MirORich
Hall-of-Famer
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- Sep 29, 2007
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Sure I'm offering up some re-treads, but just watched the following in the past few weeks:
Arrival: 8/10 I liked it overall but a few things rang hollow or too convenient like Amy Adams moving around so freely in the military encampment towards the end, how quickly some of the language breakthroughs happened, though I get that this is a 2 hour movie and not a series that can take you step by step by step and that its also sci fi/fantasy. I may have also missed some things about what was really happening and what was memory(seems like the Aliens language was altering that for the main character.
The Witch: 8/10. Super simple. Very slow. No jump scares. Minimal to no special effects. All build up and suspense. Just greatly produced historically realistic dialogue, costuming, and set design. The sound design is also great and all the foreboding "music" was also done with little to no sound effects/digital manipulation. The two main adult leads were both in GoT and the kid actors are great. I grew up on a farm with lots of woods so that may have added to my enjoyment/immersion.
Alias Grace(6 episode Netflix miniseries): 9/10 Historical period piece, but shares thematic undertones and subtext with the other recent Margaret Atwood novel adaptation, A Handmaids tale. Very slow and dialogue heavy, but I loved the main lead actress and thought it was a good character study and examination on memory, damaged interior personalities, manipulation, early psychotherapy techniques and beliefs, etc.
The Center Will Hold(Joan Didion docu on Netflix): 7/10. Pretty non critical look at her life as it was done by her nephew and niece. Still an interesting look at a talented writer wrote about what she saw going on through the filter of a very interior world. Would be interested in more examination and critique of her writing or her public persona and privilege, just to balance things out, but that's for another decade or two in the future perhaps.
John Wick 2: 7.5/10 Great action and fight sequences once again. Not much thought to really put into it. It further examines the assassins guild world set up in the first movie. Has some flaws but nothing worth getting critical about. It's just good adrenaline fun.
Arrival: 8/10 I liked it overall but a few things rang hollow or too convenient like Amy Adams moving around so freely in the military encampment towards the end, how quickly some of the language breakthroughs happened, though I get that this is a 2 hour movie and not a series that can take you step by step by step and that its also sci fi/fantasy. I may have also missed some things about what was really happening and what was memory(seems like the Aliens language was altering that for the main character.
The Witch: 8/10. Super simple. Very slow. No jump scares. Minimal to no special effects. All build up and suspense. Just greatly produced historically realistic dialogue, costuming, and set design. The sound design is also great and all the foreboding "music" was also done with little to no sound effects/digital manipulation. The two main adult leads were both in GoT and the kid actors are great. I grew up on a farm with lots of woods so that may have added to my enjoyment/immersion.
Alias Grace(6 episode Netflix miniseries): 9/10 Historical period piece, but shares thematic undertones and subtext with the other recent Margaret Atwood novel adaptation, A Handmaids tale. Very slow and dialogue heavy, but I loved the main lead actress and thought it was a good character study and examination on memory, damaged interior personalities, manipulation, early psychotherapy techniques and beliefs, etc.
The Center Will Hold(Joan Didion docu on Netflix): 7/10. Pretty non critical look at her life as it was done by her nephew and niece. Still an interesting look at a talented writer wrote about what she saw going on through the filter of a very interior world. Would be interested in more examination and critique of her writing or her public persona and privilege, just to balance things out, but that's for another decade or two in the future perhaps.
John Wick 2: 7.5/10 Great action and fight sequences once again. Not much thought to really put into it. It further examines the assassins guild world set up in the first movie. Has some flaws but nothing worth getting critical about. It's just good adrenaline fun.
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