FINALLY got around to watching Lucy from 2014. I remember it getting panned pretty hard when it came out, and while many of criticisms were absolutely justified, I still enjoyed it nevertheless. It definitely goes off the rails in the 3rd act. Perhaps inspired by Neo in the Matrix, but more silly. Even with all of its shortcomings, the movie is undeniably visually stunning. The effects are great and much of the cinematography is gorgeous. Of course when the credits rolled and it said it was directed by Luc Besson, the entire film's style (and even plot) made sssoooooooo much more sense. Haha. Watch it through the lens of Besson films (think Nikita, Leon: The Professional, the Fifth Element, etc) and you might actually have a great time with it. Catch it before it leaves Netflix at the end of the month if you've never seen it before.
FINALLY got around to watching Lucy from 2014. I remember it getting panned pretty hard when it came out, and while many of criticisms were absolutely justified, I still enjoyed it nevertheless. It definitely goes off the rails in the 3rd act. Perhaps inspired by Neo in the Matrix, but more silly. Even with all of its shortcomings, the movie is undeniably visually stunning. The effects are great and much of the cinematography is gorgeous. Of course when the credits rolled and it said it was directed by Luc Besson, the entire film's style (and even plot) made sssoooooooo much more sense. Haha. Watch it through the lens of Besson films (think Nikita, Leon: The Professional, the Fifth Element, etc) and you might actually have a great time with it. Catch it before it leaves Netflix at the end of the month if you've never seen it before.
Thinking you might dig ANNA, Besson’s 2019 flick (on Prime, though).
Also, if you have never seen it, SUBWAY is worth a viewing (on Tubi).
:D
02-13-2024, 11:33 AM
MontuckyFried
Quote:
Originally Posted by dookeyXXX
Thinking you might dig ANNA, Besson’s 2019 flick (on Prime, though).
Also, if you have never seen it, SUBWAY is worth a viewing (on Tubi).
:D
Ooh! Somehow I missed both of those! Will add them to my required viewing. Speaking of Besson films, do you remember "The Big Blue" (Le grand bleu) from 1988? I remember really liking that one, but it's been about 2.5 decades since I've seen it. On Kanopy so will revisit that one too. :D
02-13-2024, 11:36 AM
mcski
Netflix: instaView rec's
Subway was phenomenal. Never see it get mentioned but it got huge word of mouth when it came out and is well worth a watch.
Diva was another great 80s French flic crimínale that has seemingly fallen off the radar
02-14-2024, 02:21 PM
pfluffenmeister
Quote:
Originally Posted by dookeyXXX
Thinking you might dig ANNA, Besson’s 2019 flick (on Prime, though).
Also, if you have never seen it, SUBWAY is worth a viewing (on Tubi).
:D
I thought the series (ANNA) was much more compelling than the movie.
02-15-2024, 09:55 AM
dookeyXXX
Quote:
Originally Posted by MontuckyFried
Speaking of Besson films, do you remember "The Big Blue" (Le grand bleu) from 1988? I remember really liking that one, but it's been about 2.5 decades since I've seen it. On Kanopy so will revisit that one too. :D
Same here. Saw The Big Blue in the local arthouse cinema in college when it was first released. Loved it (I was a Luc Besson fanboy at the time). I have not seen it since.
I have no idea which version I saw either as it was tweaked for the States.
If you dig early Besson, also check out the works of Leos Carax and Jean Jacques Benoit. :cool:
This trio is often referred to as progenitors of the “Cinema du look,” which I like to call “the post New Wave New Wave” or “postmodern New Wave” of French cinema. :D
Got around to watching Pearl last night (on paramount - I got duped into paying for that for the superbowl). Liked X a bit better, but Pearl was still great. Looking forward to seeing the 3rd one whenever it comes out.
02-29-2024, 09:07 PM
dookeyXXX
THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD - Season 1
Did a search and nothing turned up in regards to this 2019 2-season series based on Charles Forsman’s comic strip-turned-graphic novel.
I only watched the first season as its storyline is based on the source material and the ending was great with absolutely no need to “continue” the story for a second season imho.
Very obviously influenced by Terrence Malick’s 1973 classic Badlands, but instilled with a lot of wicked snarky British humor.
Had no idea they even did a second season. Why? The 1st season was perfect and closed out the story imo
02-29-2024, 10:30 PM
dookeyXXX
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcski
Had no idea they even did a second season. Why? The 1st season was perfect and closed out the story imo
:yourock: :cool::
Yeah, from what I was able to gather, S2 doesn’t really have much to do with the source material and seems like it was more the showrumners wanting to put their own spin on the story.
I loved the ending of S1, just that great, timeless fade-to-black and leaving any interpretation up to the viewer.
Sadly, knowing there was a S2 kinda ruined that for me.
03-01-2024, 07:42 PM
dookeyXXX
KLEO
I just whizzed through the 8-episode first season of this charmingly intense German series.
Nods to Tarantino and Repo Man, by way of Hitchcock.
Fantastic cast and some solid cinematography, not to mention great costumes and production design. I particularly dug the richly muted, yet saturated color palette. Nice balance of humor, action, and intrigue, too.
Can’t recall if it’s been mentioned but I saw some talk of a repo man reboot. Not sure how I feel about that. Seems impossible to capture the setting and vibe of the original
03-01-2024, 07:52 PM
dookeyXXX
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcski
Tarantino, Repo man, + Hitch sound compelling.
Can’t recall if it’s been mentioned but I saw some talk of a repo man reboot. Not sure how I feel about that. Seems impossible to capture the setting and vibe of the original
Yep, there are rumblings of Repo Man 2 (apparently there was a quasi sequel called Repo Girl in 2009 as well as a 2008 graphic novel based on an initial, unfinished script for a proper sequel).
KLEO
I just whizzed through the 8-episode first season of this charmingly intense German series.
Nods to Tarantino and Repo Man, by way of Hitchcock.
Fantastic cast and some solid cinematography, not to mention great costumes and production design. I particularly dug the richly muted, yet saturated color palette. Nice balance of humor, action, and intrigue, too.
THE TOURIST
I really dug Season 1 and loved the ambiguous ending as that is the type of thought provoking and discussion evoking conclusion I think is all too often missing from many series and films these days.
I turned off S2 after less than 5 minutes because it just seemed pointless. The ending to S1 was just so fantastic (the callbacks through the first 6 episodes were amazingly well done: BURRITO!!!).
Pity they felt compelled to do a second season, which I have decided not to watch (I had similar reactions to both The End Of The F***ing World and Happy!, two other recent series that had solid first seasons, both with great endings and no real reason to stretch their stories further).
So, yeah, S1 is pretty damn bueno and highly recommended.
THE GENTLEMEN
Gotta admit that I’m a bit of a Guy Ritchie fanboy, so I loved this 8-episode series loosely based on his 2019 film of the same name (which I also loved).
The series is teeming with luscious dialogue, a tightly woven plot, and a fantastic cast.
Ritchie is at his best and deep in his element when mining the shady depths of the British underworld, deftly injecting the right amount of snarky humor to counter balance the ultra-violence.
If you dig his other endeavors, specifically his numerous crime films, then this should be right in your wheelhouse.
THE TOURIST
I really dug Season 1 and loved the ambiguous ending as that is the type of thought provoking and discussion evoking conclusion I think is all too often missing from many series and films these days.
I turned off S2 after less than 5 minutes because it just seemed pointless. The ending to S1 was just so fantastic (the callbacks through the first 6 episodes were amazingly well done: BURRITO!!!).
Pity they felt compelled to do a second season, which I have decided not to watch (I had similar reactions to both The End Of The F***ing World and Happy!, two other recent series that had solid first seasons, both with great endings and no real reason to stretch their stories further).
So, yeah, S1 is pretty damn bueno and highly recommended.
S2 is a different beast. Kinda random, at first, but by the end it seems like S1 was setting it up all along.
S1 is excellent on its own. But S2 takes the characters deeper into their (his) past. Kinda back-story-esque, but in the future. Also a bit more campy.
Worth a watch, imo. I should point out that some major plot points are completely abandoned and/or unexplained. But then I like ambiguity.
03-12-2024, 10:19 AM
PB
Quote:
Originally Posted by dookeyXXX
THE GENTLEMEN
Gotta admit that I’m a bit of a Guy Ritchie fanboy, so I loved this 8-episode series loosely based on his 2019 film of the same name (which I also loved).
The series is teeming with luscious dialogue, a tightly woven plot, and a fantastic cast.
Ritchie is at his best and deep in his element when mining the shady depths of the British underworld, deftly injecting the right amount of snarky humor to counter balance the ultra-violence.
If you dig his other endeavors, specifically his numerous crime films, then this should be right in your wheelhouse.
This is settling in nicely; I'm appreciating Ritchie's entering the expanded series format. It allows him to stretch and explore things that tended to fly by too fast in the movies.
03-12-2024, 11:54 AM
XXX-er
Quote:
Originally Posted by PB
This is settling in nicely; I'm appreciating Ritchie's entering the expanded series format. It allows him to stretch and explore things that tended to fly by too fast in the movies.
started a couple of episodes last night and IMO its really good
03-12-2024, 03:12 PM
Caucasian Asian
Wife and I finished watching Forst last week.
We watched the whole thing, bu I can't say if we enjoyed it or not. It felt like a little bit Se7en and a little bit Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but I'm sure something got lost in translation from Polish to English.
