...incredible...what a guy, what a movie 😍 😍 😍 😍 😍 ...and honestly, when you catch those snippets of his earlier work in the film, you just can't believe your eyes...😍
...Danny Boyle's main issue—and look, he’s a charming enough director, even if his movies personally feel like a weird mashup of a music video and a live-action video game (which isn't necessarily a bad thing—just look at Trainspotting—but it can be, like with The Beach)—isn't actually himself. It's Alex Garland pulling the strings as the screenwriter. Once we get him out of the equation, maybe we'll finally get a truly moving Film again.🙂
...well, she's asking Ronald Bishop (look above, right under the topic starter 🙂) who 🙂 was named after, and as for you—who's the Jack in your avatar? 😉
Emily Ramos said:Personally, I’m thrilled they finally made a war movie (haven't seen Flags of Our Fathers or Letters from Iwo Jima yet) where constant combat isn't the absolute foundation—and look, I mean that with all due respect to the classics; I'm not saying they're bad. Of course, I'm talking about the ones everyone considers "the good stuff"—Apocalypse Now, Platoon, even Ryan, which some people here don't seem to care for! In Flags of Our Fathers, what I loved most was how the soldiers were portrayed as just regular people caught up in the whole mess, whether they wanted to be or not, just doing their jobs.
...I'm no huge war movie buff, and I haven't actually sat down with Josh's flag yet... but didn't Malick pull off something similar in The Thin Red Line? To me, that’s the ultimate anti-war film because it really follows the soldiers as just regular guys who get sucked into a war without any clue what's coming for them. Even though people have different takes on it, it's pretty clear nobody expected what they got (well, maybe Nolte's character did)... and honestly, even with Ryan opening with such a bloody scene and leaning a bit more into the fighting—since Spielberg clearly wants to show the horror of war more rawly than the poetic Malick does—at the end of the day, the film prioritizes values over just pure combat.
...Man, I should have known you’d be obsessed with this movie 😍 😁 ...But honestly? I fell for his charm too (and the cast 🙂 is just Sweet—I mean, little Simm is adorable, even if he was at his absolute best in Wonderland . He's so charming I actually forgave him for playing a member of that notorious 😍 group that basically turned from Joy Division into New Order 🥳—plus, McKidd is such a delightful 🙂), so I really shouldn't complain. Even if it hits a few clichés here and there, everything is put together so nicely that you just can't help yourself 🙂
Ethan Howard45 said:Toronto in Cronenberg's "Crash"
...so, I'm reading through this, and I think I'm following most people—until I hit this... For me, "Crash" feels completely detached from reality. I just can't connect it to any actual city or setting, so this really caught me off guard. Maybe there's a bit of a connection to that sterile vibe you get in certain parts of North America? There's something about that specific atmosphere—even in beautiful places—that seems to prevent even geniuses like Cronenberg or Egoyan from making a location feel truly grounded. Though, to be fair, Egoyan never really seemed to aim for that anyway... Honestly, the strongest image I have of "old" Toronto comes from "Owning Mahowny," which is kind of bizarre when you think about it. But still, that can't be the only explanation...
...Jessica Nguyen85, you’re honestly a menace... you always show up here peddling some movie I’ve been dying to see, insisting it’s a total masterpiece 😍 (I still remember that same routine with Prestige, which was just the last 🙂 )... and then I end up completely worked up, wanting to sprint to the theater immediately—even if I have to admit I'll probably never reach that level where I'm actually sitting down with Lynch on ti 😵—but here in the States, it won't even hit our local theaters for months 😢
...this is a bit off-topic, I know—but is anyone by any chance recording this? It feels like I’ve been staring at a blank screen all night and haven't caught a single thing...😢
...Vienna in The Pianist...it's the perfect example of how much the setting can actually drive the story 😍 ...though—as much as I love the book, the director, and the movie itself—I'll never quite get past the fact that they shot it in French (even if Isabelle Huppert and, surprisingly, a young Melvil Magimel are absolutely stellar 👍), because this is a story that really SHOULD have been told in German...
...great topic 🙂 👍 though I have to admit I’m probably not the best person to weigh in here—I actually tend to prefer "unreal" architecture (you know, the stuff built purely for the screen, classic film set design) over the "real" thing, like actual cities. That said, there are plenty of brilliant directors who use their own hometowns as backdrops (you pointed out some great 👍), but sometimes I don't even notice it. Or worse, it actually bugs me when a director keeps returning to the same city over and over, especially if it’s somewhere I've never been. It feels almost deceptive—like they're trying to shove their specific vision of a city down my throat and convince me that *this* is what it actually looks like... even if it isn't. Of course, if I already know a place—like how you mentioned Washington, D.C., which I found absolutely captivating in Matanicev Slava—or if I've read about it, seeing it on screen can be a total joy. I remember being so struck by the depiction of those apartment blocks in Summer of Biti following Lethamov's "monastery fortress"—even though those blocks were just background noise to me at the time (not that locations aren't always crucial in Lee-vo's work, obviously)... ...there is one exception to my rule, though: Dogma films. I'll forgive just about any portrayal of a real city or location in those, and honestly, I love them. The irony is that most of the directors behind those movies—not counting the newer ones, because let's face it, the whole movement lost its spark—were actually quite meticulous about using real cities as settings. My favorite exception is Julian and that gritty, almost pathetic way he portrays the city in 👍..I also love filmmakers who show the grime under the fingernails of a city rather than the postcard version. When Refn deconstructs Copenhagen to show us that the stylized world above ground has a dark underbelly, it hits so much harder than just seeing pretty shots of the same city 🙂 ...what really gets me, though, is when directors know how to use the landscape—nature itself—as a vital part of the narrative. Just think about Breaking the Waves or Felicia's Journey by Egoyanov... or how Griebe bases half of Heaven on those Italian landscapes, making them feel like an actual character in the story 😍. That's the kind of stuff that's a genuine pleasure to watch 👍
...but nothing beats a film that actually questions its own production design within the story itself. When I think back to that scene where Koteas and his wife show off their "model home" to the "film producer"—complete with those fake books on the shelf—it gives me the chills 😍...but anyway, I've clearly wandered off-topic now, so I'll stop 😳
...I can't find it anywhere... I haven't even seen it yet... but I've wanted to for ages. Honestly, threads like this just drive me into a depression because everyone is raving about the movie while I'm just sitting here... you know, right at the start of the story 😢
EDIT: Oh, great, I just realized it was on CNN last night... that's it, I'm going to go commit ritual suicide 🙈
...man, what a stunningly beautiful topic 😍 ...but honestly, I haven't had much time for actual music lately 😢 just movies 😍 though whenever I hear Aqualung Strange & beautiful (which I do—pretty often, actually, since it’s been stuck in my head lately 😵 😳 and yeah, I can already hear the outrage over "that" kind of music...), Nolan's Prestige just starts playing on its own... and it won't stop...
...such a gorgeous topic 😍 I'm sure some pictures will turn up eventually 😍
Richard Wilson4 said:The guy's a total frajer. Unlike Klose or Podolski, he's a true-blue German, but he looks like a total balkanac—kind of like that Matko dude from the last season of Big Brother.
...well, if we're being picky, the beard makes him look like Richard Linklater 😬 ...but then again, we aren't really here to debate his aesthetic choices; we're here to say goodbye to what 😉 was a decent enough player 👍 🙂
...you've got a point there... she was pretty rough in "Marshal" (the one movie I actually caught... if I recall, that's the only one where she played 🤔), and honestly, her stage work isn't much better... to me, she’s just 😳 🙂
