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I also had the question when I watched the movie... They actually were under some pressure, but still one of them was ready to open up, and if the other one wasn't so afraid about what society would think, it could end differently. Such a cautionary tale too.
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Yes, the only other thing that bothered me was the aggression towards the wife...
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Oh, yeah, poor woman... I felt so sorry for her.
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Great film! Although another where I preferred the original book, bleak as it is.
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Again, I would like to read the original story.
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I'd recommend it! It's quite short (part of a collection of short stories, which are also good), but the whole story is handled very differently to the film. I won't say any more for fear of spoiling it!
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That's ok...before I got the dvd, I had already looked at the book on Amazon.
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Yesterday I finally got to see the new Ghostbusters movie. And....it was so much fun! It put me in a good mood for the rest of the evening.
Last edited by Yitzock (August 10, 2016 5:41 pm)
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Last night I saw Only Loves Left Alive with my dad. It was an original 35mm print, which as nuts as it may sound is a real treat these days. Also, since the Tom Hiddleston character likes to use analog technology, I thought it was fitting that I, too, was enjoying a format that is not so commonplace anymore. Tilda Swinton was also good in this movie. I was surprised to see that Anton Yelchin and John Hurt were also in it since I hadn't known that going into the movie, but then I saw their names in the opening credits.I really liked the movie and would recommend it, even if you don't usually like movies about vampires, because it's different.
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Oh yes, I agree, Yitzock, it's definitely not your typical vampire movie. I think you can feel that it's by Jim Jarmusch, the kind of pace he uses here can be found in other Jarmusch films, as well. I loved the atmosphere, and Hiddles and Tilda Swinton have quite an amazing chemistry.
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I liked the film very, very much. The atmosphere, the music, the actors. Amazing film.
I recently watched "The Danish Girl". I may not have been completely objective but I must say I was a bit disappointed about Eddie Redmayne's performance. No idea if it was him or the script - I found it strangely superficial. I did not get into his character. His acting was good, he caught the metamorphosis from man to woman quite well but I did not FEEL it. Lots of beautiful gestures but no depth. Tbh, I liked Alicia Vikander's character much better. She is an excellent actress. I empathises with her much more than I did with Eddie's character.
And what I missed as well was an explanation that Einar Wegener had always felt to be a woman. I mean, if he was transgender his development cannot have been triggered by wearing female dress while sitting for his wife. This felt somehow shallow to me - oops, I am wearing a dress and I suddenly want to become a woman.
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I watched The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari today. I thought it was aesthetically interesting and had a cool, creepy atmosphere. I was interested in the story, but the ending felt almost out of nowhere and left me scratching my head.
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Watched two films this weekend.
First was Little Caesar, another one I watched for a class. I can't say I really liked it, but I can't say I really disliked it either. I thought it had good moments, but I had trouble connecting with a lot of it. Maybe gangster movies aren't my thing. I still like the gangster parts of Some Like it Hot, and this had some things that reminded me of that, but it would seem I just can't get into actual gangster movies as much. But like I said, there were still things about it I found interesting, some of the shots, and the fact that there wasn't much music.
And then for fun I finally watched Labyrinth, which I had never seen before. I had been wanting to watch it since I really got into David Bowie's music over the summer. In some ways the movie was better than I was expecting, but there were still parts I wasn't sure about, and the ending, while happy, was not completely clear to me. But maybe my adult mind sometimes questions things too much. I still thought it was fun to watch, and it was interesting to me how it's not completely optimistic. Part of it is just "Life's hard, things aren't always fair, you have to deal with it." You could do a Marxist reading and say that's a really bad thing to tell children, just to accept their bad predicament, but I don't see it that way. More like you can't expect life to be perfect, so you have to find a way to get what you want and be happy even though it isn't perfect. I liked how the line that gets Sarah out of everything is "You have no power over me." I liked how in the beginning it was something she couldn't remember, but in the end she can assert herself and have agency.
Last edited by Yitzock (November 14, 2016 3:03 pm)
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Just got back from seeing Hacksaw Ridge and am feeling quite traumatised. I don't like that much realistic blood and gore. The story was very good, particularly as it was based on the true heroic deeds of Desmond Dodds who joined the US army as conscientious objector, to work as a medic. I just couldn't watch the grisly battle scenes, I was literally crying and shaking after a few minutes of it. I kept my eyes down and only looked up again for the scenes in between all the killing, but the screaming and horrific sound effects were bad enough. So I recommend this movie for those with a strong stomach!
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As some of you may know, a couple months ago I read the book, and this today I watched the movie of The Man Who Fell to Earth. It was interesting to me how it moved back and forth between the plot of the book and plot elements unique to the film. I think it's interesting that the novel is not long as books go (about 20 pages below 200), but the film is on the longer side (2 hrs 19). What was added was mostly sex, but there were some other things added too.
I think I liked the book better, but I still liked both of them. The book drew me in from the very beginning, whereas the movie drew me in more in its second hour than its first, though I thought the beginning was still pretty good.
Sometimes the sex seemed excessive, but it didn't bother me as much as I thought it might (perhaps because I had prepared myself for it).
There were some WTF moments with some of the stuff that was not so linear, but having seen the film all the way through, I think some of those relate thematically to the rest of the film. Though I think there were still some things I didn't quite get.
One reason I found out of about the film in the first place was David Bowie, but I found myself forgetting it was him a good part of the time (except for the parts where I wasn't sure whether it was bad acting or he was trying to seem vacant). I was watching Thomas Jerome Newton. I think I perhaps connected more to the character in the book, but they were different enough that I didn't feel the character was really "wronged" or misrepresented in the film. Different characters, in a way. Certain things that were left to our imagination in the film perhaps would have been better left in, but were not critical to the way the film told its story vs. the book.
There were moments I had seen out of context or in trailers and photos online that I expected to take place later in the film than they actually did, which was a pleasant surprise for me (because it meant there was more that I hadn't seen yet). One moment I found interesting is when we see Newton and Mary-Lou in a close shot, first looking at each other and then looking straight at us, the viewer. There were others of course, but the implication of us, repeated at one point later in the film, is a reminded not to stay too distant from this, we can't stay distant, even if we are to feel a sense of alienation at other points.
The ending left me with a similar sad feeling. In some ways the book was more tragic, but in other ways the film was. I'm not sure which really was sadder overall (though I don't think either one is a complete downer, at least in my experience).
Last edited by Yitzock (December 19, 2016 4:36 pm)
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Last night for one of my film classes we watched the Brazilian film City of God. It was a great film, albeit a bit violent at some parts, but a lot of the violence is shown from a distance or the actual act is offscreen and you just see the aftermath. It's not as gory as other films might handle the topic of gangsters. The stories of different characters are shown at different points in the movie, and the editing is quite create. There's one sequence called "The Story of the Apartment" that shows the different people in the apartment over time from the same spot and the same angle, but the people fade in and out.
As some of you might know, gangster films have not done much for me in the past, but this one, while it has some of the conventions of other gangster movies, is different in feel and the topic is different since it's not an American story. The opening sequence drew me in right away and it kept me interested the rest of the way through. The lives of the characters in the film, most of them children and teenagers, are tough, but the film manages to have a couple moments of laughter. But it's also very exciting.
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A few days ago I watched "Dunkirk".
Great, beautiful and terrific masterpiece. Definitely a "must see".
I'm still overwhelmed, it’s like being drunk with emotions.
💔
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Thank you for the rec, I am planning to watch this one, too.
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DramaQueen wrote:
A few days ago I watched "Dunkirk".
Great, beautiful and terrific masterpiece. Definitely a "must see".
I'm still overwhelmed, it’s like being drunk with emotions.💔
I totally agree.
Christopher Nolan never ceases to amaze me. I had quite high expectations and they were more than fulfilled. The atmosphere in this movie really kept me on the edge of my seat. It's a masterpiece both visually and emotionally. I had tears in my eyes more than once, probably also thanks to Hans Zimmer's score. Especially the piece which is based on Edward Elgar's "Nimrod" from his Enigma Variations is so haunting... just amazing.
I'll probably watch it again, this film really needs a big screen.
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Good to hear. I've been wanting to see it since it came out. I'm hoping to see it this weekend, and I'll be listening for the music (because you mentioned it, but also because I might be writing a blog entry about it).
Last edited by Yitzock (August 2, 2017 6:12 pm)