Board 8 > B8 Movie Club Topic 1 - subtitle

(+) Yeah! (+)

Consistently funny movies... well, not necessarily laugh out loud, but Scott Pilgrim is always nice to watch and mildly amusing.

As for least fun... What to Expect When You're Expecting, it's very cringe.

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Sound of Metal - 8/10

The movie was surprisingly easy to get into, it flowed really well and the actors did a great job. I'm surprised this movie isn't more famous (AFAIK). But the ending is a bit too, uh, I wanted to say rushed but that's not quite it. It didn't really feel that Ruben's decision to take off the implant was built up that smoothly. He seemed happy enough to see Louise and all. Maybe I just don't get the final 1/4th of the movie. Still, I'm glad I watched it.

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iiicon posted...

these are the kinds of things you look up when you have kids and wonder if you should wait until they fall asleep to watch because they're in earshot of the tv

I wonder why they felt the need to explain what shag meant, I always thought it was pretty ubiquitous and at least far more well known than the last word.

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i "learned" it from Austin Powers when i was like 13 or whatever

Next movie is Thoroughbreds (2017) directed by Cory Finley

@Aecioo
@Camden
@ChichiriMuyo
@CoolCly
@iiicon
@jcgamer107
@Johnbobb
@Mythiot
@Raka_Putra
@Seginustemple

@Snake5555555555
@Suprak_the_Stud
@SwiftyDC
@tyder21
@ViolentAbacus
@Xeybozn

oh shit I was thinking HtTtGaP was gonna take it

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early lead but fell short at the end

Probably not gonna rewatch this one TBH but I will still provide thoughts.

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Also do you guys like to read up a bit about the movies you're watching if you're not familiar about it, or go in blind? I'm going in blind for all the movies in this topic so far, I kinda like not knowing at all what I'm getting into lol and maybe get pleasantly surprised.

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i will only read up on it if like i have an actual choice or am completely unfamiliar with the director/any actors. even when i do read up on something it's very minimal. if i already know the director or like any of the big main actors, chances are i'm going in blind. i never watch trailers either.

for something like this topic where i'm going to be watching the movie anyway, i'm going in with as little information as possible.

I go in blind for practically everything and enjoy reading up on it after.

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I usually check out the trailer or read the top couple of lines on the wiki before the plot/synopsis/characters sections. I don't feel like going in blind leads me to enjoy the movie any more or less, and spoilers don't bother me one bit about anything so I'm fine if it's one of those trailers that gives away way, way too much information.

On the topic of looking information up, I do occasionally need to pause movies to look up the wiki and see who a character is because I'm terrible with names. Beyond terrible, to be honest. An example: On the latest season of Better Call Saul in the first episode back from the break between seasons, someone mentioned 'a gringo named Mike' or something like that, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out who the hell this Mike guy was supposed to be. Then, a handful of minutes later when he appeared on screen... oh, of course, it's only one of the stars of the show that I've been watching for something like 100 episodes over the last decade. That Mike.

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oh wait what do we mean by "read up" because i took it to mean even looking at the little blurb/premise on sites

but i see now it makes more sense to see it as things beyond that? either way sometimes i don't even know the premise of a movie before watching it if i'm already familiar with the director

I'll try to restrain myself from reading the full plot synopsis on Wikipedia and critical reception if I don't intend to watch it within the next couple weeks

at best

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kateee posted...

oh wait what do we mean by "read up" because i took it to mean even looking at the little blurb/premise on sites

but i see now it makes more sense to see it as things beyond that? either way sometimes i don't even know the premise of a movie before watching it if i'm already familiar with the director

For Thoroughbreds, this is how much I read up on it, the first two paragraphs on the wiki. Spoilers just in case.

Thoroughbreds is a 2017 American dark comedy thriller film[4] written and directed by Cory Finley, in his directorial debut. It stars Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin, Paul Sparks, and Francie Swift. The film had its world premiere under its original title Thoroughbred at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2017, and was released on March 9, 2018, by Focus Features. It is the last U.S. theatrical release to star Yelchin, who died in June 2016.

Thoroughbreds follows high-school student Lily (Taylor-Joy) and her emotionless friend Amanda (Cooke) as they scheme to kill Lily's stepfather (Sparks) via a contract with a drug dealer (Yelchin). The film grossed $3 million against a "mid-seven-figure budget"[2] and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the ambitious direction, screenplay, and performances, particularly from Cooke and Taylor-Joy.

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I tend to go the whole nine yards and read production history, reception, cast, soundtrack, all that good stuff.

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for Thoroughbreds all i read was two girls and something about murder and that felt like too much to me lol so that's the level i'm at. i knew i should have stopped after the two girls part

I'm just guessing it's about horses and particularly horse racing. We'll see how wrong I am lol.

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i love going in with those kinds of expectations and then finding out i was completely wrong. wish i could remember which movies i had that for because i've definitely had that in the past

kateee posted...

i love going in with those kinds of expectations and then finding out i was completely wrong. wish i could remember which movies i had that for because i've definitely had that in the past

I went into The Personal History of David Copperfield thinking it was going to be a movie about the magician

it absolutely was not

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Oh man, Charlie Bartlett really fell from grace.

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Thoroughbreds (2017)

First off, the lead actresses were pretty good in this. This is now the second film that Ive seen Olivia Cooke in, the first being Sound of Metal. She was the most interesting character to me. I liked her quirky and weird dialogue throughout. This is also the second time seeing Anya Taylor-Joy in something, the first being Queens Gambit. I really like her alot, she has such a great voice. I could listen to her talk for hours, its very seductive. They make a pretty odd pair and when its all said and done they kind of flip roles. Amandas supposed to be the one with sociopathic tendencies, but then by the end Lily became the evil one.

These evil fuckin children Tim

We have a third main character in Tim and in my head canon this is a sequel to Charlie Bartlett. I really wish his name was Charlie in this. I looked it up and this ended up being Anton Yelchins final film after his freak accident. Man, still cant believe it. RIP Charlie.

This was like a cross between Cruel Intentions and Bully. I loved some of the set pieces of that huge ass mansion. I wish I had a giant-sized chess table in my backyard. That would be neat. That ending was wild and I felt super bad for Amanda and really despised Lily. Totally flipped how I felt about them. Not sure what that ending was about but at least write her back saying THANK YOU! Lily's stepdad was totally right about her, treating people like they're her maids in life.

Im not really sure how I feel about it. I dont see myself wanting to watch this again. I guess Ill just mimic a broken robot and say: Its fine. Its fine. Its fine. Its fine.

Rating: 6/10

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Thoroughbreds (2017)

this was the first time i saw Anya-Taylor Joy in anything and she was great, as was Olivia Cooke. i laughed out loud several times during this and it's all moments involving her character, which isn't really surprising given the other characters. probably the biggest laugh out of me was when the stepdad asks Amanda what her mom is busy with and she says "Chemotherapy" and he just walks off. it was a familiar laugh like i felt i've seen that situation or a similar situation before but it just got me. The dialogue between the two girls when they're talking to a third party (stepdad, Tim) is really entertaining how Amanda just follows up with a quip and they're kind of in a rhythm and i can buy that they were previous best friends who are falling back to their groove. again, it's a familiar-feeling setup but still enjoyable.

there's a lot of moments where the camera just shfits focus. unsure about whether it was intentional or some technical thing i'm unfamiliar with but it felt a lot more noticeable here than other films/videos. the first time is within like three minutes of the opening where Amanda is looking out into the backyard(?) and the worker/pool cleaner(?) walks by.

i think the line that stood out to me the most was after the chess scene and they had just talked about Amanda killing the horse and Lily brings up the plan for the stepdad again. Amanda says, "Are you looking at me?" (?) and Lily responds with "Only because you're the only person here." Like she sees Amanda as a pawn to get what she wants and in the end, Amanda is fine with that. I love the shot of her in the end where she is looking at the picture of their younger selves and the horses. Previously, she had been looking into mirrors and practicing smiling and here we see her first "real" smile.

SwiftyDC posted...

Not sure what that ending was about but at least write her back saying THANK YOU! Lily's stepdad was totally right about her, treating people like they're her maids in life.

yeah it's so fitting that the few scenes we see the stepdad, one of them is him chewing her out for smoking in the house and snapping at the mom for fussing after he's super irritated following an injury. like that's what justifies her reason for murder in her limited, spoiled teenage worldview.

but i don't know if i believe Lily when she says she just "threw it away." like throughout the film she's shown lying or being dishonest ("tutoring," college admission plagiarism, the party, etc.) and Amanda breaks through to her a bit in the beginning confronting her about it, and in the end, Lily breaks and comes clean about actually killing her stepdad and framing her for it. probably that moment of what she saw as pure honesty combined with the realization of "living a meaningless life" pushed her into "well i might as well be of use to her" territory. but after Lily kills the stepdad, she places herself in Amanda's arms. she's obviously shaken up and wants to feel any amount of safety/comfort. was she fine with using Amanda for that as well because "she was the only one there" as she said before? maybe. but Amanda was also like the only person she was honest with and I can see her just lying to Tim because you're not "supposed" to be in contact with an old friend who murdered your stepdad. most people would not want anything more to do with someone if they did that. But in Lily's case, Amanda actually didn't do that and i thought it was ambiguous whether Lily viewed Amanda as really just a pawn or something more.

overall, i liked it. 7-maybe-8/10 for me.

it's kinda weird how of the 4 movies we've decided to watch, 2 have Olivia Cooke in them

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iiicon posted...

it's kinda weird how of the 4 movies we've decided to watch, 2 have Olivia Cooke in them

we should keep that up, she's great!

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i actually had not seen anything with her before Sound of Metal

nobody nominate Ready Player One though lol. that honestly looks like a movie i would absolutely despise

if Killing of a Sacred Deer was picked, it would have been two with Colin Farrell

Sacred Deer spoilers

and another one where he kills a kid the rest of this is going to be gibberish to make people think this is some super long spoiler haew oiajwe a;iaw fjoaiwe joaiwej oaeiwjfoaijew ofiaj oijaowie jaiw joie jaocjaeowi jcoaije coai oea;w joieajwocij;aeojco;ai ewjociaj wecoiaj ;oewij cao;weijcao;iej oaijc;iaejw;ci ajweco;ija;wecj aeij;cjei cjo;awijoeaiwjc;oiaejc;aeij;oi ieoaujwoe oa;i ;aewjv;iajc;oiawe o;a;co;euc;oue;oiua;weicu ;oaec;aiew o;eac;eiauw o;icuae;wicj;aw j;aeiw cju;oeaiu;ceauoci ue;woai cu;oeiu cj;aew cjuio;ae uc;oai ewuc;aewu;i auec; aue;c ua;eow cu;ae uc;oaeiw u;oi uaw;co ue;oa caejc;ae;oiwmac;aoieu;oaeu;oauv;oaeiw uv;oae u;aoivu ;oeaiu v;aoeuv ;aoeu v;aoweu va;oue v;aoeuv ;aoieu v;aeuv;a ewvu;au v;eo uv;oawvelaiw

I wouldn't mind seeing The Signal which she's apparently in, but she's not old enough to be in anything I'm thinking of nominating.

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I know it's not the right Signal but I got to remember to nominate 2007 horror one some time, that movie is excellent.

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Oh she was in Ready Player One. Third movie Ive seen her in then.

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kateee posted...

there's a lot of moments where the camera just shfits focus. unsure about whether it was intentional or some technical thing i'm unfamiliar with but it felt a lot more noticeable here than other films/videos. the first time is within like three minutes of the opening where Amanda is looking out into the backyard(?) and the worker/pool cleaner(?) walks by.

it's rack focus! definitely intentional. I noticed it happened whenever an outside element was introduced to a Reynolds or their household, like when Tim pulls up on the house for the first time and the perception of the house is just off enough to be unnerving.

I'm gonna have to think on this one. It left me cold, which I think is the point, but I still think there's a few elements missing here. I do think there's a confidence delivered in both lead performances and from the director, who is making some really interesting choices with framing as you noted as well as lighting (notice the shifts in darkness as we progress further into the movie) and music (I am always going to love anyone using Inuk throat singing, especially if it's from Tanya Tagaq), but on the whole this fell kinda flat. Gonna have to write up more later as I think on it.

I gave it a 3/5 on Letterboxd, so a 6/10. It's good! Definitely worth watching.

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iiicon posted...

I noticed it happened whenever an outside element was introduced to a Reynolds or their household, like when Tim pulls up on the house for the first time and the perception of the house is just off enough to be unnerving.

ooh yeah that makes sense.

In Bruges - 8/10

That was an excellent dark comedy. Really well made, and I love how all the disparate elements and characters come together toward the end. Great, quotable dialogues too. A fun movie but with some weight to it. Also now I know how to pronounce 'Bruges'.

Yay only one more movie and I'll be caught up.

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yeah when i got to the "You're a fucking inanimate object" line i didn't laugh but i was like "oh that's where that's from"

I'd like to lower my rating for Mother to 9/10.

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spreadsheet should now be up to date! let me know if anything is off

kateee posted...

yeah when i got to the "You're a fucking inanimate object" line i didn't laugh but i was like "oh that's where that's from"

Exactly!

kateee posted...

i love going in with those kinds of expectations and then finding out i was completely wrong. wish i could remember which movies i had that for because i've definitely had that in the past

So it was not really about horses.

Thoroughbreds - 7/10
Overall, it kept my interest. Quite enjoyable, really. I like the ambiguity of it all and the lead actresses played off each other really well. The girls were fascinating. It also did really well in withholding information from the viewer and only giving them away (or hinting at them) when necessary.

...I thought the 'photo' was of her doing the unspeakable dirty with a horse...I'm glad it's not that lmao.

It reminds me a bit of Gone Girl but with stupid teens instead.

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In Bruges

At first I really thought this was going to be like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. One guy's big and jolly, one's small and prickly and they're stuck together on a holiday road trip. As the movie progressed the parallels obviously became strained and harder to justify - 'oh it's like PT&A but crossed with the Boondock Saints', 'okay it's like PT&A only Steve Martin shoots a kid', 'it's like PT&A except John Candy explodes upon falling to his death...'. I didn't want to let go of this comparison for some reason.

It took a while to warm on me too, Ray was unlikable for at least a third of the movie and I thought the look of it was kind of ugly, although you could make the case that's intentional. I'm still not sure that the romantic subplot added all that much. But once Ken got the big phone call and Ralph Fiennes showed up I was sold, his character was great. Loved that they showed a bit where he sincerely apologizes to his wife for calling her an inanimate object, and then later on Ken sincerely takes back the insult to his kids.That felt like a refreshingly un-Tarantino/Scorsese way of characterizing these killers.

Snake5's had a thoughtful writeup that highlighted some good connections I missed, the fairy tale/dream stuff and meta commentary on the hitmen sub-genre. I think there's also some noir reference in there, Touch of Evil is playing on a tv at one point and the climactic fall from the bell tower is how Vertigo ends (and Black Narcissus). I wasn't raised with any religion so when it comes to biblical allegory in film I tend to assume I'm always missing some of the nuance. I know the basic stuff by proxy but I don't mind whenever an allegorical movie is a bit on-the-nose with its point. I might have been able to get the whole purgatory reading without the Hieronymous Bosch scene spelling it out but I can't say I object to the clarification. And I like Snake's reading of the blood of christ scene way better than what I came up with, which is that Ken actually touched it right before Ray botched the job and that's why he forgave him.

The suicide theme stood out to me too, starting with the insinuation towards the dwarf actor and finishing with it happening over his accidental death. I expect a lot of the dialogue will hit different the second time through knowing what's coming

8/10 Damn good movies so far
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Fuck it, I decided to rewatch so I stayed in the habit

Thoroughbreds

I really appreciate that JB nodded to his taste in films with his nominated picks, found in these sort of indie thriller pseudo-horror films that temper out-there quirkiness with an unrelenting sense of depravity, constantly ramping mental anxiety, and off-center personality-driven moments that fuel everyday fears much more than your typical serial slasher film can. Thoroughbreds' horror is absolutely cut from the cloth of past works that are quite literally plastered all over this film, Heathers, American Psycho, and Funny Games, works that not only satirize and expose socioeconomic pressures and the sociopathic tendencies that environment inevitably brings out in us, but also the facade of our carefully crafted personalities we choose to show others. Every character in Thoroughbreds is obsessed with self-image, no matter what class they happen to fall in. Lily strives to be the straight-A genius, the goody-two-shoe too good for her weird-smelling, foul-mouthed childhood friend. Lily's stepfather keeps pictures of himself showing a worldly, rugged, and well-cultured man. Tim up-keeps the image of a hard-core drug dealer free from the bonds of society's rules and constrictions. Even Amanda, who seems the most to appreciate up-front honesty, is entire incapable of showing genuine emotion and uses "the technique" at the most opportune moments to appear sincere. All of these masks slip during the course of the film, either drastically as is the case with Lily as she does a complete 180 in her personality, or through forced perspective, like how we never really see Lily's step-father outside of her Lily's interactions with him, so we think of him as a dick when the reality could be different. The point of all this is that Thoroughbreds exposes the larger mask at the core of the problem, the illusion of the "perfect life": boarding school, college, internships, high-paying job. Take for example how Lily's extravagant spa day with her mother compares with Tim's "menial" job as a nursing home dishwasher. Both are equally shown with this vapid white void, and the characters' remark to each in much the same way, with this sort of dissatisfied disdain, yet at the same time the characters would have you believe the spa day is unequivocally better than the dish-washing job.

It's that perfect lie of high society that Thoroughbreds and its ilk capture most eloquently, how success can never quite equal happiness and in the case of its two lead teenaged protagonists, can more likely lead to unbearable stress that no one is ever quite prepared for. It's why, in the film's scariest and darkest moment, where Amanda deliberately takes a roofie so Lily can kill her stepfather with a perfect alibi, that stress has led to what I believe to actually be their most sincere moment. Yes, this sincerity is brief as Lily ultimately learns nothing and only continues to perpetuate with her stepfather told her (the world as her personal maid), while Amanda self-fulfills her own her prophecy of not having a life that matters. However, in their one brief moment on the couch together, I can genuinely buy in their warped minds that they think what they're accomplishing is totally justified. It's a tragic but pointed commentary, extreme yes, but it's something to chew on before you go and push someone too hard for a dream they may not even want.

To me, that is modern-day horror to a T. It may not look like your typical scare fest, but it has all the alluring carnage and richness of any psychological horror you could choose to name.

9/10

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That's an amazing analysis and made me appreciate the movie more.

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Seginustemple posted...

But once Ken got the big phone call and Ralph Fiennes showed up I was sold, his character was great. Loved that they showed a bit where he sincerely apologizes to his wife for calling her an inanimate object, and then later on Ken sincerely takes back the insult to his kids.That felt like a refreshingly un-Tarantino/Scorsese way of characterizing these killers.

yea i love this aspect of his character and how it's really his total commitment to his "code" that drives him to kill Ray/shoot Ken; the pure "business" style he has

side note i think it's kind of funny he ends up going on to play Voldemort in the Harry Potter series given his role here

Snake5555555555 posted...

decided to rewatch

was there a reason particular to this movie you initially weren't?

Nah just that I wasn't sure if I felt like it and also on Sunday (my typical watch day) I wanted to watch Synchronic instead but I had some time last night.

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Rewatched Thoroughbreds, and enjoyed it about as much as I did the last time, while reaffirming why this film has stuck around in my head for so long

But first, a little about my taste, because CoolCly and Snake pointed out, I have an odd particular taste that comes through a little in the movies I pick. There's something so special to be said for movies that are just slightly off. Perhaps my favorite, dreafully underused subgenre of film is the magical realism, where the film follows the natural logic of the world, except for once in a while where it just doesn't anymore. Often movies push this farther and end up in sci-fi or fantasy or surreal horror, which are all excellent, but movies like The Killing of a Sacred Deer that manage to find that balance almost always managed to earn a spot in the back of my mind where they will remain forever. Movies like this, even if not objectively perfect, still manage to be the movies I remember most and hold most deer, even moreso than movies I might've liked more.

As for Thoroughbreds, while there's nothing inherently "magical" about Thoroughbreds, there is that endlessly intriguing sense of something being off. And while it's easy to just put that onto Amanda, the girl who can't feel emotions (hell, Amanda seems to want that put onto her, because it's the easiest explanation), it's so much more than that. Before she explains her situation, the viewer already knows about that offness. It's in the excellent camera angles; shots that are perfectly balanced to the point that it's uncomfortable and shots that are just ever so slightly skewed in moments of privacy



vs



You hear it in the music, plucky and unbalanced and unconventional, telling you that this is a terrifying scenario before the plot has given you any reason to believe that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD5Bm8rwlgk

Really this is an incredibly crafted experience directed by someone with no directorial experience. The lighting and camerawork feel like they're done by a pro, and the relationship between Lily and Amanda is one of my all-time favorites. There are little things that keep this from being as perfect a movie as it wants to be; the plot meanders for a while, Anton Yelchin's character development and involvement in the plot are barebones, particularly compared to the main two, to the point that they feel more like a distraction. Despite its flaws, I adore this movie for its characterization and atmosphere much more than most.

9/10


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oh yeah especially for a debut i thought it was great

think i read somewhere he had worked with stage production previously or something like that

Huh, would've never guessed it was the director's first work. I'm impressed.

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Johnbobb posted...

Movies like this, even if not objectively perfect, still manage to be the movies I remember most and hold most deer, even moreso than movies I might've liked more.

first of all nice play on words

and yeah that's what it's all about. personal significance yeaaaaaaa

@Raka_Putra

your turn to nominateeee

Been watching a show so I've been putting this off until I finished that, which I did just now. So I imagine I'll watch this some time tomorrow.

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Yes I loved the camera angles and the score and sound-design in general is awesome, especially in the final act as in anything to do with the rowing machine. That whole sequence playing out off screen using only ambient sound is spectacular.

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