At the Movies with Kane and BN

[Kane52630]

The Laundromat

Imagine The Big Short but done way better. Steven Soderbergh tackles the Panama Papers and money laundering schemes in general in a meta and stylish way. Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas are the main stars of the movie, but it does go through several other stars that have their own subplots. The film does pretty well showing the scale of how this scheme affected people and continues to do so. While it does get really preachy at times (especially towards the end), it's still light and enjoyable to watch.
8/10

 

[Kane52630]

Ford v Ferrari

A solid sports historical drama that is essentially the equivalent of comfort food for old fashion Hollywood. What James Mangold does extremely well is let Christian Bale and Matt Dameon do what they do best. It's very much a performance driven movie rather than plot. Christian Bale has the more flashier role and it looked like he was having so much fun with it. The story gets in with how both car companies eventually go at in Le Mans and it's a pretty interesting back and forth on which one can make the better car to race. Aside from the performances, the best part about the movie are the races itself. Mangold does a great job upping the stakes at every race and when we do finally get to Le Mans, the movie goes out with a bang. The whole 3rd act is easily the best part about the movie, it's where everything fits into place. Where this fits in with the other racing movies, I do think it kinda falls short of something like Rush or Senna, where it has way more emotional stakes going into a race than Ford v Ferrari. It also falls into pretty typical sport movie tropes that we've seen countless times like the wife and the family watching the big race from home. Not to mention you do feel the length of the runtime a couple of times. Still, it's a solid movie and one of the better films of the year. It probably takes the cake of dad movie of the year.
9/10

 

[Kane52630]

Charlie's Angels

A pretty generic spy action film that kinda gets by on charm from the main cast. Where the 2000 film was more of a Saturday morning cartoon version of the tv show, this feels like it's trying to be Mission Impossible or Fast and Furious aimed towards the Gen Z crowd. It's the first screenplay by Elizabeth Banks (who also directs and stars) and you can tell. The plot pretty thin and it's got all the things you'd expect a movie like this to have. It almost like she went through a checklist of all the things spy action films have in common. The humor, for the most part, falls flat which is kinda shocking. Naomi Scott, Kristen Stewart, and Ella Balinska do feel like they were trying and with better material they could have something great. The action is pretty good for the most part and the locations and sets were fun to see. Overall, I didn't hate it, but this had the potential of being memorable.
5.5/10

 

[Kane52630]

The Good Liar

A twisty thriller that stars Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen about deception that on paper sounds incredible, but in actuality, it takes forever to get really good. It starts out pretty promising and you get a sense of how Ian McKellen is trying to lure in Helen Mirren. After that, the film slows down and it gets pretty dull from that point on. If it weren't for the performances of Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen, those parts would have really suffered. The film also gets kinda dumb at points when you see Ian McKellen trying to get out of his money schemes. It takes until the big twist at the end (that you see coming from a mile away) for it to get actually good. The 3rd act could have been its own movie and it would have been far better than what we got here. Overall, its one of those where the trailer was more interesting than the actual movie.
6/10

 

[OutOfBoose]

I needed to see this a second time while it was still fresh on my mind, just to know that it was indeed the best film of the year. You bet your ass tis' is.

Easily the best movie of the year for me as well. Gobsmacked just like I was in 2018 by Shoplifters, probably even more so. Asian cinema rocks my world again like it did in early 2000s.

 

[Black Narcissus]

The Killing

These 5 Men Had a $2,000,000 Secret Until One of them told this Woman!

After a rewatch one can go hazy with all the films that took from it. From Arnold carrying a box of roses with a shotgun inside, to the shootouts in both Pulp Fiction/Reservoir Dogs, to all them heist films including the opening bank robbery of Dark Knight. The list goes on and on.

I also always enjoy the plain sexism and macho type dialogue that went on in this era. The female characters were either femme fatales or nagging sarcastic wives. Sterling Hayden wasn't the best actor, but he had great presence on screen, even in his old age later in playing the crocked cop in The Godfather, just great. He killed ya with his eyes.

Johnny Clay: Alright sister, that's a mighty pretty head you got on your shoulders. You want to keep it there or start carrying it around in your hands?
Sherry Peatty: Maybe we could compromise and put it on your shoulder. I think that'd be nice, don't you?

 

[Kane52630]

Them That Follow

A really well put together character drama about family and how fundamental religion (in this case Pentecostals) can tear them apart. It's the kind of indie dramas I love because they take their time getting to the big showdown and as you get there you get a slice of life of these people. There's some great performances from the main cast especially Alice Englert, Walton Goggins, and Olivia Coleman. Once it get towards the 3rd act, the movie the pretty much becomes a coming of age movie and it does really work. Overall, it's worth checking out.
8.5/10

 

[Kane52630]

Mercy Black

Poor script writing can often derail a really good idea for a film and this is sadly one of them. It's essentially a fictional take on Slender Man and the real life stabbings that occurred only it takes place years later when they are all grown up. It's hard to buy in this story when the dialogue and some of the performances are really poor. It takes a while for anything to pick up. The scares aren't that well thought either. Daniella Pineda, who is the star and kinda trying, isn't given a whole lot to do. Once it got to the 3rd act you kinda know where it's heading and it was trying to have its cake and eat it too. Under a better director this horror movie should have really worked, but it ends up being kinda dull.
4/10

 

[Kane52630]

The Nightingale is on Hulu... I'd advise anyone reading this to go seek that movie out. It's worth every second.

 

[Kane52630]

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Easily one of the better and more creative biopics this year. Tom Hanks pretty much delivers a powerful yet subtle and calm performance as Mister Rogers. While his imitation of Mister Rogers isn't quite there, they do a lot to make you not focus on it too much. It's not your typical biopic where they go through the years of his life or showcasing his big moment when he got big and famous. Instead, what they do is they center on the Matthew Rhys character who's a journalist covering him and have Tom Hanks play the supporting role and almost narrator of the movie. What you end up with is actually a very long episode of Mister Rogers and they shoot it like one which adds a lot. Marielle Heller does a great job focusing on what seems mundane and normal and add way more emotional depth to it than most movies do. This also makes for a great companion piece to the documentary from last year. Overall, I really loved it and it's easily the best role Tom Hanks has had since Captain Philips.
9/10

 

[Kane52630]

21 Bridges

It's a cop action thriller that has all the right ingredients of being an all time classic... but they forgot a smart and well developed script. Chadwick Boseman was pretty damn good and he gets the only character development throughout the movie. Aside from Chadwick and maybe Sienna Miller, almost everyone in here gets a cardboard cutout of who their character is supposed to be. This definitely needed at least 20 more minutes to develop the story. It takes a lot of shortcuts in the plot where it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It ends up being a very straightforward cops and robbers movie with a little superhero tinge that has a twist you see coming from a mile away. Which is a shame because the movie was trying to convey a message on policing. On the positive side, the action is really well done, they've definitely used the budget for great effect. It's the kind of action cop movie they don't really make anymore in terms of scope and scale. Overall, while I don't think it's too terrible, it's ultimately a disappointing film.
6/10

 

[Black Narcissus]

Seconds (1966) Directed by John Frankenheimer

What a great gem of a film. I must admit to never seeing this before, but it was on my ever growing list of films to see. I remember Jordan Peele praising this on and on during his interview for 'Get Out' and I can see why. Hell, the dna of this film is seen in plenty of other films from ''Face/Off' to that awful Reynolds and Costner film a few years back, this was ahead of its time. A simple but painful procedure to start life again, but at what cost? Funny enough, some of the dialogue does make it seem like the old man was just bored of his quiet life and wife, and jsut wants to start fresh, but even for the time, the camera angles, the moving of the camera, no wonder many critics at cannes hated this, but it soon became a classic as years went by.

Rock Hudson is damn great in this role. He doesn't go ham with this, he plays it straight and with care. There is always rumors of a remake, but no dice so far. I think someone like Alex Garland would absolutely make a great remake with this material.

A must watch.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Knives Out

I had so much damn fun watching this and so did the crowd. The dialogue is just on point. RJ makes perfectlay clear who these characters are within the first 10 minutes, but he does so without being too ham about it, just great. I'm also surprised by how damn funny this is. Maybe cause I just left the theater on a high, but this deserves a best pic nom imo.

This is also the Ana de Armas mvp show! RJ used her perfectly and gave her good material to chew on. She hits all the emotional and funny notes just perfect. I wouldn't go too far as to say she is oscar worthy or anything like that, but a golden globe nom? I say let her in! She can bring Daniel Craig along with her. His accent is a mixture of Michael Scott trying to talk in a southern accent by way of Foghorn Leghorn. Craig has this rant about ''donuts'' that made me laugh for a good minute after. You can tell he had a lot of fun. Chris Evans is good and plays his part well. Toni Collette deserves more hammy roles like this, she is just great but not enough of her. The rest of the cast are serviceable as well, no real weakling, but nothing more. Lakeith Steinfield was wasted imo, but nothing too bad. I like how RJ made the political turmoil in our country as a bit of a metaphor for the story in a way, just on point and hilarious.

I'm mostly happy for De Armas. There isn't really a bunch of latina actresses getting good work out there, and she showed she could step up with the right material.

This will easily be on my top 10 list for the year.

9/10

 

[Black Narcissus]

The Irishman

Scorsese with another painting to his resume, but a painting that one mostly admires more than likes. I don't see myself rewatching this anytime soon, like I do with other Scorsese films, but I'm just glad it exist today in a franchise film world. I'm just happy to see Pesci again in a role like this, it was kinda scary to know how great he still is, it kinda felt like we kept his seat warm after Goodfellas. It only makes me more disappointed he took such a long break from acting. I kinda hope someone brings bacl Gene Hackman back from retirement as well. Hackman mentioned that he kept waiting for Marty to call one day, but that never came, and I thought I would never see Pacino work with Marty, but here he also delivers one of his best performances in recent years. I had no real issue with the cgi, and it mostly worked, but what did kinda bother me was Deniro's body movement. I don't know if that was a ''choice'' to walk and move like he did, but it didn't work. An old man trying to stand and walk like a younger self, but I didn't see this issue with Pacino/Pesci, so maybe it was a conscious choice by Deniro? I don't know. Nice to see Paquinn show up even in a thankless role, I always liked her, even in that awful true blood series.

This is a good movie, but we've seen Scorsese do it better before. It reminds me of his film 'Silence' . A good movie, but he tackled the subject of faith in 'Last Temptation of Christ'. Here the same, he did better in the previous gangster films we've all known. Still, even a lesser/good Scorsese is still better than most. It still makes my top ten list of the year for sure.

8/10

 

[Kane52630]

Don't Let Go

A high concept murder mystery that had some really good potential, but at the end of it feels more like a cop soap opera. It's similar to Deja Vu only David Oyelowo is in the future trying to solve the case and is communicating with Storm Reid who's is trying to fix the timeline in the past. It gets convoluted at times plus there's plenty of plot holes and has a ending you see coming a mile away. As for performances, it's kinda all over the place. David Oyelowo was pretty good, but Storm Reid doesn't have the range so a lot of the dialogue comes off like she was reading a script with a monotone voice. Brian Tyree Henry sadly gets like 5 minutes of screen time, but even with 5 minutes, he was able to deliver a great performance. Overall, it's got some major issues even though it has its moments.
5.5/10

 

[Kane52630]

Queen & Slim

Enjoyed it but didn't love it as I thought I would. It's a on-the-run thriller that essentially becomes the black version Bonnie & Clyde in 2019. It starts of very strong from the moment they had their date that went bad to the moment Daniel Kaluuya shoots a cop and are trying to find a way to escape. Melina Matsoukas does a great job in the first half of the movie with creating tension and anxiety that really works. The chemistry between Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith really works because they are vastly different people when the movie starts. But I will say Bokeem Woodbine might be the most interesting character in the movie and chews the most scenery with the limited screentime he had. My biggest issue with the movie is the social commentary. They do a great job setting up themes about race and policing but the end results are really underdeveloped. Just like in the film, the story and themes runs out of gas and becomes pretty two dimensional at the very end. Overall, it's definitely worth seeing even though it's not near as great as it could be.
8/10

 

[Kane52630]

Knives Out

Loved it. It's a murder mystery whodunit that will for sure be a all time classic. Rian Johnson does a phenomenal job on creating a mystery that doesn't really hinge on the reveal but the journey getting there. I kinda figured out the twist/reveal early on but they do such a great job on making you second guess yourself. They also do a great job introducing everyone and their dynamics with each other. The giant star studded cast is what makes this movie work and the chemistry and acting from everyone is phenomenal and hilarious. Ana de Armas is easily the standout star of the movie and the one that carries the emotional weight of the story. There's some incredible directing by Rian Johnson and the cinematography was excellent. It's exactly the kind of crowd pleaser thriller that you want for Thanksgiving. Overall, it's definitely one of the best movies of the year.
9.5/10

 

[Schlosser85]

Knives Out

Loved it. It's a murder mystery whodunit that will for sure be a all time classic. Rian Johnson does a phenomenal job on creating a mystery that doesn't really hinge on the reveal but the journey getting there. I kinda figured out the twist/reveal early on but they do such a great job on making you second guess yourself. They also do a great job introducing everyone and their dynamics with each other. The giant star studded cast is what makes this movie work and the chemistry and acting from everyone is phenomenal and hilarious. Ana de Armas is easily the standout star of the movie and the one that carries the emotional weight of the story. There's some incredible directing by Rian Johnson and the cinematography was excellent. It's exactly the kind of crowd pleaser thriller that you want for Thanksgiving. Overall, it's definitely one of the best movies of the year.
9.5/10

I've been really wanting to see this for a while (won't get a chance for a few days yet probably) and I hope it doesn't disappoint.

 

[flickchick85]

I had no real issue with the cgi, and it mostly worked, but what did kinda bother me was Deniro's body movement. I don't know if that was a ''choice'' to walk and move like he did, but it didn't work.

I don't think it was a choice. That's just how a septuagenarian moves. This actually bothered me quite a bit, but at the same time, I'm glad it happened, because it shows the limitations of the technology. It shows that you can't entirely just use veteran actors for younger roles without anyone noticing, and you can't just digitally transform someone into another person and make it perfectly seamless. Acting is more than just in the face, and unless you want to use body doubles for most of your wide shots, you can't (yet) truly replicate via digital trickery the verisimilitude of someone actually being physically right (or physically transforming) for a role. I liked De Niro in this, but given the amount of the film that focused on Frank in his younger days, there are younger actors who would've been more believable in this role, imo.

 

[thangaran]

I don't think it was a choice. That's just how a septuagenarian moves. This actually bothered me quite a bit, but at the same time, I'm glad it happened, because it shows the limitations of the technology. It shows that you can't entirely just use veteran actors for younger roles without anyone noticing, and you can't just digitally transform someone into another person and make it perfectly seamless. Acting is more than just in the face, and unless you want to use body doubles for most of your wide shots, you can't (yet) truly replicate the verisimilitude of someone actually being physically right (or physically transforming) for a role via digital trickery. I liked De Niro in this, but given the amount of the film that focused on Frank in his younger days, there are younger actors who would've been more believable in this role, imo.

Totally agree! Getting a younger actor to play Sheeran would have been the best way to go. It was done so well in several movies including Godfather 2. The CG didn’t bother me and I thought it looked good enough; but as you rightly point out, the body language, physical actions, body movements were all too stiff and old looking for what a much younger man should be able to do. Especially in some of his scenes where he’s physically attacking or kicking people, it looked pretty off

 

[Black Narcissus]

I don't think it was a choice. That's just how a septuagenarian moves. This actually bothered me quite a bit, but at the same time, I'm glad it happened, because it shows the limitations of the technology. It shows that you can't entirely just use veteran actors for younger roles without anyone noticing, and you can't just digitally transform someone into another person and make it perfectly seamless. Acting is more than just in the face, and unless you want to use body doubles for most of your wide shots, you can't (yet) truly replicate via digital trickery the verisimilitude of someone actually being physically right (or physically transforming) for a role. I liked De Niro in this, but given the amount of the film that focused on Frank in his younger days, there are younger actors who would've been more believable in this role, imo.

Miles Teller would've been my choice for a younger Deniro. I know a lot of folks hate him, but he can be good with the right material. I mean, Deniro ddin't even look like the real guy to begin with, so yeah.

 

[flickchick85]

I hate Teller and I doubt I would've liked him here, but the resemblance is certainly there. I honestly wouldn't have cast De Niro at all, and just let someone around 40-ish play both younger and older Frank. A younger person can alter their body language to move like an elderly person, while the reverse is generally not so true. And we've already seen that the same technology is just as good at making a young person look old (see Peggy Carter in TWS).

 

[Black Narcissus]

Dolemite Is My Name

Man, I just had so much damn fun watching this. So many one liners and quick dialogue. Rudy Ray Moore just did not give a damn in real life, but his ambition and hustle to get in show business was great to see. One can still find plenty of interviews online, the man just wanted to see himself on album covers, radio, comedy arenas, and most importantly in the movies. Eddie Murphy is great in this and just makes me bummed he has been MIA for a while, but it is fun to see him in flick like this. He talked about wanting to make this movie back in the late 90s, but Rudy wanted just a million to even write the script. lol

He also talked about how it was his brother Charlie Murphy (RIP) who first introduced him to Moore's work, which makes the dedication to him at the end all more hard hitting in the emotions, at least to me. The mvp for me here was easily Wesley Snipes. He goddamn steals the damn show. He is so good, that he is worthy of a supporting acting nom imo, considering the amount of lames and limited screen timers who get on that, he goddamn deserves a nom.

9/10

On my top ten list of the year.

Also, that african queen who takes off her bathrobe and gave young Pam Grier a run for her money. Goddamn!

 

[Kane52630]

The Irishman

A slow paced and methodical gangster epic that holds a sense of nostalgia. It was fun seeing De Niro, Pacino and Pesci all in the same movie and doing what they know best. I will say the first 45 minutes felt kidna dry even for Scorsese. It takes a while to get used to the framing of the movie, but once Pacino shows up as Jimmy Hoffa, the film lights up. While I dug the subtle performances of De Niro and Pesci, it was Pacino who pretty much stole the movie. There's also a ton of notable supporting characters (ie Bobby Cannavale and Stephen Graham) that were fantastic. The 2nd hour of the movie was easily the best part and it was hilarious at times which I didn't expect. I do appreciate that Scorsese wasn't trying to go for Goodfellas, but in a way, this movie is meant to be an epilogue to the gangster genre as a whole. Overall, while it's not Scorsese's best, it's pretty high up there.
9/10

 

[Kane52630]

The Report

A well made political thriller by Scott Z. Burns that deals with how the US torture report was created and the politics that came with it. It's not your average thriller where it's flashy with full of shootouts... it tries to be as realistic as possible while getting to the point of why this matters. There's some similarities to All the President's Men and The Post. It's also a movie that solely relies on Adam Driver's performance and it's phenomenal. They do a good job not leaning to one party and show how ugly politics can be to the truth. Overall, it's definitely worth a watch.
9/10