I'm not trying to be a contrarian, but I just can't see what Villeneuve really has going for him as a director. Give him a lot of money and the movie is of course gonna look like it cost a lot of money, but I don't really see the artist's tocuh. That eye for cinema. He's very bland to me. Arrival (the only Villeneuve film I've liked so far) felt like it survived on a fairly interesting script and good actors. The direction was working against the movie, if anything.

It takes a lot more than money to make something look like it costs a lot of money. He's great at building suspense and conveying intricate plots. He's a little Spielberg-y in his camerawork though I guess.

I just though a lot of scenes in Arrival looked kind of dead and like an old TV series. The hamfisted use of color grading in that movie did a lot to make it visually bland.
(As mentioned a few pages ago, I did like the movie though.)

I can see the Spielberg comparison. Munich might as well have been directed by Villeneuve. Spielberg seemed to get worse with time, at least to me. His old 70's and 80's classics are way more visually vibrant than those movies he made in the 90's and up.

Villeneuve also kinda feels like Nolan light to me. A bit difficult to put into words exactly how. It's both visually and in terms of some of the more subtle sides of movie direction.

Do you think that the plot demanded a more vibrant colour scheme?

Just as far as camerawork goes though. He has some canned pan shots and such, but they're pretty different as directors in most other senses.

Not necessarily, but I do find it annoying when all sorts of movies these days use fancy color schemes where natural colors would have worked better. The movie feels more grounded if it doesn't have those simplistic color gradings where everything has a yellow tint, or leans teal & orange, or whatever else has been popular. Arrival looked kinda like a cheap TV show or horror movie in some ways. I think it would have benefited, however slightly, from more natural colors. Even muted natural colors.

Camera work is one of those things I think I'm the leats attuned to noticing.
It's hard for me to explain why I feel like Villeneuve lies somewhere between Spielberg and Nolan, because a lot of it is down to intuitive experience and not something I can necessarily point out very specifically.

I guess that's just preference since I'm cool with it. Have you seen Beasts of the Southern Wild? I was a big fan of how they use colour and tints in that.

No I haven't seen that. Is it good?

I googled some images and it looks like it has a more nuanced sort of approach to color. I'd probably think it looked great in motion. A lot of the movies that I think had the best visuals had subtle modulations of a natural looking color scheme. It's not like it's a rule, of course. Some movies pull off more extreme looks well. I just think a lot of color grading in movies ends up looking like cheapo horror film aesthetics with no feeling of place/groundedness.

Wait, no, I'm stupid. Beasts of the Southern Wild is very good but I meant Beasts of No Nation. And yes it's very good too.

Depends on the movie for me.

Arrival had such a cool and captivating story that it didn't need overwrought acting or lots of flashy colors or cinematography.

Sicario was the same but in a different way. The maintained level of suspense kept it moving along without the need for lots of visual bells and whistles. I could have done without the night vision viewpoint stuff towards the end.

Bladerunner 2049 had some big shoes to step into and needed to match the atmosphere and visual styling of the original - which it did remarkably well. 10 minutes in and I thought I was watching an extended cut of the first movie.

Another of my fave movies, Traffic, is great in the way that Soderbergh used filters. The scenes in Mexico are awash in yellow hues, the ones in Washington in blue, and then San Diego is vibrant without any obvious filtering. Worked great IMO.

lmao

Oh, a Netflix film. I like the pics I'm finding, but I don't have any Netflix subscription.

The color grading gives it that hot, but oppressively humid feeling. Which I could imagine going well with the story & themes.

It's accurate. I often have contrary opinions, but I'm not forcing them. It's not my fault I see things so differently when it comes to movies, games and music. It's just how it goes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That sounds racist.

I last saw THE OUT OF TOWNERS (1970) on VHS :)

I saw "The Meg" with Jason Statham. It honestly looks like he is trying but, on the whole, it is really bad. The Chinese actors trying to add a serious tone to the story make it even worse. My favorite actor was the dog.

Re-watched IT with Linda (her first viewing). So, so much better than the TV adaption. Can't wait for Part II which comes out next fall. Love some of the casting for the sequel:

James McAvoy as Bill.
Jessica Chastain as Beverly
Bill Hader as Ritchie
The Old Spice dude as Mike

Ya Jason is excellent in CELLULAR (2004) - I have it on VHS :)

Jason in SPY, amping up his macho-character typecast, is freaking hilarious.

Watched Goya's Ghosts yesterday. Felt like Milos Forman took 3 different (not very good) historical movies and put them in a blender. The most tonally confused movie I've ever seen, and it also can't decide if it wants to go for that broad, historical sweep or soom in on personal matters having to do with a girl imprisoned by the inquisition. The movie spends almost two hours trying to juggle both while doing justice to neither.

http://www.shockcinemamagazine.com/rainbowthief.jpg

One of the few classic Jodorowsky cuts I had never gotten around to, but glad I did. Peter O'Toole and Christopher Lee were great as always.

...and a beer.

Took me a while to figure out that five golden toques are just five wooly hats.

The French Connection

I'd always heard good things about this film and how it won Best Picture and director for Friedkin (one of my all time favorite directors) but I finally got around to watching it and Jesus Christ it's as good as all the hype I've ever heard. Hackman kills, Schnieder's excellent as reserved as he is. The car chase scene is blood-pumping and Popeye's quest to get these mother fuckers is excellent noir. Huge fan of this, and still an even huger fan of Friedkin now.

The Predator.

My friends wanted to see it and I think any movie is worth watching with your friends. I liked it, never saw any of the other films in the franchise but I don't think that was necessary.

The first Predator movie is head and shoulders above the rest.

Its a pile of dicks compared to the original

Watched the 2015 movie Intruders last night. Pretty decent with a nice twist.

- Cool to see Rory Culkin again. Hadn't seen him since Signs.
- Beth Riesgraf is a doll and could be Kate Hudson's twin.

Nah, Predator 2 >

https://media3.giphy.com/media/6s0Hz1d3gq2yI/giphy.gif

Which is why I don't take any of your Free > Zeppelin posts seriously.

Predator 2 had me rolling on the floor, so I'm not sure Ori is that far off.

I liked the voodoo gangster dudes and the way Bill Paxton was oddly sweaty in every single scene.

Nah, you've just got to learn some math.

Crazy Gary Busey + "Too Old For This ****" Danny Glover + Spastic Bill Paxton = Legendary

This man understands

Predator 2 funnier. I'll give you that. The original is still miles ahead of it in suspense and WTF moments.

Predator 1 is fun but still overrated.

On its own, or against the rest of the franchise?

I watched it a few months ago and was surprised that trying to be an action movie castrated the horror and trying to be a horror movie kept it from being a truly satisfying balls out gun romp. It doesn't quite excel at anything, it just has an amazing creature design paired with peak Arnold.

Couldn't disagree more. It was a perfect marriage between the ultra gun romp movies and the space alien movies of that era - with the Alien making the macho super tough mercenaries want to cry for their mommies when the final **** hit the fan.

Wonder how much critical perception is altered when seeing something when it first hit the big screen, as to seeing it in hindsight.

Alien 2 and Predator are both unmatched in perfectly marrying the super confident human uber soldier and an alien creature - who bitch slaps the **** out of the supposed elite humans for the bulk of the movie.

I'd say Aliens is overrated as well but it still chestbursts Predator.

Starship Troopers > Aliens/Predator

Hmm... maybe, but if you remove the "s" from Aliens, it's another thing entirely.

Obviously.