Movie Tab II [Archive] - Page 36

mark f

12-30-08, 08:56 PM

Reign Over Me (Mike Binder, 2007) 2.5

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/03/23/arts/25reign600.1.jpg

Mike Binder has made a variety of films in his career, but this one is probably his most deadly-serious. I intentionally posted that image above to show just about the only light-hearted moment in the film, when the two friends go to a Mel Brooks movie marathon. Adam Sandler is good in a straight role as Charlie, a man who lost his family on 9/11 and has withdrawn from reality to a world of music and movies (that last part doesn't sound too hellish... ) One day, dentist Alan (Don Cheadle) sees Charlie on the street and recognizes him as his former college roommate. Alan is having some communication problems at home with his wife (Jada Pinkett Smith), so he seeks out Charlie and spends as much time as he can with him once he learns about his family. Alan is also being "pursued" by one of his patients, Donna (Saffron Burrows), who's going through a divorce. Eventually, Alan enlists a young therapist (Liv Tyler) to try to draw Charlie out to talk about what turned him into the man he has become. The film is watchable, but it could have used a few more "light" scenes to allow it to breathe. It's very well-intentioned and should hold your interest. In fact, most people will probably like it more than I did. And yes; even if you hate Adam Sandler, you may have to give him more respect if you watch this. :)

The Three Lives of Thomasina (Don Chaffey, 1964) 3

http://www.dharmaflix.com/w/images/7/7e/Thomasina2.jpg

A hundred years ago in Scotland, there lived an enchanted cat named Thomasina. This cat is the dearest love of young Mary (Karen Dotrice), the daughter of the village veterinarian, Dr. McDhui (Patrick McGoohan). Mary treats the cat as her favorite pet, best friend, sister and baby all rolled into one, but when Thomasina gets sick and her father says that she's beyond treatment, Mary gets angry with her father. She stages a funeral for her "dead" cat and proceeds to ignore her father, permanently. Thomasina is found, alive, by pretty Lori (Susan Hampshire), a young woman considered a witch by the villagers. She nurses Thomasina back to health and Thomasina becomes her pet. Eventually Thomasina and Lori become involved in the McDhui family problems. This Disney movie is beautifully photographed on location and has just the right amount of fantasy elements to make it work as both a family film and a more adult-oriented allegory. Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber, who plays her best human friend, both appeared later that same year in Mary Poppins, and McGoohan is sincere in his role as a rather overwhelmed widower.

Taxi to the Dark Side (Alex Gibney, 2007) 4

http://www.ebu.ch/CMSimages/en/TaxitoDarkSide_tcm6-57718.jpg

This is a strikingly-powerful presentation of evidence concerning the treatment of "detainees" by the U.S. military at the behest of the Bush Administration during the last seven years. It begins by focusing on an Afghan taxi driver who died five days after entering Bagrab Air Base and branches off to cover both Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. There are interviews with the "interrogators" at these facilities, one released detainee, military officers who were in charge of the techniques involved, representatives of the Bush Administration, lawyers for the government and for the untried detainees and many other sources. The question is whether the Bush Administration, by denying Constitutional guarantees and those of the Geneva Convention, and utilizing techniques where heretofore have only been used by totalitarian governments and their torturers, are truly allowed to do what they have done in keeping these prisoners from ever receiving any formal charges or trials. I realize that most people believe they already know about most of what's presented in the film and use their political compass to judge what's wrong or right in this case, but this film is extremely efficient in laying all the evidentiary groundwork from many angles and then proceeding to tighten the screws on all the seemingly-guilty parties involved. The people of the world can actually watch this film and decide for themselves what is true. It's a sad testimony that very few people will ever learn what our government has learned from these "enemy combatants" because it's not in the interests of National Security for the American public to find out. Watching the film, you can't help but feel that all these denials and techniques have been used before by countless other regimes, including during the Nuremberg Trials. Just watch the film and tell me I'm jumping to conclusions.

Mamma Mia! (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008) 3.5

http://www.wowsudbury.com/Movies/Images/mammamia.jpg

This is a silly, yet intoxicating and gorgeous-looking musical, built around the songs of Swedish supergroup ABBA. Set in beautiful Greece, it tells the story of 20-year-old Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) who invites three older men to her wedding without telling her mother Donna (Meryl Streep). The reason is that any of the three, Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Harry (Colin Firth) or Bob (Stellan Skarsgård), could be her father and most definitely, one of them is. Needless to say, when Donna finds out, she's not happy, but that doesn't stop everybody from singing and dancing all over the entire movie.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_04/MammaMia_468x349.jpg

It doesn't really matter if you're an ABBA fanatic or can't tell the difference between them and AC/DC. The film is bright, cute, and just a lot of fun. I'll admit that the time frame of the film seems to defy logic, but who needs logic when you have this much fun on hand? The actors do their best at singing although it's obvious that a few are dubbed, but Meryl Streep and her two best buddies (played by Christine Baranski and Julie Walters - I was getting a Shirley Valentine flashback from the latter) really let it all hang out during their musical numbers. And PLEASE, quit acting like there is something wrong with musicals and people who enjoy musicals. Well, to be honest, I'm not specifically discussing anybody here, but it always seems like when you mention musicals that it turns off all the "macho guys"; you know, the ones who want to go kill things in their videogames or want to watch their video-game-based movies. Those are what real guys enjoy! Sorry about that. Just watch this movie and enjoy it if you can. :cool: Otherwise, watch what you enjoy. It's fine, and you don't need me to tell you so. ;)

Justin

12-30-08, 10:21 PM

Taxi to the Dark Side is an incredible documentary.

Swan

12-30-08, 11:06 PM

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) - 4

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/fearandloathing-1.jpg

This was my second viewing of it. Fantastic acting by both Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. Johnny Depp in particular, though - he really nailed his imitation of Hunter S. Thompson perfectly. In my opinion, it's the best performance of his career. Great movie (and book) overall, with some very memorable characters.

mark f

12-30-08, 11:17 PM

OK, I'll chime in on Magic, especially since people are lining up to watch it. Have you guys put any of my Top 100 movies at the top of your list because of my recommendation because I don't recall that if it's true. Magic IS a good movie, but it may be forgotten a bit now for at least three reasons. (1) William Goldman's novel was better. I realize that he adapted the novel, but what was on the written page was far scarier and wittier than the movie, and I even give the movie 3.5!; (2) The novel and plot are completely taken from the Michael Redgrave section of the classic horror film Dead of Night (1945), and if you've seen the original, you'll understand why this "homage" falls a bit short; (3) The direction by Attenborough seems to flatten out the source material. The novel is vibrant and sexy, but the movie just seems too dour to get into everything the novel had to offer. Still, I recommend it, so I'd be interested in hearing your opinions.

MovieMan8877445

12-30-08, 11:21 PM

High Plains Drifter - 3

A good Clint Eastwood western, he never seems to disappoint me. All of the movies of his that I've seen so far have been great, except for Sudden Impact, and I can now add this one to that list. Clint Eatswood is amazing with westerns, he's just perfect for western movies. This one had a good amount of story and action together, I like to see that. Other than that, I don't really have anything else to say about it, because it's really nothing special or anything. But still a great western overall.

http://www.vormedia.com/images/high_plains_drifter_01.jpg

Let The Right One In - 4.5

I'm considering going ahead and bumping this up to a full perfect score. It was amazing, it was the first foreign film with subtitles that I've ever watched. I think I bumped it down a little because there were a couple of scenes that I lost track with what they were saying because it went so fast, and there was a scene or two that I didn't know who was saying what. But besides that, this film was perfect IMO. It mixed everything a great vampire movie should have, with stuff that a great love story would have. I do think the beginning was a little slow though, but once Oskar and Eli met, this movie was perfect. It wasn't slow a bit after that. But I loved it, and feel everyone should try watching it at least once. And this definitely deserves 'Best Foreign Film' this year at the academy awards.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2008/05/02/alg_let_right_one.jpg

Swan

12-30-08, 11:33 PM

Thanks mark, finally someone who knows of the film's existence! :p

OK, I'll chime in on Magic, especially since people are lining up to watch it. Have you guys put any of my Top 100 movies at the top of your list because of my recommendation because I don't recall that if it's true.

I was actually looking for your top 100 thread the other day and couldn't find it... ha.

Magic IS a good movie, but it may be forgotten a bit now for at least three reasons. (1) William Goldman's novel was better. I realize that he adapted the novel, but what was on the written page was far scarier and wittier than the movie, and I even give the movie 3.5!;

I've never read the book, but I can completely understand that. I watched the "Fats & Friends" feature on the DVD, and they said it's written like a diary by Fats? That's sounds awesome.

(2) The novel and plot are completely taken from the Michael Redgrave section of the classic horror film Dead of Night (1945), and if you've seen the original, you'll understand why this "homage" falls a bit short;

I wouldn't know, because I haven't seen Dead of Night. I'm going to see this film now that you tell me this, because if it really is better than Magic - a film I really enjoyed - I'll love it a lot.

(3) The direction by Attenborough seems to flatten out the source material. The novel is vibrant and sexy, but the movie just seems too dour to get into everything the novel had to offer.

Again, I haven't read the novel, so I couldn't really comment on that other than to say I can understand that being possible. I didn't think the film was flat at all, though.

I think I'm going to go ahead and read the novel. I wasn't planning on it but you've convinced me to. :)

Sedai

12-30-08, 11:45 PM

Dial M For Murder (Hitchcock, 1954) - Loved it! I can't believe I waited this long to see it!

4_5

MovieMan8877445

12-31-08, 01:54 AM

Death Race - 4

All of my rating for this comes from my sheer enojoyment of the movie overall. This movie seriously has some amazing action sequences, this would probably make it onto my top 3 most fun movies of 2008. Except while watching it on DVD, I noticed that the truck crash scene wasn't quite as amazing as when I saw it both times in theaters, I guess it has to be on a huge screen with incredible sound to get that affect of it again. But I also just loved most of the lines in this, a bunch of them were very comical and just made you want to smile and laugh. But yeah, if you've got a big screen TV and a great surround sound system, then I'd say check this one out because you won't be disappointed. Now I'm not saying it won't be great or anything without those two things, it'll just be better with those two things.

http://www.moviezeal.com/wp-content/uploads/deathrace01.jpg

linespalsy

12-31-08, 03:32 AM

Letsee, since last post I've seen (dredging these up from my uselessly random memories):

Mishima (saw it in a theater - yay) 4
The Prestige (not sure how many times this last viewing makes) 4.5
Slumdog Millionaire 3.5 (not so quick lines, it could in fact be a 3 but he's feeling magnanimous right now).

and tonight I just watched [yip-yip]:

American Psycho and gosh, what a boring movie. I'm aware this makes me a total snob but I don't see how anyone who has ever actually read a clever novel or seen a clever movie in their life could find this passably entertaining. It had some okay stuff but it was all gags, and okay, I don't mind being teased by a movie that is self-awarely coy/ pretentious /or whatever, maybe I even like it, but this movie does not tease. There's nothing there, you can figure out that there's nothing there within five minutes of watching, even if you've had a lobotomy at some point, and the rest of the movie is just repeating that as a blunt and totally obvious mantra (psst. there's nothing here, you're stupid for watching.) with some occasional funny bits sprinkled in. I sat through it, I don't really feel that my time was wasted (I was sitting next to my girlfriend), but would I sit through it again or recommend it to anyone when I can think of a kajillion funnier, wittier, more-involved, teasier, and more-thoughtful films/books/gluttonous endeavors. Oh yeah and I think it totally rips of the vastly superior film Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion.

Wank-wank
1

mark f

12-31-08, 03:35 AM

Your last sentence is obviously right-on, but even I can give American Psycho 2.5, and I'm not a wanker. :)

R.I.P. Ken Ogata.

Iroquois

12-31-08, 04:10 AM

http://www.ihavenet.com/images/pineapple-express-movie-theatrical-poster.jpg

Pineapple Express (Green, 2008) - 3

I think this got a bit overrated, to be honest. While I think I would rank it above Tropic Thunder, it's not exactly a classic. Despite the film's focus on the interplay between characters and verbal jokes, I actually find that the dialogue is more often than not rather unfunny, although I'll pay that it was well-written (yes, I believe there's a difference between what is well done and what is actually funny). If anything, most of the laughs for me came from the physical humour (my favourite scene is probably the fight scene between Dale, Saul and Red in Red's house in the middle of the film).

I do like the "stoner action movie" premise a lot, it's just a shame that the lines fell rather flat for me. Oh, well.

Swedish Chef

12-31-08, 12:24 PM

Sedai

12-31-08, 12:33 PM

I really dig American Psycho, but, I am in the printing business, and the business card scene is legendary in this trade. A lot of our client base are people like this, who place WAY too much clout on their frippin business card. I like all the gags, too...

Swan

12-31-08, 02:22 PM

What Dreams May Come (1998) - 3

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/152/500993%7EWhat-Dreams-May-Come-Posters.jpg

I like this movie a lot. It's not perfect; the acting and dialogue is very cheesy or overdramatic at times and I didn't like a few of the concepts (though only one comes to mind). But it's very pleasing both story-wise and, especially, visually. If Vincent Ward (the director) knows how to do anything, it's get a message across visually.

I especially love the ending. I remember watching it fairly recently (for the first time in a long time) with a friend of mine, completely forgetting how his extreme hate for Christianity and this film probably wouldn't mix. I was mostly right; he said "it was good" but he "hated the super-mega-happy ending". It's a very happy ending indeed... but it's possibly the best concept in the whole film and it's done perfectly (as the beginning was).

I'm not religious and I don't actually believe in this stuff... but I have fun opening my mind and believing it for 2 +- hours.

Sedai

12-31-08, 02:35 PM

I think the only thing I liked about What Dreams May Come film was the cinematography. Very inventive and cool. The rest of the film... not so much.

rice1245

12-31-08, 04:27 PM

Lennon

12-31-08, 05:25 PM

Dirty Harry
3.5
I'll admit it, I had never seen it before today. Glad I did.

MovieMan8877445

12-31-08, 05:58 PM

Death Wish - 2.5

Now I really love revenge movies, but this one was just a huge disappointment. I mean the story and acting were about average. Hell the main actor, Charles Bronson, didn't seem to have any emotion during the movie at all. I mean even after having his wife killed and his daughter raped, he seems perfectly fine and like nothing happened. The story didn't even really focus on the revenge part until the second half of the movie, I don't even really know what the first part was focusing on. My expectations for this really weren't met.

http://www.cinemaretro.com/uploads/deathwish.jpg

Death Sentence - 4.5

Glad I had something like this to watch after Death Wish though. Now I've heard some people call this a remake of Death Wish, I just don't see it. This movie is nothing like Death Wish, not even the story, The Brave One is more like Death Wish than this one. But this is easily my favorite revenge movie of all-time. Kevin Bacon is just incredible in this, now he really showed emotion, something Charles Bronson doesn't know how to. And man, what an ending, I mean you probably already know what the ending is, but once you actually get to see it, it's just amazing. This is one I'd definitely recommend to anyone who likes revenge movies, or anyone who just likes movies in general, because I find this very underrated.

http://www.firstshowing.net/img/death-sentence-firstlook.jpg

Lennon

12-31-08, 06:59 PM

Kevin Bacon is just incredible in this, now he really showed emotion, something Charles Bronson doesn't know how to. And man, what an ending, I mean you probably already know what the ending is, but once you actually get to see it, it's just amazing.

I agree that Kevin Bacon did show emotion, but c'mon the ending was stupid.

I mean how many friggin' times did they both get shot, and Bacon is still able to drive home and watch home movies? Ya right....

Used Future

12-31-08, 07:00 PM

http://www.stanford.edu/group/iberia/images/800balas.jpg http://www.calendarlive.com/media/photo/2004-10/14848569.jpg

800 Balas aka 800 Bullets (Álex De La Iglesia 2002) 3.5
The only other movie of Iglesia's I've seen is his 1993 Sci-Fi effort Accion Mutante; a hit-and-miss but likable comedy with cool low budget production design and a pleasing sense of the absurd. Iglesia's other film of note, his 1995 cult horror classic The Day of the Beast remains frustratingly elusive (it's currently going for £49 on Amazon). Rest assured though it's top of my dvd most wanted list as I've heard great things about it.

800 Balas is one of those films that pretty much passed me by when it was released back in 2002. Only when I was browsing the Fopp sale on Monday did the cover art jump out off the shelf and demand I pick it up. When I read the back of the box and realized this was an Iglesia flick and a quirky homage to the Spaghetti western genre to boot it became a compulsory purchase.

800 Balas exceeded my expectations in many ways; it's certainly a more accomplished movie than Accion Mutante. Set in the present the story concerns an unruly fatherless young boy who discovers his grandfather Julián (Sancho Gracia) used to be a stunt man on American westerns filmed in Almeria, Spain. He subsequently runs off with his mother's (Carmen Maura) credit card to Texas Hollywood (the name of the set in Almeria) to meet him. Arriving in Almeria he finds Julián living on the old sets with a rag tag group of friends reduced to putting on stunt shows for German tourists; family drama and high adventure ensues.

This movie got my undivided attention right from the stunning opening scene involving a stagecoach hold up and the resulting stunt that goes wrong. Inglesia's weaving of reality and fantasy (or the film within a film) cleverly underpins 800 Balas right from the get go including subtle nods to Spaghetti classics throughout. I found myself laughing out loud (a rarity for me when watching films) on more than one occasion here as the well timed humor was a lot more hit than miss. Indeed the whole film had an endearing charm and sense of nostalgia that really appeals to me. Undoubtedly though It's Sancho Gracia's (pictured) charismatic performance that lights up this movie; thankfully once introduced the larger than life Julián appears in nearly every scene both elevating and carrying the film in equal measures. By the time things got decidedly silly in the third act I already cared too much about Julián and his friends to really mind. I also liked the way Inglesia never descended into slushy sentimentality when handling the family drama aspects, ensuring an even knowing tone throughout. Fun.

MovieMan8877445

12-31-08, 07:01 PM

I agree that Kevin Bacon did show emotion, but c'mon the ending was stupid.

I mean how many friggin' times did they both get shot, and Bacon is still able to drive home and watch home movies? Ya right....

Okay that part was a little far-fetched especially because he had got shot in the neck, he wouldn't still be alive through all of that. But I was mainly referring to him killing all of them, it would've been a better ending IMO, if Kevin Bacon just died there with Billy.

Lennon

12-31-08, 07:06 PM

Okay that part was a little far-fetched especially because he had got shot in the neck, he wouldn't still be alive through all of that. But I was mainly referring to him killing all of them, it would've been a better ending IMO, if Kevin Bacon just died there with Billy.
Ah yeah, but I mean that's always the ending to every revenge flick, like ever made. I'd just like to see a bit more change to the genre.

MovieMan8877445

12-31-08, 07:12 PM

Ah yeah, but I mean that's always the ending to every revenge flick, like ever made. I'd just like to see a bit more change to the genre.

Yeah, it would be nice to see a new ending, like when the main person dies before he/she can actually kill the other guy and get his/her revenge. That'd be a great thing to see in a new revenge movie.

Powdered Water

12-31-08, 09:56 PM

I'm still waiting to be blown away by a movie like I was during The Dark Knight, some of these were pretty good but not as good as TDK. Shame really, I bet TDK gets left out of the best picture race this year and it probably shouldn't.

Anyway...

Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood-2008) 4

Holden may be the only guy on this board that is a bigger and better Eastwood fan than I am. So when I say I am in the bag for the guy I mean it. That being said there are times when I really struggle to love his films. Partially I think that's a testament to his skill as a filmmaker, especially in this films case. I was so attached to his character in this movie that I was utterly crushed at the films ending. Clint Eastwood's films rarely have neat happy endings with little bows on top and that's fine with me, I just wish I could let the emotion wash over me a little better and not be so involved you know?

Anyway, its a really powerful movie, the story isn't really ground breaking or anything but Clint just has a way of getting to me, so yeah, I would like to see him get a nice big fat nomination for Best Actor for his efforts here. I wouldn't mind if it got a Best Picture nomination but I don't think it will win.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher-2008) 3.5

I think because its Fincher I may be giving this a better rating than it deserves. I get the comparisons to Forrest Gump but I'm here to say that Gump is the far superior film and I really like Brad Pitt quite a bit. But to me Tom Hanks is a far better actor and I think when I watch the two films back to back my opinion isn't going to change any.

I kind of get the feeling from what I've read around the web that this flick is the one to beat and personally I don't see it. Not that I'm an expert or anything but geez man, for one thing its just too long! They could have trimmed a good 30 minutes out and it would still have been a pretty decent flick.

The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky-2008) 4.5

Now this flick on the other hand, I would absolutely love to see get a Best Picture Nomination, it won't though because I really want it too. I have powers like that. The thing is, it just really struck a chord with me because I not only watched a lot of wrestling during the 80's and loved the 80's, much like Randy "The Ram" Robinson did, I also kind of hated the 90's. I don't think its any secret that I'm seriously rooting for Mickey to not only get a nom here but I really hope he wins. This guy deserves it. If you don't believe me then listen to his speech at the end of the film very closely. I believe he's speaking to the whole world and not just a little arena full of his wrasslin' fans. It's heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time and I think, heartfelt. If it isn't then you aren't like me and you haven't been watching in wonder at the rise and fall and now the astonishing re-emergence of his career. Good for you Mickey I hope you win baby!

rice1245

12-31-08, 10:31 PM

yay i'm so excited to see The Wrestler, of all the oscar contenders that's the one i'm most hyped up to see, i also gave Benjamin Button the same rating as you and i really want to see Gran Torino too

Godoggo

12-31-08, 10:31 PM

I also liked the way Inglesia never descended into slushy sentimentality when handling the family drama aspects, ensuring an even knowing tone throughout. Fun.

I liked that about it too. When I watched this movie I was in the mood for a lighthearted flick with like-able characters and that was charming and funny. 800 balas fits that bill perfectly. It's a bit forgettable, but that's o.k. I think it does exactly what it's supposed to.

TheDOMINATOR

12-31-08, 11:26 PM

The Grapes of Wrath - 4
(FIRST VIEWING)

http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/8506/grapesofwrathdvdcoverjq1.jpg

It wasn't quite what I was expecting, nor was it quite as good as I thought/hoped it would be (my expectations were set considerably high), but I still think The Grapes of Wrath to be a very good film nonetheless. An excellent performance by Henry Fonda and a few powerful, touching moments throughout.

***SPOILER(S) BELOW***

I found myself pretty sad when Grandpa died, and the speech given by the ex-preacher was beautiful.

Swan

12-31-08, 11:26 PM

Dom, you nailed my feelings about the film perfectly. Nice.

mark f

01-01-09, 01:36 AM

TheDOMINATOR

01-01-09, 02:05 AM

I think that 4 is right on for The Grapes of Wrath, and by the way, both you guys will only think more of the John Steinbeck/Ford flick the more you watch it... You just have to balance out your ratings. Most 4 movies are as good as it gets...

Being a film starring Henry Fonda (who I like as an actor very much) and hearing so many good things about it from the Internet and friends/family alike, my expectations were set considerably (and perhaps even unrealistically) high for The Grapes of Wrath. Upon watching it, getting something--anything--less than that is where the slight negativity came from in my previous post.

I agree with you concerning 4-rated films. :)

Swan

01-01-09, 04:11 AM

I watched Hot Rod earlier today. It's a pretty solid 3 for me. I love it. I've seen it five times and it never gets old. In fact, I find myself laughing more and more with each viewing. It's incredibly stupid but I don't think it would be as hilarious if it wasn't. This gets my vote for 'funniest stupid movie ever'.

Anyways, I just finished watching...

Pillow Talk (1959) - 3.5

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/pillowtalk_poster-719635-2.jpg

That was a fun movie. I didn't expect to like it so much. I'm glad I did. Rock Hudson and Doris Day were both great together. And that song...

Pillow talk! Pillow talk!

Iroquois

01-01-09, 05:19 AM

I love the stuffing out of Pineapple Express, but I will concede it had a bunch of lines that completely fall flat. A lot of the dialogue that didn't work for you, though, was probably some of the improvised stuff. Like "It smells like a whale's vagina". I think those kind of nonstop complete non-sequiters have become so ubiquitous in comedy these days that it can get awfully tiring awfully fast. But, yeah, Pineapple Express is still one of my favorite films of the year.

i think the line you're thinking of actually goes "God's vagina", but yeah. I always got the feeling that the reliance on pothead humour dragged the film down a bit and it didn't get especially interesting for me until the actual murder scene, and from that point on I actually found the film much more watchable. And despite the relatively low rating, I also reckon Pineapple Express is one of my favourite 2008 films.

Anyway...

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~ifilm/IMG-Ran.jpg

RAN (Kurosawa, 1985) - 4.5

It's been a while since I've seen anything that could genuinely be considered "epic", but then I found myself with a few hours to kill on New Year's Eve and decided to finally finish Ran once and for all. Quite simply, Ran is brilliant, and I honestly can't remember why I didn't watch it in full sooner. Cast of thousands, painfully elaborate art direction, engaging power struggles galore, etc etc. It's just brilliant, with the only real flaw being that some parts of it drag slightly. Other than that, it's amazing.

On one somewhat personal note - this film has a PG rating in Australia. It is easily the bloodiest PG-rated movie I've ever seen. Kudos.

(edit post)

http://images.allposters.com/images/125/003_amelie.jpg

Amélie (Jeunet, 2001) - 3

I think my rating for Amélie is at least a popcorn box or two lower than virtually everyone else's rating. What can I say? I'm not easily charmed. In the film's favour, I will admit that its unique photography was definitely a treat (especially the fact that every frame seems to have a weird yellowy-green hue to it). I think my main problem with Amélie is that, in all honesty, I'm not much of a fairytale person. As good as the film may be (and I will admit, it's good) but it just doesn't agree with me. The wackiness of the characters and story felt a little too forced at times, although the plot did develop and wrap up neatly rather well. (one other thing I liked about the film was Dominique Pinon's small but hilarious role as the creepy tape-recorder guy)

So...yeah.

(edit post...again)

http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/CoverArtUnverified/17220.jpg

Dead Man (Jarmusch, 1995) - 4.5

Given another viewing or two, I'll probably bump the score up to 5 (as it stands, I give it a very high 4.5). Seriously, I can't quite find the words to express just how much I like Dead Man. I wouldn't say it's the best movie ever, but damned if it doesn't hit all the right notes for me. The performances are brilliant - as mild-mannered accountant turned "killer of white men" William Blake, Depp gives a superbly understated performance, which only serves as a fine contrast to the bizarre cast of characters, both good and bad (mainly bad) that he comes into contact with over the course of his journey. I'm also extremely fond of Robby Müller's fluid black-and-white photography and Neil Young's hypnotic use of distorted guitars on the film's soundtrack. All of this centres around a strangely compelling odyssey through the wilderness to the spirit world that awaits a dying Blake - and the parallel journey of the simply evil trio of bounty hunters on his tail.

It's not often that I feel this way about a film, but when I do - damn.

Do you know my poetry?

rice1245

01-01-09, 07:49 PM

i wanna see Dead Man so bad...

The Wild Bunch (1969) - 4.5

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u315/BrandoBardot/greygardens/toughwilliamholden.jpg

I reeeally enjoyed it, the last shootout was one of the best scenes in a movie i've ever seen

Deliverance (1972) - 3.5

http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/35/90/87/18841988.jpg

It was pretty good :yup: not one i'd want to see multiple times though

Powdered Water

01-01-09, 07:59 PM

Ok then, now we're talkin'.

Frost/Nixon (Ron Howard-2008) 4.5

I was waiting to be blown away and blown away I was by the most unlikely of candidates. I despise most politicians. I can't stand the entire process and I really dislike how out of touch most politicians are with the average joe. To say that I was ignorant about the happenings during Watergate and the cover ups and all the rest of the goings on during Nixon's Presidency doesn't really cover it. I knew virtually nothing about it except rumor and innuendo.

I still know very little about it. I've done a little reading as I often do after a film like this one moves me and I also watched the actual interview that Frost held with the former President. And I must say that while I still at the core feel the same way about the political landscape I think now at least I know where some of that started. This man abused his power and he knew it. He took it upon himself to make up policy as he went no matter the cost and claimed he believed he was doing the right thing.

Only it wasn't the right thing. And perhaps its a testament to the kind of man that Nixon was that he actually admitted it. Maybe all politicians aren't evil and selfish. Maybe they are just as human as everyone else. Look, he's certainly not a saint. He may in fact have been a really bad guy. But at least he broke down and told the American people he was wrong and that he was sorry for it. I saw his eyes, I watched his movements, I believe him.

I usually can't stand movies like this... I'm a little lost as to why it moved me so. I felt this huge wave of emotion rolling over while watching the film and that's obviously a credit to little Ronnie Howard. I love most of his films, but I gotta say this one really took me by surprise. Thank you Ron, you really opened my eyes.

Swedish Chef

01-01-09, 09:02 PM

Hmmmmm, the Frost/Nixon trailer looked pretty lame to me, but I should probably see the actual movie before I pass judgment. You know, I say that, but, in reality, I've already passed judgment and I have no desire to see it.

i think the line you're thinking of actually goes "God's vagina", but yeah.

Guess I've got whale vagina on the brain. Anyway,

http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/movies/l/let_the_right_one_in/loder/281x211.jpg

Let the Right One In (John Ajvide Lindqvist, 2008)

This is a very good movie. It's about vampires and whatnot, yeah, but somehow it's also one of the most honest and real preteen love stories I've seen in a film. If I had been a cool enough twelve year old to have had a girlfriend, this is exactly how I'd imagine it'd have gone down (minus the vampire stuff). Equally amazingly (spoiler alert), one of the two preteens in question is secretly androgynous. And, again, she murders innocent people to feast on their blood! Those zany Swedes!

So, yeah, there are a lot of reasons to see this movie. It's a different spin on a few well-spun genres and it's very deftly made. But I'd say THE number one reason to see Let the Right One In are the performances by the two lead kids. Tremendous work. Especially Lina Leandersson (bloody chick in the pic above). Best female performance I've seen this year.

a high 4

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll294/SwedishChef20/the-wrestler-01.jpg

The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky, 2008)

First off, Mickey Rourke is every bit as fantastic in this as everybody's saying he is. There is literally no one on the face of the earth who would more perfectly embody this lovable, juiced-up lug named Randy. The bummer is that, outside of Rourke, this is more or less a by-the-numbers sports flick. It's a tough sport (staple guns aren't used as God intended) and actually, it isn't even a real sport. But there's definitely a been-there-done-that aspect to the whole thing.

The good news is that it's still a very impressive generic sports movie. It's got a lived-in, authentic, down to earth quality to it and there are enough sweet moments to offset the cliches and scenes with Evan Rachel Wood being upset. And Marisa Tomei's really good, too.

3.5

I also rewatched Wall-E, which is another high profile flick I've seen this year that doesn't hold up as well to multiple viewings for me. I think I gave it a hasty 4.5 before, but now I'd give it a solid 3.5 and it's gonna stay there dang nabbit.

Swan

01-01-09, 09:30 PM

http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/movies/l/let_the_right_one_in/loder/281x211.jpg

Let the Right One In (John Ajvide Lindqvist, 2008)

This is a very good movie. It's about vampires and whatnot, yeah, but somehow it's also one of the most honest and real preteen love stories I've seen in a film. If I had been a cool enough twelve year old to have had a girlfriend, this is exactly how I'd imagine it'd have gone down (minus the vampire stuff). Equally amazingly (spoiler alert), one of the two preteens in question is secretly androgynous. And, again, she murders innocent people to feast on their blood! Those zany Swedes!

So, yeah, there are a lot of reasons to see this movie. It's a different spin on a few well-spun genres and it's very deftly made. But I'd say THE number one reason to see Let the Right One In are the performances by the two lead kids. Tremendous work. Especially Lina Leandersson (bloody chick in the pic above). Best female performance I've seen this year.

a high 4

I'm glad you liked it. I watched it recently as well, and thought it was great.

At first I gave it a full rating, but after a while I realized there were some things in the film I didn't like. More than anything, I didn't like Eli's questionable gender. That one particular shot (you know which one I'm talking about) was very quick, so when I was watching the film I didn't really see what it was. When I came onto the computer after finishing it, and learned what it was, I was kind of upset. I really connected with Eli, but I connected to her... not him. It's hard for me to feel the same way about the relationship Eli and Oskar shared as I did while watching the film for the first time.

The bed scene was extremely powerful, I'm sure you agree with me. But I don't think it would have been as powerful had I known about Eli's true self. Or maybe it would have, just not in the same way.

I know I'm rambling about this one little issue, but every time I am reminded of the film I can't get that it out of my mind. I don't want to say it ruined the film because I still like the film a lot. It just sort of lessened the emotional connection I had with it at first. I still think Eli is a great character, and perhaps when I rewatch it I can accept Eli as not being a female.

Anyways, I definitely agree with you about the acting. Both kids did a great job, especially Leandersson. It really was some of the best acting of the year.

Let the Right One In is a great flick that blows Twilight out of the water. :p

adidasss

01-01-09, 09:38 PM

http://www.filmreferencelibrary.ca/images/Up_Images/up-03_Ascent_1.jpg

The ascent - Larisa Shepitko (1976)

One of the most moving films I've ever seen. The last film of what appears to be an insanely talented Russian filmmaker. She died in a car accident a few years later while making another film which was subsequently finished by her husband, Elem Klimov. Maybe it will surprise some, but I'd say this film is superior to the much more famous work of her husband, Come and see, all the more significant seeing as how it was obviously made at the fraction of its budget. It doesn't rely on pyrotechnics or schizophrenic violence to show the harrowing nature of war. The cast, the photography, the score, everything is flawless. It's a damn shame such a talent was cut short at the height of her powers...5

Swedish Chef

01-01-09, 09:45 PM

At first I gave it a full rating, but after a while I realized there were some things in the film I didn't like. More than anything, I didn't like Eli's questionable gender. That one particular shot (you know which one I'm talking about) was very quick, so when I was watching the film I didn't really see what it was. When I came onto the computer after finishing it, and learned what it was, I was kind of upset. I really connected with Eli, but I connected to her... not him. It's hard for me to feel the same way about the relationship Eli and Oskar shared as I did while watching the film for the first time.

The bed scene was extremely powerful, I'm sure you agree with me. But I don't think it would have been as powerful had I known about Eli's true self. Or maybe it would have, just not in the same way.

I know I'm rambling about this one little issue, but every time I am reminded of the film I can't get that it out of my mind. I don't want to say it ruined the film because I still like the film a lot. It just sort of lessened the emotional connection I had with it at first. I still think Eli is a great character, and perhaps when I rewatch it I can accept Eli as not being a female.

Anyways, I definitely agree with you about the acting. Both kids did a great job, especially Leandersson. It really was some of the best acting of the year.

Let the Right One In is a great flick that blows Twilight out of the water.

If you weren't bothered by the fact that Eli was actually hundreds of years old and that she murdered innocent people so she could slurp up their blood, then why were you bothered by the fact "she" didn't have an easily identifiable gender? Just another wrinkle, really, in my book and since Oskar didn't mind, I didn't either. The shot you're talking about actually made me laugh and, yeah, the scene in the bed was wonderful. Considering that they're twelve year old kids, I give the movie a buttload of credit for not making that bed scene too weird.

I haven't seen Twilight and I know virtually nothing about the books, but I'd guess that, yes, it would get blown right out of the vampire water when compared to Let the Right One In.

Swan

01-01-09, 09:50 PM

If you weren't bothered by the fact that Eli was actually hundreds of years old and that she murdered innocent people so she could slurp up their blood, then why were you bothered by the fact "she" didn't really have an identifiable gender?

Both of those - the age and the killing - are always aspects of any vampire on any vampire movie or book or whatever. I assumed they would be part of her character from the start, because she's a vampire.

I'm sure when I see it again I can come to peace with that problem. I guess it just came as a shock at first. Oh well.

TheDOMINATOR

01-01-09, 11:39 PM

Okay, don't all tackle me at once, but...

Citizen Kane - 2.5
(FIRST VIEWING)

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/832/citizenkaneposterc10047bf8.jpg

After seeing it for the very first time earlier tonight, I'm left in wonderment at how so many can consider this the "greatest film of all time." It's claimed that its visuals were ahead of its time, and maybe that's true, but I found myself almost completely uninterested with the story...and pretty much everything else with and about the film. A couple of performances were pretty strong (mainly Orson Welles' himself) and the filmmaking was innovative, but I failed to actually get into the movie at all. And the twist-ending; the "Rosebud" thing? I thought it was pretty lame, for lack of a better word.

Did I miss something?

mark f

01-02-09, 12:49 AM

Putting your rating for Citizen Kane in the context of all your other ratings, I would answer your question with a "Yes", but it's actually not for me to do that. :cool:

TheDOMINATOR

01-02-09, 12:59 AM

I wanted to like and enjoy Citizen Kane, but I really didn't. If you can offer anything at all as to something I may have missed--some underlying message or something--then I would appreciate it. :) Among the other good half-dozen true classics I've recently watched for the first time each, this has been my one disappointment, and a big disappointment at that.

Swan

01-02-09, 01:04 AM

Dom, I think you're being a little too generous with a 2.5, based no your feelings about it. You gave Scream - a movie you like and rated 8/10 on CMF - a 3.

I think 1.5 or 2 fits your opinion better.

Not that your opinion is a bad thing, I'm just.... talking...............

.............

TheDOMINATOR

01-02-09, 01:08 AM

What are you talking about, Swan? I gave Scream a 6.5/10 on the CMF.

Scream - 6.5/10.

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/2143/screamqv9.jpg

A pretty average horror (ish) teen/younger adult slasher with some pretty interesting film references and comedy mixed in. I haven't seen it in years and thought it was nice to revisit it.

You love trying to make me look bad/stupid, don't you?

Swan

01-02-09, 01:11 AM

WHOA okay so much for a memory.

No, I'm not trying to make you look bad or stupid. I don't think anyone here thinks you are stupid because of anything I've said about you before.

DOES ANYONE ON HERE THINK DOM IS STUPID?

See Dom? No one thinks you're stupid. :)

Powdered Water

01-02-09, 01:11 AM

Methinks Swedish and I have been watching movies from the same site recently...

Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson-2008) 4

I am on a pretty good roll today. Its no secret that I love horror films and when they turn out to be good or even really good its a serious double bonus. This flick is quite good in a lot of ways as Swedish Chef already mentioned. I would love to see this flick take home Best Foreign film at the Oscars this year. And Yeah, the two leads in this flick were just both excellent. Creepy, but excellent.

Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke-2008) 3

I was so ready to just take a big nasty crap all over this flick and I have to admit I kind of really dug it. It was a little high on the schmaltz but it was still a pretty good little story.

Milk (Gus Van Zant-2008) 4

This was also just dynamite. Sean Penn may very well be vying with Mickey Rourke in a coin toss for Best Actor this year and I'm so in the bag for both of them that I won't be disappointed if either man wins. Damn good stuff.

Oh and I also saw these two clinkers in the last few days as well...

Journey To The Center Of The Earth (Eric Brevig-2008) 1

The Day The Earth Stood Still (Scott Derrickson-2008) 1.5

Two very good reasons to not remake classic films. More to add to the bad remake pile I guess. *sigh*

TheDOMINATOR

01-02-09, 01:12 AM

You make these kinds of remarks at me all the time, Swan. I mean, it's right here, half-way down the page:

http://www.cloverfieldmovieforum.com/showthread.php?t=123&page=357

I have no idea where your above idea came from, that I gave that movie an 8/10 score. ;)

Swan

01-02-09, 01:13 AM

"So much for a memory" is referring to my memory, Dom.

TheDOMINATOR

01-02-09, 01:16 AM

"So much for a memory" is referring to my memory, Dom.

All right. So keeping in mind your memory, don't make derogatory remarks unless you have your facts straight. :)

Swan

01-02-09, 01:17 AM

I don't know how it was derogatory at all but whatever you say.

mark f

01-02-09, 01:37 AM

I don't see how I can say anything which will help anybody get into a movie more than they're predisposed to do. Citizen Kane doesn't make my Top 100 and it doesn't even make my Top 5 of 1941, but these ratings and lists really have little to do with the merit of an individual film, and if I were told that I could teach a class in film, using just one film to study various forms of film communication, I'd probably have to pick Citizen Kane because it did basically reinvent films in the most dramatic ways possible since the changeover from silents to talkies.

On a technical level, the film is phenomenal, from Gregg Toland's deep focus, often expressionistic photography to the weird ways the film tells its story, starting out as a newsreel biography of the leading character after his death and then having the interviewer question Kane's friends and enemies, thus having multiple "narrators" tell the story of the biggest man in the history of the U.S. during the early 20th century. The acting is all very realistic and Welles, although he didn't pioneer the technique, used overlapping dialogue in new, powerful ways which certainly made him the envy of later directors such as Robert Altman. Bernard Herrmann's musical score is also powerful and poignant, and Welles used strange editing techniques (for example, editing to the cackle of a parrot) and special effects effortlessly, not to show off but to try to keep the film moving cinematically. I find the story of the little boy who lost the only love of his life and tried to replace it with money and things a touchingly human tale, so when you call what I find one of the strongest endings of all-time lame, I'm left to scratch my head. Yes, the combo of the fire, the sled "melting", the musical score, the smoke billowing from the chimney all showing Charlie Kane's life and dreams going up in smoke, it really makes me think that I'm seeing something special. (I certainly never had any trouble getting into it, right from the "No Trespassing" beginning with the awesome snow globe scene and weird photographic shot of the nurse through the broken glass.) Then, after the ending, Welles closes with unique end credits, even giving DP Toland the last credit.

Maybe some people give the movie extra points because Welles had to fight William Randolph Hearst just to get the film released. Hearst wanted to destroy the film, and even though he was unable to do it, he did just about break Welles and kept him from making films the way he wanted to for most of the rest of his life. I've also been to San Simeon (Hearst Castle) many times, so I can see how close the life of Kane resembles that of Hearst, so maybe the story has more meaning to me than some. Then again, I loved Citizen Kane before I ever went to Hearst Castle or took a film class in college.

As I said, I can't change anybody's mind about anything, but if you truly want to see if you missed something, I'd rewatch the movie sooner rather than later. However it turns out, keep watching movies and telling us what you think. :cool:

TheDOMINATOR

01-02-09, 01:52 AM

MovieMan8877445

01-02-09, 01:54 AM

Schindler's List - 4.5

Okay, so someone once told me that I wouldn't like this movie because I couldn't understand it. Well in a little less than an hour into the movie, I was beginning to think that was really true, but after it passed this point, it really got interesting and amazing even. I was sorta confused about what was going on the first hour, luckily I had my mom there to tell me what was happening. But if it wasn't for the first hour of it, this movie would have been a full perfect score from me. Liam Neeson is just incredible in this, I've seen him in quite a few other things, and I guess I've always considered him one of my favorite actors, mainly from Batman Begins, but he just suddenly went into my top 5 favortie actors just from his role in this. I'm actually surprised I liked it so much, because the movie itself is a very depressing movie, but at the same time it's just an incredible movie, and I can see why it's considered one of the greatest movies of all-time. I'm glad I got this to watch before I finish off my favorites list.

http://blog.afi.com/100movies/user-uploads/post2006.jpg

Eagle Eye - 2.5

Meh, the film itself is pretty average, a good watch for maybe once or twice, or a good movie to watch in between long periods. I had higher expectations for this because of how much I loved Disturbia. I'm sorta glad I waited until DVD to see instead of paying to see it in theaters like I had originally planned to. Shia LeBouf was good, just good, which I was surprised about too because I thought he did a great job in Disturbia. Maybe it was because I was comparing it to Disturbia, but I don't know I just didn't like it as much as I had hoped to.

http://www.popcritics.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/eagleeye.jpg

mark f

01-02-09, 02:02 AM

MovieMan8877445

01-02-09, 02:08 AM

I'll make a comment about your reaction to the first part of Schindler's List. I agree with you that the storytelling seemed a little odd, almost as if you were looking at things through a fog which lifted and all of a sudden you were totally into an intense story involving characters you really care about. I'll tell you one more thing now. If you rewatch the first part now, after having finished the entire movie, that first part makes complete sense and provides important details concerning major characters which make the whole film even more powerful. :)

I'm definitley gonna rewatch it sometime soon because I was confused about the beginning, I've got quite a bit more to watch that I recently bought on DVD and I haven't seen to watch first though. After I finish those though, Schindler's List will be one of the first that I rewatch.

linespalsy

01-02-09, 02:52 AM

I'm pretty sure women can masturbate, too, but since a woman did direct (American Psycho), I think of it less as an extended wankathon and more of a mighty, ninety minute lambasting of man as a gender, in general.

Whereas if a man had directed the same movie it would have been limp celebration of such? Regardless of the director's gender, this movie is not a mighty anything. Anyway I'm curious why you peg it as a movie primarily about gender. The big idea of the movie, related to the audience in the most blunt terms possible, is that if you dress it up with the right pretensions a given audience will watch just about anything and even expect meaningful insights. If the movie had actually engaged me into more than giggling at a few one-liners and expressions and not spending the rest of the running time glancing at my fellow viewers to see if they were similarly bored (I was very happy to see that my girlfriend was -- swoon), it might have actually stung enough to leave a lasting impression. I mean, the self-professed point of the movie is to trick you into liking it and then call you an idiot at the end, but I didn't really ever like the movie so instead I get the same honor to feel my smugness validated that I'd get from being called smart by a drooling imbecile. Pretty thin reward.

Anyway I stand by my "below-avg." grade, in spite of the fact that I found the movie entertaining enough to sit through. I find 99% of the movies I watch entertaining enough to sit through and most of the times I don't it's because I'm physically exhausted or internally distracted. The entire fun of bitching or bragging about movies online, it seems, is in going through the effort to sort the good ones from the ones that just seemed good when you were too lazy to care.

Iroquois

01-02-09, 09:58 AM

http://www.moviereviews.net.au/images/bluevelvet22.jpg

Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986) - 4

The first time I saw Blue Velvet was on a badly scratched rental DVD that would skip and glitch at all the worst possible moments, thus compromising the experience quite a bit. Fortunately, this didn't happen the second time around and I was able to actually appreciate the film a bit better. Once again, I like the way everything in the film comes together, even if there are quite a few parts that seem a little too corny in their representation of kind folks in quiet suburbia. Nonetheless, it's still a gripping film, although deep down I prefer Lynch's more surreal works.

Pyro Tramp

01-02-09, 01:48 PM

Swan

01-02-09, 02:13 PM

Amélie (2001) - 4.5

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/415px-amelie_poster-1.jpg

So I finally rewatched it. The first time I didn't like it that much, but I think it was just the wrong time and place. The film made me super happy this time! I was debating between a 4.5 and a full 5, and it could actually be both. They were talking really fast at times (I had to rewind a bit during the film to read all the subtitles and understand them), the opening narration especially, but it's my fault that's an issue, not their's. As I rewatch it, I will be able to know what they are saying easier, and it will go up to a 5. Audrey Tautou is so awesome.

It's safe to say this is a new favorite of mine. Maybe not top 10, at least not right now, but still a favorite. :)

Lennon

01-02-09, 02:42 PM

Step Brothers 4

Another one of those, 'just funny, kay?' movies. Will and John do make a good team. Just watch this and look me in the face and say you kept a straight face during the "drum set scene"

igor_is_fugly

01-02-09, 04:07 PM

Mulholland Dr.

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/universal_focus/mulholland_drive/laura_harring/mulholland.jpg

lovelovelovelovelove

I was worried this was gonna be a movie that was just over the top weird to the point were it has no story and it's just confusing, but it had the perfect balance of weirdness and comprehensiveness. The cast was outstanding. Naomi Watts blew me away and added to my already great love for her, and Laura Harring gave the most surreally hypnotizing performance that melted perfectly with the overall feel of the movie. And the two of them are the perfect compliment to each other on screen. Watts is the epitome of the blonde-haired blue-eyed innocent, and the dark-featured Harring is just sourrounded by an aura of darkness. Evey time they're together on screen, it's both visually and i don't know...energetically pleasing. I'm looking forward to watching more Lynch, I love Blue Velvet and this movie certainly lived up to my standards set by that. I couldn't have asked for more out of Mulholland Dr.

It's rare of me to do this after a first viewing, but I'm pretty confident in my rating of...
5

TheDOMINATOR

01-02-09, 05:33 PM

Gabriel - 1.5

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9391/043396227736kv4.jpg

A cool concept and story, but laughable fight scenes and other action altogether. The score and performances were utterly forgettable and everything else about the film was mediocre at best. I'm glad I only picked this one up for $3.

Cause of Death - 2

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5568/198247zp1.jpg

This wasn't much better than Gabriel.

MovieMan8877445

01-02-09, 11:19 PM

Bram Stroker's Dracula - 4.5

For some reason, I just couldn't quite bump it up to a full 10/10. I don't know why, because it definitely deserves a full perfect score. Gary Oldman is just amazing in this, he wasn't quite as amazing in this as Leon: The Professional, but still quite amazing. Actually now that I think about it, all the cast gives quite amazing preformances, except Keanu Reeves which is sorta a given because his acting in this is just very stale. The story had me sucked into the movie right from the very start of it though, and it had an amazing ending. Francis Ford Cappola as just blown me away again, this would probably be my third favorite of his after The Godfather Part I and Part II. I was actually surprised, because after watching Apocalypse Now not too long ago, I didn't know what to expect, because I thought Apocalypse Now was a little overly long. This is by far his shortest movie that I've seen of his though, but I thought the length fit perfect for this. But I look foward to see some more Gary Oldman movies, because as of right now he's my second favorite actor of all-time. I also want to point out that it had some amazing music that just fit so well with the movie, but I find it weird that I like never hear any talk about this movie, I don't know why because it definitely deserves it.

http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/rsz/434/x/x/x/medias/nmedia/18/64/49/73/18857503.jpg

TheDOMINATOR

01-02-09, 11:39 PM

As you can see from my latest post here, after watching a good half-dozen of the true classics, I'm sort of taking a brief hiatus from them (not that I'm getting tired of them) and watching a few lesser-known titles, as per my usual trend. To continue that:

Higher Learning - 3.5

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/8274/043396067684kq0tk2.jpg

A very enjoyable, very thought-provoking film that follows the seperate stories of 3-4 different groups of people who are all interconnected in some way. Toward the end of the movie, they all come clashing together in a chaotic but enlightening struggle that left me stunned. I liked it a lot.

Plus Jennifer Connelly kissing Kristen Swanson gives it an automatic two popcorn bags minimum. :cool:

Swan

01-02-09, 11:41 PM

Plus Jennifer Connelly kissing Kristen Swanson gives it an automatic two popcorn bags minimum. :cool:

At first I just read the "Swan" in "Swanson", and then I read the "Jennifer Connelly kissing".

The image that immediately came to mind made me very happy.

TheDOMINATOR

01-02-09, 11:43 PM

We all have our dreams, Swan. ;) But then we wake up. :(

Iroquois

01-02-09, 11:44 PM

Iro, which bits would you say were corny? I thought the bit that i imagine you mean, just added to the whole surrealism of it all. Also, did you read it as MacLachlan and Hopper playing the same character?

I'm thinking of the way they established the place and several characters with that seemingly stereotypical small-town America vibe where everybody's friends with everybody else and nobody swears or acts out. It took a little getting used to, I suppose, but I figure it was necessary in the context of the film as a whole. What bit were you imagining?

And no, no I didn't read it that way.

mark f

01-03-09, 12:03 AM

Lynch was satirizing Reagan America. Now, I have no patience for Lynch or Reagan America, but please don't try to extrapolate what it means because it obviously doesn't mean what lackadaiscal kids today think it means. I don't claim that any of you are lackadaisical, but come on now, you could barely speak when this flippin' flick came out. And I do want to apologize because I said I gave Blue Velvet 2, when I was spaced out and should have given it 2.5. I give Dune 3 although I'm the first to admit how extreme that is. The Elephant Man is easily a 4 and the film which Lynch will be remembered by (Sorry, Bros!). The Straight Story seems much more significant today than it was when Lynch made it. As far as his later flicks go, I give Lost Highway 1.5, Mulholland Dr. 2.5 and Inland Empire 1. I am going to watch the entirety of the "Twin Peaks" TV series right now, and I give that at least a 3.5, but I'll check back if it's better. :)

Iroquois

01-03-09, 12:05 AM

Obviously.

(edit post)

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/images/column/9308/slumdogposter.jpg

Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle, 2008) - 4.5

I was contemplating whether or not to give this a proper review but decided against it because I just agreed too much with everything else that's been written. I reckon Slumdog Millionaire was quite simply fantastic. Boyle's trademark look translates well to this incredibly intense rags-to-riches tale. It remains gripping throughout, whether through protagonist Jamal's confrontations with child-crippling criminals or with the charismatic host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, and while the very end was still somewhat predictable, it was still a very well-executed ending.

Pyro Tramp

01-03-09, 10:25 AM

I'm thinking of the way they established the place and several characters with that seemingly stereotypical small-town America vibe where everybody's friends with everybody else and nobody swears or acts out. It took a little getting used to, I suppose, but I figure it was necessary in the context of the film as a whole. What bit were you imagining?

And no, no I didn't read it that way.

I thought the corny bits you were gonna say were like the obvious surrealist bits- big man walking small dog standing still. The film, in a lot of ways, is about surfaces, the bit you mention was meant to be corny as far as i'm concerned but guess you see that as well. Next time you watch it consider all the Freudian themes and keep in mind the two characters are essentially a whole, or Hopper is at least the embodiment of MacLachlan's repressed self.

Golgot

01-03-09, 10:41 AM

Mainly saccarine telly for me during the Xmas spree...

http://www.maximummovies.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/wallace-and-gromit.jpg

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Nothing too evolutionary from the claymen, other than the cinematic-scale (the formula's getting slightly tired-n-testy in places - how many more Heath Robinson wake-up devices can they creak through?)

There is something endlessly watchable about Gromit's silent-seer routine though - and when they get things right it makes for charming delights (the mud-shaking car & bi-plane chase for a start :))

http://thecia.com.au/reviews/s/images/starter-for-ten-7.jpg

Starter for 10

You know exactly where it's going, and it gets there very amiably.

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/Rope%20pic%202.jpg

Rope

Wonderfully (horribly) tense opening. Unfortunately i just couldn't buy the transition Stewart's character goes through. (A fault of the play no doubt - but felt JS & Hitch could possibly have played it differently. As it stands, i'd need his argument to be sourced more or his transition to be less abrupt to believe in it. Happy to bitch more about this if anyone's up for it ;))

Wasn't sure some of other stage-to-screen transitions all worked either - such as the side-on view of the maid clearing the table (which i assume woulda been centre-stage in the production - with the cast still seen behind). But damn it has real claustrophobic tension at points, very comparable to the intimate captivation that the theatre can induce. (And the mammoth takes were great to behold - even if there was some added niggly fun to be had in watching one transition go slightly awry, ducking hurriedly into a murderous back - but that only highlighted how breezily 'seamless' some of the changeovers were - and how ambitious a project it was in all. [I can only imagine how a steadycam might have made the opening scenes even more detached and chilling - and given the penchant for remakes these days i probably won't have to wait long to find out ;)]).

http://blogs.indiewire.com/kohn/sallyhawkins.jpg

Happy-Go-Lucky

Very deft, pretty damn pleasing. Sally Hawkins is great as the primary-school teacher who's too good for this world, yet somehow believably of it. Wasn't completely sold on the tramp scene imbedded in the middle (think the script was asking an infuriating -and potentially fatuous- amount, so it's a credit to the acting and directing that they neaaarly turned it into a killer memorable scene [which would've hung like a weighty-counterbalance in the middle of the film, giving the story-arms either side some extra momentum & spin])

Eddie Marsan (the memorable Mr Pancks of recent TV series [I]Little Dorrit) is also strong as the unbalanced driving instructor (if this was his story it might be called Unhappy-Stay-Unlucky ;))

Quite a Middlemarch-style 'floating' end - with lives carrying on, changed but the same, rather than some tumultuous revelation or world-rending crash. Which felt pretty damn suitable as well :)

Swedish Chef

01-03-09, 12:55 PM

Whereas if a man had directed the same movie it would have been limp celebration of such? Regardless of the director's gender, this movie is not a mighty anything. Anyway I'm curious why you peg it as a movie primarily about gender. The big idea of the movie, related to the audience in the most blunt terms possible, is that if you dress it up with the right pretensions a given audience will watch just about anything and even expect meaningful insights. If the movie had actually engaged me into more than giggling at a few one-liners and expressions and not spending the rest of the running time glancing at my fellow viewers to see if they were similarly bored (I was very happy to see that my girlfriend was -- swoon), it might have actually stung enough to leave a lasting impression. I mean, the self-professed point of the movie is to trick you into liking it and then call you an idiot at the end, but I didn't really ever like the movie so instead I get the same honor to feel my smugness validated that I'd get from being called smart by a drooling imbecile. Pretty thin reward.

While the fact that a woman directed it shouldn't matter at all, it definitely enhances some of the laughs for me, so what can I tell ya? Anyway, American Psycho's not just about gender, but I think anybody can see what it's at least trying to lampoon. The film is superficial and simple by design, so going in expecting any clear-cut meaningful insights is a little tricky. Maybe it is lazy and pretentious on the part of the filmmaker, but it's a flick that, in my mind, asks the viewer to project what they want to see or think instead of telling them. So on the one hand it's strikingly obvious about what it wants to get across and on the other it's magnificently, secretly ambiguous and subtle. But that doesn't make any sense, so what am I talking about? I don't know. I do know that I don't feel tricked or bamboozled or anything by American Psycho at all. And I know that I didn't really like it the first time I saw it. And I also know that a lot of your criticisms are pretty damning, but I feel like they actually apply a lot more to the book than the movie. And, finally, I know that American Psycho left a lasting impression on me. It impressed me.

Mrs. Darcy

01-03-09, 07:14 PM

The Day the Earth Stood Still
http://www.horroria.com/i/nposters/10/46/104691-HR.jpg
I tried to work up some enthusiasm for this movie, but I can't. It just left me feeling, 'meh'. http://www.movieforums.com/images/popcorn/2.5box.gif

Pros: That said, it had a few moments. The message from the original was the same, and I think it was more clearly stated. It's a good message, we should listen. Keanu did an admirable job as the humanoid visitor, and the special effects were more exciting than in the original. I also liked that our science knowledge is advanced anough in the 21st century to be able to actually have a discussion about physiology of alien visitors that is believable.

Cons: The cost for humans to get their second chance was unstated, and even harder to infer if that's what they wanted the viewer to do. I left the theater asking what the payout for Earthlings was going to be.
The effects though more exciting, have been done before, all of it felt like it had been plucked from another sci-fi film and dropped into this one.

Powdered Water

01-03-09, 08:29 PM

Still rolling along here getting some Oscar prep in. There are a ton of good flicks out there right now and here are two more...

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen-2008) 3

I can see Penelope Cruz getting a Supporting nom for this although it sounds like she was pretty good in Elegy as well so she may get lost in the shuffle. I hope not. She's quite talented. I've got Elegy on deck here and I'll have to see if my powers that let me see the future can tell me if she'll be able to win for either role. I'll get back to you... ;)

As far as the film goes Woody's movies tend to leave me a little cold and this one is no different. He raises a lot of interesting points in this film and it can give you pause about life and relationships in general. But for me, (and this is just me talking about me here) I don't need to be constantly be reminded of how mixed up people are and how hopeless and unhappy so many people are in this world. Especially people that are in relationships which is subject that Woody seems to like to get into regularly. Personally I like to watch people that are trying to live in solutions instead of chaos, which is why I enjoyed the next flick so much.

Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh-2008) 4

I agree with you Gols, the scene you're referring to in the park or alley or whatever that was, was either brilliant or a little over the top, probably both. I still enjoyed it although it made me a little uncomfortable. Sally Hawkins was just spectacular as Poppy who apparently has never had a bad day in her life. I'll be honest, I didn't think the character was very genuine. I'm too pessimistic, I see too much evil in people instead of focusing on their good sides. But, by the end of this flick I was right there laughing with her and making little faces.

This movie isn't going to end the world's troubles. It won't put a smile on everyone's face but it could make a few stop and say to themselves. Why shouldn't I be happy? Poppy is happy, even though she's surounded by as much misery as everyone else. So why can't I be? I can, I just need to let things go a little more just like Poppy does.

I don't know if she'll be this year's winner or not for Best Actress but I think I'm rooting for her. Good stuff.

Iroquois

01-03-09, 09:51 PM

http://www.francevision.com/CATALOG_IMAGES/AMaSoeur.jpg

A ma soeur (Breillat, 2001) - 2

I'm still not entirely sure of my reasoning for watching this. Reading Thursday's review made me want to rent it out purely out of a strange sense of curiosity. It was one of those films where a lot of seemingly mundane conversation and action take place all the time and there's nothing that really grabs you until the very end. I spent the last 15 or so minutes of the movie waiting for a car crash to happen - not because I was bored, but because I felt that with a movie this slow and uneventful it was bound to climax with some sort of unexpected shock (and, to be fair, it did). Still, a decidedly "meh" movie.

http://thecia.com.au/reviews/p/images/proposition-poster-0.jpg

The Proposition (Hillcoat, 2005) - 3.5

The best thing I can say in favour of The Proposition is that the cinematography looks excellent. Every frame looks like a work of art. The problem is, I felt that the other aspects of the film didn't quite match up. I wonder if it should be considered a strength or a weakness for the film that the story tends to focus more on Ray Winstone's trooper captain and the various problems he faces in his "civilised" town than on Guy Pearce's bushranger. As a result, I felt a particular disconnection with Pearce's side of the story (which I felt was a problem, seeing as I got the impression that I was supposed to care about his character's plight to a certain degree). Granted, any complaints I have are relatively minor ones, but they're enough to warrant me ranking this no higher than 3.5.

Swan

01-03-09, 10:21 PM

What's Up, Doc? (1972) – 3

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/630026817901LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I liked this movie. I didn't really have any expectations going into it, but I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It made me laugh quite a bit, which is rare considering films don't easily make me laugh. Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand were great together. They reminded me of Harold and Maude at first, probably because they had the 'serious guy with a spunky girl' thing going on.

Bull Durham (1988) - 3.5

http://www.damemagazine.com/uploads/wysiwygpro/Bull_Durham_movie_poster-1.jpg

Awesome movie. I was into it the whole way through. Which is odd, considering it's a film about baseball (and sex), and I'm not much of a sports guy (I like sex though). I don't know what it is, but I guess there's just something about baseball movies - and baseball in general - that I like. But anyways, yes, I liked this movie. My main problem was Susan Sarandon. I just... don't like her. But Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins (Robbins especially) made up for her completely. In fact, I didn't realize it until just last night, but Tim Robbins is my all-time favorite actor. Every time I see him on screen he seems to shine for me. I go "that's Tim Robbins! Woo!” He seems to be my favorite character in every film he is in. Jacob Singer, Andy Dufresne, Dave Boyle, and now Nuke. Okay, so I didn't like his character in War of the Worlds, but he still played that character perfectly. And I just want to point out; his character in Bull Durham is the polar opposite of Andy Dufresne. Awesome actor and a great movie.

Brazil (1985) - 3.5

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/brazil-1985-us-poster-1-1.jpg

Let me just say that a rewatch is very much in order. I did like the movie a lot, but I feel seeing it again will increase my rating, my liking of the film, and my understanding of it. I shall buy it and rewatch it soon. :)

mark f

01-03-09, 10:25 PM

You do know that What's Up, Doc? is basically a remake of/homage to a screwball comedy classic?

http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_01_img0079.jpg

Swan

01-03-09, 10:27 PM

I didn't know that, mark. What movie are you talking about?

mark f

01-03-09, 10:28 PM

http://www.homevideos.com/movies-covers/BringingupBaby.jpg

Swan

01-03-09, 10:30 PM

That looks good just based on the leading cast. :yup:

I'll check it out.

Iroquois

01-04-09, 08:30 AM

http://www.kennislink.nl/upload/130464_962_1113983470045-pi_movie.jpg

Pi (Aronofsky, 1998) - 3

It's a weird situation I found myself in with Pi. On one hand, I had to admire the intelligence behind the film's story. On the other hand, I found the visual style and some of the acting to be bothersome more often than not. I was reminded a lot of Primer, although Pi's plot was far easier to comprehend, although I'd say that was compromised by the film's grainy black-and-white look.

undercoverlover

01-04-09, 01:43 PM

Secretary - much funnier on a rewatching, perhaps it was my flatmates reaction to it as shed never seen it before but the film was suddenly hilarious.

Lennon

01-04-09, 01:45 PM

Clerks II- Still hilarious.

Swan

01-04-09, 04:05 PM

Gigli

I finally watched it... please don't make me watch it again. http://www.cloverfieldmovieforum.com/images/smilies/YahooSmilies/2.gif

Movie Maven

01-04-09, 05:08 PM

http://i42.tinypic.com/aekynq.jpg

TheDOMINATOR

01-04-09, 07:34 PM

Matter of Trust - 2

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2007/51bjx0d6rglsl160ob9.jpg

A "whodunnit" drama that wasn't very good. Some extremely good nudity was the film's best aspect.

The Man - 2.5

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/302/themanposternz2.jpg

Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy make quite the duo, but this movie wasn't quite as funny as I thought it would be and was too unbelievable and silly for its own good. Some decently funny one-liners, a couple of cool actions scenes, and a reference or two to Pulp Fiction throughout made The Man worth watching.

undercoverlover

01-04-09, 07:37 PM

^ that is the weirdest duo ever, the only weirder duo would be Barack Obama and Aquaman, or something to that effect

Blade 2 - awesome, lil too much CGI on Blade but its all good

Powdered Water

01-04-09, 10:20 PM

Aren't movies great?

Madagascar 2 (Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath-2008) 3.5

I don't think this has a chance to be award winning or anything but it certainly was every bit as much fun as the first one.

Dragon Hunters (Steve Shimek-2008) 3.5

I've never even heard a peep about this flick and it was a lot of fun. A very cool animated feature with Forrest Whitaker as the voice of the main character. I guess a French company was behind most of the production and it showed. Very good animation style, a very cool looking world and a relatively simple but sweet story.

Elegy (Isabel Coixet-2008) 3.5

Not sure why Ben Button is getting so much love when flicks like this are being completely overlooked in some circles. Sir Ben Kingsley was very good in this. Much better than Brad Pitt, who it seems is a shoe in for an Oscar nom. Whatever. I can see why certain critics are picking Penelope Cruz for this one instead of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, she had more to do in this flick. A pretty heart wrenching movie by the way.

Revolutionary Road (Sam Mendes-2008) 4

This was very good and brutally honest. I have a hard time seeing this even getting nominated. The Academy does surprise me sometimes though. They did nominate and give the Oscar to American Beauty much to my surprise and pleasure so anything's possible right? Coincidentally this is the exact same director as American Beauty so perhaps he does this on purpose just to see how uncomfortable he can make the masses.

This is one of the more honest films about everday life that I can remember seeing in the last 10 years or so. This is another guy much like Eastwood who is never afraid to show an audience just how messy life really is.

Now typically I don't really care for stories about how miserable people are in their lives. I wish the majority of folks would try to find a little more joy in the little things instead of being so damn unhappy all the time. Americans in particular are some of the most spoiled and completely miserable people on the face of the Earth and I have never understood that. I think Mendes doesn't understand it either. Maybe this is just his little way of trying to get people talking. I don't know.

It's a helluva movie though so we'll just wait and see what happens.

Changeling (Clint Eastwood-2008) 4.5

Wow. And why is it exactly that this isn't going to be nominated for Best Picture? What, just because it didn't come out in the last week it isn't worthy? This is better than Gran Torino and it deserves more than an empty nomination for Jolie who has no chance of winning Best Actress. The way these awards work sometimes really bugs me.

Anyway, what a story. I'm going to go and do a little reading about what really happened so I can quench my thirst.

Swan

01-04-09, 10:30 PM

Changeling (Clint Eastwood-2008) 4.5

Wow. And why is it exactly that this isn't going to be nominated for Best Picture? What, just because it didn't come out in the last week it isn't worthy? This is better than Gran Torino and it deserves more than an empty nomination for Jolie who has no chance of winning Best Actress. The way these awards work sometimes really bugs me.

Changeling would win every award if I had my way. :cool:

Caitlyn

01-04-09, 10:41 PM

In fact, I didn't realize it until just last night, but Tim Robbins is my all-time favorite actor. Every time I see him on screen he seems to shine for me. I go "that's Tim Robbins! Woo!” He seems to be my favorite character in every film he is in. Jacob Singer, Andy Dufresne, Dave Boyle, and now Nuke. Okay, so I didn't like his character in War of the Worlds, but he still played that character perfectly. And I just want to point out; his character in Bull Durham is the polar opposite of Andy Dufresne. Awesome actor and a great movie.

Have you ever seen Tim with Martin Lawrence in Nothing to Lose? I haven't seen it in ages but if memory serves, it was good for several laughs...

Swan

01-04-09, 11:15 PM

Have you ever seen Tim with Martin Lawrence in Nothing to Lose? I haven't seen it in ages but if memory serves, it was good for several laughs...

No, but I do want to see his work that I haven't seen, so I'm going to see it. :)

mark f

01-04-09, 11:20 PM

One of Tim's best performances is certainly as Bob Roberts, which is the first film he directed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2uWcukaSpg

Swan

01-04-09, 11:24 PM

That looks unbelievably tasty, mark.

I'm going to go put that at #1 on my Netflix queue now.

igor_is_fugly

01-05-09, 12:19 AM

had a horror movie-thon last night with Becca and watched....

Darkness Falls (2003)

http://moviesmedia.ign.com/movies/image/DarknessFalls2-sm.jpg

less scary, more intense and this one i've been watching since it came out and i was little-er so it was nice to see it again i hadn't seen it for a while

Wrong Turn (2003)

http://www.cineclub.de/images/2003/08/wrong_turn_2.jpg

I saw it once a long time ago and it was pretty much what i expected it to be

Silent Hill (2006)

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c119/alexmm/pyramid_head_movie_small.jpg

Pyramid head is so cool looking. This one is my favorite of all that we watched :yup: i've seen it a lot actually...

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)

http://www.horrorphile.net/images/wrong-turn-2-dead-end-henry-rollins.jpg

yeeeeah the original was better

My comments about said marathon-
Wrong Turn 2 was such a sad experience for me. The original was one of the first horror movies I obsessed over when I was a youngling and it will forever hold a special place in my heart. All of the characters in Wrong Turn 2 sucked, and none of the kill scenes were creative or very gory besides the first one. And they killed off two of the characters from the first one and I was just like...what. You can't kill them, I grew up with them! I did love the pycho teenage girl mutant hick though. So. Crazy.
Silent Hill was awesome as ever. One of the most visually pleasing horror movies out there, and has one of the only death scenes that truly makes me cringe.
Darkness Falls-WHY DO I LIKE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH? It's not exceptional in any way, but it's just so entertaining!

rice1245

01-05-09, 12:22 AM

My comments about said marathon-
Wrong Turn 2 was such a sad experience for me. The original was one of the first horror movies I obsessed over when I was a youngling and it will forever hold a special place in my heart. All of the characters in Wrong Turn 2 sucked, and none of the kill scenes were creative or very gory besides the first one. And they killed off two of the characters from the first one and I was just like...what. You can't kill them, I grew up with them! I did love the pycho teenage girl mutant hick though. So. Crazy.
Silent Hill was awesome as ever. One of the most visually pleasing horror movies out there, and has one of the only death scenes that truly makes me cringe.
Darkness Falls-WHY DO I LIKE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH? It's not exceptional in any way, but it's just so entertaining!

Kaitlyn nooo0o0o0o!!

anyway, you liked that one dude that was cheating on his gf! haha but yeah Wrong Turn 2...:nope:

igor_is_fugly

01-05-09, 12:43 AM

Kaitlyn nooo0o0o0o!!

anyway, you liked that one dude that was cheating on his gf! haha but yeah Wrong Turn 2...:nope:

Ha, yeah he was the only one that had any hope of evolving into a not one dimensional character. But I was still rooting for Teeanagegirlmutanthickthing over him.

Swan

01-05-09, 12:52 AM

I watched Singin' in the Rain for the first time today. I'm having a hard time deciding on an exact rating (it would probably be a 4, but that's nothing official and it could actually be a bit higher), but I loved the film. A lot more than I expected to.

And the title song always reminds me of this guy:

http://www.sessiocontinua.com/uploaded_images/lanaranjamecanica-739313.jpg

Swedish Chef

01-05-09, 03:40 AM

Been desperately trying to catch up with worthwhile-looking films from 2008 before all the worthwhile-looking films of 2009 start popping up and so in the past two days I've watched...

http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/images/willsmith-hancock.jpg

Hancock (Peter Berg, 2008)

See, now I think this is every bit the equal of Iron Man and maybe just a bit below The Dark Knight but, for some pretty silly reason, it got trashed by the critical community at large. I dunno, but I get jazzed up by just seeing a new superhero and Hancock serves us a different spin on a genre that seems like it's been spun quite a few times already. How do you not admire it for that?

I can see that the movie's got a bit of an identity crisis on its hands, but that's actually sneakily very meta and self-aware, because don't all superheroes have an identity crisis? And, yeah, okay, I can see that it's got some pretty shaky, convenient superhero mythology type stuff that it rolls out very blandly and matter-of-factly by way of Charlize Theron. But considering this is a superhero that hasn't been ingrained in the public's collective psyche for the past 60 years, I think they did an okay job on that front.

Basically, I'm just saying the positives outweigh the negatives and the negatives aren't that credible to begin with. This is a funny movie. And they reunited Michael Bluth with his MRF, so why is anybody complaining, really? And dang, Jason Bateman has gotta be the definitive, textbook everyman/straight man for this or any millennium. He could ground any movie in reality and he grounded this one in some pretty serious reality, so good job, Bateman!

Will Smith, by the by, even if he does make a bad flick from time to time, should always be given the benfeit of the doubt. On how many different occasions has that man single-handedly saved the world from sure destruction? 8? 9? Either way, dude deserves our respect. Welcome to earf, indeed.

3.5

http://videodetective.com/photos/1456/06115811_.jpg

Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh, 2008)

I haven't seen a whole bunch of Mike Leigh flicks, but the thing I admire most about the ones I have seen is the fact that I feel I personally know someone who's exactly like nearly all of his characters. I'm not sure I described that properly, but I'll also add that whenever Mike Leigh's characters talk, I get the sense I've had some variation on the same kind of conversation those characters are having. This is pretty high praise, so I hope what I just said makes sense.

And as much as I love all the characters in the few Leigh movies I have seen, Poppy in Happy-Go-Lucky is probably my favorite. Part of this is Sally Hawkins, but I give the credit to Leigh, as well. I dig that, at first, you feel like you know exactly who she is but you gradually are given so many more layers until the end when you finally realize how much is actually there. This sounds like regular ol' character development, but it's different and much more organic/unique. And, yeah, Hawkins is the balls. Eddie Marsan is really good, too, as the off balaced driving instructor.

Not that this matters, really, but from the couple of interviews I've read of Leigh's, he seems like a bit of pompous prick. So much of a pompous prick, in fact, that I'm not sure how he'd react when he saw some clown on the internet rating his newest independent rave with the same grade as Hancock. But if you're reading this, Mr. Leigh (and I know you are), just know I really liked your new film and actually why don't you take some advice from your new film: Lighten the flip up, man. You're only as happy as you think you are.

3.5

Also saw The Mutant Chronicles. I guess I just like to torture myself sometimes.

mark f

01-05-09, 05:17 AM

Idiocracy (Mike Judge, 2006) 3

http://www.reverseshot.com/files/images/pre-issue22/idiocracy2.gif

Good sci-fi adventure comedy, somewhat in the spirit of Demolition Man, where the most-average American soldier, Joe (Luke Wilson), and an on-the-run prostitute, Rita (Maya Rudolph), agree to be guinea pigs for a year-long hibernation experiment, but unfortunately, they end up in hibernation for half a millenium. When they come out, they find the United States inhabited by complete morons and the President (Terry Crews) is a former wrestler who wants to recruit Joe as Secretary of the Interior (because his I.Q. test says he's currently the world's smartest man) in spite of Joe's constant run-ins with the law due to his inability to adapt to the current world's idiocy. Along with the help of Rita, Joe tries to solve the current food crisis since nothing seems to grow anymore. Even if some of the jokes are overused, there are plenty of laughs in this film which I'm also tempted not to call sci-fi or comedy. I don't find it a reason to laugh when so many of my students and the "average citizens" of the U.S. are so ill-informed, superstitious and just plain brain-dead. Sorry, Swedish... :D

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956) 3

http://www.shotgunreviews.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/invasion4.jpg

This B+ sci-fi flick, released in the year of my birth, is a stripped-down paranoid thriller, where your friends and neighbors aren't so much dumbed-down as they are turned into unemotional inhuman beings. Back in the day, it was a belated response to McCarthyism (Joseph, not Kevin), but I think it plays out better as pure horror/sci-fi than a political commentary. The cast does quite well, and Kevin McCarthy and King Donovan have probably never been better. When the pods and "pre-humans" start showing up, your skin will probably crawl. For some reason, I've never fully embraced this version, but it's great filmmaking and took director Siegel to another level from his usual action flicks heretofore. I recommend this one, but I like Phil Kaufman's remake even better. Oh, yeah; remember, "You're next! You're next! You're next!"

Shall We Dance (Mark Sandrich, 1937) 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipOfF-eZPkQ

This is a later Fred and Ginger musical extravaganza, and somehow it gets forgotten amongst their greats, but I'm here to remind people of several reasons why this is one of the best. Did you watch the video above? "They Can't Take That Away From Me" is probably the best song ever in one of their films. Fred sings it beautifully, and the entire film consists of George and Ira Gershwin winners. Edward Everett Horton may well give his most hilarious performance as Fred's manager, and Eric Blore, who is often a laugh riot, creates a major riot at the Susquehanna Street Jail when he tries to phonetically spell every damn word he says to the clueless Horton over the phone. The plot is basically inconsequential because every one of their films has a mistaken identity/hate-turns-to-love plot, but just let them dance up a storm, have Fred sing a love song and have the second bananas be just as funny as they can naturally be and "That's Entertainment!"

Journey to the Seventh Planet (Sidney Pink, 1962) 1

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/bejmaf/seventhplanet.jpg

The first half of my John Agar C-movie sci-fi festival is this Danish flick, which, although made a decade before the original Solaris, incorporates some of that film's plot points about people bringing their memories and emotions with them to another planet (in this case, Uranus) where other beings can use them to control us. (Allegedly, the novel Solaris was released a year before this film was, so maybe this cheapjack flick did steal from it.) Anyway, this film is also somehow set in 2001, when there are five male astronauts who land on Uranus, but before they do, they are unknowingly put into stasis by something who probes and analyzes them, so when they land on the cold, gaseous planet, it somehow transforms into a lush Garden of Eden world, complete with beautiful blondes. There are a few interesting photographic effects of the spaceships and some weird abstract imagery using multiple fluctuating color arrangements, but the whole thing is just so cornball and amateurish on so many levels. If you like low-budget 1960s color sci-fi, you may want to watch it, especially since it seems prescient thematically to Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey, but don't expect anything cool like Planet of the Vampires.

Invisible Invaders (Edward L. Cahn, 1959) 1

http://www.trc4u.com/dvd/INVISIBLE-INVADERS-FULL.jpg

This film came out the same year as Plan 9 From Outer Space and covers much of the same ground, even though Plan 9 was filmed three years earlier and basically went unseen for quite a time. This flick begins with scientist John Carradine blowing himself up in an atomic experiment, and his best friend, Dr. Penner (Philip Tonge), resigns from leading the military's nuclear program. However, that's bad timing because invisible aliens are pissed at us for our latest dispersal of radiation into the galaxy and have come to Earth to possess all dead humans (including Carradine) to try to destroy the Earth before we can send more destruction out into space. What's amusing about this film is that we have a narrator, a la Plan 9, but it's no money-grubber like Criswell, and besides, this idiot narrator never even gets to say anything unintentionally funny. I mean, he sounds funny, but his words aren't funny at all. There are a few silly goings on concerning macho "Major Jay" (John Agar) who fights it out with a cowardly scientist (Robert Hutton) for the affections of Penner's daughter (Jean Byron), but with all the undead walking around outside their mountain compound, you would have thought that something semi-exciting or incomprehensibly-ridiculous would happen. Instead, Invisible Invaders' sin seems to be that it's borderline competent without a sense of camp. Well, I guess there's only one Plan 9 From Outer Space.

I'm about halfway through Jackie Chan's Drunken Master, and right now, I'm leaning towards 3.5, but I'll write that one up next time.

Sneak Preview (Coming Attraction):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4SkO3ypCXw

I also rewatched the [original] pilot of "Twin Peaks" with my wife and daughter (the latter has never seen it and requested it). That is far superior to anything else Lynch has directed in the last 20 years. As an aside, did "Twin Peaks" have the most attractive female cast ever?

Pyro Tramp

01-05-09, 08:40 AM

Weyy, Mark getting through some of my favourite stuff there. The choreography in the final fight of Drunken Master is nigh on flawless. And as for Twin Peaks, don't forget about Heather Graham joining in the Second Season, so in answer to your question, yes, yes it does have the most attractive female cast ever. I'd be interested to know your take on the final episode though? As it shows the other side of Lynch's directorial spectrum, i'd say.

Oh, and girls, Wrong Turn 2 is FAR better than the original. C'mon Henry Rollins is bad ass. And despite the cliches and hokey bits, it still has far more un-pretentious fun with itself then the most other STDs

Swedish Chef

01-05-09, 09:54 AM

http://history.sffs.org/i/films/1994/Priscilla_Queen_Of_The_Dess.jpg

Most attractive female cast, period

mark f

01-05-09, 10:01 AM

See what I'm talking about?

Swedish Chef

01-05-09, 10:09 AM

You're wrong, Marko. It's good that everybody's at least a little ill-informed or brain-dead. I guess we all already think that we know everything, but how horrible would it be if we actually did?

TheDOMINATOR

01-05-09, 01:34 PM

Once Upon a Time in the West - 3.5

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/3483/leonegeneralwestuj2.jpg

With the exception of a couple here and there, this was the first "big," real Western film I've ever seen. And I'm not quite sure what to make of it. The story was gripping, excellent performances all-around were delivered, and the locations of the film were beyond beautiful, but quite a few things bothered me about the movie. With the exception of a few, every single scene seemed to d r a g on and was *much* longer than I felt needed to be. For example, the opening sequence last around fifteen minutes, and about eight of those minutes were spent watching the one man sit on the chair, trying to blow a fly off his face.

I can understand building up suspense and setting a tone, but what happened here seemed a bit excessive.

Golgot

01-05-09, 02:29 PM

Kinky Boots - Another britcom jostling for position in the Full Monty pouch. Pretty patchy, but boasts a full-bodied performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor. Ok, so in real life the struggling shoe factory pimped its wares in equally dowdy Dussledorf, not the Milan of the film, but everyone likes some colour and safe sexual-allusions with their feel-goodness right?

Reminds me i also saw...

Calender Girls - I'm not really the target audience for this equally 'true story based' tale of mumsy nudity, so found it about as rebellious as headbutting a dandelion. Still stays true to the FM tune of worthy-entrepreneurialness and slow-paced raciness in a pretty endearing way.

Garden State - Hmm, had its moments, but this damaged home-coming felt like almost too-personal a journey by Zach Braff on one hand, and then a bit too blandly generic on the other. Criticism of over-medication is one worthy strand i felt was handled well, and the slightly more upbeat mini-adventure in the final third also added some popcorn appeal.

Swedish Chef

01-05-09, 04:45 PM

I didn't love Garden State or anything, but the fact that Peter Saarsgaard's character collected Desert Storm trading cards was just about perfect. That's pretty much the only thing I remember about the movie, so while that may not be a good sign, at least it's a fond memory.

Fenwick

01-05-09, 07:09 PM

L'Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/LEclisse%20pic%201.jpg

A masterpiece of tone and composition, this glorious piece of trademark Antoniennui lit up Cannes in 1962 and sparkled in my living room in 2008. Antonioni continues to develop the constant themes in his work; social anxiety, the fragmented nature of post war Italy, artificiality of human emotion etc.

For me Antonioni was one of the great painters of European Cinema. Although Antonioni often eschews any sense of plot, the sheer beauty of his work continues to utterly mesmerise me. The gorgeous Monica Vitti is simply poetic as the sexually repressed Vittoria. She pines for love but struggles to hide her difficulties in expressing it. Never is she aware of where to find it or what to do with it. Its a beautiful conception and an unsettling meditation on the subtleties of body and soul.

Alain Delon, who is probably better known for his gangster roles as Jef Costello and Corey in Melville's Le Samourai (1967) and Le Cercle Rouge (1970), gives a magnificent turn as ambitious stockbroker Piero. Like Vittoria, Piero lacks any sense of direction; his afternoons are spent in a bustling bank turned stockroom competing with other disenchanted Italians attempting to turn their thousands into millions.

Piero and Vittoria are one of the most interesting Antonioni couples. Although they lack the desperation of Sandro and Claudio from L'Avventura (Antonioni's masterwork in my opinion), they are equally perplexed by love and its intracacies. They know they want and need it but are at pains to discover how to access their emotions. This is reaffirmed through Antonioni's ambiguous closing sequence; a melding of used story components and other, similarly bewildered couples.

Grade: A

mark f

01-05-09, 07:54 PM

Fenwick

01-05-09, 08:22 PM

Nice review. Although my thoughts here (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=425429&highlight=l%27eclisse#post425429) seem to disagree with you, in the case of Antonioni I believe that there is plenty of room for common ground even if the ratings drastically differ.

Thanks for your comments Mark.

Antonioni has been know to divide opinion. Anybody with even a modicum of film knowldge will note Antonioni's interest in the breakdown of communication in relationships. I think the appropriate phrase is...easy to understand, difficult to appreciate. His images just seem to resonate with me; they compel me, exhaust me, entertain me, enchant me. The beginning of L'Avventura accounts for forty of the most breathtaking minutes i've ever experienced in film.

http://matchcuts.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/avventura-1.jpg

Your comments on the ending of L'Eclisse are very interesting. Likewise, I thought Antonioni was merely departing into a pretentious, ambiguous for the sake of being ambiguous ending. However, Antonioni continued to enchant me despite my immediate reservations. Looking back, the ending was overly artful; it probably does debase the viewer from the action. This is something which usually bothers me but to be honest, I just cant get past the beauty of it all.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Swedish Chef

01-05-09, 08:51 PM

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll294/SwedishChef20/slumdogmillionaireICpic.jpg

Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008)

Yikes, this movie kind of sucked. I don't wanna reduce myself to just throwing around a bunch of critic buzz words here, but I'd say contrived, predictable, silly and ridiculous would all do the trick in accurately pinning down this one. If you can think of a sterotypical bad movie trapping, Slumdog's got it and it's got it bad. Cookie-cutter characters? Yep. A dumb, single-minded plot that weaves through time frames a lot less expertly than some of these reviews would have you believe? Yep. Unbelieveable coincidences that M Night Shyamalan would have a hard time fitting into a movie? Oh yeah.

I mean, come on, how can you have a fairytale romance featuring two leads (at least in their teenage and young adult incarnations) who have about as much chemistry together as two people who have zero chemistry together? Seriously. And what is the purpose (I know there isn't a purpose, but I'm asking anyway) of the brother's crime syndicate subplot? It's a lame, modern, Indian take on Dickensian fluffery. Fine. Why does it feel it also has to be City of God 2: Return to the City of God? I have a lot of other complaints, but this is getting boring and if you want to get bored, I'd suggest you just go watch Slumdog Millionaire.

Now, okay, I did mildly enjoy some of the flashbacks of main character Jamal's childhood, but it's nothing your average moviegoer hasn't seen before. I also dug some of the choices Boyle made, like foregoing a clumsy narration as well as some pitch-perfect soundtrack selections. And, yeah, I give Boyle credit - Slumdog's a technically very well-made movie that's shot superbly. But for a film that's banking so much on hitting you in the gut and winning over your heart, technically well-made isn't gonna cut it. How is the movie "winning" and how is it even remotely a crowd pleaser when it's this flippin artificial? And soooooo predictable? And, for the love of God, how many rhetorical questions can I fit in this post?!

Guess I'm in the overwhelming minority on this one, but sheesh, I don't get it.

1.5

undercoverlover

01-05-09, 09:32 PM

wow that is totally opposite to everything ive heard about this movie. Now im intrigued

iluv2viddyfilms

01-05-09, 11:06 PM

Vampire's Kiss (1989, Robert Bierman)

http://www.vampyres-online.com/images/alt3_vampires_kiss_big.jpg

Here's a vampire movie without a vampire in it, and it's a gem of a film to tell the truth. Basically it's a one man show of Nic Cage showing off his less serious and more neurotic side. He's invokes Chaplin with his physical humor, but there's a dark underbelly to his humor which is clear when he hassles, stalks, and rapes his secretary (Maria Conchita Alonso). The premise is a bat flies into the room while Cage is having sex with a girl he's picked up. The bat bites him and he starts to think he's a vampire. He already has a fragile mind as he's visiting a psychiatrist (Elizabeth Ashley).
This is a very bizarre film and one of a kind. It's a cross between Office Space and American Psycho with a few vampire legends thrown in for good measure. Some of the scenes between Cage and Alonso are so off the wall they must be viewed as no amount of words could do them justice.

Grade: B+

Swan

01-06-09, 12:47 AM

Children of Men

"Sweet baby Jesus" defines this film in more than one way.

The Shop Around the Corner

I have a feeling this classic is a new favorite of mine. James Stewart is the man, man.

rice1245

01-06-09, 12:55 AM

Chinatown (1974) - 4.5
[first viewing]

http://mmimageslarge.moviemail-online.co.uk/Chinatown.jpg.asset_rgb.jpg

perfectly comprised mystery, it kept my attention the whole time

Dead Man (1995) - 4
[first viewing]

http://blogs.allocine.fr/blogsdatas/mdata/1/8/4/Z20050915014319810894481/img/dead_man_9.jpg

yay i finally saw this! I'm not sure how i felt about that guitar playing loudly and randomely all the time, sometimes i thought it was really annoying and other times i liked its stylistic presence. I loved Johnny Depp too as usual.

Princess Mononoke (1997) -
[hadn't seen it in a looong time]

http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org/japanesepaintings/images/popuplarge/2_5a.jpg

I looove this movie! I can't figure out what to rate it because it's another childhood movie that i'll love no matter what and it's so whatchable! I watched it yesterday for the first time in a long time then i watched it today with my friend who i used to watch it with a long time ago so it was nice to hand out with her again :yup: brought back memories!

For a Few Dollars More (1965) - 4.5

http://www.geocities.com/mattreigns/Westerns/fafdm.jpg

I loved this one almost as much as i love The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Which is saying something. I still haven't seen Fistful of Dollars because it was checked out at the movie store and something tells me you don't have to watch these in any order...Clint Eastwood is my hero i love him.

mikeython1

01-06-09, 01:10 AM

Sergio Leone movies are great. You definitly need to see Fistfull of Dollars. You might also want to see Fistfull Of Dynamite and Once Upon A Time In The West.
http://www.jdmfilmreviews.com/images/fistful-of-dynamite1.jpg

http://img.blogcu.com/uploads/alturkkaan_Ennio_Morricone_-_Once_Upon_A_Time_In_The_West.jpg

rice1245

01-06-09, 01:12 AM

yeah! those are both on my list :yup:

mikeython1

01-06-09, 01:14 AM

I did not know if you were just a Eastwood fan or a Western fan?

mark f

01-06-09, 01:16 AM

She doesn't know either, but she's working on it! :cool:

rice1245

01-06-09, 01:19 AM

She doesn't know either, but she's working on it! :cool:

Very true! i've watched more Westerns in the past couple of months than i have in my lifetime and i will continue on because i'm really liking them so far but mostly Sergio Leone's stuff is always so appealing. I think when i next go to the movie store i'm getting My Neighbor Totoro and then Once Upon a Time in the West. But i am an Eastwood fan i love almost everything i've seen of his whether it's his acting or directing

mark f

01-06-09, 01:22 AM

I recommend Little Big Man, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Professionals, Barbarosa and One-Eyed Jacks. :)

Swan

01-06-09, 01:23 AM

Jeez... Westerns.... there are so many I need to see.

I have Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Magnificent Seven ready to watch, too. Butch Cassidy especially looks awesome.

mikeython1

01-06-09, 01:25 AM

I like what im hearing rice. Very hard to find somone your age and let alone a woman that likes westerns. Your a very rare breed! Your a pretty :cool: chick!

mark f

01-06-09, 01:26 AM

Of course she is, but we have other pretty women who love westerns around here...

rice1245

01-06-09, 01:28 AM

i just watched Butch Cassidy and Josey Wales very recently and One-Eyed Jacks was high on my list of next ones to watch, thank you though! i actually keep a list of westerns specifically that are high on my want to see priority list and i just added the ones you recommended because i trust you lol

Apache
Barbarosa
Dead Man
Django
Fistful of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
High Noon
High Plains Drifter
Little Big Man
Magnificent Seven
Once Upon a Time in the West
One-Eyed Jacks
Open Range
Ox-bow Incident
Professionals
Searchers
Treasure of Sierra Madre
Wild Bunch

the bold ones are ones i've seen since the time of me making this list which was a couple of weeks ago, it's really satisfying to cross them off of word :yup: i have lists like these for tons of other genres too but who doesn't?

mark f

01-06-09, 01:31 AM

http://heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/mr-burns-excellent.jpg

I forgot to mention Red River.

rice1245

01-06-09, 01:31 AM

Awe thanks guys! My interest was peaked by my mother because she absolutely loves westerns

we have other pretty women who love westerns around here...

definitely true, with way more cinematic experience than me but hey, i'm working on developing a cinematic palette lol

Holden Pike

01-06-09, 01:45 AM

Of course she is, but we have other pretty women who love westerns around here...

Awwww, shucks: you really think I'm purtee?

mark f

01-06-09, 01:47 AM

You're as purtee as a Holden Pike can be...

TheDOMINATOR

01-06-09, 01:50 AM

Daredevil (Director's Cut) - 3

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/6499/daredevilsw0.jpg

The Director's Cut of this movie is without a doubt superior to the theatrical version. In this version, there's an additional fight scene with Daredevil versus the Kingpin which, I feel, is a very good climactic scene; a final battle between the two arch-enemies. All-around, the movie still isn't spectacular, but the DC version helps make it better.

Normal Adolescent Behavior: Havoc 2 - 2.5

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/4073/havoc2normaladolescentbed9.jpg

The *only* reason why I saw this movie is because it stars Amber Tamblyn, one of my favorite actresses. The film was okay, but its plot is thin and, bluntly, not too much happens in it. The acting is pretty strong and the score is moving at times, but I wasn't expecting much to begin with and not much is what I got.

iluv2viddyfilms

01-06-09, 01:52 AM

Dead Man (1995) - 4
[first viewing]

For a Few Dollars More (1965) - 4.5

http://www.geocities.com/mattreigns/Westerns/fafdm.jpg

I loved this one almost as much as i love The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Which is saying something. I still haven't seen Fistful of Dollars because it was checked out at the movie store and something tells me you don't have to watch these in any order...Clint Eastwood is my hero i love him.

Yeah Dead Man is great. I show it to the kids in American Lit I.

For a Few Dollars More is my favorite of the Leone "Man With No Name Trilogy." It seems the most tight and has the most heart of the three. Fistful of Dollars is OK, but more so because of its influence and style. It doesn't do nearly as much for me as the other two. Of course Once Upon a Time in the West trumps those three.

TheDOMINATOR

01-06-09, 01:54 AM

For a Few Dollars More is my favorite of the Leone "Man With No Name Trilogy." It seems the most tight and has the most heart of the three. Fistful of Dollars is OK, but more so because of its influence and style. It doesn't do nearly as much for me as the other two. Of course Once Upon a Time in the West trumps those three.

I recently saw Once Upon a Time in the West for the first time just last night (look back two pages in this thread to see my thoughts in brief). I look forward to seeing that trilogy for the first time within the coming months and comparing them. :)

iluv2viddyfilms

01-06-09, 01:57 AM

http://heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/mr-burns-excellent.jpg

I forgot to mention Red River.

It is only the greatest spectacle ever!

http://www.bfi.org.uk/filmtvinfo/library/eventsexh/images/red-river_420.jpg

Another great classic is the Ox-Bow Incident.

Posse and The Hired Hand are a couple of revisionist westerns I enjoy a bunch as well.

Justin

01-06-09, 01:42 PM

The Wrestler (Aronofsky,2008) - 4.5

Easily the best film of the year...

MovieMan8877445

01-06-09, 05:43 PM

I recently saw Once Upon a Time in the West for the first time just last night (look back two pages in this thread to see my thoughts in brief). I look forward to seeing that trilogy for the first time within the coming months and comparing them. :)

'The Man With No Name' trilogy is great, I'm sure you'll love it Dom, especially The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. You really need to check out some more Eastwood stuff though Dom.

Used Future

01-06-09, 07:43 PM

http://www.screenhead.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/angel-a-poster.jpg

Angel-A (Luc Besson 2005) 3
After a six year hiatus Besson returned to the directors chair with this, a romantic comedic departure from his usual high octane crime thrillers. It's another film that initially flew under the radar for me, only to catch my eye from the dvd racks with its striking cover art.

Essentially a straightforward story of redemption, (a recurring theme in Besson films) Angel-A centers around André (Jamel Debbouze) a small time gambler/swindler with debts to criminal gangs all over Paris. Having hit rock bottom he decides to do himself in by jumping off a bridge, only to meet Angela (Rie Ramussen) a tall leggy blond there for exactly the same thing. Angela leaps first but is saved by André who jumps in after her. Seemingly bonded by fate much soul searching ensues as the two become inseparable; Angela even helping André raise money to pay off his debts. It's clear however that André has deeper issues holding him back, and that there's more to Angela than meets the eye...

I enjoyed this, but found nothing remarkable about the film besides the combination of location with Thierry Arbogast's impressive black and white photography. The two lead performances were quite charming (especially Debbouze) and there was certainly a pleasant quirky chemistry between them. Though without giving too much away nearly everything else about the film felt a little old hat to me. The supporting characters were strictly of the stock gangster variety, and the basic plot nothing new to write home about. Apart from obvious nods in the dialogue to Besson's 1994 hit Leon, little of the humor hit the spot either; I also found the ambiguous ending a bit of a cop out. But I still enjoyed it, it was a likable fantasy with philosophical dialogue that really sparkled at times (especially the coffee shop scene involving an ashtray;)). So yeah certainly not vintage Besson, but not a bad movie either, definitley worth a watch.

Powdered Water

01-06-09, 07:57 PM

I like that flick too UF, I'd say that's a pretty fair rating. I tend to overrate flicks from directors I love and I'm a bit of a sap so I probably liked the story a little more than you did but I agree with your overall review of it. That Blond was somethin' though wasn't she?

Used Future

01-06-09, 08:12 PM

That Blond was somethin' though wasn't she?

When I initially looked at the box I wondered if she was a transvestite/transsexual what with her being so tall. Besson was obviously going for a cartoon exaggerated odd couple look with the two leads.

To answer your question though yeah she had a pretty face, but I'm a brunette man myself.

Powdered Water

01-06-09, 08:17 PM

Dig it. Me too, she was a stunner though I reckon. I really like Jamel Debbouze as well. I loved him in Amelie and he's only got the use of one arm so my hats of to the guy. I was reading a bit about him online and he's a pretty interesting cat.

adidasss

01-06-09, 08:35 PM

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_GbtM-aVze1A/SIPnbhozMAI/AAAAAAAAIY4/0TPN5R3HghY/447_box_348x490.jpghttp://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41cwhHbVYOL.jpg

Two supreme film noirs (or crime thrillers) from the godfather of cool. I love you Criterion, sorry for stealing from youz...:(

4

rice1245

01-06-09, 11:50 PM

Species (1995)
[first viewing]

http://www.mainframe.cl/mf/imagenes/fantasia/species0.jpg

It was very entertaining, exactly what i was in the mood for for that moment

Once (2007)
[first viewing]
http://weblogs.variety.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/28/once1h.jpg

I wanted them to kiss sooo bad!! This movie was sooo cute (and i tend to veer away from cute ones...) I wish more movies could be like this one, it had a very personal feel to it and i think everybody could relate to it even if you're not a musician

Jacob's Ladder (1990)
[first viewing]

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/080721/jacobs-ladder_l.jpg

Tim Robbins is one of the saddest looking sad person ever :yup: I really liked this one a lot the more i sit on it...which has only been about an hour but looking back on it i really enjoyed it

mark f

01-06-09, 11:58 PM

What, no ratings? :)

rice1245

01-07-09, 12:04 AM

yeah =\ i feel like i've been giving everything high ratings but i like everything that i've been watching lately lol and i want to sit on Jacob's Ladder a bit more. But i give Species 3 for pure entertainment purposes and Once 4

mark f

01-07-09, 12:11 AM

Cool.

linespalsy

01-07-09, 12:31 AM

Haven't really watched anything else since my last post here but I think I forgot to mention these ones over the last month of movie-tabbing:

Synecdoche, NY - 3 borderline 3.5, maybe I'll watch it again some day to find out.
Milk - 3
Red Belt - 1.5

I'll also bump American Psycho up to a 1.5 because my previous comments along with my 1 says that I really disliked the movie when in fact I was just a bit indifferent. If it matters.

28 Days Later - 3
Naked Killer - 3.5+

And I noticed I forgot to grade Dirty Ho before: 3.5

Think that's it for now.

Iroquois

01-07-09, 01:04 AM

http://www.stargatecinema.com/files/cache/c844a9f6b234605bbc6467cda0b33da8.jpg

The Fountain (Aronofsky, 2006) - 4

That's a very high 4 I'm giving it. I don't really have much to say specifically that I probably didn't say when I properly reviewed it around this time last year. I still like it a lot, can't help but feel genuinely awed by some of the visuals (especially the final 20 minutes or so) and touched by the story, even if it jumps around like a kangaroo overdosing on red cordial.

Swan

01-07-09, 01:59 AM

Gone with the Wind (1939)

I wanted to give this a rating but it's sort of all over the place. My feelings are so mixed about it... part of me wants to hate it and part of me wants to love it. I guess all I can say is that the film is pretty captivating most of the time, I don't think I particularly loved the story. The first hour was great, and the last half-hour blew me away, but the rest didn't really do it for me. Vivien Leigh gave a great performance, and her stunning beauty didn't hurt, either. But she wasn't my favorite character at all (in fact, she was a jerk a lot of the time). My favorite character was... Mammy!

I feel like I can now rate older films better. For some reason, I have been having a hard time rating them. There are exceptions, like 12 Angry Men, but because I haven't seen a ton of older films (rather than the respectable amount of post-1965 films I have seen), I don't have much to compare them to. Though now I think, because of Gone with the Wind, I will have a better time rating older films. Don't know why.

More than anything, though, I want to comment on how unbelievably ahead of it's time this film was. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about since I haven't seen a ton of older movies of this sort (at least not as much as some people), but from what I do know this film was galaxies ahead of it's time. Being 4 hours long, I broke my viewing up into pieces. I had never paid attention to when it was made, so while I was watching the first hour and thinking about the possible dates it could have been, I thought probably in the late 40's, maybe even the 50's. After I finished watching the first hour I got up and took a look at the box.

"1939"

:eek:

mark f

01-07-09, 02:45 AM

If anybody cares, The Fountain - 2.5 and Gone With the Wind - 4. I think Ill go to the other thread to list 10 reasons why I love Gone With the Wind. Thanks, Swan. :)

Swan

01-07-09, 02:56 AM

I am excited to hear your reasons, mark, yes I am!

mark f

01-07-09, 05:14 AM

It took awhile, but they're up!

Iroquois

01-07-09, 06:46 AM

They'd better be good enough to convince me to sit through four hours' worth of Civil War melodrama. Will check later.

Anyway, back on topic...

http://www.genreonline.net/Genre_files/TimeBanditsLarge.jpg

Time Bandits (Gilliam, 1981) - 4

Terry Gilliam's twisted genius does it again. A brilliantly realised fantasy that takes a wide-eyed young boy on a journey through time and space amongst a group of colourful dwarfs, running into all manner of mythical and historical figures, both real and of Gilliam's own bizarre devising (none more so than Evil, the film's red-coated villain). The same can be said for the various locations that the Time Bandits travel to, especially the Time of Legends where the third act occurs. There's not really much I can say - it's a Terry Gilliam film and I just happen to be one of those people who "gets" his movies.

Yoda

01-07-09, 11:41 AM

Saw Woman of the Year (http://www.movieforums.com/lists/updates/2582.html) the other day. Liked it just fine -- loved the kitchen scene near the end, though like many older films it ends rather abruptly. 3.

Didn't like it nearly as much as another Katherine Hepburn movie I saw recently (http://www.movieforums.com/lists/updates/2458.html), though; The Philadelphia Story. Much funnier, and every bit as sweet. Then again, I'm kind of a sucker for the comedies of remarriage. 4.5.

Used Future

01-07-09, 07:33 PM

http://www.castlegore.co.uk/tombsoftheblinddead.jpg

La Noche Del Terror Ciego aka Tombs of the Blind Dead (Amando De Ossorio 1971) 2.5
This is the first in Spanish director Ossorio's notorious Blind Dead series which compisies of four films in all. It was followed by Return of the Evil Dead (1973), The Ghost Galleon (1974), and Night of the Seagulls (1975). I ordered the whole set from the US a few weeks back on Amazon as the first two films are cut in the UK. There are two versions of the film on the disc, a cut US print, and an uncut subtitled Spanish version; naturally I chose the latter.

The Blind Dead of the title are actually a group of 13th centuary Satan worshippping Templars, who having been executed for unholy crimes, return from their graves at night to drink the blood of the living. In this first installment a trio of friends (a volatile love triangle) head by train to the country for the weekend; only for one of them to go missing after stumbling on the Templars ruined monastry and waking them from their slumber.

I found this to be slow but watchable, moderately acted stuff, short on sense a lot the time, but very atmospheric with it. Most of the scenes with the dusty Blind Dead (blind because their eyeballs were pecked out by crows) were confined to the violent third act of the film, but it was definitley worth the wait. Shots of them riding on horseback in slow motion, and silently shambling after their prey were creepily effective. Unlike most zombie movies this certainly had it's own sense of gothic style, like a more explicit Spanish version of Hammer. Yes it's an exploitation affair with the obligatory lesbian love scene, over the top violence, buckets of blood and sex obsessed characters. Interesting if you like 70's Euro-horror, probably one to avoid otherwise.

Pyro Tramp

01-07-09, 07:54 PM

Looking forward to your thoughts on the rest of the collection, UF.

Just got back from Gonzo: The Life and Times of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. I think if i went in knowing more about the man i'd have come out less satisfied as it was essentially a blow by blow re-telling of his life. Some of what interesting but came of as slightly bias and straight forward, there was no real analysis or deep insight into the man. The documentary is mostly talking heads with a few supplementary clips of Hunter. On whole i found it pretty empty and didn't really come away with much, for all his praise there wasn't much of a flip-side to weigh it out (i remember once instance of criticism, not including the obvious things like his gun fixation) and as such found it bit hard to believe at times. It seemed more like a memorial to the man that gives as much information as Wikipedia woulda. My rating might be higher but did nod off for a bit 2

mikeython1

01-07-09, 07:59 PM

Is this the documentary where Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro are interviewed?

Powdered Water

01-07-09, 10:53 PM

Okey Dokey Smokey, needed a little break from all of the really excellent movies I've been watching lately so I'm going back to my old comfort zone... ;)

Evil Toons (Fred Olen Ray-1992) 3

Is this really a 3 popcorn movie? Not really I guess, I sure enjoyed it like a 3 popcorn movie though. So check it out, David Carradine is in this. Gotta love that. This is a pretty typical boobs and gore type of B movie with relatively no plot. Does that worry this reporter? Of course not. It had a cartoon creature taking out some relatively hot chics... Do I really need to say any more?

http://www.badmovies.org/capsules/e/eviltoons/eviltoons_cap2.jpg

The Ruins (Carter Smith-2008) 1.5

Zzzzzzzz, pretty much a snore. I'm a big Jena Malone fan but she was basically a whiny little cry baby through this whole flick and since she couldn't be bothered to run around in her underpants like her co-star was through much of the movie it was almost unwatchable. Oh well, the price was right.

Trailer Park of Terror (Steven Goldmann-2008) 3.5

This was really pretty great. It was so low budget and over the top that I probably shouldn't even rate it but dammit, I enjoyed the heck out of it. I love it when people put stuff like this out. Nothing about the story is going to blow most peoples skirts up but most of the actors did a pretty good job. I bet they had fun making this.

Quantum of Solace (Marc Forster-2008) 3

I guess I'm in the minority but I kind of like the way the two new Bond films have gone in a sort of grittier direction. Bond films are what they are and it seems to me that each man that has played Bond has made a mark of some kind on the charchter. I think Daniel Craig has made his mark. He certainly is going to be remebered for being the most intense Bond ever in my mind. I don't know if that's good or bad for this franchise overall but I still enjoy these last two as much of the rest of them, but that may just be me.

Son of Rambow (Garth Jennings-2007) 4.5

This was brilliant, if you haven't seen it; Run, don't walk to the nearest whatever and pick this flick up.

TheDOMINATOR

01-07-09, 11:37 PM

Awake - 3

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/3139/awakele3.jpg

This film was much different than I anticipated; it had an almost supernatural aspect to it which I found very surprising and thought-provoking. The plot of the story and its themes left me thinking about what transpired during the film several minutes after it was over.

Storm of the Century - 4

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2268/51vzgw0srqlwg2.jpg

One of my personal favorite Stephen King adaptations. Andre Linoge is one hell of a villain.

Bersicker

01-08-09, 01:47 AM

This is a catching me up-to-date for the last 10 days of films -

http://www.best-horror-movies.com/images/reanimator-movie-poster-small.jpg
6/10 - Fantastically campy horror

http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/images_5/DivingBellAndButterflyPoster.JPG
8.5/10 - Amazing story!

http://www.thedctraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/12-angry-men-movie-poster.jpg
9/10 - One of the greatest films I've ever seen.

http://rcrawford79.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/enter-the-dragon.jpg
7/10 - Quality Bruce Lee

http://www.peliculas.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/dos-polis-en-apuros-poster.jpg
6/10 - a well rounded film that suffered from Canadian production

http://www.clarkesworldbooks.com/images/large/lansdale_bubba_hc.jpg
7.5/10 - Bruce Campbell's best role to date.

http://heystupid.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/casablanca-poster-c10084167.jpeg
9/10 - They don't make movies like this anymore.

http://collectingtokens.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/nightmare_before_christmas_poster.jpg
9/10 - I loved this movie long before "emo" was a fad and stole it.

http://media.movieweb.com/prod/i/b/9/DV8mhbbhZT1ib9_l.jpg
9/10 - Magnificent film looking orgasmic on blu-ray!

http://www.dodgechallenger.net/images/vanishing_point_movie.jpg
7/10 - Kowalski is the ultimate racing badass

http://website.globacore.com/blog/wp-content/movie_poster_for_weird_science_1985.jpg
8/10 - John Hughes delivers another fantastic film.

http://www.horrorphile.net/images/black-christmas-movie-poster12.jpg
8/10 - One of the most well rounded horrors I've seen yet.

http://www.scifi-movies.com/images/a/aventuresdebilletted1991film/affiche.jpg
6.5/10 - Great campy fun

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/PE/287890%7ERudy-Posters.jpg
7/10 - No matter how hard I try, I always cry a little

http://www.adorocinema.com/filmes/mad-max/mad-max-poster02.jpg
6/10 - The Post Apocalyptic genre is born

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/30/007_SHINING_IT%7EShining-Posters.jpg
8.5/10 - Truly deserving on the title "Epic Horror"

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MG/186710%7EFright-Night-Posters.jpg
7/10 - Chris Sarandon is the man.

Typically I don't post so many movies all at once and I usually don't rate quite so high, but these were all generally movies I love. I have a tendency to be a "hard-marker".

mikeython1

01-08-09, 01:58 AM

Bersicker

01-08-09, 02:03 AM

That has got to be the most diverse list ever! I just watched Weird Science yesterday( It was on encore) and I love it. I have seen it a thousand times. I just did a review on The Road Warrior the other day http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=18244
I like John Carpenter so I am going to watch The Thing soon.

You haven't seen The Thing? :eek::eek: You must! If you like John Carpenter even the slightest little bit...it must be viewed. It is so well done. Just...ugh! So good! As for diversity, I just happened to watch a bunch of movies I got for Christmas and some my buddy brought over on New Years haha. There are 15 there from my collection which is almost at 400.

Iroquois

01-08-09, 04:12 AM

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/Treasure.jpg

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Huston, 1948) - 4.5

It seems like a lot of the times that I watch an especially old classic ("especially old" meaning "anything made before 1960"), I'm so impressed that I kick myself for not watching them more often. Treasure is such a film. It took a while to get the hang of understanding the characters' speech patterns and old-time colloquialisms, but once that happened, I was hooked. A well-made production, with great interplay between the leads. Tim Holt is great as the young straight-man Curtin, and of course Walter Huston deserved his Oscar as the wily old Howard, but of course I found Bogart's turn as Dobbs surprisingly compelling. It's a very about-face turn from the likeable rogues I've seen him play in The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, and several scenes from later on in the movie are rather unsettling as a result of the different vibe he gives. I can only hope this is available on DVD in Australia.

mark f

01-08-09, 05:20 AM

Towelhead (Alan Ball, 2008) 3.5

http://www.michaelmcshae.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/towelhead.jpg.w300h444.jpg

Oh wow! This flick comes across as American Beauty II, which isn't surprising considering the scripter and scorer, but this is far more disturbing in my opinion, and probably therefore more real. The incredible Summer Bishil plays the young 13-year-old girl who is all too sexually aware even though she has no parent who will talk to her legitimately about the subject. This film probably shows more sexual abuse than any other film I've ever seen, and most of that abuse comes from parents who feel it's A-OK to play out all their sexual fantasies in front of their kids while they never once engage them in any sexual guidance. This film is also about racism, but its main focus is how kids learn about and act out sexuality without any good role models. Now, the film does introduce alternate role models for the girl, but it's generally a dark story, including the political commentary of the first Gulf War. This might be interesting for all of The Dark Knight's fans to watch how Aaron Eckhart plays a scumbag, but then again, I recommend it to everyone, as long as they understand it's an unusually frank film where almost every adult character (including the helpful neighbors) prove themselves to be incapable of being good parents.

The Hoax (Lasse Hallström, 2006) 3

http://neurologicalcorrelates.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/the-hoax.jpg

This is a gritty, realistic depiction of the Howard Hughes/Clifford Irving incident, and Richard Gere is very good playing Irving, who claimed that he had tons of evidence from the reclusive billionaire Hughes to put into book form. Alfred Molina is equally good as his along-for-the-ride buddy Dick Suskind who's able to embroider a fictional story along with the best of them. Now, these guys weren't into it for small potatoes. They were trying to become millionaires, and even after Hughes claimed that Irving was a fraud, Irving still tried to prove him wrong and make some more money. This film is a good con-job flick, thriller and black comedy. If anything, I'm probably low-balling the rating.

Diggstown (Michael Ritchie, 1992) 3+

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZQSS5TKWL._SS500_.jpg

Yowza! This is another one of those con-job flicks! James Woods gives one of his best performances here in his battle of wits with millionaire ******* Bruce Dern. The gist of the story is that Woods is released from prison and immediately makes a bet with Dern, who pretty much knows that he can rig everything there is to rig to win his bet. The bet is that Woods' boxer Louis Gossett, Jr. can take on and defeat ten of Dern's opponents all in one night. This film is well-made by Ritchie, who again shows a nice touch for satire, black comedy, and, in this case, action. The boxing scenes are extremely entertaining, and 56-year-old man Gossett is surprisingly believable as a Lethal Weapon-type character, who kicks most everybody's ass. This is a very good film which I may, again, be underrating.

Silver Streak (Arthur Hiller, 1976) 3.5+

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/02/Silver_Streak_DVD_cover.jpg

Silver Streak was both Colin Higgins' return to movies after writing the awesome Harold and Maude script, and his reintroduction to Hollywood, with a Major Bang! Higgins had come up with an ingeniously-original take on Hitchcock films. In other words, most of the characters and plot devices could be seen to be lifted from Hitch's films, but the way he bathed them all in beautiful romance made the critics and the viewers not care in the slightest. Both this film, and its follow-up, Foul Play, which Higgins got to both WRITE AND DIRECT, were big moneymakers and enabled Higgins to direct both Nine to Five and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Unfortunately, Higgins died of AIDS without directing another film after Whorehouse, but he left behind plenty of entertainment for everyone.

Silver Streak lifts from North by Northwest, The Lady Vanishes, Shadow of a Doubt and Foreign Correspondent, among others. It also feeds into the romantic homages which Stanley Donen made. Since Silver Streak has a lush romantic score by Henry Mancini, it's often reminiscent of his scores for Donen's Charade and Two For the Road. The thing about Silver Streak is that about an hour into it, the incomparable Richard Pryor shows up and becomes Gene Wilder's accomplice. Now, Pryor is probably my fave stand-up comedian of all-time, but Hollywood tried to quash him. Even so, this film probably shows the most volatile and vibrant Pryor this side of all his concert films. Therefore, I recommend this flick, which has some of the best "special effects" ever at the end when the train destroys a shopping mall (in slow motion, yet!)

mark f

01-08-09, 05:26 AM

Iroquois

01-08-09, 05:33 AM

What did you think of Gold Hat (Alfonso Bedoya)?

Decent performance. Needed more badges.

Now you have no excuse to skip any Bogie movies. I'd probably vote for The Caine Mutiny and In a Lonely Place next. :cool:

I'll keep an eye out. The latter looks like the kind of movie I'd like.

Yoda

01-08-09, 11:45 AM

Quantum of Solace (Marc Forster-2008) 3

I guess I'm in the minority but I kind of like the way the two new Bond films have gone in a sort of grittier direction.
I think you're certainly in the majority with that sentiment, actually. Everyone digs on the new, grittier Bond. :yup: Though not everyone digs on Quantum of Solace.

Storm of the Century - 4

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2268/51vzgw0srqlwg2.jpg

One of my personal favorite Stephen King adaptations. Andre Linoge is one hell of a villain.
Good call. Really love it. Pretty solid for a TV-movie, and the story is one of the few King stories where the ending is as good as the buildup.

Golgot

01-08-09, 12:59 PM

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/09/28/serenity2_wideweb__430x287.jpg

Serenity

Rewatched it, and I'm still a sucker for its frontier sci-fi and self-depreciating humour. The grey coat allusions tied up in this 'brown coat' brigade with a black deputy-commander are perhaps a bit odd. And the Frankenstein element is nothing particularly new – but then none of it really is – just multiple memes stirred up and cutely packaged by Whedon's muse.

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/upload/films/img_Garage_300.jpg

Garage

Josie is slow more than stupid, but simple with it too at times. Heavy built but mainly light of heart, he leads a slumbering life manning the local garage, going on long walks, and lending a partially-understanding ear to those that cross his path.

Treated with gentle pity for the most part by the village community, you still sense the quiet walks and well-meaning sociability are a stop-gap form of satisfaction for him, and he would dearly love to engage in a greater way.

So keen and well-realised are the tragedies of a man who has trouble communicating with the world, and understands always a little too late, if at all, that I don't even know if I can recommend this film. But I should, because it has such a light touch in places, evokes the sometimes-harsh beauty of the Irish environs well, and has a winning way of building cumulative truths. Plus the horse is good (oh yes, there are some wry smiles with your tragedy too :))

Used Future

01-08-09, 01:45 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v55/dfd3657/Female_Prisoner_701_Scorpion_DVD.jpg

Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion (Shunya Ito 1972) 3.5
The first in Ito's women in prison series comprising of four films all starring the excellent Meiko Kaji (who swordplay fans may recognize from Toshiya Fujita's cool Lady Snowblood films). Subsequent entries in the series are as follows, Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41 (1972), Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973), and Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song (1973) directed by Yasuharu Hasebe. There was also a fifth installment made in 1976 called New Female Prisoner Scorpion, but Ito refused to get involved after budget cuts, and Kaji was replaced in the lead role by Yumi Takigawa.

In the film Kaji plays Nami Matsushima (Matsu for short) nicknamed 'Sasori-Scorpion' by the authorities and her fellow inmates. She's a wronged woman who only ended up in prison after attempting to murder the crooked police detective and former lover (Sugimi played by Natsuyagi Isao) who betrayed her. Sugimi also had links to the Yakuza and wants Matsu dead in case she incriminates him; rest assured this kicks off bigstyle.

Let me just start by saying that if you like Japanese grindhouse cinema and haven't seen these you need to do so asap. Meiko Kaji is absolute dynamite in these films, saying little, but speaking volumes with her intensely subtle body language. I liked her in the two Lady Snowblood films, but here she gives such an incredibly memorable performance as Scorpion that I was transfixed all the way through. This is full of your usual 'women's prison' exploitation ingredients, lesbian sex, nudity, violent catfights, gore and cruel torture scenes, but it's extremely well made with it. The photography is second to none and the entire supporting cast shine (particularly Rie Yokoyama as Katagiri a sadistic fellow inmate) ensuring nasty, sleazy fun all the way. Highly recommended.

http://www.megaviet.com/images/largeposters/1977.jpg

Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable (Shunya Ito 1973) 3.5
This one is much grimmer than the first with Scorpion now on the run in Tokyo after escaping from prison *. The insane pre/opening credit sequence is a highlight as our ruthless heroine hacks off the arm of a persuing police detective (Kondo played by Mikio Narita) after he handcuffs himself to her. We then get Scorpion's haunting theme tune sung to us (by Kaji) over the credits whilst she runs through the Tokyo streets with the bloody arm still dangling.

The plot sees her hide out with a young prostitute and her mentally retarded brother (who regularly have incestuous sex together). It's there that Scorpion tries to start a new life, until a perverted neighbour recognizes her from a wanted poster and attempts sexual blackmail. A vengeance filled (one armed) detective Kondo is also still on her trail, and there's a score to settle with a local prostitution racket after they kill a pregnant woman and her baby.

Yep it's not exactly cheerful, but Meiko Kaji is still incredible in the lead, the moody lighting and photography superb, and the supporting characters (including an old prison rival who keeps Ravens in an aviary) uniquely colorful. Again highly recommended for those with a tolerance for this sort of thing, it's very violent and sleazy though, so don't say I didn't warn you.

* This is actually part three in the series, I haven't seen part two yet as for some reason it's not included in the R1 box set I have.

Bersicker

01-08-09, 08:45 PM

http://bofrost.blogspirit.com/images/medium_mystic_river.jpg
8/10

I hadn't watched this movie since it was released on DVD 3+ years ago now. Watching it again reminded me why Clint Eastwood is so great. His direction was solid and fluid. There was always a sense of epic with this film when I watched it. Not that it's anywhere near an epic film, but that everything about it felt important. This is one of the few roles I enjoy Sean Penn in. The cast was a great cast and all in all a great execution as whole. Great movie.

MovieMan8877445

01-08-09, 08:48 PM

Swan

01-08-09, 09:05 PM

Raging Bull (1980) - 4.5

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/190898Raging-Bull-Posters-5-1.jpg

Okay I am not a big Scorsese fan at all. Even though I loved Taxi Driver, I hated Goodfellas and The Departed (both purely for boredom). This, though, this was amazing. Robert De Niro was stunning as the self-centered and delusional Jake La Motta, both physically and acting-wise. For some reason, it didn't seem like I was watching De Niro on screen at all. He completely transformed himself into his character, and the fact that he did it which very little physical changes (until the end), just further proves what a brilliant actor he is. It also really felt like he and Joe Pesci's character were actually brothers. I know they were supposed to be, but it's rare that 'brothers' in films actually feel like brothers. I have to give it to Scorsese, I now like an equal amount of his films as I hate.

undercoverlover

01-08-09, 09:12 PM

you didnt like goodfellas and the departed because they were boring! Taxi Driver is one of the most slow moving, uninteresting films ever. I know a lot of people think it's genius but its boring

TheDOMINATOR

01-08-09, 11:13 PM

Total Recall - 3

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/6193/total20recalljb5.jpg

And that's a very strong 3. I thought Total Recall was a very enjoyable Arnold flick conaining several memorable quotes and several memorable characters. Especially the three-breasted female human/alien/mutant. :D I'm glad I finally gave it a rewatch.

Man of the House - 2.5

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/6174/man20housecm8.jpg

A solid, entertaining performance delivered by Tommy Lee Jones surrounded by a "meh" plot with "meh" twists. Kelli Garner's stunning beauty helped make up for the "mehs," though.

Iroquois

01-08-09, 11:17 PM

Golgot

01-08-09, 11:19 PM

http://www.kpbs.org/media/blogs/movies/files/2006/12/thank-you.jpg

Thank You for Smoking

This film is playful. As fun a take on statistical mortality and salve-all spin-doctoring as you'll find, i'd wager. Cheeky graphics, editing, cutaways and the like festoon the occasion. Just about everyone gets lampooned (from the 'death triumverate' of tobacco, alcohol & firearms, to the minor gods of cheddar cheese, political avarice, and saccharine family values).

Eckhart's tobacco-lobbyist sees himself as a mediator between two sects, but his 'teach the controversy' battle really centres on proving the other guy wrong - to all the hearts and minds that are watching. He tangles with the fact-finders of journalism, learns from the perception-gurus of hollywood, and passes all this on to his kid. Leaving us slightly confused as to who the movie's culprit is.

The music harks back to a ‘golden age’ of more robust certitudes, and while the story doesn't quite give us our own song to sing, it's a chirpy take on some ongoing sins ;)

---
~Edited~ Cheers Mark ;)

TheDOMINATOR

01-08-09, 11:21 PM

With a glowing comment like that, I have to wonder why you only gave it a 3.

I thought it was more of a purely entertaining film rather than one to be taken too seriously to merit a higher rating. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the ending. With how unbelievable the entire movie was, even in the world of the film, the ending was seriously stretching it. [Spoiler] How, when the oxygen was released from the mountain, it swept over the entire planet within minutes and everyone immediately could breathe again, even those miles away.

An in-some-way better ending may have boosted it up to a 3.5, considering how strong I said the 3/5 was.

Swedish Chef

01-09-09, 01:19 AM

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll294/SwedishChef20/revolutionary_road_still.jpg

Revolutionary Road (Sam Mendes, 2008)

I think there are a certain amount of sacrifices any mainstream filmmaker has to make in the name of keeping things cinematic and accesible. Considering that, and considering things were bound to get a little overblown or melodramatic with Mendes at the helm anyway, Revolutionary Road is a darn near perfect onscreen depiction of a disintegrating marriage. And that's impressive.

This is a good movie. My (limited) knowledge of the inner-workings of 1950's suburban marriages between self-described bohemian types tells me that they really were just as volatile and rollercoastery as this movie says they were. And actually all marriages can get like that; which is a common theme addressed through the film, most perfectly in the hilarious final scene.

Other than that perfect final scene, though, this is a tremendous bummer of a flick. And it should be, of course. I've seen this mentioned elsewhere, but I'd like to steal it and congratulate Sam Mendes on sadistically casting an iconic screen couple as two deeply flawed (authentically so) individuals who grow to hate each other so very much. Both of these people have some vague ideas of where they want their lives to go and how they see themselves compared to the other rats in the maze but, really, they have no idea. And that ruins them, even if maybe, after all that, they really do love each other. Or not.

The acting is solid all around, if not flawless. DiCaprio and Winslet have the kind of lived-in chemistry you'd expect them to have and while neither quite disappears into their roles, they're believable enough. I think anger is one of the tougher emotions for anyone (even professional actors!) to effectively break out on demand so I give them both credit for that. There were a few more supporting standouts, but I'd say my favorite was that David Harbour guy. He was good.

Couple more things I'd like to add on the technical front: Roger Deakins' work here is among the best of his career. The palpable nature of some of the more heated arguments in the film are a direct result of Deakins' coffin-like cinematography. Claustrophic and perfect, it also serves to underscore the confining nature of their lives. And the score, though a bit overused, is very good, too. I've never seen a movie milk so much out of like three or four memorable notes.

I hope this gets a Best Picture nom.

4

Iroquois

01-09-09, 09:41 AM

http://blogs.indiewire.com/reverseshot/archives/cinema_paradiso.jpg

Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore, 1988) - 5

The funny thing about this film is that apparently I watched the 170-minute DC. When I found that the international cut of the film was roughly 45 minutes shorter, I couldn't believe it. After having watched it all, cutting anything seems absolutely ludicrous. After looking into it, I found that it was a significant part of the romantic subplot that develops between Salvatore and Elena (not to mention its subsequent "conclusion"). I don't think I'll never know how much difference it would've made if I'd watched the shorter cut, but that's not important. What matters is the director's cut that I watched, and as the rating should easily imply, I loved it. The score is, for want of a better word, typical Morricone (I can't really think of a good enough word to describe the magic that Morricone works into virtually all his scores). Every scene, no matter how brief, feels like a joy to watch, even in the case of some of the more heart-wrenching ones. The characters are truly compelling to watch, even the minor ones who you also come to know and love over the course of the film. As I think about how great Cinema Paradiso was, I have to wonder if there is anybody out there who genuinely dislikes this film. Go on. I can wait.

Swan

01-09-09, 11:03 AM

Manhattan (1979) - 4

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/manhattan-movie-poster-1.jpg

This film met my expectations on the nose. It didn't exceed them, but I was not disappointed at all. I was expecting a great film, which is something I usually don't do even if a film looks great. And a great film is exactly what I got. Though this is my first Woody Allen film, I really like him. He has an odd sense of humor, but I like it. Annie Hall is coming in the mail today, so I can't wait for that. I hope to see even more of his work in the future.

Bersicker

01-09-09, 03:07 PM

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/153/837331%7EDemolition-Man-Posters.jpg
6.5/10

This was a fantastic action movie. I loved it when it came out when I was a kid and I still love it today. I've always had immense respect for Stallone for earning his way into Hollywood the way he did, so I do have a bit of a soft spot for him. However, this movie has merits to stand on it's own. It truly is a high quality action movie and I laugh every time I watch it.

"... I'm the kinda guy that likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder, "Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecue ribs with the side-order of gravy fries?" I want high cholesterol! I wanna eat bacon, and butter, and buckets of cheese, okay?! I wanna smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section! I wanna run naked through the street, with green Jell-O all over my body, reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly may feel the need to, okay, pal?"

Pyro Tramp

01-09-09, 04:52 PM

Thought post up this out of my usual Quickie Thread update as think saw someone rate it as best film of last year?

Tell No One- for what it's worth, it's enjoyable but does seem like a dumbed down mix of Hidden and another French film i can't for the life of me remember right now (!). It wasn't exactly thriving on constant amounts of suspense more cat and mouse running that was extended throughout a slightly over-generous run time. What the real kicker was throwing in two far too convenient characters, thus pretty contrived in my opinion- the too clever Captain of police from The Transporter and the best buddy criminal with a set up that means he can break the law without being caught and save our hero from anything the cop can't. It could have used a little ambiguity and relied less on a pretty Americanised way of narrative story telling.

3

Powdered Water

01-09-09, 09:02 PM

Got 3 in yesterday, one really Excellent, one a lot funnier than I thought it would be and one really depressing film that is on AFI's list for the 10 best of the year.

The Visitor (Thomas McCarthy-2007) 4.5

Apparently this wasn't released here until January of 2008, which is why Richard Jenkins is being mentioned as a possible candidate for a Best Actor nomination. I sure hope he gets one. He was absolutely outstanding! A pretty damn fine little movie too that deals with a world post 9/11 and their handling of illegal immigrants. It seems to this reporter that if you're an illegal from some where in the middle east you're pretty much screwed if you get caught in the U.S. but if you're from Mexico then we just hand you a lawn mower or get you a job at Arby's. Does that seem right to you? This flick is 5 times the movie that Ben Button was and its not going to get a sniff for Best Picture... shame.

Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller-2008) 3

Now I totally get what you meant mark, I hope Downey does get a supporting nom. He actually was pretty damn funny in this flick too. But WOW! My god. Tom Cruise was just friggin' hilarious! I really couldn't beleive how much I was laughing at him. Good for him, its nice to see a guy like 'The Cruise' have a little fun. I was pretty happy with the flick overall and I'm sorry I doubted so many of you here and put off watching this for so long. Thans guys and gals!

"You never go full retard."

Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt-2008) 1

This was the most pointless and depressing movie I've seen since El Norte. I'm sure it will continue to get all kinds of accolades for being "so realistic" and whatnot but I'm here to say it stinks.

So here's the nutshell version, Wendy is a woman who is on her way to Alaska to find work for some reason. Apparently they don't have jobs for people like Wendy in Indiana where she used to live. There is no reasoning given as to why she decided to leave Indiana, we meet her when she's already in Oregon. I say people like Wendy because she's either really stupid or just a simple retard. I'll let the rest of the experts decide.

So, after we meet Wendy we meet the other star of the show, Lucy, who is a lovely little gold colored dog that has the misfortune of having Wendy as an owner. I say misfortune because not 10 minutes into the film we watch as Wendy counts out her money that she has stashed in order to make her trip to Alaska and we learn that Wendy has about 500 hundred dollars to her name. With me so far? Good.

OK then, during the first morning Lucy has very little food to eat so Wendy decides to go to the store and instead of just buying a cheap bag of dog food she decides to shoplift a bunch of stuff and gets caught. She ends up in jail for most of the day while her poor dog is left outside to fend for herself. So of course when she gets out after paying a 50 dollar fine she comes back to the store only to find her dog gone. This is the first 10 to 15 minutes of the film. Then for the rest of the movie we watch as this idiot tries to find her mutt.

During this time Wendy also learns that the car she was driving to Alaska is toast and will cost a couple thousand dollars to fix and has to junk it. So when she finally finds her dog at a foster home towards the end of the movie she has this very heart wrenching chat with the hound and explains that she'll be back when she makes some money. At which point we see her jumping onto a train that is apparently headed to Alaska and the film ends.

That poor mutt... Pfft, my god this movie sucked.

TheDOMINATOR

01-10-09, 12:22 AM

The Seven Year Itch - 4
(FIRST VEIWING)

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/8546/009220031marilynmonroetmi6.jpg

My first viewing of a Marilyn Monroe movie ever. I enjoyed it quite a lot. It took me a little while to get used to the main character, Tom, talking to himself, but once I did that, and especially when Monroe's character entered the picture, things really got good. There were quite a few very funny scenes throughout and the performances by both lead actors were dazzling, especially that of Monroe's. I look forward to seeing more of Billy Wilder and Marilyn Monroe's work in the future (Some Like It Hot).

MovieMan8877445

01-10-09, 02:13 AM

Pineapple Express - 3.5

Now it's been over a week since I've last watched a movie (I know, it's a big shocker to me too that I could make it through a week without watching a movie), but I went out and bought some DVDs tonight and this just happened to be one of them. I must say, even though I loved it back when I saw it in theaters, I loved it much more this time. I think I like this more than Tropic Thunder, because this stood up better with a rewatch than Tropic Thunder did (when I got to rewatch Tropic Thunder I was underwhelmed). I'd probably say that this was my favorite comedy of 2008, there are quite a few others that come close though, Tropic Thunder would be one of them. I was really surprised though, because to me, Apatow's movies just get better with a rewatch, because you already know what's gonna happen and what the jokes are gonna be, yet you still find it hilarious. I luaghed more watching it now than when I first saw it back in August. James Franco really overshadows Seth Rogen in this though, and that's really saying something when I say it because Rogen is my favorite comedian of all-time. I do think Rogen had much finnier lines than Franco did, but Franco's actions just saying those lines makes it all much more funnier. And that's a thing that makes this movie so special, it doesn't use it's jokes to make it hilarious, it's the actions that a lot of the laughs come from, that also may be because it's a stoner comedy. This also gets me really excited to see Judd Apatow's next movie Funny People which comes out this summer (which he's directed and that's gonna make it even better). This is a must see to any fan of comedy, because it's absoluteley hilarious. This is also probably one of the first actual 'epic comedies' that I've ever seen, it was sure great seeing one.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb52/The_Playlist/movies_music/pineapple-express.jpg

Tacitus

01-10-09, 12:11 PM

X Files: I Want A Syndicated TV Series (2008, Chris Carter)

2/5

Anyone who's not interested in the television show will find this generic thriller drivel delivered by two famously wooden actors (albeit one with beautiful eyes, and it's not Duchovny) plucking plot strands seemingly from thin air.

In short, it's crap and deserves a rating of 1 as a film alone.

Anyone who watched and enjoyed the television show (and I was one of those soldiers, although recent viewings have confirmed my suspicions that it was more than a little hokey) will find this no different to a feature length episode from the late 90s delivered by two famously wooden actors (albeit one with beautiful eyes, and it's not Duchovny) running full-pelt around the place at the slightly slower pace to allow for their creaking joints.

In short, it's adequate and deserves a rating of 3 if you're a desperate X Files fan.

For the rest of us it's all a bit pointless - everyone hits their marks, spouts ridiculous exposition and there's even time for a cameo by everyone's favourite thick-set baldy bespectacled father figure/mentor FBI bloke who's name escapes me....ah yes, was it Skinner?

A final word about Billy Connolly - a couple of decades ago he was among the best stand-up comedians on the planet. Now, sans beard, he just looks like an ageing potato with mad white hair....

Amanda Peet's in it too, and she deserves much much better than this. ;)

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/greenspagbol/xfilesnewpicsa.jpg

Give them another series, fer goodness sake. These people need to eat!

Powdered Water

01-10-09, 12:21 PM

You know, I may just skip this entirely. I was mildly excited when I heard about it but then I just kept asking myself: Self. I said. What's the point? I don't know, but the movie's probably crap. I see I'm not alone when I say they should have just left it alone.

Besides I'm still pretty pissed about the way the show ended. Mulder wasn't even on the show anymore and now they have another movie? Wtf?

Tacitus

01-10-09, 12:34 PM

I know I keep harping on about this but as a pilot for a new X Files season the movie just about works but Carter, apparently, only wants to do another feature length film.

I don't buy it - the whole thing is a meal ticket for many of the people involved and if The X Files was resurrected on TV I'd tune in for definite...

...As long as it was in the original 'monster of the week' format and not the interminable, up its own arse, Alien impregnation story arc from the later seasons. ;)

Powdered Water

01-10-09, 12:41 PM

Its kind of funny how things come back around isn't it? Davey boy leaves the show because he wants to become a big movie star. Now here we are about 10 years later and Duchovny is all like Mr. Team player now that his career is basically in no where's ville.

Another funny note is that after all his B.S. about being in movies his only other really note worthy time acting wise was on yet another TV show, albeit on cable but still. Pretty funny.

Tacitus

01-10-09, 12:47 PM

Karma's a bitch, eh? ;D

I forgot to mention earlier - if you're in two minds whether to rent this, the story is totally self-contained and doesn't offer anything ultimately satisfying to an X Files fan where the show's mythology is concerned.

If you know nothing about the show you're only gonna get confused when they start yammering on about lost sisters and babies. Then Skinner shows up out of the blue and no one bothers to explain who he actually is...

I was half expecting the smoking man and the mind control guy to pop in before the credits and say hi.

Powdered Water

01-10-09, 12:59 PM

Yeah, I talk tough but it is The X-Files so I will undoubtedly pick this up someday. I'll show 'em though, I'm gonna wait till the damn thing is about 5 bucks at wal mart... which should be this time next month.

Tacitus

01-10-09, 01:39 PM

If you wait any longer they'll be giving them away outside train stations with money sellotaped to the case...

I picked up about 60 episodes of the TV show for under £10 before Christmas. They've all been given away. ;)

Swedish Chef

01-10-09, 02:21 PM

Has the Flukeman really taken this much of a pop cultural dive?

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2008/07/xfiles_flukeman.jpg

Iroquois

01-10-09, 02:28 PM

http://content8.flixster.com/photo/11/28/93/11289314_ori.jpg

The Wrestler (Aronofsky, 2008) - 4.5

I'm not going to lie. I thought The Wrestler was brilliant. I was hooked from the opening shot, with Quiet Riot's anthemic Metal Health pounding away in the background. I did love the stylistic departure that it took from Aronofsky's other works (his last few films had a distinct "arty" edge that is fortunately missing from this film). I figure that of course, I need to drag a mention of Rourke's work in the film. Granted, everyone's already talking about it, but it's a damned good performance. Whether he has a shot of winning, I can't really say. I still liked a lot about the film, especially the actual fight scenes (which, like Raging Bull, are low in quantity but high in intensity) and the turns that Randy's life takes outside the ring. The ending was also rather emotional and somewhat surprising (I don't really want to spoil it). I think it's definitely one of the best movies of 2008 that I've seen so far.

http://cache.thephoenix.com/secure/uploadedImages/The_Phoenix/Movies/Reviews/Superhero_Movie1_inside.jpg

Superhero Movie (Mazin, 2008) - 3

Before I start, let me just say that I was talked into watching this by my friend, who assured me that it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. He was right. Now before you go thinking I've lost my mind, allow me to explain myself and my reasoning behind giving a decent rating to one of those poorly-executed genre parodies that make for "comedy" nowadays. To be fair, Superhero Movie is actually not as awful as one would like to make out. Certainly there are parts that are just as unfunny as one would expect from these movies, but there were also parts I enjoyed. I think low expectations actually worked in the film's favour and after watching a lot of high-quality films over the past week or so, I couldn't help but let a decidedly stupid film get through to me. I wouldn't really recommend it unless you know you can simply enjoy a stupid slapstick comedy like this one.

Swedish Chef

01-10-09, 02:32 PM

I love that the most widely circulated promo picture for The Wrestler has a sign in the background that reads "Necrobutcher sucks a fat dick"

Iroquois

01-10-09, 02:36 PM

Hehe, I never noticed that before. Wonder how many other people haven't noticed it without having it pointed out.

igor_is_fugly

01-10-09, 03:14 PM

Across the Universe

Basically a string of amazing music videos strung together into a feature length film to some the best music ever made. I'm ok with that. And hey, they managed to throw in a decent story line, interesting characters, great choreography, some cool cameos, and oodles of visual goodies-
http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp79/igor_is_fugly/atu-1.jpg
http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp79/igor_is_fugly/mr_kite.jpg
http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp79/igor_is_fugly/16547874-16547876-large.jpg
http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp79/igor_is_fugly/ATU.jpg
mmmmm yes, visual goodies

3.5 for a very passionate and enjoyable movie.

Lennon

01-10-09, 03:17 PM

Across the Universe is probably one of my favorite films like, ever.

igor_is_fugly

01-10-09, 03:28 PM

Across the Universe is probably one of my favorite films like, ever.

What's your fave song numbers in it?

Lennon

01-10-09, 03:38 PM

What's your fave song numbers in it?

With a Little Help from My Friends is great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opqKNZJY6qc
"We're gunna get you a%$wholes!"
"Yeah, go back to bed."
"He's....he's not going back to bed"

but I Want You has great choreography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwB8QiKWodk&feature=related
"I want yooooooooooooou. I want you so baaaaad it's driving me mad."

igor_is_fugly

01-10-09, 03:43 PM

In dance I learned the choreography for I Want You, and right now were working on a dance for Come Together that's awesome. We get to wear leather pants! Mr. Kite's my fave though, I love Izzard.

mikeython1

01-10-09, 04:44 PM

http://www.slv-video.com/images/movies/heartbeeps.jpg

Has anyone seen this movie? It kinda funny but mainly ridiculous.
http://www.movieforums.com/images/popcorn/1_5box.gif

MovieMan8877445

01-10-09, 08:31 PM

Gran Torino - 5

Yeah, I saw it in the theaters this time around, I swear, a bunch of the parts were much funnier seeing this time around. It still wasn't quite as amazing with a rewatch, I can still definitely call it the best of 2008 besides The Dark Knight though, it actually came really close to TDK. The ending seemed much sadder this time around than when I first watched it a couple of weeks ago, maybe it was just because I was seeing it on the big screen this time around. Clint Eastwood is just an amazing actor, he can play any role, not many actors can do that, but Eastwood sure can. While I still thought the other actors were still good, non of them really stood out or came even close to Eastwood's acting in this. Eastwood fans should really check this one out sometime before it leaves theaters, or maybe wait for the DVD, but you should check it out sometime.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-12/43827646.jpg

Used Future

01-10-09, 08:42 PM

http://www.roberthood.net/reviews/images/junk_cover.jpg

Junk aka Shiryô-gari (Atsushi Muroga 2000) 2.5
The fact that Junk is a Japanese zombie film is perhaps the only thing distinguishing it from the rest of what has become a pretty tired genre. It's one of three Japanese gut-munchers released back in 2000 along with Ryûhei Kitamura's kinetically insane Versus, and (my favourite) Tetsuro Takeuchi's colourful punk zom-com Wild Zero. Whilst Kitamura and Takeuchi definitely put their own spin on things however, Muroga's Junk sticks to the tired (sorry I mean tried) and tested Romero/Fulci formula. Is this where you start making puns about the films title? I hear you ask...

Junk begins with a semi-bungled jewel heist (sounds vaguely familiar) followed by the gang of unknown actors (one of whom is wounded) escaping to what they think is an abandoned factory (yup definitely familiar this). It's where they plan to sell the stolen jewels to some Yakuza hoods, not realizing a Japanese scientist working for the US army has been mucking about with Herbert West's green liquid there. Cue lots of shooting, screaming, three guys looking at a PC screen, cut rate gore...and oh yeah, zombies.

You know what? despite all the sarcasm in this review so far, I actually quite enjoyed this flick. It's clearly a derivative low budget affair with all the production values of a cheap TV movie, but the comic book action scenes are pretty solid, the stereotypical characters ironically likable (especially Akira, the comic relief), and the pace nice and snappy. Unlike a lot of these cheap gore flicks, Junk doesn't get bogged down with overly talky segments of banal dialogue. It's reasonably well edited, and perhaps most importantly for a zombie movie, completely delivers with the (cartoon looking) blood and guts. Zombie fans will certainly enjoy this film as all the right ingredients are in there, and but for a little more originality I would have scored it slightly higher.

Powdered Water

01-10-09, 08:51 PM

@ Movie Man:

Yeah it was pretty good alright. Mostly because of Clint though and not so much because it was an excellent story really, for me anyway. Seeing him do an over the top extra angry Archie Bunker was fun and all but it wasn't on par with what TDK did on the whole.

Now his main co star Ahney Her who played the older sister Sue was pretty terrific. I'm not sure if it was enough to get on the ballot though. It seems like those are all pretty locked in already.

MovieMan8877445

01-10-09, 08:57 PM

undercoverlover

01-10-09, 09:00 PM

I have just seen the most extraordinary film

Snow Cake

Well paced, beautiful, intriguing and utterly hypnotic. Dazlious.

mark f

01-10-09, 09:21 PM

Wings (Larisa Shepitko, 1966) 2.5

http://www.ifc.com/film/film-news/08112008_theascent2.jpg

Soviet director Shepitko's debut film tells the story of school headmistress Nadezhda (Maya Bulgakova) who feels lonely and underappreciated in her current state in life, especially since during WWII, she had an exciting time as a jet pilot heroine and had a steamy affair with another pilot who died during an aerial dogfight. She has a male friend who projects very little heat and a daughter who married an older man but never even told her about it at the time. What joy she seems to have is connected to her memories of WW II. For the most part, this is a very quiet, occasionally-poetic drama. The opening scene does get your attention as it begins inside a building but focuses on a particularly busy outside street. Then you hear loud footsteps and a man almost seems to come through the window from the outdoors (although he actually just came from a side indoor hallway). This turns out to be the tailor who's going to make Nadezhda's very boring new professional suit. Much of the film seems to go by slowly, but it does have some rich details along the way and an almost transcendent conclusion at an airfield where the visuals and music reach an emotional crescendo.

The Badlanders (Delmer Daves, 1958) 2.5

http://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/29/b70-14770

Daves was a good action director with several interesting 1950s westerns to his credit (Broken Arrow, Jubal, 3:10 to Yuma, Cowboy, The Hanging Tree), and although this one falls short of those others, it's a watchable remake of The Asphalt Jungle. It basically involves two men released from prison in Yuma, Arizona who get involved in a scheme to rob a gold mine. The Dutchman (Alan Ladd) wants to get revenge on the citizens of a mining town who framed him, while McBain (Ernest Borgnine) wants to settle down with his woman (Katy Jurado) but gets drawn into the heist anyway. There are some twists and suspense to be found, but it's not really a major western.

Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008) 3.5-

http://twitchfilm.net/site/images/uploads/right-one-in-both.JPG

When people say this is not a horror film or a vampire film, I have to respectfully disagree. Likewise, when people get hung up on the sex of one of the main characters, I believe they're missing the point. Apparently in the novel, there is a description of something which happens to Ely (Lina Leandersson) which somehow affects her on a basic level, but that description is nowhere to be found in the film. True, the film does have one brief moment where Ely's new friend Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) does see a small patch of protruding pubic hair but nothing resembling anything more than hair. When Ely warns Oskar that she's "not a girl", I took that to be the truth for she's much older than any girl Oskar's age. Even though the film is semi-blood-soaked, the heart and soul of it is the tentative, but tender relationship between two outsider loners who are allowed to feel comfortable with themselves while spending time with each other. The snowbound Swedish landscape is also an important "character" in the film. Allegedly, the title of this film comes from a Morrissey song about letting the right one into your heart, but I prefer to extend that to let the right vampire into your home so that being can get in and stay in your heart.

Mutiny on the Bounty (Lewis Milestone, 1962) 3

http://i5.tinypic.com/4knt849.jpg

This version of the HMS Bounty mutiny has always had some major problems for me. First of all there was Marlon Brando'a almost prissy accent and interpretation of Fletcher Christian as some sort of fop. Then there was the fact that the film runs three hours long. Even though I still have those two reservations about this version, I'm warming up to it and have just given it my highest rating. There is an abundance of spectacle and gorgeous photography, as well as several good performances by the rest of the cast, especially Trevor Howard as the monstruous Captain Bligh. I suppose if you like Brando in this that you'll like it more than I do.

http://media.australianscreen.com.au/titles/inthewak/hero2.jpg http://images.blockbuster.com/is/amg/dvd/cov150/drt000/t088/t08831wkbr1.jpghttp://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a388/Profane_Angel/LOMBARD/01054774.jpg

Some trivia about the different versions of this true-life, late-18th-century adventure follows. The first talkie version is a hard-to-find 1933 Australian documentary/dramatic In the Wake of the Bounty, which was also Tasmanian Errol Flynn's debut film in which he played Fletcher Christian. The 1935 film won Best Picture and had three actors (Charles Laughton, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone) nominated Best Actor! The strangest thing here is the actress Movita, who played Gable's Fletcher Christian's native love interest was actually married to Brando (remember, he played Christian) during the filming of the 1962 version. (You can't make this kinda stuff up.) The 1984 version, with Mel Gibson as Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Bligh, was released in 1984 with a PG rating and definitely has far more topless women than any film rated lower than R. Don't ask me why, but I thought that somebody around here might want to know that. :cool:

The Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk, 1954) 4

http://chelsearialtostudios.com/maxsteinerpages/caine_mutiny_1sh.jpg

This one is in my Top 100, and I suppose some younger viewers might find parts of it dated, but I certainly don't. This is basically a fictional, Americanized version of a WWII Mutiny on the Bounty. One of the things which makes this 55-year-old film feel modern is that it was mostly all filmed on the sea on a real ship, and the cinematography beautifully takes advantage of the realism on display to draw you in. I'll admit one of the hokey aspects of the film is the romance of the callow recent graduate from the Naval Academy, Keith (Robert Francis) and singer May Winn, but even that results in probably filmdom's most spectacularly-beautiful depiction of Yosemite Valley. What truly makes this film shine are the great characters, dialogue and the awesome performances. Bogart as Captain Queeg is tremendous as the new captain of the ship and always makes this cry baby erupt, but he's matched by the spectacular José Ferrer, Van Johnson in his best acting job, Fred MacMurray, Tom Tully (a laugh riot as the original captain of the Caine), E.G. Marshall, Lee Marvin, Claude Akins, Jerry Paris, Whit Bissell, Herbert Anderson, etc. The first three-quarters of the film is a great ocean-going war adventure (with loads of black comedy), but the court-martial scene which concludes the film is pure brilliance.

Rampage at Apache Wells (Harald Philipp, 1965) 2

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/bejmaf/rampageapache.jpg

In the 1960s, the Italians had their spaghetti westerns, but this is one of Germany's sauerkraut westerns (and yes, I like both spaghetti and sauerkraut :cool: ) from the same era, even if it has an English leading man (Stewart Granger as Old Surehand) and a surprising role for future spaghetti western superstar Terence Hill. Basically, it involves Surehand and his faithful Native American friend Winnetou (Pierre Brice) trying to help a wagon train of musician clergymen, women and children to a land which a Native tribe has approved for their building a town and becoming their friends and neighbors. However, there's a group of bad guys who are out to steal some oil on the same property. That's basically it, but the film does have a surprising modicum of suspense, including riding river rapids on rafts and keelboats and trying to get across a rope bridge while being shot at. A large amount of the film also take place at night which adds to the tension and mystery, but even so, this still isn't all that much to see. It was fine to watch for an hour and a half when I didn't feel so hot, but there are undoubtedly 500+ better westerns.

Powdered Water

01-10-09, 09:29 PM

I think that's Swedish who's spreading that non vampire thing around. And as we all know he is in need of some serious therapy. It most certainly is a vampire movie and one of the best ones I've seen in years.

Also mark: Do you think The Caine Mutiny is the best acting Bogey ever did? I spoke to a man once who really made a strong case for it but I can't remember all of his points. I kind of agree but I also really love Bogey so its hard for me to gauge.

Used Future

01-10-09, 09:39 PM

Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008) 3.5-

Looks like I need to see this, never even heard of it before it was tabbed here a couple of days back. Did you rent it?

mark f

01-10-09, 09:42 PM

Bogey has so many iconic performances that I don't want to get into that right now, although it would make a good thread, so maybe tomorrow, I'll check to see if that thread's on here. One thing I can say though is that Captain Queeg on the stand explaining the strawberries, all in one take, is the only acting I've ever seen to rival "Captain Quint" (Robert Shaw)'s story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis in Jaws.

Used Future

01-10-09, 09:49 PM

Ahhh, Let the Right One In isn't released in the UK until 10th April.:(

mark f

01-10-09, 09:50 PM

Looks like I need to see this, never even heard of it before it was tabbed here a couple of days back. Did you rent it?

No, it's not coming out on DVD until March here, and from what I can tell, it's not coming out in the theatres in the U.K. until April! I got off my high horse and streamed it at home. I didn't save it, but smarty pants computer nerds tell me I can still retrieve it off the computer, but I haven't tried and I'm not sure that's true. So yeah, I'm a heathen like Powdered now, even though that's still the only one I did that for (so far... )

Powdered Water

01-10-09, 09:51 PM

Yeah, that scene is the same one my buddy was using as an example of what a spectacular actor he really was. His point was more to dispute someone else's earlier point that contended that Bogey wasn't a very good actor which is obviously bullsh*t. So after we beat the hell out of the guy we held him down and forced him to see reason.

undercoverlover

01-10-09, 10:11 PM

tadpole

interesting indie film, very good storyline, well written dialogue, incredible tension at times, and a good length at an hour and ten, i think any longer than that and it might have run out of things to say.

Iroquois

01-10-09, 11:27 PM

The Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk, 1954) 4

http://chelsearialtostudios.com/maxsteinerpages/caine_mutiny_1sh.jpg

This one is in my Top 100, and I suppose some younger viewers might find parts of it dated, but I certainly don't. This is basically a fictional, Americanized version of a WWII Mutiny on the Bounty. One of the things which makes this 55-year-old film feel modern is that it was mostly all filmed on the sea on a real ship, and the cinematography beautifully takes advantage of the realism on display to draw you in. I'll admit one of the hokey aspects of the film is the romance of the callow recent graduate from the Naval Academy, Keith (Robert Francis) and singer May Winn, but even that results in probably filmdom's most spectacularly-beautiful depiction of Yosemite Valley. What truly makes this film shine are the great characters, dialogue and the awesome performances. Bogart as Captain Queeg is tremendous as the new captain of the ship and always makes this cry baby erupt, but he's matched by the spectacular José Ferrer, Van Johnson in his best acting job, Fred MacMurray, Tom Tully (a laugh riot as the original captain of the Caine), E.G. Marshall, Lee Marvin, Claude Akins, Jerry Paris, Whit Bissell, Herbert Anderson, etc. The first three-quarters of the film is a great ocean-going war adventure (with loads of black comedy), but the court-martial scene which concludes the film is pure brilliance.

I rented this out yesterday. I'm hoping it doesn't disappoint.

Swedish Chef

01-11-09, 12:25 AM

I think that's Swedish who's spreading that non vampire thing around. And as we all know he is in need of some serious therapy. It most certainly is a vampire movie and one of the best ones I've seen in years.

Well, I know it's about a vampire. I do think I said in some other thread that I wouldn't necessarily call it a horror film, because its primary objective isn't to horrify the viewer. But that's just me. I'd say it definitely has elements of horror, sure, but it's not a horror film. This is what I wrote in my Tab entry on Let the Right One In...

http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/movies/l/let_the_right_one_in/loder/281x211.jpg

Let the Right One In (John Ajvide Lindqvist, 2008)

This is a very good movie. It's about vampires and whatnot, yeah, but somehow it's also one of the most honest and real preteen love stories I've seen in a film. If I had been a cool enough twelve year old to have had a girlfriend, this is exactly how I'd imagine it'd have gone down (minus the vampire stuff). Equally amazingly (spoiler alert), one of the two preteens in question is secretly androgynous. And, again, she murders innocent people to feast on their blood! Those zany Swedes!

So, yeah, there are a lot of reasons to see this movie. It's a different spin on a few well-spun genres and it's very deftly made. But I'd say THE number one reason to see Let the Right One In are the performances by the two lead kids. Tremendous work. Especially Lina Leandersson (bloody chick in the pic above). Best female performance I've seen this year.

a high 4

Powdered Water

01-11-09, 12:32 AM

Ah, maybe that's what it was. I don't really care. I'm not your personal ball buster. If I came across that way just remember... I'm an idiot. Underpants!

You don't think its much of a horror flick though? How so grasshopper?

MovieMan8877445

01-11-09, 01:09 PM

Raging Bull - 5

Now I was totally surprised by this one, because I've never been too big a fan of sports movies, most tend to bore me a little, even though I still end up liking them, but holy crap. This is top 5 material for me, and I think with a rewatch that this will be making it into my top 5. I really loved the score for this though, it may be the best score that I've ever heard, and I've heard from a lot of things before, but I never knew where it started and now I do. Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci make a great team together, they've showed me this with this and Goodfellas, but I actually didn't think that I would really like this, because I'm not sure how Scorsese would do with a movie that's not a gangster movie, even though this did have quite a few gangster stuff in it. I loved that he chose to shoot it in black and white though, it really gave it that feel that it was supposed to have. The only think I didn't really like were the last 15 minutes or so, because they were just really dull to me, I mean the movie really started going downhill once La Motta retired from Boxing, but it never really got dull until the last 15 minutes, I don't really think they were needed. But I still loved it, I thought it was amazing, and as I said before, with a rewatch it'll probably make it into my top 5.

http://www.timeout.com/img/42337/w513/image.jpg

Taxi Driver - 5

I guess I just had a great night for movies, because Scorsese has impressed me yet again. I have yet to be disappointed by any of his movies. While this barely wasn't quite as amazing as Raging Bull, it was still very amazing, and I think with a rewatch this may even make it into my top 10. I'm sorta upset that I went ahead and did my top 100 last week, I now wish that I would've waited to do it. But this is sorta like the opposite to Raging Bull for me, instead of the last 15 minutes or so being pretty dull, the first 15 minutes or so in Taxi Driver were pretty dull in this. This movie got very weird at times, but that's mainly because of Robert DeNiro's character. Now I really can't tell which DeNiro role is better, this or in Taxi Driver, they were both very amazing, so I honestly can't decide. It actually feels weird right now, because The Departed and Goodfellas went from being my favorite Scorsese flicks to my least favorite Scorsese flicks in one night, I still have quite a few Scorsese flicks to watch though, and I still love them just as much.

http://www.gpsmagazine.com/assets/Taxi_Driver.jpg

adidasss

01-11-09, 03:21 PM

Wings (Larisa Shepitko, 1966) 2.5
It's not on par with The ascent, but I thought it was an incredibly insightful and mature film for a debut feature.

Bersicker

01-11-09, 04:27 PM

http://www.sharetera.com/upimg/allimg/080302/0917230.jpg

A really good romantic action film. Quentin Tarantino's dialogue shines through, as always, making this a witty and incredibly entertaining film. Garry Oldman shines in his small role, but I just love the man so I would say that. Great diverse cast.

Swan

01-11-09, 04:31 PM

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - 5

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/midnight_cowboy-1.jpg

I hope everyone believes me when I say my opinion on the film was not influenced by anyone.

Life-changing. I don't think I can use that term for any other movie, but I sure as hell can use it for Midnight Cowboy. When it was over I sat and just thought about the film for literally a good 20 - 30 minutes. I still can't get it out of my head. I don't think I've ever had such a profound film-watching experience.

The film is phenomenal. Made in 1969, I think it was probably something incredibly extreme and mature for audiences. Some of the subject matter, like homosexuality and prostitution, were things not talked about back then.

Dustin Hoffman as Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo was unbelievable. I don't think I've ever witnessed a better acting performance in my life. You sympathized with him for his loneliness, even if he stole and conned people. There were a few times (2, I think), when I laughed out-loud at whatever he was doing. It was purposefully funny, but nonetheless the humor worked perfectly with me.

Jon Voight as Joe Buck was as memorable as it gets. He was nice to everyone and he knew what he wanted. "I ain't a f'real cowboy. But I am one helluva stud!"

I will never listen to "Everybody's Talkin' At Me" by Harry Nilsson again aside from in this film. I love Nilsson, always have, and it's a fantastic song, but the film doesn't deserve to be ruined because I listen to the song so much that it becomes ruined. When I started the film, my expectations were unbelievably high. That rarely happens. I was so afraid of being disappointed. A lot of the time, I expect a film with a different feeling, a different tone, and when I watch it and it's not at all what I thought, I'm disappointed. I was scared that would happen for Midnight Cowboy. The film starts with a beautiful opening credits sequence with "Everybody's Talkin' At Me" playing. It set up the tone of the film perfectly and I was immediately settled into the film and ready.

Midnight Cowboy defines the perfect movie for me. One that is so above and beyond the rest, with phenomenal acting, a fantastic story, superb directing, and one that the term 'life-changing' works with. One that every positive thing that can possibly be said about it would be absolutely true, no matter what it is.

Going back to when the film was over, after the 20 - 30 minutes I sat and thought about it, I started The Thing from Another World. I have a feeling my rating was affected by Midnight Cowboy...

The Thing From Another World (1951) - 2.5

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/thingmar08-1.jpg

This film sort of defines the 50's sci-fi/horror B-movie movement. Purposefully stale or bad acting, a fun story, some hilarious dialogue. I liked it, it was pretty good. I just hope The Thing (1982) is better.

MovieMan8877445

01-11-09, 04:49 PM

The Jacket - 3

Okay, my mom just bought this for me today, and I really knew nothing about it, so my expectations were really low. Well I can honestly say that they were excceded, I'm actually surprised that I liked it so much because it reminded me a lot of The Butterfly Effect, and I didn't like The Butterfly Effect that much. Now I thought this was gonna be like The Butterfly Effect after seeing the first 20 minutes of it, the beginning of it was just too weird for my tastes. This is a movie that progessively gets better as the movie gets along, but I really liked the ending. Adrian Brody did a pretty good job, his character was very weird though. What I don't get is did Adrian Brody die at the end or not? Because he seemed to change the future, so I wasn't sure if he still died once he did. But anyone who likes weird movies should check this out sometime, because I think they'll really like this one.

http://media.movieweb.com/galleries/1148/2233/lo/17.jpg

Sleezy

01-11-09, 06:14 PM

Incident at Loch Ness (Penn, 2004) 4_5

Witty, surreal, goofy. Perfectly solid, and all in good fun.

Shoot Em Up (Davis, 2007) 3

Not bad. Never pretended to be anything other than goofy homage action. I just never could think of it as a film. It seemed more like an overly extended skit like they do at the beginning of the MTV Movie Awards.

Kung Fu Panda (Osborne/Stevenson, 2008) 4_5

Easily one of the coolest and best animated films in years.

The Abandoned (Cerda, 2006) 3

High marks for imagery and atmosphere. I like that this crew had the courage to stick with its bogeymen instead of just letting them vanish or become a fleeting attraction as the protagonists run away. The story itself was clumsily built, but it was a nice, experimental effort with more polish than these things generally boast.

The Last Winter (Fessenden, 2006) 2_5

This film seemed like a classic case of the writer-director knowing where he wanted to go, but was ill-equipped to imagine how best to get there. Lots of nods here to celebrated suspense horror: namely a very quiet (and often nonexistent) audioscape, and the obvious visual connection with John Carpenter's The Thing. But it struggles to get moving, lingering too long in the tension of bad things to come. And when they do, they're sudden, erratic, and confusing. Many will roll their eyes at the outcome, particularly due to recent films of like themes, but I have to give credit for two things: (a) the unusual yet interesting choice of spectral antagonist(s), and (b) the visceral, masterfully unsettling epilogue.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Stoller, 2008) 4

If I had Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis fighting over my affections, I would do back flips in sheer glee for hours. Like, at least three hours.

MovieMan8877445

01-11-09, 07:43 PM

The Last Of The Mohicans - 3.5

This was actually a really good movie, and I was surprised that I liked it so much because I usually don't tend to like many films that take place in the 1700's, I don't know what it is but most seem to bore me. This one stands out from all of those to me though, I think this one had more action in it than all the other ones that I've seen. Daniel Day-Lewis is just great in this, he seemed so young in this, that may be beacuse the only other movie that I've seen him in is There Will Be Blood though, I plan to change that though. I also want to point out that the score for this was really good, it fit so well with the movie. But this was a great movie, and anyone that hasn't had the chance of seeing it yet really should sometime.

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/080130/films-worth-saving/last-of-the-mohicans_l.jpg

Swan

01-11-09, 08:49 PM

Gran Torino - 3.5

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2968374208_5e769947a6.jpg?v=0

Great film. Clint Eastwood is the man. His character, Walt Kowalski, is probably my favorite of any Eastwood character. There was a lot of humor in this and I loved that. It was also very different from what Eastwood usually does. I loved the ending - it was set up amazingly, using what you would expect from Eastwood as a tool and doing the total opposite. There were times when the acting by Bee Vang and Ahney Her were sort of... eehhh... but not a lot, and not enough to ruin it.

undercoverlover

01-11-09, 08:53 PM

Equilibrium

Is it really worth the cost?
I pay it gladly.

TheDOMINATOR

01-11-09, 11:12 PM

The Unborn - 3

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/01/09/alg_the_unborn.jpg

I plan to write a review for it in the very near future so I won't go into details here, but what I will say now is this: this movie was better than I thought it would be. I had originally gone to see this movie tonight for seeing Odette Yustman in a starring role and for her alone, but I ended up liking the supernatural aspect of the film a lot. I thought it was well-told and well-executed, despite not being groundbreaking or anything too beyond "decent."

linespalsy

01-12-09, 01:22 AM

http://www.timeout.com/film/img/dvd/91572/cover.w200.jpg

Max mon amour - Okay, so this is a movie about a woman who has sex with a chimp. Her husband finds out and at first tries to submerge his jealousy with manners and an understanding pose. I'd say that jealousy and how he comes to terms with it is the primary aim of this film which, except for the fact that it's about adult relationships and minus one brief bit of nudity, is a very family friendly and surprisingly sweet story. Okay, it's Oshima so there's probably more to it than what I put above but, that's it for now. Worth watching.
3.5

Can't be bothered to write about these ones at the moment, but feel free to ask. Bleh.

Zombie 1.5
Jaws 3

And a couple re-watches:
Taboo 3
A Zed & Two Noughts 5

Iroquois

01-12-09, 05:42 AM

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/060630/153610__fearloathing_l.jpg

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Gilliam, 1998) - 4

I have a love-hate relationship going on with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The fact that the source novel is one of my favourite books doesn't lend much favour to the film version, which I always find has several moments where my interest stops dead and I zone out. More often than not, I've often started the movie but never finished it. This makes it the perfect "background noise" movie - when it comes to picking a DVD that I will actually want to have on but don't want to get too interested in, Fear and Loathing is usually the first (and only) pick I make.

Which is a shame, really, because like just about every film Terry Gilliam's made, it's a great-looking film. The crisp photography brings a shine to both the gaudiness of Las Vegas and the starkness of the deserts that surround it (without even including the various flashes and tricks that ensue during any of the film's many drug-exaggerated sequences - the perspective is rather fittingly distorted for much of the film). I also have to admit that the film seemed much funnier on this, what must be my sixth complete viewing of the film, than I remember it being any other time. It's possible that as the sweaty, gibbering freak that is Raoul Duke, Johnny Depp makes what may be his best performance (yes, even more so than that pirate movie he did, where he really just adds a British accent and eyeliner to his acting in this film). He's full of so many strange quirks and mannerisms, both physical and verbal. Several of his more amusing acts can only be truly noticed after a handful of viewings, not to mention his strange Kentucky accent and random outbursts ("Oh, you EVIL bastard!") make for some strangely funny moments. The same can also be said of Benicio Del Toro's Gonzo, the chubby Samoan lawyer who ranks a few notches higher than Duke when it comes to being totally insane. As bizarre as Duke's actions can be, he is nothing on the psychotic Gonzo, whose highly reprehensible tendencies make him a tough character to sympathise with, although his more buffoonish antics are still a source of weird comedy. The rest of the cast is a revolving door of cameos and small roles, most of which are comparatively normal next to the film's "heroes" but are still in their own way affected by the film's blighted feel.

My real problem with this story comes from the fact that a far-too-significant number of scenes throughout the film fail to engage me at all. In the same way that Terminator 2 hits a dead end after the escape from the mental asylum, Fear and Loathing hits a few dead ends where I just lose interest in what's going on, and that's the only significant flaw with the film - sometimes the film just isn't interesting. In the book, I could easily read what I can barely watch in the film - I'm not entirely sure why that is, but it just is. However, this will probably always stop this film from getting anything higher than a rather generous 4.

Oh, well. Buy the ticket...take the ride.

Swan

01-12-09, 10:50 AM

The Thing (1982) - 2.5

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/ifiswan/i_thing-1.jpg

Aliens are so awesome. I just love the concept of them so much.

This film... was decent, I suppose. There was barely any story until about half-way through the film, or at least not a whole lot. Not that I noticed anyways. But the visual effects were mind-blowing. In fact, most of my rating is based solely on the visual effects in this film. The Norris scene was absolutely unbelievable. That has to be one of the greatest special effect sequences I have seen in my life. Still, the film needed more story. There wasn't even a whole lot of dialogue in the first half, and the dialogue was mostly unimportant. I think I like the original film, The Thing from Another World, more, because it's simple, has gloriously bad acting, hilarious dialogue, and a fun story. But I think the concept of the remake - that there could a 'thing' in anyone on the team and no one could possibly know who - is the best part of either of them. Watching this really boosted my liking of the original. I want to rewatch it soon, as I do the remake (both for different reasons), so that'll be fun. The FAQ on this film's IMDb page are really interesting, and I think a rewatch will probably determine my complete feelings about it. And I can't say I'm not eager to see it again.

mack

01-12-09, 11:47 AM

The Dark Knight: 3/5
I wasnt impressed by this one over any other Batman - not at all. In fact, I liked Jack Nicholson's Joker better. The only real difference was the decade/setting of the storyline. This particular version was younger. Much younger.

The House Bunny
pure cheese. 2/5

Traitor 4/5
disturbing in yet another line of middle east conflict movies. however, I did think this one had more "soul" and feeling, for lack of a better word. I felt it was at least empathetic to the muslim culture - something I think is lacking in the other films.

Eagle Eye 3/5
flash and bang - typical action flick, but I expected it so I didnt hate it as much as some did. Furthermore, I dont hate the concept of a machine taking over (Terminator, SKYnet, anyone?) and making unacceptable decisions. Plus, its Shia all grown up! :D

The LongShots 4/5
Ice Cube does yet another family film. I wonder if he has children, and if that is why he is so dead set on cleaning up his act, or if it is simply age and responsibility? Either or, this was a nice slow paced fam film with a "message" I guess, that even girls can be quarterbacks in boys leagues. In my mind, the jury is still out on that one!

Iroquois

01-12-09, 12:15 PM

http://weblogs.variety.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/13/neardark.jpg

Near Dark (Bigelow, 1987) - 4

Well, I will admit I certainly did enjoy Near Dark. Took a while to get into, but I liked this particularly crafty take on vampire lore. Not to mention the various small things that really built it up - the supporting cast was top form, especially Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton as two of the most interesting vampires on offer. I also reckon the special effects were a pretty good job all around - not only was the gore well-executed (no pun intended) but the depiction of what happens when sunlight hits a "vampire" (which surprisingly enough they don't get called in Near Dark). I also have to give props to the score by Tangerine Dream - so damned atmospheric it makes me want to find the soundtrack.

The only issue I have with the film (albeit a somewhat minor one) is...

The fact that vampirism in the film can be cured by a single blood transfusion. I know it's already a movie about vampires and that the idea of giving a vampire a transfusion has never really been tackled as far as I know, that whole development sort of felt like it was put in to guarantee a happy ending for the lead couple.

mack

01-12-09, 12:20 PM

see, the picture alone wouldve turned me off, but now it might be worth a watch Iro. How into vampire lore are you? I ask because the Blade goes one way, Underworld goes another, Anne Ricey films go another, and then the old 80s type vamp films go at it another way: all with different takes and sympathies on the occurence and correction of vampirism.

personally, as trite as Underworld really is, I find that I like their explanation so much better, as it meshes with science: it comes from a virus, and modern science can kill it with UV bullets - you cant get better than that! :D

Iroquois

01-12-09, 12:30 PM

Bersicker

01-12-09, 03:11 PM

http://chasness.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/unforgiven1.jpg
7/10

Top Quality Western that suffers from Eastwood's cinematic brilliance. I think this is easily one of the best Westerns ever made but the kind of Western fan I am is more akin to something along the lines of Sam Peckinpaw's "The Wild Bunch". I like shooting, lots and lots of shooting. Westerns can easily be sub-genred and sub-genred again. Unforgiven would be a Western Drama. Very solid cast, great direction, a good screenplay and a gun nut's wet dream ending. Clint doesn't disappoint. I felt the same way after "High Plains Drifter". I just wish Clint was more akin to his Leone days.

Used Future

01-12-09, 04:39 PM

http://burningcity.com/blog/blog_graphics/LetTheRightOneIn.jpg

Let The Right One In aka Låt den rätte komma in (Tomas Alfredson 2008) 4.5-
Adapted for the screen by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his critically acclaimed novel Let The Right One In is a tender film about friendship, love, loneliness and loyalty. It's also a smart horror movie that isn't afraid to challenge genre conventions, and throw around plenty of claret.

Set in early 1980's snowy Stockholm where a serial killer is on the loose draining peoples blood; this is the story of Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) an only child of divorced parents. Oskar is a sensitive loner, who harbours revenge fantasies as he's constantly bullied at school. That is until he meets Eli (Lina Leandersson) an oddly mature, androgenous looking young girl who only ever comes out at night. The two outsiders gradually form a strong friendship finding solace together from their very different but equally isolated lives. It's then that Oskar discovers the truth about Eli, a truth that tests his loyalty like nothing else before it.

To simply call Let The Right One In an effective horror movie would be doing it a huge disservice. Whilst it definitely is a 'horror' film (and a very good one); Lindqvist and Anderson place the emphasis heavily on the friendship, acceptance, trust and loyalty aspects of the story rather than the scares. As a result when the horror does come it's integral to the plot feeling shockingly beautiful, rather than sickeningly gratuitous. Lina Leandersson is a revelation in her role as Eli, she injects her with a subtle maturity, tenderness and vulnerability ensuring the character is completely believable. Anything less and Eli might have come over as hokey or unsympathetic, but this is a classy production and the cast generally reflect that. Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar is also solidly competent (if a little one note) and perfectly convinces as the placid schoolboy.

That just leaves me to mention the pleasing combination of subdued photography and understated score, effectively capturing the minimalist architecture and snowy locales. I'd also like to offer some of my thoughts on the main talking points in this thread regarding the film. I actually saw it as being very much about isolation, as in retrospect every character in the story seemed lonely, unhappy and detached in some way. Whether it was Oskar's alcoholic father, Eli's aging guardian, or the gang of unwilling bullies and their cowardly leader (who was in turn bullied by his obnoxious older brother). They were all tragic figures, some caught in a spiral of self destruction having loved and lost, others crying out for love. Ironically only Eli seemed truly warm and animated, able to share that gift with a fellow lonely soul. Her/his gender was never issue with me even if it was for Lindqvist (I've not read the book...yet); I only ever saw Eli as an androgenous being who'd chosen to assume a female identity/form. Vampires are generally perceived to be shape shifters anyway, and this film stuck to the rules on everything else. Ultimately though I think it's Oskar's perception of Eli that is most important; he saw her as female so perhaps we were meant to see her the same way. I also wondered if in Eli's guardian we were supposed to be seeing a reflection of Oskar's future self/fate. Was Eli merely grooming Oskar for the same role? I don't want to believe that, I like to think they were soul mates, but it's this kind of depth that really fascinates me about Let The Right One In. It kind of reminded me of John Fawcett's werewolf flick Ginger Snaps, all be it far superior with a much more subtle sense of black humour. I can safely say I haven't enjoyed a film this much since Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, this is compulsive viewing, I loved it and will shut up now.

Oh and I really enjoyed hearing Flash In The Night by Secret Service on the soundtrack; synth-pop classic that is.;)

rice1245

01-12-09, 05:01 PM

Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) - 3.5

awww i can't post pictures :( i already looked at the upgrade bug thread and apparently it's in the middle of being fixed...but i had a really good picture :(

so anyway, this movie was interesting because it was told from the Japanese's point of view, i haven't seen Flags of our Fathers yet but i plan to...eventually. But other than the POV it was pretty average war movie which is still above average because i like war movies that much :yup:

Fistful of Dollars (1964) - 5

My goodness this was the happiest i've been while watching a movie since LOTR in theaters. I watched the whole trilogy backwards because that's just how it was available to rent but i need to watch all of them again before i can put forth the ultimatum that i like this one the best, i just recently added The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to my favorite movies list so i need to watch that one again to see if it should be replaced because i really really loved Fistful of Dollars. But the love i felt could have just been for the whole series because i love all of them! Either way this trilogy is in my top ten somewhere and Clint Eastwood was sooo sexy...kay i'm done :yup:

mikeython1

01-12-09, 05:55 PM

Im glad you finaly got around to watching Fistful of Dollars. I knew you would like it. Watching the trilogy backwards might have made you appreciate the character more(maybe)

B-card

01-12-09, 06:35 PM

Igor(2008)-had it's laughs probably thanks to Steve Buscemi

Bolt(2008)-it was nice

Dawn of the Dead(2004)-love that one 3rd viewing

TheDOMINATOR

01-12-09, 06:45 PM

Next - 3.5

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/449/nextposterxq9.jpg

I wasn't expecting much; I saw it on sale on Blu-ray for $10 and decided to pick it up, and as it turns out I was very impressed. The concept of the film is really cool and there are some awesome action sequences and effects throughout. Nicholas Cage delivered an excellent performance and Jessica Biel is drop-dead-gorgeous. The ending didn't sit too well with me (it caught me off-guard and left me in disappointed disbelief), but the buildup to it was just short of phenomenal.

Swedish Chef

01-12-09, 07:58 PM

http://img4.ifilmpro.com/resize/image/stills/films/resize/istd/2981601.jpg

City of Ember (Gil Kenan, 2008)

Why can't there be more films like this? Why do 90% of all movies with a target demo below the age of 14 have to be complete fluff-fests? I mean, yeah, City of Ember has more than its fair share of glaring plot holes. And it's got a forced/protracted final act that's, if not wholly unsatisfying, at least a bit disappointing.

But, at the same time, it's a spectacularly refreshing experience. It's a children's movie that's ambitious in every sense of the word and it never once panders to or cheats the viewer. It's visually arresting, it has a compelling story and it's got Bill Murray, man. A lot of care and thought was put into this thing and actually I guess you could say that about almost any movie in the history of anything. But I think if you look at everything here from the cast to the design of the sets, you just get the sense that this is one of those labor of love type deals. Really is a shame that such a wonderful and charming little movie like this couldn't find an audience.

3.5

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/08/Redbeltposter.jpg/200px-Redbeltposter.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b1/Frost_nixon.jpg/200px-Frost_nixon.jpg

Also watched Redbelt and Frost/Nixon recently. All things considered, Redbelt may deserve a slightly better rating than the 1 I'm gonna give it, but that movie just bored my pants off. Frost/Nixon, which I thought I'd dislike, was a pretty enjoyable flick. It felt very slight and maybe even wholly insignificant, though, and I don't think it should be getting anywhere near the kind of praise that it's been taking in. I'd give it a low 3 and it might have been a bit higher if I didn't feel the movie went a step too far in misrepresenting the importance of the actual interviews. Oh well, two very good performances anyway from Sheen and Langella.

TheDOMINATOR

01-13-09, 12:50 AM

How the West Was Won - 4
(FIRST VIEWING)

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/6128/howthewestwaswonkb9.jpg

It's not a word I like to use often, but "epic" pretty much describes this movie. This has only been the second big-time Western that I've ever seen (Once Upon a Time in the West being the first), and boy am I off to a roaring start with the genre. While I thought Once Upon a Time in the West was decent, I thought How the West Was Won was fantastic, albeit (of course) a much different kind of movie. It was broken up into several 20-40 minute segments, each taking place during a different part of the 1800's explaining the story of the West, some having certain reoccurring characters in common. It was pretty remarkable the way the story of the film was told, in that respect.

Also, it goes without saying that Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb delivered outstanding performances. Doris Day also gave a dazzling performance and Jimmy Stewart's was gold.

With a rewatch, my rating for this movie has the potential to go up to a solid 4.5.

rice1245

01-13-09, 01:13 AM

Im glad you finaly got around to watching Fistful of Dollars. I knew you would like it. Watching the trilogy backwards might have made you appreciate the character more(maybe)

yeah i think that might be why i felt such a surge of love while watching it lol, so i'm going to watch GBU again now that i'm more familiar with the character because i bet i'll enjoy it even more.

i also forgot...

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) - 5
**note** this movie is only a five because i love it and have loved it since i was little, that doesn't mean that this is necessarily a great movie...

http://filmjournal.net/stephen/files/2007/06/kkhh.jpeg

yeah so i hadn't seen this movie in years and i just watched it again for the first time last night and my goodness i love it! and i hate musicals, they're always so boring to me...but this one isn't, i dunno if it's because it's in another language and i can just avoid the subtitles and the songs are just more tolerable that way...but no i think it's just because this is a childhood movie that i love. Sooo much happens! It's about this guy Rahul who has a best friend named Anjali and Anjali loves Rahul but Rahul falls in love with Tina and Tina figures out that Anjali loves Rahul and feels really bad but then Anjali goes on a train and leaves forever!! (almost) then Rahul and Tina get married and have a kid but Tina dies from complications with the childbirth and leaves her daughter 8 letters for each of her birthdays, in the eighth letter she tells her daughter (also named Anjali) to set her father up with Anjali because Tina thinks she interfered with their love! so Anjali (the 8 year old daughter) and her grandma come up with a scheme to set up Rahul with Anjali after they hadn't seen each other for years but of course to make things complicated Anjali is already engaged to another man...so that's the plot and it's pretty much awesome...

http://img1.chakpak.com/se_images/44577_-1_564_none/kuch-kuch-hota-hai-wallpaper.jpg