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The Power of the Dog

F250

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F250

F250 28,623

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This movie seems to be getting a lot of hype so I watched it thinking it was going to be in the Western genre. I was wrong.

Great cinematography, great musical score, good acting and a lame story. I guess it was an OK story but not really.

The movie takes place on a ranch in Montana in the 1920's but could have easily been set in current day L.A. or 1990's Chicago. The director might as well have used VH1 style pop-ups to highlight the foreshadowing. lol By the time the movie wraps up you are left sarcastically thinking "oh, I didn't see this happening at all."

 

 

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4th&Five

4th&Five 41,444

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2 hours ago, F250 said:

This movie seems to be getting a lot of hype so I watched it thinking it was going to be in the Western genre. I was wrong.

Great cinematography, great musical score, good acting and a lame story. I guess it was an OK story but not really.

The movie takes place on a ranch in Montana in the 1920's but could have easily been set in current day L.A. or 1990's Chicago. The director might as well have used VH1 style pop-ups to highlight the foreshadowing. lol By the time the movie wraps up you are left sarcastically thinking "oh, I didn't see this happening at all."

 

 

It was originally a novel published in the 60’s based on the author’s life growing up in 1920’s Montana. 

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F250

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18 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

It was originally a novel published in the 60’s based on the author’s life growing up in 1920’s Montana. 

I am aware.

28 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

I really liked it a lot. Loved the last half hour especially. 

The last was where it lost me. Mainly because I felt like it was obvious that was how things would play out which made the interactions feel irrelevant. Things would end up where they did regardless of any character growth.

 

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4th&Five

4th&Five 41,444

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2 minutes ago, F250 said:

I am aware.

The last was where it lost me. Mainly because I felt like it was obvious that was how things would play out which made the interactions feel irrelevant. Things would end up where they did regardless of any character growth.

 

Spoiler

Not a lot of anthrax poisoning murders in modern day Chicago was my point. 

 

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F250

F250 28,623

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1 minute ago, 4th&Five said:
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Not a lot of anthrax poisoning murders in modern day Chicago was my point. 

 

Yeah but that was just a mechanism the narrative wasn't contingent on that particular thing. Which is why I said it could be set in any period or location.

 

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F250

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3 hours ago, Tylerocks said:

watched it last night too.

Acting was top notch, specifically Cumberbatch.  

The anxiety produced by all his interactions was something.

But yeah, the ending was telegraphed pretty good if you were paying attention.

Agree, Cumberbatch was excellent. The tension was permeating throughout the movie too. I did like all of the insight that was given for Phil's behavior but ultimately the journey felt pointless. The initial narration by Peter set a deterministic theme for the entire movie which dampened every interaction for the rest of the movie.

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tantric superman

tantric superman 4,667

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Jesse Plemons - I don't dislike the guy, and there is something funny about him in everything he does because I keep thinking Scaracin the bad qb is going to show up, but he doesn't add anything to anything he does.   I don't think.

He's like the Cooler in Vegas.  He shows up and everything just hits the brakes while the audience collectively says "this guy". 

And Jane Campion.  If her best movie is really the Piano, I'm not going to put the rest of her stuff on my bucket list.

My Greek friend's review of the Piano.  "My wife made me watch this.  There would be no movie if they just fucked!  What is this shit!"

(Seems like that review could be used for one other movie I'm thinking of....)

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F250

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8 hours ago, tantric superman said:

Jesse Plemons - I don't dislike the guy, and there is something funny about him in everything he does because I keep thinking Scaracin the bad qb is going to show up, but he doesn't add anything to anything he does.   I don't think.

He is the same chunky oddball in every movie.

 

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Mach 1

Mach 1 1,676

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I really liked it.  Felt like a less ambitious, distant cousin of There Might Be Blood.  Great acting, similar cinematography, music. Checked and Jonny Greenwood did the score on both.

I must not have been paying close enough attention, the ending surprised me.  

I liked that nothing was too on the nose, just suggested.

Edited by Mach 1
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mchookem

mchookem 15,886

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watched yesterday. Benedict Cumberbatch is fantastic...but his voice didn't match his face 😄

so.much.tension. i kept waiting for Phil to do something awful to Rose but all he did was...whistle? embarrass her about her piano-playing? 🤨 

then... he actually befriends Peter, takes him under his wing, 'recognizes' something in him, maybe begins to feel something more...and then the psychopath poisons him for what, making his mom nervous?? wtf! lol

weird little movie. not what i expected. 

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burntorangebongos

burntorangebongos 10,681

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I liked how subtle everything is in this movie. You have to watch closely and listen to the dialog that tells you everything but because of what we are used to in movies, we expect the action to tell the story more than the dialog, if you will.

This is how I interpreted this story:

Phil's brother hates his life and is going through the motions. He meets a woman who is widowed and decides to go for her. This after his brother Phil was cruel to her son. If you notice, she is more upset by his messing up the flowers than her son and she takes the cruelty more to heart.  Phil's brother noticed and it moved him to white knight her. He is awkward but what he has going for him is assets and kindness. When they are looking out at the mountains on their honeymoon and he tells her how grateful he is not to be alone anymore, she says nothing but is moved and shares his feelings. Only you don't know that for sure right then.

But Phil is jealous of his brother, not for being with her but what he has with her and he wants to destroy it. His hate is something that she is too sensitive to be around without it affecting her. She is weak, that is her flaw and Phil knows it. And you find out slowly that her supposedly weak son is also her protector and will do anything for her happiness. Her husband doesn't have the power to protect her from his brother so her son finds a way to eliminate Phil. 

It is that simple but also that twisted because he will kill Phil in a horrible way just so his mother will be able to tolerate living on the ranch and not self-destruct. She and Phil's brother can have the happiness they wanted but were too weak to overcome Phil to realize. That smile he gives after seeing them hug in the driveway is both chilling and touching. 

It was a weird little movie that was very well acted. 

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tantric superman

tantric superman 4,667

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2 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

I liked how subtle everything is in this movie. You have to watch closely and listen to the dialog that tells you everything but because of what we are used to in movies, we expect the action to tell the story more than the dialog, if you will.

This is how I interpreted this story:

Phil's brother hates his life and is going through the motions. He meets a woman who is widowed and decides to go for her. This after his brother Phil was cruel to her son. If you notice, she is more upset by his messing up the flowers than her son and she takes the cruelty more to heart.  Phil's brother noticed and it moved him to white knight her. He is awkward but what he has going for him is assets and kindness. When they are looking out at the mountains on their honeymoon and he tells her how grateful he is not to be alone anymore, she says nothing but is moved and shares his feelings. Only you don't know that for sure right then.

But Phil is jealous of his brother, not for being with her but what he has with her and he wants to destroy it. His hate is something that she is too sensitive to be around without it affecting her. She is weak, that is her flaw and Phil knows it. And you find out slowly that her supposedly weak son is also her protector and will do anything for her happiness. Her husband doesn't have the power to protect her from his brother so her son finds a way to eliminate Phil. 

It is that simple but also that twisted because he will kill Phil in a horrible way just so his mother will be able to tolerate living on the ranch and not self-destruct. She and Phil's brother can have the happiness they wanted but were too weak to overcome Phil to realize. That smile he gives after seeing them hug in the driveway is both chilling and touching. 

It was a weird little movie that was very well acted. 

My review of your review:

tumblr_nw25j7yora1r1dilto1_500.jpg

 

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tantric superman

tantric superman 4,667

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It was not a big deal to me but people got really riled up about News of the World obviously not being in Texas.  I kind of was bothered, in a small way, by the fact that this clearly wasn't Montana.  Not a big deal and it may have even added to the ambiance but still.

I just noticed that the actor who portrayed the son was also in kid in love in the great also not-filmed-in-the-USA Slow West. 

Now THAT was a fucking great little western.  I realize Power of the Dog isn't really a western.

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mchookem

mchookem 15,886

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23 minutes ago, tantric superman said:

Oh, and the wife is weak because she is a white woman, and if you want a particularly white woman, Kirsten Dunst is your gal.

actually...yeah i kinda get this.

and now i think i see what @F250 meant... it totally could have been set modern day with Dunst a vaguely disaffected suburbanite who drinks too much wine and sees a therapist but is unable to articulate exactly why she needs xanax so much lol

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F250

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3 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

And you find out slowly that her supposedly weak son is also her protector and will do anything for her happiness.

But it wasn't a slow reveal this was announced in the opening narration of the movie. Phil pointing out Chekov's Anthrax to the audience was not so subtle either. Peter's No Fucks given attitude constantly demonstrated that he wasn't weak and the rabbit dissection hammered the fact he was going to carry out his duty to protect his mother. Once he put on those gloves when he found the dead cow it was clear how he would carry out his duty. 

I guess the obvious fact that no matter what Phil did to connect with Peter he was going to get whacked made him a sympathetic character. It also made Peter seem like a psycho and Mchookems comment about that was hilarious because that's how I saw him.

4 minutes ago, mchookem said:

actually...yeah i kinda get this.

and now i think i see what @F250 meant... it totally could have been set modern day with Dunst a vaguely disaffected suburbanite who drinks too much wine and sees a therapist but is unable to articulate exactly why she needs xanax so much lol

Yes, this is pretty much what I meant.

 

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Player

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I thought Peter was protecting himself from eventually getting “Bronco Henry’d” by Phil. Him finding the nudie mags and seeing Phil play yanky my wanky with the BH hanky told him all he needed to know about what fate had in store for him as Phil’s protege.

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F250

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3 hours ago, Player said:

I thought Peter was protecting himself from eventually getting “Bronco Henry’d” by Phil. Him finding the nudie mags and seeing Phil play yanky my wanky with the BH hanky told him all he needed to know about what fate had in store for him as Phil’s protege.

lol

Based on the barn scene I would say that Peter wasn't worried about getting Bronco Henry'd. That was an interesting scene because while Phil was attempting to take Peter under his wing in the Bronco Henry way, it was clear that Peter was much more advanced.

The back and forth between the two was like a Pre-Stonewall gay and Millenial gay. Phil alluding to a closeted Broke Back Mountain lifestyle when Peter is Ian "Gay Jesus" Gallagher.

 

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