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Brooklyn

DE-LIGHTFUL! It's been a while since I've watched a movie that was this simple/traditional so it was p refreshing. Definitely had a throwback feel to it, beyond just the period setting. Ronan was perfect

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I had so much dread that she'd decide not to return :'( Especially after that unopened letters reveal. I do wish the movie would've shed more light on her inner thoughts during that whole stretch tho, it kinda left you to guess on a bit too much on her motivations/feelings after doing a really good job with that through the first 2/3 That shot of her across the street at the end was perfect. CLICHED but perfect, which I think just about sums up the whole movie Also poor ma :( That goodbye scene was definitely the saddest part of the movie for me. That was played so beautifully by both actresses, you could just see the heartbreak on the mom's face after riding on such a high that her daughter was gonna settle down back home, only to get it ripped away so suddenly

Boc @ 17/9/2019 0:02

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i could never

Brooklyn!

D'awwwww. Saoirse is perfect. She's one of the best actresses AROUND imo. I had very similar thoughts as Boc did about most of the movie. It can be cliche and cheesy but the acting is so good that you can kind of forgive it.

Finally watched Vice, man the casting was so good. Christian Bale can be anyone, Steve Carell is the perfect Rumsfeld (they even have the same smile), and Sam Rockwell makes anything good.

Laughing at some of the most fucked up events in U.S. history made them even more funny and I died when

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they showed the clip of Jeff Probst choking the torch.

Empire Strikes Back

we've been working through the series starting with Phantom Menace for the last couple months. some things - the prequels are actually quite good (AOTC being the worst of them, with the worst cgi and the worst pacing), and are actually quite unique for SW in their worldbuilding. they're all about showing you new worlds, new cultures, new visuals unlike anything the series has done before - that's not what people necessarily ~like~ star wars for, but those movies did embrace it.

A New Hope is also better than i remember - it's super fast paced and loaded with breathless, exciting energy. the worldbuilding feels totally irrelevant to that movie because it's more about this wild journey, less about explaining anything real about the backstory. it kinda helps that the movie's this postmodern pop art pastiche.

naturally because empire's always towered above the others its shine has kinda dimmed a little. especially watching all the lucas films in a row you can see how hands off he was with this one, which took his style and his iconography seriously but also tried to tell actual character-driven stories. the structure (hero on isolated planet, others on run from empire) was maybe done better in the last jedi, but it's still great how this movie consistently finds new angles on those basic conflicts. it's crazy how yoda looks better here than in every other movie, and the dagobah material is magical. still, the third act is really more rushed than i remember - you think lando's gonna be a bigger part of the movie but so much of the vespin stuff feels cut to oblivion, to just get the essential plot work out of the way.

Pretty sure the Yoda thing has to do with how hard lighting/shading is in CGI.
And finally someone who agrees with me that AOTC is the worst one.

Isn’t that popular opinion? AOTC is far worse than PM

Curtis @ 22/9/2019 16:34

Isn’t that popular opinion? AOTC is far worse than PM

I don't think so, I see people bash PM all the time.

Mercator @ 23/9/2019 10:58

Curtis @ 22/9/2019 16:34 Isn’t that popular opinion? AOTC is far worse than PM I don't think so, I see people bash PM all the time.

All the Star Wars fans I know, including myself, all but hate AOTC. Lol.

Ad Astra

it was prettyyyy good, a bit underwhelming unfortunately tho. Felt like Interstellar Lite in a lot of ways to me (although the overall message of this movie was almost an inverse of that in a way). It was lacking the sense of GRANDEUR that that had as well as the stronger emotional payoffs, while still retaining some of the on-the-nose dialogue. I feel like had the potential to be an absolute classic but there was something(s) missing

The world-building was pretty great though and was probably my favorite aspect. Pitt was really good too, probably his most subdued character ever. I could def see him getting double nom'd between this and Once Upon a Time

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Loved the depicted commercialization of the moon, felt like such a realistic take that hasn't really been touched on before I kinda forgot how high budget this was til the space pirate scene started up, the action in this (especially that scene) was well done Did NOT see those baboons coming, I had completely forgotten the line about it being a bio-research station by the time they got in there. That was WILD Glad they didn't go all Pinbacker with Clifford and turn him into an out-and-out villain at the end, I just wish they could've shored up his dialogue a BIT. "You gotta LET ME GO son!" Like yeah...we get it

Boc @ 23/9/2019 22:41

Ad Astra it was prettyyyy good, a bit underwhelming unfortunately tho. Felt like Interstellar Lite in a lot of ways to me (although the overall message of this movie was almost an inverse of that in a way). It was lacking the sense of GRANDEUR that that had as well as the stronger emotional payoffs, while still retaining some of the on-the-nose dialogue. I feel like had the potential to be an absolute classic but there was something(s) missing The world-building was pretty great though and was probably my favorite aspect. Pitt was really good too, probably his most subdued character ever. I could def see him getting double nom'd between this and Once Upon a Time Spoiler + Loved the depicted commercialization of the moon, felt like such a realistic take that hasn't really been touched on before I kinda forgot how high budget this was til the space pirate scene started up, the action in this (especially that scene) was well done Did NOT see those baboons coming, I had completely forgotten the line about it being a bio-research station by the time they got in there. That was WILD Glad they didn't go all Pinbacker with Clifford and turn him into an out-and-out villain at the end, I just wish they could've shored up his dialogue a BIT. "You gotta LET ME GO son!" Like yeah...we get it

Hey, I'm glad you saw this!

I love the music in this. I've been listening to it all weekend. Especially this one Reminds me of Mass Effect.

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I get what you mean about the underwhelming aspects of it, which I feel like is a popular criticism. But for me, that's kind of what I loved about it? Space movies usually focus in on the spectacle and ambition of space travel, and this is almost a direct flip from that. "We're all that we have" I love the critique that it has that we spend so much of our lives searching for more, unaware that everything we need is already in front of us. Brad Pitt is incredible in this. I think this performance deserves more attention than his OUATIH role. It's so subtle, and even though he's in every scene, none of it feels overbearing or forced. YEA, the LET ME GO scene is pretty corny, I do think they could have found a better way to get the same result. I'll GIVE EM THAT ONE. Glad you'd like the moon commercialization stuff. That rang so true, it was scary.

Sugarboogerz @ 24/9/2019 9:35

Boc @ 23/9/2019 22:41 Ad Astra it was prettyyyy good, a bit underwhelming unfortunately tho. Felt like Interstellar Lite in a lot of ways to me (although the overall message of this movie was almost an inverse of that in a way). It was lacking the sense of GRANDEUR that that had as well as the stronger emotional payoffs, while still retaining some of the on-the-nose dialogue. I feel like had the potential to be an absolute classic but there was something(s) missing The world-building was pretty great though and was probably my favorite aspect. Pitt was really good too, probably his most subdued character ever. I could def see him getting double nom'd between this and Once Upon a Time Spoiler + Loved the depicted commercialization of the moon, felt like such a realistic take that hasn't really been touched on before I kinda forgot how high budget this was til the space pirate scene started up, the action in this (especially that scene) was well done Did NOT see those baboons coming, I had completely forgotten the line about it being a bio-research station by the time they got in there. That was WILD Glad they didn't go all Pinbacker with Clifford and turn him into an out-and-out villain at the end, I just wish they could've shored up his dialogue a BIT. "You gotta LET ME GO son!" Like yeah...we get it Hey, I'm glad you saw this! I love the music in this. I've been listening to it all weekend. Especially this one Reminds me of Mass Effect. Spoiler + I get what you mean about the underwhelming aspects of it, which I feel like is a popular criticism. But for me, that's kind of what I loved about it? Space movies usually focus in on the spectacle and ambition of space travel, and this is almost a direct flip from that. "We're all that we have" I love the critique that it has that we spend so much of our lives searching for more, unaware that everything we need is already in front of us. Brad Pitt is incredible in this. I think this performance deserves more attention than his OUATIH role. It's so subtle, and even though he's in every scene, none of it feels overbearing or forced. YEA, the LET ME GO scene is pretty corny, I do think they could have found a better way to get the same result. I'll GIVE EM THAT ONE. Glad you'd like the moon commercialization stuff. That rang so true, it was scary.

I loev Mass Effect and yes that song does sound like it's from that game. lol

I do want to see this movie. I might have to go this weekend.

Terrorizers - dir. Edward Yang

this is a great fucking movie. kinda like magnolia or dodes'ka-den in its sprawling ensemble, connected by rare shared experiences between lonely and damaged people. lot of really beautifully shot scenes and compositions - there's a tendency to let one unmoving master shot be all you see of a scene, and it's better for showing off the dilapidated apartment complex the characters live in. there's also a great feeling of discovery as the movie goes on and you get to know the characters - not unlike magnolia

What’d you think of Magnolia hup