The Syndicate

Three or so weeks ago I finally saw the entirety of Once Upon a Time in the West (before that I had only seen the last twenty minutes as a kid and didn't remember what happened) and now that some time has passed and I can safely say with confidence and conviction that it is my new favorite film.

I'm not sure where else to put this but I was at a party the other night and I watched at least two-thirds of Into the Wild with the sound off and recent hip hop (a lot of Jay-Z) playing. I cannot exaggerate how well-synchronized it was. 100,000/10.

Ricochet wrote: Winter Light - second viewing, still couldn't feel the grace of our lord Bergman descending upon me and I still missed a ton of subtext, like an idiot. This time, I followed more of the second half - the first time I watched, past a certain important scene, it felt strangely filler-esque - but again, I had done a shit job of watching this back then and this time was a mere mild improvement.

This is my second favorite film from Bergman!

The Conversation - 8/10

Not as good as Blow-Up which it clearly took inspiration from, but as far as Coppola films go it's the best I've seen yet. The final act is flawless and the buildup to it, while not consistently compelling (unlike Blow-Up) is very innovative with how it uses sound editing to unravel the mystery.

I'm not sure if I should post this here or make a new thread for it, but this is the first in a series of my friends talking about movies we've recently seen. It's completely improvised and there's some funny off-topic banter about what we should do next for the night so let me know if you think that adds to the video or detracts from it, and what you think in general about the video.

This video does contain spoilers for the second film we talk about (The Cremator) so if you haven't seen that and don't want it spoiled for you then don't watch the second part. This is our first episode and we didn't know if we wanted to show our faces or not so the sound quality should be improved with future episodes.

John Wick was a disappointment. It can never decide how seriously it wants to take itself.

The Revenant is jaw-droppingly good.

A Person wrote:
a2thezebra wrote:First I have to say regarding Solaris, Tarkovsky himself expressed disappointment with that film not because it wasn't faithful to the novel, but because it was too confined within the science fiction genre. My issue with it is not that it wasn't faithful (I think adaptations are more likely to fail when they are too faithful than when they betray the material they're adapting) or that it was confined to a single genre, but that it didn't seize any of the opportunities within the narrative. Once the audience leaves Earth, the film immediately loses the immersive power of the first act and never finds it again. That is Solaris' fatal flaw.

For Andrei Rublev, part of what hindered my enjoyment might have been that I saw it on TCM with a very weak and murky print, but ultimately my issue with it was the pacing. Unlike Solaris, I thought there were many great moments and sequences in Andrei Rublev spread out over the course of the runtime (the ending being one of them although it doesn't have the profound effect on me that it does many others) but I also felt that the narrative unravels in such a way where I never felt that I was given a reason to care about what was happening. In other words, the fatal flaw for me was that the parts were greater than the sum, rather than the other way around as I think it should be.
What about Stalker? Also, might I suggest Nostalghia?

It's funny that I hadn't seen this post until just now, since I actually did watch Nostalghia just before New Year's. It is now my second favorite of the Tarkovsky's I've seen and the only other one besides The Sacrifice that I don't have any major issues with.

For me, Stalker suffers from the characters being degraded to mouthpieces for Tarkovsky himself all too often. They just don't feel like fleshed out characters to me, at any point in the film. Which is a shame, since visually and viscerally I think it is Tarkovsky's most impressive work.

First I have to say regarding Solaris, Tarkovsky himself expressed disappointment with that film not because it wasn't faithful to the novel, but because it was too confined within the science fiction genre. My issue with it is not that it wasn't faithful (I think adaptations are more likely to fail when they are too faithful than when they betray the material they're adapting) or that it was confined to a single genre, but that it didn't seize any of the opportunities within the narrative. Once the audience leaves Earth, the film immediately loses the immersive power of the first act and never finds it again. That is Solaris' fatal flaw.

For Andrei Rublev, part of what hindered my enjoyment might have been that I saw it on TCM with a very weak and murky print, but ultimately my issue with it was the pacing. Unlike Solaris, I thought there were many great moments and sequences in Andrei Rublev spread out over the course of the runtime (the ending being one of them although it doesn't have the profound effect on me that it does many others) but I also felt that the narrative unravels in such a way where I never felt that I was given a reason to care about what was happening. In other words, the fatal flaw for me was that the parts were greater than the sum, rather than the other way around as I think it should be.

Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice (Offret)! This is my fourth Tarkovsky after seeing Solaris, Stalker, and Andrei Rublev roughly a year ago and not being able to look past what I felt were fatal flaws in each of them. This is the first Tarkovsky film I've seen where I was completely immersed by the film from beginning to end, and the characters actually feel like real characters rather than mouthpieces for Tarkovsky's own monologues. The cinematography is masterful because of course it is (Sven Nykvist + Tarkovsky, you can't go wrong) and the acting is fantastic as well, Allan Edwall especially never fails to blow my damn mind. I'll have to rewatch it before I'm certain that I love it, but after one viewing I can't think of any issues I had with it, even of the nitpicking variety. 9 out of 10!

Ricochet wrote: Bergman's Winter Light (I should learn by heart its original name: Nattvardsgasterna). Piss-poor job I did to really focus on watching this, so a rewatch is compulsory, nonetheless there were gripping scenes even for such a superficial viewing. Seems intimate, profound and classic Bergman.

BTW, I have a group on FB for discussing movies, currently dead because nobody cares. But if any of you would like to join and liven it up a bit, lemme know.

Winter Light is my second favorite Bergman film of the ones I've seen right after Fanny and Alexander. Also I am down to join that FB group of yours.

The Walk - 8/10

Great film that flows beautifully and spends just the right amount of time with every scene and each character. The ending, not just the walk (that goes without saying), but the end of the monologue that flows through the film's entirety, is especially powerful.

The Syndicate

Search found 12 matches

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

Re: Rate the last movie you've seen