Azkaban. Slashgoggles on too tight ya me.

There are 10 seconds of hot man on man in that movie.

Prisoner of Azkaban is where Rowling's plotting starts getting pretty sloppy (but just before she apparently stopped using the services of an editor), but Cuarón spins a solid adaptation out of it. At the time, I was mostly impressed that he landed the gig as his follow-up to Y Tu Mama Tambien.

Harry Potter 3 is one of the better books and one of the worse films imo

j.lu - it was shot on digital in colour, a 70mm b&w print is definitely a gimmick

xxxpost: Yes, but giving the fangirls explicit homoeroticism was like parading a gazelle in front of starving lions.

And a DC-area date for that 70mm Roma print hasn't yet been announced, but it's the sort of thing AFI Silver is likely to get as part of its Oscar-bait catch-up series.

why is this same argument going on simultaneously in two threads, my bookmarks experience is descending into a spiral of deja vu

there are no other films but Roma

Here's these things ...

OFCS Nominations

Best Picture
Annihilation
BlacKkKlansman
Eighth Grade
The Favourite
First Reformed
Hereditary
If Beale Street Could Talk
Roma
A Star Is Born
Suspiria
You Were Never Really Here

Best Animated Feature
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón – Roma
Barry Jenkins – If Beale Street Could Talk
Yorgos Lanthimos – The Favourite
Spike Lee – BlacKkKlansman
Lynne Ramsay – You Were Never Really Here

Best Actor
Christian Bale – Vice
Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born
Ethan Hawke – First Reformed
Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here
John David Washington – BlacKkKlansman

Best Actress
Yalitza Aparicio – Roma
Toni Collette – Hereditary
Olivia Colman – The Favourite
Regina Hall – Support the Girls
Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali – Green Book
Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman
Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Michael B. Jordan – Black Panther
Steven Yeun – Burning

Best Supporting Actress
Elizabeth Debicki – Widows
Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk
Thomasin McKenzie – Leave No Trace
Emma Stone – The Favourite
Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

Best Original Screenplay
Eighth Grade – Bo Burnham
The Favourite – Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
First Reformed – Paul Schrader
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
Sorry to Bother You – Boots Riley

Best Adapted Screenplay
BlacKkKlansman – Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee
Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty
If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins
Leave No Trace – Debra Granik, Anne Rossellini
Widows – Gillian Flynn, Steve McQueen

Best Editing
The Favourite – Yorgos Mavropsaridis
First Man – Tom Cross
Mission: Impossible – Fallout – Eddie Hamilton
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón, Adam Gough
Widows – Joe Walker

Best Cinematography
Cold War – Lukasz Zal
The Favourite – Robbie Ryan
First Man – Linus Sandgren
If Beale Street Could Talk – James Laxton
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón

Best Original Score
Black Panther – Ludwig Göransson
First Man – Justin Hurwitz
If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell
Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplat
Suspiria – Thom Yorke

Best Debut Feature
Ari Aster – Hereditary
Bo Burnham – Eighth Grade
Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born
Carlos López Estrada – Blindspotting
Boots Riley – Sorry to Bother You

Best Film Not in the English Language
Burning
Cold War
Roma
Shoplifters
Zama

Best Documentary
Free Solo
Minding the Gap
Shirkers
Three Identical Strangers
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Thomasin McKenzie – Leave No Trace
Emma Stone – The Favourite
Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

this is so fucking stupid

Listing best animated feature second is also pretty damned stupid, as well.

if you have to pick one single lead actingperson for those, it's McKenzie and Stone

the OFCS being dummies is nothing new

I would've been fine with all three leads from The Favourite getting nominated in supporting. (And I'd similarly be fine if Olivia Colman was the only one who actually ended up getting nominated.)

i find critics' continued enthusiasm for Lanthimos (this year) and Spike over Denis and Schrader baffling

Depends on which Denis flick. And First Reformed has shown up in plenty of top tens.

the Binoche cringe-comedy is her best in years imho

if anything Schrader the director rescues the writer in FR

I agree with two Morbs posts in a row. Didn't realize a year had passed so quickly.

But I also think Spike the director rescues Spike (et al) the writer, too.

yes

https://www.facebook.com/barackobama/posts/10156393283416749

Barack Obama's favorite films of 2018:

Annihilation
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Blindspotting
Burning
The Death of Stalin
Eighth Grade
If Beale Street Could Talk
Leave No Trace
Minding the Gap
The Rider
Roma
Shoplifters
Support the Girls
Won’t You Be My Neighbor

Will update with Trump's favorites when he posts them.

Someone ask him about the ending of Burning.

He left off A Star Is Born. Good.