8. "Lowery recently said he's very happy to do "one for them, one for me"" In response to Reply # 7
recently on The Big Picture podcast.
And then you look at his filmography and it's like...yep, each side of the coin keeps getting bigger, but it's bizarrely consistent, like a sine wave.
2013: Ain't Them Bodies Saints 2016: Pete's Dragon 2017: A Ghost Story 2018: The Old Man & the Gun 2021: The Green Knight 2022: Peter Pan & Wendy
Depending on how much you'd consider a movie based on an infamous New Yorker article starring Robert Redford that follows plenty of traditional biopic beats while also arriving to massive critical acclaim and incredibly modest box office numbers as "one for them" lol.
I found it really hard to explain to people afterward because there hasn't really been a big, ambiguous movie like this in a while. Is it about the power women can wield over men? Is it about the fallacy of the Great Journey story convention? Is it an ad for sexual supplements? A climate change allegory? All of the above, none of them?
I kept coming back around to saying "it's gorgeous, and long portions of it don't really seem to matter at all, and when it ends you kind of just shrug and go 'that was a movie'" and getting told I was doing a terrible job selling the thing but...I really wonder what could unseat this from my 2021 Rushmore by the time things are all said and done.
There were some parts that left me scratching my head (i.e. the random handy and money shot) but overall it was just a beautiful film. Lowery did NOT disappoint.
13. "wasn't what I was expecting" In response to Reply # 0
as someone else mentioned, this is definitely an art flick, which I'm cool with.
unfortunately I felt it didn't do a strong enough job in the opening scenes to really sell the characters and show why Gawain would want to take up the challenge he did. at the conclusion, I kinda felt, "what was the point of all this?"
my biggest takeaway is that Alicia Vikander (sp?) has a very subtle but intense sexiness about her that I *really* like. (and this is just off of seeing her in 'Beckett')
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86831 posts
Mon Aug-30-21 09:03 PM
14. "Lovely imagery. Too much circular dialogue." In response to Reply # 0
I appreciate whenever anyone can get a movie that weird into theaters. But too many moments and/or lines of dialogue felt either obviously circular or needlessly opaque. I realize it's a movie set in medieval times, but I kept waiting for people to have a human conversation. There were too few of them, imo.
Lowery's a beast, and I'll still gladly see what he does next-- A Ghost Story was real fucking weird, but it still successfully connected emotionally for me. This one didn't. A miss in my book, but far from a condemnation.
15. "i was pretty much spellbound..." In response to Reply # 0
im not really super into 'the knights' stuff typically. heard some say this was a good flick though, and i like the Dev Patel's acting so we watched this today.
i was spellbound.
the movie definitely wont be for everyone, but i was pretty much under its magic. hauntingly so.
whether it is or isnt 'your kinda film', there is NO denying the craftsmanship here. It looks beautiful, it sounds beautiful, and the performances are beautiful. for me its a thumbs up.
16. "I'm always up for a "nature bats last" story" In response to Reply # 0
Especially when "nature" here is in clear, smirking opposition to the construction of medieval European Christendom as a civilization. These kind of movies make me wonder how much I'm willing to overlook when I watch these. Frank mentioned, reasonably, the opacity of the dialogue. But because I already decided that I liked what this movie is trying to describe, I can fit the opacity into my existing appreciation as a kind of, uh, smugness of infinity. Our conversations are urgent, occur with purpose. But we have things to do before we die, and wildness and nature and the green doesn't, and they don't need to be understood. They're just taunting us with language. Or not. Whatever.
Luckily, this is as beautiful to look at as everybody says. So, shrug. I loved it.
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"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"