If you like High Fidelity the movie, they turned it into a TV show and gender-swapped the lead character and Jack Black’s role, and it was surprisingly great, maybe even better than the movie. It unfortunately only lasted 1 season before it died during the pandemic but it’s still worth watching:
Do you mean X?
Fifteen generations
Yes fifteen characters
★★
This started so well! A great introduction to all the characters, an interesting premise, and loads and loads of tension-building. Not to mention the AMAZING food cinematography which perfectly captures the Chef’s Table aesthetic, along with the pitch perfect soundtrack. The ENTIRE cast is excellent too, and I was hyped for the second half of the movie.
Because I watched the first half, then paused to watch some tennis.
In the few hours before resuming the movie, my mind was running over all the possibilities! This is a HORROR THRILLER set in a restaurant and the KITCHEN IS RIGHT THERE!!! It’s filled with KNIVES and TONGS and MACHINES and STOVES and all kind of inventive props to kill the obnoxious rich guests one by one.
Right? All the guests will be killed one by one? In ever more clever and gruesome ways? RIGHT?!?!?
So, I started watching the movie again, and was very disappointed. The script just didn’t hold up. I wasn’t sure what the message of the movie might be, because it felt like it was trying to say five things at once and failing at them all. And then Nicolas Hoult’s character turned out to… well, none of his story made sense in the end. Neither did any of it.
For every moment that made me happy, I had FOUR moments where I was left unimpressed or unsatisfied. Sure, we had the “Ratatouille Moment”, although in this case the chef was reverse-Ratatouilled, and that was great. But then, what about all the service staff? What is their motivation? Have they been Fight-Club-Brainwashed into this lifestyle? Where’s THAT movie? What was the angel hanging from? Skyhooks?Etc, etc, etc.
A non-sensical script would have been okay, I guess, if the movie had actually followed through on what I had imagined would be coming when I paused the movie for a few hours. All the anticipation was totally squandered be the weakest-assed ending to a horror movie I’ve ever seen.
Like, I don’t want to give it away, but the ending wasn’t only weak but left SO MANY MORE questions unanswered. And there was ZERO catharsis. It’s like ordering the best cheeseburger you’ll ever taste, and then as you’re about to take a bite of it, it’s slapped out of your hands. You’re left with only the memory of the anticipation of what COULD HAVE BEEN.
The more time passes after I watched this movie, the more disappointment I feel. Because, oh boy, the first half set up so much promise, and the second half flails and falls and fails. With excellent cinematography and acting, but fails nonetheless.
Tagged as: disappointment.
★★★★
I find movies about gangsters difficult to enjoy. I hate spending time with them, and I immediately lose interest when the the story turns away from human-scale problems and everything is solved by literally killing everyone else. Because gangsters are stupid, corrupt, evil, incompetent, pathetic, and/or immoral. Every combination of the above.
I’ve seen so many that start great, but invariably they devolve into “everyone gets shot, except the character who has the bag of money/suitcase/position of power”.
The reason I very much enjoyed rewatching Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is because, well, everyone DOES get shot, except the character holding the bag of money at the end! Despite the fact that the gangsters are ALL idiots, the combinations of evil and incompetence with the overlapping gangs means it plays out very differently than normal gangster movies. There is usually triumph and/or honour after the killing spree, which I hate, but that is absent in this movie, so somehow it still works.
It’s stylish, and all the actors are having a blast, and Guy Richie is throwing everything at the wall and most of it sticks. It’s also a lot less bloody than I remember, because 95% of the violence I remember from last watching it 15 years ago is actually off screen, implied, or we cut back to it once it’s all finished.
tagged as: yup
A few weeks ago I went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) where there was an exhibit about the new Pinnochio stop motion movie from Guillermo del Toro/Neflix. There were lots and lots of production artifacts on display there, and it was truly fascinating. The best part where that they had time lapse videos of the animators doing the stop motion animation. The videos were timed such that the puppets were moving naturally but the puppeteers where blinking in and out all over the place. You could even tell how many days it took them to film just a few brief moments of the film based on how many times their clothing changed.
Haven’t had Netflix in awhile, so I didn’t see the movie itself until last night when I went to a screening at the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI). I experienced this film entirely two unrelated museums that just happen to be in the same city and have similar names. Disclaimer: the screening was free because I pay for a free membership to the MoMI. Well worth it since I live within walking distance.
Forgetting everything else, it’s worth seeing this movie just for the stop motion animation. At least up to this point in history, this is the absolute peak of the art form, at least as far as full length features go. It’s to be expected simply that the movie is so new, and the budget is so high, but it lives up to the expectations.
The soundtrack by Alexandre Desplat is also very good.
As a whole I can’t really see any major flaw in the film to dock it points. For a child it’s S-tier, but for an adult it doesn’t have huge replay value unless you want to marvel at and study the animation. For that I’ll just give it a solid A. Absolutely worth it for anyone to see it at least once.
Spoiler warning, I guess, but it’s Pinnochio. I hope you know the story already. I’m pretty sure the original book is older than all living humans.
As far as the story goes, I think it was the tightest and most cohesive of all the Pinnochio renditions I have encountered. Many of them, including the original, go on all sorts of unrelated and loosely connected tangents. In this film they keep it to three main themes and one overarching theme, and they wrap up everything together very neatly. If only Carlo Collodi had such a good editor.
The first theme is found family, the relation between father and son, and being with people you care for and treating them well. Continuing to love them even if you may act harshly towards them at times. This is represented by Gepetto and Pinnochio’s home.
The second theme is the evils of capitalism, represented by the carnival.
The third theme is fascism and war, represented by a caricature of the literal Mussolini and his supporters.
The overriding theme is Pinnochio learning that human life has value because it is brief. Early in the film Pinnochio asks Gepetto why everyone in town loves the wooden Jesus, but not him. Then on his adventures Pinnochio dies and is reborn several times. At the end of the film Pinnochio doesn’t become a literal real boy of flesh like in the Disney version. Instead he becomes a real by by giving up his immortality in order to save Gepetto’s life.
Structurally the whole thing reminds me of Galaxy Express 999, because of course that’s where my mind goes. RIP Leiji Matsumoto. Tetsuro is already a real boy, and he goes on a journey seeking immortality via a robot body. In the stops along the way he learns moral lessons and ends up deciding to stay as-is. Pinnochio wants to become a real boy, and he goes on a journey making stops at the carnival, the war, and the fish, and ending up achieving mortality.
One side note that I really enjoyed here were the two side characters for the villains that Pinnochio saves in a Jesus like fashion. The carnival owner’s evil sidekick is the monkey Spazzatura. The local fascist leader’s son is Candlewick. They both start out bad, and Pinnochio helps them become good. Not only does it fit the message of the film, but I think it’s a plot twist that isn’t used often enough. Usually when you see the villain henchmen turn good, it’s a last minute betrayal to save the day. Or a sudden reversal. Here they build up to it, so it’s not sudden. And it’s also not last minute.
On the opposite coin is the Disney Live action remake which is nominated for a Razzie.
TIL from listening to this podcast: Pinnochio was actually written for magazines before becoming a book. So the reason why it is disjointed is that each area was literally in another issue of the zine to sell more copies.
Serializing must have been a pretty popular model back in the day. Charles Dickens was published that way too.
It was rather common till the mid twentieth century I believe. Truman Capote’ In Cold Blood and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden both were serials first.
The opening 11 minutes/scene/single shot of Athena is incredible. Just stupendous.
Is this available for watching yet? I can’t find anything about it.
The studio’s site says it will be released by Freestyle Digital Media in the spring of 2023.
Suzume - There will be a GeekNights episode on this once Rym can see it. I was just able to see it earlier at the premiere, with a VIP ticket, with Mokoto Shinkai in attendance. Not because I’m actually a VIP. But because I pay $90 a year to be a member of the Museum of the Moving Image, which is within walking distance of my home.
When it hits US theaters on April 13th, you should see it. I think it’s probably the most well constructed of Shinkai’s films. Everything makes sense. Pacing is good. It felt like it had actually been edited well, unlike some of his other works. Also, as expected, it’s stunning.
John Wick 4 - I mean, you go see this movie because you want to see very few people kill very many people. On that front, it obviously delivers. But there are so many action scenes, and they are so long that I found myself over full. Yes, this action movie cake is delicious, but I can take no more. Please get on with it.
There were some interesting characters and other bits. Also a few comedic scenes. But overall it just wasn’t as compelling as any of the previous ones. It didn’t make me care.
The short post credit scene was nice, though.
Finally got around to watching Wendell & Wild and while I could talk about how it’s great, which it is like anything those creators seem to touch, instead I’ll just say I love the soundtrack and how well it works with the film. I’m 93% certain Henry Selick and I could enjoy music together based on the soundtracks for all his works.
★★★★
Guess who hadn’t watched any John Wick movie? Juliane. Guess who now has watched a John Wick movie? Juliane.
I watched this the first time in a cinema, and it felt super rough and violent. I guess after three more John Wicks, and every other action movie now trying to be more like John Wick, the original feels quite tame. Still a lot of fun though.
★★★★
A movie about Tom Hanks almost but not quite getting round to eating his dinner for 50 hours straight.
Why doesn’t he eat his dinner? Watch to find out!
Actually, it’s the pesky German U-Boats. The movie is about all the ways the Greyhound (the ship) tries to save the day, sometimes successfully, always stressfully. Meanwhile, Tom Hanks is ACTING.
Recommended if you want a rollercoaster movie ride that is also a SHORT 90 minutes, rather than the normal modern 2 hour plus bloatfests.
Always looking for a good 90 minute movie. Hard to watch a 2+ hour film after putting two kids to bed.
How I imagine the pitch meeting went:
TOM HANKS: I’ve got this idea for a WWII sub/destroyer movie
STUDIO EXECS: Cool. What else is in the movie?
HANKS: no that’s it
Turns out: that’s plenty.
we’ve all seen Suzume so that’ll be a show soon.
I’m ready for more Wes Anderson. I’m kind of into Asteroid City’s premise.
