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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated M (Movie) (1931) in Movies

Jan 28, 2021  
M (Movie) (1931)
M (Movie) (1931)
1931 |
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The maestro of dark shadows, Fritz Lang already had 14 feature films under his belt by 1931, including the much loved and much borrowed from Metropolis in 1927. It is said that he was such a slave driver with cast and crew alike that he had very few friends and was detested as a man. His work spoke for itself, however, and was always miles ahead of anything happening at the same time in Hollywood. Take the dark, sinister and serious M as an example. It tackles the subject of child abduction and murder, homelessness, crime in general and the punishment of a mob – subjects American cinema would never have touched in 1931, let alone done with such an exquisite non- melodramatic feel.

Peter Lorre as the killer compelled by his own weakness and madness gives an unfeasably nuanced performance for the era also. He is mesmerically creepy and unforgettable. Images and motifs (such as the whistle that indicates the murderer is lurking) abound, creating a landscape of pure mood and disease. As a morality tale it touches on issues of vigilantism and true justice that still has some relevance today. It also works as an entertaining thriller, and there wasn’t a minute I felt bored or distracted. The only jarring element are the scenes where Lang cuts the sound entirely to create tension and focus – they feel like technical mistakes, not deliberate choices. Otherwise, I could not have been more impressed and pleasantly surprised by this Euro classic for all time. If I were making a list of the best films ever made that disregarded the limitations of the age, then M would definitely make the cut.
(2)   
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Andy K (10823 KP) rated Clerks (1994) in Movies

May 6, 2019  
Clerks (1994)
Clerks (1994)
1994 | Comedy
9
8.3 (34 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Dante and Randal - together forever
I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin Smith when he appeared at the Hollywood Video manager's meeting in Las Vegas in the summer of 1999. Clerks was revered at that time by all of us since we were living the life of Randal to a certain extent being video store managers. We could all relate to the examples of stupid customers and things we wanted to say to them, but couldn't since "the customer is always right".



Smith's appearance at our meeting must've shocked the Mormon founder, Mark Wattles, when Smith began using excessive profanity and talking about giving blow jobs in the bathroom for cash.

My own experiences as a video store manager were reflected in a lot of what Randal says especially when it came to movie recommendations. I'll never forget being asked "Which is better, Booty Call or Schindler's List" or arguing with customers during the "full screen" vs. "widescreen" debate explaining widescreen was better because you could see the entire picture instead of the side of the film being cut off.

Every time I rewatch Clerks it always reminds me of those times and how I reflect fondly on them now so many years later.

Smith was a funny guy and he certainly tells good stories if you have ever seen one of his stand-up specials where he talks about meeting Prince, Bruce Willis or his experiences writing a Superman draft.

Jay and Silent Bob are iconic too even getting their own reboot movie now.

Clerks is a comedy cinema cult classic having lived far beyond its original $27,000 budget where Smith had to sell his comic book collection and its characters will live on forever due to some classic screenwriting.
(6)   
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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Beasts of No Nation (2015) in Movies

Mar 3, 2020 (Updated Jul 9, 2020)  
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
2015 | Drama
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
As I may have mentioned, a lot of my film viewing over the last wee while has been part of a project that hopes to be called 21st Century Cinema: 200 Essential films of the new millennium – which utilises the Decinemal system you will see at the bottom of each of my reviews. It aims to judge each film objectively with a score out of 10 over 10 categories, to give an overall rating out of 100.

Cary Joyi Fukunaga’s personal opus Beasts of no Nation, made for Netflix but good enough for a cinema release, falls into the category of films that have garnered enough critical acclaim to demand consideration for the top 200. It is the kind of film that you would always recommend, but may choose to overlook in search of a more basically entertaining watch.

Fukunaga has a fine pedigree already in his career, with credits on True Detective and the under-rated Sin Nombre from 2009. He has also been tasked with directing duties on the delayed Bond No Time To Die, which we hope to see before the new year now. He is a hands on, no messing about kind of guy, seemingly, taking on writing and cinematography duties also for this sad tale of child exploitation in an unnamed African war.

At times, it borders on documentary style, with an eye for strong visual images and extended silences, favoured over extraneous exposition and needless dialogue. A technique that makes the subject matter all the more uncomfortable to watch. Idris Elba adds big name weight in a fine supporting role, but the lion’s share of acting responsibility falls to young Abraham Attah, who is nothing short of astonishing in the most harrowing moments of this stark and sincere story.

I have to confess, this was another pre-lockdown watch for me, and as much as I can recall the feel and impact of it as a whole, I would struggle to talk about it in any detail after one viewing three months ago. And that is partly the reason it won’t quite make the lower benchmark of a strong 73 Decinemal score; for all its power it just isn’t quite memorable enough on every level, in the way something like City Of God, or even Beasts of the Southern Wild most definitely are.

Perhaps those are unfair comparisons, but it strives for the impact of the former without the flair, and has an independant feel without the charm of the latter. Not that flair or charm are priorities here. It simply wants to show you an issue you may not have been overly aware of, and demands that you empathise both with the complexity of the problem and with the tragic journey of Agu – a child robbed of all innocence by a terrible world.

The photography sits with the strong performances as a notable highlight; giving contrast to the devastation, depredation and desperation under the skin, and showing an angry beauty that dances beside it, showing brief moments of hope when we need them most, and therefore avoiding the trap of being too brutal to enjoy on any level. Which is a mistake similar films can fall prey too.

Violence and war are not light subjects. When the focus is also the lost soul of a child, the tightrope of melodrama and sentimentality is very fine. All involved here walk that line expertly, never once resorting to having to buy your care with familiar Hollywood tricks. In fact it couldn’t be further from Hollywood if it tried. And the drama is all the better for that.

A solid, fine movie, that is narrowly short of being truly great. But you should most definitely see it at some point if you haven’t already.
  
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Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated The Meg (2018) in Movies

Jun 10, 2019  
The Meg (2018)
The Meg (2018)
2018 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
5
6.6 (128 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Jurassic Shark
Ah the shark attack movie. A genre that has over the years changed itself from impactful horror suspense thriller to cheesy, throwaway popcorn entertainment. Apart from when Steven Spielberg changed cinema forever with his 1975 masterpiece, Jaws, audiences have been given few treats in the decades that followed.

Deep Blue Sea was a tasteful homage to its forbearer, but even that was riddled in cliché and was much more of a brain-numbing creature feature than Jaws was. And then came Sharknado and its raft of dreadfully titled sequels. Look back through cinema history and you’ll see that sharks are big business in Hollywood.

Now, as we enter the final stages of 2018, Jason Statham stars in perhaps the most preposterous shark movie yet, yes, even more preposterous than Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! But sometimes preposterous can be fun. Is that the case here?

A massive creature attacks a deep-sea submersible, leaving it disabled and trapping the crew at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. With time running out, rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) must save the crew and the ocean itself from an unimaginable threat – a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark known as the Megalodon.

Jon Turteltaub, who directed delicacies like National Treasure and Cool Runnings takes to The Meg like, well a duck to water. It’s filled with tantalising action sequences and Jason Statham spouting marine biology jargon including a scene in which the Hollywood star is shirtless whilst spouting marine biology jargon. What more could you want?

Quite a bit as it happens. Despite a solid opening act that sets up the dark humour of the film nicely, The Meg is a bit of a bore. Populated by bland characters, uninspiring CGI and plot holes so big they’d make the Marianas trench blush. It’s all a bit of a mess to be honest.

The Meg is one of a new breed of Hollywood blockbusters that has been made to pander to the new Chinese audience and while this has worked well for other high-budget movies like Pacific Rim, it doesn’t work quite as well here. Li Bingbing stars as marine biologist Suyin Zhang and whilst she performs well in her native tongue, her English-spoken scenes are stilted and lack any depth of emotion whatsoever.

In fact, outside of Statham, the rest of the cast are complete non-entities. Rainn Wilson provides some comic relief as a financial investor, but it’s all very B-movie and clearly not in the way it was intended. You see, when you know you have a ridiculous premise, the best thing to do is run with it and create the most insanely bizarre film in existence. Unfortunately, The Meg takes itself far too seriously and this makes it feel much longer than its running time would suggest. They could’ve gotten away with calling it ‘Jason Statham Shark Movie’ as that’ pretty much the premise in a nutshell.

It’s occasionally fun and could have been smashing fun, but in reality, it’s a bit of a damp squib
At a cost just shy of $200million, you’d expect to have Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom levels of special effects. They actually cost around the same to produce. In truth, The Meg can’t hold a candle to its land-based prehistoric cousin. The CGI is passable at best and really dreadful at worst and this is a real shame. When the main selling point of your film is a 75-foot shark, you really need to get it spot on.

Besides a couple of cool shots, one of which is the featured image for this particular review (see the image at the top of the header banner), the cinematography is absolutely uninspired.

When you have a film that features so much ocean, there are a multitude of amazing things you could achieve with the shot choices. Unfortunately, none of them have been realised here.

Elsewhere, there is something a little more sinister afoot. Sharks already get a seriously bad reputation and this film does nothing to quash that. With many species now unfortunately endangered, films like The Meg could do more harm than good. It portrays all sharks as merciless killers – proficient and deadly. If it did want to be a serious shark attack flick, it should have relied less on goofy comedy and more on raising awareness for the creatures.

We’ve now had three ‘creature feature’ films thus far into 2018. Starting with Rampage earlier in the year, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in June and now The Meg, and whilst each of them brings something unique to the table, The Meg sinks to the bottom of the seafloor. It’s occasionally fun and could have been smashing fun, but in reality, it’s a bit of a damp squib. The Meg is a shark movie without any bite.

https://moviemetropolis.net/2018/08/11/the-meg-review-jurassic-shark/
  
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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated To Rome with Love (2012) in Movies

Aug 7, 2019  
To Rome with Love (2012)
To Rome with Love (2012)
2012 | Comedy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Before I even begin, I have something to admit, I am not very knowledgeable about Woody Allen. Sure, I have seen the occasional film and have overheard gossip but I am not a Woody Allen buff. To remedy this, I considered running out and renting every one of his films in an attempted cinematic cram session. But I decided not to. There are some people who go to the movies just to enjoy themselves and that is as good of a reason to see a film as any other.

Offering amplified versions of reality, “To Rome with Love” simultaneously feels close to home and utterly foreign. And this ebb and flow defines the entire picture.

With a blend of actors the film runs a marathon of bipolar juxtaposition. From familiar Hollywood faces, playing characters so typified that they needn’t be explained, to European actors, who bring honest perspective to the tourist filled environment.
And “To Rome with Love” is unexpected. There’s a Baldwin in a self-reflective role. Roberto Benigni plays a character that is downright drab. All while sharing a series of stories that question the absurd nature of the human experience.

The film shakes viewers up by exposing them to moments so stereotypic that are simple to grasp yet impossible to believe. And the result is effortless comedy.

Moreover, using only simple effects, strategic angular tricks and precise framing of scenes, “To Rome with Love” gets the audience thinking. The result is an hour and forty minutes that fly by like a dense vacation, too good to explain to your friends back home.
While I will avoid the pretentious research and amplified hyper analysis that follows Woody Allen, I do want to make one point clear; this is a film that anyone, regardless of interest in film study, is apt to enjoy, sure to find funny, and for a few might, even serve as a launch pad to into the cinema of the human condition.