16 Comments

The problem with Yorgos for me is that his movies are always varying degrees of unpleasant to watch. It's not even that they're downbeat, necessarily (I love downbeat films!) he just has a certain way about him which makes me kinda gulp and say, alright here we go again.

Maybe the best comparison would be Haneke?

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If you mean literally, you're going to be bugged by the seemingly unmotivated cuts to a fisheye lens. (I liked the movie a lot but I didn't love this.)

If you mean figuratively, this one's pretty light and fun and Stone's performance is delightful, which is not one of those adjectives you usually apply to Lanthimos, as funny as his films can be.

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Yeah I meant both - his stylistic choices often seem designed to be deliberately off-putting, so even a movie like The Favourite is somewhat unpleasant when in tone or plot it shouldn't be.

But glad to hear the word "delightful" applies in any regard!

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Scott Tobias

Is it more or less distracting than the fisheye in No Sudden Move? I enjoyed that movie, but was baffled then irritated by the decision.

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Much more extreme here, on par with Terry Gilliam. But also it suits the material better than NSM. I liked the look (and sound) of this movie.

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I remember being actively annoyed by the fisheye in The Favourite in the theater. Still a good time overall.

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Update: The fisheye in Poor Things seemed very well utilized!

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I loved THE BOY AND THE HERON a lot. At the moment it’s in my top ten films of the year. Just a wonder to behold on the big screen, especially as it appears Miyazaki is as bad at retiring from filmmaking as Steven Soderbergh is.

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I watched a screener but have tickets to see it this weekend with the family. Can't wait.

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I got a screener, too, which came in handy because, due to lack of sleep and an hour-long drive to the theater where it was playing, I dozed off for a good part of the last half hour of the film. Thankfully, I woke up just in time to catch the ending, but I was glad to have the screener waiting for me so I could catch the parts I missed the next day.

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The reveal of The Reveal is 4 minutes into the Seth clip. For those who prefer to skip the conversation about kids movies.

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Scott also posted the relevant clip on X and Bluesky.

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What a twofer!

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I already saw the subtitled version of THE BOY AND THE HERON last week (it's truly spectacular), but this Saturday I'm going to see the dubbed version in IMAX as well as POOR THINGS in Dolby! David Ehrlich just published a wonderful article on the dubbing of THE BOY AND THE HERON on IndieWire: https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/boy-and-the-heron-english-dub-robert-pattinson-florence-pugh-1234932812/

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These are two of three movies that are my biggest "to see" for the end of the year. Assuming the third, Zone of Interest, actually plays here before January (I haven't seen it show up on any showtimes yet).

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I caught an advance screening on Thursday--very much worth your time, but be prepared to watch something light-hearted afterward

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