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Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975

Jack Nicholson is like Santa Clause, he's always got something for you. In this one he's a violent lunatic with a heart of gold. Although the ending was a little out of place, it's a fine piece of movie.



Without "spoiling" it, what better ending could the film have and stay true to the point it is making?
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Without "spoiling" it, what better ending could the film have and stay true to the point it is making?
An inverse Shutter Island served with a straight up Identity and a dash of The Sixth Sense.
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#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!




The Tree of Life 2011

A mash up of abstract universal creation and a coming of age
family drama set in the 50's (and then modern day). Yeah that's probably more than you should hope to combine, but Mallick's highly passive style is the perfect match for this story. After watching all of his movies over the past month, I'd put this one at the top. Of course I'll have to watch it on DVD to see if it holds up as well at home. Brad Pitt's outstanding, bla bla, what really seperates this one from the bunch is the sound design and musical soundtrack. It really ramps up during the segment where the universe is shaping, you see waves crashing against magma without a light in the sky. Very reminescent of stuff seen in 2001, just a lot prettier and with awesome sound effects. Best movie of the year so far (out of 4 movies I've seen).



WARNING: "Cuckoo Clock with Jack Nick" spoilers below

1. Jack Nicholson escapes and chief leaves too.
2. We actually get some insight into the evil nurse after the actual ending happens
3. We don't find out what happens to Jack Nick and Chief doesn't break out.

Now this one is the masterpiece.

4. Chief sees Jack Nick's lobotomy scars, but right before he suffocates him - Jack Nick winks (flashback to Jack Nick cutting his own head to fool the doctor into thinking the procedure had already been done). Then they both lift the water thing and chuck it out the window, once outside they purchase a million guns and then they come back to the institution and have a giant shootout. The evil nurse being the end boss of course, gets into a giant robot suit. In a last ditch effort, Chief throws Nicholson into her glass eyes, he breaks through and fights the nurse in hand to hand combat. Right when all hope is lost as she charges up for the killing blow, the robot trips on a banana peel and falls down. In the wake of the epic robot crash, Jack Nicholson rises out the rubble and says to the dead nurse " Walk it off bitch ". Then they free all the inmates to the tune of "Get Down Tonight" by KC and the Sunshine Band.



A system of cells interlinked
Meatwad's the best.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



You ready? You look ready.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure -


Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was an excellent flick. It had me laughing so hard I was cracking up all over the place, man.
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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza





Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)

Chaotic film noir that stands out partly for just how detached it seems to be from having any desire to sympathize with its characters. In that sense it reminds me of Repo Man, which obviously tried to homage to this movie in at least one powerful image that I will not mention lest I travel into spoilersville.





Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957)

Decent morality play about the moralistic egotism and hypocrisy of a certain media personality, and the precarious fate of his young protege. Although I don't think the characters or performances of either of these men were as twisted and ironic as they were probably meant to be, James Wong Howe's black and white images of 1950s midtown Manhattan, and in particularly the lighting in this film are some of the best I've seen. It's a pretty easy watch.

(slightly higher than I gave it it in the movie trade-off tab. The cinematography alone is enough to recommend it)



Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)

Visionary production design. I think the ending whitewashes a few too many differences, but I watched the 3-hour version and it moves along very smoothly and is fully deserving of its status as a classic.





Honeydripper (John Sayles, 2007)

A fabulist portrayal of the birth of rock'n'roll in a small bar in rural Alabama circa 1950. Seems to have gone largely ignored which is a shame as writer/director/editor John Sayles manages to imbue this fable with a lot of humanistic warmth as well as creating a complicated picture of ethnicity and both constructive, and destructive exploitation. The music and cinematography are very good.





Oedipus Rex (Julie Taymor, 1993)

Here's another allegorical epic with visionary set-design. This time staged as an opera with some kabuki-esque mannerisms thrown in. In spite of the fact that it takes place on a stage, the set, costumes, performances and camerawork all feel very alive and attuned to each other.

+



The King's Speech (Tom Hooper, 2010)

In a way I think this is a pretty small story (a man is embarrassed by his stuttering problem) exaggerated by context (this man is the king of England, and he's got to give a rousing speech on the eve of WWII), and that seems kind of queer to me (in the old fashioned sense). On the other hand I think the dramatic structure and style of this film is pretty engaging. The big idea is to take two characters who are failed actors (the king and his voice coach) and rub them together to polish their edges and tease out a number of leitmotifs and parallel associations (acting, speech, Shakespeare, "national character"). I love these performances, especially Rush. He's a gem.





The Ape Man (William Beaudine, 1943)

Most people aren't going to watch this for anything but the camp value, but even in the realm of quirky genre-trash this stands out as quirkier than most. For one thing there's the fact that Lugosi plays a mad scientist who's drug-like experiments have caused him to turn into a half-man, half-gorilla. He has a full-gorilla sidekick and together they murder people and take their spinal fluid which he wants to use to stop his body and mind from transforming into an ape's. If you're familiar with Lugosi from Ed Wood this may be a somewhat poignant experience, seeing him reduced to an animal who has to shoot up to feel human. I think the (multiple) odd genre quirks -- as well as the explicit acknowledgment within the film that what you're watching is a trashy voyeuristic entertainment of people's destroyed lives -- only adds to the strange ickyness of this film. So yeah, the production and script are terrible, particularly the sound-engineering and dialog, but I think there's more here than "camp." I'm not sure what to base a rating on.

I also saw Paper Moon (Peter Bogdanovich, 1973) (
) and Three Crowns of the Sailor (Raul Ruiz, 1983)
), which I may write up later.



I also saw...Three Crowns of the Sailor (Raul Ruiz, 1983)
), which I may write up later.
Have you seen anything else by Ruiz?
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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."



That's the first, and I saw it half by accident (the library record falsely claimed that it was a set that included the one I'd originally planned to see, Hypothesis of a Stolen Painting). I'd be interested in seeing more, especially if Sacha Vierny was the DP. In his films with Greenaway the camera is always so still; the shots here are still just as beautifully composed, but the way he choreographs the camera's eye in three-dimensional space in Crowns really blew me away. Which others by Ruiz would you suggest?



I've only just gotten into his films in the last year or so, but I'm liking what I've seen so far. Hypothesis... is great and I'd also recommend City of Pirates, although a different DP worked on that one. I've seen a couple others but those three (including Three Crowns) are the standouts. I've heard his recent Mysteries of Lisbon is pretty good, and some of his earlier, more political films are supposed to be great as well. I have access to a lot of his films but unfortunately some are in poor condition. He has been gaining serious interest the last little while among cinephiles so I would expect almost everything will eventually be properly released.

It's funny, because I was wondering if you had seen anything by him a while back and was going to ask but it must have slipped my mind.



I'll check those out. I was actually wanting to recommend 'Crowns' to you while I watched it. Same with Taymor's Oedipus opera-film.



Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight?

TITAN A.E. (Don Bluth, 2000)

God I hate reviewing movies I pretty much grew up with. I want to just give it a 5 out of pure sentimental value, and how many times I've watched this movie as a kid, and thinking it was the greatest animated movie ever. Sadly, at 17 I've realized it's not. The voice acting is very subpar, especially towards the end. The whole movie is very above par in the way it looks, especially for 2000, space just looks amazing. Bluth and co, knew this, and wanted to take full advantage of it, making some scenes just take to long. The writing can barely hold up even the scenes that make sense. The typical see-it-coming-a-mile-away teenage romance takes place of course, and besides one or two twists it was very predictable.


+


Great soundtrack though. You should watch it.
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I used to be addicted to crystal meth, now I'm just addicted to Breaking Bad.
Originally Posted by Yoda
If I were buying a laser gun I'd definitely take the XF-3800 before I took the "Pew Pew Pew Fun Gun."



Is white trash beautiful
So I have been watching alot films and I have been trying to catch up with the MOFO tournament but anyways the last couple of days I have watched alot of films that I didn't think I would quite like but I ended up up really enjoying them.

Lawrence of Arabia 1962 David Lean

I really thought I wouldn't enjoy this film but I found myself enchanted by it.Its a long film over 200 minutes and by the end of it I really found my self wishing it wouldn't end.Lawrence of Arabia is based on the life Controversial British Officer T.E. Lawrence and Lawrence is played by Peter O Toole,Toole was brilliant in his role as Lawrence and honestly his acting and his role just blew me away.Anyways to sum it up this is a brilliant film and I am really glad that I decided to watch it.


"Ah, well, we can't all be lion tamers."


The Night of The Hunter 1955 Charles Laughton

I watched this film the other night and I really liked it,I loved the lullaby it has been stuck in my head for days.This is a Horror film about a false prophet who marries widows for money and then disposes of them.The film itself is great and full of surprise and one of the best villians I have seen in along time.I loved the images and the direction and the river scene was amazing.All in all its a really intense good horror film.


" Not that you mind the killings! There's plenty of killings in your book, Lord"


Contempt (Les Mepris) 1936 Jean-Luc Godard

Another film that I absolutely fell in love with.This is my first Godard film and I cant really explain the film because it is one of those films you have to see for yourself . Contempt stars Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli and they play a married couple who are struggling with their marriage.The whole film is about this wife who develops a hatred for her husband and he cannot for the life of him figure out why.This is a great film and not just for the Bardot nudity scenes(don't miss the beginning) but the Photography by Raoul Coutard is just beautiful and Fritz Lang playing himself was pretty cool.



"Jerry, don't forget. The gods have not created man. Man has created gods. "


Apocalypse Now 1979 Francis Ford Coppola

I have to say that I really liked this film as well.I'm lucky that I have seen so many good films in the last couple of days.Anyways this is a great war film totally not what I expected and Martin Sheen was amazing and so was Brando and Duvall.Its not your typical war film and they story and direction is great,If you have not seen this film I highly suggest it.


"If that's how Kilgore fought the war, I began to wonder what they really had against Kurtz. It wasn't just insanity and murder; there was enough of that to go around for everyone"



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, many others, 1939)


I've found myself falling into the trap lately of underrating this epic film because other people complain about it so much. However, rewatching it for the umpteenth time and liking it even better than before in a completely new way, has caused me to come to its "defense" and try to write something about it in the form of a rebuttal to most of the complaints raised about why it's supposedly outdated, a soap opera/chick flick, boring, racist, whitewashed, etc. So here goes.


1. GWTW is old and doesn't present characters or events which people can possibly relate to anymore. - GWTW is certainly 72 years old at this moment and it's set in the Deep South from about 1861-1875, but the cinematics on display will never grow old. Sure, there are some fake blue screen shots here and there, but 99.5% of it is unparalleled cinema and I'm talking about right down to this present day. To start with, the acting is incredible, the dialogue sophisticated and the characters, almost right down to the smallest roles, seem to be people who are far more aware of their surroundings and those they live with than the idiot cyphers which pass for characters in most of today's movies. For example, Mammy (Hattie McDaniel) is easily the wisest character in the film. She may not speak the greatest English but when did she have a chance to go to school? What's certain is that she looks and listens and thus understands all the characters better than most of them do themselves. Melanie (Olivia de Havilland) is probably an example of one of the most "Good" characters ever, but once again, she isn't taken advantage of by others for being a true Christian. Rather, her simple goodness makes others want to be better, and yes, I'm even including that rascal Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) who gets many of the best lines in the film and delivers them wonderfully. The tragedy of GWTW, aside form the fact that life always ends in death, is that Rhett and Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) are so perfect for each other but always have some poor sense of timing where they can never actually be totally honest and happy with each other at the same time. Vivien Leigh gives one of the all-time greatest performances as a teenage brat without a heart who grows up and learns through the suffering of a defeated South and the fact that all who are close to her have major problems with her behavior and selfishness. The cinematography, art direction, sound, music, editing and costumes are all meticulous and could scarcely ever be reproduced in this day and age without spending something approaching $300 million.


2. GWTW is a chick flick, so why would any guys want to watch it? - I would say that GWTW is a chick flick in the same way that The Godfather is a gangster flick. They both tell epic stories using wonderful cinematic techniques and have characters which any living person should easily relate to. Does the fact that The Godfather is a gangster flick mean that Women should hate it for what it is? Is that a rational thing for an intelligent film buff to do? Well, for the same reasons, nobody should really look down on "chick flicks" if they are done well and go far above and beyond whatever that cliched description seems to mean nowadays. Not only that, but if I was going to describe GWTW, I'd say that it's about equal parts relationship melodrama (not a soap opera - it's far too sophisticated), gothic horror film and war movie. The last time I thought about it, I believed that Guys in general like horror and war movies, so what's the big deal? And if you don't believe me about the horror part, then you honestly have not seen the movie and compared the lighting and sets, especially in the middle third, to that of Roger Corman, Mario Bava and Dario Argento. Trust me, it's all in there, along with thematic concepts concerning haunted houses and mad characters. Then, there are all the things which GWTW somehow got away with. It has the goriest death of any American film of its era and actually far past when a certain character is shot point blank in the face and we see the wretched aftermath of what used to be a human face. It has a woman taking her clothes off (no you don't really see anything but bare legs but even so, in the context of the film and the times, it's surprising). It even has a man raping his wife (if you believe that's possible and this film implies it certainly is), even if it's not explicitly shown. Then there's Rhett Butler's famous closing swear word.


3. GWTW is blatantly racist and a whitewashed account of what slavery truly represented. - First off, I'm sure that everyone knows that GWTW is a fictional film based on a fictional novel. It has specific characters who act and believe the way they do because that's the way they're written. If you watch GWTW expecting to see slaves whipped or in chains, you won't see it. You will see white chain-gang workers who are the equivalent of slaves though. You never hear the "N-word" in the movie but you hear the words "darky" and "darkies" repeatedly. You also hear "poor white trash" quite often. The white trash certainly seem to be held in lower esteem than the darkies, and many of the darkies are treated as members of the family by Scarlett, Rhett, Melanie and Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard). As I said before, Mammy is the wisest character in the whole film, as well as probably the most honest and she stays with Scarlett and Melanie after the Civil War ends. The field slaves basically left the plantation Tara when the Yankees showed up but most the house servants stayed. Butterfly McQueen, as Prissy, is often cited as a character presented in a racist context, but that seems to be more because of McQueen's unique way of speaking and the fact that her character tells some "stories" during the film which end up not being true and potentially causing danger to some main characters. It's true that some of the older, paternal white characters seem to hold the darkies to be as inferior as the white trash but none of the main characters seem to, and if that's supposed to be a crock of BS, I don't see how anyone can prove that such things didn't happen. Besides that, the film does discuss slavery from multiple perspectives but only in passing since it's not really about slavery. What should they have done, just omit all the slaves? After all, Schindler's List and The Pianist show that certain "enemies" of the Jews did protect them during WWII.


4. GWTW is three-and-one-half hours long and any film that long should not be watched because it's too big an investment of time and it has to be boring if it's that long - To me, this is ridiculous to even think of such things, but if based on your personal experience this is an axiom, I suppose I'd just have to say that there's always an exception to every rule, and where there's one, there are usually many others. There is no boredom at all in the film. It's witty, suspenseful, colorful, unpredictable, intelligent, cinematically-pleasing (the obsession with shadows is definitely a highlight for me), tense, filled with interesting characters and situations and many other positive things. True, it's long but the story and characters deserve the extra time. It is a true epic and not just one in name only. If you have to watch it in more than one sitting, that's not really a problem, especially since it has an intermission about halfway through.

I think that's enough for now, especially since it's getting so late. I've decided that when I put it at #50 in my Top 100 that I was off quite a bit, trying to somehow compensate and apologize for its alleged shortcomings. It should be closer to somewhere near #25, maybe along side something such as Richard Pryor Live in Concert.



Observe and Report (Jody Hill, 2009) -


The dark humor just works so well for me. The odd editing just came off to me as being so funny. I can understand why some people don't like this, but I just love it. I can't believe that it took me so long to actually get around to buying it, but I'm glad I finally did. Seth Rogen just plays the part the part of the bi-polar security guard so well for me. I get so pumped every time I watch it.

The Art of Getting By (Gavin Wiesen, 2011) -
+


I enjoyed it, but I don't know if it was enough to type up a full review for it. It's definitely a good film to watch, but it's been done before; actually it was done just a few months ago with It's Kind of Funny Story, which I enjoyed a lot more. Funny thing is, both movies featured Emma Roberts as one of the main stars and she virtually played the same character in both. Though, it's still something I'm probably going to end going back and watching again someday.

Cars 2 (John Lasseter and Brad Lewis, 2011) -


It isn't Pixar's worst effort yet, that title still remains to the first Cars. It's still just above mediocre and not something I've come to expect from a Pixar film. I hate Larry the Cable Guy too, so I'm surprised I even liked this at all seeing as how the entire movie focused on Mater. The animation is still really well-done, which is something that pretty much every Pixar film has to have. But like I've read from numerous reviews, the main thing Pixar missed on this one was emotion. Pixar has become known for their emotional kid films and that just didn't happen here. Hopefully it'll be improved for their next effort next year.

Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010) -


I hadn't seen it since I saw it theaters over a year ago, so I forgot how much I liked it. Though, I've come to expect nothing less from Scorsese. DiCaprio gives a excellent performance, but there's really no surprise there. It makes me want to go back and actually finish the book sometime, which I've only gotten about halfway through until I stopped reading it. As much as I did enjoy it, it still wasn't quite the follow up to The Departed as I was hoping, and I don't think his next film will be for me either. I just want to see Scorsese get back into the gangster films, because that's where I feel he really shines.



Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson, 1996) -


After my new found love for Anderson after watching The Life Aquatic, I decided to spend this week making my way through his movies. I enjoyed it, but it was just missing that signature Anderson style. I understand that this was his first film, so he was probably still getting ahold of his style when he made this. Still, I was just expecting something different than what I got. I'm sure if I re-watched it somewhere down the line with different expectations then I think I'd enjoy it more.

Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998) -


Anderson's style was definitely more noticeable in this one. I'm a big fan of Jason Schwartzman so I knew I was going to somewhat enjoy this one. I just love his quirky humor and it seems to work so well for him. Oddly enough though, this seems to be his film that I can't find anything to say about it really. It's just something that I really enjoyed.

The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001) -
+


The most similar to The Life Aquatic out of the bunch, probably because of it's ensemble cast. With so many big name actors in one movie, there is just a sense of epicness about it that you can't deny. I really love it when Anderson shows you the entire scenery in the middle of scene, it's more apparent in The Life Aquatic, but it's definitely noticeable here as well. His odd storytelling techniques work really well for him as well, and it's something I don't think all directors would be able to pull off.

The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, 2007) -


My favorite out of the bunch, and probably his most mature film yet. Unlike the rest of this films, it didn't really rely on his quirky humor as much and that impressed me. I think Anderson should make more films like this one. It relied a lot more on the storytelling aspect of everything. Wilson, Brody, and Schwartzman all give incredibly good performance as well; I felt as though there was an actual connection between them. It's definitely something that I can see myself being able to go back and watch over and over again and learning a bit more about it each time.



Requiem for a Dream (Daren Aronofsky, 2000) -


Aronofsky is really a hit and miss director for me. There are some of his films like The Fountain, which I just love, but there are others like The Wrestler, which don't really do much for me. I'm not saying his films that don't really do much for me are bad, but they're certainly not something I can go back and watch over and over again. Speaking for this, this is pretty much the most depressing film I've ever seen. I honestly don't see how anyone can enjoy something like this. I'm unsure right now if I'll every go back and watch this again to be honest. I still don't want to give it a bad rating because this filmmaking aspect of it is actually quite good. The subject matter is just incredibly too depressing for my tastes.

Badlands (Terrence Malik, 1973) -
+


Seeing as how excited I am to see The Tree of Life, I figured it'd be best for me to go ahead and watch all of Malik's other films first. This one was definitely my favorite out of the bunch. I just really love Martin Sheen, and this is no exception. He plays the role so perfectly, because you can tell he's not someone really bad, but instead just wants to be known. The ending kind of made me a little bit upset, because it's not really how I wanted it to end, but still a very solid film nonetheless.

Days of Heaven (Terrence Malik, 1978) -


What seems to be regarded as his best film, actually seems to be my least favorite. I mean it was good movie, yes, but not quite deserving of all the praise I think. It sure was a character piece though, which I enjoyed because it was something different than something I usually watch. I felt as though it dragged on for like the last fifteen minutes or so, though. I understand that there had to be closure on some of the characters, but I just felt as they were trying to drag it out.

The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malik, 1998) -


After twenty years away from the business, Malik comes back to the movie scene with an entirely new visual style. I actually prefer this new found visual style of his. The one thing I didn't really like about this, and caused my rating to go down a little bit, was the fact that there was like six different narrators. I don't think that really should've bothered me, but it did. I just think that one narrator works fine, and when you got such a big cast already with somewhat similar voices, you don't need that many narrators. With that said, for a three hour long film, it didn't feel like that at all. The time just flew by as I was watching it. There actually no parts at all throughout the film that felt slow to me at all. It's nice when a film of this length can do that.



The New World (Terrence Malik, 2005) -
+


This is something that I didn't expect to enjoy at all. I even went into it with the mentality that I wasn't going to like it, but I did. The first hour or so felt like a different version of The Last Samurai to me, which is a movie that I really love. I feel as though it somewhat loses its way the final hour or so, but I think that's just because by that point I was already attached to one character when they suddenly changed the main focus to a different character. The had more than one narrator in this as well, but it didn't really bother me as much in this one. I guess because the cast wasn't quite as big. Also something else I realized about Malik's films - why does all of his movies start in a monologue? It's not really a bad thing, but I find it somewhat weird that he does it for every film.

Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003) -


Then out of nowhere comes this. It's just something that I've had waiting to watch and I was in the mood to watch something a bit more normal than most of what I've been watching these past couple of days. I liked it, quite a bit actually, but it just wasn't really something all that special to me. Maybe it'll do something more for me upon re-watches, but as of now it stands as this. Bill Murray gives a stunning performance, which is probably the most standout thing about the film.



June, the month that was in film (* = rewatch)
 


Oliver Twist - (2005) - Polanski
A very strange brew indeed, things were just off here. Maybe it was too realistic? The first shot of Oliver in London, has him liyng in the street, without shoes, wearing rags; one feels in a couple more days, he would have starved to death there. The cast seems strangely inert. There's no introduction to the characters. The story developments seem truncated.



* Eulogy - (2002) - Clancy
Extremely passive narration. Since everyone was identifiable, The director could have thrown out all the character introduction scenes, and simply had everyone show up at the house. The grandmother's story is a drama, whereas the rest of the cast is in a farce, you could here the gears grinding when they shift between the two.



Last Night - (2010) - Tadjedin
This talky emo fest is helped along significantly by the doe eyed cast and the upscale locations; although Sam Worthington needs to work on his Australian accent. The two guys are sensitive manly men, and the two women are passionate girly girls---who know how to work a room or negligee for that matter, when they have to. It's absolutely gorgeous to look at. They contemplate temptation in chic restaurants, spacious lofts, swanky hotels and the cavernous emptiness of their own minds.



* The Fall - (2006) - Tarsem
* Manners of Dying - (2004) - Allen
* A Guy Thing - (2003) - Koch
What can I say, I like Jason Lee and Julia Stiles. Seamless set-ups and at times, very humorous pay-offs.
X men: first class - (2011) - Vaughn
Since it's a prequel, the narrative expands to the prescribed limits of the franchise and works backwards. Would have liked to have seen the scene where Mystique throws off her silly human clothing and struts around: born a mutant and damn proud of it. Yeah!
Good Neighbors (2010) - Tierney
Potiche - (2010) - Ozon
Interesting for the overlay of contemporary ideas like media burn, sexual identity and the cult of the celebrity placed onto a story situated in the French town of Lille; circa 1977 when these ideas were just beginning to simmer. A rebooted stage play.
Service Entrance -(2011) - Le Guay
Bit of a history lesson. Fashion has turned against born and bred French maids, and now Spaniards are all the vogue with the upper rich. Slightly laid back and unhurried with it's revelations. A rich man and financial investor (Patrice Lucchini) discovers another world which turns out to be only a couple of paces from his own spacious apartment Some interesting things, like casting actual Spanish actors in the service roles. Sandrine Kiberlain is squandered as the bored trophy wife.
The Baader Meinhof complex - (2008) - Edel



* Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - (1969) - Hill
For adjusted gross, the 100 mill it made in the last 3 months of 1969 translates into 500 mill today. The originial title was The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy until Steve McQueen dropped out, then top billing reverted back to Newman. At times, the banter seemed a little flippant.
* Midnight Cowboy - (1969) - Schlesinger
A study of saying the long goodbye to tightly held fantasies with down and out characters. It's suggested they could get gainful employment at anytime, but actually prefer the nightmare of homelessness. Kind of liked that the incompleteness of their characters was used in the set design. Posters and advertising for ironic comment. The thing they need is mony, all their problems are mony based---until someone tells them, what they really need is money.
* The Last Seduction - (1994) - Dahl
* The Verdict - (1982 ) - Lumet
Great use of the locations. Loved the outsized rooms and ornate corridors, Gaven (Newman) always looks a little puny and overwhelmed in these places. Excellent detail: When Newman and Rampling first embrace, the only thing we hear in the clinking of ice cubes in their gin glasses.
Swimming with Sharks - (1994) - Huang
The relationship between the hotshot producer and his assistant slightly strained credulity. There's a rough patch where Spacey exults in abusing him, which I found a little difficult to believe someone would take that much humiliation. Needed a minor editing fix. Bringing forward the scene where he goes to the producer's home---trusses him up---then lets go a stinging slap across his face---then cut to the same story would have removed some of the problems of disbelief.
The Moral Storm - (1940) - Borzage
Nice little drama about the rise of the ultra Nationalism in a sleepy little German village circa. 1933. Kind of fun to see all those American actors playing all those krazy krauts.
The Invisible Man - (1933 ) - Whale
I remember Spike Lee offered Denzel Washington his choice of both parts in "Inside man" and he scoffed and said: "Are you nuts? The Bank robber character spends half the movie with a hood over his face! Nah, I'll take the police Detective." Poor old Claude Rains, he spent the entire film either invisible or bandaged, then on his death bed, they moved in for a single close-up. This has lots of sly comic wit for a creature feature.
Female agents - (2009) - Salomé
Starts out as a kind of war movie but morphs into a kind of terse little espionage film in the streets of Vichy Paris. Sophie Marceau usually bullies her way into the forefront, but here she's strangely restrained.



* A heart in Winter - (1992) - Sautet
The Age of Stupid - (2009) - Armstrong
Great ironic situations. Another good addition to the burgeoning list of extinction films.
The Power of Nightmares - (2004) - Curtis
Three part documentary from the BBC, that advances an interesting idea that the rise of religious zealots, based in the east and west, rather than being diametrically opposed are actually mirror images of one another and follow the same agenda ... hastening the rapture. Their great drive and import comes the absolute certainty of true believers. And murder and duplicity is perfectly acceptable since, if one thinks about it, the Godless vermin have no chance whatsoever, of making it into kingdom come.
In the Year of the Pig - (1968) - Antonio
Black and white documentary and Oscar winner from 1969. A brief history lesson about the struggle for Vietnamese independance, in context with the (then) current invaders. Without the risk of a sound bite going viral and the complicity of the journalists, a lot of the pronouncements seem to be dripping with contempt.
 
 
Highlight reel (Re-watches ineligible)

"Astonishngly limpid and honest"



Best film: In the year of the Pig
Best scenario: The Baader-Meinhof complex
Best Director: Emile de Antonio
Outstanding set & costume design: Potiche. The phone cozy---not to mention all those bitchin' skinny belts.
Best supporting actor: Potiche. Fabrice Lucchini really chews up the scenery as the nefarious factory owner/thoughtless husband.
Best actress: Johanna Wokalek as Gundrun from The Baader Meinhof complex
Best supporting actress: Natalia Verbeke as Maria from Service Entrance
Creepiest scene: Good neighbors. The teacher adopted a cat in China. It's been in Quarantine for the last couple of weeks. When it arrives, the gal (he's kind of sweet on her, but she's been kind of standoffish) immediately jumps onto his bed and starts spooning with the said cat. Eww!
Best scene: Year of the pig. A General responds to a reporter about why the Destroyer Maddox and the USS Ticonderoga were patrolling in the Golf Of Tonkin. "We were looking for submarines". "Sir, Vietnam doesn't have any submarines". The General grins broadly.
Number of good films I avoided seeing because of a misleading title: 2. "The age of stupid" I honestly thought for some reason that this was a dumb ass comedy. And "In the year of the pig", Good grief, who wants to see a film set on a pig farm?



I'm not old, you're just 12.
Casino - Billionth time, it seems like, but it's probably my second favorite Scorsese pic, after the Departed.

Full Metal Jacket - It's weird how most people I know who have served have a totally different take on this than civilians do. I find it hilarious.
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