"Don't you think maybe they are the same thing? Love and attention?"
August 26, 2022 6:03 AM Subscribe
Ok, but Everthing Everywhere All at Once didn't even make the top tier? C'mon.
posted by the primroses were over at 6:38 AM on August 26, 2022 [19 favorites]
posted by the primroses were over at 6:38 AM on August 26, 2022 [19 favorites]
In the spirit of arguing with lists on the internet, I'd like to reaffirm my stance that Hereditary is way overrated, less than the sum of its parts.
I also feel that the writer completely misunderstood The Green Knight (which is an amazing, puzzling film (much like the poem is an amazing puzzling poem) with a stand out performance by Dev Patel). Calling it "a sumptuous swords-and-sorcery epic" suggests that the writer doesn't know what any of those terms mean (although I will allow him sumptuous, although "verdant" was the term he was looking for). It's not even really about honor.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:46 AM on August 26, 2022 [36 favorites]
I also feel that the writer completely misunderstood The Green Knight (which is an amazing, puzzling film (much like the poem is an amazing puzzling poem) with a stand out performance by Dev Patel). Calling it "a sumptuous swords-and-sorcery epic" suggests that the writer doesn't know what any of those terms mean (although I will allow him sumptuous, although "verdant" was the term he was looking for). It's not even really about honor.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:46 AM on August 26, 2022 [36 favorites]
How can you review Equals without pointing out its like Equilibrium but shit?
posted by biffa at 6:58 AM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by biffa at 6:58 AM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
I know it’s not really a big data point, but almost no A24 films have been released in Japan. I’ve done my best, I want to give them my money, but Green Knight?* Nope. EEAAO? Nah. Bodiesx3? Nope. None of it. And honestly, all I want is a general release with subtitles so Mrs. Ghidorah can see why I’ve been jumping up and down about these amazing previews for these movies I wish I could share with her. Midsommar seems to have been the only movie of theirs to make it over here, and at this point, piracy is the only recourse I have to seeing films I would happily pay Japan’s ridiculous ticket prices to.
and holy shit, not even having seen Green Knight, all I want is for A24 to put out Tristan y Isolde follower by Parcifal, and work their way around the entire cycle until the end up with a Corn King version of Arthur that pays homage to both Swords at Sunset and Mists of Avalon all at once, is that too much to ask and yes, I know it is, but goddamn, all I want is that, pretty please let me have it.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:29 AM on August 26, 2022 [13 favorites]
and holy shit, not even having seen Green Knight, all I want is for A24 to put out Tristan y Isolde follower by Parcifal, and work their way around the entire cycle until the end up with a Corn King version of Arthur that pays homage to both Swords at Sunset and Mists of Avalon all at once, is that too much to ask and yes, I know it is, but goddamn, all I want is that, pretty please let me have it.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:29 AM on August 26, 2022 [13 favorites]
Stipulated: lists are always in the wrong order
But: this is a hell of a list of largely pretty damn good movies. When you're hitting Obvious Child, Ex Machina, Room, and haven't even cracked the top 25...
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:34 AM on August 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
But: this is a hell of a list of largely pretty damn good movies. When you're hitting Obvious Child, Ex Machina, Room, and haven't even cracked the top 25...
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:34 AM on August 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
The most interesting thing here is all the movies I didn't know were A24! (Basically anything on the list that isn't a consciously artsy and stressful watch.) They've been really hammering out their brand since 2016.
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:15 AM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:15 AM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
My biggest problem with the A24 horror model, as Brandon Taylor put it:
I’m about to experience a set of escalating incidents that are banal but off-putting, culminating in some kind of supernatural animal staring at me from across a room in the dark.
is how long they drag their feet to get to the premise. 80 minutes of supernatural teasing and resetting to normal, and then 2 minutes of action with a little bit of CGI to deliver all of the payoff. It makes it very hard for me to be invested in the majority of the movie if I know nothing's really going to develop. Do you not have more than 2 minutes of things to do with your premise! (Versus a movie like Us, where you spend the first act wondering what the spooky hints are about, and then in Act 2 the world changes and no one is safe again.) It worked for me with Hereditary, but I lost it when I saw Saint Maud and False Positive in the same month, which seemed like A24 movies made by people who had only ever consumed A24 movies. (I accept that I may just not like psychological thrillers.)
posted by little onion at 8:18 AM on August 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
I’m about to experience a set of escalating incidents that are banal but off-putting, culminating in some kind of supernatural animal staring at me from across a room in the dark.
is how long they drag their feet to get to the premise. 80 minutes of supernatural teasing and resetting to normal, and then 2 minutes of action with a little bit of CGI to deliver all of the payoff. It makes it very hard for me to be invested in the majority of the movie if I know nothing's really going to develop. Do you not have more than 2 minutes of things to do with your premise! (Versus a movie like Us, where you spend the first act wondering what the spooky hints are about, and then in Act 2 the world changes and no one is safe again.) It worked for me with Hereditary, but I lost it when I saw Saint Maud and False Positive in the same month, which seemed like A24 movies made by people who had only ever consumed A24 movies. (I accept that I may just not like psychological thrillers.)
posted by little onion at 8:18 AM on August 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
TFA: <ranks The Children Act at 74>
me: Ah, it wasn't so bad!
TFA: If you didn’t catch that it’s based on an Ian McEwan novel, you could probably guess.
me: ok, that's fair.
posted by supercres at 8:56 AM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
me: Ah, it wasn't so bad!
TFA: If you didn’t catch that it’s based on an Ian McEwan novel, you could probably guess.
me: ok, that's fair.
posted by supercres at 8:56 AM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
Calling it "a sumptuous swords-and-sorcery epic" suggests that the writer doesn't know what any of those terms mean
Yeah, the list is worthless to me based on this description. They either didn't watch the film or didn't "get it". And Hereditary, a film I liked, at #1? Everything Everywhere All at Once not even in the top ten? Yeah no. Do better Vulture. A competing list from Variety from the last week (Everything Everywhere All At Once at #6 and Hereditary rightly at #23) seems to understand the films better and have better taste.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:04 AM on August 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yeah, the list is worthless to me based on this description. They either didn't watch the film or didn't "get it". And Hereditary, a film I liked, at #1? Everything Everywhere All at Once not even in the top ten? Yeah no. Do better Vulture. A competing list from Variety from the last week (Everything Everywhere All At Once at #6 and Hereditary rightly at #23) seems to understand the films better and have better taste.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:04 AM on August 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
I love A24's Merch. Tried to get them to wholesale to me for my shop but they only sell direct.
posted by dobbs at 10:13 AM on August 26, 2022
posted by dobbs at 10:13 AM on August 26, 2022
If A24 really wants to blow minds, the sequel to Marcel will take place in the Everything Everywhere multiverse and feature a cameo by Black Phillip.
Having said that, C'mon C'mon could be a little higher on the list.
posted by vverse23 at 10:15 AM on August 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
Having said that, C'mon C'mon could be a little higher on the list.
posted by vverse23 at 10:15 AM on August 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
I also came to complain about the low ranking of EEAAO, but if I'm being honest, it's a movie that went straight to my heart, but objectively is not the absolute best movie ever made. They sell a pin
posted by mecran01 at 10:27 AM on August 26, 2022
posted by mecran01 at 10:27 AM on August 26, 2022
A competing list from Variety
Okay now I want lots of metaranklists ranking competing ranking lists.
posted by kristi at 10:28 AM on August 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
Okay now I want lots of metaranklists ranking competing ranking lists.
posted by kristi at 10:28 AM on August 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
I don't enjoy what I've seen of A24's horror output, but this list is still mostly aces in my book, by which I mean damn straight you put Spring Breakers in the top tier.
(Also, it was thrown way down into tier 5, but I really enjoyed Free Fire. Ben Wheatley is an odd one as a director: it feels like he's interested in breaking ground on new kinds of movies more than anything. I don't think I've ever seen a film of his that didn't feel like it succeeded in making the thing he wanted to make entertaining, and he's weirdly egoless in that it doesn't seem like he's compelled to have each of his films loudly proclaim their own goodness. They're content to be chill, fun times in unusual territories, which can be spectacular in its own right.)
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 10:40 AM on August 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
(Also, it was thrown way down into tier 5, but I really enjoyed Free Fire. Ben Wheatley is an odd one as a director: it feels like he's interested in breaking ground on new kinds of movies more than anything. I don't think I've ever seen a film of his that didn't feel like it succeeded in making the thing he wanted to make entertaining, and he's weirdly egoless in that it doesn't seem like he's compelled to have each of his films loudly proclaim their own goodness. They're content to be chill, fun times in unusual territories, which can be spectacular in its own right.)
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 10:40 AM on August 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
the genre commandments — Thou Shalt Have a Creepy Voice Speaking Welsh
...which genre does the author have in mind, there?
posted by doctornemo at 10:46 AM on August 26, 2022
...which genre does the author have in mind, there?
posted by doctornemo at 10:46 AM on August 26, 2022
Biggest surprise: Learning High Rise isn't an A24 film.
posted by chromecow at 11:22 AM on August 26, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by chromecow at 11:22 AM on August 26, 2022 [7 favorites]
Midsommar was better than Hereditary. It's a perfect example of a director who learned a lot on one movie and then implemented that learning on his next.
posted by tclark at 12:15 PM on August 26, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by tclark at 12:15 PM on August 26, 2022 [10 favorites]
I hated Midsommar and feel like I am alone in that. I think that he under estimates how tightly constructed and anxious Free Fire it is, and how allegorical it is, mostly about England and money---it's kind of perfect.
posted by PinkMoose at 12:51 PM on August 26, 2022
posted by PinkMoose at 12:51 PM on August 26, 2022
Re MidSommar. I don't think it works as a drama--i don't like the habit, of false endings and this kind of stretching out, compiling atrocities, things looking interesting, but it doesn't earn it's episodic quality....though I have said this before--there were bits of it that were so strange, so audicious, and unlike anything that I have seen. If that is one of cinema's goals, in a kind of pulpy way, than it kind of succeeds...I'm mad at watching it, but that bear scene...
posted by PinkMoose at 12:53 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by PinkMoose at 12:53 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've liked and/or loved many of A24s offerings but I just couldn't even get through Hereditary. I bailed about 45 minutes into it and haven't gone back.
posted by octothorpe at 1:56 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 1:56 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ghidorah, I'd assuming you were talking about "big screen release" in Japan, but if you consider piracy a recourse then I guess you're okay with small screen viewing as well, in which case quite a few of the films are available on Netflix and Amazon Prime. I can't remember which service I watched which movies on, but I've seen Uncut Gems, Hereditary, Swiss Army Man, Moonlight, The Disaster Artist, Green Room, and Ex Machina on them. Also, though I haven't watched them myself, I've seen that Spring Breakers, A Ghost Story, Room, The Lighthouse, The Witch, Midsommar, and Lady Bird are also on them. Presumably a lot of the others, too, because (for example) the only reason I knew Green Room was on Amazon is because I went and looked for it; it didn't show up in any "Top 10 in Japan" lists or anything. So a lot of those other may be on one of the services but only showing up if you search directly for them.
I'm not saying you should get Netflix or an Amazon Prime subscription, just that piracy isn't the only recourse; there are also other recourses.
posted by Bugbread at 3:16 PM on August 26, 2022
I'm not saying you should get Netflix or an Amazon Prime subscription, just that piracy isn't the only recourse; there are also other recourses.
posted by Bugbread at 3:16 PM on August 26, 2022
Okay now I want lots of metaranklists ranking competing ranking lists.
This is a good use of my time...
This is a good use of my time...
- Imdb A24 list organised by box office numbers (undated but presumably current)
- Collider's list (2022-08-05)
- CBR.com's list (2022-05-29)
- Rotten Tomatoes (undated)
- What Nerd list (2022-02-28)
- the myriad of user ranked A24 lists on letterboxd.com (variously dated)
- Slashfilm (2017-05-01)
Bugbread, the weird thing about most of the movies on Prime or Netflix is that, until reading this list, I hadn’t realized just how many movies A24 has made, or that many of those movies were A24.
I guess the issue for me is that two movies I’ve very much wanted to see since I first heard of them don’t seem to have any release scheduled for Japan at all. I’m excited to see Nope next week before heading back to school, and have to feel grateful that it only got a one month delay, as I can’t say for sure, but I don’t remember Us or Get Out making it to theaters here, either. I think a big part of it is that there just seem to be more Japanese movies coming out, leaving less space for foreign releases (or, you know, theaters are deciding to show the latest doraemon movie on six of their twelve screens, bumping Thor 4 to the smallest screen a week after its release.
I am grumpy about movies, having only started to feel safe going back to them, and then finding nothing to see. (Ikspiari, the mall in front of Disneyland, has a solid sixteen screen theater, is on my way home from work, and Tuesday showings around 5pm, there’s barely anyone in the theater).
posted by Ghidorah at 4:32 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
I guess the issue for me is that two movies I’ve very much wanted to see since I first heard of them don’t seem to have any release scheduled for Japan at all. I’m excited to see Nope next week before heading back to school, and have to feel grateful that it only got a one month delay, as I can’t say for sure, but I don’t remember Us or Get Out making it to theaters here, either. I think a big part of it is that there just seem to be more Japanese movies coming out, leaving less space for foreign releases (or, you know, theaters are deciding to show the latest doraemon movie on six of their twelve screens, bumping Thor 4 to the smallest screen a week after its release.
I am grumpy about movies, having only started to feel safe going back to them, and then finding nothing to see. (Ikspiari, the mall in front of Disneyland, has a solid sixteen screen theater, is on my way home from work, and Tuesday showings around 5pm, there’s barely anyone in the theater).
posted by Ghidorah at 4:32 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ghidorah: "I guess the issue for me is that two movies I’ve very much wanted to see since I first heard of them don’t seem to have any release scheduled for Japan at all."
Let me guess: is one of them Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, currently available (in the US) for rental on:
posted by Bugbread at 4:50 PM on August 26, 2022
Let me guess: is one of them Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, currently available (in the US) for rental on:
- Redbox, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, VUDU, Microsoft Store, Apple TV, DirectTV, and FlixFling
- Literally nowhere
posted by Bugbread at 4:50 PM on August 26, 2022
I don’t remember Us or Get Out making it to theaters here, either.Get Out and Us both had theatrical releases here, though the former was a blink and you miss it affair (or so I say now to assuage my regret at missing it, especially as with hindsight I'd prefer to have seen it on the big screen rather than Us, which I found a little underwhelming).
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 5:25 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ok, there's no friggin' way that Spring Breakers is in a higher tier than EEAAO. From the article's description for EEAAO:
Meanwhile, I also agree with a couple of other commentators that Free Fire deserves a lot better than bottom tier. I'd personally put it at Tier III (Pretty Good).
posted by mhum at 5:52 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
But the setup also write catharsis checks that the sentimental and repetitive third act can’t cash. (Turns out human existence can be saved by … a hug?) When it comes to their plots, the Daniels demonstrate boundless imagination; maybe one day their emotional palette will, too.Did this guy watch the same movie I did? Can this be chalked up to a cultural gap because 75-90% of my fellow 2nd gen Asian immigrants I know who watched this were at least fighting back tears -- and at most outright bawling -- at that 3rd act.
Meanwhile, I also agree with a couple of other commentators that Free Fire deserves a lot better than bottom tier. I'd personally put it at Tier III (Pretty Good).
posted by mhum at 5:52 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
'Midsommar' was a remake of 'The Wicker Man' (1973) which could never hope to match that awesome original soundtrack, but it was well-crafted and had swell art-direction.
posted by ovvl at 7:56 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 7:56 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
> ovvl: "'Midsommar' was a remake of 'The Wicker Man' (1973)"
I would say that that's perhaps a tad ungenerous. They're bound to bear some non-trivial similarities since they're both in the folk horror genre. But, I feel like the multiple outsiders in Midsommar provided a lot of different inter-character dynamics that weren't really present in The Wicker Man with its solo interloper.
posted by mhum at 9:07 PM on August 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
I would say that that's perhaps a tad ungenerous. They're bound to bear some non-trivial similarities since they're both in the folk horror genre. But, I feel like the multiple outsiders in Midsommar provided a lot of different inter-character dynamics that weren't really present in The Wicker Man with its solo interloper.
posted by mhum at 9:07 PM on August 26, 2022 [5 favorites]
I've seen some of the movies on this list but unfortunately not all. But have to agree with some others that Hereditary is far too overrated. The direction and acting are all top-notch, but there’s basically two genres mashed together: family drama and cosmic horror. The drama is very, very well done. That dinner table scene is heart wrenching and masterfully acted; Toni Collette deserved all the Oscars for this movie. But the rather sudden shift at the end to horror is at first very shocking, but I didn’t find it terribly scary because Aster was intentionally vague with explanations. It should’ve been scary but I found it pretty silly at the end. Worth watching, though. Uncut Gems is a minor masterpiece, and that alone should be above Hereditary.
posted by zardoz at 9:22 PM on August 26, 2022
posted by zardoz at 9:22 PM on August 26, 2022
Yeah, Everything Everywhere was one of the movies I honestly felt excitement for when I saw the trailer, like, holy shit, it’s all the things I never knew I wanted, while Green Knight was everything that I had known I wanted and waited for since I was a child.
As far as Us/Get Out, I think Get Out worked better as a story, but Us was just an amazing spectacle, complete with amazing performances. It didn’t really come together, but the hands across America thing, I remember how big of a thing that was, and it was a jolt of pure nostalgia but not ruined and poisonous like most nostalgic things are these days, if that makes any sense.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:46 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
As far as Us/Get Out, I think Get Out worked better as a story, but Us was just an amazing spectacle, complete with amazing performances. It didn’t really come together, but the hands across America thing, I remember how big of a thing that was, and it was a jolt of pure nostalgia but not ruined and poisonous like most nostalgic things are these days, if that makes any sense.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:46 PM on August 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
My problem with Hereditary is that the bonkers third act just didn't do justice to the emotional weight and dread of the first two acts. i know there's a pattern with slow burn horror where the tension that has been building finally comes to the surface and things get wild, but I just didn't feel like the wild third act worked as will or did justice to what the audience had been expected to go through -- to my sensibilities the film became campy and almost comedic. I know that's just my take and others clearly have very different opinions on this.
Still a darn good film and worth watching at least once IMO
posted by treepour at 1:00 AM on August 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
Still a darn good film and worth watching at least once IMO
posted by treepour at 1:00 AM on August 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
Y'all are crazy, Hereditary is maybe the #1 scariest movie I've ever seen, I literally could not sleep for like a week afterward.
posted by windbox at 2:34 AM on August 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by windbox at 2:34 AM on August 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've got so many films from this list to catch up with but of the ones I've watched, here are my favorites (in no real order):
A Ghost Story
Ex Machina
The Green Knight
Lady Bird
After Yang
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Last Black Man in San Francisco
Locke
Under The Skin
Krisha
Go watch Locke, it's one of my favorite films. It's almost 100% Tom Harder in the driver's seat of a BMW talking on the cell phone and it's totally riveting.
posted by octothorpe at 6:17 AM on August 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
A Ghost Story
Ex Machina
The Green Knight
Lady Bird
After Yang
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Last Black Man in San Francisco
Locke
Under The Skin
Krisha
Go watch Locke, it's one of my favorite films. It's almost 100% Tom Harder in the driver's seat of a BMW talking on the cell phone and it's totally riveting.
posted by octothorpe at 6:17 AM on August 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Locke is amazing! Also, with Olivia Colman. What can't she do? That's all I wanted to add.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 6:31 AM on August 27, 2022
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 6:31 AM on August 27, 2022
I really like It Comes At Night, which is basically a zombie movie without zombies.
posted by SPrintF at 8:47 AM on August 27, 2022
posted by SPrintF at 8:47 AM on August 27, 2022
I rewatched Midsommar recently and it really is a pretty fuckin awesome movie. It’s be one of the most well-observed movies I’ve seen about clinging to a dying relationship. And those first twenty five minutes! Whew.
Hereditary is also very cool, but a movie I regret reading anything about before watching. I’m usually pretty good at taking a movie on its own terms, but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed after being prepared to watch the scariest movie of the decade. That’s on me though. It’s a pretty unique and wild piece of work.
There’s been a lot of takes on A24 lately, I think because of their growing ubiquity, expensive merch, and general status as the era’s go-to purveyor of mostly inoffensive good taste. They’re easy to dunk on, but I do regret not getting the Hereditary sweatpants.
posted by cakelite at 1:34 PM on August 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Hereditary is also very cool, but a movie I regret reading anything about before watching. I’m usually pretty good at taking a movie on its own terms, but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed after being prepared to watch the scariest movie of the decade. That’s on me though. It’s a pretty unique and wild piece of work.
There’s been a lot of takes on A24 lately, I think because of their growing ubiquity, expensive merch, and general status as the era’s go-to purveyor of mostly inoffensive good taste. They’re easy to dunk on, but I do regret not getting the Hereditary sweatpants.
posted by cakelite at 1:34 PM on August 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Under the Skin, The Witch & Uncut Gems are all in my top 10 of the decade, so they'd form a clear cut top 3 for a24. But as far as internet rankings go this seems pretty fair. Would have liked to see Mid 90s a lot higher - that movie really grew on me and has become a bit of a comfort watch.
I think it's finally time to give Krisha a shot. I didn't ultimately like either of Shults' others, but they were ambitious enough to warrant another chance.
posted by mannequito at 1:58 PM on August 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
I think it's finally time to give Krisha a shot. I didn't ultimately like either of Shults' others, but they were ambitious enough to warrant another chance.
posted by mannequito at 1:58 PM on August 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
windbox: "Y'all are crazy, Hereditary is maybe the #1 scariest movie I've ever seen, I literally could not sleep for like a week afterward."
I saw it a month or two ago, enjoyed it a lot, and literally cannot remember a single scary scene. There was one really shocking scene (that scene), followed immediately by an emotionally devastating scene, and then some really depressing scenes of dealing with the aftermath. Then it switches gears into whodunnit/light horror mode, which was interesting but not scary, and I enjoyed the ending, but I literally can't remember a single scary scene. What part of it did you find scary?
posted by Bugbread at 3:31 PM on August 27, 2022
I saw it a month or two ago, enjoyed it a lot, and literally cannot remember a single scary scene. There was one really shocking scene (that scene), followed immediately by an emotionally devastating scene, and then some really depressing scenes of dealing with the aftermath. Then it switches gears into whodunnit/light horror mode, which was interesting but not scary, and I enjoyed the ending, but I literally can't remember a single scary scene. What part of it did you find scary?
posted by Bugbread at 3:31 PM on August 27, 2022
(Whodunnit is the wrong word, sorry. I guess I meant "unraveling a mystery" mode.)
posted by Bugbread at 3:58 PM on August 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Bugbread at 3:58 PM on August 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Is Equals a knock-off of Equilibrium, only without the parts that make Equilibrium fun? Yes, absolutely. Did I enjoy it anyway? Also yes.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 6:53 PM on August 27, 2022
posted by vibratory manner of working at 6:53 PM on August 27, 2022
I've written a lot of posts about Hereditary over in Fanfare, but that was before I saw Midsommar. As a diptych, I feel about the films much as I did Raw and Titane -- the latter is doing something much more fresh and exciting formally, but the former is probably more successful as a work. Both Hereditary and Raw become a little too genre-y and familiar in their last act, but Hereditary commits the grave sin of emotionally disconnecting us from the main character before the ending. Midsommar, though, keeps us connected to the heroine all the way through, a journey that becomes almost excruciating; as said above, I feel like you can see the lessons Aster learned in Hereditary applied here.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:50 AM on August 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:50 AM on August 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
Oh! But I should say I think Hereditary is a more coherent and compelling film than Midsommar, which in the way of much experimental art is too afraid of formula to risk being too structured, and so becomes at times simply inchoate. That was kind of my original point.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:54 AM on August 28, 2022
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:54 AM on August 28, 2022
This was a good post for making a list of a bunch of movies I had gone "Oh I want to see that" and just... Didn't because baby/pandemic. (The Green Knight was actually our first COVID times movie we braved the theatre for. )
So my husband and I finally watched Swiss Army Man last night and that was, uh, a movie, for sure.
posted by damayanti at 4:05 PM on August 28, 2022
So my husband and I finally watched Swiss Army Man last night and that was, uh, a movie, for sure.
posted by damayanti at 4:05 PM on August 28, 2022
I watched Swiss Army Man a few weeks ago because I loved EEAAO and wanted to see the first movie by The Daniels and yes, it was definitely a movie.
posted by octothorpe at 6:43 PM on August 28, 2022
posted by octothorpe at 6:43 PM on August 28, 2022
I can tell the author had fun writing this list, and it's fun to read. The line I've snickered most from the Slow West blurb:
Though it's a little jarring how the author keeps referring to "the" A24 style, which is neon and hypersaturated but also moody and desaturated etc etc instead of sticking more to the Florida, New York, and LA styles or just saying there's 4 types of A24 movie or whatever.
posted by fleacircus at 7:19 PM on August 28, 2022
Even before Power of the Dog, filmmakers were looking at Kodi Smit-McPhee and thinking, Now there’s a guy who’s out of place in a western.I think the writing is a bit tongue in cheek a lot of the time but it says enough interesting and accurate things to be worth the time. I'm only through to #60 -- and I know I'll be outraged about the ranking near the top, and the ludicrous statements involved! -- but I find this kind of list way more interesting than, say, one that combines rankings from 50 critics into a top 10 that has no commentary.
Though it's a little jarring how the author keeps referring to "the" A24 style, which is neon and hypersaturated but also moody and desaturated etc etc instead of sticking more to the Florida, New York, and LA styles or just saying there's 4 types of A24 movie or whatever.
posted by fleacircus at 7:19 PM on August 28, 2022
What part of it did you find scary?
I think there is a huge rift between people who saw Hereditary in theaters vs. those who watched at home. For example, every single person in the theater noticing Toni Collette hovering in the dark corner, on their own terms, and hearing each audible *gasp* STILL haunts my dreams. The movie did an excellent job at "thinking you saw some shit in a dark room - or did you??" but perhaps this just didn't translate well to home viewing.
posted by windbox at 9:31 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think there is a huge rift between people who saw Hereditary in theaters vs. those who watched at home. For example, every single person in the theater noticing Toni Collette hovering in the dark corner, on their own terms, and hearing each audible *gasp* STILL haunts my dreams. The movie did an excellent job at "thinking you saw some shit in a dark room - or did you??" but perhaps this just didn't translate well to home viewing.
posted by windbox at 9:31 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Oof, over the weekend I just watched The Bling Ring which the article author has ranked #62 in Tier III ("Pretty Good") and I'll just have to say that I disagree that this movie was pretty good. The acting in the principal cast was quite weak (with the exception of Emma Watson and Leslie Mann), the dialogue seemed a little forced, and I found the film overall to be kind of choppy and uneven. Not what I normally find from Sofia Coppola. I dunno if it just didn't age well or what but I would have definitely pushed it down at least into Tier IV ("Mediocrities"). I think my tastes and sensibilities and the article author's are sufficiently different that I probably shouldn't read too much further into this list.
posted by mhum at 1:24 PM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by mhum at 1:24 PM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
windbox: "I think there is a huge rift between people who saw Hereditary in theaters vs. those who watched at home. For example, every single person in the theater noticing Toni Collette hovering in the dark corner, on their own terms, and hearing each audible *gasp* STILL haunts my dreams."
That very well might be it. I saw it at home, and although I watched it "properly" (all the lights turned off, no phone, etc.), even then I can see that the comfort of my own sofa, the smaller screen size, the quieter audio, etc. could have made a big difference. Like, I saw her perched up in the corner, but the first time (in the bedroom) didn't really scare me, I just thought it made a good mood, and the second time (in the living room) made me laugh. But I'm not disagreeing that it's scary -- any movie that scares a lot of people is, without a question, a scary movie -- it's just that since I wasn't scared I couldn't think of what scenes people thought were scary. So I totally appreciate the answer, thanks!
posted by Bugbread at 4:44 PM on August 29, 2022
That very well might be it. I saw it at home, and although I watched it "properly" (all the lights turned off, no phone, etc.), even then I can see that the comfort of my own sofa, the smaller screen size, the quieter audio, etc. could have made a big difference. Like, I saw her perched up in the corner, but the first time (in the bedroom) didn't really scare me, I just thought it made a good mood, and the second time (in the living room) made me laugh. But I'm not disagreeing that it's scary -- any movie that scares a lot of people is, without a question, a scary movie -- it's just that since I wasn't scared I couldn't think of what scenes people thought were scary. So I totally appreciate the answer, thanks!
posted by Bugbread at 4:44 PM on August 29, 2022
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