Boyhood (2014)

[CoolioD1]

Simmons will win, but he's probably like my third favourite in the category. He's just playing one note. it's a good note but there are more complex performances there.

Edited January 21, 2015 by CoolioD1

[baumer]

Simmons will win, but he's probably like my third favourite in the category. He's just playing one note. it's a good note but there are more complex performances there.

 

He's one note most of the film but there are moments when he is not that note and those ones floored me too.

[Jake Gittes]

Soderberg better direct a few more movies. Dude's such a freak talent. Limey's one his lesser seen gems.

 

He may not direct any more movies, but he'll shoot and edit them if you ask him to. 

[Jake Gittes]

It's a gimmick, yes, but gimmick is not an intrinsically bad word. 

 

I always thought a gimmick was something a movie didn't need in order to work just fine, but had it anyway. Like 3D is a gimmick in most films. Boyhood spending 12 years in the making isn't a gimmick because that's basically what the entire impact of the movie is built upon. It's the same as Memento and Irreversible unfolding in reverse or Pulp Fiction throwing its scenes around the chronological timeline so that each of them could make the most impression.

Edited January 21, 2015 by Jake Gittes

[Alpha]

^ Goodness, you're such a hipster.

 

HOODIE HOODIE HOODIE HOODIE

[Spidey Freak]

The story isn't deep in the sense that there's some message about greater meaning. 

 

There isn't?

[JohnnY]

I got a little bit disappointed because I was waiting for something really big, and this movie just didn't manage to catch my attention in some scenes. Maybe I just wasn't too focused and I know I have a problem with long movies, but sometimes my mind would just go elsewhere and I would pause the movie and be like "wait.... what did they just say?"

 

 

Hawke makes it all so effortless. You really forget he's acting. In fact, that's really true of all the principals -- more than anything else, I really felt like I personally knew the characters as people, and was rooting for them to be successful in their own ways.

 

But this was the most impressive thing for me, in the end of the movie when they are reminiscing about their past I felt like I was reminiscing with them. I loved the fact that they portrayed ordinary moments of life, like fighting with our brothers and sisters or faking to be sick to skip school, because when we remember about our childhood we focus on those silly moments and all these things that seemed to be the end of the world when we were children are laughing matter now that we're grown up.

 

There's something really heart warming about finding beauty in a movie about normal people doing normal things. Big events and the excitement they give us don't last forever, they are just transitory, if you take a closer look you'll see that our ordinary lives aren't boring, they are really beautiful. I felt like the movie was trying to show how fast life goes by, not in a sad way, but showing us that even those tiny little moments of our lives matter, and suddenly you have so many memories that life doesn't seem that insignificant anymore. And it's exactly when we recognize the importance of what happened in our past that we develop hope for our future.

 

85/100

 

but somehow i got hyped and hoped this would be a 100/100 lol

 

by the way, things went really fast with that Jim guy, what exactly happened? He seemed like a realiable man. Yeah, he started drinking a lot, but he still wasn't being a douche, I really thought the mom would settle down with him... and suddenly he wasn't there anymore.

Edited January 23, 2015 by JohnnY

[Spidey Freak]

by the way, things went really fast with that Jim guy, what exactly happened? He seemed like a realiable man. Yeah, he started drinking a lot, but he still wasn't being a douche, I really thought the mom would settle down with him... and suddenly he wasn't there anymore.

 

I cannot remember Olivia leaving Jim or anything in the movie directly referencing their separation. However, the Wikipedia plot summary claims they broke up after Jim's confrontation of Mason over his late hours. 

[Jake Gittes]

One of the many things I liked was how we got that huge dramatic scene of Olivia leaving Bill, but when she breaks up with Jim no one acknowledges it on screen, and all we get is that unspoken feeling of "yep, that didn't work out either". It's also a good reflection of how Mason feels about it, since he's terrified of Bill near the end and being his stepson is clearly a painful experience for him, but then it's pretty obvious he doesn't care about Jim at all.

[Spidey Freak]

One of the many things I liked was how we got that huge dramatic scene of Olivia leaving Bill, but when she breaks up with Jim no one acknowledges it on screen, and all we get is that unspoken feeling of "yep, that didn't work out either". It's also a good reflection of how Mason feels about it, since he's terrified of Bill near the end and being his stepson is clearly a painful experience for him, but then it's pretty obvious he doesn't care about Jim at all.

 

Yeah, that's what I assumed was the reason for Jim's absence in the final stretch of the movie (even when I didn't know Olivia left him as well). He was pretty inconsequential to Mason's coming of age process, therefore reduced to a mere footnote.

 

I love that the movie actually reflects the truth of people who seem irreplaceable or pretty significant at one point of time in your life become a complete no show later on despite affecting you in a big way (Bill and to a lesser extent, his kids), some people never have much of an impact on you and their presence in your life diminishes entirely (Jim) and there are some people who may not seem to have much of a visible impact on your life and who may seem to be just passing acquaintances but they will always come through for you when you need them the most or even when you least expect it (Olivia's friend Carol who not only provided the family shelter and protection from Bill but also arrived with her daughter to Mason's graduation party years later, much to his pleasant surprise). It just further adds to the authenticity of the movie in an unnoticeable and seamless manner.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Spidey Freak

[JohnnyGossamer]

I cannot remember Olivia leaving Jim or anything in the movie directly referencing their separation. However, the Wikipedia plot summary claims they broke up after Jim's confrontation of Mason over his late hours. 

Yeah. That's what I thought. And, here, when I saw that scene, I thought Mason needed that. Minus the porch binge drinking of course...

[Wormhole]

What a fantastic achievement. Hope it wins Best Picture since it seems Selma has no shot. This resonated especially since I'm the same age as Mason.

[Spidey Freak]

What a fantastic achievement. Hope it wins Best Picture since it seems Selma has no shot. This resonated especially since I'm the same age as Mason.

 

Yeah, for Gen Y it's an insane nostalgia ride as well.

 

Also, how weird is it that as I type this, my playlist shuffle offers up "Do You Realize"?

[Jessie]

Soderberg better direct a few more movies. Dude's such a freak talent. Limey's one his lesser seen gems.

 

I think he's overrated, I remember watching Haywire thinking it would be good given its reviews, it was such a bore. There was a shot of a hay stack blowing across the open road which practically described his whole movie.

[JohnnyGossamer]

I think he's overrated, I remember watching Haywire thinking it would be good given its reviews, it was such a bore. There was a shot of a hay stack blowing across the open road which practically described his whole movie.

Haywire's a mess. Sex, Lies and Videotape, Traffic, Ocean's Eleven, Side Effects, The Limey, Out Of Sight, Kafka and Behind The Candelabra are all pretty awesome though.

Edited February 12, 2015 by JohnnyGossamer

[CoolioD1]

Side Effects is the better version of gone girl

[Jake Gittes]

Those are all great except Kafka (which I haven't seen), but my favorite Soderbergh has to be Schizopolis. It's hilarious. 

 

Also The Informant! remains my pick for Matt Damon's best performance. 

 

I gotta get around to The Knick one of these days. 

[JohnnyGossamer]

Side Effects is the better version of gone girl

I agree. Though, it's a bit daffy at times itself.

 

And, Jake, forgot about Informant! and have yet to see Schizopolis.

[Mulder]

9.5/10

 

Gorgeous. This, Whiplash, and Selma are the three I'm rooting for at the Oscars.

[IndustriousAngel]

Nice experiment, you really get to live with those characters, and all in a very realistic style (acting-wise, and also no colour-grading or set-building tyranny here like we're used to from too many productions nowadays.

What's the point?

Exactly.

 

I was not bored for a single second throughout the whole thing, but otoh I feel no urge to watch it again.