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[Fracas]

Caught this last night. Much better than I thought it was going to be. The trailers were just awful.

 

[NYR94]

All I saw was a mention in Variety calling it suitably patriotic.

Another thing to mention is that most of the reviews say the second act makes a big misstep with a scene that is overlooked due to having great stuff immediately before and after it.

I saw the movie yesterday and can't figure out what these reviewers are talking about. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[JTripper]

Another thing to mention is that most of the reviews say the second act makes a big misstep with a scene that is overlooked due to having great stuff immediately before and after it.

The only scenes in the second act that I can think of as a little unnecessary or pointless were when

Spoiler

Donovan goes on a ride with Vogel and Vogel purposefully gets pulled over by the German police and gets Donovan sent to jail for a night, and when Donovan gets his jacket stolen.

But they weren't even terribly long scenes so I can't even see why they might be missteps, if either of those 2 scenes are what they're talking about.

 

[Sean C]

It's a very pleasant film, well-made in every respect. It never quite becomes a great film, and I think the main reason is that, at the end of the day, there's not all that much to this story. The atmosphere in East Berlin is nice, but the situation Donovan deals with is quite straightforward. Conversely, it can be said to be nice that Spielberg and co. don't amp up the real events into a wholly fictionalized spy thriller.

I enjoy movies creating a world with lots of lived-in details, so I liked the aside bit where Hanks' young associate is apparently dating Hanks' teenage(?) daughter, which he seems to be oblivious to.

 

[Tookay]

It was a decent movie and I can't say there are any outright "bad" moments, but there wasn't a lot of energy to it. Spielberg and Hanks just seem to go through motions - there's not a lot of tension or character development. Even if you didn't know the whole story ahead of time, it never feels like Hanks' character is in danger of failing - his victory almost feels assured.

The second half is considerably better than the first, where it felt like characters were making unmotivated speeches about THE BIG THEMES OF THE MOVIE (TM) out of nowhere.

 

[NYR94]

It's a very pleasant film, well-made in every respect. It never quite becomes a great film, and I think the main reason is that, at the end of the day, there's not all that much to this story. The atmosphere in East Berlin is nice, but the situation Donovan deals with is quite straightforward. Conversely, it can be said to be nice that Spielberg and co. don't amp up the real events into a wholly fictionalized spy thriller.

I enjoy movies creating a world with lots of lived-in details, so I liked the aside bit where Hanks' young associate is apparently dating Hanks' teenage(?) daughter, which he seems to be oblivious to.

Was that supposed to get a laugh? No one in my audience laughed at that even though Spielberg made it pretty obvious with the cutaways to close ups of the daughter at the dinner table that it was awkward because he was the guy who stood her up. His daughter was played by Eve Hewson, who is Bono's daughter. Lead singer of U-2 has daughter in a film where a guy pilots a plane called a U-2.

 

[Secret Fawful]

I saw the movie yesterday and can't figure out what these reviewers are talking about. Anyone have any ideas?

The only scenes in the second act that I can think of as a little unnecessary or pointless were when

Spoiler

Donovan goes on a ride with Vogel and Vogel purposefully gets pulled over by the German police and gets Donovan sent to jail for a night, and when Donovan gets his jacket stolen.

But they weren't even terribly long scenes so I can't even see why they might be missteps, if either of those 2 scenes are what they're talking about.

From The Hollywood Reporter review:

Spoiler

Another scene during this stretch, of an American student, Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers), trying to get his East German girlfriend across the divide just at the moment when the wall has been sealed up, strikes the only overtly melodramatic and false note in the film to that point.

I won't be able to get to a theater that's showing the film or another week at least, which sucks, as it's only showing at the least an hour and a half away from where I live.

 

[JB1981]

Yea I definitely feel like the film lost some focus when it shifted to Berlin

 

[JB1981]

Who else loved the jump cut to the school kids reciting the pledge of allegiance?

 

[Magwik]

I loved the movie, the second half was a bit worse, but I loved it still. I sort of wanted a sequel of the Bay of Pigs events after it lol

 

[Brinbe]

Caught this earlier tonight and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's simply a solid movie.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Saw this last week. It was alright.

 

[jett]

Like it has been said, everybody is just going through the motions. The setting is interesting, but it's one of Spielberg's most forgettable affairs. It's not bad, it's just merely decent.

 

[undrtakr900]

I just saw it today and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I love historically based films. What surprised me was that it had aome genuine laugh.out.loud moments weaved into the drama.

 

[FeD.nL]

Just watched it. Absolutely loved it, it reminded me a bit of catch if you can in a way.

 

[SolidChamp]

Bought this blind because the wife and I didn't get a chance to see it at the theatre (damn first baby, ruining all of our movie outings) and generally love Spielberg's work.

Not seeing many impressions on GAF but maybe the necro bump will bring in some more thoughts from people who've since had the chance to see it?

 

[Magwik]

Bought this blind because the wife and I didn't get a chance to see it at the theatre (damn first baby, ruining all of our movie outings) and generally love Spielberg's work.

Not seeing many impressions on GAF but maybe the necro bump will bring in some more thoughts from people who've since had the chance to see it?

I absolutely loved every second of it. Everyone turns in a great performance.

 

[Discotheque]

I really liked it. Especially mark rylance but you have to go in expecting a throwback movie with ridiculously high optimism and schmaltz. More a frank capra homage than some edgy thriller cold war movie

Hanks is great too

 

[SolidChamp]

Wasn't sure what I was going to be doing tonight, but you guys just sealed it.

Thanks!

 

[Window]

Yeah this was really well done.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

It's the definition of "alright". Not really good, but not really bad work. Adequate work from all involved, except for Mark Rylance who is easily the best thing in the movie. It should have been a lot better given the talent involved.

 

[GorillaJu]

You have pretty stiff standards if you think it was just alright. I thought the performances and script were really great. It's not a thriller, it's a story.

 

[Strax]

I can't understand for the life of me why someone would put this on a top 10 list. Its decent but c'mon. The ending (last scene) was bad on a another level, maybe the worst ending of a Spielberg movie I've seen.

 

[thenexus6]

I saw it in cinemas and enjoyed it a lot. Some little things bugged me though like

Spoiler

Donovan on the train and the woman is reading the newspaper. She gives him a disgusting look for defending Abel. Then at the end of the movie same woman on train and she smiles at him..

People running across barb wired fences and getting shot down, end of the film kids running over fences and playing

were a little too much for me.

 

[iPaul93]

Saw it a while ago.It was ok-ish,nothing remarkable.

 

[SolidChamp]

I'm 20 min in so far and I'm really impressed. I forgot how incredible Spielberg is with his setups, lighting, composition, etc. I'm digging the story and dialogue so far as well; it does feel like a throwback flick.

Hopefully it continues along this line of quality.

 

[Yaboosh]

I'm 20 min in so far and I'm really impressed. I forgot how incredible Spielberg is with his setups, lighting, composition, etc. I'm digging the story and dialogue so far as well; it does feel like a throwback flick.

Hopefully it continues along this line of quality.

It seems to really be holding your attention.

 

[snacknuts]

I saw this a couple weeks ago and didn't care for it. I don't really know how to put it into words, but it felt very sterile and boring. It's like if you turned Wonder Bread into a movie. It's there, but there's nothing even a little bit special about it.

 

[Blader]

It seems to really be holding your attention.

lol

 

[SolidChamp]

It seems to really be holding your attention.

I can multitask. Or, maybe, I've paused the movie and I'm taking a shit.

 

[SolidChamp]

Yeah, that movie was great. Probably my fourth favorite film from 2015 after SICARIO, Fury Road, and Creed.

I get that people feel it's not the most riveting historical story to tell, but as Roger Ebert has said "A movie is not what it is about, but how it is about it." And man, Spielberg hasn't lost his touch. It's probably one of his best looking films, too, sporting Kaminski's best work in years.

Great script by the Cohen brothers, too.

An all-around great flick.

 

[watershed]

I feel like this movie is a case where everyone does a quality job but the result is a well-made, not very entertaining film. The directing is good, the acting is good (aside from one or two hammy moments from Hanks), the cinematography is good, the score, the editing, etc but the sum total is just not very interesting.

 

[otake]

I thought this was one of the best movies of 2015. Very relevant to todays issues while still romantic and uplifting. The dialogue is sparse, precise, clear. Acting is convincing, peoples faces draw you in. Great movie.