Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

[Glebe]

i enjoyed this, but beware: the last one on killers of the flower moon contains spoilers

Ooh right so folks!

[Mister Six]

Gangs of New York is definitely a misfire (though there's an extremely blurry, not really watchable VHS-level workprint of the original cut floating around if you want an idea of what it was going to be like before Harvey Weinstein started snipping)

Forgot Weinstein mucked it up. Not the worst example of not keeping his hands to himself, but still. Can't believe there's nobody willing to fund a director's cut.

[robotam]

I saw this last night and really liked it. I was the only person in to see it and they had to wait for me to leave to close up. I felt so bad when taking a seemingly never ending piss that I had been holding in for the last hour or so.

[madhair60]

Forgot Weinstein mucked it up. Not the worst example of not keeping his hands to himself, but still. Can't believe there's nobody willing to fund a director's cut.

i'm game but he wants too much money

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Cannes press conference is worth a look:

I like the way the name placards in the video thumbnail are in front of the wrong people.

[magister]

Saw thus today- amazingly gripping for something of it's length. Thought Di Caprio felt like he was doing a more restrained version of Nicholson's performance in The Shining.

[selectivememory]

Yeah, I caught this today as well. Might post more detailed thoughts later, but I thought it was a very good and quite devastating film. DiCaprio (who I don't really rate that much usually), De Niro and Gladstone are all superb.

[scarecrow]

I liked the film, but it was ruined by a restless and misbehaving audience. Pick your screening carefully, I guess.

Was struck by how horribly De Niro has aged - the Irishman was only four years ago.

[Butchers Blind]

Thought it just about justified its running time although oddly found it slowed down once the FBI turned up. Also wasn't that taken with DiCaprio's performance for some reason.

Interesting cameos in this.

[centristmelt]

Certainly justified its running time, much more so than The Irishman - Lily Gladstone was the standout.

Spoiler alert

The little Lucky Strike coda with Scorsese at the end felt slightly Wes Anderson-y, but didn't spoil for me what was his best film since The Departed

[close]

[selectivememory]

Been stewing on this a lot since seeing it yesterday. Probably film of the year for me. Going to have to read the book, but this felt like a properly angry and sad film about a subject that maybe hasn't always been covered so well in film and other media.

Sounds like there was a big decision made well into the writing process, where they decided to move the centre of action away from the federal agent investigating it, to Earnest and Mollie's story. Which I think worked very well, as much as I really liked the parts when Jesse Plemons rocked up to figure it all out. Felt like Scorsese and co put a lot of work into understanding the Osage side of the story, and presenting it in the way they did made it feel all the more tragic as it unfolds. Could have maybe spent more time with some of those characters before all the awful things started being done to them (the scenes with Mollie and her sisters were great, just some more of that kind of thing would have been really nice).

Spoiler alert

The little Lucky Strike coda with Scorsese at the end felt slightly Wes Anderson-y, but didn't spoil for me what was his best film since The Departed

[close]

Spoiler alert

Wasn't sure about that bit at first, and then Marty himself stepped forward to read out Mollie's obituary, and that honestly floored me. May be a divisive ending I guess, but I really loved it.

[close]

Also, yeah, length was more than justified IMO. No real lulls, didn't really feel like three hours plus to me.

[madhair60]

should i get out and see this in cinema then? make time? i suppose i must.

Spoiler alert

any suicide in it, i can't go if so.

[close]

[selectivememory]

Spoiler alert

any suicide in it, i can't go if so.

[close]

Not exactly, but

Spoiler alert

there is a guy in it who is said to have attempted it several times and, well, there are probably other references too that I may have forgotten.

[close]

[centristmelt]

Not exactly, but

Spoiler alert

there is a guy in it who is said to have attempted it several times and, well, there are probably other references too that I may have forgotten.

[close]

Spoiler alert

yeah, TW - references to "melancholy" and "getting a gun", but no suicide depicted on screen (or off screen as part of the plot)

[close]

[Dayraven]

Spoiler alert

A few uses of make-it-look-like-suicide too, which may be distant enough from it for you but worth pointing out if not

[close]

[Terry Torpid]

Not sure about this one. Runtime was a problem for the rest of the cinema. I probably would have been fine with it on my own, but when everyone around you gets restless, it starts to rub off on you. It's a very slow-paced film that takes its time, then it suddenly speeds up in a very jarring fashion. They rapidly skim over some bits that I would have liked to see. It's frustrating when big moments happen off screen. It reminded me of writing essays in exams, and time's nearly up so you wrap everything up in half a page.

I loved how they struck the right balance about the "mystery". They didn't try to blindside you, they didn't have a shock revelation, they didn't spell it out too much. Lesser directors would have fallen into the traps of making it too hidden, or too blatant. You just know, without it being over-elaborated.

DeNiro and Gladstone were great. Unfortunately Leo, who I've never been able to stand, is doing his try-hard croaky-voiced frowning thing again, now with added Jimmy Hill action.

Spoiler alert

Four hours of this.

[close]

It's too well made and meaningful and important to give it a bad review, but I didn't love it.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I've only watched the trailers, but I noticed that at certain points Leo was channeling Sling Blade by jutting out his lower jaw. Is there a lot of that going on?

[Butchers Blind]

I've only watched the trailers, but I noticed that at certain points Leo was channeling Sling Blade by jutting out his lower jaw. Is there a lot of that going on?

There is a fair bit of jaw jut acting from Leo in this.

[centristmelt]

Although it's a great film, Leo's going to get a Best Actor nomination out of it and I don't think he deserves it.

[jobotic]

There is a fair bit of jaw jut acting from Leo in this.

Scorsese wanted Ricky Gervais but he was too expensive.

[selectivememory]

I'm not familiar with Gladstone's previous work, but she was fantastic, and De Niro was at the top of his game too, so either of them winning awards would be fine in my book.

I still reckon Leo was really good though. He won't beat Cillian, but I don't think a nomination would be undeserved.

[non capisco]

De Niro being an utterly compelling screen presence again was a jolt. Has he been this good in anything else I might have missed in amongst the post-2010s morass of Mucky Old Grandad comedies and straight to DVD looking shite with titles that might as well be City Of Cops? 

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Sounds like there was a big decision made well into the writing process, where they decided to move the centre of action away from the federal agent investigating it, to Earnest and Mollie's story. Which I think worked very well, as much as I really liked the parts when Jesse Plemons rocked up to figure it all out.

Di Caprio was originally supposed to play the fed. After a few months, he asked Scorsese to play instead Ernest, which was a smaller part, that he regarded as more complex and interesting. And they got then Jesse Plemons as the FBI agent.

[centristmelt]

I think Plemons would have been better cast as Ernest tbh

[dontpaintyourteeth]

De Niro being an utterly compelling screen presence again was a jolt. Has he been this good in anything else I might have missed in amongst the post-2010s morass of Mucky Old Grandad comedies and straight to DVD looking shite with titles that might as well be City Of Cops? 

no

[Old Nehamkin]

Well he was very very good in The Irishman, obviously.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Oh yeah. I assumed that was a given, obviously. Definitely didn't forget it. Ahem.

[Butchers Blind]

I liked that bit in The Irishman where they de-aged him and he beat up that fella in the street with his old man legs.

[selectivememory]

He was very good in The Irishman, but I think Hale is a much more interesting and challenging role for him than Frank Sheeran, so this performance does seem that much more impressive to me.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Cinemas need to bring back the intermission for films as long as this. There's no way I'm sitting there for three and a half hours without needing to go out for a piss and a vape at some point. Scorsese should understand this, being 80 years old. I bet he has to have two pisses and a ten minute snooze if he watches one of his own films. Bring back the lady at the front with a torch selling ice creams from a box too. Bring it all back.