The cinema thread

[SafetyKat]

Got back from seeing Martian while visiting the family a few hours ago.
Yep its a good ol' 'merican "lets get deep and then immediatly lighthearted" movie... ayep

*resumes playing banjo*

[550BC]

Just watched Netflix original "Beasts of No Nation" with Idris Elba. Recommended. There are some scenes that are like Richard Mosse's "The Enclave" photography series.

[Arkady]

Was some of it shot on Kodak Infrared?

[550BC]

suppose so

I still have to see the film adaption of J.G Ballard's High-Rise. Anyone?

[Faust]

Seeing Inception for the third time made me think how actually amazing it is. I recommend watching it with subtitles.

[SafetyKat]

Dark Knight and Inception are on my rewatch list. I love those kinds of movies where you can pick up significant details that went right over your head the first time around.

Does anyone have some recommendations for some black and white "classic" movies not made in America?

[mrbeuys]

suppose so

I still have to see the film adaption of J.G Ballard's High-Rise. Anyone?

Woot?? One of my favourite books and I missed the film? Someone chime in if they've seen it already.

[Faust]

Dark Knight and Inception are on my rewatch list. I love those kinds of movies where you can pick up significant details that went right over your head the first time around.

Does anyone have some recommendations for some black and white "classic" movies not made in America?

I have really come to enjoy intelligent action films and Nolan is like the great last hope amidst the sea of superhero trash.

Don't know where to start with your question - so many great films! Maybe start with Kurosawa?

[Arkady]

Inception was the film that convinced me I'd be sabotaging myself if I didn't take a crack at filmmaking as a profession, even just to fail entirely.

[BSR]

I rewatched the batman trilogy recently... something that struck me is the boldness of the myth: a city (nation) that needs a billionaire to save the masses from crime and injustice. Give me a break, action movies and superheroes are crap, designed to brainwash people. Of course my point isn't about Nolan's take on Batman but on the Batman myth itself.

[Calm]

Sicario was very cool. Cinematography was massive, and the dramatic scenes were very well engineered to add intensity - they didn't feel formulaic like some films where you can clearly tell because of an obvious musical cue where the dramatic part was supposed to be. Instead, there would be a lot of droning background noise that would very gradually build up to become almost unbearable, which causes you to stress some and eventually get more and more into the intensity of the film.

[Arkady]

BSR -- a film doesn't have to tell the narrative the filmmaker agrees with. The conservative propaganda in that third film is extremely blatant in regards to billionaire philanthropists and policemen being the only ones who can temper chaos. Maybe that's because Nolan agrees with it, or maybe that was to deepen the concept of justice being a symbolic exercise (a las the symbol of the Batman being a mantle rather than a man as he explored in the second film) just as (Bane's) revolution was a symbolic exercise.

I think Nolan is a lot more clever than some people seem to give him credit for, which never makes sense to me given the quality of his output. You can simultaneously critique something while lionizing it -- that's called reality. And it's all the more badass to get a film funded for several hundred million by the very people you critique underhandedly while seemingly making the product they commissioned.

Also Batman's superpower is being rich so it feels weird to try to critique the premise since you know exactly what you're paying for with that mythos.

I will say, the pacing on that third film is utter shit / it's a bit more of a comedy than the other two. The microwave weapon plothole in the first film is also mind-boggling and no one's ever had an adequate explanation of it for me. Second one's flawless, no issue there.

[Arkady]

Sicario was very cool. Cinematography was massive, and the dramatic scenes were very well engineered to add intensity - they didn't feel formulaic like some films where you can clearly tell because of an obvious musical cue where the dramatic part was supposed to be. Instead, there would be a lot of droning background noise that would very gradually build up to become almost unbearable, which causes you to stress some and eventually get more and more into the intensity of the film.

Yeah this director is getting me very excited for the Blade Runner followup, thank god Ridley's leaving it alone for the most part.

[Mezeinee]

Just seen Knight of Cups. Mixed emotions... just as with Tree of Life.

[Arkady]

I've been extremely curious about that, was it worth watching overall? I wouldn't say I enjoyed Tree of Life holistically but I enjoy watching anyone trying to articulate something so grandiose in a new(ish) way.

Also Malick did manage to find the unexplored territory of showing "dinosaur sympathy" so at least we got that.