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Incendies (2010, dir. Denis Villeneuve)
OMG, this movie is INTENSE! I love it though, a friend made me watch it 3 years ago or so and since then I've made my family watch it, my gf and recomend it whole heartedly. I'm sure I mentioned it here...

Edit: Nope, doesn't look like I ever did, shame. Anyway, great movie.
 
OMG, this movie is INTENSE! I love it though, a friend made me watch it 3 years ago or so and since then I've made my family watch it, my gf and recomend it whole heartedly. I'm sure I mentioned it here...

Edit: Nope, doesn't look like I ever did, shame. Anyway, great movie.

I agree that it's a very intense movie and I liked it ... but I'd give it, like, 75 %, myself. Villeneuve is a very effective and talented storyteller and some of the gut punches were really strong (the bus), but

1.) this is alread the second movie by him where I (and actually my wife as well) knew the final twist from about halfway through the movie - so the dramatic disclosure and everything fell a bit flat, because it put a lot of effort into that particular bit, emotion-wise, sombreness-wise etc.,

2.) the twist itself and the whole story is just a bit too convoluted and absurd; the number of coincidences beggars belief and feels a bit out of place in such a heavy, dreary, serious movie, although the concept is cool, intriguing and still done very professionally,

3.) it's not my first film from the Middle East and even not my first depressing, gut-wrenching film from (this time only vaguely) Lebanon - to me, Waltz with Bashir was maybe a tad more effective, because although it didn't take itself that seriously for quite some time (being much more post-modern and all), in the and it nonetheless surpassed this movie in pure emotional investment and horror.

But overall a very recommendable experience. I'm glad I picked it up.
 
I agree that it's a very intense movie and I liked it ... but I'd give it, like, 75 %, myself. Villeneuve is a very effective and talented storyteller and some of the gut punches were really strong (the bus), but

1.) this is alread the second movie by him where I (and actually my wife as well) knew the final twist from about halfway through the movie - so the dramatic disclosure and everything fell a bit flat, because it put a lot of effort into that particular bit, emotion-wise, sombreness-wise etc.,

2.) the twist itself and the whole story is just a bit too convoluted and absurd; the number of coincidences beggars belief and feels a bit out of place in such a heavy, dreary, serious movie, although the concept is cool, intriguing and still done very professionally,

3.) it's not my first film from the Middle East and even not my first depressing, gut-wrenching film from (this time only vaguely) Lebanon - to me, Waltz with Bashir was maybe a tad more effective, because although it didn't take itself that seriously for quite some time (being much more post-modern and all), in the and it nonetheless surpassed this movie in pure emotional investment and horror.

But overall a very recommendable experience. I'm glad I picked it up.

True, but the fact she bumps into her son/rapist of all places at the sports club in Canada where she thought she had left all that behind is what leads to her break down which kickstarts the whole thing. So yeah, I too found the "coincidences" a little far-fetched, but they all served a purpose. Until she leaves for Canada she always wandered the same 20-30km radius in the mid east, so the events there are not so coincidental. I still mostly agree with your assessment and find your 75% grade fair... I'd be a tad more generous with an 80.
 
Recently watched The Night Clerk and Akelarre or Coven of Sisters.

The Night Clerk follows a front desk employee who works the night shift at a hotel and has Asperger's. He witnesses a murder and the movie is basically how he deals with the investigation, love and heartbreak. It's a good movie up until the end. I don't know what it is about Netflix movies in general, but they don't know how to stick the landing.
The reason he knows about the murder is because he puts cameras in the rooms and watches people. He says that it's to learn how to be more "normal" socially. He watches and parrots certain phrases. This, of course, is illegal and he knows it is illegal, because he hides it from his coworker when he catches him watching on his tablet, he hides it from the detectives when doing the investigations and only turns in the evidence when he becomes the sole suspect. The actual perpetrator seems to be a man with a lot of influence, because he's very budy-budy with the detective. Their interactions reveal a personal relationship or at least one that has been going on for a while. So... who is he? Waht does he do? Why does he have such easy access to law enforment? We're never told. The movie ends with our protagonist walking around a mall telling people, "Hey, how you doing?" You know, practicing those phrases he learned by illegally spying on people, which, of course, the movie never bothers to address. Like... yay! They caught the real murderer! But.... What about his illegal tapping of rooms at the hotel? Who cares!

Akelarre suffers a similar problem. This movie was nominated for some Goyas, Spain's major movie awards and it is in Castilian and Basque. It takes place in Basque country in 1609 and a group of peasant women from a fishing village are accused of witchcraft. Basically the Spanish version of The Crucible. They aren't witches, but they pretend to be witches just to fuck with the sexist, ignorant, drunk with power men. When the women speak in Basque the inquisitor demands that they speak "Christian," not "Castilian..." Christian. It does a good job of how, in Spain itself, There was this classism that sprung from the Reconquista of anything that isn't Catholic or Castilian is somehow less than. They even call Basque a "demonic tongue used to speak with beasts."

I really enjoyed it until the very end when, like The Night Clerk or Moxie or many movies now-a-days, it just ends abruptly leaving many unanswered questions. That doesn't make a movie "Clever" or "Cool" or "Edgy." Yes... there are movies that end that way on purpose, that's their whole point or they do it well like say... Cube. But with Cube we get all the pertinent information. Who are the people here, what were their lives before waking up in the Cube, they become a team then descend into madness and chaos. Who built the Cube, why and what is outside of it is not the point. But these movies fail to addreess basic points they set up and give it no resolution. Ugh.
 
Been watching Disenchantment (Netflix) .. animated show by Matt Groening .. similar in tone to Futurama, enjoying it quite a bit
 
Been watching Disenchantment (Netflix) .. animated show by Matt Groening .. similar in tone to Futurama, enjoying it quite a bit
I liked it as a decent time killer, but it is FAR bellow both early Simpsons and Futurama. It does pick up steam as it goes along though.
 
I liked it as a decent time killer, but it is FAR bellow both early Simpsons and Futurama. It does pick up steam as it goes along though.
Yeah, I preferred both of those, but it is a good show and has a more similar vibe to Futurama than Simpsons IMO
 
Watched Godzilla vs. Kong last night and it was everything I wanted from these ridiculous movies. I was very excited for th Godzilla movies, but they were rather disappointing. They focussed to much on the humans or the battles were meh. Kong Skull Island was great. This one struck a good balance between the human story and the monsters. The fights were great, in the day, night, underground..... awesome. There were a couple of places where the cities looked the the 1960s obvious mock-ups, but these movies, even now-a-days are supposed to be "bad." I mean.... the humans are just there to say shit like, "Oh no! Godzilla!" Then a shit ton of property damage ensues and that's it. It was a fun time.
 
Anybody else watching For All Mankind? It's an Apple+ show, but, as that service doesn't exist here, I pirate it. It's absolutely amazing and I just finished watching the S2 finale which completely crushed. Hell, I was so hyped for it, I watched it before the Falcon and the Winter Soldier finale and I love MCU.

The series dramatizes an alternate history depicting "what would have happened if the global space race had never ended" after the Soviet Union succeeds in the first crewed Moon landing ahead of the United States.

First two episodes serve more as an intro to the universe and aren't anything special but then the show takes a turn in introducing different characters and points of view and it just gets better and better. While the main focus is alternative history, characters are extremely well developed and by the end you just start caring for them instead of the actual space race. It also has a kind of positivity that's been missing in TV shows for a while.
 
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