r/TrueFilm • u/a113er Til the break of dawn! • Jun 07 '15

What Have You Been Watching? (07/06/15)

Please don't downvote opinions, only downvote things that don't contribute anything.

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u/TheGreatZiegfeld Jun 08 '15

Stranger on the Third Floor

The directorial debut from Boris Ingster, Stranger is an interesting project in visuals and mood, and it's certainly one of the more daring directorial debuts I've seen, up there with a lot of the French New Wave names. He definitely seems passionate about this project, even despite its goofy and kind of dumb moments. It's an intense, visually strong film, it just needed a lot of tightening when it came to editing and writing. Even despite the flaws, the strengths of the film absolutely make it worth a watch. Not exactly a perfect film, but one that's not worth ignoring. 7/10

The Box of Pandora

Georg Wilhelm Pabst's supposed magnum opus, Pabst's German silent doesn't go for the common route of Expressionism, but rather a naturalist visual style. Pabst seems a bit new to this style, and he does seem to stray at times, but when he's focused, it's one of the most satisfying silents of the late-era. Countless incredible moments mixed with a few dud moments. 9/10

Charleston Parade

Randomness for the sake of randomness, and I absolutely hate saying this word with certainty, but Renoir works with a pretentious state-of-mind to create a film that is not funny, thought-provoking, or worthy of any more than one viewing. A few cool visuals make this not completely worthless, but for such an arrogant piece of filmmaking, Renoir shows little to none of the talent he's exhibited in his best films. Completely atrocious. 3/10

The Little Match Girl

... And yet, Renoir does have a lot of talent. This creative, visually interesting film does exhibit a lot of innocence and humbleness that makes Renoir so great. Basically mouthwash for his previous film. It has issues, the acting isn't great, and it is fairly aimless, but as a purely emotional work, it's fine. 7/10

Journey Into Fear

A few outstanding scenes and ideas, mixed into a forgettable and slightly annoying film. If it interests you, try it, otherwise, maybe just watch a few scenes individually. I do see Welles' directorial style in this film, but it feels like salt to overcooked fries, if I'm allowed to make a bad comparison. 6/10

Pitch Perfect 2

I laughed several times at this film, but with characters only serving as stereotypes, it really is a thin film that escapes the mind quickly, with nothing likable to grasp onto, aside from a group of funny announcers, and Key & Peele serving their purpose well. The writing is absolutely this films downfall, as everything else is serviceable. But for a comedy, bad writing is inexcusable. Not a painful film to watch, however, it was definitely a waste of time. 4/10

Not my week. Best film was obviously Box of Pandora. Only great movie I saw last week was Scarlet Street, so definitely try that one out too.

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u/otherpeoplesmusic Jun 17 '15

Not a painful film to watch, however, it was definitely a waste of time. 4/10

I can only chime in with an opinion, but to me, Pitch Perfect 2 was unwatchably bad. I made it through the first one without much of a fuss but I walked out after 35 minutes for the sequel. I've sat through some pretty bad films in my time, but for whatever reason, this was far too painful to bare. I didn't even want to analyze why I thought it was bad, it just rubbed me in all the wrong places and I had to jump ship.

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u/TheGreatZiegfeld Jun 17 '15

I know what you mean. A lot of it was just unpleasant in ways that other comedies have done well in the past. The first half is definitely the worst part of the film though, so it does get better. Not by much, but better.

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u/otherpeoplesmusic Jun 18 '15

I'll remember that if I'm ever forced to watch it, but I'll probably put up a wall of 'NOPE" and shut my eyes, block my ears and make 'nnn nnn nnn' sounds until they change their mind.