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Sound of Metal (2019)
Sound of Metal (2019)
2019 | Drama, Music
Acting by Riz Ahmed, Paul Raci AND Olivia Cooke (2 more)
Wonderful story: show not tell!
Sound design is simply epic
When I was young, I remember being scared to death by an old black and white movie about a woman who went blind.... I remember she was travelling on a bus and the movie simulated the view through her eyes as her vision dimmed and then went black. (I've googled this without joy, so can't place the movie!) I found the concept of suddenly losing one of your key senses to be utterly terrifying. So, I was fully engaged with Ruben's issues in this movie.

I thought the movie was going to be downbeat and depressing. But, both with it's positive portrayal of the deaf community and with the extraordinary ending, I found it to be a wonderfully heart-warming tale.

Positives:
- There is just SOOO much depth to this story: a character torn from his familiar world and struggling to adapt to the changes. It's fundamentally a movie about acceptance of self. The last two minutes of the screen time are momentous: one of the best endings of a movie I can remember in recent memory. A truly religious experience.

- "Sound of Metal" won the BAFTA at the weekend for Sound, and deservedly so. It's another leading character in the film, with the editing deftly weaving between the soundscape that most of us live in and Ruben's perception. Apparently, the sound team used a hyper-sensitive microphone in Ahmed's mouth to pick up the inner noises of his body.

- Both Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci are nominated for Oscars. Simply stunning performances from both of them.

- Although not nominated, I'd lob Olivia Cooke's name into that frame too. It's almost IMPOSSIBLE to see the same actress who played "Pixie" in the body of Lou. It's a transformation akin to Charlize Theron's in "Monster". (In fact, it took me until the Paris scenes to actually recognize her!)


- Director Darius Marder - IN HIS DIRECTORIAL FEATURE DEBUT! - delivers a fabulous example of "show not tell". All of the detail is present in the film to tell the story if you look for it. You don't need dialogue to give Lou's backstory: just a casual shot of her lower arm is enough.

Negatives:
- It's a VERY minor quibble but, with a 2 hour running length, the Paris scenes dragged just a little for me. I might have chosen to do a few nips and tucks there in the 'party' scenes. But I wouldn't have wanted to lose much.

"Sound of Metal" has - I'm sure - a guaranteed slot in my Films of the Year list. Simply stunning and highly recommended, this is currently showing in the UK on Amazon Prime.

(For the full graphical review, please check out the One Mann's Movies review here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/04/13/sound-of-metal-dont-ignore-that-ear-bud-volume-warning-on-your-phone-kids/ )
  
    Severed

    Severed

    Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    ** Winner of Apple Design Award 2017 ** ** Apple iPad Game of the Year 2016 ** Take control of a...

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
1991 | Action, Sci-Fi
Come with me if you want to live
The best in all of the series. This takes place roughly 12 years after the first one in which we see a young John Connor who is destined to lead the resistance against the machines, in a foster home cause mom Sarah has tried to blow up certain places that a responsible for Judgement Day. The hunter a Terminator that can shape shift after touching an item or become a sharp object cuase it's body is a liquid metal, has been sent to kill young John. Our savior is the T-1000 that was sent to orginally kill Sarah and had been captured and reprogrammed and sent back to protect them both. This story line was the best of all the series and really the most interesting. The effects from this movie won a lot of reward for the cutting edge effects that were created.
  
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
2002 | City Building, Economic, Farming
Straightforward Rules (1 more)
Deep Strategy and Gameplay
Brown and Uninspriring (0 more)
A True Classic
I have always loved Puerto Rico. I love Euro games and this was one of the first ones I really saw the beauty in. The mechanics and the flow of the game are intricate and intertwined. There are so many pathways to victory and always the option of altering you path if things do not go your way. The rules are easy to explain and once a couple of rounds have passed more new players pick everything up quickly.

On the downside, the game looks a little bland and unappealing compared to so many of the new games coming out these days. There is a very nice 10th Anniversary Limited Edition and a Deluxe edition that reworks the art and adds metal doubloons and other enhanced pieces. So is aesthetics are your issue, you should totally pick up a copy of that, and you can send me one while you are at it. ?