Movie Tab II

The Third Man (1949 - Carol Reed)

Fantastic film. Still feels fresh, doesn't it? And I love Orson Welles.

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

Indeed it does. Especially the subject matter.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Kôkaku kidôtai / Ghost in the Shell (1995 - Mamoru Oshii)

Fantastic! I have to see the second part soon...

X-Men: The Last Stand
The Break-Up

I’m glad you liked it Sammy. You might like Emma (1996), which is also well done and alot of fun...as well as Persuasion (1995), which is quieter than the other two, but the second chance at love story and acting is top notch.



I’m glad you finally got to see these. I loved them both too.
How'd you like the scene in Mostly Martha when Martha goes back into her kitchen after Mario had just cooked them dinner?


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Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal (1999)
I loved this prequel to the Rurouni Kenshin series. Even if you’ve never seen the series and are into Samurai movies, you’d like this. Based on real life characters and set in 1864ish Japan, the story of how an orphan becomes an assassin in an effort to help bring peace in turbulent times is compelling in handling not just the political strife of the time, but in handling how the characters deal with their lives....and how Kenshin finally comes to terms with who and what his is.

Samurai X: Reflection (2001)
I loved this too and this was a real tear jerker for me. This story is first set in 1893 and shows what happens to Kenshin after the wars and wandering for 10 years trying to atone for his sins and his meeting Kaoru. Obviously, from the title the story revolves around a reflection of Kenshin and Kaoru's life together upon meeting in 1875ish and intertwined with the present. This is definatley done in a darker and more serious tone than the series was, which fits perfectly with how Trust & Betrayl was handled.

My only beef about this movie is they changed Kaoru’s character from the series from a spunky, lively girl who could fight, into a quieter, meeker person more like Tomoe (in Trust & Betrayal). Eventhough I know they had to tone down her character to fit the mood of the movie, I wish they (character developers) kept her spunk alive.

The animation in both movies is beautiful and much more sophisticated than the series. Great stuff. However, I do like the character designs of Kenshin and Kaoru better in the series.

I thought it was priceless. I just adored the whole movie.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons.....for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

Jules et Jim - Pretty people with pretty lives that they don't enjoy because it isn't fashionable, and who cause each other no end of pain. bah.

Shopgirl - a bit slow, and Steve Martin wasn't all that beautifully cast, but Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman were great and I liked the story. Interesting locations for this - it's mostly a middle class look at LA, not the usual ends of the economic spectrum.

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Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10

Aguierre, der Zorn Gottes (1972 - Werner Herzog)

Pretty amazing, dream/nightmarelike story... Fantastic visuals... I don't know if it's because of all the stories surrounding the shooting of the film, but can't you sort of tell that they all thought it was hell for real?

Wah-Wah (2005) Richard E. Grant

Ultimately this film would suit the title 'Blah-Blah'.

Superb performances from Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson and 'About a boys' Nicholas Hoult. But even they couldnt save it. It falls short, at times the scenes are uncomfortable, too staged...poorly edited, the music accompanying scenes does not mesh well. You have a giggle but overall 'Wah-wah, wah-wah wah'.

A good effort, i'm glad to see Richard E. Grant expanding his horizons, but I feel it was a project too close to his own experiences to offer anything to me, I felt slightly alienated watching, I couldnt relate and which did not surprise me, as it is his upperclass teenage years, growing up in Swaziland at the end of the 60's when it was gaining its independence from British Rule.

It feeds on the stereotypes, which were no doubt raging back then and in full swing, you can only giggle at so many stiff upper lips before it becomes exceedingly dull. How very un-hubbly jubbly.

Toodle pip old chaps.....

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Maria Full of Grace (2004 - Joshua Marston)

Good one... And oh my that girl is beautiful....

JSA - Great movie. Some of the English delivery is horribly stilted, but some of the directing is wonderfully assured, and the structure and storytelling are pretty much classy throughout. There's some implicit condemnation of the North Korean mind-hold, and plenty of digs at the South too, but generally a healthy level of human equivilance holds true. Slight missed-beat in the 'reveal' for me, but the final shot-n-pan end-piece is quality.

[Altho the suggested alternative ending in the extra i saw was intriguing too]

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

Quite a bit here...

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - 7/10

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! - 6/10

The Thing - 9/10

The Silence of the Lambs - 8/10

Jules et Jim - 7/10

Rock Star - 5/10

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

I'm pretty sure that, after I watch it a few more times, JSA will become my favourite Chan-wook Park film...

I found it to be a finely structured and constantly engaging film but had nothing on the punches Oldboy pulled.

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True, but sometimes we're not just looking for punches.

The Woodsman (2004 - Nicole Kassell)

I liked it. Mos Def was good....

Casablanca. I'm embarrassed to admit I had not seen it before, but wow, what a film. Immediately ordered the DVD.

The New World (no comment at this time)
Shadow of the Vampire (heh! Funny and creepy.)
Deadwood: season 1, episodes 1-7 (good stuff! great acting (except one guy) and brilliant writing)

Before Sunset (2004 - Richard Linklater)

I really, really liked this film... I thought it was fantastic.

Which guy?

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TOP 100 | "Don't let the bastards grind you down!"