The Official Last Movie You Saw Thread (Part 2)

[Spiritof96]

I didn’t think Boss Baby was that good. Interesting premise, cute gags, but the main story needed work.

[Catatonic]

Saw Phantom Thread last night. I suspect that most general audiences would find it baffling, unpleasant, or even boring, but it's a stone cold masterpiece. Daniel Day-Lewis will get his Best Actor retirement gift, but Vicky Krieps was the real revelation here.

[KCKUKFan]

Get Out with a Best Picture nomination. Hell yes.

Also: Boss Baby got some love, because of course it did.

I've seen all the Best Picture nominees, and here's how I'd rank 'em:

1) Dunkirk (short, sweet, awesome)
2) Three Billboards (fantastically entertaining, if problematic in its themes)
3) Phantom Thread (looks stuffy and boring, but in typical Paul Thomas Anderson fashion, it upends expectations)
4) Get Out (fun, but "Best Picture" worthy?)
5) Lady Bird (good, but done before)
6) The Post (slow, dry)
7) The Shape Of Water (average)
8) Call Me By Your Name (zzzzz)
9) Darkest Hour (zzzz, Gary Oldman's prosthetics are distracting)

Overall, this was a pretty so-so year for movies if these are the top nine. All of these movies are technically good, but I don't know if any of them, aside from "Dunkirk," are great. Still think that while it wasn't particularly scary, "IT" was the most fun I had at the movies all year. And it had some pretty fantastic performances and production values, to boot.

[KCKUKFan]

Saw Phantom Thread last night. I suspect that most general audiences would find it baffling, unpleasant, or even boring, but it's a stone cold masterpiece. Daniel Day-Lewis will get his Best Actor retirement gift, but Vicky Krieps was the real revelation here.

Movie was very good, but still middle of the pack PTA:

1) Boogie Nights
2) There Will Be Blood
3) Magnolia

(the three masterpieces)

4) The Master
5) Phantom Thread

(the excellent second tier)

6) Punch-Drunk Love
7) Inherent Vice
8) Hard Eight

(the take-em-or-leave-ems)

[Catatonic]

Movie was very good, but still middle of the pack PTA:

1) Boogie Nights
2) There Will Be Blood
3) Magnolia

(the three masterpieces)

4) The Master
5) Phantom Thread

(the excellent second tier)

6) Punch-Drunk Love
7) Inherent Vice
8) Hard Eight

(the take-em-or-leave-ems)

Agree to disagree. Phantom Thread is a less vehement film than TWBB, but it's no less a masterpiece. PTA is maturing as a writer and it's awesome.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Phantom Thread
3. The Master
4. Punch-Drunk Love
5. Boogie Nights
6. Magnolia
7. Inherent Vice
8. Hard Eight

[KCKUKFan]

Punch-Drunk Love above Magnolia and Boogie Nights?

Boogie Nights is just a shot of pure awesomeness, chased by another shot awesomeness. Entertaining in a way that none of his other movies have managed to be.

Magnolia is Altman-better-than-Altman. Some think it's pretentious, but I think it's an absolutely gorgeous movie filled with career-best performances.

There Will Be Blood is just a masterpiece. The movie he (and Day Lewis) was born to make.

The Master and Phantom Thread are both handsome movies that really nailed PTA's normal themes, but they are both cold and off-putting almost to a fault. While Magnolia was like this, it had a number of quirkly charms that smoothed out its rougher, more abstract edges. The Master and Phantom Thread are both VERY difficult movies -- easy to appreciate, harder to enjoy.

I always thought Punch-Drunk Love was just sort of minor, and not just in runtime. I never really got the point. It's well-shot and well-acted, but what's going on, really? A disturbed dude falls in love and gets blackmailed by a mattress salesman?

Inherent Vice was... strange. Talk about frustrating.

Hard Eight was, in all respects, an amateur film -- flashes of his style and talent, but not much of a movie.

[Catatonic]

It just depends on what you want out of a movie. Boogie Nights is a lot of fun, has great performances and music. It's basically a Scorcese facsimile, which isn't necessarily an insult because it's so well done. But it is pretty shallow compared to most of PTA's movies. Punch Drunk Love is as original as Boogie Nights is derivative. TWBB, The Master, Phantom Thread are movies only a seasoned veteran could or would make. As an almost 40-year old man I just find them far more interesting,

[Joneslab]

I loved Boogie Nights when I saw it in the theater.

Strangely, I re-watched some of it a couple of weeks ago on Netflix and...that isn't a great movie. In fact it's a very strange movie that plays at times like an adolescent comedy. I found watching it really strange, because I loved it on first watch. But I wouldn't consider it even close to a masterpiece and in fact it's at times so forcefully ironic that it comes off as heavy-handed to the point of being empty.

I've also seen Magnolia only once and loved it. Ditto There Will be Blood.

I remember thinking Punch-Drunk Love was so slight it was basically a doodle. The jokes mostly missed, the emotion was basically washed down to the point where you were left blinking at some of the heavier scenes...like KC I'm not sure what to do with that movie.

[Catatonic]

Back when it came out, a couple I knew told me they'd been to see Punch Drunk Love at the theater. I excitedly asked them what they thought, and they complained that it wasn't funny, and just "weird for weird's sake". The same couple later told me they once walked out of The Royal Tenenbaums, which they had gone to see based on the merits of Ben Stiller's zany comedies.

[Joneslab]

I see something different in the weirdness of The Royal Tenenbaums, which feels more whimsical to me.

Punch-Drunk Love is kind of darker. (Or at least I remember it being that way.) Seemed like Adam Sandler's character was almost mentally ill or something.

[KCKUKFan]

I will argue that "Boogie Nights" is a masterpiece. Sure, it's derivative of Scorsese and Altman, but it works in such a way where it's its very own thing. Some movies just feel alive. "Pulp Fiction," "Goodfellas," "Boogie Nights," etc. There's not a whole of story, but there's a lot of heart, a lot of great music, a lot of great performances, and some awesome filmmaking on display. With all due respect to "Hard Eight," it's pretty much Anderson's debut picture, and how many other first movies are as gripping and purely entertaining as "Boogie Nights"? I loved it when I first saw it, and my affinity for it has only grown over the years. The extended scene towards the end of the film where John Reilly and Mark Wahlberg go to sell the coke is one of the most masterful scenes I've ever seen -- the blaring 80s music, the coked-out drug dealer, the firecrackers constantly going off -- it's still one of my all-time favorite movie moments, and a master class in orchestrating cinematic tension.

Speaking of "The Royal Tenenbaums," I saw the trailer for Wes Anderson's new movie, "Isle Of Dogs" before "Phantom Thread." It looked... Wes Anderson... to the point of exhaustion. Looks like a more off-putting redo of "The Fantastic Mr. Fox."

[Joneslab]

Interesting news about Charlie Kaufman's upcoming project. This book is amazing and one of the best thrillers I've read. It's only about 150 pages long. Completely wild and terrifying.

https://slate.com/culture/2018/01/charlie-kaufman-to-write-direct-im-thinking-of-ending-things-adaptation.html?via=recirc_recent

[BobS]

Just saw Wind River. Not sure what to think about it actually but I love Renner in anything.

Probably need to watch it again.

[Blue Heaven]

Just saw Wind River. Not sure what to think about it actually but I love Renner in anything.

Probably need to watch it again.

I really liked this movie. And Renner is a fantastic actor.

[Joneslab]

I sort of loved Wind River. I didn't see a ton last year but it would definitely be one of the best three or four I watched in '17.