ysbreker

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Watched Primer and I don't quite understand Primer. Enjoyed it less than Upstream Color

 

I actually did the reverse and watched Upstream Color for the first time recently. I liked Upstream Color but I really really like Primer. 2+ viewings help a lot, also.

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Was on a plane for 14 hours today so I watched a bunch of films.

 

Gone Girl - Don't want to say much about it as I managed to go in unspoiled and I think that made the first watching really good. Rosamund Pike is phenomenal in it.

 

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - This is a film that felt very ambitious from a block buster perspective. It was wordless for a long period of time and relied on CGI apes to convey the story. It also gave the characters time to grow that allowed for the over the top final act feel like a natural conclusion. It managed to throw in some commentary about racism in there for good measure. Was this film successful? It was the only film I didn't fall asleep during.

 

The intern - Robert Deniro's twilight years have recast as an old, lovable fuddie-duddie. This film is messy from a narrative perspective but its heart is largely in the right place. Deniro is a widower looking to fill a hole in his life so he ends up interning at a start up company and befriending the younger staff, including his boss played by Anne Hathway. It is saccharine as shit but there are moments where the film gets pretty feminist, Deniro expresses admiration for Hathway's drive and advises her to do what makes her happy even if that means focusing more on her job. 

 

The Drop - This film made me sad that James Gandolfini is dead. Very straight forward thriller about people crossing and double crossing people over paltry sums of money. Every one in it  is solid.

 

Fantastic Four - I was expecting this film to be a car crash because of the reviews. There are bad parts to it (Doctor Doom just doesn't seem to translate well to film) but overall the cast is likable and the actors play off of each other well (Michael B Jordan is watchable in pretty much everything). It is better than any of the other FF films. I would even say that as an origin story it is better than the first X-Men film too. I am perplexed at what it was that made everyone dog pile this, I guess I am not a huge fan of the comics so maybe I am missing something there.

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Gotta be quick, but I saw FF recently and thought it was pretty disappointing. Didn't really have much in the way of characters or action, takes so long to get going, is pretty rote ("scientists circumnavigate their military funders, try the experiment on themselves" is an origin story I don't need to see again ever). It lacks the energy of Chronicle or X-Men 1.

I suspect it got dogpiled not because it's awful but because even the worst Marvel films feel like they're trying really hard.

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I agree with both your positive and negative points, but I'm curious as to what you mean by the "Deadpoolization of the cosplay scene"? Is it literally that a bunch of people are cosplaying as Deadpool?

 

That is exactly what it is. In recent years Deadpool just sprung up as the thing to cosplay (replacing such classics as "Kakashi from Naruto" or "random Bleach character). In part I suspect this is because of the high accessorizability of Deadpool. You can do any theme or mashup with him. But Deadpool is, like Joker, a highly present character and if you're not in on the joke or you have little affinity for the character, it's easy to start to dislike him. It took me until just about before the movie came out and I saw the trailer for the second time and suddenly I found myself chuckling.

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Watched Primer and I don't quite understand Primer. Enjoyed it less than Upstream Color

 

 

I actually did the reverse and watched Upstream Color for the first time recently. I liked Upstream Color but I really really like Primer. 2+ viewings help a lot, also.

 

They're both films that grow a lot with repeat viewings, but Upstream Color has the advantage of being more emotionally-driven and overtly surreal, so anything you don't understand you can still appreciate on a gut-level.

 

Also, Primer has really rough sound which hurts some key moments of exposition towards the end. I've seen it 5 times and there's always a point where it loses me and I can't follow it. There are sites that have diagrams that, if you wanted, you could have open while watching it, if figuring it out is important to you.

 

Me, I love that the point where the characters find themselves hopelessly over their heads corresponds with the point in the movie where I lose the plot. And the fact that there is actually a logical explanation for it all (give or take a few lovely evocative details like their deteriorating handwriting) makes me appreciate getting lost even more.

 

A good follow-up to Primer would be Coherence. A really smart improvised sci-fi thriller about...well, part of the fun is slowly realizing what it's about. But here's the trailer.

 

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I actually found and decided to watch Upstream Color because of you Patrick so thanks for that. Loved it. And I'm excited to show it to my brother who likes thesev kind of films.

Me, I love that the point where the characters find themselves hopelessly over their heads corresponds with the point in the movie where I lose the plot

Yes!I had a similar experience, I enjoyed that. about 40 minutes in I was lost.

And with Upstream Color which is actually a lot simpler, I have a fair few unanswered questions which I am reluctant to look up the "answers" to.

And I watched Coherence earlier today. Someone else told me to watch it when i told them I'd watched Primer. Liked it, surprised to learn afterwards that it was largely improvised.

I managed to stay with it all the way up to just before the end.

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So Jimmy Screamerclauz, the guy who made the juvenile but still completely unsettling & transgressive animated "horror" film

(link to NSFW trailer, which basically just plays like a random selection of cutscenes from the most completely fucked PS1 game ever) has a new film, When Black Birds Fly.

 


(This one is a little more SFW  than the last trailer, but still totally fucking crazy)

 

Looks like he's jumped from PS1 to PS2, but the "video game story gone wrong wrong WRONG" aesthetic still applies and unnerves the hell out of me. I don't know if I'll ever watch these movies (from what I understand Where The Dead Go To Die isn't just creepy, it's also really despicable in it's "shock" depictions of child abuse, pedophilia, rape, incest etc.) but they certainly tap into unclaimed territory for anyone who grew up playing video games. 

 

It's like how I feel watching clips from Harvester.

 

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One thing I love is the idea that Primer and Upstream Color came from the same person. I think both are fantastic, but it seems so unique to me to have such a detailed/concrete narrative film, and then such a deeply symbolic/emotional one? It strikes me as fairly unique quality for a director's style. 

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One thing I love is the idea that Primer and Upstream Color came from the same person. I think both are fantastic, but it seems so unique to me to have such a detailed/concrete narrative film, and then such a deeply symbolic/emotional one? It strikes me as fairly unique quality for a director's style. 

 

I saw Upstream Color with Shane Carruth doing a Q&A afterwards and a lot of people asked questions along these lines. He maintains that Upstream Color is also a concrete narrative film, and that it's not as symbolic and surreal as people think. He even went as far as asking if we wanted him to explain it, but luckily everyone in the audience shouted back "No!" All he definitively said was that it came from wanting to tell a story about two people "not being able to view their experience in objective terms".

As someone who's watched Upstream Color about 6 times, it means a very specific thing to me thematically (how survivors come to grips with their trauma through love and empathy) but there's still several narrative points I cannot explain at all, mostly involving the thief.

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Just binged through season 1 of Love. Quite liked it - occasionally reminded me of You're the Worst, in a good way.

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Watched it's such a beautiful day and thought it was completely brilliant. Didn't know anything about it but was browsing Netflix for a short film. Surprising, funny, touching, an amazing experience.

If you've got an hour spare and have Netflix (UK version-dunno about the others) you should watch this, you could watch it now. What are you still reading this for?

I am stupid though, so if you think it's rubbish I apologise

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We've seen half of Love so far and like it a lot. I do find Gus annoying, but in a human way. 

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Yeah, he is a bit annoying at times. PS I didn't really like the first episode, mostly due to the secondary characters, who thankfully disappeared soon, and starting from the second episode it got much better.

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One thing I love is the idea that Primer and Upstream Color came from the same person. I think both are fantastic, but it seems so unique to me to have such a detailed/concrete narrative film, and then such a deeply symbolic/emotional one? It strikes me as fairly unique quality for a director's style. 

 

I get the sense that there is a concrete narrative behind both films, but the logic of Upstream Color is harder to unpack. Primer does have the main two characters relationships as an emotional pull, but I think the puzzle of the plot is what most people focus on. You can't even really appreciate the fallout of their relationship if you don't understand how they use time-travel to go behind each others backs.

 

Also, I might like watching Primer more because Carruth shot the whole film in my town, and I actually recognize some places where certain scenes take place. I get a weird kind of inspiration from knowing that it's possible to make a good film with a small budget in my backyard.

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Also, I might like watching Primer more because Carruth shot the whole film in my town, and I actually recognize some places where certain scenes take place. I get a weird kind of inspiration from knowing that it's possible to make a good film with a small budget in my backyard.

 

I get the same thing from Primer, because I was going to UTD at the time he was shooting on and around campus.

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Saw The Witch today and I enjoyed it a lot.

 

It didn't live up to the critic hype, but I think that's because I saw it in a theater and I hate watching films surrounded by people. When it comes out on DVD, I'll re-watch it and I think I feel different about it.


It's definitely an under-the-skin horror film and the build up to the ending was masterful pulled off and well deserved. 

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Recently seen: Carol, Anomalisa, Room.

 

Carol (the character and the movie) was so intoxicating, what a movie.

Anomalisa was surprisingly funny, and visually gorgeous.

Room was a tear-jerker, mostly because of the great acting, but also because of some really emotional music choices (almost distractingly so, given how familiar I am with the tracks in question).

Short Term 12 is another great movie that Brie Larson is great in.

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Finally saw The Revenant. I think I liked it. I think it's too rich and full of cool stuff more me to say I didn't like it. So much better than Birdman. Though it did feel occasionally confused as a movie just like Birdman did.

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I saw Upstream Color with Shane Carruth doing a Q&A afterwards and a lot of people asked questions along these lines. He maintains that Upstream Color is also a concrete narrative film, and that it's not as symbolic and surreal as people think. He even went as far as asking if we wanted him to explain it, but luckily everyone in the audience shouted back "No!" All he definitively said was that it came from wanting to tell a story about two people "not being able to view their experience in objective terms".

As someone who's watched Upstream Color about 6 times, it means a very specific thing to me thematically (how survivors come to grips with their trauma through love and empathy) but there's still several narrative points I cannot explain at all, mostly involving the thief.

 

Haha, that's awesome/funny about the "noo". That totally makes sense regarding the narrative. They both share a kind of meticulous specificity, but I think put to different uses, with UC being more granular in its "emotional expression", like the particular use of color with certain characters, rather than just abstraction type of symbolism.  

 

I hope we get another movie before 2024. EDIT! Checking his wiki, The Modern Ocean is under way starring Keanu Reeves, Anne Hathaway and Daniel Radcliffe, so I'm guessing that might happen sooner than later. 

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I really have a problem with watching movies and series that feature lots of potentially awkward and embarrassing character interactions. When I feel those coming up I cringe, turn away or close my eyes. Now I'm watching two shows, Looking and Transparent, that are of this kind. I constantly take breaks from them in the middle of an episode. :/

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I didn't enjoy Bridesmaids that much because the character actions were frustratingly nonsensical, two big setpieces were very similar to ones from Seinfeld and Harold And Kumar,and there were too many dead-weight/boring characters.

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I watched Starship Troopers for the first time in a decade or more last night, and I remain mystified at the number of people who failed to see the satire in it and took it at face value. 

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