And So It Goes

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

I never saw the Bucket List. Rob Reiner comedy just doesn't really work for me anymore. This film was pretty much agony. Diane Keaton is the worst.

Happy Christmas

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Amberly, Jordan

Joe Swanberg's latest is another great look at a relationship not seen developed much in films, sister-in-laws. Drinking Buddies was one of my favourite films from last year and Anna Kendrick jumps back in to play a very different character. It's delightfully observed and rather funny too. And for such an improvised scene process it's interesting they shot on film, but it adds a warm vintage feel to it.

Always loved Melanie Lynskey and she's wonderful as always here. And the dynamic between them all is great fun to watch. There's not really much to the story, the required ups and downs are there but  it's plenty fun, perhaps not as cohesive as Drinking Buddies but this one has a cute kid and fun end credit scenes.  

Boyhood

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

Richard Linklater's 12 year project is finally released. A fascinating experiment and a touching film filled with his usual smart observations on everyday life. It takes its time, going through the various ups and downs of growing up. They don't put up title card or stop the flow of scenes to separate each year, they just flow through and you just pick it up by the fashion, the music, the haircuts. It helps make it feel a little less episodic. And although the meandering nature of the story is not so structured, like real life, watching the characters develop is the interesting part. It's a sweet film and one worth checking out if you can afford the time.

A Most Wanted Man

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Anton Corbijn's latest is another spy thriller. However this one feels more like a drama. Although there's some procedural stuff and we see the ops they set up and play out, it's refreshing to see a spy thriller where a gun is never drawn or shot. And it's bittersweet to see the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

Here, both sides of the war on terror are painted as ruthless. It lives in this grey area and no-one gets out unscathed. As you'd expect from Corbijn, it's stylishly shot though a little slow paced. It's takes its time setting up all the pieces. And it's only in the final few minutes that everything comes together. An enjoyable film, character work isn't as developed as The American but it has a lot more plot going on to make up for that.

Still Life

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

What a thoroughly depressing film. It's not exactly weepy, it's just really quietly sad. This is Eddie Marsan's film and it's great casting, he holds it so well. The trailer shows you quite a lot, it was nice going in with no idea of the trajectory, although there's much you can guess anyway. It's a really simple little story and I gotta admit the end hit me pretty hard. A really sweet but melancholic film.

I Origins

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Mike Cahill's latest is a typical science vs faith story, although it's heavily weighted in favour of one... I like the cast and the film holds your attentions but it's not very subtle and there's so much coincidence and fate at play that it seems a little cloying. It's a neat concept but there's no ambiguity. A little too sweet for my tastes.

Venus in Fur

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

This is my second French film adaptation of an English language play about people putting on a play in as many days. Thankfully this one is far more successful. Roman Polanski made a wonderful film adapting the play God of Carnage to the screen and this one is really interesting too.

A simple one location two hander. Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric are our only two cast members and they hold the screen well with each other. The dialogue and pace crackle along.

One thing you lose in the translation is the ambiguity of when they slip in and out of text from the play being rehearsed. The subtitles change to italic to let us know when it's text but I imagine without that signifier things would become even more oblique as the boundary between reality and the text become less clear.

Not sure I fully understood the ending, but it's kinda spooky. Anyway, fun little score from Alexandre Desplat too. An interesting power play piece to be sure.

The One I Love

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Paul

We've all seen those typical romantic comedies where the set up involves a little bit of magical realism. A couple switches bodies, a guy can suddenly hear what women are thinking, a guy lives the same day over until he gets it right, a kid wakes up as an adult, or worse, as her mother. These kinds of premises have been used to set up the same basic romantic comedy structure before.

But what if instead of just being a fun complication that ends up getting our two leads together at the end, this magical mystery plot trope is seen as a genuinely freaky occurrence with some dark consequences that threaten to shift the fun romantic comedy into a fantastic and dark morality sci-fi-ish drama?

Okay, so that's not entirely what happens here, but it's pretty close, and that excites me greatly. This film was really fun and thought I wished they had pushed it further, what they have is really great. The trailer doesn't give away the premise and it was really fun to go into blind and work out just what was going on, so I'll just say that it's a great device that gets some bigger and far more sinister twists as the story develops.

And it's a wonderfully simple set up. Just two people, Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss, in a single location, on a retreat to try to fix their failing marriage. It's a typical set up but with a slightly unorthodox trajectory. Really great fun. Makes me think what real world reactions and ramifications to those other magical realism romantic comedy situations there might be...

Sorcerer

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First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan

Write Up.

Was great to see this again in a cinema, with a restored digital print. There's still lot of grain but some of the bright jungle daylight scenes looked like they were shot yesterday. Best of all, seeing it with a crowd that were really losing their minds with the tense second half. It was wonderful to glance around the cinema and see so many contorted faces and odd postures. The film might be a little over the top but it really works.

Anina

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan

I'm pretty sure this is my first film from Uruguay. It's a cute little animation following a young girl at school, getting into trouble and learning the ways of the world. It's a simple story with simple animation, in a few different styles for the various dream sequences. Some pretty funny stuff as well as a great spooky evil teacher.

Life of Riley

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan

While rehousing for a community theatre show old friends have their various relationships turned upside-down with the news that one of them is dying. What supposedly started out as a British farce has been translated into french, and performed as if the entire this WAS a community theatre show that was then filmed and edited on Windows Movie Maker. French farce is the just the worst sometimes. And it seems like once the jokes have been translated into french then back into english via subtitles, they just don't work. The dialogue is terrible. The acting is terrible, unless they are intentionally being terrible. Perhaps the whole film is just a cruel trick on the audience. That's the only reason I can think for someone to make this story and to tell it this way. This film has no merit.

It Follows

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan

Well this is awkward, got to see this film so early that there isn't even a trailer for me to post. This is a  brilliant 80's style throwback teen horror film with a great concept. A curse that is passed on through sexual transmission. It's not a subtle metaphor but it's a fun one.

You see when you get the curse an unknown creature that takes the form of random people that only the victim can see, stats walking towards you. Just casually walking, with a menacing look. You got two options to buy time, run really far away or pass it on to someone else. But once they are killed it'll come right back for you.

Delightful.

And it yields some surprisingly tense scenes. It's also not just a mater of this curse picking off a group of teenagers one by one. What makes it scary is that the friends can't even see it.

This was obviously a very low budget film, but despite some iffy sound recording the film really works and besides a few bigger section in the finale, it's made really simply and efficiently. And it has a great John Carpenter-esque synth soundtrack. The whole film has a timeless film, mixing decades of fashion and technology, so that it exists in a strange limbo of it's own.

So I have no idea if this is ever getting a release anywhere, but remember the title. It's rather fun.

The Infinite Man

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan

I keep saying I love a good time travel film. I keep saying it because there's been quite a few lately. Well this new Aussie film is a dozy. Fantastically thought out and it gets the time travel spot on. The characters are a little cartoonish but the whole style of the film is delightfully left of centre. Really simple set up, 3 characters and a single location. Over 7 years though, by my calculations. Definitely one to seek out, a little odd in tone but really fun. Hopefully this gets a wide releaser soon.

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Amberly

Always interested to see a new Jean-Pierre Jeunet film. As can be expected the film is visually stunning and even more exciting is Jeunet playing in 3D. It's a beautifully shot film. I am presuming they used Canada instead of America, but still gorgeous.

It's also a really sweet and fun film. It's much more Amélie than City of Lost Children. But in English, telling a fun American road trip story. The cast are all great, the story is pretty straigtforward but still enjoyable and the heart is there. Really enjoyable film and beside Judy Davis unexpectedly swearing, making the film ineligible for a PG rating in the U.S. which could be problematic, it's one the kids will love as well.

Ping Pong Summer

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First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Yes yes yes all the yes this movie is totally rad. I was on board from the beginning. It's an 80's coming of age summer holiday movie with all the trimmings. And it's 80's in every sense. Self aware but completely non-judgmental.

The young cast of unknowns (presumably non-actors) strike this enviable balance of authentic not great acting but wonderfully charming anyway. It's hard to describe but I just loved it.

I loved all of this. It's the best. What a treat to see with a massive crowd. Is it just me or did they use one of the terrible and wonderful songs by that band in Miami Connection? Real geeky in joke there.