Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh)

FrancieBrady

21Savage wrote: »

I honestly don't like McDonagh's stuff. In Bruges is alright, it's not funny though and I don't see what people find funny about it. Colin Farrell calls some fat American fat....oh so original.

The Guard is worst movie I've ever seen. This was okay, I liked Woody Harrelson's scene but other than that pretty boring.

The performances were great though but yet the movie was just okay.

The Guard is the worst movie of all time???

I think you just don't get it. Which is fine, but 'worst movie' is quite wrong.

21Savage

Honestly I hated the Guard. I hate Brendan Gleeson's delivery as well, it'. I just don't enjoy the dialogue of McDonagh's movies. I just don't get the humour. It's really contrived.

FrancieBrady

21Savage wrote: »

Honestly I hated the Guard. I hate Brendan Gleeson's delivery as well, it'. I just don't enjoy the dialogue of McDonagh's movies. I just don't get the humour. It's really contrived.

All comedy is contrived. You just don't get it, like I don't get some other stuff.
'Worst film' is a nonsense for a well made film that didn't hit all the marks but certainly has a lot going for it.

Decuc500

Martin McDonagh didn't make The Guard. That was his brother.

I thought Three Billboards was fantastic. Some scenes were quite shocking to me and it was an angry film as well as being genuinely funny in places. Very powerful stuff.

FrancieBrady

Decuc500 wrote: »

Martin McDonagh didn't make The Guard. That was his brother.

.

True dat! Duped by one glass of wine too many is my excuse!

Anyway, looks like McDonagh The Elder is hatching a plan:

They are a very natural pairing.

https://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/films/martin-mcdonagh-in-bruges-reunion-colin-farrell-brendan-gleeson/341809

sporina

21Savage wrote: »

I honestly don't like McDonagh's stuff. In Bruges is alright, it's not funny though and I don't see what people find funny about it. Colin Farrell calls some fat American fat....oh so original.

The Guard is worst movie I've ever seen. This was okay, I liked Woody Harrelson's scene but other than that pretty boring.

The performances were great though but yet the movie was just okay.

yeah I guess McDonagh's work is just not for you (though the guard is not actually not one of them but none the less)..

as you can se from previous posts, so many of us got soo much from the movie... I would even go so far as to say that it is a stoke of genius; takes a very talented individual to be able to balance so perfectly two such contrasting themes as tragedy and comedy..

each to their own..

Banjaxed82

Decent movie. Great performances but definitely being overhyped. Is less than the sum of its parts. McDonagh still hasn't topped In Bruges imo.

dulux99

So many plot holes and stupid scenes in a film I was really excited for. spoilers below

1.) what's the story with the guy visiting the gift shop and turns out he's completely innocent with regards to the main crime

2.) oh no there's a huge fire - luckily I inexplicably have this massive fire extinguisher in my passenger seat

3.) the guy in the bar also has committed an almost literally identical crime to the crime being investigated, what are the chances

4.) the dentist scene - ridiculous and absurd

5.) the dad with the weirdly smoking hot young one for a girlfriend - unrealistic. The scene where she goes to use her current boyfriends ex-wifes bathroom - give me a break

6.) the cgi deer - what the hell

7.) woody harrelsons wife's accent - what?

8.) a cop pretty much almost kills a guy in plain view with lots of witnesses - the only ramification is he loses his job, no charges pressed or further action taken

weldoninhio

dulux99 wrote: »

So many plot holes and stupid scenes in a film I was really excited for. spoilers below

1.) what's the story with the guy visiting the gift shop and turns out he's completely innocent with regards to the main crime

2.) oh no there's a huge fire - luckily I inexplicably have this massive fire extinguisher in my passenger seat

3.) the guy in the bar also has committed an almost literally identical crime to the crime being investigated, what are the chances

4.) the dentist scene - ridiculous and absurd

5.) the dad with the weirdly smoking hot young one for a girlfriend - unrealistic. The scene where she goes to use her current boyfriends ex-wifes bathroom - give me a break

6.) the cgi deer - what the hell

7.) woody harrelsons wife's accent - what?

8.) a cop pretty much almost kills a guy in plain view with lots of witnesses - the only ramification is he loses his job, no charges pressed or further action taken

I agree with the above. The Rockwell character was ridiculous too. Redneck racist completely changes his attitude and outlook on life after a letter from his dead boss. Nonsense. Why didn’t Harrelson try to make him a better cop while he was alive?

It’s a ok movie but I don’t understand the massive hype around it.

Arghus

Saw this several days ago. I dunno, very much on the fence about this film. There was a lot about it I didn't like. I don't fully get whatever tone Martin McDonagh is trying to go for in his films generally and this one is no exception. In places it's a bit Coensy and then it's a bit Tarintinoesque - without ever really convincingly having signifiers of its own identity - aside from an awkward theatricality and overstuffed busyness. This film feels largely derivative rather than authentic. A lot of the humour failed to land for me, many of the lines made me cringe. There was too much of everything - too much running time, too many characters, too many sub-plots, too many implausibilities, too much self-conscious dialogue: too much all over

And yet, there were parts of it that I did like. Sam Rockwell, as usual, was great. Frances McDormand's performance was absorbing. I liked how the film was ostensibly about the three billboards, but not really about them at all. I thought it was interesting how the film wasn't afraid to ask questions about maybe the mother's own personal culpability in the tragedy that had occurred - and maybe how that was actually a root cause for her on the surface fire and brimstone desire for vengeance and justice and I liked how the ending was somewhat graceful and ambiguous about the issue of retribution, in contrast to all the fire and fury of what had gone before. It is, in essence, a kind and understanding film, especially towards its characters, as much as it wants to make you think otherwise - and I appreciated that. It had more heart than it let on.

But, man, I just don't know. For every positive I can think of a negative - and some of those negatives are really ugggh...bad. I'll say that I think it's good, on the strength of what is good about it, but there's far too many flaws for me in it to really consider it anywhere near one of the best films of the year.

MfMan

dulux99 wrote: »

So many plot holes and stupid scenes in a film I was really excited for. spoilers below

1.) what's the story with the guy visiting the gift shop and turns out he's completely innocent with regards to the main crime

2.) oh no there's a huge fire - luckily I inexplicably have this massive fire extinguisher in my passenger seat

3.) the guy in the bar also has committed an almost literally identical crime to the crime being investigated, what are the chances

4.) the dentist scene - ridiculous and absurd

5.) the dad with the weirdly smoking hot young one for a girlfriend - unrealistic. The scene where she goes to use her current boyfriends ex-wifes bathroom - give me a break

6.) the cgi deer - what the hell

7.) woody harrelsons wife's accent - what?

8.) a cop pretty much almost kills a guy in plain view with lots of witnesses - the only ramification is he loses his job, no charges pressed or further action taken

As with Coen-bros and Tarantino, I think the movie is best viewed largely as a farce, with somewhat contrived and exaggerated characters, rather than as a slice of gritty realism.

4) Rockwell earlier reported to Harrelson that a 'woman with a funny eye and a fat dentist' had complained about the billboards. Maybe either the dentist assault scene is why he complains, or McDormand got wind of his complaint and takes revenge.

5) Nothing especially strange about an older man getting together with a younger girl.

6) Think the deer may have been real; it's trainer gets a mention somewhere in the credits.

7) Abbie Cornish is Australian so her accent comes through occasionally. Again, hardly anything strange about a sheriff marrying a non-national?

El Duda

dulux99 wrote: »

So many plot holes and stupid scenes in a film I was really excited for.  spoilers below

1.) what's the story with the guy visiting the gift shop and turns out he's completely innocent with regards to the main crime

2.) oh no there's a huge fire - luckily I inexplicably have this massive fire extinguisher in my passenger seat

3.) the guy in the bar also has committed an almost literally identical crime to the crime being investigated, what are the chances

4.) the dentist scene - ridiculous and absurd

5.) the dad with the weirdly smoking hot young one for a girlfriend - unrealistic. The scene where she goes to use her current boyfriends ex-wifes bathroom - give me a break

6.) the cgi deer - what the hell

7.) woody harrelsons wife's accent - what?

8.) a cop pretty much almost kills a guy in plain view with lots of witnesses - the only ramification is he loses his job, no charges pressed or further action taken

Modern day movie goers ay? Always finding problems that don't exist. Always confusing ambiguity for plot holes. Always incredulous if a films plot dares to deviate from the very specific, misplaced preconceptions they went into the cinema with.

What films do you actually like out of interest?

dulux99

4.) The insinuation in the Dentist scene is that the Dentist was about to attack the woman. He says something like “don’t forget the sherrif has a lot of friends in this town” and leans in with his drill…so the dentist was about to attack a woman with a drill in his own surgery, riiiight.  
 
5.) Did you see the girl in question? She was like a glamour model. The guy went from having McDormand as his wife to having a stunner like that on his arm…right. They could have gotten a far less glamorous woman in her late 20’s/early 30’s to play the mistress and it would have just been so much more believable. The dad is also portrayed as being a complete loser. How did he pull her?
 
6.) That deer can’t have been real. I actually laughed when it came on screen at how ridiculous it was.

7.) Fair enough if the actress is Australian, but was the Australian wife not a bit out of place considering this town was portrayed as the back arse of nowhere? Again it just threw up more questions to me. I actually thought she was British.
 
I actually have a couple of more thoughts on this stupid movie. $5000 per month for three billboards that nobody had rented in about 30 years? Surely if they’re lying dormant for so long the advertising company would bite a persons hand off for 1/10^th of that price a month.
 
McDormand destroys an entire building, a government building at that, and severely burns a man in the process. Apparently a “nah she was with me all night” alibi is sufficient to get her off the hook? FFS.
 
When the thing with the dentist happens, Harrelson says the dentist is pressing charges, and five minutes later he decides that McDormand should be let go. How is that a thing? She admitted to attacking the dentist, and the dentist wants to press charges…he can’t just leave her go there and then.
 
So many stupid, stupid aspects to this film.

dulux99

El Duda wrote: »

dulux99 wrote: »

So many plot holes and stupid scenes in a film I was really excited for.  spoilers below

1.) what's the story with the guy visiting the gift shop and turns out he's completely innocent with regards to the main crime

2.) oh no there's a huge fire - luckily I inexplicably have this massive fire extinguisher in my passenger seat

3.) the guy in the bar also has committed an almost literally identical crime to the crime being investigated, what are the chances

4.) the dentist scene - ridiculous and absurd

5.) the dad with the weirdly smoking hot young one for a girlfriend - unrealistic. The scene where she goes to use her current boyfriends ex-wifes bathroom - give me a break

6.) the cgi deer - what the hell

7.) woody harrelsons wife's accent - what?

8.) a cop pretty much almost kills a guy in plain view with lots of witnesses - the only ramification is he loses his job, no charges pressed or further action taken

Modern day movie goers ay? Always finding problems that don't exist. Always confusing ambiguity for plot holes. Always incredulous if a films plot dares to deviate from the very specific, misplaced preconceptions they went into the cinema with.

What films do you actually like out of interest?

I like loads of films. In the last few weeks I went to see The Disaster Artist and The Post. Both brilliant in their own right.

homerun_homer

I wasn't sure if I would like this since I've not been a fan of McDonagh's other films but I really enjoyed it. At times I felt it wobbled, be it the dialogue or where he'd take the film at times, and it was daft and unrealistic at many times but overall it was a really good, enjoyable film to see. The acting is superb, the humour is funny, and the violence was at times wince inducing (the dentist:eek:).

I expected to be thrown at what I heard was an ending akin to No Country for Old Men, but I didn't feel that at all. Funnily enough I thought that if it weren't the type of film it was, that many would exit the film saying it's set itself up for a sequel. There is a big absence left by Woody mid way through the film, and there was a few points nearer the end when I wondered when it was going to find it's way to an ending, but it eventually got there and it was a good ride.

Goodshape

dulux99 wrote: »

So many stupid, stupid aspects to this film.

It's... Not a documentary.

Fair enough of you didn't enjoy it but the film's about character, loss, grief, tragidy, coping, small town isolation. Not a literal and true representation of life.

JP Liz V1

It won big at SAGs last night so likely many Oscar noms and a few wins with Frances and Sam being viewed as locks

sporina

dulux99 wrote: »

I like loads of films. In the last few weeks I went to see The Disaster Artist and The Post. Both brilliant in their own right.

I don't have the time to go thru your points but suffice to say, 3 billboards is not your cuppa.. you didn't get it - sooo many of us adored it..
(along with millions of other's no doubt)

all entitled to our opinions..

both of the above highlighted are based on true stories.. absolute opposite in style and writing to McDonagh's work..
Going to see The Post later in the week - very much looking forward to it..

dulux99

sporina wrote: »

I don't have the time to go thru your points but suffice to say, 3 billboards is not your cuppa.. you didn't get it - sooo many of us adored it..
(along with millions of other's no doubt)

all entitled to our opinions..

both of the above highlighted are based on true stories.. absolute opposite in style and writing to McDonagh's work..
Going to see The Post later in the week - very much looking forward to it..

Of course.

For the record I typically love Martin McDonaghs films. In bruges is one of my absolute favourites of all time. Which is why, maybe, I was quite harsh and critical of this film

sporina

dulux99 wrote: »

Of course.

For the record I typically love Martin McDonaghs films. In bruges is one of my absolute favourites of all time. Which is why, maybe, I was quite harsh and critical of this film

no disrespect but In Bruges is a lot more subtle than 3 billboards.. the latter is orbits ahead in terms of creativity etc..

maybe you were analyzing it soo much that you couldn't feel the movie..

or maybe it was just not your cuppa..

Walter Bishop

Not sure why so many were expecting this to be a hyper-realistic drama, it's a black comedy and a very good one. If I had five quid for every time someone did something unrealistic in a movie I'd be making them myself.

yabadabado

Heard a lot of people saying they loved In Bruges but didn't like this.
I much prefered 3 Billboards and thought it was a far superior film.

_Dara_

El Duda wrote: »

Two of my favourite films of recent years have been In Bruges and Calvary. Martin McDonagh has done it again with this.

Just a note. Calvary was written and directed by Martin McDonagh's brother. I don't think Martin had anything to do with it.

pinkypinky

I enjoyed the film - amazing performances all round but agree there's a lot of plot holes and that deer definitely looked cgi. Abbie Cornish was woefully miscast and her accent just took me out of the story. Rockwell is brilliant, more so than McDormand for me, but no way would a man like that be a cop, and he certainly would have lost more than his job for that serious assault. The casual acceptance of extreme racism really bothered me too. Dinklage was wasted but presumably there to get the GoT crowd in. Over all, it's one of the most thought-provoking films I've seen in a while.

I liked 7 Psychopaths but don't understand why people think In Bruges is a masterpiece - it's over-rated at best. Also, I'll never forgive McDonagh for the torture that was seeing Lonesome West in the Gaiety - the worse case of Emperor's New Clothes I've ever seen on stage.

pinkypinky

pinkypinky wrote: »

, but no way would a man like that be a cop, .

20-30 years ago he certainly could of been. Its not that far a stretch to imagine some of those guys left in middle america. Last time I was in the states someone asked me if Europe was in England.

.......

This post has been deleted.

El Duda

That

_Dara_ wrote: »

El Duda wrote: »

Two of my favourite films of recent years have been In Bruges and Calvary. Martin McDonagh has done it again with this.

Just a note. Calvary was written and directed by Martin McDonagh's brother. I don't think Martin had anything to do with it.

I was aware. Just a badly worded review

BellaMama

Good news on the Oscar front for the film, as predicted Francis McDormand, Sam Rockwell received their acting nominations and a very well deserved Woody Harrilson also got one.

McDonagh is up for Screenplay and I think it will be a shocker if he doesnt win for that, but I think in what is seen as a surprise/snub, he was not nominated for Best Director.

Mr E

Really enjoyed this.

I know some have said that the first half was better than the second half, but I disagree. I thought the first half was pretty much told in the trailers (up to the mid-point departure), so the second half was more enjoyable for me (because I didn't know where the story was going to go from there).

2smiggy

seen it last night. thought it was very good. I even found the ending satisfactory !! A very good dark comedy.