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last weekend i rewatched two favorites. the sun's burial on video. it's a beautiful film with an idiosyncratic mediterranean-style soundtrack. oshima seems to have casted people specifically for their faces and gone for a sculptural or painterly eye instead of naturalistic acting and staging. it's a gorgeous film about miserable jerks, and i like it.

then i went with my girlfriend to the brooklyn public library to see steamboat bill, jr. in an auditorium with a live pianist.




Oh yeah, forgot to mention seeing Wolverine. My brother Ben was all like "hey bro, let's go see Wolverine" to which I breathed deep and scoffed heartily. Then he said "my treat" so I went and now he has to watch Black Rain (the Imamura one) as the next thing he sees. (He's been putting it off so I made a deal with him that if Wolverine sucked he'd have to get on that next. I'm so clever.)



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I was going to wait for a reaction to post these. I've posted them here before but don't recall much of a reaction. One of the things silents could do was make terrific action/suspense scenes.

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



He's called Tequila. He's a tough cop.
My Left Foot



(Horrible cover, I think they just took a picture of Daniel Day-Lewis and threw it on there without ever watching the movie... when does he ever look like that?)

Wanna feel like a spoiled brat? Watch this movie . No, but seriously this is an excellent movie that is truly moving. Daniel Day-Lewis is no doubt the best actor of the past 20 years, and I'd present this movie as evidence. It's astounding how believable he makes himself. The story is fantastic, despite some little cliches, and presents a well-rounded look at a living with such a horrible condition, and rising above it. Perhaps my favorite part is that it doesn't skim over the dark-sides (such as when he attempts to cut himself and with his alcoholism) which in the end makes the story more inspiring, because you can better relate to him. If your feeling down on your life, watch this movie. It will inspire you.

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"Travis Bickle: Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man."

Ask me a question, any question: Grill a MoFo: Dill-Man





Citizen Kane
Orson Welles, 1941

Yeah I finally got around to watch the supposed 'greatest movie ever made' and it's really not. Yeah, I really wanted it be that, but it just wasn't, even though I still ended up really liking it. My score probably would've been at least .5 of a point higher if it didn't lose my interest during the last 20 or 30 minutes. Granted it may have had something to do with me being sort of tired during that part, even though I don't seem to be tired anymore. I love how they seemed to tell his lifestory, though, like through trying to find out what rosebud really meant his whole story was basically told. I think that was something pretty unique.

The best thing about this easily is Orson Welles acting, there is no doubt about that. His acting was damn near amazing in this, but it's still not the best acting I've ever seen or anything. I still think this is a film that I think everyone needs to see at least once, but as far as AFI's Top 3 greatest films ever made, I liked Casablanca and The Godfather a hell of a lot better than this. There's still no dening that it's an incredibly well made film and ahead of it's time.

+



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I'm not sure I can post all these in one sitting or not. If you have questions about them, please ask because I plan on getting better.

Perfect Stranger (James Foley, 2007)
- This is one of those Basic Instinct-type thrillers (although I give B I
). The main difference seems to be that they grafted a well-thought-out but uninteresting first two-thirds to a totally-insane, throw-everything-to-the-wind finale. In a supporting role, Bruce Willis is surprisingly sexy.

The Reader (Stephen Daldry, 2008)
- This is a complex, watchable film which really isn't nearly as involving as it should be. Yes, PW, it's crammed with sex which might make you feel uncomfortable, but it's more interested in how someone would rather die than be thought of as illiterate. Most of the cast do a fine job considering they're all playing the walking dead.

The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980)
- Lynch proved himself to be human here, using many of the techniques he perfected in Eraserhead to tell the true-life story of a deformed man who was treated as a freak although he was a misunderstood gentle soul. The film takes its time to build to several shattering emotional moments, and both John Hurt as the ill-fated Elephant Man and Anthony Hopkins as his doctor are incredible.

A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
- Extremely disturbing take on the criminal justice system shows a no-win situation where the brutes and their victims are ultimately both treated as fodder for politicians. Kubrick is able to film "the old ultra-violence" as exhilaratingly as anyone, so many people feel as sick as Alex does halfway through, although I daresay my students love sex and violence and always will until they stop breathing.

The Man in the Iron Mask (James Whale, 1939)
- The director of Frankenstein and Showboat (1936) brings his talents to his best later film, involving the Four Musketeers and the gentle twin brother of the rascally King of France. There is plenty of derring-do, as well as plot twists and romance in store when Louis Hayward woos Joan Bennett.

Niagara (Henry Hathaway, 1953)
- I spent part of my honeymoon at Niagara Falls, and I'll say that this film shows the majestic beauty of the Falls better than any other film. You can add in a young Marilyn Monroe who's trying to get rid of her husband Joseph Cotten, and you get a Hitchcock-lite thriller. It goes down easily but is forgettable soon enough.

The Upturned Glass (Lawrence Huntington, 1947)
- Interesting James Mason thriller which he produced after making Odd Man Out. The storytellng is rather unique in more than one way, so that keeps one involved even though the filmmaking is a bit more pedestrian than the script. I'd recommend it to anyone who remotely believes that they'd enjoy seeing a murderer tell his plan to a huge group before he actually commits the crime.

Crime and Punishment (Josef von Sternberg, 1935)
- Peter Lorre teams with exotic expressionism from Marlene Dietrich's fave director and cinematographer Lucien Ballard (The Wild Bunch) to make a sparkling, if abridged, version of the Dostoyevsky classic. Lorre is quite excellent, as is the Inspector played by Edward Arnold. There are just about as many significant shadows in this film as there are in Lorre's M, but this has more of a blatant cat-and-mouse feel to the plot and more of a guilt trip kept up throughout the film.

The Jackpot (Walter Lang, 1950)
- James Stewart wins a radio show jackpot and it turns his and his family's life upside down. The film is cute, if completely cliched and not terribly funny. It can't compare to a similarly-plotted flick from the same year, Champagne For Caesar. That one I give
.

The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas (Val Guest, 1957)
- Hammer Films attempted to make a serious movie about this subject where an American hunter (Forrest Tucker) and an English scientist (Peter Cushing) argue about what to do if one comes in contact with a Yeti. There really isn't too much action, but it's exotic and semi-intelligent. Too bad it's totally inconclusive about what happens and why.

Rancho Deluxe (Frank Perry, 1975)
+ - Picaresque tale of how Jeff Bridges and Sam Wanamaker try to take advantage of ranchers who are far out of their depth. The film should probably have been better since it's got a high quotient of humor, sex and action, but overall, it's lacking in structure and clarity. Even so, it does give Slim Pickens a juicy role.



Let's try to be broad-minded about this
I really liked Citizen Kane because i looked at it more as poetry with images attached there are sooo many layers to it it probably takes multiple viewings.

anyway...

Grave of the Fireflies -




So depressing! That little girl was THE cutest cartoon i've ever seen, it beats out any kid i've seen in real life in adorableness lol which sort of makes the movie even more depressing. It was really good though it follows two orphans trying to survive during WWII and the older brother constantly trying to feed his younger sister. Lookit how cute she is!!



2001: A Space Odyssey -




I am debating putting this in my top ten. Plus i just saw a GPS commercial where the GPS said "i'm sorry Dave, i'm afraid i can't do that." and i felt super special for knowing what they were referencing to

My Darling Clementine -




It was such a sweet western. I really liked the character dynamic between Wyatt and Doc Holiday. It didn't focus at the shootout at the O.K. Corral but rather what happened before that and i liked it

Y Tu Mama Tambien




Thank god i watched this when nobody was home >.> Anyway, the narrator would seem to be overly depressing because everytime he said anything it would be about something really sad but it really was just trying to teach people that you only live once and you should live in the moment. For example, when they go fishing the narrator tells the audience about how the man who was driving the boat will never go fishing again and work as a janitor in 2 years. Really sad right? Right but also teaching you to enjoy life in the moment while you can because it doesn't last.

X-men Origins: Wolverine -
+



Hugh Jackman is so beautiful. Anyway, good action, his claws looked...funky though and my friend told me (SPOILERS STOP READING NOW IF YOU CARE) that deadpool and weapon X are completely different people and that deadpool doesn't even die so that kinda sucks of them but meh, oh well.

I also watched Spiderman 2 again and i really really love that movie, it's definitely the best one and J.K. Simmons is hilarious



Let's try to be broad-minded about this
If you haven't seen The Reader...don't read this...ha


The thing that i found most interesting about The Reader was the debate about Anna being a Nazi who was just doing what she was told and then being prosecuted. I always think that that's an interesting subject and can be applied to today with the people who might be prosecuted for torturing suspects to get a confession and how far the prosecutions go and how i personally don't believe that it's right for the government to tell you to do something and then prosecute you when you do but then again everything is situational..so anyway, i liked that The Reader produced thoughts like that even if it wasn't supposed to be the focus of the movie haha





Zatoichi (2003, Takeshi Kitano)
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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."



A system of cells interlinked
Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (Meyer, 1982)




It only took a year, but I finally got my Star Trek hating girlfriend to actually sit down and watch a Star Trek film. She loved it. This flick still holds up rather well, I must say.

So, just a week before the release of Star Trek, I break her defenses down, and now she will go see it!
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell




I expected a lot from this film and was really disappointed with what I got. It had all the ingredients which should have made it my kind of film, it's set in Italy during the 40s and 50s, has a very melancholic vibe, it's about the cinema etc. but none of it seem to work. It's as if it tried to be Amarcord but did it so forcefully it came off being really lame. The humor was lame, the score (by Ennio Morriccone) was too sentimental which gave the entire film a forceful and very fake mood, the love story was clichéd (=lame), it was all just very very lame. I'll stick to Fellini and the Taviani brothers for my shot of Italian melancholy, thank you very much....:\



Hello Salem, my name's Winifred. What's yours
Think you know contemporary South Korean cinema?


You have no idea.

JSA: Joint Security Area



stunning example of all that Korea has to offer. It totally upset my preconceptions about Korea political stories. Halfway through the movie the plot develops the notions of brotherhood despite political divide and turns more towards the comedy that occurs when guys are bonding. Then the action sweeps back in with a rush.

The style isn't too in your face but some shots are stunningly slick. A very interesting movie.
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there's a frog in my snake oil
Originally Posted by undercoverlover
Think you know contemporary South Korean cinema?...

The style isn't too in your face but some shots are stunningly slick. A very interesting movie.
And all that from the director of Old Boy

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PS Adi i don't remember the subs being too bad on my copy. Think it's the Tartan release... (I'll check 'n correct later if wrong)



The female attache's English was rubbish tho
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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here



I think he means to say that it's the break out film from one of Korea's most famous directors so most people who follow Asian cinema will be familiar with it.

@Golgs: Please do check, I don't believe my copy is from Tartan.



A system of cells interlinked
Yeah, score one for Tartan. I watched the non Tartan release of Battle Royale the first time I saw the flick, but then saw the Tartan release later at Meaty's suggestion.

Night and Day.