What are we watching now?

[unix-guy]

Jake Gyllenhaal is incredible

You can just stop there... I don't think I've seen anything he's done that he was not great in.

Ryan Gosling is also in that category for me.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Prisoners with Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman is awesome. Albeit super dark.

 

[unix-guy]

Prisoners with Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman is awesome. Albeit super dark.

I'll put it on my list.

 

[State of Epicicity]

Prisoners is by Denis Villeneuve, the dude who directed the new Dune films, the newer Blade Runner, and Arrival. He directed Gyllenhaal in an interesting and disturbing film called Enemy, and that is a total showcase for how great of an actor that guy is.

I don't really like Villeneuve; I think he's cold, but the films are always interesting. That's kind of how I feel about Tom Cruise, now that I think of it. The one film by him that I thought had some heart is called Incendies. That film is totally brutal and difficult, but I felt like the person behind the camera had something in their heart. To me he's often coolly intellectual in a way that just feels detached. I like directors that feel visceral to me, like my emotions are dragged into the story, whether I like it or not. A good contrast is Taxi Driver, where Martin Scorsese decides for you that you're going to get in this dude's head, and you just have to sit there and let it happen to you.

 

[State of Epicicity]

You can just stop there... I don't think I've seen anything he's done that he was not great in

Dude, totally, with the exception for me of Donnie Darko. I saw it only once, when it first came out, and I thought it was pretentious crap; it also made me hate Jake Gyllenhaal for a long time haha. But it's been a long time, so I plan to give it another chance.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Bubble Boy says hi

 

[unix-guy]

I'll put it on my list.

Just started watching it and remembered I watched it already... And, yes, it was very good!

 

[laxu]

Watched Renfield last night. It was fun, but I feel like it could have gone way more over the top mainly with actor performances, the action was great. It felt a bit like they didn't let Nic Cage chew all the scenery.

Decided to watch Asteroid City after that since it was on the same streaming service. I still have no idea what that movie is really about but it was gorgeous. I'm generally not a fan of Wes Anderson movies as they tend to be odd but I did enjoy this one for the visual style alone.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Watched Renfield last night. It was fun, but I feel like it could have gone way more over the top mainly with actor performances, the action was great. It felt a bit like they didn't let Nic Cage chew all the scenery.

Decided to watch Asteroid City after that since it was on the same streaming service. I still have no idea what that movie is really about but it was gorgeous. I'm generally not a fan of Wes Anderson movies as they tend to be odd but I did enjoy this one for the visual style alone.

Agreed on Renfield. I did enjoy it but it could have been a little nuttier.

I love most of Wes Anderson's stuff. Haven't given Asteroid City a shot yet for no real reason? I dug French Dispatch to a point but it was a bit too long winded. I'll have to give this one a shot. I wish he would focus a little less on character quirkiness at times and more on just making an enjoyable film.

 

[la szum]

Decided to watch Asteroid City after that since it was on the same streaming service. I still have no idea what that movie is really about but it was gorgeous. I'm generally not a fan of Wes Anderson movies as they tend to be odd but I did enjoy this one for the visual style alone.

I want to check that one out. I can handle a well shot and beautiful to watch movie with bad acting and a yanky script.

 

[unix-guy]

Decided to watch Asteroid City after that since it was on the same streaming service. I still have no idea what that movie is really about but it was gorgeous. I'm generally not a fan of Wes Anderson movies as they tend to be odd but I did enjoy this one for the visual style alone.

I saw it in the theatre and it was very nice!

Agree - I don't know what point was being made, but it was engaging in any case.

 

[State of Epicicity]

I don't know what point was being made, but it was engaging in any case.

That's what she said.

 

[State of Epicicity]

I'm suffering through the original Twin Peaks series, just got through season 1 and two episodes into season 2. It's so boring. Too much of it is a soap opera, four million lazy and humdrum subplots with equally lazy and humdrum acting and directing. And it's not everyone but David Lynch directs like crap here. His only redeeming quality is his inherent strangeness. He adds enough quirk and disturbing and / or dreamlike imagery to shift your focus from the actors, who have no fundamentally deeper or helpful direction.

I say this as a huge lover of David Lynch's films, but he also has some instances of terrible acting in his films too, there's just not as much room for the stink to blossom.

Weirdly, Lara Flynn Boyle has many moments of acting that fully lifts scenes to be higher quality, but for so many of the actors, I feel like there is no thought in their minds as they vomit their memorized lines.

To me Kyle MacLachlan is earnestly and delightfully embodying a stylized, stylized, cartoon version of a Dragnet gumshoe, like a noir detective with no cynicism. Nothing like a 30s or 40s cool guy noir detective; he's more like a farce of a bad television 50s or 60s cop, but in a way where he's in on the joke, and it's hilarious and awesome. He's using a lot of discipline to keep his character on the straight and narrow, to keep him unreal, as it were. I didn't know he was a great comedic actor.

Honorable mention to Miguel Ferrer. He always holds a soft spot in my heart because of his performance in Revenge, a film I really love. Here he's just complete comedy in the best way. I can't help but love that guy.

I've never hated Piper Laurie before, but here I do. In this performs she is straight out of a soap opera. What happened to the nuanced, totally raw and real actor who was totally devastating in The Hustler? Here she's just the worst overacting instincts of the bad movies of Rod Steiger (see The Amityville Horror) without the charm (I fucking love Rod Steiger, and to me he always had charm as an actor), just going fully into the hamfisted staff writing without adding anything except one dimensional intensity. She was capable of so much more.

Most of the actors are unbearable to watch in this, even actors I've liked in other things, like Everett McGill (whom I love in Dune), David Patrick Kelly, Jack Nance.

The best things are just the strange side of David Lynch coming through, but otherwise it's like the most boring reimagining of Blue Velvet, a film I freaking love.

But I'm in now, so I'll finish it. You never know, it might get better. God I hope so.

 

[laxu]

Watched Guy Ritchie's "The Gentlemen" last night. It tries hard to grab that "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" vibe and has some great actors in it, but it really feels like someone trying too hard to make a film in the vein of those two. It's still fun, but it doesn't do the humor and absurdity right.

They are making a TV series of it, so I hope that turns out better.

 

[laxu]

I'm suffering through the original Twin Peaks series, just got through season 1 and two episodes into season 2. It's so boring. Too much of it is a soap opera, four million lazy and humdrum subplots with equally lazy and humdrum acting and directing. And it's not everyone but David Lynch directs like crap here. His only redeeming quality is his inherent strangeness. He adds enough quirk and disturbing and / or dreamlike imagery to shift your focus from the actors, who have no fundamentally deeper or helpful direction.

It's been several years since I watched it but me and my gf both enjoyed it perhaps because it feels like watching a 1990s soap opera. We felt we were watching something a bit kitchy and odd. Oscar worthy performances are not the name of the game here.

The theme tune is still a banger.

 

[State of Epicicity]

It's been several years since I watched it but me and my gf both enjoyed it perhaps because it feels like watching a 1990s soap opera. We felt we were watching something a bit kitchy and odd. Oscar worthy performances are not the name of the game here.

The theme tune is still a banger.

Haha again I'll agree with one part. I so love Angelo Badalamenti, and his music for the show is so much better than the show haha. This theme was taken by Inside The Actors Studio as their main theme too.

I think there are levels of acting, where you can have bad acting, writing, and directing with charm and without. This show has some of the bad with charm, some great genuine comedy, and a lot of the bad without charm. But it's reputation precedes it, and I'm just hoping the charm ratio increases in season 2. I'm anxiously awaiting a cross dressing David Duchovny.

 

[mbenigni]

Henry Cavill was great in The Witcher series, except that series was totally ruined by the showrunners who didn't understand the source material. I've been reading the books lately and just keep thinking "Why didn't you just try to translate it to screen exactly as written? It's all right there!"

I'm told Henry Cavill felt the same way. Apparently (despite not looking the part at all), he's a bit of fantasy RPG gaming nerd, and a huge fan of the Witcher novels; and he kept getting into arguments with the director because he wanted his dialog to be more true to the books. (Or so my wife tells me, having read all about it in People magazine or the like.)

 

[Stratzrus]

Watched Guy Ritchie's "The Gentlemen" last night. I

I looked it up and saw that it wasn't going to be released on Netflix until tomorrow so I wondered how you saw it.

Then I realized, you aren't in the USA if memory serves.

 

[mbenigni]

Stumbled on a new (to me) NetFlix series that's apparently in its third Season now: The Tourist? First episode was well-executed and very entertaining. No idea where it will go from here, though. Anyone else watching this one? (No spoilers, please. )

 

[JiveTurkey]

Stumbled on a new (to me) NetFlix series that's apparently in its third Season now: The Tourist? First episode was well-executed and very entertaining. No idea where it will go from here, though. Anyone else watching this one? (No spoilers, please. )

So I know we've watched at least one season of it and liked it? I saw it pop back up on the feed the other day and semi-recognized it. The old "2.5 years between seasons" model isn't always the best for viewer re-engagement apparently