^^^^

I've seen all of Nicolas Winding Refn's films, even the lesser known ones like "Fear X", and loved them all. I really like his sense of style.

Another recommendation here. Australia has so many great movies in recent years. But one that really shook me to the core was the drama "Snowtown" (2011). The US title was "The Snowtown Murders."

This one is about as dark as it gets. If you want to take a real journey to the heart of evil, this is it. The acting is so good that you nearly want to take a shower afterwards, just to get the feeling of these people off of you.

Based on true events, this is a dramatic account of the criminal career of John Bunting and his gang of sickos in South Australia. Apparently he was the country's most prolific murderer.

Why, you ask, would I want to watch something like this? For the acting, the story, and the grim vision of evil shown on screen. Bunting appears at first as a nice guy, just your average friendly neighborhood bloke. But beneath that exterior is the heart of a reptile, a man who sees himself as some sort of vigilante, cleansing society of its problems.

There is not a lot of on-screen violence. The film never condescends to cheap gore. What I found very effective was the director's use of "voice-over" recordings that the killer made his victims dictate to their loved ones. It's not easy to explain, but the effect is devastating.

This is a movie for serious film-lovers. The faint of heart need not apply.

Just received Special Forces and am looking forward to watching it. A friend of mine (who's a big film buff) saw it and said he loved it....and I'd never heard of it. Thanks for starting this club / thread QC!

Quote: (10-10-2015 01:24 AM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

In other movie news, I finished watching 2011's "Special Forces".

It's a French action film about a special forces team in combat in Afghanistan.

This is a very well-done production. The action scenes are well-staged, the characters are believable and engaging, and the pacing is very fast.

A great action film, but not a deep message film. But that's OK. We all need a balance...

I agree that this is a very entertaining movie for the most part.

The cinematography was beautiful. I don't know where it was shot, but if it bears any resemblance to the tribal areas of Pakistan, and the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan, then it's a shame that this is a no go area for tourists.

It portrayed a small group of fiercely loyal comrades fighting not only for their mission but also for each other, and they were willing to sacrifice their lives for this.

The only let down for me was that there were a lot of parts that seemed very unbelievable. For example, I find it difficult to believe that 5 soldiers standing and firing, and not taking cover, could fight off hordes of AK47 wielding Taliban without taking any casualties. There is no way anyone could cross a mountain range without specialist equipment. And there is no way the female journalist could have accomplished what she did at the end of the movie.

Perhaps I'm being too picky. Although I wouldn't watch it again, it was well worth watching.

Special Forces (2011): I watched the movie few years ago but watched it again and honestly there was no de ja vu feeling as I had forgotten most of the movie so it did not leave a lingering impression.

If Drop was a 8/10, Special forces was a 5/10 at best. Several holes in the plot, One big one that the group is trying to make it back to Afghanistan when they rescued the Journalist in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Why not try to make it to a City in Pakistan where the government and Army is allied forces friendly and using air bases in Pakistan, also the French Naval Air force carrier is off the Coast in Pakistan.

No collaboration from US or Pakistan Army/Paramilitary forces is requested in the 10 days of the group trying to make it back to Afghanistan. Tribal areas are Pakistan friendly with rules of their own but Pakistan Army has a lot of Internal Connections there that work in their favor.

Question does arose in my mind about the sanctity of the mission to save a Journalist ? Reason behind approval ? Was it because she was female ? Is it expected for honorable governments to approve special missions to save civilians ? It was not as if a soldier was left behind and special forces would not leave a man behind.

Once on mission it was interesting to see the doubts in the minds of few members of the team, I would lean towards completing the mission with out hesitation if one signed up for it.

One more, Why did the Sniper was left behind to fend off over 50 Taliban, he literally gave his life away.

There was good cinematography there with different kinds of helicopters waving in and out of valleys. Some good fighting scenes.

Helicopters reminded me of Black Hawk Down, one of the best war movies.




@ QC there were 3 movies for October The Drop, Special Forces and Colosio el assasinato. I can't find Colosio at Netflix USA, Amazon prime or Local Library.

QC You have mentioned some other movies that I already watched like Valhalla Rising, Under the sand and The Snow town Murders but will not talk about them unless its part of the discussion or movies selected for November.

SPECIAL FORCES

Im going to have to agree with Lothario on this one. I was a bit disappointed with it. It wasn't horrendous but I found lacking in a lot ways.

The Good.
There was a lot to like in terms of the location scenery and some of the action sequences were well done. For example the opening sequence when the team was riding in on approach to their initial mission was pretty visually compelling. Overall the visuals were great except for one thing (which I'll get to in a minute) By the way, Diane Kruger


WB

The Bad

Lothario already touched on some of the most egregious inconsistencies and unevenness, largely a sign of poor editing, in the plot so I'll leave that alone.

But the story arc was very flat as well. While there were some pretty heavy themes presented: courage, duty, honor, sacrifice,loyalty, etc...there wasn't a single one that was actually really explored in any meaningful way. None of the characters really CHANGED during the movie and it is change that is a fundamental element needed in compelling story telling. It is what we as the audience respond to, albeit unconsciously, and that was really missing.

Think about THE DROP. One of the things that I thought was genius about it was transformational "journey" of Bob Saginowski that the writer/director took us on. It wasn't so much as Bob changing because of the events unfolding, but rather our perception of Bob as his true depth and capacities were revealed. Change is necessary to stimulate audience response. SPECIAL FORCES quickly became just a monotone chase movie with no real characters to care about.

I realize that this is an action flick and not a character study like THE DROP, and not a fair comparison but it still can be accomplished. Take TEARS OF THE SUN with Bruce Willis. It was an almost identical premise where an elite SEAL like team was sent in to rescue a woman (this time a doctor) from war torn African country. (In fact the stories are so similar that I wonder if they weren't inspired by the same source...I'll look into that). TEARS was a much better execution of this story, IMO,albeit in a pretty Hollywood formulaic way. In TEARS several of the characters undergo changes that we as an audience are privy to. Primarily the hard nosed, by the book, stoic leader Bruce evolves to feel compassion, and empathy for the war victims around him. Not a great movie either but definitely a better executed version and one that I would watch again.

The Ugly
The overuse of the unsteady or "shaky" cam during a lot of the action sequences was distracting to the point of being annoying. Intended to give the action a sense of gritty realism the shaky cam became all the rage after SAVING PRIVATE RYAN won an Oscar for cinematography. But like anything else too much of a good thing or in the wrong hands it's misused or overused. Thankfully the shaky cam fad seems to be passing now.

Overall I did find found the movie enjoyable though and worth watching. I'm glad to see the French are capable of making essentially mindless, mass audience, popcorny action flicks too

I agree with Lothario's and Papaya's opinions about these movies. "Special Forces" was watchable, but nothing special.

I also saw a couple mediocre movies this weekend so far. Mediocre to bad. I'll mention them, but would not recommend them unless someone really likes the subject matter. They are:

"Disengagement" (2007): Israeli movie about the interplay of politics and personal matters in the country's ethnic issues. I tried to warm up to this story, but could not. The overt art-house pretensions of the director made it an irritating experience to sit through.

The other movie is "Paris Countdown" (2013). Pointless action film about night club owners who do a drug deal to revive their business.

This is part of the joy of movie going, I guess. For every good movie you see, you will see five bad ones. I'm glad I saw these, even though they were lame. The weird thing is that they got good reviews on Netflix.

^ Damn, I'd had Stoic Paradoxes, Special Forces and Under the Sand lined up for this afternoon, now I finally have some downtime after a crazy week.

I'd prioritised them in that order. I'll slide SF to the bottom of the stack - I have a passionate loathing of shaky cam.

Quote: (10-17-2015 05:10 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

I agree with Lothario's and Papaya's opinions about these movies. "Special Forces" was watchable, but nothing special.

I also saw a couple mediocre movies this weekend so far. Mediocre to bad. I'll mention them, but would not recommend them unless someone really likes the subject matter. They are:

"Disengagement" (2007): Israeli movie about the interplay of politics and personal matters in the country's ethnic issues. I tried to warm up to this story, but could not. The overt art-house pretensions of the director made it an irritating experience to sit through.

The other movie is "Paris Countdown" (2013). Pointless action film about night club owners who do a drug deal to revive their business.

This is part of the joy of movie going, I guess. For every good movie you see, you will see five bad ones. I'm glad I saw these, even though they were lame. The weird thing is that they got good reviews on Netflix.

It's like film festivals...you never know what you're going to get and you'll see some misses before you hit on the gems....keep em coming!

Quote: (10-01-2015 02:23 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

Quote: (10-01-2015 01:59 PM)EL CHAPO Wrote:  

So, we can all propose movies? Or just you Quintus?

Do we vote on which ones we're going to see or we just see the ones that peak our interest from other member's suggestions.

Well, my suggestion was that a new person take the helm every month. That person would chose the movies. Otherwise, it just becomes squabbling and chaos.

I know the movie choices are not going to satisfy everyone, but that's the whole idea here. You need to expose yourself to things you haven't seen before.

Guys need to get outside their comfort zone. You will broaden your perspective. I only feel bad for people who only like one kind of movie.

I offered myself as the helmsman for the first month (October). I picked 3 movies.

Next month, someone else can be the boss. Sound good?

I'd like to volunteer to help with this. How about picking the works of universally admired directors? January could be Kubrick month, February Scorsese, that sort of thing?

Here's another one to add to the mix, for all you adventurous types. So, you think you like film? Well then give this one a try:

Enter the Void (2009)

Directed by Gaspar Noe (who has made a few other awesome films like "I Stand Alone" and "Irreversible"), this is just about as "far out" as it gets. But in a good way. This is a real head trip.

The plot (if you want to call it that) is simple: a foreign man in Tokyo is shot by police in a raid, and the man's spirit goes on a surreal nocturnal journey all over Tokyo.

This is an intense, surreal, and strangely spiritual view of how a disembodied soul might look at the world.

But I want to be clear about this: this is not for the conventional movie-goer. This is for those daring, adventurous types who are willing to try something different. You will be rewarded.

That I can say.

Anyone who has lived in Tokyo would get a kick out of this. I hope Laner and Tokyo Joe are reading this...!

I think I stumbled on another good one here...

It's called "Whitewash" (2013), starring Thomas Hayden Church. The story has Jack London written all over it. A hard-drinking snowplow operator accidentally kills a man during a snowstorm and is tormented by guilt.

It's also a wilderness survival story, of sorts.

I'm not done with it yet. About halfway through.

God bless Netflix.

Quote: (10-18-2015 05:10 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

Here's another one to add to the mix, for all you adventurous types. So, you think you like film? Well then give this one a try:

Enter the Void (2009)

Directed by Gaspar Noe (who has made a few other awesome films like "I Stand Alone" and "Irreversible"), this is just about as "far out" as it gets. But in a good way. This is a real head trip.

The plot (if you want to call it that) is simple: a foreign man in Tokyo is shot by police in a raid, and the man's spirit goes on a surreal nocturnal journey all over Tokyo.

This is an intense, surreal, and strangely spiritual view of how a disembodied soul might look at the world.

But I want to be clear about this: this is not for the conventional movie-goer. This is for those daring, adventurous types who are willing to try something different. You will be rewarded.

That I can say.

Anyone who has lived in Tokyo would get a kick out of this. I hope Laner and Tokyo Joe are reading this...!

Hey QC. Enter The Void is okay, nothing spectacular and it does drag on. But I really enjoyed the visuals and seeing Tokyo's lights.

Here is a good review of "Whitewash" (2013). Highly recommended, and a great movie for discussion. How does guilt work on the mind? What is real, and what is in the mind of the perpetrator? Great, great movie:

http://www.lariat.org/AtTheMovies/new/whitewash.html

Just got COLOSIO...(used DVD in brand new condition for $3.95,,,God bless Amazon!) and plan to watch it this week

Quote: (10-11-2015 08:02 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

^^^^

I've seen all of Nicolas Winding Refn's films, even the lesser known ones like "Fear X", and loved them all. I really like his sense of style.

Another recommendation here. Australia has so many great movies in recent years. But one that really shook me to the core was the drama "Snowtown" (2011). The US title was "The Snowtown Murders."

This one is about as dark as it gets. If you want to take a real journey to the heart of evil, this is it. The acting is so good that you nearly want to take a shower afterwards, just to get the feeling of these people off of you.

Based on true events, this is a dramatic account of the criminal career of John Bunting and his gang of sickos in South Australia. Apparently he was the country's most prolific murderer.

Snowtown was brilliant filmmaking IMO. There are a million things wrong with the current horror genre [Namely the cheap use of jump scares with 'LOUD' noises].

What Snowtown does so well is build a sense of realism and foreboding. It's much like a slow motion train wreck.

In the same vein Refn is one of my favourite directors in the game at the moment. For years I thought society was too dulled down due to social media [Having such short attention spans] to ever appreciate a western movie BUT…

…Drive was just that. A western set in L.A Context. He gave a complete fuck you to the mainstream with Only God Forgives but that film has layers of brilliance littered throughout and will probably be used as a study piece in 15-20 years time.

Quote: (10-19-2015 07:19 PM)Rush87 Wrote:  

Quote: (10-11-2015 08:02 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

^^^^

I've seen all of Nicolas Winding Refn's films, even the lesser known ones like "Fear X", and loved them all. I really like his sense of style.

Another recommendation here. Australia has so many great movies in recent years. But one that really shook me to the core was the drama "Snowtown" (2011). The US title was "The Snowtown Murders."

This one is about as dark as it gets. If you want to take a real journey to the heart of evil, this is it. The acting is so good that you nearly want to take a shower afterwards, just to get the feeling of these people off of you.

Based on true events, this is a dramatic account of the criminal career of John Bunting and his gang of sickos in South Australia. Apparently he was the country's most prolific murderer.

Snowtown was brilliant filmmaking IMO. There are a million things wrong with the current horror genre [Namely the cheap use of jump scares with 'LOUD' noises].

What Snowtown does so well is build a sense of realism and foreboding. It's much like a slow motion train wreck.

In the same vein Refn is one of my favourite directors in the game at the moment. For years I thought society was too dulled down due to social media [Having such short attention spans] to ever appreciate a western movie BUT…

…Drive was just that. A western set in L.A Context. He gave a complete fuck you to the mainstream with Only God Forgives but that film has layers of brilliance littered throughout and will probably be used as a study piece in 15-20 years time.

DRIVE has one of the best opening sequences, stylistically, ever filmed, IMO.

Haven't seen ONLY GOD FORGIVES but thanks for reminding me to.

Saw a couple more recently. One good, one bad.

"Cru" (2013). Lame story about a bunch of friends getting together for a reunion, but with subplots about a car accident that they all suffered 20 years earlier. Not much better than a bad TV melodrama.

"Taken 3" (2014). Liam Neeson returns for the 3rd installment in his "Taken" franchise. This is a very well done, tightly wound thriller with not a single wasted scene. A very good action movie that delivers in every way. Neeson is wrongly accused of the murder of his ex-wife, and has to go on the run to find out who did it. Although it sounds derivative, this story maintains its pace throughout the entire film, and provides a pulse-pounding tale.

QC: I mentioned both of these today in other threads, but give the 1996 NZ Film 'Once Were Warriors' a look.

Leftist critics would pat it on the back for being the study of a brutal Patriarch, but there's a deeper interpretation of what happens when a patriarchal warrior culture is subsumed by a matriarchal progressive one: the welfare system drags people down, rather than elevating them.

Jake has no place in his traditional culture or western culture, so is consumed by alcoholism, self-loathing and violence. His family loathes him and blames him for not being a good man, but then you have ask: who stopped him filling his traditional role? and that's where it gets interesting.

New Zealand is one of the most progressive cultures on the planet, with the Social Democrats banning Nuclear Powered US Ships in the 80's. The social reforms of the Fourth Labour Party of New Zealand in the 80's are exactly what you'd expect, which led to the Nationals (a centre right party) being elected in 1990. A coup was staged by Jenny Shipley in 1997, who became the new Prime Minister.

You can guess by the haircut the subversion that followed:



This 'centre right' politician immediately decided the New Zealand flag needed to be changed, and then marched in the NZ version of the Gay and Lesbian Pride parade, being the first National Party member to do so.

By 1999, she'd completely-destroyed party unity and the coalition scattered, losing to the Fifth Labour Party of New Zeland, led by Helen Clark, who was the first labour bencher to condemn the US nuclear policy in the 80's, pushing for 'disarmament'.

Once again, the hair:



As expected, Socialist polices:

Quote:Quote:

The controversial Employment Contracts Act was repealed, replaced by an Employment Relations Act more friendly to unions and collective bargaining; a state-owned bank, Kiwibank, was created at the behest of the Alliance; a majority stake in the national airline, Air New Zealand was purchased; and the public health sector was reorganised with the re-establishment of partly elected District Health Boards. More controversial was "Closing the Gaps", an affirmative action strategy pitched at Māori, which was widely criticised as showing favouritism to Māori at the expense of other equally disadvantaged groups.

There was an hilarious moment in 1998 that echoes Bernie Sanders and Black Lives Matter where Clark was silenced by Maori Women and not allowed to speak in protest that tribal women were not allowed to talk. Clark cried on National television. Feminism, of course, won out, and in 2014 they had multiple female politicians using the event to further their agenda.

In such a climate, what use is there for a Tribal Warrior Patriarch in such a Feminised, Progressive culture?

The other film would be George Romero's 1981 film 'Knightriders''. I pointed it out for its feminist and gay subversive qualities, but the overriding story of trying to hold onto integrity in a world that has moved on from it is interesting. In a way, it's the death of the 60's dream, and prophetic of the coming 'greed is good' philosophy of the former boomers.

UNDER THE SAND is a very in depth study of grief, and coping with sudden unexpected loss

It opens with Marie (Charlotte Rampling) and her husband, Jean, heading to their country house for vacation. They have been married for 25 years and are very comfortable with each other.

The day after they arrive, they go to a deserted beach. While Marie reads, Jean goes for a swim. After quite a bit of time passes, Marie gets worried about Jean. She asks two totally nude German bathers whether or not they saw her husband. They are clueless, so she drives to the town beach and reports her husband missing to the lifeguards. Eventually, she goes to the police, who ask her if her husband was suicidal.

The story flashes forward to Marie at a dinner party in Paris thrown for her by her best friend, Amanda. To everyone’s surprise, Marie talks about her husband as if he were still alive. Amanda advises therapy and even matches her together with a publisher, Vincent.

Vincent drives Marie home and tries to kiss her. When she gets into her apartment, Jean is there - or, is this just her imagination? Slowly, we the audience realize that this is her imagination. Marie starts an affair with Vincent, but breaks it off abruptly after a night of fornication when the police call saying that they found a body in a fisherman’s net.

Marie goes to Jean’s mother to discuss Jean’s state of mind. Jean’s mother says that Jean never loved her because she couldn’t have his child. Marie is devastated, but seemingly regains her sanity for a moment. However, in the end, she retreats into her fantasy world of denial - in effect burying her head under the sand.

The cinematography is excellent with some very stylistic use of water, reflections and an overall gloomy color palette that suits the film ....but not extraordinary.

Marie is so grief stricken that to cope she sometimes disappears into her fantasies. Charlotte Rampling is a terrific actress and gives a commanding and nuanced performance. She does a great job of really displaying the internal conflict between denial and acceptance, shock and grief...sometimes with an almost imperceptible change of expression Francois Ozon directs a very atmospheric and sometimes suspenseful movie. But pacing is very slow, giving the movie a conscious art house feel.

Furthermore, there are several brilliant scenes. For example when she's sitting an a fast food restaurant and she looks around and realizes that even though her world is crumbling, no one else knows, the world just keeps on.

In another she seems to be ready to come to grips with the reality and move on by moving into a new apartment she is almost physically knocked back into denial when looking out a window that overlooks a cemetery

This is a very humanistic psychological drama. From a film making perspective it's very well done but be warned...it is slow. There is a lot of subtlety and nuance but little in the way of activity, It's an excellent example of very well executed film making better suited to film school than entertainment of the masses. But definitely worth watching.

The same director, Francois Ozon, did SWIMMING POOL (2003) also starring Rampling. Similar psycological drama but with the intensity, sexual tension and suspense ratcheted up. I recommend seeing if you haven't




Oh yeah...Charolette Rampling back in the day

WB

Trying to pick a movie that's recent, as in 2015 release. Not an easy task.

I saw Fury Road last night. Didn't hate it. It was certainly inventive and entertaining. Does it deserve to be at the top spot for '15? Well I guess that's just a commentary on the sad state of moviemaking, but I digress.

In the top 20 it seems like half the movies are either animated or kids movies. A handful are focused on black history (after 12 years a slave I was done with that genre. Awful movie) And a handful more feature women in unlikely roles like Sicario, where some chick presumably takes on the Mexican cartel. Ha!

Guess I'll settle for The Martian tonight and maybe '71 after that. Not getting my hopes up for Martian...I rewatched 2001 Space Oddyssey the other night and that movie will likely stay at the top of my list for the rest of my life. The elegance and craftsmanship in that movie is unbelievable. No other space movie will come close.

^^
Great review, man.

I agree with pretty much everything you said. But the funny thing is, for me, I didn't find the movie to be slow. I suppose it all comes down to personal taste.
I like stories about how people cope with adversity. In my opinion, the director never went overboard with anything, and all the scenes had a reserved and tasteful quality that really matched the seriousness of the subject matter.

But I definitely agree with you that this is not your standard Saturday night, popcorn munching, crowd pleaser.

@AB:

Yes, I saw "Once Were Warriors" a long time ago in the 1990s and loved it. Great movie..very, very powerful stuff.

I also saw the sequel to it, which was not as good, but still worth seeing. I can't remember the title and am too tired to Google it right now.

SPOILER ALERT.

My God, The Martian is so unbelievably bad I'm left to wonder if the book is half as shitty as the movie.

It's everything I hated about Gravity and then some.

We're lead to believe that astronauts are a bunch of wisecracking Hollywood actors that you'd see drinking vodka cocktails in West Hollywood on a weeknight. It's nonstop sarcasm.

Maybe it's because I rarely watch new movies, maybe it's because I don't live in L.A. anymore, maybe it's because the stench of Hollywood makes me cringe, but the level of sarcasm in this movie, a movie about space travel of all things, is appalling. You know the feeling while watching cheesy Bollywood flicks? You think to yourself, "How can anyone take this shit seriously?" that's the level of cheesiness this movie had for me. At least Bollywood cheese can have an endearing quality to it.

And like Gravity, the physics and special effects are terrible. There are scenes of weightlessness that are just shamefully bad. How did Kubrick do it so well in 1968 and here we are, almost 50 years later and with all our technology can't get actors to move accurately in simulated zero-gravity?

Don't even get me started on the Hollywood cliches. (SPOILER) there's a pivotal moment that requires some out-of-the-box thinking and who comes up with the scheme that's just crazy enough to work? Why it's the young, gaunt, nerdy, awkward black guy that no-one in NASA knows his name but he just sort of came out of the shadows to save the day. In one of the most unintentionally funny moments of the movie, this young genius (I can just see his name being Mohammed) is sitting in a room full of supercomputers with his laptop hooked up (do Cray supercomputers have a USB port?) until his trajectory scheme is approved by his computer with the notice that says, "Calculations Correct". Calculations Correct! Haha! Do they want to tell me which software NASA uses where, after processing some complex equation or formula, a window pops up saying "Calculations Correct"?? God I love the portrayal of "smart nerdy stuff" in Hollywood.

What's great is his brilliant plan is nothing more than using Earth's and Mars' gravitational field to slingshot into a faster trajectory. Yawn. Pretty sure we've heard that one before. You mean to tell me it took a "genius" and a room full of supercomputers to think of that? The rest of the entire NASA team wouldn't think to use a gravity assist?

In another stolen plot sequence, a rocket with extra supplies fails upon liftoff and explodes, dooming Matt Damon's character. But a couple minutes later we pan to a scene in Japan's space agency, lucky for Matt they have a backup rocket for NASA to use! Where have we seen that before? Maybe Contact?

I got a few good laughs out of this movie, and not at the points that were supposed to be funny. Yes, there's quite a bit of humor interjected into this movie and it mostly falls flat. Instead I found myself laughing at the cliches, tropes, and absurdity of this movie. How this is so highly rated is again, a really really bad commentary on the state of modern movies.

Not going to read previous posts, I firmly believe in fuck other people's thoughts..

Valhalla Rising was cool, very visual art house flick, loved it...

I've seen the others..

The Drop - One of the best I've seen in the last year, Tom Hardy has absolutely blown me away the past year, he's become one of my favorite actors by far...he was brilliant in The Drop, definitely one of my favorite's over the last year, complete sleeper...such a great movie.

Quote: (10-22-2015 12:30 AM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

^^
Great review, man.

I agree with pretty much everything you said. But the funny thing is, for me, I didn't find the movie to be slow. I suppose it all comes down to personal taste.
I like stories about how people cope with adversity. In my opinion, the director never went overboard with anything, and all the scenes had a reserved and tasteful quality that really matched the seriousness of the subject matter.

But I definitely agree with you that this is not your standard Saturday night, popcorn munching, crowd pleaser.

I think it's sort of like baseball vs football: if you know the game very well there's a miniature chess match going on within every pitch and it's not slow. This film was very "baseball" with brilliant subtle story telling and a lot going on with every scene. It just didn't "run" much (if at all). But I did enjoy it a lot.