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Forum namePass The Popcorn
Topic subjectHigh Flying Bird (Soderbergh/Netflix 2019)
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=733536
733536, High Flying Bird (Soderbergh/Netflix 2019)
Posted by tully_blanchard, Mon Feb-11-19 08:20 AM
Watched this over the weekend. Pretty good sports movie that's about more than sports. Zazzie is killing shit in this one.




*************************************

Fuck aliens

-Warriorpoet415

#2dopebrothersandastackofwax

https://www.instagram.com/thirtythree.three/

The Greatest Story (N)ever Told (finished)

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=s
733563, huh, didn't even know this was a Soderbergh joint
Posted by benny, Tue Feb-12-19 12:59 PM
added it to my list randomly, maybe I'll watch it this week
733577, I don't know. I think this movie was...not good.
Posted by Buddy_Gilapagos, Wed Feb-13-19 10:27 AM
Great Camera Work and Great Acting, and it was building towards something big...but it felt like nothing happened. And I watched Roma this weekend and loved that so I don't have anything against nothing happening in films but this was all anti-climatic.

It felt like a Soderbergh heist movie with no heist.

Great acting though. I loved everyone in it. Even the ball player.

My other critique is it should have had more hip-hop.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"
733578, valid point.....the whole film builds to a payoff...
Posted by rorschach, Wed Feb-13-19 10:43 AM
that never comes. I still think the film was good but I really wanted to see the film make that left turn.


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733592, This is how I felt.
Posted by LeroyBumpkin, Wed Feb-13-19 08:26 PM
I also felt like scenes/events were butted up next to each other.
Like, we weren't given a breath in between scenes.
Then...where was the music?

I applaud them for filming this with the iPhone6.
Working in video production, I'm always telling people
the camera doesn't matter. This reinforces that.
Although...I felt some of the highlights were blown out.

But yeah, I probably need to watch it again.
733597, The arguement can be made that it isnt that fleshed out
Posted by tully_blanchard, Thu Feb-14-19 09:59 AM
But I think that's what I liked about it most.

As soon as Ray realized they were trying to push him out of the agency I saw exactly where the movie was going (the trailer/preview that Netflix forces on you told me little to nothing about the movie, which is why I watched it).

I like that conversations are had between people that you really dont know who they are at first (funny meeting you here Bill...head of waste management..why would I...the city planner have a drink with you in front of the entire city council...I HATE that shit)..so it requires you to put things together...to pay attention.

I like how the "bible" at the end is really the point of the whole movie...yeah, it feels a little anti-climatic, but it's like watching the Meryl Strep movie "Doubt" and (spoiler), the bombshell is "I HAVE DOUBT"..dramatic music stab...fade to black...roll credits.

It's a business movie...about the business of basketball..I loved it.




*************************************

Fuck aliens

-Warriorpoet415

#2dopebrothersandastackofwax

https://www.instagram.com/thirtythree.three/

The Greatest Story (N)ever Told (finished)

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=s
733579, It's more of a business movie, to me. I enjoyed it.
Posted by kevlar skully, Wed Feb-13-19 10:49 AM
Great cast and whenever I thought it was getting boring, the big ideas of Andre Holland's character would rope me back in.

I thought it was shot kinda "different" and afterward found out it was all shot on an iPhone which is pretty cool.

I definitely like Logan Lucky more but I liked this flick for the most part and would definitely recommend it over the majority of "Netflix originals"
733583, Wow, shot on an iphone. That makes me want to watch it again.
Posted by Buddy_Gilapagos, Wed Feb-13-19 11:30 AM
I will admit, I got lost a lot of times while watching.

I didn't get that the agent was rebelling against the machine until late in the game.

I didn't get how successful of an agent he was suppose to be.

I missed what happened to his cousin.

I missed why his client was soo mad at him at the end (did he really leave him out to dry?).

I missed Zassie's power move.

I was distracted watching. If folks really say it's all that, I might rewatch.




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"
733593, no, this movie moves SUPER fast
Posted by Nodima, Wed Feb-13-19 08:54 PM
It's kind of the danger sometimes with these movies that are obviously written like a play. This movie is as dense with ideas as Glengarry Glen Ross but it has so many more interiors, exteriors and puzzle pieces to pull apart and put back together that it just kinda decides to be an idea dump early on and never lets up. It needed 20 minutes more screen time or 20% more focus on Erick and Ray at the expense of the NBA/NBAPA lawyers. Didn't completely make the argument Ray should've been in rooms with those two so often anyway.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz
733596, I don't think it was ever explained what happened to the cousin
Posted by kevlar skully, Thu Feb-14-19 09:50 AM


I guess suicide was implied?


The client was mad because he believed teams wouldn't fuck with him if he went along with the plan. I don't think he really left him in a bad position but it did put the pressure on the owners to get the deal done.

I think I'll probably have to rewatch it again to catch everything, too.
733584, yea, it had a sort of canted background, 90 degree foreground
Posted by Nodima, Wed Feb-13-19 11:30 AM

>I thought it was shot kinda "different" and afterward found
>out it was all shot on an iPhone which is pretty cool.

look that was eye catching but kind of unsettling for me. like he took a fish eye lens and *almost* straightened it out.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz
733618, it'a an anamorphic lens that makes for a super wide angle look
Posted by RandomFact, Sat Feb-16-19 05:20 PM
>look that was eye catching but kind of unsettling for me. like
>he took a fish eye lens and *almost* straightened it out.

This: https://moondoglabs.com/collections/lenses/products/1-33x-anamorphic-adapter-lens-for-iphone-8

+

This: https://www.filmicpro.com/

= all you need.
733585, Is Zach Quinto that LARGE? lol
Posted by Nodima, Wed Feb-13-19 11:38 AM
His scene with Holland made Quinto look like an Absolute Unit®. Is he bulking up (or weight loading) for some other role? That blew my mind. Bill Duke towered over Holland later in the movie too.

I like the script and the energetic stage-acting style they went for, but like I said above the camera made a lot of the scenes have this sort of uncanny valley feel I'm sure was intentional but I found distracting at the end of the day. That stageplay feel also sort of distracts from the bigness of what this conversation is; I feel like this kind of topic would need more of an HBO political thriller kind of ensemble to really get a feel for the topic.

But as straight up entertainment? It's Soderbergh, so you know. I enjoyed every moment of it.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz
733601, I loved it.
Posted by Hitokiri, Thu Feb-14-19 02:48 PM
I enjoyed this film about as much as I enjoyed Blindspotting -- my favorite film from last year.
Andre Holland absolutely killed it.
Zazie, killed it.
The client felt so believable, in his portrayal of that kind of ball player.
I did not at all care that there wasn't much (any?) music. I hate that hollywood films use music to tell you how to feel instead of letting the scene or the acting speak for itself.
I did feel like we were being set up for a climax that did not come in the way we thought it would, it felt like there would be a big showdown with the league or something, but I didn't at all mind that it didn't play out like that. It didn't need to and I was more than satisfied with the conclusion.
It's the film to beat in 2019 for me so far.
740018, Was this kind of prophetic?
Posted by stylez dainty, Mon Dec-07-20 02:04 PM
Or at least really on to something? I've just realized that I've been watching a lot of basketball youtuber one on ones, even though I would've sworn that's not something I'd be into. Granted, these aren't NBA superstars, or even d-leaguers, but they are very good basketball players making a living outside of any league.
740026, no, that already existed prior to the movie
Posted by Rjcc, Mon Dec-07-20 11:24 PM

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at
740097, Didn't realize this was a Soderbergh joint
Posted by Amritsar, Wed Dec-16-20 11:57 AM
I'm in.