What Movie Are You Watching?

In a bricks and mortar theatre? Uh, no way...

So... who here has actually seen Tenet? Apparently the digital formats will become available on December 15th in the USA, but not streaming yet. That might first be via HBOMax (since AT&T owns Warner which holds the exhibition rights) but not until sometime in early spring of 2021... unless of course the various digital download price points end up being over the top.

I don't regard my following comments and couple of quotes about Tenet as at all a spoiler, since much has been written about this film by reviewers in traditional and online media. But quit scrolling down now if you think you'd be put off by even a hint of what anyone has actually seen of this movie.

OF COURSE I have wanted to know what this Nolan film was all about. So of course I slid 'film review "Tenet"' into a search engine and lazily picked one from the New York Times because I was probably already logged into that site.

I do very much like Jessica Kiang's writing and her eye for detail in a film review, but nothing particularly leaped out from my scroll through the piece until I hit the bit quoted below. It became clear that Kiang had watched this movie while paying close attention to something besides the action and editing thereof, both of which likely received all due respect.



Wow. An ironing budget. Who knew? Modern filmmaking boggles the mind.

It was while watching credits roll for some blockbuster --in case they were interspersed with amusing outtakes or whatever-- that I first realized there are film production jobs behind scenes that one can routinely do around the house for north of 50 years for zero credit, plenty of exercise and damn paltry pay... exactly the same as at film studios, a friend in the business (a costume fabric buyer) hastened to say, and not in a joking manner.

Anyway, for those having seen Tenet so far in a theatre, given my not being a fan of action flicks in general, will it be worth the watch when it hits the streaming platforms?

I like spy novels and some thrillers but action-adventure movies usually not so much. One hopes this is a step up from the run of mill, since at least it seems to have had an ironing budget. :cool:

My question is possibly answered by another bit from that review (which I did find well worth the read) but I have read only that one evaluation. Sounds like there might not be enough "there there" for me beneath all the action and adventure. Kiang's take, short form:



Well.. time will tell. I'm not holding my breath until March or whenever they decide to stream this thing. I'm going to try some other movie first. Probably not action-adventure either.

I may opt next for a glance back at a glance back, etc. One idea is to watch Joe Wright's 2005 take on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the one with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen (of note as Tom in the series Succession)... not least to enjoy the scoring by Dario Marianelli. The other choice might be Kenneth Lonergan’s four-part TV miniseries (2018) adaptation of Howard's End which also stars Macfadyen.

File all under part of "whatever it takes to get to the winter solstice..."
I hate to say this because I am a huge Nolan fan, but Tenet sucked ass. I saw it in the theater when it came out and was constantly checking the time. It’s devoid of Nolan’s usual character development like in Interstellar. It’s all style and no substance. It’s such a shame too, because a Nolan film is usually a huge treat. This is by far his worst movie. But that’s ok, he’s allowed. He’s made so many good ones.
 
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)- This movie was clearly before my time :), but somehow I latched onto it as a teen and it’s one of my favorite stories painting a portrait of the early-mid 20th Century small town America. Great performances, an iconic Jimmy Stewart performance, especially Lionel Barrymore as conservative villIan Mr. Potter.


The Charleston

Bedford Falls = Seneca Falls, New York: https://homeinthefingerlakes.com/george-baileys-its-a-wonderful-life-bridge/

 
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Finally watched "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and liked it a great deal. But it is yet another example that it's difficult to turn a great play into an equally enjoyable movie. This translation was better than Denzel Washington's directing of FENCES a couple years ago. That gives me hope that future movie versions of August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle plays will get closer and closer to his mastery.
 
Finally watched "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and liked it a great deal. But it is yet another example that it's difficult to turn a great play into an equally enjoyable movie. This translation was better than Denzel Washington's directing of FENCES a couple years ago. That gives me hope that future movie versions of August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle plays will get closer and closer to his mastery.

I want to watch that too, it's top of my Netflix list right now.
 
A Christmas Carol (1938)- My favorite version.

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Reginald Owen 1938​
 
Galveston on HBO. Kind of a downer film but well done with good performances. Ben Foster, quite an actor, is the lead.

He’s in another Texas based film called Hell Or High Water, one of my favorite films of the last decade. Strongly recommend.
 
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it has been a long while since i saw this film - probably somewhere along 1978 or so.
amazon prime has a 2012 restored (!) B&W version that has a hand coloured opening Tarot reading scene.

but in every detail this film is just as relevant for 2021 as 1962 (its original release).
watching an objectivised and profoundly unhappy cleo evolve into her own grounded and satisfied florence is just as striking now as it was originally.
and, the film is non-stop Paris street and cafe life of the '60s for its entirety.

🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿
 
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it has been a long while since i saw this film - probably somewhere along 1978 or so.
amazon prime has a 2012 restored (!) B&W version that has a hand coloured opening Tarot reading scene.

but in every detail this film is just as relevant for 2021 than 1962 (its original release).
watching an objectivised and profoundly unhappy cleo evolve into her own grounded and satisfied florence is just as striking now as it was originally.
and, the film is non-stop Paris street and cafe life of the '60s for its entirety.

🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

You know what sold me on that film... a 2012 review by Roger Ebert.



[ For those who haven't seen it - can't really remember if that review actually has spoilers per se, so "you decide" whether to read the review if you haven't seen any version of the film yet. I was very taken by Ebert's writeup on director Agnes Vargas. ]
 
I watched Soul earlier. Very cute.

I’m finishing up the original version of Pollyanna now. I loved it when it originally came out, and still do.
 
The NeverEnding Story was on TV earlier and I haven’t seen that since I was a child I don’t think?

I watched The Godfather part one last night too which is my favourite film.
 
Watched Mulan. Never watched the animated original. So with the previous watch, WW84, that's two movies in a row that left me at "Meh!" Tenet soon.
 
Watched Mulan. Never watched the animated original. So with the previous watch, WW84, that's two movies in a row that left me at "Meh!" Tenet soon.
I enjoyed Mulan. Much better than WW84.
 
WW'84 was a bit of a disappointment.

The Good:

The opening scene on Themyscira
The 45-60 minutes5 or so (including the above), the opening mall heist, though that's tonally way different, the whole 1984 thing became a silly prop gag
Gal Gadot definitely owns the role
Pine is funny/charming
Pascal is excellent, strikes the right tone
Wiig till the last 35-40 minutes
That "Oh, I can do this!" scene towards the end, beautiful (I'll even give it a pass for using, yet again, the amazing Adagio in D Minor)


The Bad:

Runtime, needs a good 30-40 minute edit
Gal Gadot when it's just 45 minutes of really nothing, she needs more plot
Wiig in the last 1/4, ugh ...
The major message issue with a movie based on a character about female empowerment, really sitting around because, need man[?]
And one spoiler-y thing, I'll be vague: given the mechanism of how Steve come back, yikes, really? You're actually kind of ... and it's not really ... WTF.

In general it just lacked the magic of the first film, didn't have the sprawling cosmic plot of the Avengers, lacked any kind of energy and fun (after the opening 45 minutes) in the entire middle hour, even the action sequence in the ME (beyond being extremely tone deaf ...) felt like it was just sandwiched in - some core character concepts seems way off, too long, boring middle section, just not a great movie.

Original I'd give a solid B+, really close to an A- (lost 1/2 a letter grade from the noisy, chaotic ending ... the "No Man's Land" sequence is as good as any scene in any comic book movie).

This one? Er, probably a C-.
 
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