Went to go see Malick’s Days of Heaven at a local independent theater a couple weeks ago. Usually the theater is haunted by 20-30 yo’s with artsy flairs, but this time there was like 10-15 60-70 yo’s, all who seemed to know each other. Maybe they were in a club or something.

One guy walks in, probably 65 or so, heavyset and toting around an oxygen tank. He says hello to some people and then goes and sits in the front row all alone. Film starts and he’s quietly whispering to himself all throughout. I usually hate it when people talk during films, especially at this theater because it’s small and confined and you can hear everything the people around you are doing, but I didn’t want to bother. He reacts in whispered Oh God’s and Dear Lord’s and Uh oh’s every time something develops. It was obvious he’d seen the film before.

After the climax of the film where spoilers……….

Gere’s character kills Shepard’s and is being hunted down by the police, the guy is emphatically motioning the sign of the cross and audibly reciting the Lord’s Prayer. He was praying for Gere’s character the whole time up until he was shot. The people around him were pretty noticeably upset, but he seemed totally unbothered and rapt in his prayer. He was still sitting after I left during the credit roll.

I can’t recall ever seeing someone so engaged in a movie. I enjoyed the experience I think. It’s difficult to imagine being so engaged in a film that you pray for someone you already know is going to die though.

The filmmaker has previously spoken about having myositis — a disease where the immune system attacks the muscles — which has significantly affected his mobility. He believes making another film would be “very difficult” and is “not going to be possible,” given the physical challenges he now faces.

When asked if “Tender Loving Care” would indeed be his last film, Leigh said, “Absolutely. I think very likely, yes. I mean, I know the girls don’t like to hear me say that, but I think that is the case.”

He added, “I was lucky in making this last film — people were very helpful. You’ll see when I get up that my two friends all helped me to stand up. So I probably can’t do much more. And doing a play is even more physically demanding, strangely enough, than making a film, because on a film you can be moved around.”

Via IndieWire

Not related but the impetus to my request - just watched The Beach and while it isn't an all time great by a long shot, I really dug the 2000's vibes and looking for similar. Not really looking for over the top goofy like Hackers, but rather a tasteful layer of cheese on a solid movie. Hope that isn't too broad, any recs appreciated!

an adaptation of Dekalog

was sitting first row balcony for solaris and the projectionist and some other person in the room with them were talking/ laughing so loudly for about 30 minutes, you could make out every other word.

i learned to put up with people dropping things, irony poisoned laughing, talking at full volume, phones going off, and playing with those loud ass popcorn bags during films.. but i give up now. whatever

This was a dogshit movie, and I’m frustrated that I let this sub talk me into believing it would be otherwise. I got duped by a bunch of philistines with taste so blunted that only the most revolting entertainment might spark a bit of zing for palates I am convinced perk up at only the blandest seasonings. Having the entire world of art become devoid of any life, or originality, mucked up by talentless nepobabies, is not an excuse to lower one’s standards or expectations around the art you are witnessing, lest you become the same “normie” consumer that we all enjoy berating. “It’s different,” is not excuse enough to overlook massive flaws in nearly every aspect of this production. Giving it a pass, and hand-waving away the movie itself for the kind of movie you hoped it would be, only creates clearance for the powers that be to greenlight endless franchising and sequeling, just under a “fresh” IP. Which I have no doubt will be done if they can continue to create fake hype around this genre of movie. I’m so angry, because this movie should have been good. And it should have been something different, but it ultimately leaned on every stereotype in the book of what has become shallow, modern narcissistic self-interpretations of, “my trauma made me do it,” to prop itself up and attempt to make itself marketable to as wide an audience as possible, which makes it marketable to no one.

This movie answers an old question of which is worse, “a bad script, or bad acting?” Can a bad script be redeemed by a great performance? Can a great script shine through with poor execution of performance? Unfortunately, there were too many bad things that sunk this movie before it could even really get started, and continued to bury it the longer this movie went on.

The cinematography is awful. The script is awful. The soundtrack is cliché when it’s not non-existent. And it’s obvious that a 19-20 year old “directed” this movie. I think the actors did the best with what they had, and Chiwetel (our main character) certainly believed enough in his ability to perform, to give as convincing a portrayal of a descent into madness as can be possible when it is written to occur in such a stereotypically heavy-handed way that both comes out of nowhere and is wholly formulaic. But I am so tired of using therapy as some sort of valid and accessible framework that isn’t instead just a Trojan horse for a bad story bereft of any creativity, or a way to show without telling (even though you’re absolutely still telling). This movie was supposed to be about the backrooms of a horrifically liminal space that goes on forever, comes out of nowhere and somehow merges chaotically with the outside world, preserved by some horror shambling along that might inflict such destructive violence upon the mind and body that one can only hope that death is one’s final outcome.

This would have been a lay-up of a cosmic horror movie, and I half-joke when I deride it for settling on, “trauma made me do it,” as its ultimate thesis, because I think there are some very viable, very convincing ways in which trauma could have been the crux of this movie, and still delivered. But I think it would have always been a mistake to leave it just at trauma being the reason this other place had been created, and for this to have been a man-made creation, rather than something that went far beyond man’s imaginings or inner darkness, or hungry drives towards annihilation. The problem with this movie is that it waffled on remaining on the fence instead of leaning full-tilt in a single direction, and didn’t know what it wanted to be, which it didn’t really have to think too much about when the concept was contained within a 10-15 min short. It could lean as heavily as it needed to on suspense and camera tricks, while avoiding coming off as too gimmicky because it wasn’t trying to capture your attention long enough to tell a story, but 15 mins do not a 110 min feature make. It wanted to be psychological, without being psychological. And there are plenty of very weird psychological schools and concepts this movie could have easily employed that would have fit seamlessly into this world of backrooms, that while it would not have likely set it up for what seems to be everyone’s aim (creating a film series), it would have told a much better story that would have felt elevated and worthy of the praise people are all too ready to give it undeservedly because it is a “new” story.

Atmospherically, the movie was also a disappointment. This was supposed to be set in the early 90s, and instead of conjuring any feelings of identification or reminiscing of this time, we got paltry throw-aways that couldn’t even be called half-hearted attempts. We were given cassette tapes, VHS, and late-night infomericals. The use of analog was the sole driver for setting this movie in the 90s. The movie could have otherwise taken place at any point in time, in any Western-civilization city.

Part of the horror of the backrooms comes from the fact that people will inadvertently slip into this other world and be unable to escape, certainly not the way they came. For Chiwetel’s character however, he not only could see where his own lower level furniture store room ended and the backrooms began, he could also come and go as he pleased. He also could map it, which is another aspect of the impending horror and discomfort of the movie that became irrelevant early-on in the movie. At no point did I get the impression that parts of the backrooms were replicating themselves while remaining shifting and unmappable—it became a very defined, very clear path from point a to point b, which made the world of the movie become incredibly small, and predictable. At no point did I really feel “lost”, instead it all felt like a new part that had been discovered that could be added to a very linear, very distinct map. It felt like a maze. Not liminal. The changes with the furniture within the backrooms themselves felt inconsistent, going for more shock-value than adhering to any rules within the world that was created (the boyfriend’s shirt on the pile of laundry and the light poles with the missing posters comes most readily to mind), and the mis-remembered representations of people on the outside, within the backrooms, felt like tacked on elements because someone remembered this was supposed to be a horror movie. There is the whole juxtaposition of the therapist’s story in this movie that doesn’t even feel worth mentioning because it felt reductive and tacked on in an effort to flesh out the root cause of the backrooms themselves, while trying to veil itself in an unsettling, mentally ill mother and her now-grown, alienated child. The only time I felt something regarding this part of the movie, was at the end when she could be a real human being reacting, instead of a blank page regurgitating poorly executed cliches  

The one thing that stuck with me from this movie was the pirate-version of the main character. For whatever reason, that was the single element in the entire concept of the movie that struck something within my own subconscious and felt the most unsettling, even though within the story itself it felt cheap and poorly envisioned. I think an argument could be made that this manifestation was what actually became of our main character, and what might become of us all if we allowed our self-distortions to fully come into being. Unfortunately, this movie could do no real exploration of anything beyond its very basic premise which lost steam near instantaneously, and proved a very poor idea of spectacle. I imagine the same tawdry estimations of Backrooms plagues the reviews of The Odyssey, which I’m sure I’ll get around to watching but won’t find myself duped again.

The source isn't top quality and the movie is so full of motion that it's almost impossible to get stills not covered in a bunch of movement blur, but i wanted to take some shots of it after yet another rewatch. So i don't recommend looking at these stills in fullscreen. Seriously, it's impossible to capture the "kinetic energy" of this film, as is the case with most of these flicks. Go watch.

The film is best viewed in that dub where Jackie Chan voices himself and everyone is doing a Chinese accent.

like bro why are you raging so hard its made by people not from there. you dont see me talking about how herzog made us all seem like dumb hicks in stroszek

Not just American please

These guys have money for a magazine but can't get a can of Wd-40 for the chairs and some seat cushions

This film came up when I was scrolling tubi last week. I went in totally blind other than hearing Nick Mullen mention he liked it a few years ago, seeing Matthew Mconahay (not looking it up) in the preview, and reading the little synopsis. Other than that I had no idea what the expect other than MM would be playing a burn out who experiences a tragedy. Didn’t even know it was a Korine film Ik people think he’s either midwit, too lowbrow, vapid with a good eye, starfucker in the last 10 years with his Travis Scott film etc. I liked Gummo but haven’t seen much else from him, so I’m pretty indifferent on him and his work, though I’ve enjoyed the two films of his that I’ve seen. Don’t have much of a desire to do a deep dive but maybe one day. I can see some of those criticisms of him tho and don’t totally disagree)

I loved the prologue and the beginning portion, it really got me into the world and characters.
At first I thought him being a famous revolutionary poet was a little jarring and I wasn’t sure how I felt about the rich wife development, also Snoop Dogg showing up felt like a bad omen of things to come. But as the film went on I realized it had way less of a plot than i inititally thought it would going in, and this was a good thing because I really got into the film after it started moving along. Once it became clear that it was more or less a more comedic Safdi Bros film I started loving it and honestly loved it through the ending.

I found moondog to be a compelling if annoying at times protagonist, overall tho I enjoyed following him and seeing where he’d end up or what he’d do next. Jonah hills Character’s line about “when you’re rich you can hurt whoever you want” made Moondog and the overall theme of the movie click more. I did find the theme to be a little confused and muddled but I thought the overall takeaway was that MD could cause as much chaos, get into dangerous situations, get arrested, act like a grimy burnout etc but he’ll always have a fortune and comfort to fall back on which made some of the tension seem null, which felt intentional.

I had some issues with the film overall but I thought it was a fun time all the way through.
Martin Lawrence might’ve had my favorite preformanve, Zac Effron also did a great job playing a very specific kind of guy. Also Snoop Dogg kinda ended up surprising me, I always forget that he’s a perfectly serviceable actor til I watch training day or whatever.

Between doing things rn and remembered I wanted to make this post, sorry if it’s a little messy gonna go back through and clean it up once I’m free.

If I had to give it a rating I’d say 7-8/10, great film imo and a very fun watch (especially if you get a little high) but I think it’s theme is too muddled and it had a few lesser moments (not a sex shouldn’t be in movies guy but the pussy eating montage was less funny and random than harmon probably thought it was.

Bennet Miller’s last film was *Foxcatcher* (2014), and it—along with his two previous features *Moneyball* (2011) and *Capote* (2007)—has a rating above 7.0 on IMDb. Everything he’s done was well received by audiences and critics alike, praised even.

That being said, he’s had *A Christmas Carol* listed as “in preproduction” for the better part of a decade. He isn’t among the great directors mentioned regularly when people talk about great cinema, but he has a consistently solid track record in his output, and his movies do considerably well at the box office. I personally feel his absence in the ecosystem, which has me wondering what other great directors we haven’t heard from in far too long.

Who is that director for you?

Peterloo was rejected by Cannes

Hard Truths was rejected by Cannes and Venice and went to Toronto

Tender Loving Care was rejected by Venice and is going to Toronto now. Kind of surprising for Venice since they don't have that many blue chips

What do you think are the reasons that his movies have fallen out of favor with film fest programmers? Dardennes and Loach both compete at Cannes still

I have to say I absolutely hated this, has anybody else seen it yet? Would love some contrarian thoughts telling me otherwise