#197

Assassin’s Creed - bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Definitely worth seeing…if you want to see a truly terrible film. Spectacularly awful in every single way. Barely audible dialogue, boring, so very, very boring, didn’t make any sense at all. I assume all involved did it for the cash, because all the performances were sleepwalked through without any emotion or care.

#198

La La Land. 7/10. Good but a lot of flaws and nowhere near as worthy of the acclaim as its getting

#199

I have a Limitless card and nothing to do tomorrow, was thinking about going to see Manchester by the Sea and La La Land back to back. Is this a bad idea?

#200

I’d maybe do them the other way around

(not seen lalaland so idk)

#201

Bit like whiplash then?

#202

Manchester by the Sea - far more brutal than I was expecting, but at the same time a lot of surprisingly funny moments (which I kind of felt guilty for laughing at). Wasn’t quite sure about the music choices though, especially in one key scene.

#203

Pretty much!

Problem I had with La La Land is the musical element. Like someone said, first half hour its made like a proper musical, then rarely after, so much so that when they do sing later its jarring. They shouldve just kept it up all way through (like say the Artist where it kept up its premise throughout). Im alao not a fan of nostalgia movies set presently, so when a song ends and a mobile goes off it doesnt work. Theres also some annoying basic plot holes (eg Emma Stone spends it as a struggling actress but the first audition we see she is fantastic in it so it doesnt make sense why she is overlooked)

That said, it is a good film at its root and its an interesting story. Some really funny bits in it too

#204

La La Land is very enjoyable, bright, vibrant, funny (the one way street and car horn bits in particular), looks amazing, great songs, great acting from Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, and yet…even though we’re only two weeks into January, I feel like I would be very surprised if this winds up being in my top ten films of the year come December. Probably a 7/10 from me, for now anyway. A few more random thoughts:

  • All the rest of today’s showings at the Picturehouse Central were sold out! I hope it carries on doing well, we could do with more original film successes to go alongside Arrival, Fences and Hidden Figures of late.
  • I can see why the Academy are likely to eat this up with a big spoon, it’s a throwback to ‘classic’ Hollywood and pokes fun at the film business, but not too much to upset the voters.
  • There’s been some people online who have criticised the film for having Ryan Gosling as a white saviour who ‘saves’ jazz. I don’t know what film these people were watching but it sure as hell wasn’t La La Land.
  • There is something strange about a flat where Emma Stone is only the fourth best-looking resident.
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#205

The last film I saw was A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and I liked it because it had a skateboarding vampire in it

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#206

Manchester By Sea.

Wow. That was heavy. It is a quietly great film, all about the things left unsaid and how that can build up and explode if not dealt with. Casey Affleck was great as always although I was slightly distracted at first by the recent shitty stories around him. But I feel he was a deserving Gloden Globe winner and potential Oscar winner for the performance at least. As many pointed out, it is also very funny at times, quite often pointing out the mundanity of life even during great tragedy. I liked little touches like how there is always New England sports teams on in the background but no one actually talks about it. It reminded me of ‘Room’ from last year at times, particularly how it’s most dramatic and incredible scene is slap bang right in the middle of the film - and fuck me, what a scene it is - and even occasionally like an American Ken Loach film.

I still think Moonlight is a better and more deserving film for its award, but man this runs it pretty close. I just felt this deep heaviness when the final credits rolled.

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Manchester by the sea
#207

the misogyny point someone brought up however… mmm… there’s potential flashes of it sure, but I dunno, it’s another conflicted male ego film innit

#208

Don’t forget the adorable cat

#209

Agree with all of that, I think it’s a really sparkling fun movie, and you can kinda tell everyone’s is having a great time making it.

I sort of get the white saviour point of view though. I think it’s very much accidental, but he is pretty clear about how he wants to save jazz because it’s dying…how it’s not gonna die “on his watch” and then all of the black musicians are relegated to the background is a bit odd.

Did really enjoy it overall though

#210

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#211

I don’t think they;re relegated to the background. Gosling’s character comes over much that he respects the origins and lifeblood of jazz. I think the reason we don’t see muich of the musicians is that it’s not the main focus point of the film really

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#212

OK we did not go on Friday (snowmageddon plus I got called into work) but went this evening instead. Took a little while to get into it as there was so much going on (plus my eyes were adjusting to the size of the screen) but when I got into it, thought it was great. Funnier than I expected and visually lovely. The “Maybe I’m not good enough” bit was a bit close to home though atm. Might have cried a bit during that.

Gonna try and watch 52 new films this year. (1/52)

#213

Whatever one thinks of La La Land, they’ve done a crazy good job of marketing it, it’s already made well over $100 million with plenty more to come, an incredible result for an original live-action film.

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#214

La La Land - looked and sounded nice but it’s vapid and completely derivative. The dance sequences are good but are more homages than anything; I’d really rather they tried something original and failed. Also kept doing that infuriating editing thing of moving the camera away from the action then bringing it back rather than just changing angles to give the impression it’s all one continuous take. I think I’ve been harsher on this film than I might have been because it’s being position as a Best Picture contender (and probable winner). I enjoyed it but I was expecting much, much more.

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#215

i think the hype (seven Globe noms, seven wins etc etc) is putting the expectation through the roof for La La Land but yeah it’s a definite 8/10 type movie. and yeah that first half hour is pretty amazing.

i think the fact that it’s an entirely original ‘book’ and set of songs is a big deal in itself though, as hit screen musicals of late (Les Miserables, Mama Mia, etc) have been screen-to-stage transfers.

Emma Stone’s acting-like-she-was-acting-in-an-audition was also something special IMO.

#216

I also watxhed this weekend

Shoot the Piano Playrr. Cracker of a film that.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Expected it to be annoying, found it charming and really quite funny

The Big Combo
Gloriously gritty noir, some nice tricks in there

The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Its alright