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Have not seen this in decades! Has a raw charm to it beyond the slapstick. I kinda wanna watch the Nǃxau ǂToma HK films now.

A relic from a bygone era. A different kind of politics, a different kind of Ryan Gosling, and Beau writing his own work and not on IP.

Watched this with my parents who are 78 and 87 and it hits hard. My wife asked them if it was offensive stereotypes and they were like nope, pretty real. 

It also slaps. That they make climbing up a stair case feel like something from a Mission Impossible is so much fun and full of empathy.

I like this house, we’ll take it. 

I’ve argued before that war films are often melodramas in action clothing. That they’re about the impact of war on the people caught up in it.

This film is political. The lack of context is a strength not a weakness because it’s about the impact of the invasion, not whether it was justified. War brings war.

I realised much later in life that I probably had gender envy for Val Kilmer growing up, especially Martigan. Yet somehow I missed this film until now. Val is luminous. And the sight gags are brilliant with some great word play. Deserves to be a cult classic.

Haven’t seen this in decades. The slapstick still slaps; while the zingers fizzle.

Music is magic.

An excellent melodrama that hides it melodrama by an absence of music. Deeply compelling.

Bonkers.

A show that exists in the tensions. The tension between social realism and melodrama between naturalism and contrivance. Between having things to say and asking unanswered questions.

And it works because of this.

Jaume knows how to make entertaining films and this is entertaining.

Extended Edition (the weakest of them, tbh). 

Bernard Hill is the MVP here. Théoden is given a rich complexity that grounds the emotional scale here that is in stark contrast to the operatic Denethor. 

Bonus points to Hugo Weaving’s Elrond who in this film and the first is allowed humour.

Extended Edition. 

What makes this work is the dynamic between Frodo, Samwise and Gollum. Especially Gollum himself wanting redemption.

Extended Edition. The secret genius of all these films is that PJ is a horror director and especially a schlock horror director. Not only does it make the *fear* land, it means the goofy and silly panda because it’s sincere. 

There a reason J.A. Bayona is the best director on Rings of Power. He comes the closest to PJ sensibilities (albeit arguably a better formalist).

The formal gimmick of this doco - where the murdered Jayne, Mark, Ruth and Daniel debate what happened to them -  utterly undermines the film’s flaccid attempt to portray these people as anything but Victims. It is a conceit so contrived that it’s dehumanizing and distancing from the horror of what happened to them. While it gives these people a voice it still defines them by their Victimhood and not their humanity.

Worse, every “loop” of the Rashomon flashback is accompanied by a Stranger Things esque theme music that inadvertently signals this as some kind of spooky adventure where a Scooby Gang of murdered teens try to solve their own murder. It’s a good idea for a show but not a fkn doco.

It’s a shame because when this film focuses on just reenactment it’s very strong: the actors portraying Jayne, Mark, Ruth and Daniel are great with a strong group dynamic; the period feels right; and there’s just enough “thriller” filmmaking in there to keep it compelling without it being, well, counter to its aims.

It just feels like the filmmakers wanted to something that differentiates the formal qualities from  THE THIN BLUE LINE but that latter film is the goat for a reason. Just do that.

Watched on Saturday December 7, 2024.

So well lit. Just stunning use of light through out.

Subverts the dad core so hard it comes full circle to be elite dad core.

I’ve said it before: the older I get, the more I appreciate anything that navigates tonal complexity and this does that in spades. Phenomenal.

first time watch and I cried and cried. 

Few thoughts - 

- It would’ve been easy for them to use the 1940s Charleston in the high school dance but they got it right and used the 1920s Charleston steps. Nice (My future wife pointed this out, I know not these things). 

- The central concern over housing and its relationship to human dignity feels absolutely relevant 89 years on.

The L-cut from our heroes in the trash compactor shouting with joy to C3PO and the tinny comms unit making it sound like screams of agony… absolute cinematic genius. 

While the Special Edition Additions have dated (especially Jaba) this still rules.

So good to be reminded just how horny Nine Inch Nails could be.

A conventional biopic about an unconventional woman.

Roman Gangster. 

Of the two wolves inside this film, Macrinus’ (Denzel Washington) story is far more interesting than Lucius’ (Paul Mescal) requel of Gladiator.

It helps that Denzel’s operatic style suits the bombastic epicness in a way that Paul’s laconicism does not. In fact, I’d say Paul Mescal is miscast. He’s a wonderful actor but I didn’t feel his rage at all. Except when he was fighting because the fight choreography is exceptional - far better than in the original - and goes a long way to show us these aspects of Paul. But it feels unearned.

MVP to Joseph Quinn.

As I’ve gotten older, I appreciate films that break the monotonal monoculture that dominates western narrative cinema. “Tonally inconsistent” should be reframed as a virtue - “Tonally rich” - rather than an insult. 

Snow Hollow is tonally rich: some great zingers, slapstick, gore, pathos and rage. And it’s got some fascinating things to say about addiction and toxic masculinity. 

Recommend.

Watched on Sunday October 13, 2024.

I ire the fact that the film leans into its tropes and its outrageousness without winking at the audience. It knows what it is.

Jack asked me to give this film 4.5. Unless he meant out of 10?!

Special props to the VFX producer, Addy.

Black Reacher.

God of death.

It neither had the touch nor the power. 

A surprisingly good emotional journey at its core but at times the scale was off - looked like The Lego Movie and not 40foot machines.

Loved the FM84 synth wave Sun.

Watched on Saturday August 24, 2024.

Would make an excellent double feature with They Cloned Tyrone.

Watched on Saturday August 10, 2024.

If I was being generous, I would say the film’s remix of a remix of remix is a commentary on the nature of mutation as necessary for survival. 

But I’m not generous: this is MCU level cuteness that becomes downright ghoulish.

First time in the sydney IMAX - great seats but disappointed by the light contamination at the bottom of the screen. The Milky Way just looked milky.

Sits in a curious liminal space: I wasn’t bored but I wasn’t engaged, I found it clever without being too interesting, it had a horror mood without actually being horrifying or tense or scary. 

And all of that seems to be the point. But to what end? 

The monologue at the end was great and helped it feel profound but I’m not sure it is.

A blood soaked fairy tale.

Ridley Scott is like a rock band from the 70s/80s who dropped some absolutely genre defining records and then spent the 90s noodling around and then got somewhat of a critical / mainstream upswing in the early aughts and since then drops the occasional banger. Enough for us to anticipate every release with the hope that it recaptures something. 

And in the case the Last Duel it’s a total banger. Something about him collaborating with Ben, Matt and Nicole elevates this material. Even the Ridleycore of the opening act is somewhat of a misdirect because this album just builds and  builds and builds. 

And this is where my rock band analogy ends because I can’t think of a band that drops a top 5 album nearly 40 years into their career. 

Because the Last Duel is both very Ridley but also Something Else.

Watched this with my elderly parents and my boomer nether. There was a surprising amount of masturbation in it.

Imagine making the third film in a horror franchise - a prequel no less - and it’s the best in the franchise and deeply moving and full of love. 

The performances are just luminous.

Haven’t seen this for a long time and it still holds up! It does have this Kafka esque quality which I really like and the ending does take on a subtle dreamlike quality that helps make it work.  

Def will revisit.

I have not seen this before. And it rocked?! I didn’t quite buy the romance - I was more invested in Kate the blacksmith than Jocelyn the Princess - but this is just great adventure stuff. I was bawling by the end.

This film is deeply silly and terrible and it rules.

If Crowe riding around on a Vespa blowing “cuckoo” to randoms sounds like you’re idea of a good time, you’ll love it too.

This went hard. Insanely well directed, incredibly patient, layers of subtext without being preachy. 

And there’s one shot - a simple handheld shot - out in front of the church that is just gobsmacking.

The ending almost ruins what is a nicely structured thriller. Not as good as flight plan but has its own great qualities.

Jodie Foster is what makes this work. And work it does until the gutless third act gets going.

Suffers partly by being PG-13 and bloodless, but there's actually a lot to like here: McClane feels like McClane, Justin Long is great?! and 'Die Hard in The Open' actually works pretty well. The elevator sequence is top notch.

Sadly the Villains are underwritten.

Is both an exceptional parody of Stark Trek and an exceptional episode of Star Trek, and does so without being cynical but by being super endearing.

Tender, authentic, and funny - so funny, and that’s what makes it tender and authentic.

Each of the “rebooted” Apes film has its own identity, driven by strong genre tropes. 

Rise is a thoughtful scifi. 
Dawn is a Shakespearean epic. 
War is a POW escape movie

And Kingdom is the same. But this time it’s an Action RPG.  This is very much about world building and the companions are part of the world building. It wants us to discover what things with our Protag (just like a video game).  And while I cheered at the end and found the whole thing in engaging, it’s just not as emotionally compelling as the prior instalments. 

Let’s be real: this would make an amazing game.

First time watch. And even though this film set the formal template for true crime moving forward, it is so good, the injustices so infuriating, that it is (sadly?) timeless.

My IMDB here: www.imdb.com/name/nm2150288/

• Boy Swallows Universe

  On-set VFX Supervisor

• Bad Behaviour

  Motion Graphics

• The Giants

  Post Production Supervisor / Assistant Editor

• Surrogate

  Opening Title Animation

• Shayda

  On-Set VFX Supervisor

• Freeman

  Assistant Editor

• Watchmen

  Post-Producer: Future Associate

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

  Post-Production & Dailies Coordinator

• Restoration

  Co-Writer/Director/VFX Supervisor

• The Lego Movie

  Layout Production Supervisor

...plus 12 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

In this episode, Chas & Stu & Catherine take a deep-dive into Blade Runner 2049 — and talk (at length) about character choices, agency and representation.

overcast.fm/+BvXmfCquI
draft-zero.com/2018/dz-48/

• Blade Runner 2049
• Blade Runner: Black Out 2022
• 2036: Nexus Dawn
• 2048: Nowhere to Run

• Captain Phillips
• Crimson Tide
• The Hunt for Red October
• U-571
• The Ice Pirates
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Run Silent, Run Deep
• Phantom: The Submarine
• engers
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Dunkirk
• Get Out
• Manchester by the Sea
• The Lives of Others

• Hidden Figures
• Nightcrawler

How can your first act effectively establish your character journey?

draft-zero.com/2017/dz-44/

First Acts are hard. They have to set so much in motion, especially setting up characters. To help them understand how to write effective first acts better, Stu and Chas turn their analytical gaze to a franchise that has been refining and reiterating its first act “schema” for over a decade… THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE.

Even if you don’t care for MCU films, there is plenty to learn from how they approach their first acts.

Iron Man: overcast.fm/+BvXlTciWg/00:07:42
Guardians of the Galaxy: overcast.fm/+BvXlTciWg/00:39:08
Doctor Strange: overcast.fm/+BvXlTciWg/01:18:13

• Iron Man

  overcast.fm/+BvXlTciWg/00:07:42

• Guardians of the Galaxy

  overcast.fm/+BvXlTciWg/00:39:08

• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• Doctor Strange

  overcast.fm/+BvXlTciWg/01:18:13

• Donnie Brasco
• The Departed
• Self/less
• Criminal
• Infernal Affairs
• Infernal Affairs II
• Infernal Affairs III
• The French Connection
• Eastern Promises
• We Own the Night

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

What gives your sequences their intensity?

Chas and Stu are ed for the fourth time by the inestimable Stephen Cleary – this time to take a deep dive into sequences. A real deep dive. A 3+ hour deep dive.

draft-zero.com/2017/dz-43/

• The Bourne Identity

  Discussed here:
  overcast.fm/+BvXk4XF94/36:07

• Naked

  Part 1 - The Maggie Sequence
  overcast.fm/+BvXk4XF94/54:43

  Part 2 - The Security Guard Sequence
  overcast.fm/+BvXk4XF94/01:13:00

• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

  Discussed here:
  overcast.fm/+BvXk4XF94/01:34:52

• There Will Be Blood

  Discussed here:
  overcast.fm/+BvXk4XF94/01:55:41

• Fargo
• Children of Men
• Heat

  Discussed here:
  overcast.fm/+BvXk4XF94/024:01

• Frenzy

  Discussed here:
  overcast.fm/+BvXk4XF94/024:01

• Saving Private Ryan

  Discussed here:
  overcast.fm/+BvXk4XF94/024:01

• Happy-Go-Lucky

  Discussed here:
  overcast.fm/+BvXk4XF94/13:24

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Air Force One
• Clear and Present Danger
• Enemy of the State
• Executive Decision
• Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
• Olympus Has Fallen
• Patriots Day
• Seven Days in May
• The American President
• The Siege

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

How do tactics make your characters and scenes more dynamic?

draft-zero.com/2017/dz-40/

In this episode, Stu and Chas turn their gaze to the “tactics” that characters use in scenes to get what they want. Tactics are how the characters try to achieve their goals and (we reckon) can be revealing of the essence of their character. The shifting and thwarting of tactics can make scenes more dynamic; while over the course of a story, the changing of tactics can reflect the growth of characters… even if their goal stays the same.

We take a close look at great single scenes from ZODIAC and TRAINING DAY. And then we look at a number of scenes over the course of HELL OR HIGH WATER, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and WINTER’S BONE. And we also skate over WILE E COYOTE, GAME OF THRONES, MACBETH, HAMLET, and EDGE OF SEVENTEEN. Audio quotations used for educational purposes only.

• Zodiac
• Training Day
• Hell or High Water
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Winter's Bone