The Resident Bitch's Movie Log

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Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
You're not alone in your sentiments regarding Withnail & I. I was actually given a loan of it by someone who considers it to be one of their favourite films and I just absolutely hated it! Could not believe how much they loved it





American History X (Tony Kaye, 1998)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/23/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Have been thinking about it since rewatching Romper Stomper
Rewatch: Yes


I've seen this movie before and it's been in my collection for quite some time but it's been a long time since I last watched it and I didn't really remember any of the details.

I know this film gets a lot of respect, but I actually found this rewatch a little disappointing, especially with Romper Stomper so fresh in my mind. Edward Norton turned in an excellent performance as Derek Vinyard and I liked the look of the film, but the story and the dialogue were overly sentimental and felt a little preachy at times. I didn't like the way the film tried to make the audience sympathize with these people nor how one dimensional pretty much all of the non-white characters were. One particular character that really bugged me was Lamont - the black convict that worked with Derek in doing the prison laundry. Here's this magical character who will change Derek's hate-filled, misguided skinhead mind with his tale of the bum rap he got at the hands of the legal system. Yeah right. I don't buy it.

Even with its tragic ending, American History X just feels all too tidy and contrived for its subject. I also really could've done without the reading of Danny's essay or its inclusion in the film at all. That sort of heavy-handed sentimentality works when it's a movie about a bunch of high school kids who bond during Saturday detention, but it doesn't work for a movie centered around violent racism, hate, and murder.

+



Welcome to the human race...
Good write-up on American History X. It really does play out like an after-school special where it's far easier to talk about what it does wrong than what it does right (and, aside from Edward Norton doing some capital-A Acting, I can't think of too much to genuinely recommend about it).
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0





Fritz the Cat (Ralph Bakshi, 1972)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/24/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Animation Tournament
Rewatch: No


I know this is meant to be satire, but it views like a barrage of crudeness for the sake of it. That crudeness, both in content and style, is so overwhelming and unrelenting that it actually renders the movie boring. Within the first few minutes it ceases to be shocking and just becomes an overload of trash. Thank goodness the movie is pretty short.

The only positive I can give the film is that I liked the soundtrack, but a soundtrack doesn't make a movie.




At least you like it tho... I respect everybody opinion about it (I talk about AHX )
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Batman: Year One (Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery, 2011)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/24/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Animation Tournament
Rewatch: No


I really don't have much to say about this one. The animation looked great and the voice performances were solid. However, I didn't feel like anything really new or interesting was brought to this sort of Batman origin tale. It was fine for what it was and at just over an hour long, I wasn't bored or anything, but I wasn't impressed either.

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The Man From Nowhere (Ajeossi) (Jeong-beom Lee, 2010)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/24/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th Hall of Fame, RoyalWitCheese's nomination
Rewatch: No


I went into this movie completely blind. I did zero research and read none of the write-ups from the other HOF participants. And honestly I had kind of put it off because I just wasn't in the mood for reading subtitles.

But holy crap. This is the kind of movie watching experience that I hope for when I sign up for a hall of fame. And yet, it's not what I typically expect to see. This is no arthouse picture and there's no real deep meaning to it. What the film does offer though is an onslaught of action coupled with a really interesting story and some great characters.

I LOVED Cha Tae-sik. His combination of sex appeal, badassery, and sweetness was fantastic and an absolute joy to watch. But the bad guys were pretty cool, too. Though cooler still was the way they got their comeuppance - especially Jong-seok, the pretty boy brother of the main villain.

All in all, a great piece of entertainment and something I'll probably watch again.

+



I've read Batman: Year One, never seen the film though. And yeah The Man From Nowhere was excellent; was a surprise as i'm not crazy about action films anymore.





The Man From Nowhere (Ajeossi) (Jeong-beom Lee, 2010)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/24/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th Hall of Fame, RoyalWitCheese's nomination
Rewatch: No


I went into this movie completely blind. I did zero research and read none of the write-ups from the other HOF participants. And honestly I had kind of put it off because I just wasn't in the mood for reading subtitles.

But holy crap. This is the kind of movie watching experience that I hope for when I sign up for a hall of fame. And yet, it's not what I typically expect to see. This is no arthouse picture and there's no real deep meaning to it. What the film does offer though is an onslaught of action coupled with a really interesting story and some great characters.

I LOVED Cha Tae-sik. His combination of sex appeal, badassery, and sweetness was fantastic and an absolute joy to watch. But the bad guys were pretty cool, too. Though cooler still was the way they got their comeuppance - especially Jong-seok, the pretty boy brother of the main villain.

All in all, a great piece of entertainment and something I'll probably watch again.

+
GREAT movie. Agree with the review as well





Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, 2001)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/29/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Animation Tournament
Rewatch: No


I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. The animation looked great, but I didn't care for the very angular character designs. I also didn't particularly like the characters themselves. I didn't find Milo's bumbling to be at all endearing, Mole, who I suppose was meant to be comic relief, was just annoying, and everybody else just felt kind of generic and forgettable. The film is also heavy fantasy, which has never been a genre that has appealed to me. There wasn't anything that I would necessarily call bad about it and I didn't have high expectations so I can't really call it a disappointment, but it just didn't work for me.

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Welcome to the human race...
I'm aware it's not great or anything, but I was honestly surprised at how much I ended up liking it when I first saw it last year. Low expectations work wonders.





Rock & Rule (Clive A. Smith, 1983)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/31/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Animation Tournament
Rewatch: No


I think this is one of those films where my viewing experience would've been vastly improved had I been under the influence of some sort of illicit substance. I wasn't, but I do have to wonder if its makers were. It's a very odd movie, but unfortunately that strangeness did not translate into a positive experience for me. I didn't like the character designs and found them to be actually rather ugly. I didn't much care for the voice performances or the characters themselves either, and found the singing parts rather bothersome because the mouth movements and facial expressions didn't match the vocals of the songs very well. The songs themselves were okay, but not memorable. As to the story? The whole demon thing just felt silly.

I had really hoped for a better experience for this, because this movie is currently matched against one that I don't like, but sadly I liked this one even less than the other.

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Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/21/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th Hall of Fame, Neiba's nomination.
Rewatch: No


When this was announced as a nomination, I was actually quite glad. Though I knew nothing of its content, I'd heard great things about it. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for the film was killed within the first few minutes and, truth be told, it took me several attempts to complete it.

I think a big problem is that this is supposed to be a comedy and it's a rare thing for a live action comedy to work for me. But moreso my issue was with the characters. Rather than finding this pair of neurotic losers amusing, I found them incredibly irritating. Making the experience worse still was that I didn't like any of the other characters, what few there were, either. And I liked Uncle Monty least of all. Heaven forbid a gay character in a movie from this era actually behave anything like a normal human being. No - let's make the gay uncle a rapey creep, because reasons.

So yeah, not amused by this. Not amused at all.

Exactly how I felt about it. I get ribbed for not liking it, as it's seen as a kind of cult classic but it just irritated me and I didn't find it amusing at all.



I'm aware it's not great or anything, but I was honestly surprised at how much I ended up liking it when I first saw it last year. Low expectations work wonders.
I was surprised of the characters, the darker theme, the more complex story, the ambition... all that was really awesome. But unfortunately the execution was meh. But interesting movie from Disney for sure.



Rock & Rule (Clive A. Smith, 1983)
[. . .]

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Called it.

Honestly I probably should've rewatched that before nominating it, but I wasn't expecting enough participants to be found so quickly. Also I felt like I should nominate something Canadian for once haha.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé


Rock & Rule (Clive A. Smith, 1983)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/31/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: Animation Tournament
Rewatch: No


I think this is one of those films where my viewing experienced would've been vastly improved had I been under the influence of some sort of illicit substance.

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It DEFINITELY helps!
__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes
~Mr Minio





The City of Lost Children (La cité des enfants perdus) (Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1995)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/02/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th Hall of Fame, Clazor's Nomination
Rewatch: No


Well that was f*cking weird.

I knew as soon as I pressed play that this had to be from the same people who made Delicatessen and Mic Macs. I also knew that my experience with this movie would be much like my experiences with those other films: I would find the bizarre collection of characters (played by some really strange looking people) and bizarre situations novel and interesting enough to keep my attention but ultimately I would come away with no real desire to ever see it again.

In a lot of ways, these sorts of films remind me of the works of Wes Anderson - they look great - but the odd and awkward characters are a little off-putting and I struggle to connect. Unlike Anderson's films, though, I don't find the characters in City of Lost Children or those other films to be annoying (I can't say the same for my experience with Jeunet's Amélie, though it's been a very long time since I saw that) and there were some moments where despite their strangeness, they felt real. This was especially true of the interactions between One and Miette, but I still never developed much of an emotional connection with either of them.

Ultimately, my prediction was correct: It was entertaining, but I probably won't ever watch it again.

+





Joe (John G. Avildsen, 1970)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/04/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th Hall of Fame, Cricket's Nomination
Rewatch: No


I had some very mixed feelings about this one. I really struggled to get through the first half of the film. Peter Boyle and Dennis Patrick were both very good in their roles, but pretty much everybody else ranged from passable but forgettable to downright awful. Susan Sarandon and Patrick McDermott were the worst offenders, but most of the cast was just not good. Once the film really got going I did enjoy the story - though I wasn't totally surprised by the ending - but I really didn't like the dark, kind of gritty look of the film. I don't know if that's owing to the film's age and budget more than to an artistic choice, but it bothered me. Just a very uneven film in terms of quality.