Movie Tab II

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Underworld (2003)
Underworld: Evolution (2006)
Star Wars (1977)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather II (1974)

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yuck!

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letterboxd

You didn't like 3:10? I loved it... Charlie was an arse...

3:10 to Yuma was awesome.

I just watched:

Sweeney Todd - My favourite film from last year.

well, it was okay. but i dunno. not overly. after sitting through that horrorfest Gladiator, its hard for me to get into anything that involves Russell Crowe.

Goodfellas - friggin love it

The Big Sleep - confusing but enthralling

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Undercoverlovers 100 REDUX

Horrible judge of character...IMHO

i knew someone would scoff at me for that. but i stand by my opinion, man!

I've just seen it tonight and I absolutely loved it. I may be a tad prejudiced because I adore films about the theater (which is ironic seeing as how I don't actually like the theater), I always seem to sense a particular joy in actors playing actors (as in Mike Leigh's Topsy turvy). It does lag a bit in certain parts (which isn't surprising in such a lengthy film), but never long enough to get bored by it. A remarkable piece of cinema...

Incidentally, the Criterion edition is 195 minutes long.

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http://www.last.fm/user/diezelpower/

Was it presented as two separate parts with two sets of credits? All my old sources say it's 195 minutes, but it ran 190 minutes (in two parts) on cable, and IMDb even lists it at 190 minutes now.

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

Indeed it was.

Sleepy Hollow more Tim Burton/Johnny Depp goodness!

Cloverfield

L'Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)



I could watch Monica Vitti all day. She has a really unique screen presence, and I find her incredibly attractive. Michelangelo Antonioni was fortunate enough to have her in two of the films in his trilogy about humankind's lack of communication in the early 1960s (the other two being L'Avventura and La Notte). My problem is that I love Monica much more than Michelangelo.



When I first watched this film many years ago, I wanted to throw something at my TV because of its laboriously obvious and drawn-out opening scene depicting the end of a relationship. It really left a bad taste in my mouth so that it was difficult to get into the rest of the movie. Now, I can just grumble a bit waiting for that scene to end because there really are a few things in the movie worth admiring. Besides Vitti and co-star Alain Delon, the cinematography is really quite impressive. Sometimes I have to debate who really has the best use of shadows in their films: Antonioni, Hitchcock or Spielberg. This film, being in black and white, really does push the light and dark composition of its images, and the exterior scenes especially seem to carry some almost subliminal meaning which makes you think you may be watching something important.



Ultimately, despite the fact that the film gets better as it goes along, it feels like some intellectual exercise of an idea. Some of the truths depicted are undeniable, but much of it just seems to be overkill and/or unnecessary. Although I find the ending stylistically daring, I certainly thought it was unsatisfactory within the thematic context. It's obvious what will happen between the two main characters, so Antonioni doesn't even bother to show you it. Instead, he seems to randomly follow people around Rome and insert little newspaper headlines to try to make a link between how individuals are unable to relate to each other in the same way that nations and cultures aren't. When the film ends, you feel cheated, even though it's certainly worth a peek for serious cineastes.

Lilja 4-ever (2002)

This was a Swedish film about an abandoned orphaned Russian teenage girl who gets preyed on by her sweet-talking beau who promises to take her to a better life in Sweden. In stead, he gets her a fake passport and drops her off at the airport. When she shows up in Sweden she has her passport stolen, then she's taken to an apartment, locked up and forced to be a sex-slave while a scummy guy makes money off of her. I'm giving this all away because basically the film tells you from the opening couple of scenes that this film is not going to be art or entertainment, but rather a laboriously detailed dramatization of the relentless crushing of helpless people, for our (in this case I'm guessing "our" was meant to be Swedish film audiences) edification. I think you'd have to be pretty callous not to get pissed off at what happens in this movie, but I'm not going to rate it because I think that effect is the primary value and goal here.

The Brave One
I knew this was going to be bad (boyfriend rental) but this movie was just ridiculous. Bleh.

Harvey
I love this movie more every time I see it. Josephine Hull cracks me up. Her reaction to Myrtle Mae and Wilson becoming chummy is priceless. The movie is sweet, charming, and really really flat out funny.

Catch-22 (Mike Nichols, 1970)



Deeply flawed, but highly-absurdist WWII satire with a tremendous cast: Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Susanne Benton, Peter Bonerz, Marcel Dalio, Liam Dunn, Norman Fell, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Charles Grodin, Buck Henry, John Korkes, Richard Libertini, Bob Newhart, Austin Pendleton, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, John Voight, Orson Welles, Elizabeth Wilson, etc.

The movie begins with one of the greatest single shots in film history, involving the actual departure of many bombers from a Mediterranean landing strip, leadng up to the introduction of some of the key characters, and culminating in the knifing of the lead character. David Watkin's cinematography is mind-boggling, but this opening scene pretty much takes the cake, at least cinematically.



The film is a rarity: a big-budget, American surrealistic, absurdist comedy. It contains some incredible scenes, including what happens to Snowden, some scenes which truly look like the cast are flying the bombers in the sky, and the finale, which attempts to cinematically top the opening shot, but falls just a bit short. This is the kind of movie where you spend equal amounts of time laughing out loud and yelling "WTF?" at the TV. It's full of entertainment, but I believe most people will have lots of problems with the last half. Even so, this is one film I believe everyone should watch. As far as I know, this is the only cinematic version of Catch-22 which we currently have, so love it for now.

More Sci-fi/Horror...

The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)

Classic! I truly enjoyed this. What's not to love? The protagonist, after basically killing his girlfriend in a car wreck takes her head and keeps her alive in a pool of goo for most of the movie. How can you not love that? A pretty good monster at the end of the flick too.

Eek factor:


Creature (1984)

Ack! Aren't you glad I'm watching all of these so you don't have to Holden? I knew you were. Anyway, this could also possibly qualify for your Body Snatcher thread. I only looked at that thread once so forgive me if I'm naming some that you already have in there. The Creature doesn't technically "snatch" any bodies here, but similar to The Puppetmasters he puts little creatures on there necks and they fall under some kind of scary creature mind control and of course after that hilarity ensues. Terrible movie though.

Eek factor:


The Killer Shrews (1959)

Now we're talking! James Best (otherwise known as Roooscoe Peeee Coooltraaaain!) is in this and any movie with Roscoe in it is already got a leg up on the competition. As for the movie, The Killer Shrews are basically a bunch of dogs with rags strapped to them and they were all very scary to be sure. The sound effects were decent and overall the movie was pretty bad. So obviously I would highly recommend it.

Eek factor: 1/2


The Last Woman on Earth (1960)

A Roger Corman flick and a not altogether unwatchable flick. At least in this one Corman didn't find it necessary to dub over some of the actor's and replace some of them with different people like in the last Corman flick I saw.

Eek factor: 1/2

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

oh yeah, i remember watching this one on Mystery Science Theater. it was, erm... interesting. didn't he find some disfigured model?

Death at a Funeral
It was ok. Some funny moments, but as funny as I'd hoped. Maybe I was expecting too much. Some things within the story were very predictable and the Potty humor for adults came accross as just that. All the bathroom scene did was remind me of some moments I shared with my in-laws. T'wasn't a funny moment. Could have been better.