Recent Viewing Part IV

Oh yes, it's tremendously underrated -- especially the assembly cut. In fact, I still consider it David Fincher's best film (even if he himself disowns it), and that's saying something given his subsequent works. One of the very best films of the 90s.



This is one of the most-discussed aspects of the film in fan communities -- how exactly did the eggs/facehugger end up on the Sulaco? The internet is ripe with theories!

Yeah, it's pretty decent. I see I gave it 3 out of 5 stars on MUBI.

Well, I don't intend it that way. One has the opinions that one has, whether they happen to be majority or minority views.

That being said, ALIEN 3 is fairly highly regarded among critics -- far more so now, anyway, than when it premiered. So the minority view, in this case, would be that I place it ahead of established classics like SEVEN or FIGHT CLUB, for example.

Fair enough. I'm a big Fincher fan up to and including PANIC ROOM. After that, from ZODIAC onwards, I'm less thrilled. It's as if he departs from some of his purer, visual storytelling and relies more on clever (and large amounts of) dialogue, heavy information loads, lots of phone calls and that kind of stuff. Not my cup of tea, although I can appreciate their quality. I personally prefer the slicker Fincher. GONE GIRL is probably my favourie of his post-ZODIAC films.

I saw Shazam! in the theater and it was a lot of fun, cheesy in some places (a bit of a Power Rangers movie feel in parts) but the music played it's part perfectly, very old-fashioned (John Williams-esque) superhero score that was a delight to revisit after the more recent darker comic book films - the movie really brings out the kid in you and sometimes that's all you want in a movie.

true, Bird Box wasn't brilliant either, but at least that film kept the mystery up until the end ([spoiler]and then killed it by not explaining anything at all[/spoiler]).

Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, I wasn't sure about the timeline there. Either way, it's certainly to THE SILENCE's disadvantage. Of course, it may pick up unintended viewings if people mistake it for the Scorsese movie (even though it has that extra 'the').

It's indeed easy to make comparisons between The Silence and A Quiet Place, but what hurts the first film is it's lack of suspense and character development. Comparing films is just something that comes after it once you realize other films tackled specific genres better

I think 5 is being generous.

Man, I spent money on the BluRay. Oh, lets see ...

Actually, I was maybe a bit harsh. I enjoy the main characters (although some get tiresome in this flick) and the opening scene is really fun, I wish the whole movie had the same gothic, dramatic atmosphere. Hope you enjoy it.

I'll watch it next weekend and then come back to you guys.

Well, what did they aim at here? Doing a "film noir" style movie in the Potter-verse? Maybe they should have shot the whole thing in black and white? Such experiments mostly go astray in my opinion.
I liked the cast. The problem is, the potential of these actors went largely unused as the portrayal of the characters remains one-dimensional. For instance each character seems to feature one and the same facial expression throughout the film. Accordingly there is no character development at all.
The plot is thin. It's a very simple mobster story that doesn't carry for 140 minutes. A duration of about 100 minutes should have given the film a more dynamic pacing.
The production values are mostly fine, still the CGI seems to lack in some places, [spoiler]as those cat creatures in the French Ministry of Magic look like mock-ups.[/spoiler]
I love to listen to James Newton Howard's score album. In context the score does shine in some places but strangely it impresses me more away from the film.

All in all, a boring film and a missed opportunity.

Volker

Yes I have, Thomas. I need to rewatch it, because I remember I was very tired and the film didn't make that much of an impression. That was probably me and not the film.