Search
Search results
Scott Tostik (389 KP) rated Spotlight (2015) in Movies
Jul 28, 2017
The story is amazing (2 more)
Heartfelt writing
The best ensemble cast in years
Wow. Just wow
Michael fucking Keaton!!!!
Holy shit!!!!
Although he will always be Beetlejuice to me, he keeps proving to me time and time again that he is one of the finest dramatic actors of our time. Id even go as far to say of anytime.
This movie follows the Boston Globe's Spotlight team in the early 2000's as they break a scandal involving the Catholic Church's involvement in a priest molestation case.
Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Leiv Shriver (spelling incorrect I know) also star, as well as a few other familiar faces.
This is not my typical movie, but when something stars Keaton, I check it out. And it didn't disappoint.
It's long, drawn out, and sometimes boring. But in this reviewers opinion, totally worth a watch.
The number 87 will forever stick out in my mind as something that reminds me of that wretched feeling you get in your stomach before you vomit.
Based on true events that transpired over an almost 55 year period, if not longer.
Holy shit!!!!
Although he will always be Beetlejuice to me, he keeps proving to me time and time again that he is one of the finest dramatic actors of our time. Id even go as far to say of anytime.
This movie follows the Boston Globe's Spotlight team in the early 2000's as they break a scandal involving the Catholic Church's involvement in a priest molestation case.
Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Leiv Shriver (spelling incorrect I know) also star, as well as a few other familiar faces.
This is not my typical movie, but when something stars Keaton, I check it out. And it didn't disappoint.
It's long, drawn out, and sometimes boring. But in this reviewers opinion, totally worth a watch.
The number 87 will forever stick out in my mind as something that reminds me of that wretched feeling you get in your stomach before you vomit.
Based on true events that transpired over an almost 55 year period, if not longer.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Parasite (2019) in Movies
Feb 14, 2020
Dazzling Korean jet-black comedy-thriller lives up to the hype. A clan of Seoul low-lives insert themselves with ruthless ingenuity into the comfortable lives of a wealthy family. Soon they are living much larger than they could ever have dreamt - what could possibly go wrong? (Well, plenty, of course.)
Obviously this is a film about issues of wealth and class and all the tensions and resentments that come with them, and as such it has a universal resonance regardless of whether or not it has those little words at the bottom of the screen. However, it is also an exhilarating piece of pure cinema, written and directed with great skill and creativity and well-played by the ensemble cast. At first you are drawn into rooting for the hangers-on despite their dubious enterprises, but slowly the story becomes more and more ambiguous and fraught. (Possibly the only Oscar and Palme D'Or winning film where body odour is a key plot point.) Gripping, symbolically powerful (the invisibility of the poor to their wealthier compatriots is another central theme), tremendously entertaining: pretty much everything you want from a movie.
Obviously this is a film about issues of wealth and class and all the tensions and resentments that come with them, and as such it has a universal resonance regardless of whether or not it has those little words at the bottom of the screen. However, it is also an exhilarating piece of pure cinema, written and directed with great skill and creativity and well-played by the ensemble cast. At first you are drawn into rooting for the hangers-on despite their dubious enterprises, but slowly the story becomes more and more ambiguous and fraught. (Possibly the only Oscar and Palme D'Or winning film where body odour is a key plot point.) Gripping, symbolically powerful (the invisibility of the poor to their wealthier compatriots is another central theme), tremendously entertaining: pretty much everything you want from a movie.
Dave Filipi recommended Dazed and Confused (1993) in Movies (curated)
Learn how to play Bass Guitar PRO
Music and Education
App
This is the ad-free version. It is an ideal app for those who want to learn to play basic concepts...
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Knives Out (2019) in Movies
Sep 5, 2020
Rian Johnson is back with a bang with Knives Out, a classic Clue like murder mystery, packed with twists that will keep you on your toes, even when it seems that everything is figured out.
There's really nothing bad to say, Knives Out is a thoroughly entertaining movie. The cast for one is just stacked - Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas are the two leads here and are both great. The supporting cast features the likes of Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Christopher Plummer, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Frank Oz - it's an ensemble cast oozing with quality.
The whole film is shot beautifully, and has a gorgeous setting. It's easy to look at for sure. The plot is masterfully written as well - as mentioned, providing plenty of twists, but presented in a clever way, from multiple perspectives, with different accounts of events being told as the truth slowly unravels. The screenplay is fantastic and often funny, helped immensely by all of the cast and the strong chemistry they share.
Knives Out is definitely not one to miss, easily Rian Johnson's finest film as far as I'm concerned.
There's really nothing bad to say, Knives Out is a thoroughly entertaining movie. The cast for one is just stacked - Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas are the two leads here and are both great. The supporting cast features the likes of Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Christopher Plummer, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Frank Oz - it's an ensemble cast oozing with quality.
The whole film is shot beautifully, and has a gorgeous setting. It's easy to look at for sure. The plot is masterfully written as well - as mentioned, providing plenty of twists, but presented in a clever way, from multiple perspectives, with different accounts of events being told as the truth slowly unravels. The screenplay is fantastic and often funny, helped immensely by all of the cast and the strong chemistry they share.
Knives Out is definitely not one to miss, easily Rian Johnson's finest film as far as I'm concerned.
Bright Green Field by Squid
Album
Bright Green Field, produced by Dan Carey, is an album of towering scope and ambition, it is deeply...
Dean (6927 KP) rated Dune (2021) in Movies
Nov 11, 2021 (Updated Nov 11, 2021)
Great visuals (1 more)
Very good ensemble cast
Space Opera
I'm totally new to Dune, I know nothing of the book or the previous film. So I have nothing to compare it to it that sense.
It's visually stunning and on a grand scale, with many wide angle shots to to get a good effect of scale. The design, look and feel of the film, along with Zimmer's score are all quality.
Then to the story which feels like a mix of The Matrix, meets Game of Thrones with a Star Wars setting. For new comers like myself it might be difficult keeping track of who is in alliance with who, as a lot of various faction names appear. The political side of things doesn't get too bogged down though. I did expect bigger and longer action scenes for a film of this scale. What action you do see is very good and the SFX are great.
So to those who are new to Dune it might be a bit of a mixed bag but there is no doubting the quality overall. Roll on part 2.
It's visually stunning and on a grand scale, with many wide angle shots to to get a good effect of scale. The design, look and feel of the film, along with Zimmer's score are all quality.
Then to the story which feels like a mix of The Matrix, meets Game of Thrones with a Star Wars setting. For new comers like myself it might be difficult keeping track of who is in alliance with who, as a lot of various faction names appear. The political side of things doesn't get too bogged down though. I did expect bigger and longer action scenes for a film of this scale. What action you do see is very good and the SFX are great.
So to those who are new to Dune it might be a bit of a mixed bag but there is no doubting the quality overall. Roll on part 2.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) in Movies
Jan 8, 2021
The fantastic ensemble cast (1 more)
Great directing and editing
Effortlessly stylish and entertaining
The Personal History of David Copperfield starts with the young man (Dev Patel) regaling a theatre audience with a reading of his autobiography. This immediately pitches him into witnessing his own birth to widowed single mother Clara (the wonderful Morfydd Clark, or "Saint Maud" fame). From there, Copperfield goes helter-skelter into a rollercoaster life encompassing workhouse-bottling poverty, fish-gutting and rich gentlemanly pursuits.
You have to admire the artistry of Dickens. Of course, I am aware of some of the plethora of rich and complex characters that Dickens imagined including the rascally Mr Micawber (Peter Capaldi) and the ever-'umble but conniving Uriah Heep (Ben Wishaw). But the story is literally rammed with amazing characters. It's almost as if Dickens conjured up full pen-portraits of 30 different characters and then contrived to fit them somehow into the story. Remarkably rich.
There's a very striking nature to the casting of this movie. It had me going "Wha?? Who??" while watching it. Because the roles are cast multi-culturally, without nature to the demographics of the time and - crucially - to the relationship between the characters. For example, with Copperfield, you might - with a bit of a squint - play along with it since we never see the father. But then the mother of the (very-much-white) Steerforth (Aneurin Barnard) turns up as Nigerian-born actress Nikki Amuka-Bird (who is fabulous). Benedict Wong also turns up as legal director Mr Wickfield. It was as if the casting was done purely on talent and regardless of race and appropriateness for the Dickensian times. Which is refreshingly different and much to be welcomed.
Sarah Crowe has won a number of awards for her casting of the film and a BAFTA nomination too. And well deserved, since she pulls in a truly stellar ensemble cast. As well as those mentioned above, we also have Hugh Laurie as the addled Mr Dick; Tilda Swinton as Betsey Trotwood; Anna Maxwell Martin as Mrs Strong; Paul Whitehouse as Daniel Peggotty; and Gwendoline Christie as the evil Mrs Murdstone. Even Daisy May Cooper (from TV's "This Country") turns up and is particularly effective as Peggoty - the housemaid and friend to Copperfield. And casting Morfydd Clark in a second role as the scatty love interest Dora Spenlow is also both brilliant and provocative.
With such a wealth of talent on show, it's difficult to pull out specific performances. This is a movie that genuinely deserved to make the SAG Ensemble award list.
When I saw that the director of this was Armando Iannucci, I raised an eyebrow. For the subject matter seemed to be at right angles to the normal satirical thrust of the director. But the guy behind "The Thick of It" and "The Death of Stalin" reigned in his most satirical barbs and - together with his regular collaborative screenwriter Simon Blackwell - turned the movie into a delightfully quirky telling of the story. I felt that there was something of the Guy Ritchie "Sherlock Holmes" behind the very effective use of the cutting and on screen handwriting.
In that cutting, many of the scene transitions are masterfully done. So a special shout-out to the film editors Mick Audsley and Peter Lambert here. A memorable example is a flashback in the "boat house" where a background tarpaulin blows away to reveal Steerforth on horseback in France: simply breathtaking.
This was a refreshing movie. Endlessly innovative and entertaining. It makes me even possibly want to revisit trying to read the book again! Highly recommended.
(For the full graphical review, please check out the review here - https://rb.gy/ba74zo ).
You have to admire the artistry of Dickens. Of course, I am aware of some of the plethora of rich and complex characters that Dickens imagined including the rascally Mr Micawber (Peter Capaldi) and the ever-'umble but conniving Uriah Heep (Ben Wishaw). But the story is literally rammed with amazing characters. It's almost as if Dickens conjured up full pen-portraits of 30 different characters and then contrived to fit them somehow into the story. Remarkably rich.
There's a very striking nature to the casting of this movie. It had me going "Wha?? Who??" while watching it. Because the roles are cast multi-culturally, without nature to the demographics of the time and - crucially - to the relationship between the characters. For example, with Copperfield, you might - with a bit of a squint - play along with it since we never see the father. But then the mother of the (very-much-white) Steerforth (Aneurin Barnard) turns up as Nigerian-born actress Nikki Amuka-Bird (who is fabulous). Benedict Wong also turns up as legal director Mr Wickfield. It was as if the casting was done purely on talent and regardless of race and appropriateness for the Dickensian times. Which is refreshingly different and much to be welcomed.
Sarah Crowe has won a number of awards for her casting of the film and a BAFTA nomination too. And well deserved, since she pulls in a truly stellar ensemble cast. As well as those mentioned above, we also have Hugh Laurie as the addled Mr Dick; Tilda Swinton as Betsey Trotwood; Anna Maxwell Martin as Mrs Strong; Paul Whitehouse as Daniel Peggotty; and Gwendoline Christie as the evil Mrs Murdstone. Even Daisy May Cooper (from TV's "This Country") turns up and is particularly effective as Peggoty - the housemaid and friend to Copperfield. And casting Morfydd Clark in a second role as the scatty love interest Dora Spenlow is also both brilliant and provocative.
With such a wealth of talent on show, it's difficult to pull out specific performances. This is a movie that genuinely deserved to make the SAG Ensemble award list.
When I saw that the director of this was Armando Iannucci, I raised an eyebrow. For the subject matter seemed to be at right angles to the normal satirical thrust of the director. But the guy behind "The Thick of It" and "The Death of Stalin" reigned in his most satirical barbs and - together with his regular collaborative screenwriter Simon Blackwell - turned the movie into a delightfully quirky telling of the story. I felt that there was something of the Guy Ritchie "Sherlock Holmes" behind the very effective use of the cutting and on screen handwriting.
In that cutting, many of the scene transitions are masterfully done. So a special shout-out to the film editors Mick Audsley and Peter Lambert here. A memorable example is a flashback in the "boat house" where a background tarpaulin blows away to reveal Steerforth on horseback in France: simply breathtaking.
This was a refreshing movie. Endlessly innovative and entertaining. It makes me even possibly want to revisit trying to read the book again! Highly recommended.
(For the full graphical review, please check out the review here - https://rb.gy/ba74zo ).
Sue (5 KP) rated Death Over Easy in Books
Aug 13, 2018
Roberta “Robbie” Jordan is busy running her country store/café and has newly opened her B&B for business. Her first guests at the B&B include her father Roberto and his wife Maria visiting from Italy plus a few musicians in town for a bluegrass festival.
On the first night of the festival, Roberta and Maria recognize one of the performers as a young woman named Pia from their town in Italy. Pia is later found choked to death by a banjo string and there are many suspects that the police are looking at including Robbie’s father and stepmom, her boyfriend Abe, and the festival chairperson Sue. Can Robbie find the real murderer before someone she loves is booked for murder?
This is a cozy mystery with a strong female lead who has a knack for amateur sleuthing. The rest of the ensemble of characters include the usual quirky and witty townspeople, a laundry list of potential suspects, and for once a few police officers that are not bumbling idiots. It has a good plot and the author has a nice flow to her writing style. While this is a few books into the series, it can easily be read as a standalone without the reader getting confused by the storyline.
On the first night of the festival, Roberta and Maria recognize one of the performers as a young woman named Pia from their town in Italy. Pia is later found choked to death by a banjo string and there are many suspects that the police are looking at including Robbie’s father and stepmom, her boyfriend Abe, and the festival chairperson Sue. Can Robbie find the real murderer before someone she loves is booked for murder?
This is a cozy mystery with a strong female lead who has a knack for amateur sleuthing. The rest of the ensemble of characters include the usual quirky and witty townspeople, a laundry list of potential suspects, and for once a few police officers that are not bumbling idiots. It has a good plot and the author has a nice flow to her writing style. While this is a few books into the series, it can easily be read as a standalone without the reader getting confused by the storyline.