My take on the camerawork. Basically, the reason you hated it is the reason I loved it. :) Also, given how the movie turns out, I kind of liked that Swanberg was the weak link. And if you enjoyed AJ Bowen, be sure to see The Signal. He gets to do some really fun stuff in that movie.
-Tom
JoshL
3122
We’ll just have to disagree on this one. It’s obvious that the technique was intentional, but I just find it lazy. “Hey, I want the audience to feel uncomfortable and disoriented, so I’ll just SHAKE THE CAMERA AROUND and RANDOMLY TURN THE FOCUS KNOB”. Hey, if you want your movie to make me uncomfortable and disoriented, how about having an uncomfortable and disorienting story? Crazy, I know. (Which, this movie actually did have anyway!)
I did see The Signal. I liked that a lot. It was completely batshit, which was perfect.
Good cinematography can be as much a part of the storytelling as acting and editing, but I can understand how some people might find it distracting when the cinematography steps forward more prominently. Just duck into any conversation about Paul Greengrass’ take on the Bourne movies.
However, I don’t think it’s fair to call it lazy. Good handheld camerawork can be very difficult, particularly in a movie as actor-centric as A Horrible Way to Die. I guarantee you that Wingard and Seimitz had to work much more closely than a cinematographer and actor normally work.
But if you want to see lazy, check out Adam Wingard’s disappointing stuff in VHS1 and his godawful vanity segment in VHS2. Ugh. He’s had a movie in the can forever called You’re Next, with AJ Bown, Amy Seimitz, and – your favorite! – Joe Swanberg. It’s finally got a release date for later this summer and I’ve gone from being super excited to guardedly optimistic.
-Tom
It was the weakest link in an otherwise fun compilation. Thankfully it was the shortest segment.
hepcat
3125
I’m pretty sure that entire segment was created purely as a way to get that actress’ top off.
BTW, the 1995 film Frank And Jesse is now on Netflix. See a ridiculously young Tom Chick–typecast here, even so with the era.
Upstream Color, which I recall Tom really recommending, is on WI now. I understood it even less than Primer but there are some really beautiful shots.
Timex
3128
I watched Miami Connection on Netflix last night. I highly recommend it.
It’s a movie about a rock band who must fight against ninjas who have taken over the Florida drug trade. Things in this movie:
- 1980’s Rock music
- Ninjas
- 1980’s Rock music about ninjas who will steal your cocaine.
Seriously, that is a thing in this movie. A song about ninjas killing you and stealing all your cocaine.
Awesome Huge Movie Picture
hepcat
3129
Started watching The ABCs of Death last night. Not quite sure what I’m actually seeing at times. Some of it is a little too arthouse in its obscurity, others are just downright dumb (Ti West continues to give me the impression he’s not a terribly good screenwriter), but some are just fantastically entertaining, like the letter H segment by Thomas Cappelen Malling (who directed the equally entertaining spoof film Norwegian Ninja). Thankfully, when they’re awful (like Ti’s) you just have to wait a couple of minutes before it’s on to the next one.
Watched Margin Call last night. It sounds like a really boring movie, since it’s about a financial crisis at a major stockbroker circa 2008 and is pretty much entirely talky, but the technical details of the crisis are glossed over and the essential points covered to upper management in language that the average viewer (and managers) will be able to understand. Meanwhile, it’s a fantastic ensemble character piece with some great dialogue and pitch perfect moments, not to mention far more nuanced portrayals than one might expect. I ended the movie quite taken with multiple characters who’d started the movie seeming like stereotypical heartless Wall Street assholes but proved to have rather more depth than that.
My new just-before-bed TV the past few days has been a BBC show from the mid-90’s called “Cadfael.” With my usual razor-edged attention to detail I remember the name of the start is Derek-Something (Jacoby maybe?). I recognized him as the “good” senator from Gladiator, one of Tom’s top 5 movies of all time (just kidding, don’t ban me).
i did mention I watch these things right before bed, right? I rarely even watch the credits, unless I like the music.
The stage is the 14th century England. A former crusader-turned-monk, brother Cadfael is sort of a Gil Grissom of the medieval age, except with plants instead of bugs. He ends up investigating a series of murders using forensic thinking and a vast knowledge of local ground and medicines of the day, all the while navigating the (often brushed-off) limits of the church and nobility.
It’s one of those shows I really want to like. Some of the characters are well-played and the backgrounds are handsomely done. But I find a lot of the performances to be weak, the main character preachy and the plots often “gotchas” rather than real whodunnits. I’m on the verge of writing it off.
I like Cafael for the most part. My main criticism is characters who are the “good guys” tend towards too much modern thinking. It’s like they were raised with modern sensibilities and teleported back to the medieval era. Otherwise it’s decent enough and is worth watching imho.
He’s Derek Jacobi and he’s been an amazing actor for decades. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth tracking down the BBC miniseries from the 1970’s called “I, Claudius”. He is fantastic in the role of Claudius the Roman emperor.
I watched Margin Call the other day after reading about it being available on instant view here. What a good movie. I appreciate the way it bubbled up into this thread.
Not to mention Gimli and Captain Picard and Mr. Ollivander and Prince Vultan and No. 2 and…
Upstream Color, which I recall Tom really recommending, is on WI now.
Not in the UK, alas. It still hasn’t even had a theatrical release outside of festivals here yet.
Unfortunately, neither Canadian nor UK Netflix can expect to have anything like the same selection until companies quit pulling regional bullshit. Aka probably never.
nobody is going to watch it, but everyone should see The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. i don’t call a lot of movies one of my favorite movies, but this was just goofy and charming enough for me to accept into that stupid category
i wrote about it briefly in an underdog recommendations thread, if you hope reading impressions first can help you put off watching this
hepcat
3139
Cool, thanks! I’ve always wanted to see it but could never find a copy.
Season 2 of Hell on Wheels is up.
