JC Chandor's A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, a heating-company (!) gritfest w/ Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain

Drawing Godfather / Lumet/ James Gray comparisons....

http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/daily-j-c-chandors-a-most-violent-year

he was always my favorite member of N Sync

curious about this one, in part b/c i liked chandor's last film fair enough (not as much the one before that), and i like these two actors a whole bunch.

Isaac, Chastain and Brooks put in some right good shifts in this, imo it is Chandor's best of his trio so far, not that there is much between them.

I liked this otm quote from what seems the pick of the AMVY reviews I have read.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/12/dirty-oil

Seventy years ago, a story of ambition, temptation, and violence would have been made as a fast-paced noirish melodrama, starring John Garfield; sixty years ago, it would have been a psychological thriller, with Kirk Douglas; forty years ago, a furious anti-corruption rant, with Al Pacino. Chandor’s way with the material is drier, subtler, more realistic and more morally nuanced than those earlier modes. He’s actually interested in high-stakes business and what it can do to people.

i can only imagine that the earlier versions (at least from the 1960s or earlier) wouldn't be quite so insistently glum, with shimmers of self-importance. i still liked the movie, though.

the trailer was the movie afaict? looked very uninteresting

the trailer looked like it was trying really hard to suggest isaac was playing a mafioso and not a heating company dude

I don't get the glum/boring criticisms thrown at this, just as much as I don't get the gangster movie comparisons.

i don't think it was boring, but c'mon it was kind of glum and moody, no? very post-godfather.

The trailer struck me as containing a lot of bad line reading by the actors.

I linked to the New Yorker piece cos I agreed with the sentiment that this is more of an anti-godfather depiction, his character actually reminds me of an uncle of mine who is self-made wealthy .

yeah i didn't mean the whole characterization was godfather-esque, just that the pacing/color scheme/mood was indebted to that sort of thing

How heartbreaking for an artist to realize that your influences are as banal as everyone else's.

that wasn't a criticism. le sigh.

I wasn't being sarcastic! Only noting that anyone attempting this sort of picture has to look at Coppola or Prince of the City (they could use a screening of Fort Apache, The Bronx).

sort of doubt most artists care about how banal their interests are, that's more of a critic's game iirc

yup

sort of doubt most artists care about how banal their interests are, that's more of a critic's game iirc

― languagelessness (mattresslessness),

which is why we are the hope and future of mankind

there are artists who think like (or were) critics but that's the exception, probably

James Gray could be a hell of a critic, based on his commentary tracks.

and Gray made his Godfathery glumfest (The Yards)

to be fair, i think all of films are infected with the glums

all of HIS films

This looks like camp

jessica chastain looks like she's on some lady macbeth shit in this

I really liked this. Oscar Isaac outright was doing Pacino-Godfather II at times, but he puts in a helluva performance. He's like the Anti-Dark Knight - convinced that because he avoids violence, he is not a gangster, despite every other inch of him essentially being one, right down to his eerie calm demeanor, callous lack of empathy, and shrewd manipulation. He even breaks his own rules when convenient.

I enjoyed this as well. makes an interesting companion to margin call (different stages of capitalism!). not sure what to make of the one subplot that comes to a head (so to speak) at the end. though isaac's masked withering contempt in that scene was amazing.

yeah that was kind of an abrupt moment.

This was good. Wish Chandor had more of a visual sensibility, tho.

Also I thought this when he was on The Wire, too, but I want Peter Gerety to play Richard M. Daley someday.

Really enjoyed this, and happily surprised that it played 2D Armpit, MS.

lol

Haven't seen this, but it's kind of a shock that it was shut out of Oscar noms, no? Kinda weird, especially since he's definitely on the Academy's radar.

He was nominated for writing Margin Call, but All Is Lost got just a sound FX nomination last year.

All it deserved.

I saw a trailer for this over the holidays, not realizing it would get a lot of attention. I'm a little wary. I liked Margin Call all right, but a couple of those late Lumet films were a chore, and that was my general impression from the trailer.

This was OK, not more than that.

All it deserved.

no, you're thinking of Under the Skin

Yep. Just okay.

Great review

That deer scene was very heavy handed, but the bang still made me jump out of my seat!

imagine this as being another one of these 'state of america' movies, i.e takes itself seriously, but doesnt really have anything all that special to say about the state of america. or maybe its just a good gangster flick. either way, its been harder to find a cinema where its showing in london than i anticipated. poster also promises a lot of chastain cleavage but imagine the film reneges on that promise.

also, all is lost was way too heavy handed in its 'back to basics' theme/approach. if it ever stopped being aware of its apparent cinematic purity and 'one man just trying to survive' premise, it might have been better. but redford was never able to not look like he was trying to look stoic.

For yawnsome turds like you there is a website called Xhamster.

ahem. its not exactly subtle.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0FBa0kG9fBU/VJgPIaxZV-I/AAAAAAAAAGM/IAewzpA9zO4/s1600/A%2BMost%2BViolent%2BYear%2B%281%29.jpg

as far as recent films, it does remind me of stuff like killing them softly, american hustle, the iceman.

saw this the other day. it's hard to knock it too much, but the self-conscious weightiness (every scene seemed to begin with a car ominously creeping into the frame) was an issue. I suppose the lack of wit —the dialogue all felt very /functional/—was a conscious choice, but even those Lumet films that everyone seems to be citing as a source had their moments of levity (though not enough IMO).

for me the weaknesses of the film were symbolized by the way that nobody—in homes, offices, any interiors—seemed to turn any lights on, and instead we had scene after scene of moody side lighting. i kept joking to my partner that someone ought to tell the characters about electric lighting.

but aside from the character of the driver—whose reappearance at the end was one of those screenwriter's conceits where you can really see the plot gears churning—the script was fairly well-constructed, the performances were good, etc.

It's much better than AH (for one AH screws up every musical cue it can) but it's also pretty damn ephemeral.

i do get annoyed that in some ways these films—i'm including james gray's, which are obviously better films, but you get the idea--seem designed for people to almost moralistically counterpose them to "popcorn"/franchise films, but to me they aren't necessarily any more imaginative or derivative ,and indeed often less so. but at least the film didn't feel manic and rushed like so many films these days (even decent ones, like that paddington film).

these films kind of remind me of the singer-songwriter albums that the "adult album alternative" station in chicago, WXRT, used to play a lot -- the ones were every review called them "well-crafted."

its basically serious film fare for ppl who dont want to watch blockbuster-y stuff (or want to be seen as being above that kind of cinema), but find idk, arthouse stuff too hard going. or maybe i could have just said mid-budget american movies like how they used to make but dont anymore (etc). as though simply being just existing as a mid budget american movie is good enough.

sorry, i should stop talking about this before ive even seen it.

The Yards and We Own the Night are in am's category, but Two Lovers is so bizarre within the rules of casting two stars that it defies type. The Immigrant is a much broader canvas.

Thought this was pretty good. The one thing I was worried about, that it would be scene after scene of people yelling at each other, that wasn't an issue--a couple of those scenes towards the end. Oddest turf war since Bill Forsyth's Comfort and Joy. I can see The Godfather comparisons (just talking about story/mood, not quality), also Prince of the City; didn't seem remotely like Dog Day Afternoon to me, beyond the setting. I liked Albert Brooks a lot--about half the time, it felt like I was looking at William Hurt. (Not the most demanding role, but I wanted him in the movie all the time.) They didn't even seem to try for any kind of period atmosphere, although maybe there was decor or cars or something that went right past me. Jessica Chastain's hair, maybe.

this movie sucked. horrible line readings, performances, uninteresting and cliched story, bizarro failure of an ending.

just saw this, yea everything involving the driver subplot was very bad; didnt entirely mind the balance btwn bureaucratic & dramatic lite-gangsterism cuz that is essentially isaac's character, but it skirts a lot of attn to detail that bugged me

chastain really needed to be in it more somehow, too, but not only as isaacs antagonist

& the mobbed-up but genial competitor w/ the indoor tennis ct is prob my dream life if I'm honest w/ myself

like who is the dude he chases off from outside his house? we're told later that the oil thief is just a thug out for himself (which is also not v believable imo), so it's also just a coincidental neighborhood burgler (conveniently w/ a gun) he chases away? may have needed the pta 'magnolia' intro coincidence fable on this..

this is still running at the Sunshine in NYC, no idea why; can it be a hit here and nowhere else?

oscar isaac and chastain felt like little kids playing dress-up. like a max fischer production. also lol at the part when he falls down while chasing that guy and the roving camera stops and waits for him to get up.
i felt in general that this movie really needed a more comic sensibility. because this guy is such a dud that i was only engaged by hoping to see his face pushed in shit some more. i really liked that scene where he meets up with the mob bosses and starts off by saying "Stop it." like a child and the mob bosses seem like they can't wait til he's gone so they can make fun of him. also liked the part when he falls down while chasing that guy and the roving camera stops and waits for him to get up.

i liked it so much that i forgot to erase the first one

the good press for this thing baffled me.

yea i was kinda fantasizing changing nothing abt this movie but having isaacs character played by sil from sopranos

was going to see this until someone I know told me it was so boring it was one of the few movies they've ever walked out on so I passed