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Author Topic: *** 'THE OFFICIAL MOVIE THREAD' ***  (Read 617570 times)
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« Reply #3675 on: October 06, 2019, 08:31:42 PM »

Joker


Well I’m glad to report Fajita Friday was fully instated last night alongside a Nacho sharer and coke.

To be honest I didn’t really know much about this film going in. I had read snippets of news and I think I caught one of the trailers but I do recall having that sinking feeling when you hear that there’s a new take on a well worn franchise.

The Batman universe with his outings against his arch villain are multiple and well trodden, could this origin story really bring something new?

We start with Gotham pre Bruce Wayne and in trouble. The city is in chaos, unemployment is high rubbish fills the streets and the whole place is a powder keg just waiting to go up.

Our protagonist Arthur Fleck is a troubled soul, living with his mother and scraping out a living as a party clown with dreams of making it big in the world of stand up comedy. As our story unfolds it shows Arthurs slow descent from a fractured mind into demented madness.

For a large part of the film we can have empathy for Arthur. Through no fault of his own he has a condition that causes uncontrollable laughter when he is anxious, and his mind is always filled with darkness. Bullied and picked on constantly by the world around him Arthurs life changes dramatically as a series of events propels him along a path filled with anger, pain and violence. This leads to the spark that ignites a city wide rebellion that takes us twisting along a timeline that finally intersects with the well played out scenario that is Bruce Wayne’s parent’s death.

The first thing that struck me was Joaquin Phoenix. The physical transformation is startling and a little unnerving. This is the actor that played the emperor in Gladiator. Gone is the fulsome youthful face and healthy body and is replaced by a gaunt harrowed look alongside an almost bulimic form. Stick thin arms twist and contort unnaturally and are attached to a torso of bones that stick out at odd angles. The man is completely unrecognisable.

He is assisted well by De Niro as a talk show host who is Arthurs hero.

Phoenix performance is top draw.. It would have been so easy to drift into caricature and overacting, but his portrayal is both memorable and eerie. The execution of the part is incredible right across the spectrum from the sad damaged little man all the way to terrifying sociopath.

On occasion I genuinely felt as uncomfortable as the people around Arthur as they witnessed his increasingly bizarre behaviour. You felt right there with them witnessing someone that you felt could just suddenly explode.

The mood of the film is intense and dark, accompanied often by a deep cello bass score that intensifies the bleakness of the city and the situation. The violence is sporadic but visceral and hard hitting. You can almost feel it shudder through you and it has real impact.

As Arthur’s transformation into the Joker completes there are a couple of scenes very reminiscent of Heath Ledgers performance, especially in the visual department. One scene in particular comes to mind of him riding in the back of a car face against the window, empty eyes staring out at the passing lights of the city.. Fantastic!

It would have been very easy to fall into ‘just another Batman film ‘ trap here, I’m glad they didn’t and managed to make it stand on its own merits. The film is already showing signs of being a huge success and a follow up seem inevitable, if they do I hope they can maintain the tone and quality of this vision so it can carve its own path through the DC universe. If they can it will be quite something

Overall, very good.. A tad slow in places but it is required for the descent of Arthur and the rise of the Joker to be fully realised.. Phoenix is outstanding.. see it, feel it..raw and dark.

8/10 Fajita’s


Agree with all of this but less eloquently lol.

I am going to add 2 words - disturbing and intense
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« Reply #3676 on: October 28, 2019, 03:30:09 PM »

Zomebieland and Countdown double header.

Both should clean up at the Golden Razzies.
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« Reply #3677 on: November 27, 2019, 07:05:43 PM »

Midway

Historians have discovered recently that American code-breakers were instrumental in the US of A’s sea victory against the Japanese.

On the basis of this new info, they’ve updated film history with what looks like an orgy of CGI

Don’t bother investing >2 hours

3/10
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« Reply #3678 on: November 28, 2019, 10:40:25 AM »

The Irishman on Netflix - a 29min gangster movie.

Directed by Scorsese.

Starring DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci.

Enough said.
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« Reply #3679 on: November 28, 2019, 10:47:15 AM »

The Irishman on Netflix - a 29min gangster movie.

Directed by Scorsese.

Starring DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci.

Enough said.

Probably my favourite genre and am gonna have to watch it - slightly concerned it might be like going to see a band you used to like except they're all fat and old now.
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« Reply #3680 on: November 29, 2019, 12:12:02 PM »

It's terrible

Pacino stinks the gaff up with his "she's got a great ass' nic cage channeling overacting. De Niro wearing a cartoon mask of youth still moves like the 80 year old he is. Any scene where he is doling out violence is unintentionally funny.

Pesci is excellent, but is similarly frail.

The supporting cast are lightweights: ray romumdo is a bizarre choice, Stephen Graham could be written out of the film completely.

It's ponderous, pompous and boring

There's a rehash of the Billy batts shoeshine scene, numerous scenes you've seen before in other films.

It plays likes a gangster version of forest gump, without the charm
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« Reply #3681 on: November 29, 2019, 01:16:25 PM »

It's terrible

Pacino stinks the gaff up with his "she's got a great ass' nic cage channeling overacting. De Niro wearing a cartoon mask of youth still moves like the 80 year old he is. Any scene where he is doling out violence is unintentionally funny.

Pesci is excellent, but is similarly frail.

The supporting cast are lightweights: ray romumdo is a bizarre choice, Stephen Graham could be written out of the film completely.

It's ponderous, pompous and boring

There's a rehash of the Billy batts shoeshine scene, numerous scenes you've seen before in other films.

It plays likes a gangster version of forest gump, without the charm

lol - I enjoyed it.  To each their own.
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« Reply #3682 on: November 29, 2019, 02:23:21 PM »

Im glad I watched it but the old Hoo hah pacino was definitely back. Supposedly menacing but unintentionally hilarious was de Niro dishing out a beating to a shop keeper. Sure it was meant to be something like James caan in godfather or pesci in good fellas but it was like a very slow moving grandad. Dialogue was way too average on the whole. Pesci kind of held it together and despite what I said about pacino thought he was pretty watchable too
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« Reply #3683 on: November 29, 2019, 02:24:10 PM »

Sorry Teddy, noticed I've nicked some of your words
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« Reply #3684 on: December 01, 2019, 02:04:16 PM »

The Irishman

So Fajita Friday turned into a comfy night in and three half hours of Scorsese's latest epic. Well it has to be epic on the basis it runs three and a half hours. It took the might of Netflix's bottomless pit of money to bring this crew back together again.. one last hurrah for De Niro, Pesci and Pacino wrapped up in a Scorsese sandwich.

I have to admit off the bat i'm a fan of this type of film, these actors and this director.. so forgive a touch of bias if you please, ill try to be as objective as possible.

The tale revolves around the recollections of a hitman for the mob.. the titular Irishman, and spans multiple time frames. The whole thing is typical Scorsese, the attention to detail is fantastic and nobody does this type of tale like him. I can almost taste past glories in its make up, like Goodfellas and Casino.. classics forever in my hall of fame. It has that familiar feel.. wise guys on the make.. nonchalant murders and the over bearing need for power.

A lot has been said about the  de-ageing effects of our stately stars and yes if you concentrate hard you can sit and pick out the oddities.. De Niro's eyes are a particular giveaway, but overall I think they did a great job and you can imagine a tasty amount of that $150 million budget found its way into the effects guys pockets. Yes the scene with De Niro beating the shopkeeper borders on the embarrassing, but come on you could sit through any film and nit pick.. take it for what it is a small part of the whole and move on.

I won't spoiler too much but a lot of the tale involves the events around the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa as portrayed by Pacino. As we move along much reference is made of the mobs power in the sixties even encroaching into the high end political realm.

The story meanders on occasion, as you would expect of a film this long, maybe a little full of its self but then brings you hurtling back with a scene of vicious violence.

The main protagonists give decent performances.. De Niro is solid and Pacino is acceptable.. as always his a little over the top and wanders into caricature on occasion but he just about holds it together although im not overly convinced of the portrayal . The real star is Pesci... he gives a great performance and is totally believable as a sixties mobster, that calm menace despite his dimiunutive stature. He carried a real air of fear with his matter of fact orders of execution. I love the dialogue where he infers things without saying it..

Overall ? .. it feels a bit like Netflix gave Scorsese a ton of money and told him to make his wet dream and involve all his best buddies, thats not to say i didn't enjoy it, I did. Its pretty much what you expected it to be and I for one wouldnt have it any other way.. its a throwback to those great movies already mentioned.. no where as good but a decent representation and enough to want me to fire them up again.
Its also probably the last time we are likely to see these greats on screen together and I for one am grateful for that fact alone.

If you like Scorsese gangster movies, its one for you but can still entertain the passing viewer although at three and a half hours im glad theres a pause button involved


Solid 7/10 Fajita's with a side of sauce just like Momma used to make
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« Reply #3685 on: December 01, 2019, 02:44:15 PM »

The Irishman

So Fajita Friday turned into a comfy night in and three half hours of Scorsese's latest epic. Well it has to be epic on the basis it runs three and a half hours. It took the might of Netflix's bottomless pit of money to bring this crew back together again.. one last hurrah for De Niro, Pesci and Pacino wrapped up in a Scorsese sandwich.

I have to admit off the bat i'm a fan of this type of film, these actors and this director.. so forgive a touch of bias if you please, ill try to be as objective as possible.

The tale revolves around the recollections of a hitman for the mob.. the titular Irishman, and spans multiple time frames. The whole thing is typical Scorsese, the attention to detail is fantastic and nobody does this type of tale like him. I can almost taste past glories in its make up, like Goodfellas and Casino.. classics forever in my hall of fame. It has that familiar feel.. wise guys on the make.. nonchalant murders and the over bearing need for power.

A lot has been said about the  de-ageing effects of our stately stars and yes if you concentrate hard you can sit and pick out the oddities.. De Niro's eyes are a particular giveaway, but overall I think they did a great job and you can imagine a tasty amount of that $150 million budget found its way into the effects guys pockets. Yes the scene with De Niro beating the shopkeeper borders on the embarrassing, but come on you could sit through any film and nit pick.. take it for what it is a small part of the whole and move on.

I won't spoiler too much but a lot of the tale involves the events around the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa as portrayed by Pacino. As we move along much reference is made of the mobs power in the sixties even encroaching into the high end political realm.

The story meanders on occasion, as you would expect of a film this long, maybe a little full of its self but then brings you hurtling back with a scene of vicious violence.

The main protagonists give decent performances.. De Niro is solid and Pacino is acceptable.. as always his a little over the top and wanders into caricature on occasion but he just about holds it together although im not overly convinced of the portrayal . The real star is Pesci... he gives a great performance and is totally believable as a sixties mobster, that calm menace despite his dimiunutive stature. He carried a real air of fear with his matter of fact orders of execution. I love the dialogue where he infers things without saying it..

Overall ? .. it feels a bit like Netflix gave Scorsese a ton of money and told him to make his wet dream and involve all his best buddies, thats not to say i didn't enjoy it, I did. Its pretty much what you expected it to be and I for one wouldnt have it any other way.. its a throwback to those great movies already mentioned.. no where as good but a decent representation and enough to want me to fire them up again.
Its also probably the last time we are likely to see these greats on screen together and I for one am grateful for that fact alone.

If you like Scorsese gangster movies, its one for you but can still entertain the passing viewer although at three and a half hours im glad theres a pause button involved


Solid 7/10 Fajita's with a side of sauce just like Momma used to make



This review is not dissimilar to the film, long, but entertaining and very well put together with excellent attention to detail.

Thanks Dean.
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« Reply #3686 on: December 01, 2019, 05:29:15 PM »

Have no interest in the genre and buggered if I'm wasting more than thee hours on it.

It strikes me as an odd favourite for the Best Picture Oscar though (without having seen it obv).

The buzz surrounding Parasite continues to grow. Dig a lot of digging yesterday, but you'd imagine it won't win BPO for the same reason Roma failed last year. Especially as it's subtitled.

I've had a chunk on Boon Joon Ho for best director instead. Johnny Foreigners do well in this category these days and 11-2 seems luvverly.
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« Reply #3687 on: December 02, 2019, 11:07:22 AM »

The Irishman

So Fajita Friday turned into a comfy night in and three half hours of Scorsese's latest epic. Well it has to be epic on the basis it runs three and a half hours. It took the might of Netflix's bottomless pit of money to bring this crew back together again.. one last hurrah for De Niro, Pesci and Pacino wrapped up in a Scorsese sandwich.

I have to admit off the bat i'm a fan of this type of film, these actors and this director.. so forgive a touch of bias if you please, ill try to be as objective as possible.

The tale revolves around the recollections of a hitman for the mob.. the titular Irishman, and spans multiple time frames. The whole thing is typical Scorsese, the attention to detail is fantastic and nobody does this type of tale like him. I can almost taste past glories in its make up, like Goodfellas and Casino.. classics forever in my hall of fame. It has that familiar feel.. wise guys on the make.. nonchalant murders and the over bearing need for power.

A lot has been said about the  de-ageing effects of our stately stars and yes if you concentrate hard you can sit and pick out the oddities.. De Niro's eyes are a particular giveaway, but overall I think they did a great job and you can imagine a tasty amount of that $150 million budget found its way into the effects guys pockets. Yes the scene with De Niro beating the shopkeeper borders on the embarrassing, but come on you could sit through any film and nit pick.. take it for what it is a small part of the whole and move on.

I won't spoiler too much but a lot of the tale involves the events around the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa as portrayed by Pacino. As we move along much reference is made of the mobs power in the sixties even encroaching into the high end political realm.

The story meanders on occasion, as you would expect of a film this long, maybe a little full of its self but then brings you hurtling back with a scene of vicious violence.

The main protagonists give decent performances.. De Niro is solid and Pacino is acceptable.. as always his a little over the top and wanders into caricature on occasion but he just about holds it together although im not overly convinced of the portrayal . The real star is Pesci... he gives a great performance and is totally believable as a sixties mobster, that calm menace despite his dimiunutive stature. He carried a real air of fear with his matter of fact orders of execution. I love the dialogue where he infers things without saying it..

Overall ? .. it feels a bit like Netflix gave Scorsese a ton of money and told him to make his wet dream and involve all his best buddies, thats not to say i didn't enjoy it, I did. Its pretty much what you expected it to be and I for one wouldnt have it any other way.. its a throwback to those great movies already mentioned.. no where as good but a decent representation and enough to want me to fire them up again.
Its also probably the last time we are likely to see these greats on screen together and I for one am grateful for that fact alone.

If you like Scorsese gangster movies, its one for you but can still entertain the passing viewer although at three and a half hours im glad theres a pause button involved


Solid 7/10 Fajita's with a side of sauce just like Momma used to make



This review is not dissimilar to the film, long, but entertaining and very well put together with excellent attention to detail.

Thanks Dean.

Lol Thanks Tom.. when i first read that i thought it was gonna say this review is like the film long and boring Smiley
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« Reply #3688 on: December 02, 2019, 12:37:18 PM »

Thoroughly enjoyed it. I did cringe a bit at Frank beating up the grocery guy.
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« Reply #3689 on: December 02, 2019, 01:07:24 PM »

The Irishman

So Fajita Friday turned into a comfy night in and three half hours of Scorsese's latest epic. Well it has to be epic on the basis it runs three and a half hours. It took the might of Netflix's bottomless pit of money to bring this crew back together again.. one last hurrah for De Niro, Pesci and Pacino wrapped up in a Scorsese sandwich.

I have to admit off the bat i'm a fan of this type of film, these actors and this director.. so forgive a touch of bias if you please, ill try to be as objective as possible.

The tale revolves around the recollections of a hitman for the mob.. the titular Irishman, and spans multiple time frames. The whole thing is typical Scorsese, the attention to detail is fantastic and nobody does this type of tale like him. I can almost taste past glories in its make up, like Goodfellas and Casino.. classics forever in my hall of fame. It has that familiar feel.. wise guys on the make.. nonchalant murders and the over bearing need for power.

A lot has been said about the  de-ageing effects of our stately stars and yes if you concentrate hard you can sit and pick out the oddities.. De Niro's eyes are a particular giveaway, but overall I think they did a great job and you can imagine a tasty amount of that $150 million budget found its way into the effects guys pockets. Yes the scene with De Niro beating the shopkeeper borders on the embarrassing, but come on you could sit through any film and nit pick.. take it for what it is a small part of the whole and move on.

I won't spoiler too much but a lot of the tale involves the events around the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa as portrayed by Pacino. As we move along much reference is made of the mobs power in the sixties even encroaching into the high end political realm.

The story meanders on occasion, as you would expect of a film this long, maybe a little full of its self but then brings you hurtling back with a scene of vicious violence.

The main protagonists give decent performances.. De Niro is solid and Pacino is acceptable.. as always his a little over the top and wanders into caricature on occasion but he just about holds it together although im not overly convinced of the portrayal . The real star is Pesci... he gives a great performance and is totally believable as a sixties mobster, that calm menace despite his dimiunutive stature. He carried a real air of fear with his matter of fact orders of execution. I love the dialogue where he infers things without saying it..

Overall ? .. it feels a bit like Netflix gave Scorsese a ton of money and told him to make his wet dream and involve all his best buddies, thats not to say i didn't enjoy it, I did. Its pretty much what you expected it to be and I for one wouldnt have it any other way.. its a throwback to those great movies already mentioned.. no where as good but a decent representation and enough to want me to fire them up again.
Its also probably the last time we are likely to see these greats on screen together and I for one am grateful for that fact alone.

If you like Scorsese gangster movies, its one for you but can still entertain the passing viewer although at three and a half hours im glad theres a pause button involved


Solid 7/10 Fajita's with a side of sauce just like Momma used to make



This review is not dissimilar to the film, long, but entertaining and very well put together with excellent attention to detail.

Thanks Dean.

Lol Thanks Tom.. when i first read that i thought it was gonna say this review is like the film long and boring Smiley



You're welcome.

It's not easy to write anything really well but your reviews are always excellent.

Your obvious love of the subject and outstanding observational skills would be wasted without the ability to communicate them in an informative and entertaining way.


In another life, you could have been Phil Matey.






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