The Revenant (Alejandro González Iñárritu)

[Dukefrukem]

Just in case it has not been made clear, I think this movie looks flat and drab and bland to look at. Especially after The Hateful Eight.

Yeh all those spotlights in the cabin made it look really authentic.

[number8]

What does authentic mean?

[transmogrifier]

It's just all over the place. If you want "just keep breathing" to be the main theme, don't tie it to a simplistic revenge plot. If you want to highlight the human struggle against the implacable backdrop of nature, don't do the sweaty close-ups that make it looks as if you are peering through a keyhole all the time. If you want to embrace pure naturalism, don't have the actors breathe on the camera. If you want to embrace realism and highlight the hard slog of a life facing the people out there, don't film an action sequence where the camera floats from actor to actor as they get killed and draw attention to your ever so clever cinematography. If you want a character study of a beast of a man with an iron will to live, don't cast Leonardo DiCaprio..

And so on.

[Dukefrukem]

What does authentic mean?

In my context, like a Broadway play.

[number8]

I love Broadway!

[Skitch]

I wish I could photoshop an audience watching The Revenant play and auditorium is full of fog.

[Dukefrukem]

I love Broadway!

Lol touche.

[Pop Trash]

I was thinking of Fitzcarraldo, and (no joke) Ace Ventura 2.

hahaha awesome!...I'm with Stay Puft and trans about this one in the sense that it feels like it is trying to be Malick/Tarkovsky/Herzog and winds-up being closer to Mel Gibson or Gladiator with some art movie flourishes. It certainly looks good and has some memorable setpieces and imagery, but I dunno, there's really not a lot to it and some of the points about Native American subjugation feels rather muddled.

[Morris Schæffer]

I'm not sure this movie is powerful, but if images in and of themselves can be powerful, then this immersed me greatly its entire running time. Di Caprio gives a very committed performance, but it is a very physical one, the trials of Leonardo Di Caprio, actor. By that rationale, shouldn't Jackie Chan have won several best actor Oscars then? I exagerate, of course I do, but I'm not sure it's Leo's best so far. Still, to close with an entirely lame and cliché appraisal, this movie, in a way few others have managed in recent years, made me feel like I was there. Exiting the theater afterward sorta felt like entering into another, alien world then.

[transmogrifier]

My favorite DiCaprio performance is still The Departed. He mines a tangible feeling of loneliness in that. Gilbert Grape would be next in line.

[Watashi]

Catch Me if You Can for me.

[baby doll]

I like the DiCapprio movies where he lets himself be charming and funny (The Wolf of Wall Street being both his best performance and his best movie overall), instead of trying so hard to convince us he's a Serious Method Actor (all those movies where he's traumatized by his wife's death, including The Revenant).

[Skitch]

Catch Me if You Can for me.

Love that movie so much. Pitch perfect.

[Ezee E]

Catch Me If You Can and The Departed.

Although basically everything from Aviator-on is pretty damn good for him. I didn't see J Edgar.

[baby doll]

I didn't see J Edgar.

The first hour is solid, but it the energy rapidly diminishes after that.

[Dukefrukem]

My favorite DiCaprio performance is still The Departed. He mines a tangible feeling of loneliness in that. Gilbert Grape would be next in line.

This.

[number8]

Romeo + Juliet.

[Spinal]

Apart from Gilbert Grape, I don't know that I see much difference between his performances, to be honest. So I guess that one's my favorite.

[Sven]

I have not seen a lot of Leo's contemporary performances, but his gung-ho zeal in The Aviator was addictive. Very, very compelling gusto in that one.

His performance in The Revenant suffers from the screenplay's lack of purpose and character. Kind of amazed at Hardy's amazingness, but Leo's "just get through this" motivation tires quickly.

[MadMan]

Leo dies at least four times in this movie. The bear attack is something out of a bloody horror film. Tom Hardy steals the movie. Also this is brutal, unflinching and nasty. While I thought it was great I have no desire to experience this film again anytime soon. I've had enough.

[MadMan]

Also I'll admit the last act is a mess. Plus the film is historically inaccurate at times, embellished for dramatic effect.

My favorite Leo performance is Gangs of New York. The accent sucked but he was raw and intense.

[baby doll]

Plus the film is historically inaccurate at times, embellished for dramatic effect.

You're going to hate Amadeus.

[DavidSeven]

Post-Titanic, I don't really think Leo grew into the parts he was playing until maybe around Inception. Good actor for sure, but his boyishness hurt his believability for a stretch. The exception being Catch Me If You Can, where that trait was an asset.

[baby doll]

Post-Titanic, I don't really think Leo grew into the parts he was playing until maybe around Inception. Good actor for sure, but his boyishness hurt his believability for a stretch. The exception being Catch Me If You Can, where that trait was an asset.

Yeah, I still don't buy him a "serious" leading man, hence my preference for Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, and The Wolf of Wall Street over the traumatized widower trilogy (Shutter Island, Inception, and The Revenant) where he simply lacked the gravitas to pull it off. Like Michael Jackson trying to unblack himself, there's something a little sad about DiCapprio trying to impose himself as a macho leading man; he should just accept who he is (i.e., the boy heartthrob from Titanic) instead of trying to be someone else.

[MadMan]

You're going to hate Amadeus.

I love Amadeus. I may excuse historical inaccuracy in film but I still note it happens.