Shame (2011)

Shame shows the life of a man with an addiction to sex, and how it interacts with his social relationships. The dialogue is scarce, everything is said through the situations; overall, the film lets its audience find the answers by themselves.

The cinematography is gorgeous; Steve McQueen's slow, long shots are carefully crafted to express the character's state of mind. Fassbender's performance is outstanding; the actor goes to great lengths to portray his character fully. It's not an easy movie to watch.

Amazing. I'm a big fan of this kind of cinematography capable of expressing so many things with so little; long takes are a personal favorite when directors use them with meaning, and McQueen sure does. It's an incredibly humane film.

I will definitely check out Hunger and 12 Years a Slave.

Last edited by Saniss (2014-05-03 21:27:19)

Some people don't like Wes Anderson's arch style of writing and directing, but I do... at least enough to catch up with his films eventually. Even his love story is bloodless and twee, but that's where it derives its charm, in my opinion. If it were more serious, it would be ridiculous; if it were more comedic, it would be without heart. I love it.

I think it has taken Anderson time to perfect his idiom. I saw his films out of order and like the later ones more by steadily increasing measures, altho I have yet to catch up with Darjeeling Limited or his new one, Grand Budapest Hotel.

Last edited by Zarban (2014-05-03 04:50:06)

Fantastic Mr Fox was the movie that finally turned me around on Wes Anderson and made me fall in love with his style. It's one of the best animated movies in years

6.5/10

7/10

6.5/10

6/10

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7.5/10

Can we just make a rule that you have to at least give a sentence explaining your thoughts? It's kind of ridiculous to just drop posters and scores with no context.

Thirded, since I am interested in the thoughts behind the rating pretty much always. Doesn't need to be long at all, just a summary of what you thought of it (though I always find more detailed thoughts entertaining and interesting).

I recall someone (probably you!) made the same request a while ago. The need here is especially great, since practically everything is rated the same.

Yeah, I was gonna ask about that too. Your Highness has its moments (namely, "Magic, mother****er!"), but other than that, fell flat even with the people who dragged me to it, who actually enjoy the stoner comedy genre.

Last edited by Boter (2014-05-05 00:28:12)

Tracks

In which Mia Wasikowska walks across Western Australia alone and becomes my biggest movie crush ever.

Last edited by paulou (2014-05-05 10:33:48)

Yeah, the one word I'd also chose to describe it is "beautiful". Cool that someone found similar thoughts about it.

Just got back from The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Personally, I enjoyed it. I was impressed at where the story went, and what levels they were willing to go. Garfield is fantastic as Parker, combining both the conflicted nature of the character with the wit and sarcasm that made me love the character in the cartoon when i was growing up.

It is a little bit tent-poleish in it's over the top battle sequences and some things are a little rushed. However, as I have been struggling with recent films, the pacing finally feels more manageable. There is a lot of different threads going, which I normally don't like in films, and there is some predictability, given the way things are set up. But, the personal conflict and the building of the Spider-Man mythos felt more natural than the way Rami built the world. There are some interesting details involving Peter puzzling through problems and trying to balance his life. At first, it almost felt like a rehash of Spidey 2, but the personal character development and the emotional and physical fatigue was more palpable.

My one complaint is too many stories. This is far more common problem in movies these days, and despite a decent effort on the part of the balancing all the characters, but it dragged the story down a bit, and left some things either unresolved or too quickly resolved.

However, despite some rushed stories and plot points, I really liked (or felt for) the characters. Even the villains have a point in terms of what they are doing and wanting to accomplish.  This continues my new, not favorite reaction in movies, caring for the villain and feeling bad for them.

Special comment goes to Dane DeHaan, who plays Harry Osborn as this brilliant and psychotic person. He had good chemistry with Garfield, and really enjoyed his performance.

Overall, a decent action flick, with some fun character moments. I think it felt more like Spider-Man to me, like a kid trying to be a hero and yet struggling with all of these problems. I really felt for Peter and was more attached to him as a character.

9/10

Last edited by fireproof78 (2014-05-06 06:41:56)

On Owens recomendation I've just watched 'The Phantom Edit'. It was like episode 1, only slightly less so.