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A Man for All Seasons (1966)
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
1966 | Biography, Drama, History
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"A Man For All Seasons is basically porn for people who love dialogue. Paul Scofield’s brilliant performance. Robert Shaw’s equally brilliant performance as Henry the VII. It’s always appealed to me. I was 13 years old the first time I saw it. Absolutely fell in love with it because it’s wall-to-wall language with compelling performances. And [it’s] about something to me, in terms that I was raised Catholic. So Thomas Moore’s decision to not sign the oath of succession appealed to me as I was growing up because this is a dude who’s martyred for his beliefs and whatnot. And people will always compare that movie to The Crucible for some reason. But I never felt the same connection to The Crucible because in that instance John Procter is just going to great lengths to try to keep his name. Whereas Thomas Moore went to great lengths to keep, what he felt was his soul, intact. By taking that oath it would’ve been selling out on his soul, it would’ve been lying. He couldn’t do it and I always found that insanely admirable and the life one wants to emulate to some degree, without being crazy Catholic at the same time."

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Violin and Orchestra by Morton Feldman
Violin and Orchestra by Morton Feldman
2013 | Classical
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is what I'm listening to most right now. Feldman is on constant rotation, but his series of pieces he wrote throughout the 70s for a solo instrument and orchestra is what I'm continually listening to. This version of Violin and Orchestra that the Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt did I'm obsessed with. I've been listening to it everyday for a little over a year. It’s one of my favourite pieces because of the forces that he’s implying but it does not sound like an orchestra piece. He’s so keenly aware of sound. He turns his eye to a different way of way of composing that makes it something that can’t easily be reduced into some formula. You can just get wrapped up in it. It’s mysterious and kind of unknowable. But it’s really compelling - I’m moved by how his mind works. He does away with very basic principles of orchestral writing, an understanding of chord progressions and melody and harmony, even rhythm. He develops the piece in a way that shows he’s clearly operating with another set of variables, like in the way he resolves a chord. You don’t feel the familiarity of that way of operating within Western music."

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Chariots of Fire (1981)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
1981 | Drama, International, Sport
Yep - just as overly-mannered, anticlimactic, awards bait-y, and loooonnngggg as everyone says. However, also like everyone says, there's no denying that righteous Vangelis score and drop-dead gorgeous shots (in particular the sumptuous locales, but even the grandiose interior shots here remind you just how much can actually be captured on a camera lens). But honestly? You could do *way* worse in terms of Oscar bait (or even wrongful Best Picture winners). I thought this was mostly fine right up until - ironically - the Olympics happen where it then proceeds to fall apart narratively, structurally, and thematically. This features some fairly compelling notes on antisemitism, faith, and patriotism but they all only get mentioned like once or twice before taking a backseat to the rather sterile and predictable running stuff - which is shot competently but uninvolving, if you're going to underwrite most of the other stuff then you at least gotta have that, boss. Also noticeably misogynistic - setting up the paper-thin women characters as sticks-in-the-mud who have to be condescendingly explained to like infants why they should just shut up and realize that what these rich, spoiled asshole men want is more important than what they want. Plus everyone in this runs like they have to take a massive shit.
  
Proof (2005)
Proof (2005)
2005 | Drama
𝘋𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, a movie about advanced mathematics that couldn't possibly be more stupid. A quote on the back of the DVD case advertised this sappy drivel as "The kind of movie that's made for Oscar" - and I have to say, I couldn't agree more: in that it's overdramatized into ruin, sickeningly melodramatic to the point of near offense, talks a great deal but says nothing (has lengthy asides about conditioners and pointless math puns to pad out this pathetic non-story), everyone overacts, and it reeks of a pretentious stage production poorly translated to the screen with minimal effort. Overly literary for no reason whatsoever, despite the fact that it's nothing more than unnecessary, surface-level jargon which actively refuses to show even a hint of depth. What I'm sure would be at least *ever so slightly* more compelling on the stage absolutely falls apart on screen with no sense of what this should have kept/added/omitted/etc. to make it work. The only proof to come out of this is that John Madden remains one of the reigning kings of bad, intolerable Oscar bait. Glad he gave up this shit for worlds better stuff like 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘚𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘦. Lowpoint cringe cinema.
  
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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Swallow (2019) in Movies

Jan 13, 2021 (Updated Jan 13, 2021)  
Swallow (2019)
Swallow (2019)
2019 | Drama
To be fair, I'd rather swallow a screwdriver than hang out with rich white people too. Gorgeous, nasty, and mean - but never disrespectful. Medically accurate? Perhaps not, but these seldom ever are anyhow so what can you do? In fact I found this to be much more compelling and satisfying as a depiction of obnoxious old-money business whities having their perfect little synthetic image destroyed by people who refuse to shape themselves around it than a portrait of pica. As everyone has already pointed out, Austin Stowell and in particular Haley Bennett are just astounding - easily not only her best performance to date, but the type of galvanizing role that should propel her star-power vastly beyond just Jennifer Lawrence comparisons considering that this is way better work than anything J-Law has done in years anyhow (excluding 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳! [I'm a simp for stupid, manic arthouse cinema I know you don't have to tell me]). Deeply, deeply, *deeply* unsettling - can pleasantly report that its reputation is as airtight as claimed. Super messy but I think that gives it more character tbh, and what an excellent use of music. A bit too on-the-nose at times but also the type of movie that's destined to be misinterpreted by morons everywhere.
  
    Leopard

    Leopard

    Desmond Morris

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    The leopard is the ultimate cat. It makes the lion and the tiger appear overblown and all the other...

    Lost Within

    Lost Within

    Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Named one of the best games in the App Store Best of 2015. “Gorgeous visuals and a tense...