Film Noir doesn't get a whole lot better IMO. I'm not an expert or anything, but I can tell you a few other Noirs that I rate: Kiss Me Deadly, The Maltese Falcon, Cry of the City, Gilda, The Dark Mirror, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Touch of Evil, Notorious, The Big Sleep, The Third Man... it was a fine time for Hollywood, in retrospect. I'd also add Drunken Angel. Some would probably say it wasn't Film Noir but I see it as Kurosawa's take on the style - the long shadows relocated to a Tokyo slum!
It's the film noir that makes you reconsider your expectations of film noir. I've seen The Maltese Falcon and The Third Man. Enjoyed both immensely. I need to track some of these down!
I did watch on or your other recent recommendations in a two day binge I sorely needed.
Nightcrawler
7.8/10
I mentioned multiple times that I was probably not going to watch this, but decided to give it a shot. The mood just struck for something unique and it felt like the time for it. Well done movie. Watching it felt like reading the tasting notes on a wine or coffee bean. Had a bit of that Michael Mann feel of neon from Collateral, an occasional hint of film noir, random sprinkles of dark commedy. It felt a bit too pleased with itself at times though.
Attention to detail was nice and the concept was surely unique. I could have done without the nod to American Psycho personally, but it is what it is and wasn't exactly out of place, just not on original.
Gyllenhaal did a great job with the part tbh. As most here said. Still not my cup of tea but credit where it's due.
The only thing that was a bit unclear to me was the message. Not really sure what the point of the movie was. Not that a movie needs to have a point. There are many that are an end in themselves. But this one didn't feel like that. It almost came of as satire, but I don't know. Anyone have any background or insight here?
That's really what pushed it down those two tenths.
Ex Machina
7.8/10
Came off a bit pretentious at times but overall really well done. The pacing was a little off in the first third, almost a rush to get into the story, hastily set up with little to no viewer investment, but I can see where they wanted to cut a bit from an already reasonably long movie. It started to catch up in the middle and by the last half an hour it had hit its stride. One of the stronger finishes I've recently seen, almost like the rest of the movie was just a setup, which is unfortunate.
This movie hit a lot of buttons carefully and judiciously enough to set it apart. They did a bang up job in the "this is the not too distant future" color temperature and clean wide shots when needed. Maybe a bit too many of the rustling trees, falling water shots. It didn't need those to set atmosphere or humanize things. The script and actors were doing a fine job of it.
Just enough little misses for me to knock it below an 8, but overall very much worth a watch.
The Mist
5.5/10 - 6 tops
This felt like a waste. There was potential here, but for a 2 hour movie, they gave too much away too early. There was no build. The opening was incredibly strong and beautifully edited and paced IMO. Like "amazing TV-Movie here I come" opening. Then ending was good, although once they set the ball in motion, largely predictable. Everything in between, was a solid meh.
It took itself too seriously when it should probably have been campy. A real issue with suspension of disbelief. There were a couple of "oh please" moments when they could reaaaaally have done more with less.
Overall a miss, but ok for a lazy Sunday at home.
Coherence
8.7/10
Thanks for the recommendation!
This ended up being the sweet surprise of the binge. It exemplifies how much you can do with very little. A movie within a play within a movie. One of the few movies that had me guessing the whole way and originality in spades. Toed perfect fine line between explanation and pushing the story along. The writing was very careful to not have anyone go too off the rails with science or technology lectures.
The acting was mostly very solid. The pacing was excellent and the movie was overall very tightly done. Nothing lingered too much where it shouldn't. Some good jokes here and there broke up the seriousness and all the while it knew when it should be serious and when it shouldn't. There were a lot of layers here and none of them felt tacked on for "depth".
What the movie did really well was stay away from the obvious foreshadowing tactics which give away plot or characterization or a characters "true self" or intent. instead of building tension by a reasonably observant audience knowing a bit more than the protagonist, tension between as built by there being very little to clue the audience in and them being "lost" along the way with the characters. It's almost a scenario where everything and nothing is as it seems.
This is definitely worth a rewatch.
I like The Fog personally - definitely not Carpenter's strongest, but it comes during his purple patch and is a tad underrated IMO. Is there another The Fog?
