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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVgxxdu-gJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UU_CC81aGM Director: Jeff Nichols Writer: Jeff Nichols Stars: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, and Sam Shepard In limited release starting March 18, 2016. No wide release announced. The tagline is terrible, but it's Jeff Nichols and Michael Shannon back at it again, so I'm sure it's going to be good. Sir Kodiak fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Mar 20, 2016 |
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Mar 20, 2016 01:41
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This appears to be doing well in its limited release, which hopefully suggests that it'll expand over time.
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Mar 23, 2016 14:08
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This movie seems a bit too much like Spielberg doing Powder to have me completely out of this picture. The trailer and all of the promotional materials have killed this thing for me and I have been crazy about Mike Shannon for ages. Is it actually good, anyone who has seen this?
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Mar 24, 2016 02:19
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Howling Man posted:This movie seems a bit too much like Spielberg doing Powder to have me completely out of this picture. The trailer and all of the promotional materials have killed this thing for me and I have been crazy about Mike Shannon for ages. Is it actually good, anyone who has seen this? I don't know how someone who's enjoyed Nichols's other films and Michael Shannon's performances can have this outlook, I can't fathom it, this is Nichols's most ambitious and weird project yet and I can't be anything other than extremely pumped about it
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Mar 24, 2016 06:57
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Howling Man posted:Is it actually good, anyone who has seen this? Yeah it's real drat good. I'm a huge sucker for movies that have really smart sensibilities about light (Villeneuve and Deakins are the reigning tag team champs at this), and Nichols and cinematographer Adam Stone do an incredible job in that arena here. I don't want to get too much into the details of it if I'm the only one here who's seen this so far, but pay close attention to mostly-dark scenes with one prominent light source, because there's a lot of super clever stuff going on there I also really enjoyed how deftly it mixed otherworldly and banal registers, with a lot of the character work focusing on salt-of-the-earth types working through situations they barely understand and bringing the audience along on that process of hopeful, halting discovery. The lived-in processes of making sense of something fantastic are all really on point - this is a movie where a child somehow intercepts coded government transmissions and repeats them as if speaking in tongues, and a cult forms around him, treating the intercepted transmissions as scripture (Spoilers for the first 15 minutes or so - about the initial setup of the movie more than specific plot events)
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Mar 24, 2016 16:31
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Jenny Angel posted:Yeah it's real drat good. I'm a huge sucker for movies that have really smart sensibilities about light (Villeneuve and Deakins are the reigning tag team champs at this), and Nichols and cinematographer Adam Stone do an incredible job in that arena here. I don't want to get too much into the details of it if I'm the only one here who's seen this so far, but pay close attention to mostly-dark scenes with one prominent light source, because there's a lot of super clever stuff going on there Sold. I've been really into lighting in movies recently, you're right that Villenueve is the best of the best right now. Did Deakins shoot Enemy? The trailer gave too much away in my opinion, but I suppose that's just the way the business is now and its pointless to complain about it.
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Mar 24, 2016 16:46
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Basebf555 posted:Did Deakins shoot Enemy? Nah, he shot Prisoners and Sicario
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Mar 24, 2016 16:48
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Really been looking forward to this movie; I've really been impressed by Nichols' last two films.
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Mar 31, 2016 00:26
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This was nowhere near as good as Take Shelter (the only other Nichols flick I've seen), but I liked it quite a lot. Very well-paced and interesting with fantastic performances all-round, but I feel like it was a little too occupied with trying to bring out this Spielbergian sense of wonder that it wasn't quite able to achieve, and the climax was a little corny.
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Mar 31, 2016 18:04
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Not to be a downer but this movie did not do a lot for me, it was just okay. As soon as the kid got reveiled to be just otherworldly, it deflated a lot of the tension. There were some potentionally interesting themes going on but they were not really explored in my opinion. Kind of a shame because I watched the premiere at the Berlinale and it would have been amazing to see something mindblowing in that atmosphere.
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Mar 31, 2016 20:41
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This film didn't really do anything for me. It was very pretty, had good performances, and Nichols is still at creating mood/atmosphere, but it just didn't really feel like it had a point. The story it told just kind of sat there unfolding, but it was relatively uninteresting, and had no pay off. I'm not really sure who was excited by this script when they initially read it, and what attracted all these very talented people to it. Maybe I just missed something.
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Apr 2, 2016 05:24
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Thought Adam Driver was fantastic in this, had a real Peter Coyote in ET vibe to his character
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Apr 2, 2016 19:39
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I really enjoyed this film. There's so much potential for cliche and corniness in sci-fi pictures like this, but Nichols manages to avoid most of it pretty well, I thought. I'll agree that, on paper, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to the plot, but the way the film is executed, through acting, editing, and cinematography, is just top notch. I felt really emotionally invested in the characters because their actions are driven by consistent motive and empathy, and I love when films avoid good vs evil narratives. I would have preferred if they the true nature of Alton were more mysterious, but I don't think enough is revealed to be too disappointing.
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Apr 4, 2016 02:03
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Yeah I don't know, I had some fun in the moment watching this but it ultimately fell flat for me, though Edgerton's beautiful blue eyes and Adam Driver are worth the price of admission. I thought it blew its load a bit early. Maybe it's just me but the near-miss-wreck-state-trooper-shooting and the satellite shower set a tone and a pace and an expectation of more rad and propulsive set pieces that just never really came, and I didn't really think it had the strength in characters to carry it otherwise. I guess the second half kind of hinged on the big secret world reveal, but it just didn't really blow me away. Maybe the fact that their big bad plan was to break through a barricade and run from two humvees had me sour going into the finale. I guess I was expecting the kid to use some powers beyond just detecting where the fewest soldiers were. Idk. Also, outside the theater, a guy said that he saw a screening a bunch of months ago that ended with our world ending, and Alton saving only his father en route to the silver city. I can't find anything about this anywhere... anyone know if there's truth to this? He was kind of announcing it to random people who would listen so it could've been a weird form of attention-seeking, lol.
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Apr 11, 2016 00:12
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Megasabin posted:This film didn't really do anything for me. It was very pretty, had good performances, and Nichols is still at creating mood/atmosphere, but it just didn't really feel like it had a point. The story it told just kind of sat there unfolding, but it was relatively uninteresting, and had no pay off. I'm not really sure who was excited by this script when they initially read it, and what attracted all these very talented people to it. Maybe I just missed something. I just got back from seeing this, and this is about how I felt. I was intrigued as the story unfolded...but it just all kinda.....happened. It looked beautiful, and I loved the (ending stuff)alien/parallel earth architecture stuff, but I think I might have missed the overall point. Adam Driver was loving amazing though. EDIT: "Less than the sum of its parts" is the phrase that comes to mind.
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Apr 13, 2016 05:05
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Yeah, I liked this, but I'm not sure what to take away from it. It seemed like it just some people having a very weird few days. I would have liked a little more characterization of the whatevers.
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Apr 13, 2016 06:40
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The lack of any sort of explanation on where Alton came from, why he has two normal parents (or does he!! Stinger!), how exactly a cult sprung up around him, etc really just sticks with me. Some mystery is fine, but this movie gives zero answers to anything.
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Apr 14, 2016 12:15
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jivjov posted:The lack of any sort of explanation on where Alton came from, why he has two normal parents (or does he!! Stinger!), how exactly a cult sprung up around him, etc really just sticks with me. Some mystery is fine, but this movie gives zero answers to anything. I don't recall it being clear that the cult formed around him, so much as his parents were involved in a kinda weird religious commune already, which then got twisted around once a kid who grew up within it began speaking in tongues, causing people to have visions, etc. I appreciate how unsatisfying this can be as a responsible, but I feel like the lack of clear answers is part of what makes it work. Those creatures are so far beyond us that that he can't explain what they are in words. You can only get a vision of them and a feeling, created by a projection of light, much like you get watching the movie.
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Apr 14, 2016 16:11
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Except there were barely any felt stakes, for me at least. One of the antagonizing parties nullifies the other antagonizing party and then Alton has a completely amiable meeting with Adam Driver. And the ensuing manhunt barely feels dangerous at all. Feel like the House of Cards Southern Gentleman FBI agent should've been Adam Driver's more explicitly 'evil' government counterpart or something.
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Apr 16, 2016 19:18
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marblize posted:Except there were barely any felt stakes, for me at least. One of the antagonizing parties nullifies the other antagonizing party and then Alton has a completely amiable meeting with Adam Driver. And the ensuing manhunt barely feels dangerous at all. The stakes are whether two parents are going to have their child taken from them. The story is about them learning that all they can do is their best to send him on his way. It doesn't need a villain to be defeated.
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Apr 16, 2016 19:47
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Just got back from this, liked this a lot. It's very much in keeping with the current trend of minimalist genre cinema, which in turn is keeping with the reality of it being hard to get a movie greenlit unless it's really big or really small, and in that vein it does well. Some nice echoes of some old classics too. Specifically there's a lot of Close Encounters and E.T. in how the government doesn't really get what's going on either, they're trying to impose order on a situation and that's what leads to a lot of the conflict. One moment I really specifically liked was how they handled the semi-flashback to the kid escaping from custody. It looks like it's happening after the scene where the father has stopped by the road, but then it cuts back to the truck passing by and the phone rings and you realize it likely happened before that. Also the pay phone ringing when you can sorta see it, blurry and on the edge of the frame. Adam Driver was great. I think I'd only seen him in Star Wars before this (well, and on SNL) so I wasn't familiar with his work on Girls or anything, but he's a very good comic actor. Edgerton made a nice balance to Michael Shannon's intensity as well.
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Apr 17, 2016 04:25
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Maxwell Lord posted:Adam Driver was great. I think I'd only seen him in Star Wars before this (well, and on SNL) so I wasn't familiar with his work on Girls or anything, but he's a very good comic actor. Edgerton made a nice balance to Michael Shannon's intensity as well. He's got a great small comedic part in Inside Llewyn Davis. And, yeah, the movie has a killer cast.
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Apr 17, 2016 05:17
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Sir Kodiak posted:The stakes are whether two parents are going to have their child taken from them. The story is about them learning that all they can do is their best to send him on his way. It doesn't need a villain to be defeated. Of course but I'm saying those stakes didn't really hit me in the feels ever. I never felt he or their goal was in much danger, what with the ranch plot deflating like a whoopie cushion and the government having an obvious friendly. And I didn't really feel their arc of learning to let go/accepting the letting go. had fun sometimes tho.
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Apr 19, 2016 23:32
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You guys do realize that the kid is the bad guy right? By the second act it's pretty clear Alton has been using his mind meld powers to bend people's will to protect him. I mean first off you have one of the boy's bodyguards Lucas. He shoots a state trooper to keep the boy out of the hands of the authorities only to later reveal that he himself is a police officer. He admits that he's only known the boy a few days but has been protecting him since he was blasted in the eyes with the hypno ray. Then there is the ex cultie who is addicted to the boy's gaze, so much so it may have led to his expulsion from the Ranch. And don't forget Richard Dreyfus, I mean Adam Driver going from inquisitive NSA agent to capitol felon and possible traitor by helping the boy escape after just one faceblast with the fun gun. Finally you have his parents dealing with the idea of his departure with that strange Taoist like acceptance that makes it seem like their emotions are being suppressed. It's a reverse E.T. Story except it's an inter dimensional alien mind hacking a bunch of adults into doing anything including murder to facilitate his escape. Alton is a scout from the 5th dimension and used his Starman powers to make us look like a bunch of idiots. Hell maybe he's the Neil Armstrong of his species and they knew that the best space suit for this environment was the body of a non threatening child who had the power to manipulate the violent indigenous population. And it's also a big complicated metaphor for the film making process unlike any other movie ever made.
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Apr 24, 2016 09:26
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I enjoyed this but man, I have so many questions. Also Adam Driver reminds me a hole lot of Michael Bolton from Office Space.
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Apr 24, 2016 12:17
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James Woods posted:You guys do realize that the kid is the bad guy right? By the second act it's pretty clear Alton has been using his mind meld powers to bend people's will to protect him. I mean first off you have one of the boy's bodyguards Lucas. He shoots a state trooper to keep the boy out of the hands of the authorities only to later reveal that he himself is a police officer. He admits that he's only known the boy a few days but has been protecting him since he was blasted in the eyes with the hypno ray. Then there is the ex cultie who is addicted to the boy's gaze, so much so it may have led to his expulsion from the Ranch. And don't forget Richard Dreyfus, I mean Adam Driver going from inquisitive NSA agent to capitol felon and possible traitor by helping the boy escape after just one faceblast with the fun gun. Finally you have his parents dealing with the idea of his departure with that strange Taoist like acceptance that makes it seem like their emotions are being suppressed. It's a reverse E.T. Story except it's an inter dimensional alien mind hacking a bunch of adults into doing anything including murder to facilitate his escape. Alton is a scout from the 5th dimension and used his Starman powers to make us look like a bunch of idiots. Hell maybe he's the Neil Armstrong of his species and they knew that the best space suit for this environment was the body of a non threatening child who had the power to manipulate the violent indigenous population. And it's also a big complicated metaphor for the film making process unlike any other movie ever made. huh, kool reading. interested to watch again with this in mind.
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Apr 26, 2016 01:01
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James Woods posted:You guys do realize that the kid is the bad guy right? He reveals to people the true (in the film) fact that they are part of a richer, more connected universe than they knew, which brings them peace, which inspires devotion. This is not a bad thing.
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Apr 26, 2016 03:16
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I really like Take Shelter (and Michael Shannon in general) so I was pretty excited for this one, but I didn't end up loving it. The first half was great but it slowly got less and less intriguing as it went along. I think the point it lost me was after the sunrise scene. The whole first half of the movie there's this tension being built about whether Alton is gonna die from his powers and whether they can make it to the location in time when they can't travel by day. Then out of nowhere he's magically cured by sunlight and it sucks all the suspense out of everything. The hitmen from the Ranch plotline have basically no purpose in the plot, they kidnap Alton and then are immediately intercepted by the FBI and disappear from the movie entirely. I also thought there was going to be some sort of point to Roy's anger issues that we see when they face off with the state trooper and the exiled friend from the Ranch. But it pretty much never comes up again. Overall the characters felt really underdeveloped and flat, so I found it hard to get invested in what was going on. Adam Driver was the only one with any personality. Jeff Nicholls does a really good job of telling the story without a bunch of exposition, and there is some great imagery throughout the movie. I really liked the night-vision driving scene, the school buses over the hill with the sun behind them, the satellite crash... but in between there's long stretches of flat dialogue. The second half really drags on and on. The editing seemed off too, I'm pretty sure when we're introduced to the Ranch hitmen, we see them enter a house, open their stash of weapons, haul out a duffel bag, leave the house, get back in the truck and drive away. A single shot of the weapon stash would have given us the same info. Later on there's a long shot of them walking up to a house for some reason. I dunno, this one was just frustrating because it is close to being great. But it feels like two movies bolted together in the middle. The Spielbergian stuff almost works, but it's let down by the bland characters. If it had a less stellar cast this movie wouldn't work at all.
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Apr 27, 2016 14:23
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I wasn't a huge fan but it was interesting enough for me to keep an eye on Nichols in the future (his past films have been very impressive too, especially Take Shelter which I loved). Just couldn't feel any real emotional attachment to the story and the stakes felt low in the second half (despite the characters doing everything they could to make it seem like that wasn't the case). Stellar cast and it was definitely well shot but nothing in the story really resonated with me sadly.
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Apr 28, 2016 15:26
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I thought this was pretty fun in the moment, but a lot of it felt kinda flat, which is how I felt about Take Shelter as well. I wanted more ideas, more pulp, more character. The alternate universe looked like a Kia ad - it needed that creative oomph Close Encounters has, but instead it wanted to be cooly understated, like every other boring indie movie.
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May 16, 2016 21:02
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Magic Hate Ball posted:I thought this was pretty fun in the moment, but a lot of it felt kinda flat, which is how I felt about Take Shelter as well. I wanted more ideas, more pulp, more character. The alternate universe looked like a Kia ad - it needed that creative oomph Close Encounters has, but instead it wanted to be cooly understated, like every other boring indie movie. Agreed. The best parts of the movie are when it gets a bit crazy- the night vision driving scene and the laser eyes are what come to mind for me. The latter half of the movie didn't really have any moments like that.
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May 19, 2016 19:31
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Yeah, that part would have been more interesting if it was weirder. Like, I get that the movie's being all, kids-on-their-computers are doing amazing things, they'll get us to green energy if we just get out of the way, but that's pretty prosaic compared to what comes before.
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May 19, 2016 21:08
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