watched

At first I thought the animated sequences were a bit too much but the further it got, the more effective they became.

That scene with Andrew Scott...

O: "My favorite part was the construction."

I keep jumping back and forth on my rating and thoughts. I'm fascinated that they were able to do as much as they did with the estimated budget of $15,000 USD. Even though I wasn't always a fan of the main subjects of the documentary, I appreciate their commitment. I still recommend watching this if you are not interested in birdwatching. Watch it on YouTube

I regret waiting 30 years to watch this. What do you say I buy you a cup of coffee?

This post was supposed to be my entry for December's IndieWeb Movie Club hosted by Dr. Matt Lee. I still haven't read the graphic novel that this is based on but that was my original plan. I'm curious whether the ambiguity and almost fantastical parts are present in the book. If so, do those themes play a bigger part? I kinda wish they did. I used to think about one day, just not telling anyone, and going off to some random place. And I'd just... disappear. And they'd never see me again. Did you ever think about stuff like that?

I was a little underwhelmed at first but the last 20ish minutes really got me. My rating is mostly because this left me feeling sad and a little empty but I might change it later after I've had some time to think about it more.

I miss Val Kilmer. Yeah, that's right. Big tough guy.

O: I didn't like that they kept chasing Kermit.

A friend was telling me about this movie and it made it such a fun watch with the added context and perspective from a fan. Can you count, suckers?

This is one of those films that deals with a very difficult topic in a different way than other films. There's a lot of standout moments here but the scene with the sandwich really got to me. I wouldn't recommend you watch it without checking the synopsis first though. I feel guilty when I don't think about it

O: "I liked it but I don't understand why she didn't want to be a princess"

Even though it felt like the majority of the cast was barely on screen, the moments that they were on were really great. Josh O'Connor continues to surprise me and gives such a wonderfully moving performance in this film. Spoilers: The unexpected Phantom of the Opera really made me laugh out loud.

My favorite Yorgos Lanthimos movies are co-written with Efthymis Filippou. I liked the multiple chapters in this film but I wish each of these were full length to get some more out of these specific characters. But at the same time, each chapter had just enough to keep me thinking about them for a long while. A genuine smashed McEnroe racket from 1984. It must have cost him a fortune.

Deeply flawed characters make this a good watch, if sad at times.

I was curious how they would fill 92 minutes with what seems like a fairly small topic. This is less about the apartment and more about art, artists, and it truly ends up being inspiring and heartwarming.

It's a movie and it has a good soundtrack.

No matter how many times I stumbled unto this movie on TV, I actually never watched it. I'm not sure what it was but it just never seemed interesting to me. I also didn't know that the soundtrack for this film was massively popular after this film came out. I finally sat down to watch it and I'm honestly glad I didn't watch it before. I may have not given what this film is doing the credit it deserves. I will probably come back to it in the future soon as I believe it would benefit from a few rewatches to catch things I may have missed the first time. A few quotes I wrote down while watching it mostly because of the delivery: Well ain't this place a geographical oddity! Two weeks from everywhere! I guess I'm the only one that remains unaffiliated. Lots of respectable people have been hit by trains.

We are the United States government! We don't do that sort of thing.

I KNOW what a burrito is

It's hard not to compare this to Synecdoche, New York (2008) as they obviously cover some of the same ideas of art and artists. The performances here are amazing for the whole cast and it's maybe Nic Cage's best. If you can't find that stuff in life, then you my friend don't know crap about life!

O: "I liked the construction parts but I didn't like anything else"

O: "I didn't like that Owl didn't know the words"

Flying used to be fun until I started doing it for a living.

It's been a rough few days but tonight my wife and I got to watch this in an empty theater for its 40th anniversary.

I was planning to do Nicvember where I would try to watch a Nicolas Cage movie every day of the month. That's not going to happen. When I was thinking about Nicvember, I decided to start with something I hadn't seen before and because several people I trust had recommended this one, I thought why not. Oh boy! I'm not sure what I think of this one to be honest. It's too slow for making it super rewatchable, even after ignoring all of the tragedy and gore. At the same time, it reminded me a lot of the video game series Hotline Miami, stylistically more than story-wise. Of course the thing that more than anything makes this movie stand out is Nic Cage's performance. I'm not sure any other actor could have had a better take in the bathroom scene. The more I think about it as I'm writing this review, the more I want to rewatch it. But that's for later.

Wasnt expecting much but was actually pleasantly surprised. There were a bunch of real funny and memorable moments. Not sure if we'll watch the sequels but we might rewatch this really soon.

After reading Kottke's post In Praise of Comfort Films I decided to revisit an old favorite. I was lucky to watch this before it's release with the actors present for a Q&A afterwards. By lucky, I mean MySpace had an event where you had to put the movie's page as part of your Top 8, print your profile, and line up to get in. If I'm watching for flaws both in the characters and use of language, then there are plenty. But watching this film reminds me of waiting in line with my brother to watch a movie we knew nothing about with a fun soundtrack and hijinks in NYC. The romance plot I could take or leave. I am starting to realize that "hijinks in NYC" might be up there as one of my favorite subgenres. My comfort films are usually that because it reminds me of a specific moment in time and I need to remember to revisit these more often than I do.

The Fingernails plot doesn't really work here. It also doesn't really work without it otherwise we're just watching two people cheat. The ending was good but I wish they would've added a little more to the Black Mirror subplot or find a way to make the movie without it.

This post is my entry for this month's IndieWeb Movie Club hosted by Zachary Kai. It has not been that long since I last watched this film but I still remember quite a bit of it. I'm biased because any parental themes in movies is sure to get me to like it. Add to that found family themes and beautiful animation and I'm all in. While most of the film is pretty formulaic, it still managed to surprise me in quite a few different ways. The whole sequence of Roz arriving and encountering the critters was just as funny the second time around. Pinktail might also be my favorite character but I love that all the forest dwellers have their own unique personalities even when they are relatively minor parts. I appreciate that the film ends with Roz getting picked up after realizing that they would come back. It makes that last scene with Roz and Brightbill so much more meaningful while also ending in a way that if they didn't make sequels feels ok. Negative. That gosling stalks me, emits noise, and makes simple tasks more complicated or impossible.

I liked it but I'm not a fan of the human subplot. Are these people responsible for the events that lead to Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)?

It was fine? It had some great moments (the cactus dare, the song, the Margot Robbie scene), but I think I expected a little something more. I may change my mind when I do my big Wes Anderson marathon at some point in the future. It doesn't matter. Just keep telling the story.

I liked the ending but then I found that there was an alternate ending and was amazed that a film could have two great endings to choose from that completely change the story. The film did lose me a bit at the reveal of the manufactured moment in the interview and how that could be a relationship defining moment. Then I thought more that this may be due to my own skepticism that anything I see in media, news or otherwise, is manufactured. Which made me realize how accurate Albert Brooks' monologue near the end was. Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby

"He is precious to me." 😭

Some movies feel like they are made for me. This one feels like it was made for Christopher Nolan.

This is the real punk rock

This came up in a recent conversation about Halt and Catch Fire and I know it also previously came up in a Homebrew Website Club so I finally watched it. I think I expected to learn more about the actual machines since I have no actual connection to any of this hardware. The most interesting part to me was the final news report that summarizes the state of the companies and the wikipedia rabbit hole I went down afterwards.

For all it's flaws, I think this movie makes up by making me want to learn more and watch F1.

We just watched this last month but they were showing this in theaters so it felt like a great opportunity to see this on the big screen with O and F. It went pretty well for a first movie theater experience for both of them.