A few reviews

[TM2YC]

Belfast (2022)
This is the kind of movie that Kenneth Branagh should get back to making, not over stylised glossy Hollywood thrillers but an earthy tale of his youth, with a small cast of peerless actors. If like me you’re a big Ciaran Hinds fan, then you’ll be unsurprised at how beautifully he portrays the grandad character. The only problem I had with the film is that it has an inbuilt narrative trajectory, so you’re just waiting for the characters to all agree to do the thing they’ve been discussing from the start. Although the increasing violent threat they face and us caring so much for their fates, largely papered over this crack, death is always threatening to disrupt the inevitable. The black and white visuals are stunning and I loved the dense period details and references to the music of the times, classic movies, Star Trek, Thunderbirds and the moon landings.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Belfast (2022)
This is the kind of movie that Kenneth Branagh should get back to making, not over stylised glossy Hollywood thrillers but an earthy tale of his youth, with a small cast of peerless actors. If like me you’re a big Ciaran Hinds fan, then you’ll be unsurprised at how beautifully he portrays the grandad character. The only problem I had with the film is that it has an inbuilt narrative trajectory, so you’re just waiting for the characters to all agree to do the thing they’ve been discussing from the start. Although the increasing violent threat they face and us caring so much for their fates, largely papered over this crack, death is always threatening to disrupt the inevitable. The black and white visuals are stunning and I loved the dense period details and references to the music of the times, classic movies, Star Trek, Thunderbirds and the moon landings.

I felt this movie borrowed much from Roma in that it was told from the perspective of the child. The “crack” you speak of worked for me in that context. I doubt Branagh’s parents were quite so good looking, as well; but from the perspective of a scared child who loved his parents they probably seemed close to perfect.

Anyway, I agree this was a fantastic return to form for Branagh. I hope he makes more movies like this and less like Orient Express.

 

[TM2YC]

The Edwardians: Horatio Bottomley (1972)
I wasn’t expecting too much of this early, limited budget, studio-shot, videotaped, Alan Clarke directed TV movie (from a series about notable Edwardian figures) but the central performance by Timothy West is so powerful and captivating that any production limitations are overcome. Plus Clarke seems at pains to shoot the drama from interesting angles, which must have been difficult with the giant studio cameras. Aspects of West’s portrayal of Bottomley bring to mind dubious business/media/political figures like Rupert Murdoch, Jeffrey Archer, Robert Maxwell, John DeLorean, Donald Trump, William Randolph Hearst, or whatever figure a modern viewer sees in it. He's a real-life 'Citizen Kane' character, corrupt, arrogant, self-centred but with an oddly endearing determination, ingenuity and lust for life. If it wasn’t for the dated TV production methods this might be remembered as one of the great British movies of the 1970s.

 

[TM2YC]

Joint Security Area (2000)
I found this Park Chan-wook murder mystery to be a bit dry and clinical at first but when it flashes back into the past things really kick up a gear and it gets interesting and blackly comic. We're told Lee Young-ae’s army detective is Swiss, born and bred, of Korean descent and fluent in both languages but is clearly just Korean and almost sounding like she’s reading the Swiss dialogue phonetically. Also the Western actors playing Swiss soldiers are very, very poor. Both of these things are probably largely invisible if you’re the original intended South Korean audience. The final roving freeze-frame is a very stylish idea.

 

[Canon Editor]

We're told Lee Young-ae’s army detective is Swiss, born and bred, of Korean descent and fluent in both languages but is clearly just Korean and almost sounding like she’s reading the Swiss dialogue phonetically. Also the Western actors playing Swiss soldiers are very, very poor. Both of these things are probably largely invisible if you’re the original intended South Korean audience.

I'm not sure that came off entirely well... I'm sure you didn't mean to say that Koreans don't know how to judge performances as well as western people do but...

 

[TM2YC]

I'm not sure that came off entirely well... I'm sure you didn't mean to say that Koreans don't know how to judge performances as well as western people do but...

I didn't mean to say that and I didn't say that. I know I'm less able to judge a performance in a language I don't speak and in an accent I'm not familiar with. e.g. An American doing a dodgy (but not terrible) British accent can be very distracting to a UK viewer but is probably invisible for many US viewers. I was just assuming that Korean viewers aren't immune to this same phenomenon. JSA reminded me of 80s/90s Hong Kong films where the western actors are sometimes unintentionally cheesy and woefully bad actors. Unless I'm wrong, I don't think cheesy was the intention in JSA.

 

[lapis molari]

Dam Busters [uses] the n-word 15-times in the space of an hour. I know it's a historically accurate detail from these events but in 2022 it renders an otherwise timeless, uplifting and heroic adventure, unpleasant and dated. I wish an alternate censored version had also been included on the blu-ray, to give the option not to have to hear it.

I see a fanedit in your future: The Dam Busters - The Uplifting Edition.

 

[ArtisDead]

Another fanedit...

Frank Herbert’s Dune The Spence Edit Revised

Frank Herbert’s Dune is a faithful adaptation of the novel, overall. I really enjoyed Spence's original edit of this television miniseries. It has sat next to Spicediver's edit of the 1984 David Lynch film for years.

Spence's revised edit allows the story to breathe by showing (instead of telling) in just a few hours. The edit explores the political, religious, and mystical elements in detail. Paul and Jessica’s journey through the sand dunes of Arrakis, establishes the desert dwelling Fremen culture through detailed scenes of their ritual and customs and gives plenty of necessary screentime to the character of Chani, the Fremen woman whom Paul first meets in his dreams and with whom, falls in love. Everything is told in a more cohesive manner.

The color regrade works beautifully. The golds and indigos for Emperor Shaddam IV’s palace and deep reds for House Harkonnen are more vibrant. Also, visually striking is the intense blue glow of Fremen eyes that adds a unique mystical characteristic to these characters and the world they inhabit.

Spence took the time to painstakingly crop each frame to create a more realistic cinema experience. I can't imagine the time and effort required in this endeavor.

Spence's upgraded score creates a greater sense of tension and urgency than was present in the original production. This alone, has the desired effect of causing the viewer to enjoy a cinema type experience and changes the entire ambience.

Overall, Frank Herbert’s Dune was originally a puzzling, at times frustrating effort. It was satisfying to see such a faithful adaptation, yet disheartening to see that the story wasn’t given the proper production that Dune desperately deserved. Spence completely redeemed that sentiment and created the movie that the miniseries could have been.

I wonder if it was my familiarity with the world of Dune or if it was Spence's edit overpowering its limitations—the ultimate triumph of storytelling over form, where stories themselves contain the power to enlighten, compel, and transcend their medium and resonate on intellectual, emotional, and spiritual levels that caused Spence's edit to come to life as the best version of Dune.

It’s difficult to put into words, but it’s something that I feel every time I experience a compelling story.

Spence has edited this mini-series in a manner in which the narrative comes to life and displays that timeless power of story to speak to us in ways beyond conventional means we are familiar with and immerse us into a journey through a strange and magical world. I love it! I am honored to be a small part of it!

The best version of Dune! Highly recommended!

 

[Darth Kermit]

sounding like she’s reading the Swiss dialogue phonetically.

I remember watching John Woo’s Manhunt and thinking the same thing for when they spoke English. Every line had the same amount of emphasis and they would just randomly switch to English for absolutely no reason. They both spoke Japanese, and all the supporting characters also spoke Mandarin or Japanese and could have communicated that way between each other (like the female assassin duo). Definitely felt like they just memorized it phonetically a lot of the time.

 

[Canon Editor]

I didn't mean to say that and I didn't say that. I know I'm less able to judge a performance in a language I don't speak and in an accent I'm not familiar with. e.g. An American doing a dodgy (but not terrible) British accent can be very distracting to a UK viewer but is probably invisible for many US viewers.

Ah yes, that makes sense, and I agree... just wanted to make sure that that came through clearly

 

[Darth Kermit]

e.g. An American doing a dodgy (but not terrible) British accent can be very distracting to a UK viewer but is probably invisible for many US viewers

I have a question. Is Don Cheadle’s accent in the Ocean’s trilogy accurate to anywhere in the UK? I’m not from there but it just doesn’t sound good, based on seeing videos of actual UKers talking and stuff. Very curious if it’s actually accurate or not.

 

[TM2YC]

I have a question. Is Don Cheadle’s accent in the Ocean’s trilogy accurate to anywhere in the UK? I’m not from there but it just doesn’t sound good, based on seeing videos of actual UKers talking and stuff. Very curious if it’s actually accurate or not.

I've never seen those films but based on this clip:

It's not good but not completely awful. I think it's supposed be general purpose cockney-ish. They have tried to insert some colloquial expressions like "triffic" and "leave it owwwwt" but I don't remember anybody ever saying "hang on to yer knickers" and I'd wouldn't expect him to say "you tossers!", more likely it would be "you c**ts!". "tosser" is something you'd say about somebody you really despise, "c**ts" is something you'd say to a mate .

Ah yes, that makes sense, and I agree... just wanted to make sure that that came through clearly

Another example of what I meant: I've seen many a British actor playing a German in a WW2 movie and speaking German lines which they've probably learned phonetically. It always sounds fine to me but to a German viewer/speaker I imagine it can often be laughably bad.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Another example of what I meant: I've seen many a British actor playing a German in a WW2 movie and speaking German lines which they've probably learned phonetically. It always sounds fine to me but to a German viewer/speaker I imagine it can often be laughably bad.

Germans probably just assume it’s Schwäbisch.

 

[mnkykungfu]

I'm not sure that came off entirely well... I'm sure you didn't mean to say that Koreans don't know how to judge performances as well as western people do but...

As somebody who was living in Seoul and watched this not long after it came out, I can confirm that
1. Yes, the Koreans in the film have almost zero language ability beyond Korean and their second language efforts are distractingly bad, and
2. Yes, Korean audiences were, broadly speaking, completely oblivious to this. JSA was a gigantic hit and no Korean reviews even thought this was worth mentioning, much less that it held the movie back.

In both Korea and Japan, actors are routinely tasked with speaking English that they are taught on set. (The recent Shin Godzilla is another great example.) It's always subtitled in the local release anyway, and the assumption is that the audience won't understand anyway so it doesn't matter (bizarrely, since English is a required subject for at least 5 years in both countries). On the plus side, foreigners are often complimented for speaking Korean or Japanese with even the slightest level of facility, so maybe you could look at it as people just not being too bothered about how authentically languages are spoken in general.

 

[TM2YC]

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
The triple jump-cut 36-minutes into Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ is one of the most distinctive transitions I can remember. This from a Director and Editor (Thelma Schoonmaker) team who had a combined age of nearly 150 at the time. They put younger film-makers to shame. The film is full of such energy, wit, style and daring. Another example is allowing the scene were a drug incapacitated Jordan Belfort crawls from his country club lobby to his Lamborghini to play out for about 5-minutes, as if traversing the 10-ft distance was his Everest.

‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ got some accusations of glorifying the criminal behaviour of Belfort but that’s missing the point. These aren’t the usual gangsters of Scorsese’s previous American crime epics. Who operate by a code of honour and die of old age in jail, or in police protection, if they’re lucky. These are Wall Street businessmen. They stay rich, they get away with a slap on the wrist and the rules don’t apply to them. All of the real criminals at the heart of this story are back doing the same sh*t (look it up). So when Scorsese shows the main cop character in a cheap suit, sadly riding the subway home at the end, while people he just “brought to justice” hang in their mansions, Scorsese isn’t saying “look at this schmuck” he’s just showing us reality, 5-years after the global financial crisis. There was no moralising then, so there’s no moralising here. Not to mention that the arrogant, amoral Belfort is our "unreliable narrator" (something that Scorsese calls attention to a number of times). Leonardo DiCaprio has an inbuilt air of low-key vanity and smugness that makes him perfect for the role of an anti-hero you “hate to love”. It’s a shame that Belfort’s yacht sank in 1996, not 1997, otherwise DiCaprio could’ve done a cheeky "I’m the king of the world" reference.

^ The trailer is a masterpiece. Every trailer wishes it was this good!

 

[TM2YC]

Black Panthers (1968)
Agnès Varda's 28-minute documentary snapshot of the Black Panther Party as they protest the arrest of Huey P. Newton. Her film gets you right in the middle of the debate and atmosphere like a news special in blazing 16mm colour. The interview with Kathleen Cleaver was the highlight.

 

[Jrzag42]

DELETED POST

Was this meant to be posted somewhere else?

 

[TM2YC]

Was this meant to be posted somewhere else?

Yes! Thank you.

 

[TM2YC]

Becoming Cousteau (2021)
Undoubtedly fascinating and timely documentary chronicling the life of Jacques Cousteau, with a special focus on his pioneering climate change work. His expansive film career provides a wealth of footage to draw from but it also leads to the feeling that Director Liz Garbus is skipping over important and controversial events with just a line or two because Cousteau didn't have the cameras rolling, or trying to squeeze too much of that material into 90-minutes. This is very much in the same order as 2018's 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?', swapping a red cardigan, for a red beanie, to tell another story of an "edutainment" icon.

 

[TM2YC]

Being the Ricardos (2021)
I thought this looked bland from the promotional materials and it is somewhat but it's an interesting story that's very well acted all round (even if Nicole Kidman is distracting). It just needed an injection of acidic 'The Larry Sanders Show'-style venom and more genuine laughs for a film about a sitcom being made. The decision to keep cutting to fake retrospective interviews was weird and the expository flashbacks were also distracting. Aaron Sorkin's superb script for the 2015 Steve Jobs movie managed to keep the film in the present, yet still gave a complete portrait of the subject, so he's got no excuse for falling back on biopic cliches in 'Being the Ricardos'. There are two controversies being tackled in the plot, the "red scare" and the 1950s taboo of showing pregnancy on US TV, I'd have preferred if Sorkin had focused all his runtime on the latter because the former has been done so many times before. A good watch but not essential viewing.

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Last Night in Soho (2021)
Edgar Wright's visual craft is on fire here, I loved the camera movements, the lighting and the dark "giallo" atmosphere. It's a very timely horror exploration of the intoxicating allure of blind nostalgia and historic misogyny. It's a ghost story, meets time travel, in the cracks of insanity. As usual Wright's script (co-written with Krysty Wilson-Cairns) is meticulously constructed and stuffed with clues, foreshadowing and layers of meaning, which I'm sure will reward repeat views. The jukebox 1960s soundtrack is insanely good but digs the crates for some hidden gems (at least to the ears of this music fan). Anya Taylor-Joy's A cappella rendition of 'Downtown' is devastating, twisting the euphoric lyrics into a horribly tragic nightmare. If you're familiar with London's Soho area in the present day and know something of it's past then 'Last Night in Soho' will probably be a richer experience. Avoid spoilers because there are some fantastic plot-twists.