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tomhimpe
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Maestro (2023)
Beautifully shot but narratively imperfect love story
The film is gorgeous to look at, and both Cooper and Mulligan act with passion and gusto. But the first half of the film works clumsily for me in how the story unfolds and how Leonard and Felicia meet and start a life together. Some of the scenes feel a bit lost, and the story stumbles forward or misses a clear overarching narrative.
Only as the film gets into the further stages of their marriage, do the overall themes of sacrifice, devotion and love become more apparent and does the film start hitting home.
The best scene is the climactic fight scene, all brought in 1 single static shot, with a thanksgiving snoopy dramatically entering the frame in the background as Felicia delivers her most devastating line: "if you are not careful, you will die a lonely, old queen."
La sociedad de la nieve (2023)
Doesnt add much new to the 1993 version
Having seen the 1993 version, i feel all the story and emotional beats are almost exactly the same, from the crash to the avalanche, from the cannabalism to the eventual rescue, with the exception that this version benefits from better, more realistic filming, a more authentic cast and a more philosophical angle. However, a lot of the voice-over feels monotonous and cheap, like a grade 1 class in philosophy. Why are we here? Whats the meaning if it all? Whats the purpose of life? Compared to the existential voice-over we are used to in Malick films, this feels quite simplistic, even if it stems from the 2009 book written on this tragedy and is based on real musings from the actual survivors.
In short, it remains a fascinating story and is well told, but given that Alive already exists, is it really worth spending another $70mio budget on exactly the same story. Surely other stories are more worthy of a fresh take?
Man on Fire (2004)
Predictable, one-note, style over substance
This feels like one long Tony Scott commercial, where a frenzied, shaky editing & filming style is being used throughout the whole film for very little reason. It's pointless at the start, even more pointless the whole film through.
The bond & connection between Denzel Washington's character and the young girl never feels authentic, and the plot is highly predictable. None of the actors stand out, but there's only so much they can work with.
This film seems to lay the groundwork for the later Equaliser franchise, which is equally one-note and simplistic.
In summary: a disappointing Tony Scott flick.
Geomijip (2023)
Delightful movie-within-a-movie
Saw this at the London Film Festival, and the audience was laughing throughout the whole film. The film renders the hardship of making great artistic work into a deliciously funy and absurd rollercoaster. The plot revolves around a film director convinced that an additional 2 days of shooting can turn his film into a true masterpiece. The grandeur and delusion of his visions contrasts beautifully with the fanatic enthusiasm of one of the studio's younger producers, the self-obsessed and frail ego's of his actors and mostly the soap-opera, B-movie quality of the final outcome, which comes to life through black-and-white movie-within-a-movie scenes. All this is set against the backdrop of a heavily censored Korean film industry in the seventies, adding an additional layer of obstacles. Even though the level of chaos and length of the overall movie can sometimes stretch too far, the film keeps you hooked and curious to see whether we've been finally watching the making of crap or art, which must be what every film crew goes through on every film set. The final shot of the film is us as the audience looking out at an audience on screen, mirroring the movie-within-a-movie construct, and ends with a director in despair of not having made the one true masterpiece he had imagined. Luckily it gave us a very entertaining and smart film about the passion it really takes to make anything great, and the joy and despair of movie making.
You Belong to Me (2007)
Not worth your time
Awful movie. Cardboard characters. You don't know what drives them, why they're even there, and you have no reason to care for them.
Plot is predictable and boring. I mean, how many times does the big guy grab the main character when he's trying to escape? It feels like this was written in a few hours by someone who didn't have the imagination to come up with better twists.
Editing and pacing of the film is slow and repetitive.
Everything is spelled out literally, instead of being suggested.
Really not worth your time. I already feel stupid for wasting my time on writing a review. But given that there's a few good reviews on here, probably by friends of colleagues of the production, I thought you should know what you get into.