View Full Version : Camo's Movie Log
As i told a few people in PM i'm going to make this to update once a week or so with what i've been watching because i want to keep talking about/writing about films and if i don't post about them here there's no real incentive to do so as no one in my personal life watches the films i do. Anyway, there will be some spoilers in these i won't use spoiler tags so it's probably best you don't read if you haven't seen. For the record i've added every film i've watched this year that i've posted about on the site to the first post so i have them all in the one place, that's why there's alot more than the films i've posted about in the thread.
January:
01. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)
02. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
03. Deadpool (Tim Miller, 2016)
04. Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)
05. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)
06. Sanshiro Sugata (Akira Kurosawa, 1943)
07. Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek, 2010)
08. U Turn (Oliver Stone, 1997)
09. I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach, 2016)
10. The Man From Nowhere (Lee Jeong-beom, 2010)
11. Barbara (Christian Petzold, 2012)
12. Romper Stomper (Geoffrey Wright, 1992)
13. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016)
14. The City of Lost Children (Marc Caro, 1995)
15. Fantastic Planet (René Laloux, 1973)
16. Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
17. Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
18. La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016)
19. The Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig, 2016)
20. Manchester By The Sea (Kenneth Lonergan, 2016)
21. 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai, 2004)
February:
22. Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)
23. Silence (Martin Scorsese, 2016)
24. Hidden Figures (Theodore Melfi, 2016)
25. Ernest & Celestine (Stéphane Aubier, 2012)
26. Hell Or High Water (David Mackenzie, 2016)
27. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
28. The Cameraman (Buster Keaton, 1928)
29. Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002)
30. The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921)
31. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch, 1992)
32. My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946)
33. Out of the Blue (Dennis Hopper, 1980)
March:
34. Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947)
35. The Son (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2002)
36. Day of Wrath (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1943)
37. Meet Me in St Louis. (Vincente Minelli, 1944)
38. Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)
39. The Orphanage (J. A. Bayona, 2007)
40. Letter From an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls, 1948)
41. Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho, 2003)
42. Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)
43. The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979)
44. The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
45. Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001)
46. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton, 1948)
47. Like Someone In Love (Abbas Kiarostami, 2012)
48. The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
49. What Time Is It There? (Tsai Ming Liang, 2001)
50. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)
51. Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)
52. To Be Or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942)
53. Pixote (Héctor Babenco, 1981)
54. The Ox-Bow Incident (William Wellman, 1943)
55. Best In Show (Christopher Guest, 2000)
56. Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)
57. The Man With Two Brains (Carl Reiner, 1983)
58. George Washington (David Gordon Green, 2000)
59. Buffalo '66 (Vincent Gallo, 1998)
60. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch, 1999)
61. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
62. Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)
63. Oculus (Mike Flanagan, 2013)
64. Tickled (David Farrier and Dylan Reeve, 2016)
April:
65. John Wick (Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, 2014)
66. The Loved Ones (Sean Byrne, 2009)
67. Spring (Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, 2014)
68. A Moment of Innocence (Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1996)
69. Orphan (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2009)
70. Belle De Jour (Luis Bunuel, 1967)
71. I Saw The Devil (Kim Jee-woon, 2010)
72. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
73. The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979)
74. Nightmare Alley (Edmund Goulding, 1947)
75. Forbidden Games (René Clément, 1952)
76. The Quiet Earth (Geoff Murphy, 1985)
77. The Three Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1973)
78. Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006)
79. The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin, 1940)
80. Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)
81. Something Wild (Jonathan Demme, 1986)
82. The Hunt (Thomas Vinterberg, 2012)
May:
83. MacGruber (Jorma Taccone, 2010)
84. The Burning (Tony Maylam, 1981)
85. The Broken Circle Breakdown (Felix Van Groeningen, 2012)
86. Flesh + Blood (Paul Verhoeven, 1985)
87. Dances With Wolves (Kevin Costner, 1990)
88. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944)
89. Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)
90. Don't Breathe (Fede Álvarez, 2016)
91. Detention (Joseph Kahn, 2011)
92. Pontypool (Bruce McDonald, 2008)
93. 24 Hour Party People (Michael Winterbottom, 2002)
94. The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947)
95. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
96. Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945)
97. The Man From Nowhere (Lee Jeong-beom, 2010)
98. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
June:
99. Odd Man Out (Carol Reed, 1948)
100. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
101. The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn, 2012)
102. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, 1996)
103. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1947)
104. The Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 1946)
105. Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983)
106. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Chris Columbus, 2001)
107. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Chris Columbus, 2002)
108. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuaron, 2004)
109. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell, 2005)
110. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (David Yates, 2007)
111. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (David Yates, 2009)
112. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (David Yates, 2010)
113. Chungking Express (Wong Kar Wai, 1994)
114. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (David Yates, 2011)
115. Incendies (Denis Villeneuve, 2010)
July:
116. Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)
117. North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
118. The Raid (Gareth Huw Evans, 2011)
119. A Bittersweet Life (Lee Byung-hun, 2005)
120. The Earrings of Madame de… (Max Ophuls, 1953)
121. Song to Song (Terence Malick, 2017)
122. Junun (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2015)
123. Virunga (Orlando von Einsiedel, 2014)
124. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)
125. The Conjuring (James Wan, 2013)
126. The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005)
127. My Cousin Vinny (Jonathan Lynn, 1992)
128. Marley & Me (David Frankel, 2008)
129. The Informant! (Steven Soderbergh, 2009)
130. The Revenant (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2015)
131. Underworld (Josef Von Sternberg, 1927)
132. Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
133. Mission Impossible (Brian De Palma, 1996)
134. The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg, 1930)
135. Mission Impossible II (John Woo, 2000)
136. Make Way For Tomorrow (Leo McCarey, 1937)
137. Woman of Tokyo (Yasujiro Ozu, 1933)
138. Spider Man: Homecoming (Jon Watts, 2017)
139. Mission Impossible III (J. J. Abrams, 2006)
140. The Thin Man (W. S. Van Dyke, 1934)
141. Bus 174 (José Padilha & Felipe Lacerda, 2002)
142. The Sea Wolf (Michael Curtiz, 1941)
143. I Remember Mama (George Stevens, 1948)
144. Mr. Lucky (H.C. Potter, 1943)
145. Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947)
146. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccon, 2016)
147. Caché (Michael Haneke, 2005)
148. Ride the Pink Horse (Robert Siodmak, 1947)
149. The Last House On The Left (Wes Craven, 1972)
150. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939)
151. Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)
152. All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone, 1930)
153. The Lego Batman Movie (Chris McKay, 2017)
154. Where Is My Friend’s House? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987)
155. Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter, 1987)
156. Dead Silence (James Wan, 2007)
157. The Hurricane (John Ford, 1937)
August:
158. Lake Mungo (Joel Anderson, 2008)
159. Black Sabbath (Mario Bava, 1963)
160. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Scott Glosserman, 2006)
161. Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford, 1939)
162. A Nightmare On Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984)
163. 49th Parallel (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1941)
164. Up The River (John Ford, 1930)
165. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (Joseph Zito. 1984)
166. Steamboat Round The Bend (John Ford, 1935)
167. Near Dark (Katheryn Bigelow, 1987)
168. The Informer (John Ford, 1937)
169. Phantasm (Don Coscarelli, 1979)
170. Black Narcissus (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1947)
171. Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)
172. Scream (Wes Craven, 1996)
173. Home Alone (Chris Columbus, 1990)
174. The Lost City of Z (James Gray, 2016)
175. The Castle (Rob Sitch, 1997)
176. Thief (Michael Mann, 1981)
177. The Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933)
178. Germany Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1948)
179. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
180. Blood Simple (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1984)
181. Attack The Block (Joe Cornish, 2011)
182. Brother's Keeper (Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, 1992)
183. In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)
184. Where The Sidewalk End (Otto Preminger, 1950)
185. LA 92 (Daniel Lindsay and T. J. Martin, 2017)
186. Creed (Ryan Coogler, 2015)
187. Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001)
188. Unfriended (Levan Gabriadze, 2014)
189. The Strangers (Bryan Bertino, 2008)
190. Hot Rod (Akiva Schaffer, 2007)
191. Absentia (Mike Flanagan, 2011)
192. Django (Sergio Corbucci, 1966)
193. Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016)
194. L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)
195. Amore (Roberto Rossellini, 1948)
196. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)
197. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1943)
198. Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957)
September:
199. Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957)
200. Hôtel du Nord (Marcel Carné, 1938)
201. Metropolitan (Whit Stillman, 1990)
202. Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-wai, 1990)
203. Election (Alexander Payne, 1999)
204. Wonder Woman (Patty Jenkins, 2017)
205. Moana (Disney, 2016)
206. Tales From The Crypt (Freddie Francis, 1972)
207. The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945)
208. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964)
209. Hard Eight (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1996)
210. A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974)
211. The Devil, Probably (Robert Bresson, 1977)
212. Shadows (John Cassavetes, 1959)
213. The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh, 1930)
214. Angels With Dirty Faces (Michael Curtiz, 1938)
215. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)
216. A Ghost Story (David Lowery, 2017)
217. Okja (Boon Joon-ho, 2017)
218. The 'Burbs (Joe Dante, 1989)
219. Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977)
220. The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh, 1939)
221. Dead End (William Wyler, 1937)
222. Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984)
223. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999)
October:
224. The People Under The Stairs (Wes Craven, 1991)
225. The Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard, 2012)
226. The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981)
227. The Funhouse (Tobe Hooper, 1981)
228. The Visit (M. Night Shyamalan, 2015)
229. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)
230. Zombie Flesh Eaters (Lucio Fulci, 1979)
231. Ghost in the Shell (Rupert Sanders, 2017)
232. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Tommy Lee Wallace, 1982)
233. Tales From The Hood (Rusty Cundieff , 1995)
234. Amer (Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, 2009)
235. Needful Things (Fraser C. Heston, 1993)
236. City of Ghosts (Matthew Heineman, 2017)
237. The New York Ripper (Lucio Fulci, 1982)
238. The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola, 2017)
239. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (Tom McLoughlin, 1986)
240. The Tingler (William Castle, 1959)
241. Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955)
242. The Sacrament (Ti West, 2013)
243. Dead of Night (Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer, 1945)
244. Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975)
245. Dracula: Prince of Darkness (Terence Fisher, 1966)
246. Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
247. Possession (Andrzej Żuławski, 1981)
248. The House By The Cemetery (Lucio Fulci, 1981)
249. Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999)
250. Martin (George Romero, 1978)
251. In The Mouth of Madness (John Carpenter, 1994)
252. Inside (Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, 2007)
253. Shadow of the Vampire (E. Elias Merhige, 2000)
254. The Host (Boon Joon-ho, 2006)
255. Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju, 1960)
256. Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981)
257. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1972)
258. It (Andy Muschietti, 2017)
November:
259. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (Mervyn LeRoy, 1932)
260. Mikey and Nicky (Elaine May, 1976)
261. Wind River (Taylor Sheridan, 2017)
262. Tabu (F.W. Murnau, 1931)
263. Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1999)
264. Logan (James Mangold, 2017)
265. The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, 1937)
266. John Wick: Chapter 2 (Chad Stahelski, 2017)
267. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson, 2011)
268. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, 2010)
269. Nathan For You: Finding Frances (Nathan Fielder, 2017)
270. L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
271. The Kid With a Bike (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2011)
272. Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler, 2017)
273. Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, 2008)
274. Lore (Cate Shortland, 2012)
275. Brigsby Bear (Dave McCary, 2017)
276. The Selfish Giant (Clio Barnard, 2013)
277. 13 Assassins (Takashi Miike, 2010)
278. The Boss Baby (Dreamworks, 2017)
279. Bad Genius (Nattawut Poonpiriya, 2017)
280. Ingrid Goes West (Matt Spicer, 2017)
281. Pariah (Dee Rees, 2011)
282. Life Is Sweet (Mike Leigh, 1990)
283. Pump Up The Volume (Allan Moyle,1990)
284. Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, 1997)
285. Running On Empty (Sidney Lumet, 1988)
286. Rudy (David Anspaugh, 1993)
287. Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman, 1961)
288. Beautiful Girls (Ted Demme, 1996)
289. The Children's Hour (William Wyler, 1961)
290. River's Edge (Tim Hunter, 1987)
291. The Lion King (Disney, 1994)
292. Anything Else (Woody Allen, 2003)
293. Through The Olive Trees (Abbas Kiarostami, 1994)
294. Fat City (John Huston, 1972)
295. Cleo From 5 To 7 (Agnes Varda, 1962)
296. Logan Lucky (Steven Soderbegh, 2017)
297. Happiness (Agnes Varda, 1965)
298. Secret Agent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1936)
December:
299. Vagabond (Agnes Varda, 1985)
300. The Naked Spur (Anthony Mann, 1953)
301. Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen, 1999)
302. A Very Murray Christmas (Sofia Coppola, 2015)
303. The Gleaners & I (Agnes Varda, 2000)
304. The Gleaners & I: Two Years Later (Agnes Varda, 2002)
305. Pickup On South Street (Samuel Fuller, 1953)
306. City Girl (F.W. Murnau, 1930)
307. The Bling Ring (Sofia Coppola, 2013)
308. mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017)
309. Sherlock, Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
310. Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995)
311. Detroit (Katheryn Bigelow, 2017)
312. Café Society (Woody Allen, 2016)
313. Mighty Aphrodite (Woody Allen, 1995)
314. Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen, 1997)
315. Somewhere (Sofia Coppola, 2010)
316. Zelig (Woody Allen, 1983)
317. The Other Side of Hope (Aki Kaurismäki, 2017)
318. Sabotage (Alfred Hitchcock, 1936)
319. Good Time (Ben & Josh Safdie, 2017)
320. Radio Days (Woody Allen, 1987)
321. Columbus (Kogonada, 2017)
322. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927)
323. House of Tolerance (Bertrand Bonello, 2011)
324. La Pointe-Courte (Agnes Varda, 1955)
325. Tarzan (Disney, 1999)
326. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017)
327. Robin Hood: Men in Tights (Mel Brooks, 1993)
328. The Witches (Nicolas Roeg, 1990)
329. Michael (Markus Schleinzer, 2011)
330. Nothing Bad Can Happen (Katrin Gebbe, 2013)
331. Taxi (Jafar Panahi, 2015)
332. The Wrong Guy (David Steinberg, 1997)
333. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014)
334. Shoot The Piano Player (François Truffaut, 1960)
335. Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995)
336. A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke, 2013)
337. Hercules (Disney, 1997)
338. American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)
339. The Bad and the Beautiful (Vincente Minelli, 1952)
340. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Noah Baumbach, 2017)
341. The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 1: Battles Without Honor and Humanity (Kinji Fukasaku, 1973)
342. Lady Bird (Greta Garwig, 2017)
343. Sisters of the Gion (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936)
344. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
345. Blade Runner 2049 (Dennis Villeneuve, 2017)
Safe
https://s15.postimg.org/ti14nzeor/safe199.png (https://postimg.org/image/iifxcdo9j/)[/url]
This was a little underwhelming for me but only because i love Carol (the film not Julianne Moore's character in this haha) this was still a pretty good film. It had alot going for it, good atmosphere and pacing and a very interesting story. The one thing i didn't like was Julianne's performance and it brought the film down quite a bit for me. God, it was so difficult to type that haha, Moore is one of my favourite actresses i was partly expecting to like this more than Carol because i expected her to be really amazing. Dunno if i'm just trying to cover for my gal here but i put most of the blame on Haynes; i think she played what she was asked to, i just don't think it was the right kind of character. She was too timid and distant, i found it really difficult to connect to her in anyway. Thing is as she worsens throughout the film her appearance changes for the worse, in my opinion i think she should have started off with a more dynamic personality then as she worsened she started transforming into this timid character she was throughout the film. That's just what i think anyway, i read a few reviews after watching this to see if anyone agreed but it was pretty much unanimous praise for her performance; oh well it didn't work for me.
3
The Orphanage
https://s23.postimg.org/ysdmgxox7/orphanage.jpg (https://pixxxels.org/)[url=https://postimage.org/app.php]
Really don't have much to say about this at all which is why i paired these two together. It was entertaining, i watched it with my gf who was terrified which is always alot of fun. I found it pretty creepy and disturbing myself, good story and very good performance from Belen Rueda. It just didn't do enough for me to surpass: enjoyable horror. Just want to say the scene where she rips off her fingernail won't leave my brain haha, i hate stuff like that.
3
Memories of Murder
https://s22.postimg.org/5cj1v0je9/memories.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/4zrnou14d/)
This felt alot longer than it actually was, not in a bad way i was never bored. I mean it felt like an epic in scale look at an investigation, even more so than Zodiac despite taking place in a shorter time and the film being shorter. Can't really pinpoint why it felt that way, maybe because it was set during a shorter period of time and completely focused on this investigation showing us the ins and outs, day by day. Either way very good film, it's not a new favourite and i don't really know why that is, i have no complaints but for whatever reason it just didn't do enough for me to become a favourite. This is pretty funny, but it's also really depressing which is partially due to the humour. I know that doesn't really make sense, what i mean is for example there's a big thing about them torturing suspects. This is made light of throughout with scenes of them hanging people upside down or the one nutcase detective constantly throwing wild cartoonish flykicks, all of this would be funny if it was a goofy, over the top film but it's not. It's about a serial killer a real serial killer this is based on true events, and they only torture innocent people; innocent people who look guilty at the time but innocent nonetheless. Eventually they stop the torture but not because they've realized that what they are doing was wrong whether just wrong in general or even because they have tortured innocents including a mentally challenged man but because they don't want the negative press they are getting and they know the torture could hamper a conviction if they get the right man. It's a very depressing look into human nature, this guy has got to be guilty i mean he confessed and knew stuff that only the killer would know who cares if we torture this guilty scumbag; oh wait it's not him, well now we have him this guy was wearing women's underwear and masturbating near the scene of the crime; oh wait not him either. It's the way torture is justified in general and while i'm not trying to turn this political the way it is portrayed here specifically is so depressing.Another thing that gives this a pessimistic mood is that you (or at least i) don't ever expect them to find the killer it just seems like they are wasting their time chasing dead ends, as well as that there's the fact that the victims aren't portrayed as anything other than corpses; a new piece of evidence. Despite the way it sounds none of this is complaints, i found it a very interesting take on this sort of film. The film is full of humour without ever feeling like it is approaching black comedy and it's a drama about a dark and depressing subject and while it is pretty depressing it's in a very unique way, it doesn't attempt to paint sad backstories of the victims or really attempts to inject any emotion into it but it works out that way anyway. The performances were good too and i loved the look of it, those fields and tight villages at night were great to look it. So yeah, not a favourite but i liked it quite a bit.
3.5
Miss Vicky
03-10-17, 12:13 PM
I haven't seen any of those movies but I am really glad to see this thread.
Paisan
https://s21.postimg.org/s022mrxav/pasia.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/nqxcklu1f/)
The very first thing i noticed was Federico Fellini's name appearing several times in the credits at the start, i paused the movie to see what he did for it; he wrote one of the six episodes as well as assistant-directed the film; he filmed the sicilian scenes in Maori. Pretty much right away that upped my enthusiasm for my first Rosselini film since i'm a Fellini fan. I respect Rosselini for deferring a fair amount of this film to others who were better suited for the good of the film while still shaping it with his vision, it wasn't just Fellini who played a major part the other five episodes were written by five other writers; some of the film is in English and i'm guessing the British writer Alfred Hayes largely wrote that dialogue which makes sense. It is a big epic war film that involves various different countries so i don't think it could've worked as well as it did if Rosselini hadn't accepted the input of others. Germany, Japan, America, Britain, Russia and France all overshadow Italy's involvement in the war at least in films i've seen so i found this very interesting. It's difficult to write about this because as i said it's seperated into six different stories set in the Italian Campaign of WWII. I'll try and write about them individually.
Episode 1 is about a group of American Soldiers going through an Italian village eventually a local agrees to lead them to a German minefield but first they take shelter in a ruined castle. Robert Van Loon was very good as Joe from Jersey; most of the episode is focused on a very sweet and endearing conversation he has with the local Carmela while he is watching her. Not a romantic conversation, it is both of them attempting to communicate as he doesn't speak Italian well and she doesn't speak English at all, he mostly spends it reminiscing about home with a nice score on top of it. It's very well written, alot of it is either him picking up a word she said in Italian but without the context of everything else she said he changes the subject; for example she speaks of baby cows and he picks up the word "bambino" and thinks she is asking him if he is the baby of his family so he starts talking about his family, she does the same with his english. Both did a very good job of bouncing off each other. It had a sad ending after you had gotten to know Joe. Episode 2 is about an orphan kid hanging around with a very drunk african-american soldier. Don't know what to say about this one, i didn't like it at first; they seemed to portray the african-american soldier as a big dumb, violent idiot at first and it was all chaotic and hard to watch. Once he sits down with the kid and starts enacting his fantasy of the reception he'll get when he goes home which will obviously not be reality i came to like it though. The end to this one absolutely crippled me, i was on the verge of tears and i knew it was going to get heavier as there were still four episodes left. All it was was a straightforward troubled orphan tale, the music when he realized as well as him dropping the shoes and more than anything what got to me was how unphased by it the kid seemed. It was a completely different approach to the usual sad, crying orphan child, this kid had accepted what life had given him and he'd adjusted to it which is somehow even sadder especially the way it was depicted. Episode 3 is a flashback from a drunken american soldier he is telling to a prostitute who has taken him to her house to try and sell her services, but he's not interested and he tells her why. This one was probably the weakest, it wasn't bad the whole thing was just hard to swallow. The soldier explains to the prostitute Francesca that he isn't interested because six months earlier he fell in love with another Italian woman; of course Francesca realizes it was her.... wait what? Yeah, i could understand if it was a decade earlier maybe, but it has been six months and apparently these two lovebirds didn't recognize each other and not just that Francesca makes it more difficult for some reason, instead of telling him it is her she arranges some idealistic romantic meeting the next day; of course opening it up to the possibility of things going wrong. It was really dumb and contrived, to be fair though it was really short compared to the others.
Episode 4 takes part in Florence where all the bridges have been blown up stopping the allied advancement. This follows an american nurse who is trying to reunite with a well known man called Lupo. Don't really know what to say about this one, it's more of an adventure, it is very intense and chaotic; love the mmusic. Full of running about, stopping to talk to people while she is trying to get to Lupo and a guy she is with Massimo is trying to get to his family. Very well directed. Episode 5 is about three american soldiers staying the night in a monastery. This one was really shocking to me, it was full of sweet monks and very polite soldiers, i couldn't imagine what could possibly be the conflict here, possibly the Germans invanding the church i was thinking. Then it came, the monks found out one of the soldiers was a jew which got them all terrified and remorseful; one asked St. Francis for forgiveness and another prayed to Jesus to protect them. I almost burst out laughing it came out of nowhere. There's a good if not slightly heavy-handed conversation between the catholic soldier and the monks where they get turned into the bad guys and he explains that he has no right judging them. Just want to say this had the most jarring edit ever, there's a few weird edits in this actually it might not even be edits, it might be the copy i had even though it was of good quality had a few problems i don't know. Anyway the jewish and protestant soldiers walk into the doorway in the background of the catholic soldier and the monks then mid sentence there's a clear edit/skip and they suddenly aren't there anymore, i looked at it again and thing is i can't tell if it skipped part of what he was saying and that's why it is or not. He's standing in the one position throughout and what he says would make sense there but it could very well have skipped. No big deal just pretty funny. Episode 6 This part was really gorgeous, paddling about a lake with big open fields nearby, it was a pleasure to look at. This was similar to episode 4, alot more action like you'd normally expect in a war film. Not much i can say about this part other than i liked it, good but very bleak ending.
For the record because i'm obsessed with ranking things i'd personally go: 2>4=1>6>5>3. Anyway, great introduction to Rosselini, the film is of course uneven because it's six different stories. Some are better than others and there's a massive cast so some performances are great and some aren't. Overall though it works very well as a whole, there's some common themes throughout the stories and there are so many great moments. As you can tell a big thing in the film is struggling to communicate, through finding ways to understand each other comes alot of the films beauty and sadness. Very good film, a great depection of very humanistic events and lessons in a war setting. I can see why this is one of Martin Scorsese's favourite films and his favourite from Rosselini.
4
Letter From An Unknown Woman
https://s16.postimg.org/o5wctjzx1/unknown.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/3yix192fl/)
Such a haunting film. Imagining what was going through his mind while reading this is crazy. You'd be so creeped out, the idea that a woman didn't just have a crush on you she was deeply in love and obsessed with you. Someone you had never met and don't even remember having seen was watching you, listening to you, you were always on her mind, she has been planning her life around you. That is just such a creepy thought, Lisa is a stalker; good intentions or not she has an unhealthy obsession with a man she is following who doesn't know she exists. I think there may be a double standard here on my part because if roles were reversed and it was a man obsessing over a woman this way i'd be creeped out and concerned, this would feel closer to a thriller for me. But no it's such a beautiful film. Joan Fontaine's performance played a massive part in this working, as well as the script. Lisa came across so sweet and passionate, passionate in a concerning way sure but while watching it i found it beautiful and endearing more than anything else. Their date scenes were amazing, her slowly opening up to him was perfect; 99% of the chemistry came from Fonataine which fit the story. The way she looked and smiled at him, what looked like such genuine happiness. The music too, damn the music got me right away. From the first time he played and she was completely transfixed so was i, right there i bought into her obsession, there was no need for them to ever meet because that right there did it although i'm glad they did.
This film feels like it was tailor made for me, i got really annoyed when he couldn't remember her outside the opera despite being three feet away from her, i thought this was going to be the one thing i didn't like about the movie. Then of course this was turned into the central conflict, the reason they can't be together, it basically noticed my concerns and turned them into a positive. Adored the ending, the music was amazing and i teared up. I figured she would be dead within the first few minutes of the film but it still got to me due to the aforementioned music, Stefan's despair, the fact that his servant even remembered her, Lisa's voiceover and chilling last words, etc.
Stunning film. Kind of want to go out and watch everything from Ophuls and everything starring Fontaine. Fontaine has been outstanding in the three 40's films i've seen her in: this, Rebecca and Suspicion. Actress of the 40's for me right now. I'd also say this has some of the most striking visuals i've ever seen. Perfect.
5
rauldc14
03-10-17, 12:31 PM
Thank goodness you are still here!
I wish I liked Letters more but I honestly didn't care for it. Fontaine certainly wasn't the issue though.
Thank goodness you are still here!
I wish I liked Letters more but I honestly didn't care for it. Fontaine certainly wasn't the issue though.
What was out of interest?
Miss Vicky
03-10-17, 12:35 PM
I watched Letter from an Unknown Woman for the 7th HOF. I thought it was solid but I didn't love it.
(http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=1347861#post1347861) I may give it a rewatch if I decide to submit a 40s list.
rauldc14
03-10-17, 12:41 PM
Here's what I wrote in the 7TH:
Letter from an Unknown Woman
This is an example of a film that is quite liked by everyone but just not suited for my own personal tastes. I think I would certainly benefit from a second watch, but the first watch had a lot of lulls to it for me. I thought Fontaine did a really good job in it, but her character and Stefan just weren't two people that I could really connect to. I couldn't much get into the style of film making of Ophuls on this w atch, but he does seem pretty talented behind the camera. I wish I liked it more, but it just didn't seem to connect with me all that well. Others may really enjoy it though, it is a well regarded film and I wouldn't say there is anything technically bad about it.
2.5
I watched Letter from an Unknown Woman for the 7th HOF. I thought it was solid but I didn't love it.
(http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=1347861#post1347861) I may give it a rewatch if I decide to submit a 40s list.
I don't disagree with anything you said, actually i went even further; her behavior is very concerning. But i got completely swept up in it which is why it wasn't a problem. Also i'm not sure if it changes much but i'm pretty sure she is only 15 or something when her obsession starts then she has that night with him when she is 18 which is why it lasts the rest of her life. It's not a big difference but i think it at least slightly makes it more understandable.
Here's what I wrote in the 7TH:
That's too bad but understandable. Hope if you do give it another shot you like it more.
The next 40's film i'm going to watch probably on Sunday is The Grapes of Wrath, btw. Just thought i should tell you as i know it's a favourite of yours.
rauldc14
03-10-17, 12:58 PM
Hope you will love that, though I would understand if you didn't.
Citizen Rules
03-10-17, 01:10 PM
I loved Letter From an Unknown Woman. I reviewed it and gave it a rating_4...I need to see it again too.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
This is an example of a film that is quite liked by everyone but just not suited for my own personal tastes. I think I would certainly benefit from a second watch, but the first watch had a lot of lulls to it for me. I thought Fontaine did a really good job in it, but her character and Stefan just weren't two people that I could really connect to. I couldn't much get into the style of film making of Ophuls on this w atch, but he does seem pretty talented behind the camera. I wish I liked it more, but it just didn't seem to connect with me all that well. Others may really enjoy it though, it is a well regarded film and I wouldn't say there is anything technically bad about it. Raul that sounds like the same reaction you had to Waterloo Bridge (not a complaint, just an observation:))...Do you see either or both of these movies as a 'chick flick' (I can't think of a better phrase)...but you know films focused on a woman's point of view.
cricket
03-11-17, 07:58 PM
I loved loved loved Letter from an Unknown Woman!!
Cobpyth
03-11-17, 08:13 PM
Absolutely LOVE Letter from an Unknown Woman. I still haven't seen any other Max Ophuls films, but I urgently should.
As you probably know, I liked Memories of Murder quite a bit more than you did. Maybe it's because I have a bit more of a sadistic sense of humor or personality than you have. I mostly love it when movies laugh with the darker aspects of human nature, even if that darkness comes from the characters we're supposed to sympathize with. It's never been an issue for me.
Absolutely LOVE Letter from an Unknown Woman. I still haven't seen any other Max Ophuls films, but I urgently should.
As you probably know, I liked Memories of Murder quite a bit more than you did. Maybe it's because I have a bit more of a sadistic sense of humor or personality than you have. I mostly love it when movies laugh with the darker aspects of human nature, even if that darkness comes from the characters we're supposed to sympathize with. It's never been an issue for me.
I actually didn't have a problem with any of that, must have not put that across well. I felt it was very unique the way the humour was used and i appreciated it also being depressing for me. I don't have any actual complaints about it, it just never went above very good for me.
Edit: Since i'm here for the 12th reveal i'll post what i watched tonight.
FromBeyond
03-11-17, 08:28 PM
Agree with your thoughts on The Orphanage, spot on.
The Brood - 1.5
https://s29.postimg.org/yds7abjp3/brood.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/f8oy0k50z/)
I'm a Cronenberg fan but i really, really despised this sorry. The Fly and Videodrome are among my favourite films though so it hasn't put me off trying his other stuff thankfully. This is one of the worst horrors i've ever seen. I dunno there's plenty of crappy horror sequels i'd rather watch than this, this took itself way too seriously which just made it really uncomfortable.
This was really hard to watch, not that it was scary far from it; the music, what was with the music? This has got to have the worst score in horror history or at least the worst use of a score, exaggerating obviously but the music was really terrible and it felt like it was used at moments that weren't earned. Constantly i mean there'd be some moment that would pop out from nowhere and this big intrusive score would come in from nowhere as if it was called for. I can't even explain it, it was just wrong. The acting was pretty bad but i think that's something i could have ignored if it wasn't for the music drawing attention to it, i felt like the music was used to lazily tell me what was happening instead of attempting to actually engage me which made it a chore to sit through. I mean it was used when Frank went to pick his daughter up after talking to the principal and psychologist, it started up before he even left the room i mean such a weird unnecessary thing to do; creepy, intense, exciting, whatever music is a great thing but it has to be used right, just plopping it into every scene cheapens the whole film.
The acting was so bad that i honestly wondered if that was supposed to be part of it and i was missing the point, honestly if someone told me that now i'd believe them but i'd still hate this. It starts with an actual play that the characters are watching; when it goes into the first proper character interaction between Hal and Frank i was baffled, i swear i was excpecting it to be revealed as an extension of the play; the whole thing felt completely unnatural, Art Hindle had this weird eyebrow thing going on and Oliver Reed acted like he was actually in a big dramatic play. With everything else i just couldn't accept the bad acting, it was so horrible.
Don't want to continue being negative as i know there'll be fans of this here. There was some interesting things so i can see why some like it but i really didn't. Hope Cosmic hasn't expelled me from the Cronenberg Club for this :laugh:
CosmicRunaway
03-12-17, 07:40 AM
Don't worry about being expelled, because once you enter the Cronenberg Club, you can never leave. :devil:
Honestly, I had a similar reaction to you the first time I saw The Brood, back in the late 90s. I didn't think it worked well as the psychological horror it touted itself as, and the body horror elements were far too underplayed as well. At the time, The Brood and Shivers were my least favourite Cronenberg films.
But when I rewatched it not long ago, I don't know what happened but it just really clicked for some reason and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe because I knew what to expect that time, or because I had turned off Shivers just minutes before to try The Brood again instead (which reminds me that I never did go back and rewatch Shivers haha).
The Grapes of Wrath
https://s22.postimg.org/vmc2o662p/grapeso.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/acogdbprx/)
I read Grapes of Wrath in school but i was around 13 so i don't remember it that well. Actually i recognized this more from the South Park episode Over Logging haha. I liked this quite a bit, i found it pretty heavy handed and over-dramatic at times but it was tough not to enjoy and even some of that worked out for the best. Think this captured the depression-era feel wonderfully, how i'd imagine it anyway; there was a great sadness and hopeless feeling to pretty much everything, even when they were really hopeful and sounding like they truly believed that California would save them it felt like they were actually in denial. The biggest surprise to me was the humour, not that it was hilarious but i definitely went in expecting this to be one big downer throughout. Grampa especially was someone this film needed, he reminded me of Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; very crazy and energetic old man, was sad to see him go so early but it made sense. I liked the actor Charlie Grapewin quite a bit and after looking him up after this i found out that he plays a major role in Fords Tobacco Road, pretty much everything else i've heard about that film is negative so that made me a little more curious at least. The camp was as grim as hell, the Grapes of Wrath parody parts in the South Park episode i mentioned are in black and white; great choice as this is the most black and white movie i've ever seen haha.
Despite this film being mostly depressing there were little things that were really heartwarming. Like the store scene with the bread and the candies, the woman who at first was against selling the bread for less than what it was worth lying about the real price of the candy so both kids could get a piece was really nice, random acts of kindness like that no matter how small always get to me especially in a film about crippling poverty like this. The fact that Pa was trying to keep onto the little bit of pride he had left by paying for 10 cents worth in particular made that scene.
Good performances all round, actually the only person i didn't think was good was Toms sister forgot her name during the scene she was crying that her husband had left; that wasn't a big deal though as she barely said anything throughout the film. Henry Fonda did a good job and i also really liked Russell Simpson as Pa. Think the script was my favourite thing about the film. Good film, not one of my favourite Fords however.
3+
cricket
03-12-17, 06:45 PM
Hey you stole The Brood photo I used for the guess the screenshot game! I've seen that many times, and it's my 2nd favorite Cronenberg after The Fly. It is an odd little film though.
I liked Grapes of Wrath more than you too.
Hey you stole The Brood photo I used for the guess the screenshot game! I've seen that many times, and it's my 2nd favorite Cronenberg after The Fly. It is an odd little film though.
I liked Grapes of Wrath more than you too.
haha didn't even realize. Yeah, just don't think it was for me i'm planning on watching one of his other films soon though, not sure which one.
cricket
03-12-17, 07:23 PM
I'd probably have to recommend Dead Ringers. I like Rabid as well but I don't know about for you.
I'd probably have to recommend Dead Ringers. I like Rabid as well but I don't know about for you.
Dead Ringers is actually the one i was thinking of watching, it seems to usually be high on the "best of cronenberg" lists i've seen.
Pulse
https://s28.postimg.org/jhic8u4st/kairo.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/fl50cujt5/)
Was going to watch What Time Is It There? but i was unable to last night or today, and it made more sense to watch a horror at nighttime that i was planning on watching soon anyway.
I think the only Japanese Horror films i've seen are the original The Grudge and The Ring, none of which i like that much so i wasn't sure what to expect here. It almost lost me at the start, the scene where Taguchi tells her to get the disk she turns around and walks really slowly clerly frightened back towards him, i know it isn't a big thing but stuff like that can really bother me and take me out of horror films. It's because i instantly think that the filmmaker is trying to manipulate me and it annoys me, there was no reason at all for Kudo to expect anything was wrong after she got the disk; when he didn't answer the one time she called for him any normal person would've either called again or walked into the room at a normal pace, not instantly assume that something horrible has happened in the ten seconds it took you to get this disk at the other side of the room; absurd. Thankfully i got over that as it did a really great job of sucking me into its mood as soon as we got into the actual horror. It wasn't scary but no films are to me anymore and it was pretty creepy. The other day i complained a lot about the music in The Brood as i think that can be one of the biggest problems in a horror for me, when the atmosphere is killed. This did a good job i really liked the mostly understated score, created a creepy mood in the film. I think this film achieved alot in getting me to care as i've always found the idea of ghosts coming through the internet pretty goofy, an early 2000's film focusing on it when computers/internet weren't as widespread and understood by the general public as they are now could've been horribly dated too even if it was originally good. I don't think this is though, well obviously it's really old computers but they don't try to explain how any of it works really as that's not the focus which saves it from coming across ridiculous.
I liked the way it was filmed, i found it interesting. The majority of the time the camera seemed to be sitting a moderate distance away so it felt like we were observing them rather than being in there with them actually experiencing it. Seems to be the opposite of what the majority of horror films attempt so it was interesting seeing it this way. I think that was probably the intention; to put distance between the viewers and the characters I also really appreciate the way the story was told with two stories running together, i misinterpreted a small description i read before deciding to watch this and thought it was going to be one story then another. Think it was much better this way. So yeah i enjoyed this, actually during the first 45 minutes i thought this could be my favourite first time horror watch since The Descent, thing is i found it pretty dull and hard to follow in the middle. Not because it was complicated but because i just wasn't interested, the understated nature of the first half did alot for me but after a while it got a little tedious. I really enjoyed the ending but it wasn't enough to make this a favourite.
3.5-
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
https://s13.postimg.org/ubq4zl7fb/costello.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/6xi5nnphv/)
Never seen anything by Abbott and Costello before i'm only really familiar with them from them being mentioned along with Laurel and Hardy, etc as important comedians of the first half of the 20th Century and i was aware that they made the Who's On Next? or whatever it's called bit famous that i've seen parodied multiple times even though i've never actually watched them perform it. I only ended up watching this because i saw it on some 40's Horror list and thought i should give it a chance. This was an enjoyable watch, i've mostly watched either heavy dramas or horrors this month so it was a good thing to go for something light. Didn't find this hilarious but it was entertaining and Abbott and Costello had good chemistry. Not really got any problems with this, i do think i'd like it a bit more if they had made it even sillier and crazier. Sometimes it felt a little calm i'd have liked them to fully embrace the wackiness. I like how they got the actual actors who played the Universal Monsters: Lugosi, Chaney Jr, etc. Fun film.
3
ScarletLion
03-14-17, 05:46 PM
Enjoying your thread, cheers.
cricket
03-14-17, 05:48 PM
It's been at least 25 years now but I used to watch that every time it was on.
It's been at least 25 years now but I used to watch that every time it was on.
Yeah, it was fun. As i said though i'd have liked it to be even crazier. At times it felt pretty subdued which doesn't suit a "two idiots encounter the universal monsters" film.
Like Someone In Love
(Abbas Kiarostami, 2012)
https://s10.postimg.org/m93b6a7q1/somlike.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/gkx0fe3dh/)
This was my first Kiarostami. Weird starting place as it's his last film and it is not one of his most acclaimed i don't think, i watched it because i really need to see more foreign language films this decade and after stumbling upon this i thought i should kill two birds with one stone. One thing right away that i wasn't expecting was that this was really easy to get into. Don't know what it is but no matter how many foreign language directors i try i'm always pretty nervous their first film that i'll find it very boring or difficult to connect to/follow. Nah, this was a breeze; the dialogue and the way he filmed it created a very natural feeling enviroment. He seemed to film from the exact right distance away and at the right angle that the character you were watching and listening to speak looked like they would from your vision if you were actually sitting across from them (hope that made sense haha), the only difference was that sometimes you were a bit to the side which made it feel like you were sitting next to the person being spoken to rather than seeing it from their point of view. In the first scene he created a very natural feeling bar enviroment too, with the right amount of noise setting the tone and you being able to hear roughly what you would be able to in the conversations in nearby tables. This kind of fascinated me coz i think that's alot of work for something that isn't important to alot of people, i really appreciated it though especially with this film being largely conversational. Another thing i really liked was the taxi ride. That's pretty much the only thing i've heard about Kiarostami; that he likes to film inside of cars. I've actually heard alot of complaints about them, i dunno if they are normally like this but i really liked this one. First of all it wasn't in the film just for the sake of it, it had a few while not crucial, practical purposes for being included. Firstly to keep the feeling of the film going; so it feels like we have carried on right from the first minute rather than cutting to when she gets there which could disrupt the mood, then also her listening to the voicemails while we found it nothing important it still gave us a bit more insight into her character and situation in a very natural and creative way. Other than that it was just good to watch, the various ways he filmed it whether it was from across from her or just outside the taxi filming her, or filming from her point of view it gave us a realistic view of what is a beautiful city. This just applies to this one though, for all i know it is usually annoying and he lightened up here.
The story worked for me too. Loved Akkiko's personality, she was so excitable and talkative; it was great how easily she struck up conversations with Takashi. She was really funny, stuff like her telling a joke then when he laughed she admitted she didn't get it and was confused when anyone laughed really warmed me up to her. I could listen to her for hours, great character and performance. Right from when Takashi was first introduced i knew it wouldn't be about sex, still it felt odd that he was acting all panicky and confused when she assumed it was about sex since surely he had to know that is what the vast majority of her clients would be looking for, maybe it would be a bit awkward to bring it up but i think most people would state that right away or he had it even easier, he could've have told Hiroshi to specify this right away and not only would that avoid this awkwardness but it would make it more likely that she would accept. The moment of the film for me had to be Noriaki and Takashi's conversation in the car. Noriaki while speaking to Akkiko looked like a shady, aggresive a hole then while speaking to Takashi he came across like a genuine person who really cared for her, and i never felt this was an act to impress who he thought was her grandfather. I mean he had gotten engaged to her without telling the family so he really didn't have to do this, it seemed like the way he acted towards her was out of frustration then when it becomes clear that he isn't aware she is a prostitute you take his side a bit. Not just because she is sleeping with other men but the very fact that she is keeping it secret means she has to have been distant explaining his initial behaviour a bit and then making it more understandable when he says she wasn't answering her phone and it is a regular occurence. Still it doesn't completely exonerate him, you still have to question whether he is violent and a few things he says "that's why i want to marry her, she'll have to" keeps you from fully taking either side. There's also some good light humour in that scene; Takashi hesitant to open the window and give him a lighter as well as him trying not to make eye contact with him, as well as him blatantly implying he's not her grandfather "I'm as much her grandfather as i am yours" which for some reason Noriaki doesn't pick up on despite hearing him since he follows it up with "your only intention is to discourage me", and also the initial awkwardness of the car ride when Noriaki stays in. Then that ending my god, Noriaki's shouting completely made that scene, i couldn't feel more scared and bad for both of them but especially Takashi; he was a nice old man who really shouldn't have to deal with this situation and at the same time he was trying to keep Akkiko calm. Glad it was left ambigous too.
Great film. While no individual part completely blew me away, i found every scene and practically every line of dialogue interesting. Looking forward to more from Kiarostami. I'm planning on watching his other 2010's film Certified Copy and i also have Taste of Cherry and Close Up ready to watch so hopefully over the next few months i can make a good start on his filmography.
4+
The Best Years of Our Lives
(William Wyler, 1946)
https://s8.postimg.org/g2znf1lit/yearb.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/7xhlgvx9t/)
Looking over Wylers filmography i was surprised to find out i've seen three of his films: Wuthering Heights, The Little Foxes and Roman Holiday as well as about the first third of Funny Girl. Good director.
Very good film. It's kinda difficult to post about as it is so long and there's so much going on. Extremely sad of course, while watching i was wondering if this was the first returning soldier(s) struggles to adapt to life back home film. My head tells me it can't be, dunno maybe someone will point something out. Even if it wasn't it was very well done, some of it felt familiar of course but i imagine this was a big influence on alot of those other films. Even then that wasn't a problem as it was so well written and acted. I liked how it focused on three of them, giving them all different yet similar problems spawning from the same thing, it allowed them to explore alot more. My only problem really was a few instances of over acting like when Fred woke up with night terrors, there were a few others but not too much so it wasn't that much of a big deal. God, i loved Homer. So upbeat and self sufficient until he sees his girlfriend of course. "You gotta hand it to the Navy, they trained that boy well to use those hooks." "They couldn't train him to put his arms around his girl, to stroke her hair". Jesus, that was the first part that really got to me along with Homers look while she was hugging him. His story was my favourite it was so tragic and eventually heartwarming, the actor was excellent. All of the stories were good, as i said i don't have many complaints. Good film, not really a favourite but i understand why it gets so much praise.
3.5
What Time Is It There?
(Tsai Ming-Liang, 2001)
https://s18.postimg.org/u80eqf5q1/leaud.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/jl6lkzxkl/)
This was my first Tsai Ming-Liang film. All i've read about him is that his films are really slow, i don't think this one was at least. It's obviously not action movie paced but i was never bored and while a few scenes lingered for a bit it never felt excessive; to be honest i think it progressed just right. I mean he sells the watch 15 minutes in, there's been quite a few scenes by that point. Parts of the film are actually made up of various 30 second-ish scenes. I actually found the lingering pretty interesting itself because it is something i'm not used to, usually when the main objective of the scene is fulfilled we move on or we move on after we see the characters initial reaction unless something else is going to happen. This was different though, in the scene where he tells her he can't sell her the watch she walks away, the camera then stays with him for another minute and a half or so even though nothing happens. Oddly i think this ties into my next point to make the weirdest yet pretty effective way of getting us to know the characters. One thing that didn't hit me until about an hour in was that there's very little talking in this film. No idea why i didn't notice earlier but there's no long conversations, the "i can't sell you the watch" scene might have the most dialogue of any scene in the film and i think there's only about 10-12 lines between them. Despite this i think i got to know the characters pretty well which is most likely because the director was forcing me to take everything in by having very little happen and very little dialogue; it was at that point that i noticed i had being paying closer attention to the characters facial expressions, surroundings, etc than i normally do. While this film isn't exciting i think that's a pretty special thing.
Loved the visuals, every single scene was interesting to look at. Some of those lingering scenes could've got annoying if they weren't shot so well. There were some baffling things like us been shown him pissing into bottles and bags, no idea what that was all about. Another really weird thing that i actually kinda loved even though i don't have a clue what happened was that dude who took the clock he stole. Firstly i found it hilarious that he sat right next to him in an empty theatre, i hadn't even thought about it being about the clock. Then when he took it i initially thought he might be security but of course security would have thrown him out, i don't have a clue what the bathroom thing was about but it worked because it was the first really weird thing to happen in the film and it came after 20 minutes of practically nothing.
In the end this is an extremely difficult film to rate or place into simple liked/liked alot/loved/whatever categories. I have never seen anything like it, five years ago i wouldn't have lasted 15 minutes coz as i said very little happens but i found it strangely compelling and i loved the visuals. I'm very interested in more from Tsai especially going in at least thinking i know what to expect and i plan to revisit this at some point. At least a half a star goes to the 400 Blows clip and Leaud's cameo (the picture i used) :D
4
cricket
03-17-17, 08:41 PM
I had tears in my eyes within the first 10 minutes of The Best Years of Our Lives. The hooks ********, watch the freaking hooks!
I had tears in my eyes within the first 10 minutes of The Best Years of Our Lives. The hooks ********, watch the freaking hooks!
Yep, the scene where he rejoined his family and the life completely drained from him was so depressing after watching him being very jolly, that seriously got to me. So did the scene he puts his hooks through the window. The actor was outstanding. After watching it i looked him up and found out he is the only known person at least to have sold his Oscar which he did to pay for his wifes medical bills; it was controversial at the time and when asked about it he said "I don't know why anybody would be critical. My wife's health is much more important than sentimental reasons. The movie will be here, even if (the) Oscar isn't". Best dude :cool:
cricket
03-17-17, 09:17 PM
I didn't know that. He must have caught her real good with one of those hooks.
I didn't know that. He must have caught her real good with one of those hooks.
Ugh... this works on so many levels :laugh:
Ugh... this works on so many levels :laugh:
As well as his actual hooks and a hook (punch), he may have caught her with Captain Hook or one of his family. I've heard those Hook Brothers are real players.
Mr Minio
03-17-17, 09:29 PM
The Brood is my favourite Cronenberg! I'm surprised you abhored it so much given how much you loved The Fly and Videodrome (which I'm not crazy about, BTW).
I think that Pulse although not scary in the common sense of the word may be one of the scariest horror films if you think about it. The reason it's so effective is the fact it talks about one of our greatest fears. For a lonely person the perspective of eternal loneliness after death is the scariest thing ever. I highly recommend the director's other film Cure. A thriller, but the atmosphere is even denser!
What Time Is It There? is actually my favourite Ming-liang Tsai film and a 5 movie. I adore how the movie looks at time and distance (of all kinds) between people. Besides, the atmosphere is freakin' perfect. Goodbye, Dragon Inn and The Hole are safe bets if you loved this one.
The Brood is my favourite Cronenberg! I'm surprised you abhored it so much given how much you loved The Fly and Videodrome (which I'm not crazy about, BTW).
I think that Pulse although not scary in the common sense of the word may be one of the scariest horror films if you think about it. The reason it's so effective is the fact it talks about one of our greatest fears. For a lonely person the perspective of eternal loneliness after death is the scariest thing ever. I highly recommend the director's other film Cure. A thriller, but the atmosphere is even denser!
What Time Is It There? is actually my favourite Ming-liang Tsai film and a 5 movie. I adore how the movie looks at time and distance (of all kinds) between people. Besides, the atmosphere is freakin' perfect. Goodbye, Dragon Inn and The Hole are safe bets if you loved this one.
Thanks for posting MInio, i thought about mentioning you because i know you are pretty much the only person here that has seen what i've been watching.
Pulse: i've read some stuff about it after i watched it and i kinda want to see it again. Will try Cure thanks.
What did you think about what i said about What Time Is It There?(?)
The Brood is my favourite Cronenberg! I'm surprised you abhored it so much given how much you loved The Fly and Videodrome (which I'm not crazy about, BTW).
Forgot The Brood there. Did you like the way the music was used? It really killed the film for me personally, the score was alright but it was basically never used at the right time, and when it was used at the right time it started before it was the right time and just drifted into it. That's the main thing i thought was awful, bad horror acting usually doesn't bother me at all if i'm enjoying other things but the music killed this for me.
Repulsion
Ugh.. this was awful. Wish i wasn't aware of directors or i could have looked at this differently, Polanski is problematic to say the least as a person so a sexual/rapey film like this from him kind of turns my stomach. I actually don't think i could watch Chinatown or Rosemary's Baby again after how i felt about this. I don't even want to post about it, the only reason i watched the whole thing was so i could cross it off the lists. Kinda feel like i watched one long rape scene and i basically did; big rape scene directed by a rapist.. awesome :sick:, doubt i'll ever watch anything from Polanski again.
I know there's a few Polanski fans here, that's cool i get it; this film just really turned me off him.
Think this has replaced Kazaam as my least favourite film ever. Kazaam is just stupid and dull, this actually made me feel bad and disgusted. I didn't post a pic because they all turn my stomach.
0
Jeff Costello
03-18-17, 06:46 AM
I actually really liked Repulsion, eventough it takes a whole new meaning when learning about the stuff Polanski did. When watching it, I really got an Eraserhead vibe from it, so I could definitely see Lynch borrowing some elements from it. Catherine Deneuve was great too.
Also as I already mentioned, the implication in the final shot, was one of the most unsettling film experiences for me.
Whoa, zero stars for Repulsion? :eek:
Mr Minio
03-18-17, 06:51 AM
What did you think about what i said about What Time Is It There?(?) There is never much talking in his films and characters sometimes behave in a weird way. They do things like crying for 10 minutes in Vive l'amour. Also, if you feel like watching something kinky, watch Wayward Cloud. It's totally out there with gleeful musical numbers and explicit images!
Don't/can't remember the music in The Brood, or how it was used.
Repulsion 0 I double-checked if it's April Fools day today. It is not! I don't even...
I actually really liked Repulsion, eventough it takes a whole new meaning when learning about the stuff Polanski did. When watching it, I really got an Eraserhead vibe from it, so I could definitely see Lynch borrowing some elements from it. Catherine Deneuve was great too.
Also as I already mentioned, the implication in the final shot, was one of the most unsettling film experiences for me.
Yeah, i could see how anyone could like it, wasn't saying it was a bad film. I just found it pretty sickening personally, obviously that's due to hindsight i probably would have loved it if i saw it when it was released. Can't change that tho, what i know about Polanski now made this pretty horrible for me.
There is never much talking in his films and characters sometimes behave in a weird way. They do things like crying for 10 minutes in Vive l'amour. Also, if you feel like watching something kinky, watch Wayward Cloud. It's totally out there with gleeful musical numbers and explicit images!
Don't/can't remember the music in The Brood, or how it was used.
I double-checked if it's April Fools day today. It is not! I don't even...
Was actually going to watch Wayward Cloud first then i saw the poster and thought i should start somewhere lighter haha.
Repulsion was repulsive.
Whoa, zero stars for Repulsion? :eek:
Yeah not it was so bad it deserved zero stars, more i felt horrible during every minute of it so it got zero stars.
I tend to separate art from artist, and I do a good job of it in my humble opinion, but anyway it is very important to do with someone like Polanski, who did something sh*tty but is a fantastic filmmaker. I get it if you had a negative gut reaction though, I'm all about gut reactions.
I tend to separate art from artist, and I do a good job of it in my humble opinion, but anyway it is very important to do with someone like Polanski, who did something sh*tty but is a fantastic filmmaker. I get it if you had a negative gut reaction though, I'm all about gut reactions.
Yeah, i always try and do that myself but i just couldn't here. The whole thing was tough to sit through because of what i know, tried to put it to the back of my mind but i wasn't able to. There's plenty of horrible people whose films i love; Hitchcock for instance, and i usually love Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby but i doubt i'll ever watch them again now, would rather not ruin the positive memory i have of them coz i know myself and i know this won't leave my head now.
Miss Vicky
03-18-17, 11:09 AM
I haven't seen the film, but I have to wonder if maybe making the audience feel disgusted was the intent?
I haven't seen the film, but I have to wonder if maybe making the audience feel disgusted was the intent?
It was. Still doesn't change the fact that i really hated watching it.
Dead Ringers
(David Cronenberg, 1988)
https://s12.postimg.org/jmrihcg0t/ringerssss.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/6ily4nnyx/)
It took me a while to get into this, i thought i was onto another negative Cronenberg experience (although i knew it wouldn't be as bad as my reaction to The Brood) i never thought it was bad but i found the first half hour pretty dull; couldn't really connect to anything and i didn't have a clue where it was going. It picked up for me when Claire found out they were identical twins, there was a few things about that while they didn't bother me were pretty weird. Firstly why would she have sex with him before bringing it up and why would she, clearly an intelligent woman not put things together and figure out that both of them had been seeing her. Just a few scenes earlier she noted the differences of who at the time she thought was just Beverly even wondering if he had schizophrenia. Thought that was pretty dumb until the dinner scene of course, that was when i got really into this, i got really into the brothers especially. The differences between them was pretty clear from the start but i didn't find it that interesting until that scene when Elliot was a complete a-hole. Great performance by Jeremy Irons, he really nailed the separate yet similar personalities. Of course the characters were written differently but Irons brought them to life, i could see another actor playing them too alike.
It got very creepy and weird; the stuff with Claire was very unnerving but the first thing that really got under my skin was Elliot asking the twin hookers to call him Elliot and Beverly. That and the threeway slow dance scene later on, the weird incestous angle, Elliott seemingly being more into his brother than anyone else creeped me right out. I found it weird that Elliot was the unlikable one yet he wasn't the dangerous unstable one, he was generally in control and Beverly was a complete mess. That was an odd way to go, i was also surprised how long it took to get into actual horror. Other than a few bits here and there and Beverly's decline it didn't seem to really kick in til the last 20-30 minutes. Great ending. Good film. I'd have it behind only The Fly and Videodrome for Cronenberg.
3.5+
CosmicRunaway
03-19-17, 07:10 AM
Coincidentally, Dead Ringers is next on my Cronenberg rewatch list. Glad you stuck with it after the slower start. :up:
Yeah, i always try and do that myself but i just couldn't here. The whole thing was tough to sit through because of what i know, tried to put it to the back of my mind but i wasn't able to. There's plenty of horrible people whose films i love; Hitchcock for instance, and i usually love Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby but i doubt i'll ever watch them again now, would rather not ruin the positive memory i have of them coz i know myself and i know this won't leave my head now.
I have the same feelings. I love Chinatown, but when I think about this movie now and I see Jack Nicolson's face, I start to think about all rape issue. I haven't seen "Manchester..." because of Casey Affleck. The Oscar for him was controversial through his dubius opinion, not thespian skills.
To Be Or Not To Be
(Ernst Lubitsch, 1942)
https://s14.postimg.org/oeddio0a9/beor.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/gye3wvckt/)
This was my second Lubitsch film after The Shop Around The Corner which i loved. I didn't look this up before watching so it turned out as a bit of a surprise,from the title and poster i thought it would be a rom-com, possibly screwball; it basically was but i didn't expect it to have anything to do with the Nazi's. Not got much to say, i enjoyed it, it was well acted and written. Didn't find it that funny though or my rating would be higher. It's kind of amazing to me that this even exists; a film made in the middle of the war about this and not just any film but a comedy. Anyway enjoyable film just not a favourite as i thought it could have been funnier.
3
cricket
03-20-17, 10:43 PM
Not much of a Repulsion fan myself although I wouldn't say I dislike it.
Mr Minio
03-21-17, 02:20 AM
To Be Or Not To Be
(Ernst Lubitsch, 1942) 3 "First it was Hess, now him!" is the best line ever.
Pixote
(Hector Babenco, 1981)
https://s2.postimg.org/d0mi8y5mx/pixotf.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/3su9s8ykl/)
Jesus, this made City of God look like a rom-com. Exaggerating of course but not even by that much. City of God was highly stylized and one of its biggest goals was to entertain you; while trying to make a bigger point it showed the "upsides" to this sort of life along with the downsides for the few who were successful in the brief time they were, the money, being able to do what they want, etc. Just in presentation this was much worse, such a grim, grey documentary look; it gave it the feel that this world was completely horrible before anything happened. In content it was relentless, really tough to watch at times; within the first 10 minutes it let you know what you were in for with a disgusting, barbaric rape scene and not just that it showed you how these kids were thought of and how the adults were with the guy in charge of this hellish kids-jail annoyed that it happened under his roof rather than concerned for the kid in the slightest. That was pretty much it throughout, full of bleak scenes and brutality. There was some hope here and there like the teacher and journalist at the jail but for the most part it was depressing. One thing i could have done without was the child nudity, i get that they were going for realistic and that they were trying not to shy away from anything but i didn't feel it was necessary and it happened three or four times, and a certain scene near the end which i get the point of but it was just wrong. Tough film to rate, i think it was pretty great at what it was trying to do and i'm glad i watched it but i doubt i'd be able to sit through it again.
3.5
TheUsualSuspect
03-21-17, 08:27 AM
Camo, maybe you've mentioned this before and I've missed it, but why do you never capitalize your I's.
Camo, maybe you've mentioned this before and I've missed it, but what do you never capitalize your I's.
It's just a habit. I type pretty fast and for whatever reason I (i'm self-conscious now thanks :coleman: ) forget to capitalize them :shrug:
Don't you mean WHY do you never capitalize your I's huh huh :p
TheUsualSuspect
03-21-17, 08:49 AM
It's just a habit. I type pretty fast and for whatever reason I (i'm self-conscious now thanks :coleman: ) forget to capitalize them :shrug:
Don't you mean WHY do you never capitalize your I's huh huh :p
You know, whenever I use this work computer, it changes some random words. As if they have auto-correct on some evil mode or something.
The Ox-Bow Incident
(William A. Wellman, 1943)
https://s21.postimg.org/j9m8v2ugn/oxbow.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/5spac7k4z/)
Very good film, i don't have much to say since it's only 75 minutes long and is pretty much straight to the point. This felt more like a drama set in the west than an actual western to me which i liked. There was very little action it was mostly about the story which concerned things like mob mentality, personal justice/revenge vs law and order, etc. You could say this was a bit heavy handed and melodramatic but it didn't bother me and some of the things i'd describe that way i really liked like the voting scene; that was very powerful even though it was pretty obvious and had melodramatic music. Was so happy with the resolution, for whatever reason i was expecting them to be saved stopping the film from going all the way with their main point which would have felt cheap. Very easy and enjoyable watch due to the short length and the fact that it was so straightforward with good performances all round. The film looked good too, instead of the beautiful natural deserts Ford usually filmed in Wellman restricted the film to a couple of locations using simple yet effective sets, good stuff.
3.5
rauldc14
03-23-17, 08:17 AM
I still got to see that one. Looks good.
I still got to see that one. Looks good.
It's only 75 minutes long, very easy and enjoyable watch. Looking forward to Yellow Sky now.
cricket
03-23-17, 08:36 AM
I've got both The Ox-Bow Incident and Yellow Sky on my 40's watchlist and I'm looking forward to both. I'm a much bigger fan of westerns than I was a couple years ago.
I've got both The Ox-Bow Incident and Yellow Sky on my 40's watchlist and I'm looking forward to both. I'm a much bigger fan of westerns than I was a couple years ago.
Same here. 5 years ago Westerns with a few exceptions were only slightly above Musicals for me, particularly old ones; i really struggled with stuff like The Searchers. This site has definitely helped me in that regard as i have quite a few favourites now.
rauldc14
03-23-17, 09:26 AM
I started Yellow Sky once and didn't get back to it. Was just too busy at the time.
I started Yellow Sky once and didn't get back to it. Was just too busy at the time.
Just watched a clip from it, looks amazing, didn't know Gregory Peck was in it. Watching it in the next few days.
Best In Show
(Christopher Guest, 2000)
https://s30.postimg.org/s47uliw8h/showho.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/r1xo2zdf1/)
I'm a big fan of This Is Spinal Tap while i didn't think this is good it was funny and i had a good time watching it. This actually didn't start off well for me. I really don't understand why they started out with the therapy joke, the only way that would ever work was if someone had just turned to a random channel with this on at the right time. Everyone who has actually decided to watch this knows this is about a dog show so they know right away that they are in therapy for the dog. It would've been fine if it was a quick gag but it went on and on; adding layer after layer to this punchline that everyone knows is coming. Don't take me the wrong way this isn't an actual problem; it's one joke i didn't find funny and felt was mishandled and oddly placed in a film full of funny jokes, the only reason i bring it up is that i find it such an odd choice to open the film with and i'm curious if the writers hadn't thought this would happen themselves. Or maybe everyone else found it hilarious and it's just me haha. It got me in the next scene with Eugene Levy's character actually having two left feet; i laughed way more than i should have at that. Levy i associate with American Pie and other bad films, i think he's a pretty good comedic actor but some of his roles have made me groan, he was hilarious in this though. The way the film was i didn't really care who won but i figured pretty early on it would be him with his two left feet and them being clearly the least well off out of all the characters. A good thing about this was that so much of the humour was derived from the characters being bored, unhappy, pathetic, etc, and yet i never felt that awkward way which makes it hard to watch like i do with certain episodes of The Office for example. This is basically an ensemble film with a large cast of characters with separate stories so of course some are better than others which makes it a little uneven; i really didn't like the ventiloquist for example but other than him i got laughs from them all and a few were consistently hilarious. Fun film.
3.5-
Citizen Rules
03-24-17, 12:58 PM
I had considered The Ox-Bow Incident for the Western Hof. It's a strong moralistic tale. Good film!
I had considered The Ox-Bow Incident for the Western Hof. It's a strong moralistic tale. Good film!
Agreed. You seen Yellow Sky? I watched this yesterday and i think it looks great, watching it soon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poYAYC2K0Bo
Citizen Rules
03-24-17, 01:08 PM
No, I haven't. But, yeah it looks like it might be good.
Buffalo '66
https://s14.postimg.org/676c9wmfl/gallo.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/ecoe82aod/)[/url]
From everything i've read about him and what he has said Vincent Gallo sounds like an awful person so i was half expecting to dislike this but i really loved it to my surprise. There's so many problems with it too; the events of the film aren't believable - Layla has multiple chances to escape early on all she knows him as is an aggressive ******* who kidnapped her and has just left prison, if the film had it as her being too scared to say drive away when he was peeing then fairenough but she is clearly not by her demeanor and attitude towards him, it's bad enough that she falls for him after he calms down a bitafter his pee but i felt the film was telling me she was attracted to him right away which isn't believable. Her falling for him at all is the most tough to swallow, he's aggresive and potentially dangerous and just acts completely terrible to her throughout; he softens up in the motel scene towards the end but before that he hasn't shown her any other side to him which makes her calling him "the most handsome", "too good for her", etc, throughout the film doesn't make much sense as well as her not leaving when she can after the scene with his parents. So yeah on paper this shouldn't have worked at all but for whatever reason i felt a connection/chemistry that i can't quite explain which made this work. Another thing that initially annoyed me but ended up a positive and possibly the explanation for their relationship working for me was the self-aggrandizing; Billy was a character in a movie of course so if it was pretty much anyone else other than Gallo who had written and was playing the character i wouldn't have thought anything of it but from the various comments i've read from Gallo including some related to this film he sounds arrogant and unpleasant so say the "it's just so huge" urinal scene felt like him stroking his own ego in some weird way to me. The first Lalya comments felt the same at first as well but then as we got more into i realized that Billy is a messed up loser and Layla is the only one that takes notice of him and says anything positive about him, it made it feel like they were in their own little world; every other character felt weirdly detached from Billy which worked to justify his existence being so terrible to him, Layla payed attention to and had a genuine interest in him, she noticed things that Billy had no reason to believe were there and maybe they weren't but i don't think it actually matters. I certainly think all of those problems i mentioned still stand but i think this goes some way to explain why the relationship worked for me despite them. Even the urinal part has a self-deprecating explanation that i wasn't expecting with his serious self-consciousness; doesn't want to be touched/watched. So yeah not sure if it will hold up but to my surprise i kinda loved this. Still don't like Gallo and while i really like his script (co-written so i'm not sure how much was his) and performance the film was certainly not his alone, Ricci was just as good as him and his comments about her were awful and Lance Acord's visuals played a massive part; again Gallo's comments about him were awful, don't believe for a second the visuals were Gallo's when you consider some of Acord's other credits: Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Lost In Translation, Marie Antoinette and Where The Wild Things Are.
4.5+
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
https://s24.postimg.org/suszpf58l/ghostdog.png (https://postimage.org/)[url=https://postimage.org/]
Just my second Jarmusch after Dead Man and i've completely adored both, got to see more from him. I read this is a homage to Le Samourai (one of my favourite films) and this is definitely evident but it also had plenty of Jarmusch's own touches with the humour and just general oddness. The film had certain cliches that at first bothered me; Ghost Dog being so gentle, well read, meditative, an animal lover (practically at one with them actually), etc with little personal life to speak of definitely is familiar territory for badass movie hitmen and the mafia were extremely typical; exactly how you expect them to be portrayed. It became clear early on that Jarmusch completely recognized these things and he made it evident that the film wasn't taking itself seriously which is why it worked so well, two similar scenes in particular show this well; Louie's meeting scene with the others were we find out about the hit on Ghost Dog, he is trying to convey this ridiculous story of a hitman called Ghost Dog who gets in contact with him by pigeon; Sonny repeating everything he was being told as it got more and more unbelievable made it clear in a funny way that the film is aware this is extremely silly and the other being the scene where Ghost Dog confronts Louie, again in a similar fashion Louie clearly ridicules the idea of Ghost Dog following samurai codes. These sorts of scenes allowed me to take this as it was a fun, silly homage to certain tropes rather than a serious crime film and thanks to this it worked wonders. As i said the mafia were typical, they were caricatures, no actual defining traits to separate them from the hundreds of other similar characters there are out there, but what they were was extremely funny. Just about every scene with any of them was hilarious, those two aforementioned scenes maybe being my favourite, this humour did well to counteract the more moody, serious Ghost Dog scenes for me. Ghost Dog himself was fantastic too, i loved the blending of two cultures, his conversation with the little girl and more than anything how cool he was. Jef Costello might be the most cool character in film for me and i like how Jarmusch took his own unique approach to that sort of character. Loved the soundtrack too, great film.
4.5-
As well as Buffalo '66 and Ghost Dog these are the films i watched that i haven't posted about here. There's quite a few so i'll just post a rating other than the ones i posted about on Letterboxd. If anyone is curious about my thoughts on something ask.
Brief Encounter 4.5
The Man With Two Brains 3.5
George Washington 4
I really should have despised this. It was pretty nonsensical and all over the place after the main event happens and the kids were pretentious a-holes :laugh:. It had a weird dreamlike feeling though that dragged me into its world. Got a feeling i'd not like this as much on a rewatch but i really digged it.
Suspiria - 3
Outstanding visuals, set design and especially score. So much so that i want to give this a higher rating but the acting, dialogue and... well pretty much everything else didn't work for me. This is something i'd like to return to at a later date as i feel i could possibly grow to appreciate it, for now though it's a mixed reaction as i found alot of it jarring.
Margaret - 3
Absolutely adored the first half an hour of this. So devastating, i was close to tears during the vomiting/breakdown scene. Sadly the rest didn't live up to that, i found it mostly dull, pointless and especially too long with a few good parts sprinkled about.
Oculus - 3.5
I liked this quite a bit. This wasn't exactly original of course, when you get down to it it's a haunted item and an 'are these people crazy or is this actually happening' film. Them setting out to face off against the item while debating what is and isn't happening felt fairly unique though, at times it was a little dumb and/or corny but i pretty much enjoyed it throughout. Again while nothing new exactly the flashbacks were well handled i felt, the parallel timelines and obviously 'mirrored' scenes with them reliving past events kept things interesting. Mostly i liked all of the performances particularly Karen Gillan and i especially got into Kelsie and Tim trying to convince each other of their side; it did its job as it had me wondering what was and wasn't real at times. There were a few really horrifying things for me too, nails getting ripped off and glass eating are two of the very worst things for me so it's pretty funny that both were in this. Loved the ending, it was pretty much what i was expecting but it worked so well since Tim had been dragged into all of this; both the ideas that everything was real or it wasn't are equally horrifying, couldn't ask for anything more. So yeah i completely enjoyed this but i don't think it is a new horror favourite as i don't think there's anything there that would make me want to see it again.
Tickled - 4
This was nuts. Competitive Tickling is incredibly odd in itself so this was destined to be weird but that's like the least crazy thing about this. A friend told me to watch this and he made sure to tell me that i should go in completely blind, i agree with him that made it so much better so i won't talk about anything that happened. One thing i will say is that it's funny that the guy who makes the tickling fetish porn videos is fine, like any fetish you yourself don't have you of course find it really weird and as is pointed out tickling is alot less known than say a foot fetish but there's no problem as far as i'm concerned as long as it's between adults and everything is consensual then carry on. Then you of course have the main focus in the doc which i won't go into. Like most docs i doubt i'll watch this again but i have to give it a high rating as it was just so crazy and gross and wrong yet completely enthralling, i expected to be surprised but this was something else.
John Wick - 4
This was pretty great, some of it was really cheesy but who cares it was very entertaining and it's not as if it was taking itself completely seriously. That's what i liked best about it; it didn't try to be subtle or nuanced it was full of over the top music, corny dialogue, crazy action scenes and a very thin plot, exactly what this sort of film should be like and it was fun. While I really like Keanu as a person I don't think he is a good actor at all really so this sort of role is perfect for him where he just has to be a moody badass and the film is so over the top that the acting doesn't matter. One thing i liked was that John wasn't completely invincible even though he was clearly superhuman, he got beat up plenty and he was going to be killed if it wasn't for Dafoe, twice actually. Not sure if this will hold up as Action Films rarely do for me but i thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Loved Ones - 4+
Didn't know what to expect, thought it was pretty great. It was so disturbing and demented, more than anything the muffled screams creeped me out. Really good horror.
Spring - 3.5
A Moment of Innocence - 4.5+
God i don't even know what to say about this, one of the best films i've seen. It was really simple yet super effective, difficult to describe it's basically a fake documentary about the making of a film that is a fictionalized account of a real event where the director stabbed a policeman during the Iranian Revolution. Basically the director directs the actor playing the young him and the policeman directs the actor playing the young him and it all connects, great stuff. The policeman is one of my favourite characters in any film.
Orphan - 2.5
This was pretty entertaining and the kid who played Esther was good but my god was it dumb :rotfl: The twist was so ridiculous i couldn't take anything seriously after that.
Belle De Jour - 3.5
I Saw The Devil - 3.5
TheUsualSuspect
04-06-17, 05:13 PM
Camo
So glad you liked John Wick, it's a fun flick to enjoy.
I'm even more glad you liked Oculus. Talk about a surprising film. Didn't expect anything from it and what I got was a well done horror film.
Tickled is indeed weird, I gave it a lower rating than you, but agree on how absurd it all is.
I'd switch ratings on The Loved Ones and I Saw The Devil. Both are demented flicks, but one was a bit more ambitious in the torture.
Finally, THANK YOU, for your words on Suspiria. My thoughts exactly, a beautiful film to look at and listen to, but where is everything else? A big disappointment for me.
Jeff Costello
04-06-17, 05:14 PM
I see you checked out Bunuel... Nice!
Belle De Jour is not my favourite of his, but it definitely has its moments.
Camo
So glad you liked John Wick, it's a fun flick to enjoy.
I'm even more glad you liked Oculus. Talk about a surprising film. Didn't expect anything from it and what I got was a well done horror film.
Tickled is indeed weird, I gave it a lower rating than you, but agree on how absurd it all is.
I'd switch ratings on The Loved Ones and I Saw The Devil. Both are demented flicks, but one was a bit more ambitious in the torture.
Finally, THANK YOU, for your words on Suspiria. My thoughts exactly, a beautiful film to look at and listen to, but where is everything else? A big disappointment for me.
Awesome that we seem to agree on most. You are definitely right about I Saw The Devil and The Loved Ones, i would say that the former is the better film but i preferred the latter. I wasn't emotionally involved in I Saw The Devil, i didn't have any problem with the violence in an offended or grossed out way but at one point it strayed into torture porn i feel as entertaining as it was and while the main character was really cool he wasn't really developed at all. He didn't really have any character to speak of, Choi Min Sik was amazing though, great actor think that and Oldboy is all i;ve seen him in.
I don't really know what it was that worked for me so well in The Loved Ones, whatever it was i kinda loved it. God those hushed screams everytime he was hurt and the hole with the braindead other victims were horrifying. Great stuff.
I see you checked out Bunuel... Nice!
Belle De Jour is not my favourite of his, but it definitely has its moments.
Yah, i liked it quite a bit. The second half didn't completely work for me and i'm not sure why but i'm definitely looking forward to more from him.
cricket
04-06-17, 08:35 PM
Buffalo 66 is a favorite of Matt's. I just can't even stand to look at that actor's bug eyed ratty dirty face.
I also loved Brief Encounter.
Buffalo 66 is a favorite of Matt's. I just can't even stand to look at that actor's bug eyed ratty dirty face.
I also loved Brief Encounter.
I completely despise Vincent Gallo and expected to and i think on some level wanted to hate it but it really worked for me. I think you'd maybe like it if you could get past Gallo.
cricket
04-06-17, 08:47 PM
I completely despise Vincent Gallo and expected to and i think on some level wanted to hate it but it really worked for me. I think you'd maybe like it if you could get past Gallo.
I will try it
25th Hour - 3+
https://s2.postimg.org/ldph0o5g9/25thhour.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/lqgv6unpx/)
Not got that much to say about this, i actually watched the last half an hour of this on tv a few years back so i think that effected my enjoyment a little, still enjoyed it though. I'm definitely not as big of a fan as Edward Norton as most; i pretty much hate his performance in both AHX and Primal Fear, he was very good here though. The best and most baffling thing about the film was that the dude who plays Clay Davis was in it and he actually says "Sheeeeet" :rotfl:.God have to wonder what he thought when he was asked to do it, that guy hasn't just been typecast he's being hired for one phrase haha. Nah really the best thing was the script i think, his speech in front of the mirror was great. Alot of it was, really loved his conversation with Frank in the club too. My only complaint is that it felt a little uneven, there was loads of different things going on and some were more interesting than others, could've done with being a bit shorter.
Something Wild - 3.5
https://s14.postimg.org/6ig49q7pt/wild.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/cw57czclp/)[/url][url=https://certificity.com] (https://postimage.io/)
Been meaning to watch this for ages as i've heard alot of good things, with Demme's passing i thought i should give it a try. The only movies i've seen from him are Rachel Getting Married which i didn't like much and Silence of the Lambs which i liked alot when i was younger but wasn't into the last time i tried it. The title pretty much spells this out; it's about a regular working guy who demonstrates a very minor 'wild side' at the start by delibarately not paying for his meal at a cafe despite having the money to do so, this is noticed by an actual wild girl who takes him on a unsavoury adventure with very little notice. It's pretty hilarious his reaction to it, the typical thing would be an uptight guy and he is a bit but it's more in how lightning fast everything happens, he doesn't have a second to think about things he just has to decide right away if he's going to continue with it and before he knows it he is handcuffed to a bed with this thieving nutcase whose motives in all this aren't exactly clear but it feels like they can't be good.
Someone in the RIP Demme thread mentioned the tonal shifts in this there absolutely is. Must admit i wish i hadn't read that comment before watching as this would have been a big surprise, it starts off as a really fast-paced crazy adventure with nothing much between them, then a relationship starts getting built between them and while Lulu doesn't drastically change they do start to develop a true bond and have some truthful moments together and then it randomly goes pretty damn dark with Ray Lliotta's entrance who was really good for the record. In some ways this feels like multiple different familiar films combined, it had various typical things; the mid-life crisis wild adventure, the mysterious girl, etc but in how energetic it is and in how ambitious it is i think it works out a very fun and well made film. Both Griffith and Daniels are very good. One odd thing is that both Charles and Lulu are very likable when they really shouldn't be; he's got a wife and kids yet didn't hesitate to have sex with and more or less runaway with her and she is a thief and just pretty much a criminal. Oddly though i don't think many would come out actually disliking them. Anyway good film. RIP Jonathan Demme.
cricket
04-29-17, 09:42 AM
I'm a big fan of The 25th Hour and Something Wild.
I read somewhere that his performance in Something Wild is what won Ray Liotta his role in Goodfellas after Marty Scorsese saw it. I can understand why.
MacGruber - 3+
https://s3.postimg.org/s6kjq6hhv/macg.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/job3luaz3/)[/url] (https://postimage.io/)
This was pretty uneven for me otherwise it could have been a new favourite comedy. I don't think it got particularly interesting until MacGruber, Piper and Vicki started working together which was 20-30 minutes in and that's alot in a 90 minute movie. There was also some jokes that did nothing for me: the celery joke and MacGrubers sex noises jokes for instance, i did actually laugh when it transitioned from Broken Wings into the sex noises but the noises themselves weren't funny and the second time with his wifes ghost didn't even work that way as it was obvious what was happening. Some of it was actually funny though i thought; I loved MacGruber always making Vicki dress up as various people "Everything will be okay we are only 7 blocks away. 7 blocks! Ok 20 you got me, there was no spaces closer. There was plenty of closer space. Not without a meter!", and i cracked up at MacGruber saying he didn't know why ****h hated him and killed his wife before telling the story of how they were close in college and she got engaged to ****h before he started having sex with her then got her to leave him then had her abort his baby so they could get a fresh start. Most of the jokes in this are really dumb and it's nothing new; it just embraces and makes fun of the various action movie cliches like has been done loads before, i think at times they did a really good job though and for the most part it was fun. Pretty good performances too, i'd like to have seen a little more of Val Kilmer as he was really great as ****h and i don't think Will Forte was important here, he was fine but it's definitely not an 'i couldn't see anyone else play MacGruber' case.
The Burning - 3
https://s12.postimg.org/xfqbnjs19/burning.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/dxvo7lv3d/)[url=https://certificity.com] (https://postimage.io/)
Another mixed bag for me. The first half of the film outside of a few moments was really, really boring; it was more of a corny, teen drama film and there were so many fake-outs it was comical; this was made in 1981 so i get that they wouldn't have been as common then but watching this in 2017 especially the way they were done did nothing for me. There was also some really gross things that you just kind of have to ignore in slasher and similar films from this era; Alfred being played up as someone to feel sorry for, a bully victim when the first time we see him he's being a creepy pervert for example. There was no explanation as well, it was so stupid, he was trying to scare the girl by watching her shower because the guys pick on him, what? Well i did mostly ignore that anyway. Think it picked up with whatever her names death in the skinny dipping scene. Even during the boring first half i think there was some stuff done well, namely the score and the suspense, both of those are related obviously looking forward to the reveal of his face added to it too though. I actually think the look of him as well as the gore was surprisingly good when you consider when this was made and the budget. One thing i found interesting about this was that there was no real attempt to establish that Cropsey was a bad person before he was burned, we were told he was a bully but we only saw him sleeping before what happened. An odd way of doing this as you'd think they'd want to make us dislike Cropsey on some level before the incident, instead you actually think i'd hope i wouldn't respond this way but his response is completely logical in that his life has been completely destroyed and we don't even really know why. Acting is never of importance and is rarely any good in films like this, it's actually normally bad which is why i understand people not being able to get into slashers, it was funny seeing Jason Alexander and Fisher Stevens though. Mixed response from me, the second half was a really good slasher i thought but the first half was very dull.
I smiled when I opened this thread and a still from Macgruber popped up immediately. I still haven't seen it but it's nice to be reminded we should seek out movies that have no other purpose but to be fun.
I smiled when I opened this thread and a still from Macgruber popped up immediately. I still haven't seen it but it's nice to be reminded we should seek out movies that have no other purpose but to be fun.
Honestly it really is at times. Nothing you've not seen before; another action movie parody and alot of it is really dumb but it is pretty fun. Val Kilmer is great in particular.
Edit: Just noticed it blocked Kilmers characters name which is Cvnth :rotfl:
cricket
05-03-17, 07:15 PM
I liked The Burning but I wouldn't call it one of the better slashers.
I forget most of MacGruber except for having a few laughs.
honeykid
05-04-17, 09:48 AM
You forgot to list Holly Hunter in the future fame roll call of The Burning.
You forgot to list Holly Hunter in the future fame roll call of The Burning.
I didn't mention her because I somehow didn't notice her while watching. Only read that she was in it afterwards, kind of amazed I noticed Fisher Stevens who i've not seen in much and not her.
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
https://s13.postimg.org/avi0iw82v/morgan_s.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/bxs71fqw3/)[/url][url=https://certificity.com] (https://postimage.io/)
My second Sturges after Sullivan's Travels. Why the hell have i not heard this mentioned much? I kinda loved it, liked it alot more than Sullivan's Travels. I was expecting a screwball comedy but i wouldn't call this one, or at most i'd call this light-screwball as it's actually pretty down to earth despite being silly sometimes. Don't really know who they are but Eddie Brecken and Betty Hutton were great together, Brecken was really sweet the way he was so nervous, they kept falling back on the Norval stuttering joke; didn't bother me though as it worked for me it was very charming. I genuinely found it hilarious everytime Trudy's dad walked in at the wrong moment and thought Norval was treating his daughter wrong or whatever, William Demarest's performance as the dad was over the top and corny but again i found it charming in a lighthearted silly way. Trudy spent loads of the film crying and being awful to Norval yet i didn't dislike her or find her annoying, mostly due to Norval's overreactions and naivete, they worked very well together. Dunno what else to say really, maybe i was just in the perfect mood as there was quite a few things here that should have annoyed me but they didn't and i had a really good time watching it. Hope some members are thinking of checking this out for the Countdown, it was just a random pick for me and i'm glad i did as it has a chance of making my list.
4
Get Out
https://s4.postimg.org/nap3iqqn1/getout.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/s9clx9uft/)[/url][url=https://certificity.com] (https://postimage.io/)
Good film. The one thing that's too bad is that i'd have loved to go into this completely blind but that wasn't really possible. Before it was even released it was pretty impossible to escape what it was about, even my mum mentioned it to me. Some of the tension and the weirdness was taken out of the film for me because i was generally aware of what it's about. Not entirely thankfully, i'd read a spoiler on this site but it wasn't major thankfully so i still didn't know why this was all going to happen to him. There was a few other moments that the films tension, scares failed for me. A few times i cracked up when i don't think i was supposed to; the scene where Walter sprints toward him before turning just as he reached him then when Chris turns around Georgina is standing in the window for instance. Don't know, maybe i read the scenes intentions wrong though and i was supposed to laugh as the music during this scene was pretty goofy, almost like music you'd hear in Scary Movie or something that was making fun of the music you normally here in horror films.
Daniel Kaluuya was great. His reaction to all the weirdness in the first third before the extended family arrived was like one big reaction to white people awkwardly trying to show their not racist. I'm not just talking about those scenes i mean just about anytime anyone other than his girlfriend spoke to him that was the vibe he gave off by his demeanor and it was awesome haha. Speaking of his girlfriend, their relationship was done well i thought, it felt a bit artificial at first but when they met the family every scene he spent alone with her he came across like a completely different person; much more comfortable. That sort of feeling carried over when he briefly met the blind art dealer, he kind of took a deep breath and sat next to him and it was like he had reentered reality, someone not acting creepy, defining him entirely by his race or treating him like some sort of weird curiosity; like a visiting alien into their white bubble. I kind of loved that, it was like a brief intermission from the general tone of the film. Think alot of the points the film made were obvious stuff everyone should know, but I can only imagine it was an attempt at least at an insight into how it is to be black, your race being a defining characteristic; something that is constantly in play in situations where it really shouldn't be. Don't like talking about this stuff as a white person as i obviously don't/can't really understand this stuff and i'm probably way off so i'll stop now but even if we take race out of it the weird tone was done really well. My least favourite part was actually the last third. There was good stuff there definitely but that spoiler i mentioned earlier implied that Rose was in on it and before that i had thought she wasn't so it didn't entirely work for me regrettably. Can't say for sure if i wouldn't have seen that coming anyway but it took something out of the reveal and made me think the blind guy was in on it too.
I liked all of the other performances except one. The worst part of this film was Jeremy. What the hell was with that performance? How did the director let that pass and did the actor honestly think this was good? I understand that's how his character was supposed to be but i cringed every time he opened his mouth, no i cringed every time the camera was on him, so difficult to sit through his scenes. Thank god he wasn't in it too much. So yeah good film, it probably deserves a higher rating than i've given it but some of the things it was going for didn't entirely work for me due to the films marketing and buzz. These things were done well i might add so i think it's a shame.
3.5-
Stirchley
05-12-17, 05:59 PM
This actor was amazing in his Black Mirror episode.
This actor was amazing in his Black Mirror episode.
Who? I've never watched Black Mirror.
Stirchley
05-12-17, 06:23 PM
Who? I've never watched Black Mirror.
The guy pictured in your post of Get Out. The movie is in my Netflix Q, but I have yet to see it.
The guy pictured in your post of Get Out. The movie is in my Netflix Q, but I have yet to see it.
Which Black Mirror episode, do you remember?
Stirchley
05-12-17, 06:32 PM
Which Black Mirror episode, do you remember?
30410
Fifteen Million Merits. One of the better episodes. Seasons 1 & 2 are brilliant. Season 3, to me, was not of the same caliber though most people loved it.
Don't Breathe 3-
I listened to a really horrifying podcast once that i'm about 90% sure this film was inspired by. The guy wasn't blind but basically young people broke into the wrong persons house with horrifying results. The use of sound here was outstanding, at one point i got bored though, not sure why exactly i just got anxious for this to end; to the point that i was considering turning it off with 15 minutes left. Never had as drastic of a turn with a movie as this ever i don't think but at one point i just didn't want to watch it anymore.
Detention 3.5+
Man, this was great. The first 20 minutes and random patches here and there stopped this from being a 4.5. It took me a while to realize that the whole point of this film was that it's going to be horribly dated at one point: it pretty much is now and that's why i love it. Think i'd like it alot less if i saw this in 2011 when most of its references were fairly relevant coz it's not the point of the film to be anything other than a snapshot of this generation and how they were, even then that's not really the point: it's just supposed to be fun and i thought it was. The most fun it got was when it got really conviluted when it added time travel and whatever else. It's a big explosion of things that it finds ridiculous in films and i love it for it.
Pontypool - 2.5
Sad i didn't like this more. I felt like i was an outside observer to the entertainment throughout because i knew it was there but i couldn't get into it, sadly.
24 Hour Party People - 3.5 +
I listened to Unknown Pleasures then Closer then watched this so of course it worked for me alot. Want to see Control soon.
The Lady From Shanghai - 4
The last 20 odd minutes of this are outstanding, best film ever material. The rest is such a mixed bag though; Welles accent is incredibly jarring at first and alot of the relationships aren't that well developed. Those last 20 minutes and how great the film looks guarantees this a high rating though.
Stranger Than Paradise - 3-
This may be the most disappointing film ever for me. I was so ready for a 5 film after everything i'd heard about this and after how much i loved/liked both Dead Man and Ghost Dog. It's so so dull though, i get the point of everything and got the low-key jokes and just the subtle humour and sadness in the overall situation throughout but it was mind numbingly boring. Maybe it will work for me at a later date but for now i found this mostly very dull and at times difficult to sit through.
cricket
05-19-17, 09:28 PM
I have The Miracle of Morgan's Creek on my 40's watchlist!
I may not watch it now that I know you're a fan though:cage:
I have The Miracle of Morgan's Creek on my 40's watchlist!
I may not watch it now that I know you're a fan though:cage:
I pulled that out of nowhere. I'm following like 12 different best of the 40's lists at once and when i wanted to watch a comedy i kind of randomly picked that. It was only after i watched it i found out it was Preston Sturges who directed the much more popular/acclaimed Sullivan's Travels. Sullivan's Travels was pretty good i thought but i really loved The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, hope you like it if you check it out. At the end i said i hope people check this out and that was mostly to you because you are the only other member killing the 40's also, as in make this a priority haha.
cricket
05-19-17, 10:05 PM
I liked Sullivan's Travels more than I expected, although it's not a threat to make my 40's list.
I liked Sullivan's Travels more than I expected, although it's not a threat to make my 40's list.
Same. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek is though.
The best thing about Sullivan's Travel's was Veronica Lake and her voice. Her voice disarmed me, i really didn't expect that. #1 Babe.
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 04:14 AM
Shame you didn't like Pontypool more; Welles accent is absolutely atrocious in Shanghai; kudos for listening to and watching Joy Div material - do watch Control :up:
Shame you didn't like Pontypool more; Welles accent is absolutely atrocious in Shanghai; kudos for listening to and watching Joy Div material - do watch Control :up:
That was at least the third time i've listened to both Albums, i struggle with Joy Division while finding New Order easy to listen to but boring mostly. I think i get sucked into the Ian Curtis story somewhat which is why Joy Division is something i'm drawn to even though i don't like them all that much.
I do kinda like them i just don't quite understand (i understand it, i mean feel it myself basically) their appeal which is largely due to being born long after they ceased being a band and not discovering them until i had heard many bands that were inspired by them.
Me, myself preferring (to listen to, at least) Joy Division over New Order feels weird and probably not authentic, i dunno i just struggle with the idea that this dude added so much to them in that short period that they were so much better. Yet i'd definitely listen to Unknown Pleasures (listening to it right now) over any New Order Album.
Think Peter Hook is objectively the best member of both bands anyway.
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 04:50 AM
That was at least the third time i've listened to both Albums, i struggle with Joy Division while finding New Order easy to listen to but boring mostly. I think i get sucked into the Ian Curtis story somewhat which is why Joy Division is something i'm drawn to even though i don't like them all that much.
I do kinda like them i just don't quite understand (i understand it, i mean feel it myself basically) their appeal which is largely due to being born long after they ceased being a band and not discovering them until i had heard many bands that were inspired by them.
Hugely influential band but yeah being around and heavily into 'alternative' music at the time made them a lifelong favourite and I can understand those born after not really getting just what made them so special. I was incredibly self-destructive as a youth, still am to an extent, and JD simply struck a massive chord and even to this day are still my number one go-to band when I need 'help'.
Hugely influential band but yeah being around and heavily into 'alternative' music at the time made them a lifelong favourite and I can understand those born after not really getting just what made them so special. I was incredibly self-destructive as a youth, still am to an extent, and JD simply struck a massive chord and even to this day are still my number one go-to band when I need 'help'.
The more i listen to them the more i get into them. I mean this has definitely been my favourite listen of Unknown Pleasures right now.
If you've read my posts you know i'm a highly skeptical person and alot of the 'mystique' around Joy Division is related to Ian Curtis suicide so in my mind it should be that Ian added so much to JD that makes them better than New Order but i realize it's not as simple as that and motivations and timing largely played a part in JD working so well.
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 05:07 AM
Me, myself preferring (to listen to, at least) Joy Division over New Order feels weird and probably not authentic, i dunno i just struggle with the idea that this dude added so much to them in that short period that they were so much better. Yet i'd definitely listen to Unknown Pleasures (listening to it right now) over any New Order Album.
Think Peter Hook is objectively the best member of both bands anyway.
Hook was the muso but Curtis was always the real 'spark' behind JD. As a huge JD fan Movement is my favourite New Order album, it's an album that still has the spirit of JD and very nicely eased the transition into the pioneers of a different kind they would become.
The most heartbreaking thing ever is that a major theory about Ian's death is that he knew he'd not be able to withstand an American Tour with his epilepsy so he figured they'd quickly kick him out/replace him and he thought if he killed himself he'd always be connected to the band and his wife and daughter would get royalties. I think that's probably a very generous to Ian theory but even if that wasn't his main motivation i think that must have played a part, the timing before they left for America must have meant something. Possibly he realized he'd not be able to go through with an American Tour and that realization triggered his already documented depression.
Well whatever, think i'm spending too much time with suicidal dudes as i'm reading Infinite Jest right now :laugh:
Hook was the muso but Curtis was always the real 'spark' behind JD. As a huge JD fan Movement is my favourite New Order album, it's an album that still has the spirit of JD and very nicely eased the transition into the pioneers of a different kind they would become.
That's my favourite New Order Album too and i didn't know why exactly, think that's probably it.
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 05:19 AM
The more i listen to them the more i get into them. I mean this has definitely been my favourite listen of Unknown Pleasures right now.
If you've read my posts you know i'm a highly skeptical person and alot of the 'mystique' around Joy Division is related to Ian Curtis suicide so in my mind it should be that Ian added so much to JD that makes them better than New Order but i realize it's not as simple as that and motivations and timing largely played a part in JD working so well.
As someone who was there it's difficult for me to comment on the 'mystique' that has built up around them since that terrible day - there was/is absolutely no mystique to JD for me, they were simply a band that I identified with on a very personal level, their songs 'spoke' both to and for me. I know it will sound trite but a little piece of me honestly died the same day Ian did.
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 05:23 AM
Yeah ... happier thoughts needed.
As someone who was there it's difficult for me to comment on the 'mystique' that has built up around them since that terrible day - there was/is absolutely no mystique to JD for me, they were simply a band that I identified with on a very personal level, their songs 'spoke' both to and for me. I know it will sound trite but a little piece of me honestly died the same day Ian did.
No, definitely. I was talking about people like me who weren't about then. For better or worse the band has been transformed into 'Ian Curtis: The Band:', for people who weren't around then i think his suicide and how brief the bands life was plays a big part in its attraction.
For example i must admit here: the first time i heard of Werner Herzog before i'd seen any of his films was technically when i saw some Roger Ebert top 10 list with Aguirre on it but i didn't take notice of the director, it wasn't until i first listened to Joy Division when i was about 13 and read about Ian watching Stroszek before it that i was actually aware of Herzog. I didn't take to Joy Division then, i'm only just doing that now, but their 'mystique' for me was definitely Ian's suicide. As morbid as that is.
I've noticed alot of Joy Division backlash over the years and support of New Order which i think is largely because of that. May be wrong there and people just prefer New Order but i personally like Unknown Pleasures most out of both bands output.
Yeah ... happier thoughts needed.
Going to pretend that you changed to that dancing penguin avatar for this even though i know you already had it :D
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 05:50 AM
I've noticed alot of Joy Division backlash over the years and support of New Order which i think is largely because of that. May be wrong there and people just prefer New Order but i personally like Unknown Pleasures most out of both bands output.
Meh, couldn't give a toss what anyone else thinks or says about either of them tbh - far too many people these days arrogantly state their own personal preference as if it were fact and not simply an opinion. JD were very personal to me and NO were undeniably a group that progressed electronic music down one of it's many different paths. That certain things become popular to either 'diss' or 'big-up' according to the season imo just shows how superficial and pseudo people that bandwagon in such things are.
Going to pretend that you changed to that dancing penguin avatar for this even though i know you already had it :D
I did change the avatar specifically because of this conversation btw - I just had prior knowledge of it and did so in advance ;)
JD were very personal to me
Yah, i could tell that before you actually said it. Was pretty awesome coming off a Joy Division period right into a discussion with one of my favourite members who turned out to be a big JD fan. Convinced me to listen to Unknown Pleasures again and i'm probably going to listen to Closer later tonight or tomorrow.
I think in the end i'm still skeptical of Joy Division, or more accurately i'm skeptical of my interest in them . I myself prefer them to New Order but i don't really understand why as it's not that i miss Ian Curtis in New Order that much. Mostly i think it's that both JD albums are really consistent and New Orders best stuff is more scattered about, i also think that even though i wasn't about for it and overall i'm glad that they did them replacing Ian makes them feel pretty manufactured; dunno how else to put it. The story of these guys meeting at a Sex Pistols gig and putting together something great is amazing, i'm not silly enough to think of bands as 'real' or whatever and i know JD was just as manufactured but the abrupt change definitely affects my enjoyment of them.
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 06:46 AM
I think in the end i'm still skeptical of Joy Division, or more accurately i'm skeptical of my interest in them . I myself prefer them to New Order but i don't really understand why as it's not that i miss Ian Curtis in New Order that much. Mostly i think it's that both JD albums are really consistent and New Orders best stuff is more scattered about, i also think that even though i wasn't about for it and overall i'm glad that they did them replacing Ian makes them feel pretty manufactured; dunno how else to put it. The story of these guys meeting at a Sex Pistols gig and putting together something great is amazing, i'm not silly enough to think of bands as 'real' or whatever and i know JD was just as manufactured but the abrupt change definitely affects my enjoyment of them.
Maybe it's a generational thing or me being part of 'generation punk' but don't really see the need for skepticism, things ether interest/intrigue/please me or they don't .... maybe I should just refer to myself as 'generation simple' :D
For me there's no 'filler' on either JD album, personally I don't even think there are any particularly weak tracks so I'd agree both are consistently strong. I think NO's Movement is equally strong tbf and PCL is solid enough and I enjoy much of both Low-Life and Brotherhood but for me personally the spark had pretty much fizzled out by Technique. As said before I think Movement (and preceding it by issuing Ceremony/In A Lonely Place) eased the transition between JD and NO very nicely indeed, the difference in styles certainly became far more abrupt but in real time it actually felt relatively gradual at the beginning.
Just to point out NO never replaced Ian, Hooky took over vocals and the name was changed because everyone that cared knew there could be no more JD without Ian. Also I think there's a huge difference between groups that form relatively organically and those put together with a specific purpose in mind - personally I like to reserve the term 'manufactured' for groups such as Boyzone and The Spice Girls ;)
don't really see the need for skepticism,
I agree with just about everything you said. As i said i didn't know what else to call it, i didn't really mean manufactured that was just the word that came to mind, Ian being replaced with a different vocalist makes it seem more like a business than a band basically. I know how stupid that sounds but i think that's something that subconsciously affects my enjoyment of New Order.
I'm skeptical of my enjoyment of Joy Division over New Order because i acknowledge that things about Ian besides him as a musician factors in (his 'epilepsy' dance for example outside what we've already talked about) even though it shouldn't. And Joy Division had such a short time: 5 years, 2 Albums, the vast majority of it was (generally) small gigs; New Order had a much larger output and plenty of great stuff yet i'd much prefer to listen to JD's tiny output. I think i'm just naturally skeptical of everything, especially myself so JD's short lifespan is something i'm going to internally question myself about: i need to know how much that affects me but i don't think i can know that really. haha
jiraffejustin
05-20-17, 07:14 AM
If I wasn't lazy I'd read more of the comments about Joy Division, who I very much like, but I will just agree with Chyp that you should watch Control. It's been several years since I've seen it, but I really liked it. I actually saw it before I started listening to Joy Division, and that's why I started listening to Joy Division.
If I wasn't lazy I'd read more of the comments about Joy Division, who I very much like, but I will just agree with Chyp that you should watch Control. It's been several years since I've seen it, but I really liked it. I actually saw it before I started listening to Joy Division, and that's why I started listening to Joy Division.
Joy Division or New Order?
That's the jist of what we are talking about. Both of us actually agree but i'm questioning my own opinion :laugh:
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 07:22 AM
I agree with just about everything you said. As i said i didn't know what else to call it, i didn't really mean manufactured that was just the word that came to mind, Ian being replaced with a different vocalist makes it seem more like a business than a band basically. I know how stupid that sounds but i think that's something that subconsciously affects my enjoyment of New Order.
'Tis ok - the older I get the less vocabulary I appear to have at my disposal so I'm not gonna rag on someone else for failing to think of a better word or expression :nope:
It was no easy decision to continue without Ian but they are first and foremost musicians and I don't think anyone with an ounce of knowledge of the man would imagine that he would not have wanted them to do so.
I'm skeptical of my enjoyment of Joy Division over New Order because i acknowledge that things about Ian besides him as a musician factors in (his 'epilepsy' dance for example outside what we've already talked about) even though it shouldn't. And Joy Division had such a short time: 5 years, 2 Albums, the vast majority of it was (generally) small gigs; New Order had a much larger output and plenty of great stuff yet i'd much prefer to listen to JD's tiny output. I think i'm just naturally skeptical of everything, especially myself so JD's short lifespan is something i'm going to internally question myself about: i need to know how much that affects me but i don't think i can know that really. haha
I gave up trying to understand my inner self and the whys and wherefores long ago, wasted a few years on it and tbh wish I'd never bothered as for the most part I'm none the wiser but a whole lot happier since I stopped and just learned to accept that I am who I am and I simply like/dislike what I do ;)
jiraffejustin
05-20-17, 07:24 AM
So, without doing any extra reading, only going by what I picked up from skimming, you are questioning your own opinion of your affection for Joy Division over New Order because of the circumstances of things outside of the actual music? Am I right?
Also i think i'd like to wait 10 or 12 years before watching Control. haha. I'm sure it's great but alot of my problems here is with the fact that Joy Division has became Ian Curtis: The Band, i think i know his story well enough, too much actually i'm much more interested in Peter Hook right now.
So, without doing any extra reading, only going by what I picked up from skimming, you are questioning your own opinion of your affection for Joy Division over New Order because of the circumstances of things outside of the actual music? Am I right?
Yeah, exactly. How short JD lasted and everything surrounding Curtis possibly affecting my opinion of them.
'Tis ok - the older I get the less vocabulary I appear to have at my disposal so I'm not gonna rag on someone else for failing to think of a better word or expression :nope:
It was no easy decision to continue without Ian but they are first and foremost musicians and I don't think anyone with an ounce of knowledge of the man would imagine that he would not have wanted them to do so.
I gave up trying to understand my inner self and the whys and wherefores long ago, wasted a few years on it and tbh wish I'd never bothered as for the most part I'm none the wiser but a whole lot happier since I stopped and just learned to accept that I am who I am and I simply like/dislike what I do ;)
Couldn't agree more. I like New Order alot so i'm glad they happened. I'm also maybe wrong because as i said i think it's something that unintentionally affects my opinion of them. Maybe i should listen to your second paragraph and stop questioning everything about myself, haha.
I'd also like to point out that i wasn't saying they were betraying him or something. The replacement of him was a necessity and they tastefully renamed the band leaving Joy Divisions legacy with Ian. The problem i have there is my own, such a fundamental part of the band abruptly changing is something i find difficult to accept, it's hilarious that that's a problem of mine as this happened 13 years before i was born but i can't change that and while not the same as being a fan when Ian actually died and things changed i still listened to Joy Division first and heard their story and New Order was pretty jarring to me.
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 08:00 AM
I'd also like to point out that i wasn't saying they were betraying him or something. The replacement of him was a necessity and they tastefully renamed the band leaving Joy Divisions legacy with Ian. The problem i have there is my own, such a fundamental part of the band abruptly changing is something i find difficult to accept, it's hilarious that that's a problem of mine as this happened 13 years before i was born but i can't change that and while not the same as being a fan when Ian actually died and things changed i still listened to Joy Division first and heard their story and New Order was pretty jarring to me.
Never felt you were trying to be disrespectful in any manner and I can actually understand how the transition could be more 'problematic' or 'jarring' to those that didn't live through it in real time. That a staunch JD fan such as myself (and I'm sure plenty of others) could make the transition with them and even use it to help ease the loss of Ian is the best testament to how it was managed I can offer.
Never felt you were trying to be disrespectful in any manner and I can actually understand how the transition could be more 'problematic' or 'jarring' to those that didn't live through it in real time. That a staunch JD fan such as myself (and I'm sure plenty of others) could make the transition with them and even use it to help ease the loss of Ian is the best testament to how it was managed I can offer.
Honestly, i knew you didn't actually think that. Think it was me thinking too much again after i re-read this part of your comment:
It was no easy decision to continue without Ian but they are first and foremost musicians and I don't think anyone with an ounce of knowledge of the man would imagine that he would not have wanted them to do so.
I know you were just saying this since we hadn't really went into the aftermath of his death and their decision to start New Order. I just wanted to clarify that's not something i thought and it is not a factor in my opinions about the bands: like some sense of loyalty to Ian.
Oddly, the main reason i don't fully understand my preference for Joy Division is that Ian isn't a dealbreaker for me. He's great but i don't think of him as irreplaceable, one of a kind or whatever personally.
Chypmunk
05-20-17, 08:22 AM
Honestly, i knew you didn't actually think that. Think it was me thinking too much again after i re-read this part of your comment:
I know you were just saying this since we hadn't really went into the aftermath of his death and their decision to start New Order. I just wanted to clarify that's not something i thought and it is not a factor in my opinions about the bands: like some sense of loyalty to Ian.
And just to state there was no disrespect intended towards yourself with anything I wrote either.
Oddly, the main reason i don't fully understand my preference for Joy Division is that Ian isn't a dealbreaker for me. He's great but i don't think of him as irreplaceable, one of a kind or whatever personally.
Agreed - nobody is irreplaceable, God knows my wife reminds me of that often enough :D
He was one of a kind to me though.
Spellbound (Alfred Hitchock, 1945)
https://s29.postimg.org/kzsih8b7b/spellboung.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/bs0a0j44z/)
This was my 21st Hitchcock film. The first thing of note that came to me while watching was; what the hell is with the 'love/lust at first sight' moments in old films? I love films from this era but that happens way too often during this time and it always feels tacky and lazy. By lazy i mean it presents this as a potential relationship from the very first second, like they're saying make sure you watch these two and i've noticed it often replaces some actual relationship development. This was even worse since it had Constance skeptical of him being a good enough doctor to replace the previous one and then all concerns were dropped the moment she laid eyes on him, plus the standard romantic score genuinely annoyed me. It's something i can deal with because alot of my favourite films have it but i am getting seriously tired of it, it's so formulaic considering just how many 30's/40's/50's Hollywood films it's in. Saying all of that though i need to give Hitch credit for quickly subverting it with Peck snapping at her dragging the fork on the tablecloth. Overall the romance was definitely the weakest part of this, i almost cracked up when the note he left her said something like "I'm sorry i can't involve you for many reasons, one of them being that i love you.". I mean what the hell they'd a few brief scenes together i can't imagine anyone got anything from their relationship.
There was stuff i liked here; Peck's performance particularly when one of his memories began to come back. The way the story affected the mood as well; i found this extremely dark for the most part. I figured he wasn't Dr.Edwardes and that he was most likely a patient during his first scene when he first snapped at the table, thankfully that was openly revealed early on, and when Constance set out with Edwardes from the hotel when they reunited to help him figure things out it was hard not to have mixed troubling feelings. Constance was a good woman who had fallen for him and for all we know she was helping restore the mind of a rapist or murderer who could want to harm her when he remembers, because of this it was difficult to not hold back on Peck yet he was very likeable and sympathetic which made it all the more confusing. Her defensiveness of and faith in him made her potentially being wrong about him pretty horrifying. Was actually pretty disappointed that she was right, and even though i didn't expect it i wasn't a fan of the main twist at the end; kinda came out of nowhere and not in a good way. There was foreshadowing with Murchison having a breakdown mentioned at the start but to me it felt like it was added just to uphold the love story.
Great visuals as usual by Hitch, loved the dream sequence and it was awesome to find out it was designed by Salvador Dali after i saw it. Not one of Hitch's best but very solid.
3+
Randomly rewatched The Man From Nowhere last night with my gf. Still a great film and i don't really have anything new to say so here's a link to what i said first time if anyone is interested - https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=1626810#post1626810
Really glad it held up, action films with the exception of ones that were ingrained in me as a kid like Die Hard rarely do. Detective Kim is still the best character even though he barely does anything, he's just so :cool:
https://s3.postimg.org/5k1vseyf7/kimm.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/uq2tz8zpb/)
Chypmunk
05-27-17, 03:54 AM
I'm more of a fan of Spellbound than you but yeah sometimes the "Excuse me stranger but have you got the time please" *5 seconds later* "Oh my darling, I love you more than life itself" romantic timelines in older films are a tad ridiculous, glad Nowhere held up for you .... funnily enough I very nearly threw that in the player a few days ago which means it'll likely be getting a rewatch from me in the not too distant.
I'm more of a fan of Spellbound than you but yeah sometimes the "Excuse me stranger but have you got the time please" *5 seconds later* "Oh my darling, I love you more than life itself" romantic timelines in older films are a tad ridiculous, glad Nowhere held up for you .... funnily enough I very nearly threw that in the player a few days ago which means it'll likely be getting a rewatch from me in the not too distant.
Exactly, and it's worse here because it's instantaneous. The moment she lays eyes on him that's it. Also thinking about the film more last night that has actually started to bother me. There's a fair amount of casual misogyny in the film which is expected from the era, with her basically putting her life (and everything she believes when you consider she is a woman of science who goes off of faith for him) on the line for love and an intelligent, professional woman crumbling into a schoolgirl by the mere sight of this man i think that scene was even worse than i first realized. Oh well, i still liked it anyway.
Guess you liked The Man From Nowhere then?
Chypmunk
05-27-17, 04:27 AM
Exactly, and it's worse here because it's instantaneous. The moment she lays eyes on him that's it. Also thinking about the film more last night that has actually started to bother me. There's a fair amount of casual misogyny in the film which is expected from the era, with her basically putting her life (and everything she believes when you consider she is a woman of science who goes off of faith for him) on the line for love and an intelligent, professional woman crumbling into a schoolgirl by the mere sight of this man i think that scene was even worse than i first realized. Oh well, i still liked it anyway.
Guess you liked The Man From Nowhere then?
It's a product of it's time and I try not to let it impact on any enjoyment tbh, I certainly don't hold it against films of that era if I can help it, it's just the way these things were often depicted. I'm far more likely to regard it as a detraction from a more modern offering.
I did, been a couple of years since I watched it so it's due a rewatch.
It's a product of it's time and I try not to let it impact on any enjoyment tbh, I certainly don't hold it against films of that era if I can help it, it's just the way these things were often depicted. I'm far more likely to regard it as a detraction from a more modern offering.
I did, been a couple of years since I watched it so it's due a rewatch.
I agree with that of course. Loads of my favourite films have stuff like or worse than that. The only reason it really bothered me was that it was related to the 'love at first sight' thing which always annoys me. Plus it didn't actually come to me until i was thinking about it later. I wouldn't rate it any lower or anything because of it.
Chypmunk
05-27-17, 04:46 AM
I agree with that of course. Loads of my favourite films have stuff like or worse than that. The only reason it really bothered me was that it was related to the 'love at first sight' thing which always annoys me. Plus it didn't actually come to me until i was thinking about it later. I wouldn't rate it any lower or anything because of it.
Just for clarification - wasn't meaning to imply anything with my comment was just posting the way I view that issue as a fellow non-believer of 'love at first sight'.
Jaws
(Steven Spielberg, 1975)
https://s4.postimg.org/j1lbv4p4t/jawsss.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/5kodc9et5/)
Randomly rewatched this last night. Been watching and reading a bunch of nature stuff recently and that put me in the mood for Jaws haha. Usually i can't decide what is my favourite Spielberg out of this, Close Encounters, Catch Me If You Can or Temple of Doom but right now i'd say this is. Don't really know what to say that hasn't been said already, outstanding suspense, music, visuals, etc, etc. Such an entertaining film, glad i watched it again as it had been 5 years or something.
4.5
Chypmunk
06-01-17, 04:35 PM
Class. Film.
ScarletLion
06-01-17, 04:41 PM
Jaws
(Steven Spielberg, 1975)
https://s4.postimg.org/j1lbv4p4t/jawsss.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/5kodc9et5/)
Randomly rewatched this last night. Been watching and reading a bunch of nature stuff recently and that put me in the mood for Jaws haha. Usually i can't decide what is my favourite Spielberg out of this, Close Encounters, Catch Me If You Can or Temple of Doom but right now i'd say this is. Don't really know what to say that hasn't been said already, outstanding suspense, music, visuals, etc, etc. Such an entertaining film, glad i watched it again as it had been 5 years or something.
4.5
One of the 10 greatest films ever made.
There Will Be Blood 5+
Rewatch. Still one of my favourite films ever. Might make a proper post about it at a different time since i don't think i have on this site.
The Act of Killing 4.5+
Completely surreal. Seeing murder treated so nonchalantly is unreal to watch, you never see that outside of interviews with imprisoned serial killers or something similar. And yet these people are powerful, revered in their areas brutal mass murderers. I'm not even sure how to go into this there was just so much craziness: in the first 15 minutes you had stuff like residents not wanting to take part in the play because they were scared that people will believe they are real communists, Anwar jovially dancing outside his former movie theatre talking about his happy experiences with american movies before casually pointing them to across the street where they carried out some of their murders. This definitely had an effect on me, at times i got swept up in the performances and forgot what i was watching. Crazy doc but i think it was great.
cricket
06-10-17, 07:27 PM
The Act of Killing was probably the last cut from my documentary list, and I probably screwed up.
Agree with you on There Will Be Blood, a masterpiece I think.
Rumble Fish
https://s11.postimg.org/ihblazw83/rumble.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/4nn8ly3mn/)
Feel like i should have hated this, there was so much absurdity. Matt Dillon's performance was ridiculous, the story was corny as hell as well as being all over the place and the violence was hilariously bad; bad as in it looked so fake, as if they weren't even trying. Whatever though it was entertaining and i really liked the look of it and the music, i'm not sure if the music actually went with the film and that's probably why i liked it; the music not going with the film is probably why it did go with the film actually because nothing else did haha. Mickey Rourke's character was...what the hell, The other characters said all i can about him including: "he's the coolest, man, nobody can touch him", "Is there anything he can't do? No, there's not.", "Nah man, you can't be like him he's like a returning prince". :laugh: and there's plenty more of that. Who cares though i loved just about every minute of him. I loved how he just wandered about without a care in the world, barely paying attention to anyone, talking ridiculously softly with his cigarette and motorcycle and his beloved fish. Also he looked like Lionel Messi. Yeah, i liked this.
3.5
Nestorio_Miklos
06-15-17, 12:21 PM
I remember liking it but don't remember much of it. I guess I'm gonna rewatch it one of these days
Stirchley
06-16-17, 04:29 PM
Rumble Fish
https://s11.postimg.org/ihblazw83/rumble.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/4nn8ly3mn/)
3.5
I remember bailing out of this movie. Maybe I should try it again.
I remember bailing out of this movie. Maybe I should try it again.
Totally understand that. If you read what i said i think there was all sorts wrong with it, most of the things i liked were flaws in the film.
I saw it twice in Oklahoma City in 1983 when I was there studying at the Air Traffic Control Academy. But hey, OKC is a pretty boring place. :cool:
I saw it twice in Oklahoma City in 1983 when I was there studying at the Air Traffic Control Academy. But hey, OKC is a pretty boring place. :cool:
Guess you liked it then?
There's no way this isn't going to be a future avatar of mine.
https://s21.postimg.org/veveyoch3/rourke.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/p16bvf7kz/)
Stirchley
06-16-17, 05:15 PM
There's no way this isn't going to be a future avatar of mine.
https://s21.postimg.org/veveyoch3/rourke.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/p16bvf7kz/)
He was so darn cute. Especially in Diner & The Pope of Greenwich Village. Not even that good-looking, but immense sex appeal.
He was so darn cute. Especially in Diner & The Pope of Greenwich Village. Not even that good-looking, but immense sex appeal.
Yeah, i've definitely got a crush on him in that film. I think he looks like Lionel Messi in it, especially in the first picture i used.
Stirchley
06-16-17, 05:18 PM
Yeah, i've definitely got a crush on him in that film. I think he looks like Lionel Messi in it, especially in the first picture i used.
Yes, I saw that. Is Messi that guy who was in the World Cup last time?
It was a combo of things. I had already seen Coppola's/S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders earlier that year, and I was a big Mickey Rourke fan from Diner the year before. As I said earlier, OKC was not the most entertaining place. It had a famous zoo and some airport museums, but mostly I went to all the new releases. During the three months I was there, I saw The Right Stuff, Terms of Endearment, Scarface, Star 80, Never Cry Wolf, Brainstorm, Silkwood, To Be or Not to Be, The Dresser, The Osterman Weekend, Never Say Never Again, All the Right Moves, Richard Pryor Here and Now, Under Fire, Nate and Hayes, Deal of the Century, Christine, Uncommon Valor, Sudden Impact, The Keep, Yentl, Gorky Park. I saw some of those more than Rumble Fish - movies were cheap back then. I also saw a few concerts.
It was a combo of things. I had already seen Coppola's/S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders earlier that year, and I was a big Mickey Rourke fan from Diner the year before. As I said earlier, OKC was not the most entertaining place. It had a famous zoo and some airport museums, but mostly I went to all the new releases. During the three months I was there, I saw The Right Stuff, Terms of Endearment, Scarface, Star 80, Never Cry Wolf, Brainstorm, Silkwood, To Be or Not to Be, The Dresser, The Osterman Weekend, Never Say Never Again, All the Right Moves, Richard Pryor Here and Now, Under Fire, Nate and Hayes, Deal of the Century, Christine, Uncommon Valor, Sudden Impact, The Keep, Yentl, Gorky Park. I saw some of those more than Rumble Fish - movies were cheap back then. I also saw a few concerts.
Awesome. I haven't heard of half of those films, but yeah awesome. Is Here and Now the one where he is wearing a black suit and comes across very down/depressed, i think i own that if it is? I read he took time off from directing The Outsiders to direct Rumble Fish which is hilarious because Matt Dillon. That dude must have been so confused, someone should merge the two films it would probably be a masterpiece.
Yes, I saw that. Is Messi that guy who was in the World Cup last time?
haha. Yeah, he's been in the last 3 world cups: 2006 being the first. I dunno if this was supposed to be jokey, if not then i guess you may have meant played a big part, the last world cup he did yeah. He won best player (undeservedly IMO, i'd have at least 5 above him) and he reached the final. He was good in the weakest group in the whole tournament but not so much after that.
Stirchley
06-16-17, 07:27 PM
haha. Yeah, he's been in the last 3 world cups: 2006 being the first. I dunno if this was supposed to be jokey, if not then i guess you may have meant played a big part, the last world cup he did yeah. He won best player (undeservedly IMO, i'd have at least 5 above him) and he reached the final. He was good in the weakest group in the whole tournament but not so much after that.
Not jokey at all. I flippin' love the World Cup. I end up rooting for USA since England are atrocious in the WC.
Forgotten Messi's nationality. Brazilian? Italian?
https://st.kp.yandex.net/images/news/mid_2116691_01_201303290219519059.jpg
Captain Steel
07-14-17, 11:43 PM
Holy Sh1t!
I dunno.
If anyone likes Harry Potter then lets do this!
What are you doing back here on a Friday night? I thought you got eaten by a shark!
HARRY POTTER
I watched and read the first four books/films before i stopped caring. My gf made me watch the full series, i think i'll rank them and you guys can whatever.
8.Philosopher's Stone:
https://s17.postimg.org/8othg7men/philo.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/joeortctn/)
I've always thought this was a solid start to the series but i'm just so familiar with it that at times i was pretty bored by it. The lead up to the Philosopher's Stone film coming out through to when Chamber of Secrets came out was the time i was most into Harry Potter as a kid. I watched and read Philosopher's Stone loads so going in i was definitely burnt out on it even though it had been years. There's still some good stuff; it's pretty funny, it does a good job of setting up its world and i love Hagrid and especially Dumbledore in it; not sure what the consensus is but personally i'm a much bigger fan of Harris as Dumbledore. Another thing is that i think understandably the kids acting was the worst here; i don't think Harry Potter is a particularly well acted series overall, not bad just not all that special, here the kids were the weakest as they'd of course get better with experience. Not a bad watch just seen it too many times.
7.Deathly Hallows: Part 1:
https://s18.postimg.org/rlalz1kih/hallows.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/95q51n6dx/)
Enjoyable, second weakest for me. If i was to count this and Part 2 as the one film (which is an understandable way of looking at it) it would be higher, i didn't feel right doing that tho. There was some solid stuff it was always going to be a little underwhelming being the first half of a two parter, certainly not bad. One random sidenote: i think this one had the biggest laugh from me in the whole series unless i'm forgetting something. During the part where Hermoine, Ron and Harry have taken over peoples bodies to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic; some guy threatens who he thinks Ron is if he doesn't fix his roof his wife will suffer and Ron says after "Oh no. What am i going to do? My wife is down there all alone.", it is such a stupid joke but it worked perfectly as it fits Rons character and there's the added humour of Rons voice coming out of this different guy. I also liked later Ron saying Morning to Harry without realizing it was him. Another random unimportant scene i liked was Harry and Hermoine dancing when Ron left. It was a really happy short reprieve from all of the terrible stuff that was going on; both smiling and having fun for maybe 20 seconds until it turns into a slow dance and they are brought back to their thoughts. Was sweet and illustrated what they were going through so well.
I didn't actually find anything bad about this, it was fine. It wasn't as fun or as exciting as most of the others for me though, partially because there wasn't a proper ending and not that much was revealed with it only being half of a book. A bit too much of it was just Ron, Hermoine and Harry for me too; i mean that was about an hour and a half of the film, it's better when there's a good mixture of characters i think.
Miss Vicky
07-14-17, 11:47 PM
I hate all things Harry Potter, but it's nice to see you posting.
6.Chamber of Secrets:
https://s24.postimg.org/s9ch4cxdh/chamber.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/jebmtu8kx/)
This was a big hit to my childhood. I still liked it but i really loved this as a kid, i only read and watched the first four before falling out with the series; this was both my favourite book and film, sadly it went down quite a bit though. I had forgotten how long this film is and how it was structured, the part that always stuck in my mind was the moaning mertle/tom riddle/ginnie part; maybe this got alot more focus in the book and that's why i remember it being alot different, either way i was shocked at how short that part was. The film is still entertaining; the tom riddle part and all of the start before he gets to Hogwarts is pretty great, when he arrives though there's a whole bunch of boring **** before we get to the Tom Riddle part, and i don't know why exactly but the spider scene was pretty bad IMO, always thought that was great as a kid sadly it came across silly more than anything this time. Another thing is that this felt really similar to the first, made only a year after it the actors were about the same age and it's another pretty simple Hogwarts mystery.
Oh well still like it and i'm glad i know now why this is ranked so low by most.
5.Goblet of Fire:
https://s22.postimg.org/9teviyg1d/goblet.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/uqb3nme25/)
This was the last one i'd seen/read before revisiting now. I only read it once and saw it once so i remembered next to nothing going in. All i remembered was that some sort of tournament was featured and that there was a dragon, i couldn't remember anything about the dragon tho i'm sure that's just me remembering the cover of the book. One thing i find silly about this is that anyone would doubt Harry about him not putting his name in the Goblet of Fire. Maybe the members of the other schools as they might not be fully aware of his history but everyone in Hogwarts especially Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagle, Ron and Hermoine know full well that Voldermort has a hard-on for him and that weird stuff follows him around. How their minds didn't instantly go to Voldermort is pretty silly, i think the status quo of everything happening to Harry would be hard to swallow if the whole Voldermort origin wasn't there but at this point it's well established. It's also abundantly clear that Harry is completely terrified and reluctant to go up when his name is called, Ron sees all of this and somehow still believes he is lying. I mean i know he's dim but jesus christ. It feels like very weak and unnecessary drama, it lasts about two scenes and really doesn't add anything other than making Ron out to be a shallow *******. The ball stuff did a good job of portraying the awkwardness of being a teenager and having to deal with stuff like that, i mostly just wanted it to end and get back to the tournament though as it wasn't that interesting for me. Think that dragged down my enjoyment of the film a bit. Those things make it a fairly uneven film for me but i think most of the tournament stuff is great, solid action and CGI for the most part it also helped that i couldn't remember most of it. As well as the Voldermort/Death Eaters revelations. I've always thought Voldermort looks a bit silly but still there's been so much build up that it would have been very hard to make his proper introduction unsatisfying. They did a good job of making him seem very sadistic and powerful. Cedric's death is also a great turning point in the series, there hadn't been anything as straight up dark in the series up to this point; half expected him to be brought back to life somehow glad they didn't go that route. The only thing i wasn't a fan of was the Moody stuff at thee end , i know it was a twist but it still felt underwhelming with yet another
new teacher being evil and David Tennant's crazy eyed performance was god awful, at least i enjoyed Moody throughout the film. Overall a solid yet uneven film.
I hate all things Harry Potter, but it's nice to see you posting.
:)
4.Half-Blood Prince
This was very enjoyable. Think this could've went a place or two higher if i didn't already know stuff about it going in from hearing people talk about it. I knew Snape killed Dumbledore and i knew it turned out in Deathly Hallows that he wasn't actually bad. I didn't know exactly how it all happened but it still made it less effective. Was surprised that Dumbledore reveals Snape isn't actually bad and that it's planned in Half-Blood Prince: during his brief talk with him that Harry overhears Snape is clearly saying he doesn't want to do something and Dumbledore is saying he has to, not sure how else you could read that after he kills him.
This took a while to get going, not that much happens in the first hour. The Half-Blood prince mystery is interesting but my guess was correct right away, and some of the stuff that should have been great was fairly underwhelming. In particular the Dumbledore-Young Tom Riddle meeting, it was good to get the answer to whether Dumbledore knew how he'd turn out back then, other than that it wasn't great though. The love subplots were meh too, it makes sense that these are a part of the series now that they are 16 but i don't think they are done
particularly well and the goalie character who is into Hermoine was so bland. Hermoine being into Ron and him not realizing was pretty annoying too; you'd think at this point they'd stop portraying him as a moron but whatever. It wasn't all bad it just dragged the film down a bit considering how much of it there was. All of the stuff with Harry and Dumbledore wa great thankfully, Dumbledore's death was probably the most powerful moment up to this point. Solid.
3.Deathly Hallows Part 2:
This one was really entertaining, third best for me. It's basically a full film of the end of the quest/showdown half an hour or however long you got in the first six films. The story was just okay, but there was some solid action and it was always exciting.
I liked watching the snape flashback it was pretty powerful and stuff, it would be pretty difficult to not have figured it all out already though. Snape being in love with Lilly was obvious as he never says a wrong word about her while always badmouthing James: suppose James bullying Snape was thrown in to throw you off the trail but i always figured it was that, Snape being good and being ordered to kill Dumbledore was spelled out in Half Blood Prince when Dumbledore says "surely you aren't getting second thoughts". The only part was potentially new information was Harry having to die that wasn't hard to figure out either though, it's been obvious throughout the series that part of Voldermort was in Harry. Plus he doesn't even die, big copout. It also makes James look pathetic, unimportant and like an *******. One other random small yet important thing that annoyed me was Ron memorizing what Harry said in his sleep to be able to talk parseltongue. Yeah, sure the dude who in the last film was made to believe he had a wife remembers exactly what Harry had said in his sleep, way too convenient and not something that suits Ron. I suppose they made Ron do it so he played a big part which he rarely does, would have made more sense if it was Hermoine though. Not something that i care about but since it's imprtant, Ron and Hermoine and Ginny and Harry is probably the best couples for it to end up, not that i think either were done particularly well but whatever. One last great thing was Neville and Mama Weasley getting their moments; two of the best characters.
So yeah, pretty meh story and very underwhelming that Harry lived. Good action and excitement though makes it one of the best in the series.
2.Prisoner of Azkaban:
Oh my god, i'm baffled at how little of this i remembered. As i said i read and watched up to Goblet of Fire; everything else is new to me, this was the last one
i watched/read more than once so i thought i'd remember more. I mean alot of it did come back to me when certain things happened but the only things i remembered
was it was about Harry's godfather Sirius Black who is a werewolf falsely imprisoned in Azkaban although he's set up as the villian at first, i couldn't remember
what the story was there though and the only other thing i could remember was the magic bus. I forgot all about Peter Pettigrew, Lupin and the time travel, well
pretty much everything else too but those are major things that i'm surprised i didn't have a vague recollection of at least, funny thing was i laughed at the second
time Ron points out Hermoine appearing out of nowhere and still it didn't come back to me. I think this was a good thing though as i thought this was great. Not the
biggest fan of Cuaron: Y Tu Mama Tambien is his only other film i like, this works so well though. Lupin and Sirius Black are really great characters, the shift
to more outright dark and mature tone and themes is a welcome addition; i think a big part in this working is Ron, Harry and Hermoine being visibly older in it, it takes you out of the more childish former two. Not sure the story behind it but i think the extra year taken between Chamber and this worked out for the best. Great
direction from Cuaron; he really brought alot of the imagery in the book to life, and surprisingly good performances; i especially love Gary Oldman and David Thewlis. Very good film, deserving of its reputation i think. This was the best film in my opinion, although not my favourite.
1.Order of the Phoenix
https://s24.postimg.org/99sqjkqlh/phoenix.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/ac2x249ep/)
Well, this was the first one i had not seen or read before. Surprisingly this was my favourite of the series, don't really hear it mentioned that often so i'm not sure of the consensus on it, i enjoyed it alot though. I don't think this is as well made as Prisoner of Azkaban but i liked this a bit more. Maybe it's because i hadn't seen this before, i don't think that played that big of a part in it though as i had forgotten most of PoA and also i didn't prefer any of the other
three i had not watched before. There's also a good chance that i benifited from not reading the book as i imagine a fair amount was cut out and condensed considering Order of the Phoenix is the longest book and this is one of the shorter films. The tone was so ridiculously creepy and sinister here i loved it. The very sweet and calm seeming Miss Umbridge coming across like a seriously in denial nutcase was great, the best face of a dictatorship. It's a simplistic take on it but i still think it was a good idea; controlling the media, education, how people live their lives, harsh punishment for deviating from accepted standards, was fairly well transferred to a wizard setting i thought. It was also a nice touch having the underground magic society; basically the rebels. The mystery doesn't always work for me in these films not because i think i've figured it out but i usually don't get that wrapped up in it, i did here though. I wasn't sure which would be worse the Minestry of Magic working with Voldermort, him controlling them or them just being in denial out of fear. On the face of it the first two seem worse but i don't know, them being so scared that they won't accept he's back and thus won't try to come up with a plan to fight him not to mention actively supress any attempts to do so is a massive endorsement of his power. They're basically burying their heads in the sand and hoping he leaves them alone and if not they are more or less accepting their fate without a fight. That's so creepy to me, especially because it could be read as them trying to peacefully (and forcefully) enjoy the rest of the time they have. Was so happy that they went with the scared/denial angle, i was heavily expecting a twist that he was controlling them.
All of the new creatures and characters introduced were good new introductions. One negative that actually has a positive is the CGI Giant; jesus christ that thing looked horrendous. Not sure if it would've looked good at the time but it's outdated now at least: Harry Potter was pretty notorious for basically being a year behind in CGI throughout though. It was a sweet scene which is the positive side of it, just wish it looked better. Good story developments too. Hilariously Harry's dad being a bully to Snape is the twist that worked on me the most in the whole series. Also enjoyed the finale, Dumbledore was badass, was good to see him properly fight finally. Plus Sirius death especially how quick it was worked well.
One thing i don't really get here is Harry not having said anything about Malfoys dad being a deatheater in the time between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix. I mean i understand it's a wise decision considering how powerful he is as well as Harry's personal problems with him and his son potentially placing doubt on the accusation, i'd just expect Harry to have went to Dumbledore immediately without thinking and Dumbledore advising him not to for the time being. Harry taking it on his own initiative seems too wise for him, but then it could be part of him growing up and beginning to understand how the world works which would be a nice touch. I also
wouldn't be surprised if this was addressed in the book; say during the scene before Harry goes into his hearing he has a staring match with him, if that happens in the book i imagine Rowling might have went into it there and there's no way to do so in the film without creating an inner monologue which i'm glad they didn't do.
Anyway, storywise i don't think this one is all that important. They all add to the overall story of course but this felt like a pit stop between Goblet and the last two; it was more about the mindsets of every one dealing with his return using another MacGuffin with the Prophecy (well not exactly, it does have purpose but i'd argue it isn't that important overall) not all that much is added to the overall story. In the end though this was the one i enjoyed the most all things considered.
Cole416
07-15-17, 12:21 AM
I hate everything about Chamber of Secrets EXCEPT Lockhart. The rest of the series is great to me. I'd say Azkaban, Phoenix, and Pt. 2 are my favorites.
gbgoodies
07-15-17, 01:18 AM
Holy Sh1t!
I dunno.
If anyone likes Harry Potter then lets do this!
Camo
I haven't seen the Harry Potter movies yet, but I'm glad to see you posting here again. Are you staying?
Camo
I haven't seen the Harry Potter movies yet, but I'm glad to see you posting here again. Are you staying?
There's a big part in the second one that is just a flood of spiders, and it's not even that well done it's just an absolute flood of spiders.
I'm with you in how awful it is!
:)
gbgoodies
07-15-17, 01:36 AM
There's a big part in the second one that is just a flood of spiders, and it's not even that well done it's just an absolute flood of spiders.
I'm with you in how awful it is!
:)
Thanks. I've heard that there are spiders in the second movie, and I've been warned by several people not to watch it.
I have all the Harry Potter movies on DVD, and I'll probably watch them eventually, but I'll probably skip the second movie.
Certified Copy
https://s18.postimg.org/hyrlb5h8p/image.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/6z6dzjqth/)
The dialogue in this was so natural, i really loved it; Binoche's performance along with it made this feel so real. It seriously might be my favourite script this decade. It didn't even matter what they were talking about it was how they were saying it and how they were interacting, it completely sucked me in. Binoche was perfect, wasn't on board with Shimel at first he reminded me of Richard Dawkins or something but i warmed up to him. I guess this was similar to the Before Trilogy and just like those films this did an amazing job of getting me to care about the characters and what happened. Great film.
Something crossed my mind when this finished then i just told myself i was being dumb and ignored it, later while reading some thoughts on this film i came to learn that it's a theory about the film. Only watched two Kiarostami films so far but i've read he is supposed to be known for the ambiguos nature of his films and particualrly their endings; that was indeed present in Like Someone In Love which is left with an unresolved ending and also has some other unanswered questions, the theory is seen as the main ambigous thing in this film. The film is about an unnamed antique seller and an author called James, at the start of the film at a book signing of his she leaves her number with his agent (or someone, can't remember who he was exactly) and he calls and meets her later leading to them spending the day together. For the first hour or so of the film there's no reason to think that they already knew each other before this, it completely feels like a first meeting then while sitting in a cafe while he's outside on his phone she has a conversation with a waitress who mistakes him for her husband which she doesn't correct, after this both of them act like they are a married couple (and that he's her kids father) for the rest of the film: in such an odd unspoken way as if they do completely know each other and have experienced alot together. It completely turns the
film into something else entirely.
Now, i'm definitely on the they just met side, i never really considered the other side a strong possibility but i did think that Kiarostami possibly wanted me to consider it, the thing is them just meeting is the much simpler answer yet it's still all weird as hell. First of all the main reasons i believe they had just met: the first thing was the kid, this would be his dad if the other theory was right and he clearly doesn't recognize him calling him "that man"; that can of course be explained with him leaving when he was too young to remember or while she was pregnant but i don't think that makes any sense at all. This isn't someone who is struggling, he is an author; clearly has money by the way he's dressed and his comfortableness with this expensive world; he goes nuts at a wine which is apparently not good enough for him even though she thinks it's fine and it is clearly a nice restaraunt; think this precludes it from being him not being able to provide for the child. He also just seems well adjusted there doesn't seem to be a reason from the way he acts that she wouldn't tell her child who he is, he is as she describes him: cold and a bit of an ******* at times but i don't think enough that she'd deny her child the right to see him. An explanation for this could be that they had a particularly rough falling out or he was a different person then and has since got his act together but if that was the case then i think that brings up bigger problems: those being why on earth does he have zero interest in the child. At no time does he ask about him or even pretend to be interested, surely if he was the father she'd not be happy at all about this and this would have all finished after five minutes as she is a frustrated yet obviously loving mother. As well as this there are various other conversations that point to this not being the case the biggest of which is the first big conversation about
her sister, he clearly has no idea who her sister is both by the conversation they have and the fact that he asks what her name is while signing his book for her, there's just no way he'd not even know the name of his sister-in-law. There's more but i don't think there's any point in going into them as i think this is clearly what it is, this whole theory would have to hinge on him somehow being in on the 'pretend we don't know each other' thing for the first hour of the film which could only be explained by her having told him to play along in the phonecall we don't see before they meet, but that is very, very dumb.
So i think i've made it clear that i don't in any way believe they were married and he was the father of his kid, but there are some pretty interesting things that made it briefly enter my mind and i guess what has sparked some discussion about it. There's one very small thing but in my opinion is a very big indicator that Kiarostami meant for this to be seen as even a small possibility. That's the shaving comment: during the cafe scene she mentions to the waitress that it is their anniversary and he couldn't even shave for it as he always says "i do it every other day.", later when they've just made up she strokes his face and says you couldn't even shave for my anniversary he then apologizes and says "it's a habit, i only do it every other day". Thing is there's no way he could have heard her saying that as first of all he was outside on the phone when she did and also it was in Italian; as mentioned he speaks English and French he doesn't know any Italian and those are the only times in the film that shaving is mentioned. I know it is a very small thing and it's not that out there of a thing for both of them to say, but this is during a big scene and the way he says it comes across as knowing, like a callback to a point of contention they regularly had during their relationship; it's probably the single biggest thing that points to these two already knowing each other just the way it's presented in both scenes. Another thing is just the idea of this meeting happening, it makes very little sense actually without a prior relationship you'd think she would have no interest in meeting him at all, and i think this is deliberate. During the scene with her kid he mentions having heard her say she hated the book, yet she wants to meet him...why? She does mention that she wants him to convince her yet they barely discuss the contents of his book, they very briefly do during a brief discussion about a statue but that's more like a couple of short comments so i don't think that matches up with her being so deadset on this meeting happening, and going out of her way to do so. Then what the hell is in this meeting for him? This is his last few hours in Italy before he heads back to England and he's willing to spend it with this random woman he has never met. And it's not as if there's some occupational relation that will make this meeting useful for him, she is the owner of a small antique shop not a critic or a publisher or whatever. Not sex either as he doesn't act interested in it at any time even though he could obviously have sex with her if he wanted to. It is really weird that this meeting actually happened basically and also she does everything so confidently as if she knows this meeting is 100% going to happen before she has even spoken to him. Then there's just the idea of them playing like they are a married couple; if they don't know each other then both are nuts and the weirdest thing about this film is that they both found each other. Both just completely slip into this married scenario and it's played like they were once married or they once had been a couple, he even says at one point while talking about a young newly married couple "we've both been through this and we know how it ended" when at no point do they ask each other if they are married. Actually that's another thing i just thought of, they never ask each other anything that two people who have just met would, no where were you born, where are you from, are you/have you been married, what age or you, etc, it's as if they just know all of this already. When this married thing just starts there's not a single moment that one or both of them act like this is weird, or find it funny what they are doing, it's completely natural they basically concoct a history on the spot with dates and locations and anecdotes like her falling asleep when she was driving from Florence back to Rome (another thing that he shouldn't know since the only time she mentions Florence before this is during the conversation in Italian with the waitress while she is outside) it so sounds like a thing that happened when their kid was young before he left. Lastly the last scene heavily points to them knowing each other, it's all about how this whole day was about them seeing if they could work if they could confront and deal with each others flaws, it absolutely doesn't feel right that they are speaking so openly and intimately about each others character traits after only knowing each other for a few hours.
Well that was nuts haha. I'm still completely on Team A but i love how there's so much to this film that i could write that much about two different nuts theories. Excellent film think i'm fine calling it a favourite on a first watch which is pretty rare with me.
seanc what do you think?
mark f
what do you think mate?
Thanks. I've heard that there are spiders in the second movie, and I've been warned by several people not to watch it.
I have all the Harry Potter movies on DVD, and I'll probably watch them eventually, but I'll probably skip the second movie.
yeah, don't ever watch it. it''s a big mammoth spider that turns evil and sends its 'babies' after Ron and Harry, its baby spiders are of course 5 times the size of any actual spider so it will be horrifying i imagine.
Grand Illusion
5
My first Renoir. Oh my god, this was amazing. It's basically an anti-class/anti-war film on the eve of WWII which makes it fascinating on that alone yet i think it would've been great whenever it was made. Everything was just so well done. For example attempting to fit in a love story in the last 20 minutes was a crazy decision, as well as the short time given Marechal and Elsa are two strangers who don't even speak the same language and didn't really have any time alone due to Lotte and Rosenthal and yet it worked, it completely worked; was devastating and perfect. So glad it ended the way it did, thought it would end with their deaths, the slight hope that he'd make it back to her and yet we never know was just the best. This is all mostly due to the amazing screenplay and performances, and there's so much more. Might post more about this later as i'm still digesting this.
Make Way For Tomorrow
5
So glad both this and Tokyo Story exists. Love them both, don't think i'd pick between them as they are fairly diffent approaches. Both stories are simple and straightforward but i think Tokyo Story added a fair amount on, don't think the simple or more full approach is better it just helps distinguish between the two, they are both great. There's obviously cultural differences too of course, that was a big part of this i liked seeing how the American characters went about this. Such a powerful film, so many great touching moments. I choked up at the phone call "Good, to hear your voice Bark" :(, loved that what she was missing was being his wife; telling him to make sure he is eating well, wears a coat when he goes out, etc was sweet and sad. Something i like is that it's not completely one-sided, it's not just the evil kids completely neglecting their sweet parents, there's more to it than that. It of course plays a part but the main conflict is in the difficulty of getting on with your own emerging life being enough of a hassle that sadly looking after your parents does become somewhat of a burden. I think the film was fair, for example there was reasons to have problems with Ma outside of just she is old and getting in the way. The big one being her not telling Anita what Rhoda had been doing, as well as that whether deliberately or not she did make them feel bad sometimes for stuff they really couldn't help. It was completely fair to her as well with her being disliked at times simply for existing under these unfortunate circumstances that she really couldn't help, they were even straight up evil sometimes like Rhoda telling her to stop being in denial over Grandpa getting a job. That was well done as it was from Rhoda who is young making it believable that she wouldn't consider that she was putting it in an unneccesarily blunt and pretty cruel way even if she was possibly right, and also that she felt bad when she realized as she wasn't actually meaning to be malicious.
The last third was perfect, seeing them as a couple was the best they felt so natural together. They were amazing together, immense chemistry, one of my favourite parts was when they were arguing about whether they were married on a Wednesday or Thursday; they absolutely pulled off an old married couple dynamic.Great performances by both. And man that ending, loved how it seemed like the world went out of its way to give them a great what is most likely their final night together. Excellent film.
The end of Make Way For Tomorrow is the most perfect scene i've watched, and most likely will ever see.
https://s24.postimg.org/vvn446yyd/enf.png (https://postimg.org/image/jh0c3v7g1/)
I mean, we have never seen them together until now and it's so ******* perfect, :cool:.
I'm watching 30's films right now mark f would love to get a message from you with some i should watch as i know the 30's is your favourite decade for film.
That picture is not the end of Make Way For Tomorrow, it's an equally perfect scene near the end.
A Bittersweet Life - 4.5-
https://s18.postimg.org/c47lgs67t/bitter.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/9a4g3c41h/)
Man, this was nothing like what i expected. Over the past few months i've watched a few similar revenge-action movies: The Man From Nowhere, I Saw The Devil and John Wick. All of them have a similar fearless, invincible, superhuman protagonist who always seems in complete control, usually they'll make a misstep somewhere which will cause the main tension/vulnerability in the film. This wasn't the same: Kim Sun-woo was pretty superhuman/invincible as a fighter but that's where the similarities end, he's completely useless with a gun taking several shots to hit everyone he attemps to shoot; the only reason the guns are an advantage to him is because apparently noone else in this film uses any. He was also not fearless, he was clearly severely affected by all of this and at various times is shown as completely terrified; vomiting and crying and shaking, exactly what you'd expect a normal person would be like in these situations but not what protagonists in similar films usually are. He was never in control, he was a complete amateur who made several mistakes and he probably would have been able to get away with a broken hand if it wasn't for his arrogance causing him to gain so many enemies. Even the fighting part isn't so clear cut when you consider his biggest moment was helped alot by his very stupid opponents, i think i can forgive Moon for not foreseeing him turning a phone battery into a weapon but why on earth didn't at least one person bring a gun, jesus everyone is aware that he's dangerous and will be angry and desperate, that would have ended things instantly; then the most ridiculous part: the dude in the car sitting watching Sun-Woo take out several guys for some reason deciding to exit the car as if he'd be the one to take him down instead of ya know running him over; throw in Baek allowing him a chance to recover from his stab wounds to play around with him instead of quickly finishing this dangerous person off. He also had no plan to speak of and said as much himself, he lucked into Kangs contacts still being usable before the word had been put out wide enough and he just strolled into the club to get to him. All of this played a large part in me liking this more than those other films though as this felt like it actually had stakes; i had no confidence in Sun-woo as a super action guy, everything felt like such a struggle; just pure hopelessness throughout. Was awesome, so glad he died there was no other way for this film to end and i would have rated it lower if he somehow survived.
The Earrings of Madame De...
https://s24.postimg.org/5og8tmwut/dema.png (https://postimg.org/image/i330tyocx/)
My second Ophuls after A Letter To An Unknown Woman, seems like he had a knack for these grand and tragic forbidden romances, can't believe this even had a duel. Unknown Woman is one of my favourite films, this was very good too: amazing visuals and very good performances. The only reason it's not ranked a bit higher is a few problems i had with the story, some parts i loved but some bothered me enough to lower my score. Some of it was too sentimental, and my biggest problem was Donati having such a problem with her not telling the whole truth behind the earrings that he won't continue the relationship; didn't understand that at all. I very well may be missing something but if i'm not and it's simply about her lying then i find that a bit ridiculous, their whole relationship was a lie and while i'd understand him being hurt by it but for it to be enough to end something that is apparently that meaningful to him doesn't feel right to me, it undercut their relationship somewhat for me. Another thing is while i thought Charles Boyer was great i wasn't totally on board with Andres character, him being so calm about everything didn't ring true to me: i get that they didn't want to straight up turn him into a villain but then they more or less did that anyway with how cold of a person they made him and then i felt they were trying to illicit some sympathy from him at times which made it all confusing.
Still a very good film and i'm not entirely sure if it should be a 3.5 or 4 from me.
Song To Song
4
https://s24.postimg.org/l6tl6zvmt/yooo.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/f5vw9x90h/)
Man, i dunno. Found this tedious at first so i get the mixed reviews it's getting, i did end up getting into it tho and overall i'd say it's a beautiful film. Maybe me not having seen any of Malicks films outside of his first three made this feel like something new which played into my enjoyment of it; that's if it's even like his last few. Some of the narration was pretty eyeroll-worthy and for the most part it was just a standard relationship drama with good music on in the background and alot of Malicks usual random seemingly unconnected/pointless scenes placed here and there, all four main performances were very good though particularly Mara and despite how disjointed and distant it all felt i did come to care about what was happening in a very unusual way. Most of all i found it a very easy film to get lost in, beatiful visuals and music and just overall film.
Not entirely sure of my score, think i'd need to see it again somewhere down the line.
The Conjuring
1.5
Man, i tried. I've always refused to watch this but my gf wanted to so i gave it a try. Don't think it's bad i'm just completely unable to seperate my dislike of the Warrens from the film to enjoy it. I basically eyerolled the whole way through this as i find the real Warrens and their cases/claims ridiculous. It's a shame coz some of it was well done, the knowledge that i'm watching The Warrens took me completely out of the film though. I admit it's very dumb because i'd most likely have been able to accept this if it was different characters who were clearly inspired by them, but it's actually them and as silly as it is i couldn't really help it. Even if this wasn't the case this wouldn't have been a favourite, some of the acting wasn't great and it was mostly a standard haunted house film.
My favourite thing in the film was Ed starting to say "there's usually some sort of rational explanation" before being cut off, Carolyn having to beg the reluctant and skeptical Warrens to come. hahahahaha. Like that ever happened. Man there's so much more, just them being framed as demon experts which they actually claim is amazing. oh no. what is it? well rancid smells could indicate demonic activity. hahahaha. Could it now? This would have been better if i just took it as a comedy rather than try and get into it as a horror.
This is such a terrible film, i've thought about it since seeing it and yeah it's not me being biased against it it's just really, really, really, awful film. Like one of the worst films i'll ever voluntarily watch, so bad.
The Informant!
Really loved Matt Damon in this, there was some lulls though that made it a mixed bag despite how much i liked Damon's performance and his character. Not sure, it just felt a little lightweight to me; some missed opportunities i think. Can't really expand on what they were that was just the impression i came away with. An enjoyable film though. The one thing i really didn't like in this was the quirky music, i get what they were going for but i think one of the best things in the film was Marks character being so different from everyone else, that trying to match the tone of the film with the music used to Marks character took away from it somewhat for me. It's just that Mark already completely stands out; he's the odd, slightly dorky scientist who stumbled into the corporate world and dealing with the FBI, that made the film quirky enough so the music wasn't necessary and detracted from it somewhat.
The Revenant
Liked this quite a bit. The only thing that holds it back from being a favourite right now at least was the length, i don't think the film should have been any shorter; it's a long and horrific journey the runtime is fitting. I just don't think i was in the right mood for it as i basically checked out as soon as he met Hikuc before it grabbed me back in for the end confrontation. Still liked it quite a bit, Hardy was my favourite thing about it; really good performance.
I'm not positive i would have liked this anymore though. The main difficulty in making this story work (as it was largely fictionalized) was in making Hughs journey back interesting, i wasn't interested here but i'm putting it down to me not being in the right mood as he really don't think i was. Need another watch to be sure of what i think.
I'm so close to calling this terrible coz it kinda was but yeah,
cricket
07-15-17, 09:58 AM
I thought we had an imposter when I saw all those Hairy Pothead films. I haven't seen any of them and I'm not interested.
I will be watching those two 30's films you're creaming over, and I also have A Buttersweet Life on my watchlist.
I liked The Earrings of Madame De..., but like you said, it's not as good as Letter from an Unknown Woman.
Come on, The Conjuring is better than that!
Camo I haven't seen Certified Copy in close to five years so I won't be able to give you evidence but I came down on the opposite side as you. I just think there are too many familiar things said for them not to have known each other. Good write up and I am glad you are enjoying Kiarastomi. Try Taste Of Cherry next. I absolutely get sucked in by that ambiguous dialouge. I think Farhadi structures his scripts very similarly, and that's why I like him so much.
I gave you rep because I am happy you're back but The Revenant is terrible? You better get your act together buddy. ;)
Chypmunk
07-15-17, 10:10 AM
I will be watching those two 30's films you're creaming over, and I also have A Buttersweet Life on my watchlist.
I'd highly recommend watching the original by Jee-woon Kim rather than this weak American knock-off about subsisting purely on a diet of cupcakes ;)
cricket
07-15-17, 04:40 PM
I'd highly recommend watching the original by Jee-woon Kim rather than this weak American knock-off about subsisting purely on a diet of cupcakes ;)
Of course I screw up words on purpose and then screw them up by accident:p
Captain Steel
07-16-17, 12:49 AM
I gave you rep because I am happy you're back but The Revenant is terrible? You better get your act together buddy. ;)
What I remember most about The Revenant was the CGI bear!
Iroquois
07-16-17, 08:09 AM
I've seen The Revenant twice now and I'm inclined to agree with the idea that it is "kinda" terrible (if not necessarily completely terrible, though I wouldn't argue too hard with someone who thought it was). I reckon the main flaw is that it's not really saying anything of worth underneath its visuals and two main performances (which is all anyone ever seems to talk about when praising the movie), which makes the fact that it's so heavily fictionalised sting so much more since you question if this is the best material the writers could make up. People took Gravity to task for being extremely light on substance beneath its visual spectacle but I don't think The Revenant is especially different in that regard.
Light on theme equals terrible movie. Not sure why that's true. I would say most movies are pretty light in the theme department. The Revenant is a straightforward revenge flick done beautifully. If you don't like revenge movies, great acting, and unbelievable cinematography fair enough. Don't really understand the other criticism though.
Citizen Rules
07-16-17, 02:11 PM
I've seen The Revenant twice now and I'm inclined to agree with the idea that it is "kinda" terrible (if not necessarily completely terrible, though I wouldn't argue too hard with someone who thought it was).
I reckon the main flaw is that it's not really saying anything of worth underneath its visuals and two main performances (which is all anyone ever seems to talk about when praising the movie),
It doesn't need to say anything relevant or have a deeper moral/theme meaning. The film works as Sean said, by sheer will power to survive and the human need for revenge. It's a simple, yet powerful emotion to use for a movie, remember these are simple men and so we don't need anything deeper from them.
By taking the viewer into the world of 19th century fur trappers and by shooting on location in winter along with a more spartan character development the viewer gets a view back into time, that to me seemed very authentic. A stronger character arch or deeper underlying statement would eroded the stark beauty of the film and it's simplicity beauty....I'm a firm believer in less is more.
If The Revenant has one flaw it's the survival scene with the horse over the cliff, that needed to be cut, as it was just one too many survival scenarios.
People took Gravity to task for being extremely light on substance beneath its visual spectacle but I don't think The Revenant is especially different in that regard. Gravity, looked great but was about as believable as a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
edarsenal
07-16-17, 02:21 PM
I'd highly recommend watching the original by Jee-woon Kim rather than this weak American knock-off about subsisting purely on a diet of cupcakes ;)
is the original under the same name?
edarsenal
07-16-17, 02:43 PM
went back and checked out your recent reviews. . . repped away but had to skip a number of them I haven't seen yet. (see, I'm learning. . . most times) VERY curious about Make Way For Tomorrow; will have to search that one out.
VERY glad to see you enjoyed Bittersweet Life. Agree how he was forever struggling and never appeared as the usual hero fighting back. Big fan of Kim Sun-woo. First time I saw him was in The Good, The Bad, and The Weird. A Korean tip of the hat to the spaghetti western which i REALLY need to get a version of.
I did about the same and bowed out of the Potter series somewhere around Prisoners and never seemed to go back. Maybe I'll to a binge someday. . .
Saw that you're looking through the 30's -- nice! I'd recommend a few but saw them already mentioned in your 30's thread.
I was exaggerating about The Revenant being terrible kinda, it just completely lost me after the bear attack and i'm not that interested in seeing it again but i will at some point.
I found some of the changes to what actually happened hilarious. Him not having a native son being the obvious one, he also didn't stop the evil French from raping a native; they actually helped him get back. Man, what a slap in the face haha. The best one is that he apparently made it back to Fitzgerald who had joined the army so he was unable to kill him and just kind of left :laugh:
Obviously i'm not taking any of that into account it was all necessary just found it funny.
Camo I haven't seen Certified Copy in close to five years so I won't be able to give you evidence but I came down on the opposite side as you. I just think there are too many familiar things said for them not to have known each other. Good write up and I am glad you are enjoying Kiarastomi. Try Taste Of Cherry next. I absolutely get sucked in by that ambiguous dialouge. I think Farhadi structures his scripts very similarly, and that's why I like him so much.
That's awesome, i seriously felt i was being really dumb when i was considering it so glad to see someone thinks it's the case even though i don't. Well i don't even think it can be figured out as he's given plenty of evidence for and against both scenarios. Love Farhadi too, going to watch The Salesman soon.
Come on, The Conjuring is better than that!
Yah, i know. I'm not being fair but The Warrens make that film completely ridiculous for me :shrug:
Big fan of Kim Sun-woo.
Kim Sun-woo is the characters name :D. The actor is Lee Byung-hun. Not seen The Good, The Bad and The Weird yet but he was good in I Saw The Devil too.
Chungking Express5+
Watched this last year, i liked it alot but had problems with it; more me not being able to get into things rather than actual flaws. Decided to rewatch it after randomly hearing California Dreamin' at a friends house haha and everything clicked. Probably my favourite film, perfect.
Incendies
4
Loved this because it had excellent performances and was very powerful. I do think it was flawed though, some of it was very hard to swallow.
Firstly i guessed the twist fairly early on, which wasn't that big of a problem as it wasn't just about that and also i wasn't entirely sure of it until it was actually revealed. The things that bugged me a bit were the very convenient coincidences, most of all: Abou Tareq just so happening to get sent to interrogate her, if it turned out he was deliberately sent there because his bosses knew he was her son to inflict additional mental torture on her i would have accepted that. Obviously that wasn't the case tho as it's never mentioned and also she only found out years later by coincidence which would defeat the purpose of harming her with it. While the odds of her and her son following these paths that lead to this are small it is something that i could accept because at least they where in the same country. Which brings me to the worst one, her managing to bump into him at a random pool in Canada, that was ridiculous. If it was standalone i'd maybe take it easier but in addition to that early one i was bothered by it.
Another problem i had while watching was the ages of everyone not seeming right. I've thought about it more and i think it about passes, forgot that she was in prison for 15 years at first. I still think they should have use an older looking Abou for the pool scene though, as he didn't look much older than he was during the rape scene which had to have been 20+ years earlier considering the ages of Jeanne and Simon.
I still liked this alot, those were just some of the problems i had with it. Lubna Azabal gave one of my favourite performances of this decade.
The Raid
3
The action in this was outstanding, i did get a little bored at times tho as that is all there is basically. Heard the second has a bit more of a plot so maybe i'll like that one more.
Mission Impossible 3.5
Man, this is alot of fun. Haven't watched it in years, like 15 or something. The plot is dumb and ridiculous and convoluted but who cares, it's just an excuse to have Cruise do crazy things and i'm thankful for it. Thing is for a big dumb action movie the conflict is set up surprisingly well, nothing amazing but in addition to the action which everybody is there to see those first 30 minutes are really good at setting up the conflict. It's actually pretty brutal; you've been introduced to this close-knit team all of which seem like genuine friends not just colleagues and even during the mission they are all jokey and then within a couple of minutes four of them brutally die. As i said it's not outstanding but i at least came to like and was looking forward to more from them all (well except from the one who was blown up in her car as she didn't really do anything) which made it effective in getting you on Ethans side. Of course after that it goes nutty with people coming back from the dead essentially making all of that pointless and hilariously dumb internet/bible stuff, don't care though it's entertaining and by the point all of that starts happening it has already got my interest. Tom Cruise is so good at this sort of thing, i don't think he's that good of an actor but at playing action stars he's great. The action in this may be outdated but it's still fun, one of my favourite things is how goofy the effects on the train/helicopter scene are. Anyway, really liked this other than a few lulls. Planning on watching the rest of the series.
Mission Impossible II
2-
The first one i barely remembered, this one came back to me right away though as i remembered hating it as a kid; still don't like it. It's ridiculous and cheesy, not in a fun way like the first though, mostly in an eyerolling way. The romance is godawful , it would be acceptable if it was a side plot but it's the main conflict, Thandie Newton isn't actually that bad she clearly plays what she was supposed to the problem is that her character is terribly written. The thing is badly done romance in a film like this doesn't need to be a problem, i certainly don't expect it to be done well but this is genuinely offputting and it's such a big part of the film. The villains and dialogue were really bad too. It was saved a little by Cruise outside of the romance parts and some of the action but overall pretty weak.
The Blue Angel
3+
Man this was such a weird, depressing, uncomfortable film, i liked it. It was difficult to accept the professor being so transfixed on Lola that his life would be this drastically altered on its own and Jannings performance was a mixed bag which didn't make it any easier, this was my biggest problem. Dietrich was amazing and it was shot masterfully though. I also did like the tragic comedy aspect it was just portrayed a little too goofy at times or this could have been a favourite. As i said Dietrich was amazing, she certainly played her part in making it believable that a man was so hypnotized by her; it was Jannings fault that it didn't entirely work, he played it almost as if he was drugged at times then at other times as if he was a bashful teenager and it was in a very cartoonish way that took me out of it. I said his performance was a mixed bag because i did think he did a good job in the last half an hour or so when he started resenting being there yet wasn't able to leave, losing his mind and going from someone of stature to a source of ridicule. Think if i could get over Jannings during the first hour or so this could become a favourite as it does so much so well.
I agree about Chunking. Hell of a film.
I agree about Chunking. Hell of a film.
Just updated my favourites :cool:. Don't really have a top ten anymore and those are ten of my favourites so whatever, plus i have been wanting to see Chungking again even tho i just watched it two weeks ago.
cricket
07-16-17, 09:22 PM
Yah, i know. I'm not being fair but The Warrens make that film completely ridiculous for me :shrug:
Ok now I remember you mentioning the Warrens in the past.
I still need to see Chunky Express and I'd like to see The Blue Angel when I get to the 30's. Remind me dammit!
Ok now I remember you mentioning the Warrens in the past.
I still need to see Chunky Express and I'd like to see The Blue Angel when I get to the 30's. Remind me dammit!
As i've said to you before i think Chunky Express reminds me of Goodfellas so i'd be surprised if you don't at least like it. Scorsese was a massive influence on WKW and he's the only one who challenges Scorsese at his use of music for me, the soundtrack is the best. As i said i rewatched it after randomly hearing California Dreamin' which is used heavily in the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAH-0GKvIrM
The Blue Angel is a very weird film, i think you'd like that too.
These are the last films i watched when i wasn't posting, sorry for the spam haha. Can't be bothered posting about them so if you want my thoughts ask. *=rewatch
Ghostbusters* - 3.5
North By Northwest* - 5+
Junun - 3
Virunga - 3+
The Proposition - 3
My Cousin Vinny* - 5+
Marley & Me - 1
Underworld (1927) - 3
Woman of Tokyo - 3
Spider Man: Homecoming - 3
Captain Steel
07-16-17, 10:28 PM
By taking the viewer into the world of 19th century fur trappers and by shooting on location in winter along with a more spartan character development the viewer gets a view back into time, that to me seemed very authentic.
It did seem authentic... until a computer generated bear that looked like he was from one of the Star Wars prequels showed up. ;)
Fixed my Harry Potter post - https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=1736372#post1736372
I kinda forgot i was ranking them halfway through and just started posting about them by the order of release plus i forgot to include Prisoner of Azkaban :facepalm::laugh:
It did seem authentic... until a computer generated bear that looked like he was from one of the Star Wars prequels showed up. ;)
That bear was really high quality cutting edge technology to me since a few days before i watched Order of the Phoenix and saw this monstrosity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2S4PXN-l_M
Iroquois
07-17-17, 09:23 AM
Light on theme equals terrible movie. Not sure why that's true. I would say most movies are pretty light in the theme department. The Revenant is a straightforward revenge flick done beautifully. If you don't like revenge movies, great acting, and unbelievable cinematography fair enough. Don't really understand the other criticism though.
It can be enough to keep it from being a five-star masterpiece (hence "kinda" terrible instead of "completely"). If Iñárritu wants to hold this film to a higher standard than your average Western/revenge flick (and, in fairness, there are moments where it seems like it might meet that standard), then so will I. I don't like the implication that my problems with The Revenant stem from me having a general dislike of generic concepts like revenge narratives or quality of cinematography - I can appreciate them and still find issue with The Revenant in particular. At least when I reviewed the film (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1439736-the-revenant.html) (interesting to note that even with a 3 it's still the lowest-rated review on here), I was trying to analyse it and explain just why I thought certain elements did or didn't work.
What "other criticism"?
It doesn't need to say anything relevant or have a deeper moral/theme meaning. The film works as Sean said, by sheer will power to survive and the human need for revenge. It's a simple, yet powerful emotion to use for a movie, remember these are simple men and so we don't need anything deeper from them.
By taking the viewer into the world of 19th century fur trappers and by shooting on location in winter along with a more spartan character development the viewer gets a view back into time, that to me seemed very authentic. A stronger character arch or deeper underlying statement would eroded the stark beauty of the film and it's simplicity beauty....I'm a firm believer in less is more.
It needs to say something, though. Iñárritu's always seemed like the kind of filmmaker who wants his films to serve as statements (do I even need to reference some of the comments he made to this effect about this film?), so I don't see why I shouldn't question what distinguishes this film for better or worse on a textual or sub-textual level. It'd be one thing if these characters really were just simple enough that a lack of development makes sense, but between the lengthy running time and the fact that it does try to offer characters some development (like I noted in my review, Hardy's fireside monologue), that can become an actual problem with the film. I also noted how the beauty of the film gets eroded by that same length as the film starts to repeat its imagery - in that regard, less really would be more.
If The Revenant has one flaw it's the survival scene with the horse over the cliff, that needed to be cut, as it was just one too many survival scenarios.
I'd say that only folds into the criticism that it stretches itself a little thin over its lengthy running time - what's interesting is that this incident is one that actually works as an instance of the narrative having a degree of consequence.
Gravity, looked great but was about as believable as a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
Yeah, nothing believable about a cat trying to catch a mouse.
Yeah, nothing believable about a cat trying to catch a mouse.
:laugh:
Good post. Agree with alot of it, wish i could add to it but i didn't think about it this deeply; my biggest problem was that i was finding it hard to pay attention for a large part of the film.
It can be enough to keep it from being a five-star masterpiece (hence "kinda" terrible instead of "completely"). If Iñárritu wants to hold this film to a higher standard than your average Western/revenge flick (and, in fairness, there are moments where it seems like it might meet that standard), then so will I. I don't like the implication that my problems with The Revenant stem from me having a general dislike of generic concepts like revenge narratives or quality of cinematography - I can appreciate them and still find issue with The Revenant in particular. At least when I reviewed the film (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1439736-the-revenant.html) (interesting to note that even with a 3 it's still the lowest-rated review on here), I was trying to analyse it and explain just why I thought certain elements did or didn't work.
What "other criticism"?
The "it has no depth" criticism. I guess my main problem is the use of the word terrible. Seems like you are grading on a curve the way you are talking about it. Feels like a lot of film fans project their dislike for Innaritu's ego onto his films. I guess that is fair enough since he talks such a big game.
I tend not to watch a lot of interviews until after I have seen a film. Even then I wouldn't say I immerse myself in that kind of stuff. Anyway, Innaritu has become one of my faves. Probably because I am a pretty shallow myself. Not all of us can mine the thematic depths like Carpenter. ;)
ash_is_the_gal
07-17-17, 10:30 AM
loved your HP reviews, i agree completely about Half Blood Prince and Chamber of Secrets, but i can't believe Order of the Phoenix was your fave of the lot :eek:
i loved The Revenant so i kinda despised your review :p i'd agree with Iro that it's not a particularly meaningful film but i also agree with Citizen and seanc that the powerful/raw emotions in the film (need to survive and vengeance, also just how sh**ty white men are [that one's my own :D]) was enough for me.
and yes, The Conjuring was crap
<3
ash_is_the_gal
07-17-17, 10:33 AM
oh, also, i really enjoyed Incendies! i didn't have the same issues you did with it at all, i probably suspended my disbelief a bit more tho.
rauldc14
07-17-17, 11:45 AM
Thoughts on North by Northwest?
You guys make me feel bad for liking The Conjuring. :(
edarsenal
07-17-17, 01:07 PM
Kim Sun-woo is the characters name :D. The actor is Lee Byung-hun. Not seen The Good, The Bad and The Weird yet but he was good in I Saw The Devil too.
Can't believe I made that faus pax - no, wait, yes i do.
Saw him in I Saw The Devil as well. Also saw him in Masquerade as well. VERY good film. So far, Bittersweet Life is the one that he really shines in, for me.
loved your HP reviews, i agree completely about Half Blood Prince and Chamber of Secrets, but i can't believe Order of the Phoenix was your fave of the lot :eek:
Order of the Phoenix kinda came at the exact right time when i was reading/watching a bunch about dictatorships :laugh: Even though it was a very simple take on it it still was a surprise and Dolores was awesome. Plus it was the first one i hadn't seen or read as a kid.
Still sad about Chamber, that was a blow to my childhood. Maybe i liked the book more though i dunno.
i loved The Revenant so i kinda despised your review :p i'd agree with Iro that it's not a particularly meaningful film but i also agree with Citizen and seanc that the powerful/raw emotions in the film (need to survive and vengeance, also just how sh**ty white men are [that one's my own :D]) was enough for me.
Yeah, as i said i was exaggerating in my last few sentences. Was more how disappointed i was because i thought it'd be a favourite and it really lost me at one point.
and yes, The Conjuring was crap
Was starting to think it was just me, and Sean if he ever watches it.
<3
:love:
Thanks for checking in.
oh, also, i really enjoyed Incendies! i didn't have the same issues you did with it at all, i probably suspended my disbelief a bit more tho.
Understandable. I'm not consistent at all with this sort of thing, a film like this will bother me then something alot more ridiculous won't at all. I think it wouldn't have if there was only one of the two main things i mentioned, still liked it alot.
Thoughts on North by Northwest?
Damn, mate i'll get back to you haha. What i posted about Vertigo that one time is probably my longest post on this site and i liked NBNW even more so i'll never shut up.
You guys make me feel bad for liking The Conjuring. :(
Don't man. As i told you on Letterboxd i absolutely can't be fair to a film with The Warrens in it, my opinion is practically irrelevant because of them haha.
Plus me and Ash are clearly in the minority.
Can't believe I made that faus pax - no, wait, yes i do.
Saw him in I Saw The Devil as well. Also saw him in Masquerade as well. VERY good film. So far, Bittersweet Life is the one that he really shines in, for me.
Never heard of Masquerade. I Saw The Devil was good and i thought he was good but i'd have liked his character to be written a bit differently. Bittersweet Life is the best of those sorts of films for me so far too.
Mission Impossible 3
https://s18.postimg.org/gtfkiaq5l/mission.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/fedztkp2d/)
This was much better than the second one, still think the original is better. My biggest problem was the plot, not even that it was bad it was alright i just wanted it to end and get back to crazy dumb action stuff haha. After the nuts helicopter-windfarm showdown there was a period of 15-20 minutes where we saw some of Lindsay's backstory, Ethan was getting over her death and then he got married; i was so bored by it until finally we got to him literally running up a very high wall and i was happy again. I mean he said "Humpty Dumpty Sat On A Wall" for some reason, screw whatever meh plot you are trying to weave make him say things like that and do impossible stuff. I know this conflicts with what i said about The Raid, but that's just people punching and kicking each other all set in the one location no matter how high quality that is it can become a little repetitive this has the hilarious construction of a Phillip Seymour Hoffman facemask which leads to Phillip Seymour Hoffman staring down Phillip Seymour Hoffman, the plot just gets in the way of amazing things like that. There's not even that much of it, still tho that's too much. Both Cruise and PSH are great in this, fun film.
3+
edarsenal
07-17-17, 10:59 PM
have you seen Ghost Protocol yet, Camo? If you thought the story got in the way in #3 you'll find it takes a backseat to the action in Protocol. Or rather, it doesn't get in the way of it, would be a better description.
As for Masquerade I honestly can't remember how you feel about costume films so I really don't know if I should recommend it or not.
have you seen Ghost Protocol yet, Camo? If you thought the story got in the way in #3 you'll find it takes a backseat to the action in Protocol. Or rather, it doesn't get in the way of it, would be a better description.
As for Masquerade I honestly can't remember how you feel about costume films so I really don't know if I should recommend it or not.
Watching that next, i'm watching through the series now. Only watched the first two when i was a kid. Basically alternating between a Mission Impossible and a 30's film right now.
Costume Films are a mixed bag for me, there are some i really like though. Will keep it in mind.
edarsenal
07-17-17, 11:08 PM
I was pretty surprised with Ghost, so I'll be curious to see what ya think.
I'm off to watch Now Voyager, laters
Bus 174
https://s21.postimg.org/orbgb5kx3/bus.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/ufhr21p9f/)
Been meaning to see this for a while and i stumbled across it so thought may as well, haven't watched a doc since Tickled i don't think which was months ago. Purposefully avoided this story because i'd heard this was really good and i wanted to go in blind all i knew was that it was about a hostage situation, i didn't know what lead to it or how it ended. Man i hate stories like this, the end result when things have went too far and there's no chance of helping someone. Sandro is a crazed criminal on the bus obviously, the depressing thing is that it's understandable how he got to that point. I'm really glad the doc highlighted the street kids as it would be very easy to gloss over that and just focus on the tense hostage situation. Yeah this isn't pleasant at all, so sad for the innocent victim as i said i avoided the story but i did have it in my mind that he was the only one that died for some reason so that was awful. Hadn't heard a thing about the massacre of those kids either; jesus christ :(. Not something i'd watch again but really well made glad i watched it.
4+
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping(Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, 2016)
https://s14.postimg.org/9fhj3d72p/popstarnever.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/k2bc8sf7x/)
This was pretty fun, it was basically a 21st Century pop version of This Is Spinal Tap. One difference between them is that Spinal Tap were supposed to be really bad and gaffe prone they were just too stupid to realize it, Conner wasn't he was supposed to be great at what he does and extremely successful; everyone loves him. Spinal Tap were really pathetic with barely anyone showing up to their shows leading them to have to cancel, even when everything was apparently not going well for him Conner was selling out massive arenas and was constantly in the spotlight. It's fine that they went in that direction, i just think i would have liked a movie following someone who wasn't any good and was struggling at this type of music more personally. Obviously the music is not good and that's the joke but in the movie everyone loves it, even when he's getting criticized he is still drawing massive crowds, i kinda missed the patheticness of Spinal Tap. Maybe i should just stop thinking of Spinal Tap though as i did somewhat enjoy its own fall from grace story. Everything went wrong for him at one point, this is the last time i'll mention Spinal Tap but i prefer the subtle smaller things going wrong like the tiny Stonehenge, the things in this were more over the top like the wolf attack at the proposal, was still pretty funny.
Some of the songs and music videos were funny, i cracked up at his gay rights song which was just an excuse to tell people he's not gay. Also jesus Ringo after we saw the video destroyed me "He's writing this song for gay marriage as if it's not allowed...it's allowed now". The start of the Mona Lisa song got me as well as i really didn't expect it and it was funny to hear in that kind of song "Mona Lisa, you're an overrated piece of *****". Also Suprise Motha****a With Snoop Dogg is totally something i'd watch, cracked up at that too. The cameo's were hit and miss but some were pretty good, seeing Jay from The Inbetweeners was one of the weirdest things even though he was disguised.
Anyway this had potential but didn't really live up to it, was still an alright one time watch.
3-
Iroquois
07-22-17, 06:29 AM
When I think about it, this is a feature-length version of Spinal Tap's third act where the group has to keep going despite losing their most important member over in-fighting and ultimately disintegrating in the process. Like the Tap members, Conner's also too stupid and self-absorbed to realise how many mistakes he's making (plus he's got an army of sycophants working overtime to keep him from knowing how much he truly sucks) and his solo career, while technically more lucrative than any of Spinal Tap's gigs, never overtakes the popularity of his old group and he eventually hits bottom anyway.
When I think about it, this is a feature-length version of Spinal Tap's third act where the group has to keep going despite losing their most important member over in-fighting and ultimately disintegrating in the process.
That's a good point.
Like the Tap members, Conner's also too stupid and self-absorbed to realise how many mistakes he's making (plus he's got an army of sycophants working overtime to keep him from knowing how much he truly sucks) and his solo career, while technically more lucrative than any of Spinal Tap's gigs, never overtakes the popularity of his old group and he eventually hits bottom anyway.
Was Conner not #1 as a solo artist before he released the album with the gay marriage song? I'm almost positive that was shown but it very well may have been with The Style Boyz and i was just confused because they throw you right in and they skip through the backstory very quickly. I realize that even if he was he still wasn't more popular than he was with his group as that's a major part of the story, and also that could be seen as a temporary bumb because he was going solo. Just wondering if i'm remembering that right.
I think my main problem was simply that it wasn't anywhere near as good as Spinal Tap which made me make up comparisons between them which don't even really work, i was thinking about that last night actually.
These were the moments that made me laugh most i think, the first two have in common a surprise element:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDAifMnzLxU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIzVMeVU43w
Just the opening line of the Mona Lisa one since i really didn't expect it, the Garbage Patch Kid thing didn't really work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGAAMQLb4ZE
This but especially Ringo from 1:40 on.
I watched Caché earlier and i've been trying to compose my thoughts off and on for the last few hours but i seriously can't. Dunno, think i definitely need to see this again as it was really unsettling and engrossing in a way i don't think i've really experienced. Sorry for the hyperbole i mean it was like nothing i've seen before rather than it having a bigger effect on me than some other films. Planning on giving it a month or two then seeing it again and reconstructing my mind enough to write something about it regardless of how bad it is. I thought it was kind of amazing anyway.
Anyway, i'll post what i had when i decided to go no further coz it'll be like a making of a Camo post document(ary) haha. I more than likely would have deleted or re-written half of this and there was still plenty more i would've added before i abandoned it, plus i haven't read it so be kind:
Caché (2005)
https://s14.postimg.org/42iusfz9t/cache.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/s69mgqhql/)
My third Haneke film. Funny Games i would say i liked, Amour i think is very well made but i didn't like it much because it is so grim, doubt i'll watch either again. This was unbelievable and i know i'll have to see it again as i know i won't stop thinking about it.
Man the opening to this was amazing, the very first shot was oddly unsettling, dunno if it was just because i went in knowing it was a thriller or not but it was the holding the shot for two minutes or so with everything completely still and words slowly coming on the screen before finally someone walks by, i think it may have been that i wasn't sure if it was a still picture before finally movement. Had no idea what i was watching and it was messing with me before we found out it was a tape, which didn't answer anything at all. The mystery of it was harrowing, from the scene you see the Majid and Georges tape played back and Majid breaks down after he leaves the whole thing just became so much more dark and that's saying alot when they had already been sent messed up cards. All of that introduces serious questions about Georges as he has proven he'll willingly lie to Anne and what he is saying isn't quite adding up. It does seem to be true that he had forgotten Majid til recently when you think about his conversation with his mother which indicates it could be a repressed memory, yet his conversation with Majid suggests he does actually remember what it was and with it having been shown that he'll easily lie to Anne he could to his mother too regardless of how genuine that scene seemed, but then again his dreams seem like imcomplete pictures which could be his memory coming back. Everything is very tangled, there's alot to think about even though you have only seen small amounts of story at this point.
Some of the imagery was completely nuts and terrifying. The chicken beheading scene for example: once he beheads it the blood splatters up covering his face and actually going into his eyeball which he doesn't close, his left eyeball is basically dyed red with blood which is horrifying to me since i hate anything to do with eyes. Things like that are also heavily amplified since they follow long patches of mundanity, the chicken one directly follows a long very calm conversation between Georges and his mother for intstance.
Juliette Binoche especially was amazing, i've never really thought about it before but she is definitely one of my favourite actresses. This, Blue and Certified Copy she is outstanding in should watch more of her stuff.
Agree completely about Cache. I really was pretty enthralled by it. Time to see it again though, been a couple years now.
Agree completely about Cache. I really was pretty enthralled by it. Time to see it again though, been a couple years now.
You read my comment before my review right?
If you did then yeah i agree with alot of what i said but there was so much more i wanted to add and just couldn't for whatever reason. Anyway i thought it was really great.
The thing that holds me back from Haneke is that he seems to have genuine outward contempt for his audience, maybe not the audience he wants to attract but regardless his films with Funny Games being the obvious example seem to be deliberately set up to dissuade a portion of people from ever wanting to see his films. It feels the opposite of a director not wanting to compromise his artistic integrity to create a schlock film or whatever, those types of directors usually really hope their films are watched despite knowing it's not something that will appeal to the general public, Haneke straight up seems like he doesn't want you to watch his film which makes me think of various labels for him that aren't the ones he's hoping for.
Still Cache was kinda amazing and i'm looking forward to his film this year.
You read my comment before my review right?
If you did then yeah i agree with alot of what i said but there was so much more i wanted to add and just couldn't for whatever reason. Anyway i thought it was really great.
The thing that holds me back from Haneke is that he seems to have genuine outward contempt for his audience, maybe not the audience he wants to attract but regardless his films with Funny Games being the obvious example seem to be deliberately set up to dissuade a portion of people from ever wanting to see his films. It feels the opposite of a director not wanting to compromise his artistic integrity to create a schlock film or whatever, those types of directors usually really hope their films are watched despite knowing it's not something that will appeal to the general public, Haneke straight up seems like he doesn't want you to watch his film which makes me think of various labels for him that aren't the ones he's hoping for.
Still Cache was kinda amazing and i'm looking forward to his film this year.
I have only seen three of his films so far. His films are uncomfortable for sure but I would have to see and think about what you are saying more. I have enjoyed all three. Funny Games will be my next one probably.
I have only seen three of his films so far. His films are uncomfortable for sure but I would have to see and think about what you are saying more. I have enjoyed all three. Funny Games will be my next one probably.
I've only seen three so far too. Funny Games, Amour and Cache.
Think the reason my first response to a film i loved from him was that i really don't like him is because his films are vile and he embraces and tries to build on that with every film, i've probably not seen enough of his films to be authoritatively describing him but i somehow doubt any of his films would give me a different impression.
I think Cache was a Psychological Horror masterpiece made from a not nice person who hates everyone watching his films whether they like them or not. He's basically the inverse of Frank Capra.
the samoan lawyer
07-24-17, 08:53 AM
Bus 174
https://s21.postimg.org/orbgb5kx3/bus.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/ufhr21p9f/)
Been meaning to see this for a while and i stumbled across it so thought may as well, haven't watched a doc since Tickled i don't think which was months ago. Purposefully avoided this story because i'd heard this was really good and i wanted to go in blind all i knew was that it was about a hostage situation, i didn't know what lead to it or how it ended. Man i hate stories like this, the end result when things have went too far and there's no chance of helping someone. Sandro is a crazed criminal on the bus obviously, the depressing thing is that it's understandable how he got to that point. I'm really glad the doc highlighted the street kids as it would be very easy to gloss over that and just focus on the tense hostage situation. Yeah this isn't pleasant at all, so sad for the innocent victim as i said i avoided the story but i did have it in my mind that he was the only one that died for some reason so that was awful. Hadn't heard a thing about the massacre of those kids either; jesus christ :(. Not something i'd watch again but really well made glad i watched it.
rating_4+
Ive had this DVD for years but never got round to watching. Will give it a go when I can. Sounds like something I'll enjoy.
cricket
07-24-17, 09:42 AM
I really enjoyed most of Cache but the ending was a little too quick for my liking.
ScarletLion
07-24-17, 09:47 AM
Cache is a brilliant movie. Good stuff Camo.
Ive had this DVD for years but never got round to watching. Will give it a go when I can. Sounds like something I'll enjoy.
Should definitely check it out, it's kinda depressing and tense too. I like to think of it as part of an unofficial Brazilian street kids Trilogy with City of God and Pixote which are the only three Brazilian films i've seen.
Love Haneke's filmography, especially Caché.
the samoan lawyer
07-24-17, 11:56 AM
Should definitely check it out, it's kinda depressing and tense too. I like to think of it as part of an unofficial Brazilian street kids Trilogy with City of God and Pixote which are the only three Brazilian films i've seen.
Been meaning to get round to Pixote too, I'll make sure I do. Whilst on subject of Brazilian films, you should check out Black God, White Devil. Been a long time since I watched it but its very good. You might like it.
Been meaning to get round to Pixote too, I'll make sure I do. Whilst on subject of Brazilian films, you should check out Black God, White Devil. Been a long time since I watched it but its very good. You might like it.
Cool, i'll look out for that.
Pixote is a very unpleasant watch as it's so grim, City of God is more like a stylized Hollywood version of that type of story compared to it. It is well made though.
The Lego Batman Movie
https://s4.postimg.org/rx8xxtvf1/batoo.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/yay1130ax/)
I haven't watched The Lego Movie since around the time it came out so i can't say for sure but i honestly think i may have enjoyed this a bit more. I loved Batman in The Lego Movie largely because i love Will Arnett; G.O.B is probably my favourite Bluth, he made it really entertaining for me although i have to admit i expected more from Zach Galifianakis he was fine it's just that i like him alot too and i expected him to be great. There was alot of funny takes on Batman that aren't hard to come up with but i still like seeing them come together, within the first ten minutes there's stuff like people not being afraid of Joker and pointing out that he always loses to Batman, Gordon's answer to what will we do? "The only thing we ever do press the button for the bat-signal!", Jokers "How is he beating all of you again?", etc. Pretty solid referential jokes both to Batman and Comic movies overall. Loved Robins enthusiasm "sorry kid. It's ok as long as i'm doing my dime in the big house with my old man then i'm okay.". The main conflict and emotion was well done, not amazing but i didn't expect it to be and don't think it had to be so i was pleased with how it turned out. Overall it was a ver fun movie with good action and designs.
3.5-
I watched Cache the same day you did, funnily enough. Read the review up your butt and around the corner.
The Last House On The Left
https://s11.postimg.org/etmxgh3nn/left.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/ccb697jr3/)
Cricket suggested to watch this. I've actually watched the remake (don't remember it too well though) and The Virgin Spring so i knew the general story going in. This was pretty perfect for the mood i was in, glad i chose it over V/H/S. Cricket told me to watch the unrated one, think i did since it was 84 minutes; wiki mentions a 91 minute original but i think that's including the lost scenes that are mentioned too. I liked this, think i was in the right mood for it as i think i could've easily disliked it due to the script and acting being...not good, it's too be expected but sometimes i just can't deal with it.
Gonna be honest the start of this...was what in the world? Wouldn't have been surprised if i found out i was watching a parody version instead. I mean Mari's dad asks if she's not wearing a bra then pulls at her sweater while mentioning you can see her nipples before telling her not to be modest, there was a 2 minute conversation between father and daughter about her mammary glands as she put it. Cricket had mentioned it was very grindhouse but i kind of hadn't considered the campiness/humour in grindhouse to be present considering the subject matter. It did work in a weird way though, what we were watching was disgusting and brutal but there was still an underlying camp tone and we'd sometimes turn over to her cheesy parents during it, definitely an odd experience. Also the woods scene while the tone wasn't change it kind of did on its own due to how sick and nasty it was. The low budget helped alot too, the cinematography, settings, etc i'm guessing due to budget constraints made everything seem naturally sleazy which went with the characters and story. The violence took me back a bit, i was expecting it going in then i wasn't due to the aforementioned camp, it was pretty brutal though. Think the revenge part was better than the rest. My only real problem was some pacing issues, got a little dull at times.
As i said i don't remember the remake much but if i'm right that was a straight up serious rape-revenge film, definitely didn't expect a campy film like this to be what that was based on. Guess that's why it wasn't received well from fans.
3.5
Don't think this would always be my rating but it worked tonight.
cricket
07-25-17, 08:02 PM
Glad you enjoyed it. Even with all the extreme movies I've seen, I still find it one of the most disturbing, ahead of Salo, Irreversible, A Serbian Thing, and most others. I would normally not like the lighter scenes in the movie, but I find it provides a contrast that makes the evil and nasty side even more effective.
Glad you enjoyed it. Even with all the extreme movies I've seen, I still find it one of the most disturbing, ahead of Salo, Irreversible, A Serbian Thing, and most others. I would normally not like the lighter scenes in the movie, but I find it provides a contrast that makes the evil and nasty side even more effective.
Agree with that. It makes it alot more sadistic since the attackers are still taking this all as a joke which matches the tone before they encounter the girls except the girls are horrified at the same time; it's really gross thinking back to it haha.
Taste of Cherry
https://s11.postimg.org/8gb7mcb8z/cherry.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/g91vebh7z/)
My third Kiarostami and my first of his Iranian films. The first thing i thought while watching was; man i wonder what Kiarostami's fascination with filming car rides is all about haha. Like Someone In Love has the long taxi ride near the start as well as the uncomfortable scene with Akkiko's boyfriend, Certified Copy has the long drive at the start when she (this is literally what her characters name is listed as, i didn't even realize we don't find out her name til afterwards) and James first meet then this is nearly all a car ride. It's like his trademark, it's not important i just find it curious. I have gotten the impression that his settings are very important to him, he's good at making you fully aware of where the characters are as in he kind of forces you to think about it when you usually don't in most films, and he seems to like using different combinations: Like Someone In Love is split between the car and Takashi's home, this is mostly in Mr Baddii's car and Certified Copy is mostly walking around Italy.
One thing i'm very happy for is that i didn't know a thing going in, i hadn't even read a short description of what it was about. This made the start pretty creepy for me actually, i seriously wouldn't have been surprised if Mr Baddii was a serial killer prowling for victims and that the dude who threatened to smash his face in had the right idea to avoid him. Part of the reason for this was the poster where you can only see part of his evil looking face through the tree haha, another part is that he seems to have a sense of purpose which comes across from him carrying on undeterred after that threat and also he came across emotionless during those first few conversations; the second one with the guy in the UCLA shirt it felt like he was trying to pretend that he was actually interested in the guy. Of course all of that turned out to be true except for different reasons. Definitely got some Certified Copy vibes with some stuff Mr Badii said, like saying to the soldier that he's like his son; along with earlier saying "i thought we were friends you act like you barely know me" and the soldiers response to this sort of thing didn't match up with how anyone else would react. At first i thought it was the same thing that he was introducing the possibility that he knows the soldier but then i thought he's probably asking me to question his state of mind when you consider that he constantly stated that he's not nuts or mad. Which made me consider the possibily that the soldier is a young version of him since he's talking to him about being in the army himself. At first i thought this was contradicted by the fact that the soldier was Kurdish but then we don't actually find out much about Mr Badii and he does talk very passionately about the Kurdish people. I'm not subscribed to this theory i just thought it was interesting to think about for the record. Speaking of not knowing anything about Mr Badii or his reasons for wanting to end his life, this sort of thing happens in alot of films and it can go both ways; personally i think it was for the best here. I mean what could we find out which would have made this film significantly better? That he killed someone, he's gay and is ashamed because of his faith (this is what i thought for some reason, may have been leftover from me believing he was a serial killer that was targetting men at the start), that he was just straight up depressed? I don't think anything like that would've altered my view of the film. The end was a big surprise, not sure what i think of it exactly. I mean i liked watching it but i don't know if i like the film being ended that way. At least me made me think i'd totally watch a making of one of Kiarostami's films documentary. There's definitely a few things i like about it; ambiguous endings seems to be Kiarostami's thing so this adheres to that, also i'm not sure if i actually wanted to find out what happened as i doubt either would be satisfying, then it managed to end the film on a cheery note in an unconventional way.
Have to say while i think this film was superbly directed i might actually prefer Kiarostami as a writer, so far at least. Homayoun Ershadi was excellent. Something i noticed was that for example during the conversation with the young military man he sounds very robotic as if he couldn't care less about the questions he's asking him or the answers he's getting then as soon as it seems like he is going to get him to do what he wants his whole demeanor changes and he starts recounting tales of his own in an enthusiastic way. He did that alot and it felt like that was us seeming glimpses of the real him. It was also interesting that he tried different approaches to get people to do what he wanted, he had quite a thorough conversation with the soldier and didn't tell him what the job was before they actually got there yet he asked the seminarian almost immediately and he barely said a word to the taxidermist.
Very good film. The thing that keeps the rating down a bit was the majority of the non conversation parts, found those pretty dull i mean it's a beautiful film to look at but i got a little restless when he wasn't having one of the important conversations in the film. Think Kiarostami is becoming a favourite of mine. Next i'm planning on putting aside a few days in the next month or two so i can watch The Koker Trilogy all at once. Watched this about an hour or an hour and a half ago and i was ready to give it 3.5+ but i've been thinking about the film quite a bit so i upped it to 4- . Would probably put it slightly ahead of Like Someone In Love since i would like to see this again and i don't think i need to see Like Someone In Love again for a good while, Certified Copy is my favourite so far.
4-
I think Taste Of Cherry is probably my favorite Kiarastomi. I really need to rewatch it and, I too, am not quite sure how I feel about the ending. Those conversations are so great though. I love the way he writes dialogue. I love the car settings. I have had a lot of intense and philosophical discussions in cars. I guess it kind of hits home that way. If you like the car scenes wait until you see Ten.
I think Taste Of Cherry is probably my favorite Kiarastomi. I really need to rewatch it and, I too, am not quite sure how I feel about the ending. Those conversations are so great though. I love the way he writes dialogue. I love the car settings. I have had a lot of intense and philosophical discussions in cars. I guess it kind of hits home that way. If you like the car scenes wait until you see Ten.
How many Kiarostami have you seen?
Ten is actually the one i'm most hesitant to watch because i have heard about it and think it might be a bit too much. Hope i'm wrong when i do get to it though, Koker Trilogy in order next.
How many Kiarostami have you seen?
Ten is actually the one i'm most hesitant to watch because i have heard about it and think it might be a bit too much. Hope i'm wrong when i do get to it though, Koker Trilogy in order next.
Certified Copy, Like Someone In Love, Ten, A Taste Of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us, Close-Up.
Pretty sure that's it. I have one waiting on Filmstruck. Need to see a couple more to end the year.
Certified Copy, Like Someone In Love, Ten, A Taste Of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us, Close-Up.
Pretty sure that's it. I have one waiting on Filmstruck. Need to see a couple more to end the year.
I'm watching All Quiet On The Western Front tomorrow if i can, then i'll be watching Friday Night Lights over the weekend, going to try and squeeze Where Is The Friends Home? in before the end of the month while i'm in a Kiarostami mood.
I'm watching All Quiet On The Western Front tomorrow if i can, then i'll be watching Friday Night Lights over the weekend, going to try and squeeze Where Is The Friends Home? in before the end of the month while i'm in a Kiarostami mood.
Pretty sure that is the one on Filmstruck. Maybe I will watch it over the weekend.
Pretty sure that is the one on Filmstruck. Maybe I will watch it over the weekend.
That's the first in the Koker Trilogy, followed by And Life Goes On and finished with Through The Olive Trees. Guessing it's more a thematic trilogy like Wong Kar Wai's: Days of Being WIld-In The Mood For Love-2046 one.
That's the first in the Koker Trilogy, followed by And Life Goes On and finished with Through The Olive Trees. Guessing it's more a thematic trilogy like Wong Kar Wai's: Days of Being WIld-In The Mood For Love-2046 one.
I lied, watched it tonight. You got me in the mood for Kiarastomi.
the samoan lawyer
07-27-17, 09:42 AM
Love both Taste of Cherry and Last House on the Left. Not too often those 2 will be mentioned in the same sentence I imagine!
vBulletin® v3.8.0, Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.