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I started writing up the last batch of movies that I saw but I'm short on time tonight, and leaving town (and the internet) for a week tomorrow, so, I'll leave what I've written and just give ratings for the other three.



Amateur (Hartley, 1994)

I could be mistaken, but I think this was the first Hal Hartley movie I ever saw. This is one of the ones where I think the story matters the most, so I rank it higher than Henry Fool or The Unbelievable Truth or some of his others. But it's worth seeing just because it's still so fresh cinematically. To call this quirky or pretentious would miss the point. It's like cinema got amnesia and so all it's references went fuzzy and distant. New old world. The climax for me comes pretty early when they go to the main character's apartment and right after Hupert starts trying on his ex's clothes. That's up there with my favorite scenes in movies, even if it's a little down hill after that this movie is still well worth
.

Scary Movie 2 (Wayans, 2001)


Snake Eyes (De Palma, 1998)


30 Days of Night (Slade, 2007)



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
It does take a lot of time to make these posts, doesn't it? At least if you want it to look good. Since I've been hurting lately while sitting, I've cut way back on the lengtns of the write-ups but I try to keep it personal, informative and entertaining.

Shut up, mark!

My fave Hartley flick continues to be Trust. It seems his funniest, the easiest for me to personally relate to, and the one where the characters really seemed to connect (probably because of my previous comment).

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It does take a lot of time to make these posts, doesn't it? At least if you want it to look good. Since I've been hurting lately while sitting, I've cut way back on the lengtns of the write-ups but I try to keep it personal, informative and entertaining.

Shut up, mark!

My fave Hartley flick continues to be Trust. It seems his funniest, the easiest for me to personally relate to, and the one where the characters really seemed to connect (probably because of my previous comment).
don't shut up, mark! even if it's just a few sentences it doesn't matter, any time i actually stop to think, it takes time to write something. i'm glad someone reads it.

i actually picked up trust earlier tonight to take with me and watch with rebecca. i remember that being one of my favorites too but really i like them all. i'll let you know how it stacks up soon.

i'm sorry to hear about your persistent health issues. so are you watching most of your movies lying down or standing up these days? i wish you all the best, dude. if you ever feel up to it let us know if you liked or didn't like amateur too.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Billy Budd (Peter Ustinov, 1962)
+



Terrific interpretation by director/co-scripter Ustinov of the Herman Melville novella. Melville is always crammed with Biblical allusions and this one is a great depiction of Good (debuting Terence Stamp) vs. Evil (Robert Ryan) during British naval wartime against Napoleon. It's one of those films where all the pieces fit together and you start to get a knot in your stomach because you fear for Billy's life the second that Claggart sets eyes on him. This film is just as powerful in its own way as Paths iof Glory and Twelve Angry Men, although it never quite reaches their heights. Nevertheless, the ugly truth of what it says about human nature could scarcely be more poetic.

The Queen of Spades (Thorold Dickinson, 1949)
; Cult Rating:




Unusual adaptation of the Pushkin novel looks and sounds strange, with opulent cinematography and sets and a generally eerie story about a soldier (Anton Walbrook) who goes to the house of chance, but never spends any money because of his poor upbringing. Eventually, he comes across a book with the secret of the cards (the game of Faro) and puts two and two together to determine that an aging local noblewoman (Dame Edith Evans, in her film debut) knows that secret. The build-up is very atmospheric, if low-key, but the final card game is depicted in a highly-suspenseful manner which turns the flick into a cult item.

Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)




Alien is a classic and one of those films which should be seen on as large a screen as possible. True, it borrows a lot from It! The Terror from Beyond Space and Planet of the Vampires, but its budget and technical/creative team (including H.R. Giger) allow it to be far more spectacular than those low-budget flicks. Alien is a terriifc example of a sci-fi/horror flick. The first half is mind-bending sci-fi showing things which had never really been shown before, especially within what appeared to be such spectacular and wide-open sets (even if some were matte paintings). The second half is one of the better claustrophobic monster-on-the-loose flicks aboard the spaceship. This film should really belong in the mafo's MoFo 100 List.

The Big Lebowski (Coen Bros., 1998)
; Cult Rating:




The Coens do the slacker SoCal Dude, and as far as the main characters go, they do them extremely well. Everybody in the pic above could scarcely be better. However, for me, the film is let down by the convoluted "Big" film noir plot and the characters involved with that, especially poor Julianne Moore. What I have to say won't change anybody's mind though. I think it's funny and entertaining but only half-successful. Now, to show you what I mean and how screwed-up I am, I think it's twice as successful as another offbeat modern film noir, The Long Goodbye, so I'm ducking and covering now...

Bicentennial Man (Chris Columbus, 1999)




I finally watched this sucka after years of avoiding it for fear of a saccharine overdose. Don't worry, I didn't pay any money for it. It's very long but it's surprisingly cohesive. Sure, it suffers from some of the same problems as Columbus's Stepmom and whatever other of his films you dislike, but it contains some interesting characters and situations, as well as a couple of silly ones. Robin Williams surprisingly keeps most of his schtick out of the flick. For me, it pales compared to A.I., but it's kinda surprising that it was being filmed at basically the same time.

The Cowboys (Mark Rydell, 1972)




John Wayne begged to be in this flick and got his wish. I'm not sure why he wanted to be in it, unless it was because of his character's fate or a chance to be a surrogate father, both situations which would have changed his film persona to an extent. As far as the film goes, it's a surprisingly-simplistic take on the situation. It's over two hours long although nothing very surprising happens. It's got a solid Bruce Dern performance as a sadistically-smiling Baddie, and Roscoe Lee Browne is helpful as the wise cook. Most of the kids are played well-enough, but, like I said, the whole thing is awfully predictable, so you pretty much know what everybody will do or what will be done to them within ten minutes of meeting them. The photography is good and John Williams' score is evocative of Aaron Copland, and most people who like Wayne and westerns like it. Just remember, I only give John Ford's Stagecoach a high
!!

Night Tide (Curtis Harrington, 1961)
; Cult Rating:




Low-budget film shot on the Los Angeles coast (Venice, Santa Monica) about a lonely sailor (Dennis Hopper) who meets and falls for an otherworldly young woman (Linda Lawson) who plays a mermaid at a beach carnival. There is very little plot and much of what transpires comes across as the actors talking with each other rather than the characters interacting. However, director Harrington brings enough low-pro technique to the affair to maKe it easy enough to watch just in case something does happen. Needless to say, it's a fairy tale, so you have to know that it will either end poorly (Brothers Grimm, H.C. Andersen) or well (Disney). The more you're familiar with Harrington, the more you'll know how it may turn out.

Wolf (Mike Nichols, 1994)
-



This is also very atmospheric, but it's quite a bit more witty and sophisticated. Nicholson gets to play his publishing executive with real relish and transforms himself from a tired has-been into a wily, athletic up-and-comer after he gets bitten by a wolf. He has plenty of venom to spread around, but he's also getting randy and sets his sights and both of his heads on his boss's daughter Michelle Pfeiffer. Although this is technically a werewolf flick, it's not really interested in the transformations. In fact, the last part of the film where the more-literal wolf "action" occurs is easily the weakest part of the film. Even so, there's plenty of well-crafted entertainment to be found here, especially the gorgeous, scary Giuseppe Rotunno cinematography and the Ennio Morricone score, highly reminiscent of his jazzy Bugsy score.

Capitalism: A Love Story (Michael Moore, 2009)




Moore tries to keep as up-to-date as possible in this examination of the 2008 financial meltdown and who and what are responsible, at least according to him. Moore blames everybody, and he does get quite specific about it, but here he points his finger at more Democrats than ever before. Moore also presents lots of pathetic individuals who were kicked out of their homes of 20-40 years because they were suckered into refinancing and then couldn't pay up when they became disabled or lost all their savings due to hospitalization or the stock market collapse. Meanwhile, several fat cats, mostly involved with the Federal government, become rich. Then there are the low-earning people who die, leaving their families penniless while their companies collect huge life insurance payoffs on policies they secretly took out on them, basically gambling on their unlikely deaths. Moore's position is basically that the U.S. is a democracy but that capitalism is anti-democracy. He even brings in the Catholic Church to explain that capitalism is anti-Christ. As you can see, Moore still has an agenda, but it's an agenda which should be seen and discussed by people of all political persuasions.



I was pretty touched by the end of the film. I know a lot of people hate Moore, that's fine. But I have to wonder if he meant what he said. I guess we'll know if he doesn't make any more films for the time being until someone starts stepping up and things change.

Maybe after awhile he'll calm down a bit and try to tackle some lighter fare. Perhaps not though. He seems to be an extremely passionate man who truly cares for the people that have been screwed by this countries government.

I thought the Catholic church part of the film was priceless.
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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I didn't even mention the part where he's driving from bank to bank in an armoured car trying to collect the bailout money for the taxpayers. I was actually quite impressed with "weak sister" Jimmy Carter's full speech about the Crisis of Confidence on the Special Features too.



The People's Republic of Clogher
I like Moore a lot, always have. It's just that some parts of most of his films make me cringe - I call it the Chicken Suit Factor.

Agree with what he says, don't always agree with the way he says it...

That he's trying to change the word 'Socialism' from having a spluttering, Pavlovian response in America is interesting.
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Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Life Is Sweet (1990)- A sort of whimsical gallery of grotesques, Life is Sweet lacks the plot to drive it on of Mike Leigh's later Secrets and Lies, but is an affectionate, at times amusing portrait of an oddball family. I think this film must have been a huge influence on sitcoms The Royle Family and Gavin and Stacey (and not just because Alison Steadman appears in the latter in a similar if slightly more upwardly mobile role).




Vertigo

Hitchcock was the kind of director that does not care for themes or symbolism. He generally constructs his plots to arouse suspense, without paying attention to underlying meanings. This is not so in Vertigo where the subject matter, symbolism and characters’ psychology are equally important as the plot, if not more.

I guess that most everyone on this forum has seen the film, so I’ll just briefly touch upon the theme of unanswered love and the frustration that comes with it. Scottie loves Madeleine, Midge loves Scottie and Judy loves Scottie. But this love either slips away (Madeleine) or remains unanswered (Midge, Judy). The relationship between Scottie and Judy is especially interesting, as Judy loves Scottie, but Scottie is only interested in Judy because she looks identical to Madeleine. Here, Hitchcock poses an inconvenient question: when we fall in love with someone, are we then attracted to the person or to the image that we create for ourselves of this person?

Visually, Vertigo is certainly Hitchcock’s most ambitious film I’ve seen so far. The colour scheme that is used in this film is connected with a strong symbolism. On my second viewing and after having read some message boards, I noticed that green is associated with Madeleine. This is in contrast with red, which is associated with Scottie, more particularly his rational outlook on life. Yellow is associated with Midge who represents motherly love (thus safety, cosiness) and also real love for Scottie. Finally, blue represents guilt.

Vertigo is a slow, methodical film but I think I can already say now that is his most ambitious and rewarding film. Thematically and visually it’s certainly the best I’ve seen from him. Terrific film that will probably reward every additional viewing.

Damn, that was long.



The General

Must be the most basic story structure ever: a chase, there and back. That’s it. En route, Buster Keaton, who portrays a Southern engine driver, saves the girl he loves and in the ending, there is even an epic battle between the North and the South. This is all spiced up by a bunch of gags, many of which are still funny, even over 80 years after their production date. The sight gags especially did it for me, such Buster Keaton sitting on the wheel axe of a moving train with his deadpan face. Some of the stunts are also incredibly realistic and well-executed, and they look even more impressive knowing this movie was made in the 1920s. This is truly a classic, timeless film that can still be enjoyed by many generations to come.



MASH

This war comedy portrays a company of army surgeons and nurses. The story focuses on Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John McIntyre and Duke Forrest who spend their time drinking, and devising the original ways to pester their uptight colleagues Frank Burns and nurse ‘Hot Lips’ O’Houlihan. A comedy like this depends entirely on the quality of the gags and comical dialogue. For me, there were certainly some funny moments, mostly resulting from comical dialogue, like the one between Hawkeye and Burns the night after Hot Lips and Burns were in the middle of some very vocal rumpy-pumpy which was entirely coincidentally overheard by the entire camp. That being said however, if the comedy does not hold its own, there’s not a lot going for MASH to keep the movie from taking a plunge into boredom territory. I think there are also a little too many moments where the comedy is unsatisfactory which results in slightly boring scenes of characters talking to each other. Is MASH funny? Certainly. Is it boring? At times.



The Book of Eli

Denzel Washington plays an ascetic monk warrior in a post-apocalyptic society who, for some reason or the other, has to go West. Then there’s the bad guy, Gary Oldman, who is looking for a particular book which should serve as an instrument to form an army of followers. This book is of course the Bible. And this is of course owned by our hero. Then there’s violence, shoot-outs, explosions, Michael Gambon and friggin’ Tom Waits. The underlying message is that all this arguing about religion and the interpretation of the Bible is making people lose sight of the actual message of the Holy Book: Love thy fellow man. How touching. Too bad this message gets ousted by all the explosions and flying bullets. I give The Book of Eli an additional point for the visuals and fights though. It’s a mix of Mad Max and bad spaghetti westerns. And the fight scene under the bridge is the highlight of the movie. Too bad this is at the very beginning of the movie instead of the ending.




All good people are asleep and dreaming.

The Cowboys (Mark Rydell, 1972)




John Wayne begged to be in this flick and got his wish. I'm not sure why he wanted to be in it, unless it was because of his character's fate or a chance to be a surrogate father, both situations which would have changed his film persona to an extent. As far as the film goes, it's a surprisingly-simplistic take on the situation. It's over two hours long although nothing very surprising happens. It's got a solid Bruce Dern performance as a sadistically-smiling Baddie, and Roscoe Lee Browne is helpful as the wise cook. Most of the kids are played well-enough, but, like I said, the whole thing is awfully predictable, so you pretty much know what everybody will do or what will be done to them within ten minutes of meeting them. The photography is good and John Williams' score is evocative of Aaron Copland, and most people who like Wayne and westerns like it. Just remember, I only give John Ford's Stagecoach a high
!!

Night Tide (Curtis Harrington, 1961)
; Cult Rating:




Low-budget film shot on the Los Angeles coast (Venice, Santa Monica) about a lonely sailor (Dennis Hopper) who meets and falls for an otherworldly young woman (Linda Lawson) who plays a mermaid at a beach carnival. There is very little plot and much of what transpires comes across as the actors talking with each other rather than the characters interacting. However, director Harrington brings enough low-pro technique to the affair to maKe it easy enough to watch just in case something does happen. Needless to say, it's a fairy tale, so you have to know that it will either end poorly (Brothers Grimm, H.C. Andersen) or well (Disney). The more you're familiar with Harrington, the more you'll know how it may turn out.
Your review Night Tide reminding me of another flick, Cinderella Liberty. Directed by Mark Rydell right after The Cowboys.

I give Cinderella Liberty a
.



Kenny, don't paint your sister.


Definately even better than its predecessor. First Blood Part 2 gives Rambo a little depth. Although, I personally get tired of seeing girlfriends get killed to induce revenge, but hey, it's kinda gotta happen. Stallone is excellent as well as the rest of the cast, most playing rather despicable villians. It also has some good messages about Vietnam vets, especially during this time frame.

Rambo: First Blood Part 2:





This movie is probably the definition of dark, at least in my experience. However, it stands out in quality from a lot of modern movies. I find DiCaprio to be one of the most talented actors of this generation, and he's in good hands with Scorcese as per usual. Scorcese has fun driving the creepy factor up to the top. He creates some haunting images and neat tricks. What I did not like about this movie was that it got too confusing. I like twists but I felt like at the end it turned into a Hotwheels racetrack. I had a hard time following things, but fortunately, it was cleared up well at the very end. I liked that it kept me guessing but the mind games they added in made it hard to work out clues to even make a guess. Oh well, though, very interesting and spooky film. A little too dark for my taste, so don't hold that against it.

Shutter Island:
+




Really interesting medical drama that is the perfect example of multiple personalities. Joanne Woodward absolutely shines, making seemingly effortless transitions between the three characters all rolled into one. She's intriguing, charming, and convincing and certainly won her award that year. The script isn't exactly juicy, but I was never bored. It seemed a little long for its short running time, but not for a drama. A watch certainly worth the time, but nothing you couldn't live without seeing.

Three Faces of Eve:




I laughed a little. I got a little bored. Really, I think I could've payed no attention whatsoever and still known what was going on. Plus, I knew the ending when I saw the trailer. This movie does have a good bit to offer. By no means will this give you side-splitting eruptions of laughter, not by a long shot. It was does a have pleasant dialouge and few quality jokes throughout. It's mostly a romance, much more than a comedy, and fortunately Heigl is rather charming here and does well for the character. She and Marsden have chemistry and the occasional old-fashioned banter.

27 Dresses
+



What ever happened to old fashioned love movies? More so romantic comedies, because this one and the previous had plenty of love, just nothing else. The most interesting factor here was how these people's lives intertwined, and I think that if that wasn't in this movie it wouldn't have much of anything going for it besides the cast. It is star-studded and spectacular, but it is far from a spectatcular movie. So far. There was almost no comedy whatsoever. A few I think nearing the end but none before that. I kept thinking that this should be in its own Romantic category (not comedy, not drama, just romance). It was much less predictable than 27 Dresses with a few surprises. I have to add as well that I hated that there were only two teenage couples: one who were dumb as rocks and the others who felt the need to share their impending sex lives with the world. Is this really the way our generation wants to be remembered? Sad. Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx were my favorite part. Anyway, watch it for the cast, the little surprises, and the fun weaving of everyone together. If you watch it at all.

Valentine's Day:
+

Thank you for reading the most modern CQ movie tab post yet
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Classicqueen13




Originally Posted by Mark F
However, for me, the film is let down by the convoluted "Big" film noir plot and the characters involved with that
But it's only for the good of the characters (which you state are close to flawless) ! Only when the kidnapping plot unfolds, do we see how Lebowski and friends react to the immediacy of this scenario, which tells us a lot more about them.
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Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
"The Evolution of the Modern Western"

A minor (I don't rate "Major" Status) discussion by Mr. French

Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah) 1962)




This may well not be the classic it's made out to be by some semi-modern critics, but it's easily a film which is well-worth seeing repeatedly and one which shows how the entire genre evolved and inched that much closer to the concept of revisionism. This is basically a mainstream western, and one which was only thought of as semi-important, even though it contained Randolph Scott's last performance and Joel McCrea's last significant one. Peckinpah teamed up with DP Lucien Ballard for the first time (he used him four more times in the future, beginning with The Wild Bunch). This was Warren Oates' first Peckinpah film, and he's rather important in introducing Peck's theme that women are mostly abused by males, especially the most-immature, but sometimes the females can turn the tables on the men. The problem is that when "immature" boys get into a group, their first thought seems to be to retaliate by killing and then by raping. Within the studio system in a lower-mid-level production, there seems to be a great deal of artistic freedom, and it almost seems like Peckinpah was being groomed for stardom. However, his metier seemed to be realistic deaths in ugly surroundings, violent showdown finales, hopefully with something involving camraderie among cowboy friends and chivalry among aging cowboys. If you have never seen a western in your life or have never seen this particular western. make sure you give it a shot. I haven't even mentioned R.G. Armstrong, L.Q. Jones, James Drury, John Anderson, Edgar Buchanan and, in a surprisingly affective performance, young Ron Starr, who never actually made another movie again, even if he conceived a child with Meg Foster.



Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
; Cult Rating:




Talk about revisionist westerns!! I still don't honestly believe that it's a legit western, but it obviously has to be considered an illegitimate one, if nothing else! Jarmusch brings in drugy effects, self-references which date back to "Popeye" cartoons [Michael Wincott ad-libs beautifully (I believe)], Gary Farmer gives his greatest performance in a "mainstream" (read: bigger, CULTish) flick, Johnny Depp gets blown hither and yon just like the feather in Forrest Gump, only to become a tough S.O.B., Robert Mitchum gets to talk to bears, lies to humans, and ignores men, and Robby Muller gets to try to one-up his Down by Law cinematography - I personally love his work in Honeysuckle Rose. Dead Man is a personal movie and should definitely be seen with the best picture turned on and the sound turned up. I still prefer Jarmusch's Night on Earth and Ghost Dog, but this film's utter surrealism and total wackness (the scene with Iggy Pop and Billy Bob Thornton pretty much defines "out-there" filming technique!) pushes it over the edge for people who are interested in avant-garde westerns.



Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer, 2009)




"In olden days, a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking..."

Actually, many people claim nowadays to not care about westerns (and also horror flicks, Juno). They don't "seem" to relate to younger people, although I cannot fathom that rationale. Today, there are still a few legit westerns, and anybody who cares about the genre will watch them. However, another genre of western is the one where people push forward to settle a land which "no white man" (or sometimes, "no man") has ever been before. Modern zombie films, especially the ones where people are trying to push forward into "unknown" territoty, seem to qualify as modern westerns. The people are self-reliant, they are travelling through a desolate country, they have no way of knowing what may happen, but they do realize the significance of weapons and trust. They also understand the importance of starting a new civilization. Perhaps that's the advantage of westerns over zombie and/or post-apocalyptic flicks. Westerns understand that we need to keep as many traits of civilization as possible, while those flicks set that just more in the future probably think it's not quite as important to express similar ideas.



For those with no clue whatsoever, Easy Rider is one of the most-free films, and ergo, westerns, ever made. Watch it if you don't believe me. Please!



Welcome to the human race...
Been about six weeks since my last post in this thread...I've been busy enough, though.



My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, 1991) -


This was solid enough, not so sure it was as great as I've been led to believe, but it was good to watch, complete with some surprisingly good performances, unexpected twists and good cinematography. Could probably do better on a second viewing, though.



Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (Pete Hewitt, 1991) -


Credit's due to the decision to take a darker road to the silly, almost consequence-free antics of the original film, although the humour doesn't quite manage to reach the same level as the original. It's still a fairly amusing piece of mindless entertainment, but it could've been better.



Julien Donkey-Boy (Harmony Korine, 1999) -


Korine's follow-up to the insanely trashy Gummo improves somewhat on its predecessor due to a slightly more coherent storyline, even if it still serves as a very thin excuse to litter the film with an assortment of bizarre characters and wacky situations. Some of these segments prove to be entertaining, even if they do just seem like nothing more than sideshow attractions on film (the guy doing cigarette tricks, a rapping albino, an armless man doing card tricks with his feet, etc.). That's without mentioning Werner Herzog as Julien's insane old father, who effortlessly steals the entire movie with his performance. Outside of those parts of the film, there really is very little, if anything, to recommend about this.



Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003) -


This might deserve a higher rating given that I'm still turning it over in my mind weeks later, but even with a relatively low rating I still think it's a surprisingly good work. The entire "stage" gimmick was an interesting concept, the plot managed to be sufficiently surprising and well-acted and all in all it was an interesting piece of work.



The Road (John Hillcoat, 2009) -


Given that I actually liked the book quite a bit, this was something of a let-down. The film was pretty passable for the most part with the odd sequence that was executed rather well, plus the cinematography was quite decent. But yeah, it's not a great film by any stretch.



House on Haunted Hill (William Castle, 1959) -


I haven't really watched much in the way of horror movies pre-1960 or so, plus viewing various movies like that on Mystery Science Theater 3000 have reduced the idea to something of a joke. House on Haunted Hill still had a fair bit of cheese that turned much of the film into a laugh riot, but beneath this was a fairly decent premise and, for a significant part of the film, some decent execution. I'll admit the tension was rather effective, though the reveals tended to induce some serious laughter among the crowd, along with some fairly melodramatic acting.



Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) -


This was more like it. I think this marks the first Argento film I've ever seen - now I definitely want to see more. Well-executed in just about every regard with some noticeable but forgiveable hiccups and a very effective piece of horror.

Also, some re-watches that don't really need write-ups:

Wonder Boys

The Searchers

Thelma and Louise

The Idiots

Festen

Fight Club

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



Hello, everyone. Haven't posted in quite some time, but I figured today I'd pop my head in and write up a Tab.

Since I haven't made a Tab post in God knows how long, this list is probably going to be fairly lengthy, so bare with me. I'll attempt to remember as many titles I've seen over the past few weeks as I can.

Pulp Fiction




Reservoir Dogs
+



Sleepwalking
+



The Girl's Room
+



Fight Club




The Dream Team




This movie has the best, most clever script and funniest dialogue of any comedy I've ever seen, I think. Peter Boyle's character is utterly hilarious. In the film, he's a mentally insane man, Jack, who thinks he's Jesus.

"I drove the moneylenders from the temple. I can handle a ten-spot."

Jack: Stop! Who dares to tow the van of the living Christ?
Tow Driver: The city of New York, Tarzan! $50 for the violation, $75 for the tow and $20 a day for storage.
Jack: [Skyward] Father, forgive us for we have sinned! We parked our car in a forbidden zone!



The Dark Knight
+



The Descent: Part 2
+



Four Brothers
-



Selling Innocence




The Return




Mischief




While She Was Out
+



Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

Avatar
I know, I know. Oh well; it's the truth for me.
The Devil's Advocate

Shutter (
Masayuki Ochiai, 2008)

The Hangover
+
Ghost Ship (Steve Beck, 2002)

The Unborn (David S. Goyer, 2009)

Open Graves (
Álvaro de Armiñán, 2009)
-
007: Never Say Never Again
+
Igor (Anthony Leondis, 2008)
+
Scorched (Gavin Grazer, 2003)

Gigli
Yep.

The Lovely Bones




The ending probably lowered my rating by a full popcorn box; I (more or less) hated it.

WARNING: "THE LOVELY BONES ENDING" spoilers below
Mr. Harvey's death. How he died--getting hit by the falling icecicle and falling down the cliff--didn't bring forth enough justice for me, and it seemed completely random and without much emotional effect. He fell down a cliff...accidentally. I know it's supposed to be about karma, and maybe the book sheds more light on this (I've never read it), but I was left unsatisfied with this horrible person's simple demise.


Otherwise, I thought the film was great; its imagery was especially memorable, but those last few minutes just killed my entire experience.

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum (Richard Lester, 1966)




This movie: .

Flatliners
-

Stephen King's Rose Red

All I Want (Jeffrey Porter, 2002)
-
National Treasure
+
Clash of the Titans (2010)


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Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
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