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Netflix recommendations

Ghost Story - entertains for a bit, but it does not deliver. I get that it is trying to be an old school horror anthology film, but many of those were pretty hit and miss. The story that strings the three short stories together starts off interesting, but then spins into a twist that was just not that interesting or original. I enjoyed the performances, there were some laughs, some good bumps in the night, but it wasn't anything special.

Bandersnatch - kept me occupied and entertained for a couple of hours, it's a fun gimmick that isn't as clever as it thinks, much like Brooker's whole career.
 
No guts or gratuitous innards. No knives, axes or chainsaws. It's not scary like that. It's old fashioned ghost story spooky. But like REALLY spooky! It's very creative with music and the way it's shot and edited and the really great performances create the scariness rather than lots of blood.

I haven't been so unsettled by a bit of movement under a sheet for a very long time :D
Thanks so much Mrs. Miggins now I will give it a go
 
Finally got round to watching Roma last night, for some reason Netflix had problems loading it on previous attempts and then I had a houseguest.

After a few big budget movies (Children of Men, the best Harry Potter movie, Gravity) Alfonso Cuarón returned to Mexico make a more intimate film along the lines of Y Tu Mamá También, based on his own childhood. With Hollywood having abandoned more artistically ambitious films and mid-budget dramas, Netflix and Amazon are stepping into the gap to produce this type of film.

All the acclaim Roma is getting is deserved but I can also see why it’s been recommended to try and seek out a cinema screening. It’s a longish, amituous film which takes its time to weave its spell, beautifully shot by the director Cuarón himself in widescreen and b&w. Any sort of narrative momentum doesn’t kick in till an hour into the film, so Roma is a film less suited than most to watch casually while fiddling around with a smart phone.

Both intimate and epic the film observes a year in the life of a maid to a middle class family in early 70s Mexico City. One thing Cuarón has brought to the film despite its intimate focus, is his experience with working on a large scale. The scenes of bustling city life in 70s Mexico City are hugely impressive. Most of the film consists of small moments till in the second half its protagonist gets caught up in a notorious, historical event and the film expands in scale.

What is the films most impressive feature is that just in terms of film-making it may the most ambitious film of the year and yet its artistry never overwhelms the intimate story at its centre. The camera work and all the stuff which goes on in the frame are astounding but the film never looses focus and it never feels like Cuarón is showing off. It is the type of movie that used to get made in the 70s, an intimate art house film on an impressive scale. Seemingly not much happens and yet by the end everything has happened.

I will go watch this again at the theatre if I can still get to a screening in Berlin.

 
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Ayotzinapa

Documentary about the disappearance of 43 trainee teachers in Mexico a few years back.

Grim, but essential viewing.
 
Finally got round to watching Roma last night, for some reason Netflix had problems loading it on previous attempts and then I had a houseguest.

After a few big budget movies (Children of Men, the best Harry Potter movie, Gravity) Alfonso Cuarón returned to Mexico make a more intimate film along the lines of Y Tu Mamá También, based on his own childhood. With Hollywood having abandoned more artistically ambitious films and mid-budget dramas, Netflix and Amazon are stepping into the gap to produce this type of film.

All the acclaim Roma is getting is deserved but I can also see why it’s been recommended to try and seek out a cinema screening. It’s a longish, amituous film which takes its time to weave its spell, beautifully shot by the director Cuarón himself in widescreen and b&w. Any sort of narrative momentum doesn’t kick in till an hour into the film, so Roma is a film less suited than most to watch casually while fiddling around with a smart phone.

Both intimate and epic the film observes a year in the life of a maid to a middle class family in early 70s Mexico City. One thing Cuarón has brought to the film despite its intimate focus, is his experience with working on a large scale. The scenes of bustling city life in 70s Mexico City are hugely impressive. Most of the film consists of small moments till in the second half its protagonist gets caught up in a notorious, historical event and the film expands in scale.

What is the films most impressive feature is that just in terms of film-making it may the most ambitious film of the year and yet its artistry never overwhelms the intimate story at its centre. The camera work and all the stuff which goes on in the frame are astounding but the film never looses focus and it never feels like Cuarón is showing off. It is the type of movie that used to get made in the 70s, an intimate art house film on an impressive scale. Seemingly not much happens and yet by the end everything has happened.

I will go watch this again at the theatre if I can still get to a screening in Berlin.


I read a review of this today, which was as effusive as yours , didn't realise it was on Netflix. Excited
 
Split arrived on Netflix yesterday. James McAvoy plays a man with 23 different personalities who kidnaps and imprisons three teenage girls in an isolated underground facility.

I enjoyed it.

It's based in the same universe as Unbreakable, and a new film is out shortly with James McAvoy, Samuel L Jackson and Bruce Willis all reprising their roles.

I suppose these films are an alternative take on the X-men idea of people developing powers in a society that is not ready to accept them...and what that drives those individuals to do when they feel outcast.

Split's main character has 23 personalities all dealing with that, plus a 24th that is developing and becoming more dominant over them all.

I am looking forward to the next film out this month I think...
 
Finally got round to watching Roma last night, for some reason Netflix had problems loading it on previous attempts and then I had a houseguest.

After a few big budget movies (Children of Men, the best Harry Potter movie, Gravity) Alfonso Cuarón returned to Mexico make a more intimate film along the lines of Y Tu Mamá También, based on his own childhood. With Hollywood having abandoned more artistically ambitious films and mid-budget dramas, Netflix and Amazon are stepping into the gap to produce this type of film.

All the acclaim Roma is getting is deserved but I can also see why it’s been recommended to try and seek out a cinema screening. It’s a longish, amituous film which takes its time to weave its spell, beautifully shot by the director Cuarón himself in widescreen and b&w. Any sort of narrative momentum doesn’t kick in till an hour into the film, so Roma is a film less suited than most to watch casually while fiddling around with a smart phone.

Both intimate and epic the film observes a year in the life of a maid to a middle class family in early 70s Mexico City. One thing Cuarón has brought to the film despite its intimate focus, is his experience with working on a large scale. The scenes of bustling city life in 70s Mexico City are hugely impressive. Most of the film consists of small moments till in the second half its protagonist gets caught up in a notorious, historical event and the film expands in scale.

What is the films most impressive feature is that just in terms of film-making it may the most ambitious film of the year and yet its artistry never overwhelms the intimate story at its centre. The camera work and all the stuff which goes on in the frame are astounding but the film never looses focus and it never feels like Cuarón is showing off. It is the type of movie that used to get made in the 70s, an intimate art house film on an impressive scale. Seemingly not much happens and yet by the end everything has happened.

I will go watch this again at the theatre if I can still get to a screening in Berlin.



Watched this today thanks to your post, thoroughly enjoyed it. Was pretty much mesmerised. I needed a distraction and to have some enforced relaxing time so sat down and put this on.
Many thanks!
 
The Captive - a thriller directed by Atom Egoyan. If you like his style, which I do, then you'll probably like it too. Slow paced, sparse on the dialogue front, odd little details, dramatic music, a little bit twisted. That kind of thing.
 
The Captive - a thriller directed by Atom Egoyan. If you like his style, which I do, then you'll probably like it too. Slow paced, sparse on the dialogue front, odd little details, dramatic music, a little bit twisted. That kind of thing.
I thought Reynolds and Enos worked hard, but ultimately I don't think the whole chopped up timeline stuff did it any favours. Can't quite put my finger on exactly why I felt it was so meh, but meh it was for me.
 
I thought Reynolds and Enos worked hard, but ultimately I don't think the whole chopped up timeline stuff did it any favours. Can't quite put my finger on exactly why I felt it was so meh, but meh it was for me.
Fair enough. I don't think it's the best film ever but I do like the way Atom Egoyan tells a story.
 
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