Movie Tab II

The only other flick from Haneke that I've seen is the original Funny Games, and while I enjoyed it, I still can't really judge his style based on two very diverse films. I am looking into some of his others though.

After reading your brief criticism, I can't really understand the 'pointless' remark. Maybe you were looking for symbolism when there was none, but the story does highlight its 'wronged childhood' message quite prominently. I don't always take 'pointless' as a derogatory remark, but this film does contain social commentary.

Perfect might be a word I use too loosely, but I still thought the idle pacing was very well done without reaching any point of tedium. Of course, when it comes to film, I don't get bored as easily as most.

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The pointless comment meant that although the film was meant to be something resembling a mystery, when it was all said and done, I just found it far too obvious. Maybe I should have said "obvious" instead of "pointless", but in this case they seem to amount to the same thing, at least for me.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

True, but I think that making the outcome obvious was inevitable.

But, you're right. It did have an air of mystery, and if the Teacher's speech at the end weren't the giveaway, it would've even seemed open ended. Nonetheless, I still found myself enjoying it.

Here's what I've seen lately, I don't feel up to doing write-ups at the moment so here they are with some tentative (give or take half a box) ratings. Feel free to ask if you want my thoughts on a specific film:

Hell's Angels (Hughes, 1930)
Zatoichi (Katsu, 1989) -
Horror of Dracula +
The Old Dark House ++
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Queen Christina -

rewatches:

Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood ++
The Ninth Gate (Polanski, 1999)
Hulk (Ang Lee)

Kudos for The Ninth Gate! Not many seem to care for that one...

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It's one of my favorites. I think that makes 9 times that I've seen it. Do I get a prize from Satan? How about eternal life and absolute power over my own destiny (maybe in the form of a copy of "How to Make Friends and Influence People")?

I guess the only one that I really feel the need to add a comment on right now is Hulk (2002).



I saw this when it came out and liked it, but didn't really remember why. I basically agree with those who think this is fair to middling as an Ang Lee Melodrama, though I'm leaning towards fair. This might be his most purely visual film however, with a constant barrage of exciting and novel transitions and uses of split-screen and collage. It borrows heavily from some of DePalma's thrillers such as Dressed to Kill but goes even further with a seemingly endless list of ways to combine images. Many of these -- such as the bit where an exploding oxygen canister pingpongs between several "panels" -- are pretty sophisticated, while others (Jellyfish in the desert?) are quite lyrical and mysterious; it requires a bit of effort but I never found it tiresome. Compare it to the split-screen of Doctor Octopus's tentacles in SpiderMan 2.

It also tends to go for unusual camera placement with interesting uses of space to really bring home the unusualness of Hulk as he interacts with his environment. Like a far-away shot of him running along the side of a giant sand-dune while sliding down it.

If I have a complaint I think there are a couple of awkward set-ups (like the final confrontation between father and son) and the female love interest was a bit of a miss, in spite of the parallel father-daughter relationship to add a counterweight to the Banner family drama. Connely also just seemed not to bring much other than a pretty face to her character leaving Nick Nolte to pretty much steal the show much of the time, as he's clearly an actor able to deploy his entire body and soul, even in a somewhat camp role like this. The other big "full-body actor" in this is Ang Lee who donned the motion-capture suit to act out the big green monster of the movie. Maybe that is also why he was able to get the Hulk's interactions with the environment to be so physically seamless.

I've heard a couple people complain that they found the Freudian "subconscious mumbo-jumbo" of the film to be pretentious and overblown, and extra hard to take with the straight-face that the movie seems to demand. I guess I'm neutral on this, I didn't find it to be a particular strength or weakness, not enough to strongly influence my rating in either direction. To me the story almost seemed like a half-apology/half-celebration for the oddness of the form. Nick Nolte's mad scientist character practically says as much in his confession about what motivated him to experiment on his own flesh and blood.

I'd probably rate it just above average for the story, but I truly feel this is a must-see for anyone who is interested in the cinematic form. That it's a big pile of brightly-colored pop-fun didn't hurt it any. With me, at least.

Cadillac Records (Darnell Martin, 2008) - Story of Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) and the founding of Chess Records with its awesome list of stars, including Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer), Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and Etta James (Beyoncé). Just as fake as a '40s biopic but full of entertainment.


Tales from the Gimli Hospital (Guy Maddin, 1987) Cult Rating: - Although this feature debut basically shows Maddin almost fully-developed stylistically, it's just weak compared to all his technical advancements and sharpening of his dark humor which came later.

Ever After (Andy Tennant, 1998) - Likable, different Cinderella story is good entertainment and Leonardo da Vinci steals the show. I'm not really sure where Drew got her accent but she and Dougray Scott make a good romantic couple.

Sweet Charity (Bob Fosse, 1969) - Fosse's first film has aged well and contains a score of songs which seem better now than when first released. I guess the more you like Shirley MacLaine the more you'll like this adaptation of Fellini's Nights of Cabiria, but it's still very good, even if you don't.


Legends of the Fall (Edward Zwick, 1994) Beautifully-looking early 20th century flick with an equally-enthralling musical score comes across as something resembling an Edna Ferber adaptation. The cast is probably what makes most people enjoy it. I wouldn't go so far as to agree with Holds and say it's Anthony Hopkins' worst performance, but his mumbling near the end is really something.

The Rookie (Clint Eastwood, 1990) - This is certainly one of Clint's stupidest films but if you accept it as intentional stupidity (a la his orangutan flix), you'll probably get more enjoyment out of Charlie Sheen's insane rookie cop who gets teamed up with Clint at just about the time the "old man" gets kidnapped by Raul Julia and raped in a chair by Sonia Braga!

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (Otto Preminger, 1955) - - True-life tale of the visionary pilot (Gary Cooper) who foresaw the air as the key place for most wars after WWI. He intentionally gets himself court-martialed to bring attention the U.S. military's lack of awareness of the importance of air power and the complete unsafeness of the planes they had available. Rod Steiger comes on at the end to prosecute and make him seem crazy.

The Assignment (Christian Duguay, 1997) - Unsung action thriller about hunting and putting down terrorist Carlos the Jackal has terrific direction and performances by Aidan Quinn, Donald Sutherland and Ben Kingsley. I cannot recommend this flick more and don't understand why it's not considered some kind of classic. It's just so much smarter than most similar crap.


The Runaways (Floria Sigismondi, 2010) - Interesting biopic about about the founding of the all-teenage-girl rock band the Runaways in the 1970s. Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) come across "producer" Kim Fowley (the unpredictable, as usual, Michael Shannon) and the rest is history. This is more of an art film than a mainstream Hollywood bio, but it certainly is well-made.

Robin Hood (Ridley Scott, 2010) - The "prequel" to most Robin Hood films is actually an epic action adventure film which grafts the Robin Hood legend onto it. I certainly found it entertaining and loved seeing the greatest living actor (Max von Sydow) again. I don't really understand the gripes about it from a cinematic point of view, but that's fine. Oh, the music was another big plus.

The Karate Kid Part II (John G. Avildsen, 1986) - OK, I realize that you may think this rating is too high for a basically unnecessary sequel, but the characters are certainly likable enough to revisit even if the plot is far-fetched. I rewatched it, expecting full-well to give it a crap rating, but I just couldn't do it. And don't call me nostalgic. I was 30 when this flick came out.

Adventure (Victor Fleming, 1945) + - A combo naval war adventure/romance basically toppled Clark Gable as the box-office King of Hollywood. It's not really all that bad, but it's certainly underwhelming. However, a guy could do worse than make love to both Greer Garson and Joan Blondell in the same film.

The Killer Inside Me (Michael Winterbottom, 2010) - Brutal adaptation of Jim Thompson's cult novel begins as if it's something resembling a Kubrick flick. Casey Affleck is a deputy/dormant serial killer who awakens when he gets turned on beating and bedding Jessica Alba. This doesn't really sit well with his fiancee (Kate Hudson). The film seems a bit misunderstood to me. I take much of what happens, especially the entire ending, as non-literal, so I don't have as many problems with the plot's alleged incoherence. I also think that many people are turned off by the violence but that's obviously the entire point. This is a film which will certainly split audiences, but Alba proves that she can actually act and Hudson is also good.


The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009) - Cormac McCarthy's apocalyptic tale of a man and his son holds one's interest both visually and through its characters. I just found it less-moving than many viewers who have read the novel. What's on screen is more thought-provoking than emotional (Sorry, McClane).

Man on a Tightrope (Elia Kazan, 1953) - Unusual film about a circus troupe in Communist Czechoslovakia whose leader (Fredric March) wants to sneak them over the border to escape totalitarianism. Meanwhile, there are the usual romantic melodramas among the employees before the film turns into an almost-straight-up action flick.

Orphans of the Storm (D.W. Griffith, 1921) Classic Rating: - Gargantuan silent epic about the French Revolution contains most all the historical characters, plenty of action and many cinematic innovations including Griffith's masking of the top and bottom of the screen to produce something resembling a widescreen image during an action scene. One of the director's best films.


Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968) Cult Rating: - Seminal low-budget horror/zombie film suffers from amateurish acting, stupid character actions, mostly cliched music and lousy photography. However, it did introduce all kinds of lore to the zombie film and provides a few shocks and gore, as well as some snippets of eerie electronic music. I find the final five minutes, including the end credits, to be easily the most-artistic things about the flick.

A few films I've seen recently:

Never Been Kissed


Pretty awful. The premise is daft and the execution doesn't make it any more believable. Drew Barrymore fails to be convincing or charming and the whole thing is a mess. If you want a high school comedy watch Clueless instead.



The Magnificent Seven


I'm not really a fan of Westerns, it seems a very specific thing to make an entire genre out of. But I enjoyed this quite a bit more than I was expecting to. Yul Brynner is particularly memorable.


Highlander


It's really rather terrible and really rather fun all at once. It does seem ever so slightly ripped off from The Terminator at times and I'm not sure which was least convincing, the romance or the special effects. But I did quite enjoy it all the same, I can see why it has a certain cult appeal.

Elmer Gantry - I'll admit to having never heard of this movie til it came on TV at 2am the other day, but I was very impressed. Burt Lancaster plays a opportunistic, womanizing traveling salesman who works his way into the world of evangelical tent revival meetings to win over a woman minister, and becomes a famous preacher, but also a monstrous human being and hypocrite in the process. I loved the performances, especially Lancaster, who is both charming and strangely feral, he seems likely to rip your throat out while overpowering you with his huge smile and eloquent speeches.

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"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

Snatch


In the genre of British gangster films, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels comes up as the prime example as the definitive BGF. However, some find Snatch, Guy Ritchie's other BGF, marginally better. As do I. While I find LSA2SB a 3 star piece of entertainment filled with a fair amount of humor and colourful characters, Snatch is a definite 4 star affair, loaded with laughs, violence and great tunes. In other words, Snatch is a brilliant flick.


Snatch tells three different stories: 1. Turkish (Jason Statham), a illegal bare knuckle boxing promoter, sends his partner Tommy (This Is England's Stephen Graham) and star fighter Gorgeous George to buy a caravan from gypsy fighter Mickey O'Neill (Brad Pitt, in dazzling form). After a fight between Gorgeous George and Mickey goes wrong, George is hospitalised and cannot fight in the next match against a vicious gangster Brick Top (Alan Ford) and his fighter. But Turkish figures a way around it: use Mickey in the fight. 2. Frankie Four Fingers and a group of thieves steal an expensive diamond. Frankie is then sent to London by his employer, Avi (Dennis Farina). While there, he goes to Boris The Blade (Rade Sherbedgia), a arms dealer. Boris gives him a gun free of charge, if Frankie will place a bet for him. Frankie has had previous problems with gambling, but still accepts the offer. Boris then hires two pawn shop owners, Sol & Vinny to steal the diamond from Frankie while he is at the bookies. They will be paid with the money that they steal from the bookies while they try to take the diamond from Frankie. But the situation soon turns wrong, which results in Sol & Vinny going after the wrong person, not getting any money from the bookies and their faces are seen on the security cameras. They kidnap Frankie after their driver Tyrone identifies him and shoves him in their getaway car. Boris offers them $10,000 in place of the money, but Sol & Vinny want to keep the diamond and soon need to pay off Brick Top after he threatens to kill them over the bookie incident. But Boris takes the diamond. 3. Avi does not hear from Frankie, so he calls Doug The Head, his contact in London. Doug informs him that Frankie went to place a bet. Avi heads to London, concerned with Frankie's gambling problem and the fact that he may gamble the diamond away. After they cannot find Frankie, they hire Bullet Tooth Tony, who helps them track down the diamond. These 3 stories all fit together perfectly, like Pulp Fiction in it's structure.


The British & American cast work well in Snatch. Jason Statham gives quite a good performance as Turkish, Stephen Graham also works to the best of his ability. Dennis Farina is at his best as Cousin Avi and Alan Ford is vicious as Brick Top. Benicio Del Toro & Rade Sherbedgia don't have much screen time, but deliver underplayed performances. The cast standouts are Brad Pitt as bare knuckle gypsy fighter Mickey O'Neill & Vinnie Jones as Bullet Tooth Tony. Pitt, straight off Fight Club, immerses himself in the role of an Irish gypsy, providing an ace accent in his dialogue delivery. Vinnie Jones gives a better performance than Lock, Stock, showing he has acting skills, especially in the scene where he delivers a speech about balls shrinking. The script is well written and entertains throughout, since most of this film is dialogue driven. Guy Ritchie's direction has grown better since Lock, Stock. The film's one weakness is that some of the time, the humor is silly and tries to force laughs. Other than that, Snatch is a winning production that refuses to live Lock, Stock's shadow.

A-

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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

Badlands 1973

Two uncertain youngsters try to squeeze fun out of their police dodging. Martin Sheen becomes fond of Holly, but he works a garbage route and her father would never allow it. So he shoots the father and they run away, then they shoot a couple more people and continue to flee. The dread of being hunted is obliterated by Spacek's (Holly) care free narration. It's a loud examination of relationships full of angst and erraticism, they don't end well. Holly doesn't seem to care much.





Pirates of Silicone Valley 1999

As far as made for tv movies go, this is the king. It tells the intimate origins of these now towering corporations. Steve Jobs is painted like a psychopath, leaving you to root for Bill Gates to come in there and steal some ideas. If ever a movie deserved a remake it's this one.





The Third Man 1949

Novelist Holly Martins arrives in post-war Viena, with no money but a hope for work with his long time friend Harry Lime. Well there goes that plan, Lime died in a car accident. Martins isn't so ready to go back home yet though, as the "accident" is too awkward and disputed to accept. He digs deep enough to find that his friend is involved in some dirty penicillin business (which goes over my head, not sure how you kill people with penicillin, or how you sell this low rate substance). The love interest for Martins is non-sense, Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli). A woman still obscenely obsessed with Lime, who is about to be deported back to stupid old Russia. Why would any man fall for a woman as deranged as she ? He wouldn't.

Parts of The Third Man strike me as brilliant and others as inappropriate. The musical score done completely with some weird guitar (zither), is upbeat and adventurous, no matter what the situation. The photography is fine for the most part, a few nice shots scattered around, it really starts to pickup towards the end with the ferris wheel and the sewer chase. Orson Welles kicks everything up a couple notches when he finally arrives.





The Game 1997

Michael Douglas is at the top of his game here, which is a shame because this isn't a very good one. Fincher's technical precision is evident, but the descending nature of this joke gone wrong is way too implausible and it doesn't have any big set pieces to justify that.





Citizen Kane 1941

This one really doesn't age. It's still confusingly modern. The time bending structure/performances, atmosphere, the mystery of Kane, there's nothing to say that hasn't been said already by everyone else. I don't think it's perfect though, because we're still missing some pieces of Kane. His whole social arc seems rushed in spots (People will think ... " WHAT I TELL EM TO!"). Welles is brilliant on screen, there's almost too much authentic variety in his performance to believe it's one guy.

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Oh meaty meaty. It was ever such a strange day when you flew through the window onto the petri dish.

Hopefully The Third Man will grow on you over time

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

World's Greatest Dad
Bobcat Goldwaith, 2009


i think i'm rating this one higher than it really deserves.

Care to tell us why?

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

eXistenZ

Entertaining sci-fi from David Cronenberg. The premise is that a famous computer game designer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) has invented this snazzy new virtual reality game called eXistenZ. She convinces a nerdy guy who works in marketing (Jude Law) to play the game with her. Confusion over reality and virtual reality ensues.

The pods (game consoles) look like body parts and there's much humour to be had from the inherent innuendo of jacking into portals. The premise is interesting, although it's a bit routine sci-fi, but the writing is mediocre. There's an obvious joke about a game character whose dialogue is written really badly and he's not developed enough, but one can't help but feel there's truth in it. Cronenberg clearly has ideas but not the writing skill to show them off. The virtual reality vs. reality theme is explored only on a very basic level. The ending is predictable but still unsettling.

Now for the acting. Jennifer Jason Leigh is probably the strongest element of the film. She copes with the dull dialogue she's given and I don't know whether she's been in many sci-fi films but she appears to 'get it'. She's convincing as a game designer. Jude Law adopts a rather unconvincing American accent and he's unable to do anything with the bad dialogue. He succeeds in his role of eye candy but in a thankless role, he does little to make it any better.

Recommended for sci-fi fans and it's not a bad film to rent but the film doesn't entirely work and doesn't reach its potential. It's more of a film of ideas than an actual film.

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You cannot have it both ways. A dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love can never be a great dancer. Never. (The Red Shoes, 1948)

I wish Cronenberg would continue to make such films again.

i saw eXistenZ when it was in theaters. i thought the whole thing worked pretty well, the humor, plot, the acting makes sense and feeds into both the humor and ideas, and there's a pretty good explanation for law's bad american accent at the end, too. it didn't really seem incomplete to me. i'm a little confused about whether the girl who had all the luck meant plot or dialog or both when she said it was poorly written. other than that i agree that the ending is simultaneously predictable but effective, and that leigh's acting was a strong point.

Death at a Funeral - 2/5
Chris Rock, et al were quite funny in this film, but it was odd how they made the film have a quirk. A person watching the film with me was irate, and felt that it was the Hollywood way to shove the gay agenda down the throat of an obviously conservative african-american populace, but i tried to explain that a guy like Chris Rock is the type to push the envelope, and since these types of comedy-funeral films are a dime a dozen, he had to come up with some new and shocking. Im not 100% sure I believe that myself, but I must admit the film was quite funny. Loses all stars for being preachy and paternalistic, but gains a few back for the superb cast.

Just Wright - 4.8/5
Queen Latifah, Common & Pam Grier? Oh Yes! Im a huge Latifah fan (pun intended! ), and despite the myriad rumors surrounding her personal life, you gotta give a girl credit for being big, down to earth, and keeping it real in her roles on the big screen. I made my lil sister and my mother watch this one with me, and we all had massive emotion (namely, rage ) and there was a lot of yelling. Basically, you had the age old problem of girlfriends where one is the hottie, the other is the uber cool down-to-earth girl-next-door whom everyone loves, but just not enough to wanna "hit it" with. (It actually brought to mind the 80s hit by MC Lucious: called .) All in all, the movie was well cast, well written, and well played. My only beef was the Happy Hollywood cookie cutter ending - we all know in real life all bets are off, and in some cases, things happen in the converse: my sisters and I surmise amongst ourselves that one of our friend who is the hottie that "shouldve" married our brother, gave him away to a friend who told her not to be selfish, and still has the broken heart to prove it. Matters of heart. Dicey things!

Why Did I Get Married, Too? - 0/5
Awful - no, GODawful movie. I cringed every time Tyler Perry featured as the lead actor on screen because it was like watching a train wreck (or at least, his career go down the toilet). What was worse is that they had a lot of actors who can act, and it was as though they could not - clearly they had no chemistry, and it was as if the Director could care less. The other awful thing was the plot - the first movie was an obvious hit with the same actors, so the only reason we could deduce for the horror of the sequel was the writing and direction. As far as I'm concerned, I might be done with TP - and I think if Im not alone, he may be losing his entire conservative base - which is a shame, because they are what made him. Beyond that Malik Yoba was hands down the best and most convincing actor in this film, so he gets a huge

Repo Men - 0/5
Another tanker of a movie - this one goes over like a lead balloon, and instead of enjoying the film, I spent the entire movie fast forwarding thru its dullery while simultaneously trying to figure out if it was (1) a movie about wanting to bang another chick while you're married, or (2) a movie about the future of health care. Suffice to say, I could not believe they gave this piece of garbage almost 2 hours of screen time, and I watched the theatrical version, not the unrated version with extra footage. Jude Law has lost all appeal to me, and apparently is headed toward losing his looks as well, because this film showing him balding! This movie has no redeeming quality, and I liked the head of The Union, Liev Shreiber best (though I do like him in everything). If nothing else, Forrest Whittaker and Liev have again shown that they can play complete jerks, which fact we already knew.

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something witty goes here......

Think you mean Repo Men, mack. Repo Man is a whole different kettle of fish.

yeah thats what I meant - thanks Iro!