The AUS/KIWI Seen at the movies thread

[Aunt Peg]

The Green Fog 6/10
The Dead Nation 6/10
Victory Day 4/10

[nitin]

Zama

8/10

[Lavochkn]

NZIFF:

Lucky - 8/10
Shoplifters - 9/10

[nitin]

The Kindergarten Teacher

5/10

First disappointment from my MIFF selections.

[Aunt Peg]

Originally Posted by nitin

The Kindergarten Teacher

5/10

First disappointment from my MIFF selections.

It's interesting seeing The Kindergarten Teacher getting a mixed reaction. A friend of mine saw it at Sydney and didn't like it.

I saw in the original Israelie film back in 2015 at an Israelie Film Festival, for some reason it never played at the Sydney or Melbourne film festivals. I was very taken with the film and purchased the Blu Ray that Kino released later that year (which is region A locked). I was surprised that it had be remade so quickly and that may have had something to do with the film being relatively obscure.

I rewatched it again prior to seeing the remake at Sydney and most of the differences are really cultural but the lead character is somewhat more unpredictable in the original and the secondary characters are so much better fleshed out in the Israelie film. I actually didn't mind the remake too much until in that is was reasonably watchable until the last act that simply doesn't fit into an American milieu. Maggie G. tries but she can't hold a candle to Sarit Larry.

The director of the Israelii film has said that the film was inspired but his own experiences at the same age of the child in the film only in so far as he would write poetry, a skill he lost very quickly. Everything else about the film is purely fictional.

I don't know anyone expect for myself who has seen the original and the remake but I hope that anyone who finds the remake disappointing is not deterred from watching the original should the opportunity ever arise for them.

Today at MIFF:

Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle 5/10
The Image Book 6/10
Euthanizer 4/10 (this showed with an excellent short titled Tungrus)

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Aunt Peg

It's interesting seeing The Kindergarten Teacher getting a mixed reaction. A friend of mine saw it at Sydney and didn't like it.

I saw in the original Israelie film back in 2015 at an Israelie Film Festival, for some reason it never played at the Sydney or Melbourne film festivals. I was very taken with the film and purchased the Blu Ray that Kino released later that year (which is region A locked). I was surprised that it had be remade so quickly and that may have had something to do with the film being relatively obscure.

I rewatched it again prior to seeing the remake at Sydney and most of the differences are really cultural but the lead character is somewhat more unpredictable in the original and the secondary characters are so much better fleshed out in the Israelie film. I actually didn't mind the remake too much until in that is was reasonably watchable until the last act that simply doesn't fit into an American milieu. Maggie G. tries but she can't hold a candle to Sarit Larry.

The director of the Israelii film has said that the film was inspired but his own experiences at the same age of the child in the film only in so far as he would write poetry, a skill he lost very quickly. Everything else about the film is purely fictional.

I don't know anyone expect for myself who has seen the original and the remake but I hope that anyone who finds the remake disappointing is not deterred from watching the original should the opportunity ever arise for them.

Today at MIFF:

Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle 5/10
The Image Book 6/10
Euthanizer 4/10 (this showed with an excellent short titled Tungrus)

I might grab the original at some point but, in this version, I just found everything, particularly the characterisation, completely unconvincing.

[Hucksta G]

Ant-man and the Wasp (7/10)

[Aunt Peg]

Last day for me at MIFF:

Rafiki 4/10
Sorry Angel 4/10
Girl 7/10

Must say that the best film I saw at the entire festival (and I had seen some at Sydney already) was Happy as Lazzaro which along with Dogman will be playing at the upcoming Italian Film Festival across the country during Sep/Oct.

[Hucksta G]

Originally Posted by Aunt Peg

Must say that the best film I saw at the entire festival (and I had seen some at Sydney already) was Happy as Lazzaro

One of the ones I had to miss out on in NZ because of timetable clashes

[Lavochkn]

NZIFF:

Burning - 10/10

Wow, just wow. An honest to god masterpiece that I cannot stop thinking about. I was not ready for it to be so enthralling. This film grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

I've been deconstructing it in my head for the past day and it's brilliance is still revealing itself as I think on it. Can't wait to see it again at some point.

Simultaneously beautiful and haunting.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Lavochkn

NZIFF:

Burning - 10/10

Wow, just wow. An honest to god masterpiece that I cannot stop thinking about. I was not ready for it to be so enthralling. This film grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

I've been deconstructing it in my head for the past day and it's brilliance is still revealing itself as I think on it. Can't wait to see it again at some point.

Simultaneously beautiful and haunting.

Yeah if I hadn’t seen The Wild Pear Tree, this would be my MiFF pick (although still have Museum and First Reformed to go today).

[Hucksta G]

Minding the Gap, First Reformed and Burning were my top three of the NZIFF. - missed out on Wild Pear Tree and Happy as Lazzaro due to timetable clashes

[Lavochkn]

Originally Posted by Hucksta G

Minding the Gap, First Reformed and Burning were my top three of the NZIFF. - missed out on Wild Pear Tree and Happy as Lazzaro due to timetable clashes

I'm finishing my fest tonight with First Reformed

[nitin]

Musuem

7/10

First Reformed

Not quite at the level of the three films it evokes (Taxi Driver, Winter Light, Diary of a Country Priest), but excellent nevertheless.

8/10

[Hucksta G]

Maui's Hook (7/10) - final film of this year's NZIFF

[Lavochkn]

Final film of NZIFF:

First Reformed - 7/10

What a WILD third act.

This was my first film festival here and I loved every second of it! Will be back for sure.

There were no films that I outright hated, but a few I thought were average or slightly disappointing.

My favorites were: Climax, Burning, Shoplifters, Foxtrot and American Animals.

[L-Rouge]

The Meg

3.75/5

This film is competently handled, I am surprised at the effort that went into this film. Some of the dynamic is quite exciting.

I really liked it. The acting has nothing on "Jaws". I prefer "Deep Blue Sea", but this film holds it's own energy. I went to see this because Rainn Wilson plays Harry Mud in Star Trek Discovery and funnily enough possible not the only Star Trek Connection

[Show spoiler]The film has Hump Back whales and one of them is called Gracie

Oh and this was filmed in West Auckland, so why not support local material?

quite well done with Prodigious low-end and amazing surround activity. Killer soundtrack, one of the best sonic performances of the year..

[Lavochkn]

The Meg - 3/10

Not written or performed well enough to be taken seriously, and not silly enough to be fun. If it had committed to the latter I think it would have worked well, but it spent too much time jumping between different tones.

The dialogue and acting stood out to me as the weakest parts of the film. Some extremely poor line delivery from most of the cast, most seemed like they weren't even trying. For a big budget studio film, the visuals were also very average.

The best part of the film was the 'fin' as the closing card - got a good chuckle out of me.

[Hucksta G]

BlacKkKlansman

[deepseababy]

Blackkklansman - 4/5