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StarTopic Film Chat |ST| What's Your Favorite Acting Turn?

Went to see Poor Things with the family as the Christmas movie. Think we've all seen enough of Emma Stone now to last us. Very well acted, the surrealism really enhances the perspective. Wife puts it at #3 for the year behind Wonka and Barbie, I was more cool on it.

EDIT: Collectively, we have reached the conclusion that this is basically the Barbie movie with more sex
 
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I watched and very much enjoyed Maestro and was afterward confronted with the fact that Letterboxd users do not like this movie. Weird disconnect between my own viewing experience and others'.
 
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Just got out of Godzilla Minus One. Easily among the best movies I've seen this year.
 
Little bit late now but I recommend everybody watch the Ace Attorney live action film at Christmas. It's a semi tradition for me and it's so much fun.
 
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Violent Night

Almost every character is a cliché.

Santa’s backstory is pretty interesting so I would have liked more of that. The movie simply does not want to address anything in a satisfactory way. There’s a lot of handwaving when anything is questioned (“It’s magic.”/“I don’t really understand how it works.”) which is bad writing/world building.

Also, the villain claims that when he kills Santa, Christmas will die except like a really pivotal scene takes place at a nativity scene. Just a weird thing to say in a movie that also acknowledges Jesus. I’m not religious so I’m critiquing this dialogue from a writing perspective. I didn’t expect award winning writing. However, it shouldn’t be distracting either.

If you can shut your brain off and don’t mind gore, there may be something here for you.

Last Christmas

The plot twist was spoiled for me years ago. Also, there’s a major plot twist… sorry.

Homeboy was a ghost the whole time and Kate’s organ donor.

I may have enjoyed this more if it wasn’t spoiled. That said, I tried to approach this to see if there were enough clues to figure it out. In my humble opinion, no. There are definitely hints throughout though none suggest a supernatural element. Personally, the best plot twists can be predicted by paying attention to carefully placed details. When writers swerve so hard for a plot twist, it feels unearned and only cheats the audience.

Anyway, Emilia Clarke is a delight in this movie. Great chemistry with Henry Golding (though he felt very Manic Pixie Dream Boy-ish to me). Even when the movie tries to paint her negatively, I found it difficult to really dislike her (the movie leans really hard on blaming her circumstances rather than actual character flaws). Also, Clarke has pretty good comedic timing. I’d love to see her take another crack at comedy with better material. Emma Thompson was also quite good.
 
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Watched Dario Argento's Phenomena tonight for the first time, the 4k blu-ray is a stellar presentation, but the film itself boils down to:


what-the-actual-fuck-david-rose.gif
 
Kore-Eda’s Monster was absolutely wonderful. I think it might be his best work yet. Wonderfully shot and acted, with a very clever narrative that moves away from the more documentary aspect of his other films, while retaining all the qualities that characterized them. It’s in my top 3 of the year.

Please go see it as blind as possible. Don’t watch trailers, don’t read reviews, just go, and take a box of tissues with you.
 
Party Sklar said:
Kore-Eda’s Monster was absolutely wonderful. I think it might be his best work yet. Wonderfully shot and acted, with a very clever narrative that moves away from the more documentary aspect of his other films, while retaining all the qualities that characterized them. It’s in my top 3 of the year.

Please go see it as blind as possible. Don’t watch trailers, don’t read reviews, just go, and take a box of tissues with you.
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I love Kore-eda, I’ve still got three of his movies on backlog.
 
Trying to gather my thoughts on all the movies I saw this year.

My favourites of the year:

Across the Spiderverse
Barbie
The Boy and the Heron

Movies that I really liked:

Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Nimona
Godzilla Minus One
Killers of the Flower Moon

Movies I had a lot of fun with:

Creed 3
Bottoms

Movies that were fine, I guess:

Wonka
Super Mario Bros

Movie that I had to double check to confirm it came out this year:

Operation Fortune
 
here's my silly little letterboxd stats. would love to see others'!

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good movie year I guess! I watched all of Fred Wiseman's movies which was a really fun, illuminating, and worthwhile ten-month project. I finally saw pretty much all of Hideaki Anno's live action stuff in anticipation of Shin Kamen Rider and it all rocks. I got a few movies into Gakuryu Ishii's filmography and gosh if that guy didn't make like four or five of the greatest movies ever (very much looking forward to his adaptation of The Box Man). and I uhhh watched a bunch of other stuff too! hoping to watch less next year because that is too many movies!!
 
Went and saw Night Swim last night. I was hardly even interested, but it made for something to do on a Friday evening.

If generic, forgettable 2006 horror is your thing, this movie GOES HARD
 
Aurc said:
Went and saw Night Swim last night. I was hardly even interested, but it made for something to do on a Friday evening.

If generic, forgettable 2006 horror is your thing, this movie GOES HARD
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What a coincidence, we're talking about generic, forgettable 2006 horror in the Tommy Tallarico thread right now!
 
chocolate_supra said:
What a coincidence, we're talking about generic, forgettable 2006 horror in the Tommy Tallarico thread right now!
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Now that you're around, I just wanted to let you know that I ended up watching The Iron Claw twice (once with my mom), and I loved it both times. 🥲 I'm working on a post with some thoughts, but I just wanted to let you know, since I almost certainly wouldn't have seen it without your recommendation!
 
Aurc said:
Now that you're around, I just wanted to let you know that I ended up watching The Iron Claw twice (once with my mom), and I loved it both times. 🥲 I'm working on a post with some thoughts, but I just wanted to let you know, since I almost certainly wouldn't have seen it without your recommendation!
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Awesome!! 🙌 I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, looking forward to your post!

Also, I'm always around 😉
 
slide's said:
here's my silly little letterboxd stats. would love to see others'!
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Just started using Letterboxd in 2023 and it's a lot of fun. Wish there was something this easy to use for videogames (I know Backloggd exists, but it's not that great and there's no app). Anyway, saw a lot of good movies this year! It was especially a great year for Japanese and French cinema.

lb2023fami-copie.png
 
Letterboxd's recap only counting stuff you reviewed and not stuff you rated is annoying, since it says I watched 20 movies and not 100 lol
 
Getting owned by Covid this week, but it means I’ve been able to catch up on some 2023 viewing. Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up bumped Barbie out of my top 10 for the year. Also enjoyed May December and Beau is Afraid, with some reservations.
 
robertman2 said:
Letterboxd's recap only counting stuff you reviewed and not stuff you rated is annoying, since it says I watched 20 movies and not 100 lol
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So the thing that I’ve discovered too late with Letterboxd is that it doesn’t count the date you rate a movie unless you log it. I thought that you had to write a review for something to appear in your diary and recap: not necessarily, but you have to click on “review or log” and put your rating there.
 
Party Sklar said:
So the thing that I’ve discovered too late with Letterboxd is that it doesn’t count the date you rate a movie unless you log it. I thought that you had to write a review for something to appear in your diary and recap: not necessarily, but you have to click on “review or log” and put your rating there.
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that's annoying, but good to know for this year
 
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Party Sklar said:
So the thing that I’ve discovered too late with Letterboxd is that it doesn’t count the date you rate a movie unless you log it. I thought that you had to write a review for something to appear in your diary and recap: not necessarily, but you have to click on “review or log” and put your rating there.
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Correct. Review not necessary.
 
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just saw All of Us Strangers and... uh, sheesh!

i was expecting sad in a sort of touching and sentimental way, instead it was sad in a soul crushing and incredibly depressing way. the performances were great and i liked the kind of weird mind bending aspects of some of it and it did make me cry, but i didn't like it as much as the critics seemed to.

i'd give it a 77/100.

also saw Poor Things the weekend before that and i LOVED it. i think my favorite movie of the year. just so absolutely gorgeously done in terms of cinematography, costume design, production design, editing, the lot. the performances were insane - even funnier and wackier than i expected. just had so much fun with it and the emotional beats hit where they needed to, though nothing crazy. yorgos lanthimos does it again!

i'd give it a 94/100.
 
rêverie said:
also saw Poor Things the weekend before that and i LOVED it. i think my favorite movie of the year. just so absolutely gorgeously done in terms of cinematography, costume design, production design, editing, the lot. the performances were insane - even funnier and wackier than i expected. just had so much fun with it and the emotional beats hit where they needed to, though nothing crazy. yorgos lanthimos does it again!

i'd give it a 94/100.
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I really wanna see this but it's not playing anywhere near me 😩
 
rêverie said:
not even that theatre you did a pilgrimage to to see The Boy and the Heron?! blasphemy.

if you ever get a chance, when it wins some golden globes tonight or gets oscar noms and more theatres show it, i definitely recommend!
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Yeah that's usually how it happens, after the Oscars a lot of the nominated films end up getting like a wider second run. So I'm sure I'll catch it soon!
 
chocolate_supra said:
Lily Friggin Gladstone, yall
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I'm really happy for her as she gave a really great performance... but I still think Sandra Hüller should've won this. She was absolutely amazing in Anatomy of a Fall, probably my favorite performance by any actor this year!
 
Like every year, David Ehrlich released his top 25 movies of the year in the form of a video countdown, and like every year it's one of my favorite videos of the year, a great way to celebrate a year of cinema and to add some movies to the watch list :



There is also a fundraiser attached for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund if you can afford to donate some money for the cause

 
Party Sklar said:
Like every year, David Ehrlich released his top 25 movies of the year in the form of a video countdown, and like every year it's one of my favorite videos of the year, a great way to celebrate a year of cinema and to add some movies to the watch list :



There is also a fundraiser attached for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund if you can afford to donate some money for the cause

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Banger video. Annoyed that The Taste of Things isn't getting released here until February!
 
Those of you who are doing a 2023 list, how's it looking?

I've still got a lot of gaps to fill, but thus far my top 16 is:

16) Oppenheimer
15) Asteroid City
14) Broker (Dec 26, 2022 release is a 2023 movie in my book, cuz I saw it in January)
13) Blackberry
12) Barbie
11) Beau is Afraid
10) Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
9) Showing Up
8) The Holdovers
7) Past Lives
6) John Wick: Chapter 4
5) Maestro
4) Killers of the Flower Moon
3) Suzume
2) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
1) The Boy and the Heron
 
kvetcha said:
Those of you who are doing a 2023 list, how's it looking?
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My top 20 (based on European release dates) would be :

20) The Whale
19) The Taste of Things
18) Marcel the shell with shoes on
17) The Asadas!
16) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
15) Ferrari
14) Wish
13) Theater Camp
12) The First Slam Dunk
11) Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol.3
10) Wonka
9) Anatomy of a Fall
8) Return to Seoul
7) Love Life
6) Suzume
5) The King of Algiers
4) The Boy and the Heron
3) Monster
2) Killers of the Flower Moon
1) Aftersun
 
lumping in a few 2022 releases that came to theaters here in '23...i'd say something like

1. De Humani Corporis Fabrica
2. Shin Kamen Rider
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
4. The Boy and the Heron
5. Showing Up
6. Menus Plaisirs - Les Troisgros
7. Poor Things
8. Beau is Afraid
9. May December
10. Barbie

also liked Asteroid City, Oppie, Shin Ultraman, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Blackberry, The Outwaters, John Wick
 
rêverie said:
also saw Poor Things the weekend before that and i LOVED it. i think my favorite movie of the year. just so absolutely gorgeously done in terms of cinematography, costume design, production design, editing, the lot. the performances were insane - even funnier and wackier than i expected. just had so much fun with it and the emotional beats hit where they needed to, though nothing crazy. yorgos lanthimos does it again!

i'd give it a 94/100.
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Also recently saw Poor Things, also loved it. One of the highlights of 2023 for sure. Easily the funniest Mark Ruffalo's ever been, beautiful imagery, and Emma Stone's performance is excellent (Unrelated: what's with the 100-point scale? Lol)

I also finally watched Oppenheimer. Also very good. The first hour or so felt a little... idk, it feels weird to say rushed for a 3-hour film, but it felt rushed! I think I would have preferred some of the earlier parts of Oppenheimer's life simply be cut, rather than the frantic, rapid-fire "and then this happened! Oh and then he went here! Then here!" approach that dominates the first hour. Once the Manhattan Project starts, the film settles into a better rhythm. I think special mention must be made of the ending -- it's really quite impressive how narratively satisfying they made it
 
hologram said:
Also recently saw Poor Things, also loved it. One of the highlights of 2023 for sure. Easily the funniest Mark Ruffalo's ever been, beautiful imagery, and Emma Stone's performance is excellent (Unrelated: what's with the 100-point scale? Lol)

I also finally watched Oppenheimer. Also very good. The first hour or so felt a little... idk, it feels weird to say rushed for a 3-hour film, but it felt rushed! I think I would have preferred some of the earlier parts of Oppenheimer's life simply be cut, rather than the frantic, rapid-fire "and then this happened! Oh and then he went here! Then here!" approach that dominates the first hour. Once the Manhattan Project starts, the film settles into a better rhythm. I think special mention must be made of the ending -- it's really quite impressive how narratively satisfying they made it
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the metacritic scale. i like using that as i think it's easier to give something a rating out of 100 (or 10) than out of 5 stars. a scale of 5 is just too confining; like a 3.5/5 could be a 70 or could almost be an 80 and i think there's a big difference! one of the reasons i don't like using letterboxd.
 
rêverie said:
the metacritic scale. i like using that as i think it's easier to give something a rating out of 100 (or 10) than out of 5 stars. a scale of 5 is just too confining; like a 3.5/5 could be a 70 or could almost be an 80 and i think there's a big difference! one of the reasons i don't like using letterboxd.
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my own response to feeling constrained by star ratings (and similar) has been to avoid assigning numerical values to my perception of quality or personal enjoyment of things wherever possible—even more freeing imo!! whatever you find works for you is good but I find that trying to nail down a number ends up making me think/feel too rigidly about a thing in an unfun way
 
slide's said:
my own response to feeling constrained by star ratings (and similar) has been to avoid assigning numerical values to my perception of quality or personal enjoyment of things wherever possible—even more freeing imo!! whatever you find works for you is good but I find that trying to nail down a number ends up making me think/feel too rigidly about a thing in an unfun way
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i get this and a part of me would like that, but the analytical side of my brain enjoys assigning numbers to these sorts of things! haha
 
Watched the latest Indiana Jones on a flight and wow! It's really bad. The climax is weirdly dull to look at and fails to have the emotional weight it's supposed to. Opening sequence was alright though.

Also fell asleep to The Darjeeling Limited on two separate flights, thank you Wes Anderson!

slide's said:
my own response to feeling constrained by star ratings (and similar) has been to avoid assigning numerical values to my perception of quality or personal enjoyment of things wherever possible—even more freeing imo!! whatever you find works for you is good but I find that trying to nail down a number ends up making me think/feel too rigidly about a thing in an unfun way
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I'm the same. I don't rate things on Letterboxd, and sometimes my reviews don't even really speak to quality or how much I liked something, but rather things I found notable or that I want to talk about (or I just do a silly joke). It's been quite nice for me getting out of the habit of generalised "this is good, this is bad, this is very good" and into the habit of "the cinematography in that one is great, that's the one with the insane performance from that person, the soundtrack slaps on this one, the editing in this one is headache-inducing, etc." But this is also because I watch a lot of trash and genre movies that are objectively not amazing but where there are aspects I personally love or think are interesting.

I don't get the full Letterboxd year in review as I don't pay, but I got the preview email. My most watched theme was "gory, gruesome, slasher horror" and my most watched nanogenre was "blood, horrifying, dread." Eek!
 
Ramune said:
Watched the latest Indiana Jones on a flight and wow! It's really bad. The climax is weirdly dull to look at and fails to have the emotional weight it's supposed to. Opening sequence was alright though.
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Yeah arguably standing him on a non descript grassy knoll talking to a caricature of an ancient historical figure and not actually spending any time in the ancient world that he loved so much etc... was perhaps the most underwhelming way to do that idea with Indiana Jones... (I suspect it was too expensive etc...)
 
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Went to see The Boy and the Heron over the weekend. Very underwhelming. I dunno, maybe I'm just not a Ghibli guy? My takeaway was "man, these Japanese guys sure are obsessed with birthrates." I'm sure there's some deeper meaning life and violence or whatever, but the whole "the pelicans eat the cute sperm" thing felt like a parody.

Fave movie of the year... gonna have go with Asteroid City. Shout outs as well to You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, The Holdovers, Beau Is Afraid, and Killers of the Flower Moon.
 
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Apopheniac said:
the whole "the pelicans eat the cute sperm" thing felt like a parody
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lmao I literally choke on my tea reading that

but fr I don't think it has anything to do with birthrates? Imo it's a movie about creative transmission, Miyazaki coming to terms with his own mortality and the fact that he doesn't have a successor and that's OK, that new generations will do their thing and you have to trust them with that, that sometimes good ideas get lost and that's a normal thing.
 
Party Sklar said:
lmao I literally choke on my tea reading that

but fr I don't think it has anything to do with birthrates? Imo it's a movie about creative transmission, Miyazaki coming to terms with his own mortality and the fact that he doesn't have a successor and that's OK, that new generations will do their thing and you have to trust them with that, that sometimes good ideas get lost and that's a normal thing.
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yeah, it certainly wasn't my favorite studio ghibli movie nor did i think it was one of the most cohesive story-wise, but i never interpreted it to be about birth rates hahaha.
 
here's my 9x9 for 2023 movies. Replace Suzume with Evil Dead Rise tho. Didn't get to see some stuff that I wanted to like Poor Things and Past Lives.

also don't click on my account if you're under 18, there's copious amounts of hentai retweeted lol
 
Thinking on the parallels of The Boy and the Heron vis a vis Godzilla Minus One, it's interesting that they both use WWII and the real hardships of Japanese civilians as the backdrop for tales with animal antagonists ending on hope placed in post-war reconstruction. Where Godzilla takes the brave stance of "kamikaze attacks are a waste of perfectly good soldiers and the empire let our boys down," BnH retreats into fantasy for most of its runtime, with less emphasis on Japanese victimhood. I'm aware of Miyazaki's bona fides, though it strikes me as a tad eerie how people have drawn similar themes out of this pair.
 
I don't know how easy it is to catch outside Finland, but I was extremely touched by Fallen Leaves, which I saw at the end of last year.



It has received some international attention at least, with two Golden Globe nominations and all.
 
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