I believe they said on The Rewatcheables the first actress was pregnant or just had a baby at filming.
I always took the recasting as Elisabeth Shue being a more up-and-coming star when they shot the sequels, which were filmed concurrently so that would line up with availability
The Prestige - New Nolan masterpiece for me 10/10 Argo - 9/10 The Shape of Water 8.5/10 Logan Lucky - 8/10 Greyhound - 6.5-7/10 Starting Parasite now
Heat - 9/10 - Some incredible moments with filler in between. The core story is great, how Hanna and McCauley are both the same kind of people going in different directions (Hanna is losing is family because of his obsession and McCauley is tempted to leave his obsession after finding a love interest). Great ending, with Hanna and McCauley shaking hands. Heat is awesome, it just has about 30 minutes of flab that could be cut, making it a perfect 2.5 hour movie, instead of a too-long 3 hour one. Casino - 9/10 - Really amazingly directed movie that is let down by a very run of the mill, generic, story. Still, the Scorsese filmed it (almost entirely in narrated montages) makes it one of the easiest three hour movies to watch.
I’ll watch anything with Thomas Haden Church (big Wings fan) but he was a great choice for the Salt Water Redneck
I disagree with how you got to these rankings but I agree with them, although I have Heat 10/10 and Casino 9.5/10 (it’s better than Goodfellas imo)
I rewatched Alpha Dog recently and it’s the kind of movie that pisses me off because it squandered a good true crime story. If you gave the Coens that story they’d make all the characters sniveling dipshits and it would be a great black comedy. Instead, Cassavettes tries to make all the characters cool and conflicted and wastes the natural charisma of Timberlake and Ben Foster (not even in the second half of the movie despite being its only good performance).
Bruce Dern is the preeminent crotchety old man actor and should be cast in every role that requires a guy to just be put out by existing
Speaking of Ben Foster, Hell or High Water is a perfect movie. There’s not a single element of it that could have been improved (unless you’re trying to be a douche about signage or the like)
I disagree, I think the comanche should’ve killed Ben foster and then the movie ends on that note. That way the Mexican cop is still alive to see his kids grow up
I watched a movie called Take Shelter recently with Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain and directed by the guy who made Mud and it was very good. About a guy haunted by visions of a mysterious storm and he’s just losing it. The ever-intense Michael Shannon deserves an Oscar nom imo. 8/10
Watching Along Came Polly now which on paper is a paint-by-the-numbers RomCom but is elevated to greatness on the backs of some heavyweight performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Alec Baldwin. I mean, both these moments happen in the first ten minutes.
i love that movie, another underrated movie. I am due to watch it again, the life insurance scene always gets me.
The initial cut to the scene when a confused Alec Baldwin asks “You’re Reuben’s proxy?!” kills me every time. As does the whole scene which PSH drives home by calling it Inderby and Friends before the “you’re goddamn right I am.” Just perfection
Just watched Peanut Butter Falcon again. Great flick. Did y'all see that Ben Foster was originally casted as Tyler? I thought Shia did amazing in it, but also wonder how good Ben would have done.
The Guest - 7/10 - Kind of a mess. Don't know if it was trying to be a thriller or a horror or a drama or what. Mortal Kombat (2021) - 6/10 - The beginning and the end are really good, basically the story of Scorpion vs Sub-Zero. The problem is the movie isn't about Scorpion; it's about some rando who ends up a glorified spectator to the final fight. The screenplay needed another pass to fix things. Memento - 10/10 - Seen this movie a dozen times and I love it every time. Them (Ils) - 8/10 - Really solid but a bit of a letdown in the end. What I like most about it is how it spends maybe ten minutes on set up and then, once it really gets going, it never relaxes. It's non-stop tension with more tension piled on top, and more, and more, and more. Really recommended in that respect, but the ending kind of flattens it for me. Unforgiven (許されざる者) - 9/10 - Recommended, especially for fans of Eastwood's original film. It's a japanese remake of Unforgiven, which works right off the bat as an idea becuase so much of modern westerns (that Eastwood was deconstructing) are rooted in Samurai lore. A Quiet Place - 9/10 - Watched it in anticipation of the sequel tonight. Really great. You can tell it's a horror movie made by people who put thought into the story and pacing and weren't just "creating a cookie cutter horror flick." It's very reserved in how much horror it doles out until the finale. Stepping on the nail is still one of the worst things I've ever seen in a movie and I'm puckering right now just thinking about it.
Thanks for sharing. I had no idea. Added to queue. Cool to see an American western (specifically Eastwood) go in reverse (Man with no name trilogy, Magnificent 7, etc)
Came out in 2013 with Ken Watanabe playing the role Clint Eastwood portrayed. Really great film, very beautiful cinematography as you might guess being filmed mostly in Hokkaido.
If you're a horror fan or liked A Quiet Place, I can't recommend the sequel enough. Krasinki is a great fucking director. not really a spoiler but I'll hide it: Spoiler Without spoiling anything there are two plot threads that take up the second and third act but Krasinki uses blocking (and his editor does some great work too) to give both threads a mirror image feel so that the climax of one is thematically connected to the climax of the other. He cuts back and forth between the two and, even though the two events aren't directly connected, they feel connected and it allows the dramatic tension to stay at the same level despite bouncing back and forth between the different threads. Really masterful work. Practically Nolanesque
I may have mentioned these here before but the 6 best (possibly) lesser known films I’ve watched over the last couple of years or so: HAGAZUSSA KNIFE+HEART COME & SEE POSSUM SORCERER POSSESSOR
Spoiler The fact he came back with a virus to kill them, and the government was like ‘who cares, we lost contact with the future’ Ummmm, who gives a fuck about those 500K future people? You have a WMD to kill them all. Also, you can band together all world governments to draft nobodies with no training to become fodder for war, but you can’t go to Russia? Also, rip off Prometheus/Alien a bit more about their origins. The 3rd act was ludicrous