Reminiscence (Hugh Jackman; Lisa Joy) [Cinemas/HBO]

pixelburp

I've lamented the lack of adult, mid-range gimmick thrillers these days, and here's something that may scratch that itch. Is the directorial debut of Lisa Joy, the producer-writer with Westworld. Which, depending on your views of that show may not be much of a recommendation. The trailer itself looks like a fairly earnest noir-infused riff on Inception; the reviews seem a bit all over the place on letterboxd but I'm still kinda curious. Comes out tomorrow in cinemas, with it also appearing on HBO Max.

https://youtu.be/_wvOX4G6bgQ

Agent Coulson

Rebecca Ferguson I'm in.

santana75

I'm going to see it Saturday so will report back after. Looks decent enough though, getting some Vertigo vibes aswell.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117777043#Comment_117777043

TGS reunion

MisterAnarchy

Very impressive trailer.

Cgi looks very ropey though.

Will put this on the shortlist.

Agent Coulson

I watched it this morning an enjoyable film nothing more really.

This then brings me to the HBOMax joint cinema releases this year non of them have been stand out films that would have smashed it at the box office so maybe this was a very clever move by Warner Bros to drive HBOMax subscriptions knowing there tent pole movies might not be the box office success that would be expected.

santana75

Not bad at all. A 3 out 5 film ever there was one. Jacko is solid as ever, couldn't buy Tandie newton as a tough ex soldier though, bad casting.

silverharp

oops

https://twitter.com/ERCboxoffice/status/1429464681261928457

pixelburp

Oof, this wasn't quite a stinker but also really missed its mark in many places. It was also the second major Hollywood "release" that felt more than a little archaic; after Those Who Wish Me Dead, this was also a film that came off like something you'd have seen playing in cinemas during the '90s.

If it weren't for the pedigree of the talent behind and in front of the camera, this might have been an accidental comedy. The tropes this film were trying to invoke were executed with such self-seriousness, it almost looped back into parody. Almost. Instead, scenes were bookended with the kind of shallow profundity beloved of instgram posts & bad voiceovers; nuggets of wisdom like, "The past is a bead on the necklace of time". Yikes.

The amalgamation of Noir cinema, Inception and a Climate Collapse ravaged Miami was a great idea to play with, but the execution frequently failed to engage. Not so much hard-boiled, than over-boiled; everything overwrought and indulged in cliché without ever winking towards subversion or even playing with those genre conventions. The actors gave it their all, Hugh Jackman was as always, a magnetic lead but his conviction arguably sank things further (pun kinda intended).

Then again, "shallow profundity" would also ably summarise Noland & Joy's Westworld, so maybe this end result was never going to be that surprising. A shame though; as I said at the start of the thread, this kind of film is itself quite rare these days.

Heraclius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117793728#Comment_117793728

A very harsh but well written review!

I agree about the poor voiceover and clichéd nature of much of the film. I enjoyed it despite its faults though (possibly due to very low expectations). I thought the cast did a good job and the film looked well. I was also very happy to see a film in cinema after all this time.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117787343#Comment_117787343

Watts was the only character I found interesting

Jackman was OK as the Bogart type lead but the storyline was all over the place