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I’ve got to stop putting off High and Low.
I’ve got to stop putting off High and Low.
It’s my favourite also! In my final year of high school I wrote a comparative essay on it and Dune (the novel), so I watched it repeatedly throughout the year to work out how I was going to approach the essay. I must have watched it over 20 times throughout my life and it’s reached that rare point where my familiarity with it somehow enhances everything about it, making it even better than it was the first time I saw it. It’s the film I compare all other films to - whenever I see something great I think “okay but was this as good as Nausicaa (the perfect 10/10 film)?”.
Sorry, I meant I watched the first one. Not really interested in watching the second to get to the third (assuming they are connected).
It’s more conventional than those films, I guess because it’s a more direct adaptation of an existing story. I think whether you prefer it probably has some connection to how much you enjoy his direction. He seems to have more free reign when he is directing for something he has written himself, which leads to more experimentation. For the record, I agree with you - there were elements of Nosferatu that were outstanding but as a whole those other films you mentioned are superior.
I guess I am in the minority but I still fail to see why anyone would be excited for a sequel to the original. I watched it and it was fine but there were no unanswered questions or character threads that needed more development on screen. The monster gimmick worked well once but got old quite quickly. It amazes me that this ever became a series in the first place. It seemed like a perfect example of a solid, one-off science fiction/horror film.
This is more a reflection of your food standards than the quality of the films. McDonald’s is, and always has been, dogshit.
I don’t think anyone around me has ever been excited for them. Maybe there was interest around the time of the first two Avengers films, but it’s so long ago now that I can’t remember. The first one was the only time I ever watched one of these films in the cinema and whilst it was somewhat enjoyable as far as superhero films go, I had absolutely no desire to pay to see another one. They are so blatantly cookie cutter to me I’m not really sure how people can remain excited for them over such a long period of time.
Yeah, wasn’t the Rogue One trailer an example of this? I recall there was a scene where the main character comes face to face with an airborne tie fighter - the entire sequence was absent from the film. According to the director, the scene had no connection to the story and never had any chance of making it into the film. It was just a visual idea the marketing team really liked.
Interesting, maybe I’ll read that before re-watching the film. Thanks for the recommendation!
I’d like to watch this and Annihilation again. I’ve only seen each of them once, both around the same time, and my memories of them are pretty fuzzy at this stage.
I saw Final Destination 3 as a teenager. A dad had to accompany our group of teenage boys to see the film because some were under the age limit. It’s always memorable for that reason lol
Here’s a non-AI generated version of this story back from 2010 when it was actually news.
I watched the ‘Melchior the Apothecary’ trilogy over three nights. I was surprised at how great the sets, costumes and sound design were. It seems like they shot these films within a relatively short period and on a reasonably low budget, but I thought they looked and sounded great and that helped connect me to the world and the characters which, again somewhat surprisingly, really paid off in the final film. All three are around the 90 minute mark, but don’t feel rushed (although I think they all could have benefitted from a slight extension to the runtime). The mysteries are passable but nothing special - actually I’d say they’re probably one of the weaker aspects of the films. However, if you enjoy historical dramas or medieval settings then I think you’d really enjoy these three films like I did. I’d like to read the novels they are based on, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like many have been translated from the original Estonian to English.
And I’d call it creepy rather than scary.
I found the first portion of the film set in Transylvania very scary. Honestly I think it peaked around then and the rest of the film, although still good, never got close to reaching those heights.
I don’t tolerate it at all, to be honest. I think it’s a complete joke how acceptable blatant phone addiction has become in society; a third of my sessions at the cinema have people using phones during the film now. There is no such thing as “watching in the background” - you’re either watching it or you’re not watching it. You can put a film on in the background but don’t tell me you watched it, because you didn’t. It’s such a widespread problem now that there has even been debate about whether some modern writers are instructed to dumb down their dialogue so that people who refuse to look up from their dopanime injector can follow the basic plot.
if you watch it, don’t doomscroll at the same time.
It’s sad that you actually felt the need to tell people this in a movies community. What a time we live in.
I guess I will need to rewatch 2049 again (I’ve only seen it once, in the cinema at release). I’ve watched the original quite a few times since though and I’m increasingly of the opinion that it’s quite overrated and gets heavily carried by the visuals and the soundtrack, so I could see a case being made for the sequel being better.
I made it a bit further but also gave up. I guess I wasn’t particularly interested in a Nolan biographical feature to begin with (I feel he is better suited to fiction), but it definitely felt like one of his most self-fellating efforts yet. Sort of just confrationally different for the sake of being different. I bet his fanboys ate it up, though.
What did you think of it? I’ve been planning to watch it for ages based purely on the hype, but it’s not the type of genre I’d usually go for so I’m not sure whether I’ll enjoy it.
I might check it out then, thanks!