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Thread: BEST MOVIES OF 2015 - what are they?

  1. #31
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    I think the best movie of 2015 was Donald Trump Vs. the Republican party.
    Awesome Entertainment!
    "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd

  2. #32
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    Raw brutal truth in that.

  3. #33
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    A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Roy Andersson)

    I'm finishing up watching this on Netflix streaming. Released (very limited) in the US 3 June 2015. The Swedish director Roy Andersson is unique. The only other film of his I've seen so far is You the Living, watched at the Metropolitan Cinema on the Via del Corso in Rome (it had been in the Rome Film Festival), dubbed in Italian. It was a fittingly nutty introduction. But though I don't know Swedish I enjoy the singsong intonations of Swedish in the actual sound track this time, with subtitles. I'm struck by how beautiful his images are in this one and how highly wrought his setups are. Scenes are very elaborately, precisely, lovingly staged. despite being drab, sad, ironic, deadpan Beckettian humor. In June at release time in NYC A.O. Scott of the NYTimes said
    [Andersson] has perfected a style and sensibility of dry, sad, philosophically inflected humor that deserves its own special name. Sketch tragedy, maybe. Mortal slapstick. Self-hating humanism. He is a brilliant joker and a crusader against frivolity.
    There is unity, enough Scott notes, "to prevent Pigeon from scattering into YouTube-ready fragments," but it is in short scenes and you can pick it up or put it down at any point and come back to it later, perfect for casual Netflix viewing. Add one more to my Best Foreign Films of the Year list for 2015. Andersson has a special vision and is a distinctive craftsman.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 03-28-2018 at 09:12 AM.

  4. #34
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    I've watch several 2015 films recently, some I have re-watched (99 Homes feels like a very important and very accessible film to me. It provides an education and it's entertaining. I have issues with the Argentine film Wild Tales which is surprisingly consistent for an anthology film. It's very entertaining and professional but these aspects cast doubt on the sincerity of any commentary or societal critique it might be aiming for. On the other hand, I find that Tangerine earns its subtext, so to speak. It doesn't feel exploitative to me or condescending to its characters. I will watch Gueros soon, a film Armond White thinks it's better than The Hateful 8 which I decided not to watch.I will also make time to re-watch Horse Money sooner or later. I love Hou's The Assassin, just simply love love love to look at this movie. One movie that I re-watched and liked a little less than before is Ex-Machina. Hard to be a God is baroque, grotesque, magical, and hard to watch from beginning to end. The mise-en-scene is a depraved version of Josef von Sternberg's overloaded staging.

  5. #35
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    Is there another thread for the best films of 2015? The lists in these pages make no mention of Spike Lee's Chi-Rak. I am surprised because it seems to have been released in 2015 in LA and NY at least, so it qualifies. I think it's a unique, powerful, sensual, funny film. I notice that several outstanding critics such as Ms. Dargis really appreciate it. It's one film of 2015 I wish more people had seen.It is certainly a more indispensable film than Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales), another 2015 film I watched recently. Maybe Chi-Rak is not one of my top ten favorites, but I like it enough to be upset at the small audience relative to its achievement.
    PD I am considering watching The Hateful 8 because Jennifer Jason Leigh is in it. But first I'm going to watch The End of the Tour.
    Last edited by oscar jubis; 01-18-2018 at 09:28 AM.

  6. #36
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    Not mentioned because I didn't think it was very good. I reported on it in my Dec. 2015-Jan. 2016 New York Movie Journal as follows. Below are some of the negative ones of the mixed reviews it got listed on Metacritic (overall though, a very positive 77%).


    CHI-RAQ (Spike Lee 2015). It's okay to say as Ignatiy Vishnevetsky does on AV Club that this adaptation of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata to black women withholding sex to get guns out of the ghetto of Chicago was "a fumble worth making," but it's still thoroughly misguided, repetitious and boring. Samuel L. Jackson is brought in to give the story a ceremonial flavor. John Cusack as the ghetto pastor delivers a sermon against the NRA. There are occasional unmemorable musical numbers, and most of the dialogue is rhymed. But why is so little use made of hip hop flavor, and why didn't Lee stick to New York, which he knows, and avoid Chicago, which he hasn't a clue about? Teyonah Parris, Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, and Jennifer Hudson also work hard but are wasted. Full of contemporary references, though. And yes, Spike Lee cares. Opened 4 DEc. 2015. At Angelika Film Center 21 Dec. 2015.
    60
    New York Daily News Stephen Whitty Dec 2, 2015
    Jackson is terrific, of course, although he's the spice here, not the main meal. As Lysistrata, Teyonah Parris is a fierce, finger-snapping leader while, as her man Chi-Raq, a cast-against-type Nick Cannon, is surprisingly tough and moody. Read full review
    60
    Screen International John Hazelton Nov 23, 2015
    Though it sometimes recalls the irresistibly energetic, genre-bending feel of Lee’s best films – Do The Right Thing in particular – it lacks the assurance and unifying thrust that made those features work so well. Read full review
    58
    The Playlist Rodrigo Perez Nov 30, 2015
    While its ambition does show a director still aspiring for great heights, its patchy execution only partly restores the faith. Read full review
    50
    The New Yorker Anthony Lane Dec 17, 2015
    The topic is so grave, and the corralling of ancient Greek comedy so audacious, that you long for Chi-Raq to succeed. Sad to report, it’s an awkward affair, stringing out its tearful scenes of mourning, and going wildly astray with its lurches into farce. Read full review
    50
    San Francisco Chronicle David Lewis Dec 3, 2015
    In the end, Chi-Raq is a positive movie that wants to jolt us into doing something about the very real emergency in Chicago. Along the way, the execution of the narrative gets muddled, but there’s no denying that this risk-taking film has a pulse. A strong pulse. Read full review
    50
    The A.V. Club Ignatiy Vishnevetsky Dec 2, 2015
    Chi-Raq, Lee’s modernized take on "Lysistrata," is mostly bad art; it’s about an hour too long, sometimes leadenly unfunny, and set in Chicago, a place the Brooklynite director has no feel for. Read full review
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 01-18-2018 at 12:27 PM.

  7. #37
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    I think a metacritic of 77 is too low. This is a very good and important film. Spike Lee's best film since 25th Hour. Your de-facto strategy again: to quote the extreme reviews that support your opinion. Who are these people you quote?
    Last edited by oscar jubis; 01-18-2018 at 12:48 PM.

  8. #38
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    I continue to gradually catch up with films I missed back in 2015. I became a fan of David Cronenberg in the late 1980s and only then developed an appreciation of his filmography in the horror genre. I don't want to say that Cronenberg is underrated but he is clearly not as famous as Tarantino and Spike, for instance. Is it that a segment of the audience who take movies seriously, who watch foreign and indie films, find his films too distasteful? I finally watched his MAPS TO THE STARS and I feel compelled to tell you things to convince you that it was a very unpleasant experience and that it's always exhilarating to watch anything directed by such a master of mise-en-scene and cinematography. It's also interesting to contrast MAPS TO THE STARS with another film by a master who is also being laceratingly critical of "Hollywood": David Lynch's MULHOLLAND DRIVE, a more expansive narrative that elicits a more diverse range of emotions. I found MAPS TO THE STARS brilliant but unpleasant and unvarying in tone.
    Last edited by oscar jubis; 03-28-2018 at 08:44 AM.

  9. #39
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    The Fly was excellent, with Jeff Goldblum. Then Dead Ringers, remarkable, followed by Naked Lunch a trippy tour de force even a William Burroughs fan could enjoy, eXistEnz (also totally trippy) - he was on a roll. This was his best period. Didn't like Crash that much but it appealed to the intellectual literary types. I'm afraid I ignored M. Butterfly, but it wasn't really him, was it, just a stage play adaptation?

    I reviewed Maps to the Stars of course; it was in the 2014 NYFF. (I think a poor choice on their part.) Here. As well as being unpleasant, I don't think it's a success. I love Cosmopolis and hope you remember that. It is one of the most faithful adaptations of a book (and an interesting one, by Don DeLillo) that I've ever seen on screen. Beautifully done and an example of Robert Pattinson's seriousness as an actor in choosing interesting roles and directors.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 03-28-2018 at 11:16 AM.

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