Movie Tab II

This week in movies:

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You are no Vader. You are just a child in a mask.

I'm with you completely on this. I think the main reason I watch so many Scandinavian crime dramas is because they're devoid of the overwrought, look at me, performing for the camera acting of the English langauge acting I've been saddled with for so long. It didn't occur to me before I started watching Wallander, but that could be the main reason I stopped watching so many of them.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

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

Sound City (2013) by Dave Grohl


To the Wonder (2012) by Terrence Malick +


Antiviral (2012) by Brandon Cronenberg


Addy CHOO (2013) by JB Mabe


Days of Future Past (2013) by Joe Hampleton


Filmic Sculpture, Num. 3 (2013) by Alberto Cabrera Bernal


In My Room (2013) by Chance Taylor


Next Week (2013) by Guy Wouete


Separate Vacations (2013) by Cameron Moneo +


You Are Here (2013) by Leslie Supnet


Searching for Sugar Man (2012) by Malik Bendjelloul +


Factory (2012) by Bruno Ramos


A Separation (2011) by Asghar Farhadi +


Memento Mori (2012) by Dan Browne +


All My Mothers (2010) by Ebrahim Saeedi, Zahavi Sanjavi


The Invisible World (2012) by Jesse McLean


9214 (2012) by Takahiro Suzuki +


Ground and Body (2012) by Undine Sommers

Minor spoilers!

The Devil's Rejects (2005) - quite entertaining although it's a bit too violent for me.I'm not a fan of horror films so I just didn't like the content most of the time and found the film uncomfortable.

Children of Men (2006) - it may be well-made and acted but I found it extremely boring.I'm not very big on sci-fi,so that's maybe why I didn't care for the story and its characters.

Rocky II (1979) - enjoyed this film as much as the first one.Seriously,it felt like watching Kill Bill - two films but actually it's one. It was very interesting and entertaining,Stallone fits perfectly the role.

Nashville (1975) - I felt that this is more of a culture film,there are too many characters which stories didn't feel very strong.Since I prefer character-centered films and overall I'm not a fan of multiple character stories,I didn't like the film.Liked the music and basically watched it because of it but the rest was boring.

Alien³ (1992) - I rate famous franchises purely on my subjective opinion and I didn't like this film - disliked the whole "gunless" prison idea,and overall it felt like the repetition of the first film.Anyway,I can't deny that it was entertaining and I wasn't bored but I don't think I'll ever see it again.I'd better rewatch the original.

Alien: Resurrection (1997) - very very bizarre and I preferred when the aliens where emotionless killers. :P However,characters were pretty entertaining but overall,it's a mediocre film.

Rocky III (1982) - nope,didn't like this one.It seemed very different from the previous films(that's maybe not bad but) and the antihero of the film was extremely annoying.

Predator (1987) - I think this film is badly constructed.Viewer never knows what exactly the Predator is ,how he was "created",what's its purpose,even his appearance is concealed and what's with invisibility?It "broke down" after the monster dived into water. There were more minor things which bothered me which I don't recall so clearly.

Rocky IV (1985) - this one was better than the third,I loved the creepy Soviet Union inclusion!But I wonder if people during the 80s really thought that Soviets are like that?

Velnio nuotaka / Devil's Bride (1973) - first and most famous Lithuanian musical based on one of the classical Lithuanian novels.It's about a man who meets the devil and turns him into his slave but the man promises to give away his first born child to the devil.I enjoyed it,loved the music and story.Although fairytale-ish,the story still has a lot of depth.But now,while rewatching,I noticed that it is pretty badly made,it's obvious that characters aren't singing and some special effects seemed a bit phoney.

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"Anything less than immortality is a complete waste of time."

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Gabrielle, you seem to have become pretty brutal when it comes to your ratings recently!

Teeter_G: Of those films, I've seen War of the Worlds and Insidious (both )which I do not like but then the other two: Mystic River and Badlands, are films that I really love. Quite surprised that you liked the latter, good stuff

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Originally Posted by Brodinski

Diving Bell and the Butterfly is one of the most moving films I've ever seen. Deserves better than the rating you gave. I'd say even half a popcorn more than the score you gave Rebecca, which must be an all time fave of yours, cause I dont recall you rating a film

in the past month(s)?

You know it was in my best of the 2000s list.

These are since February.

Originally Posted by mark f

Room at the Top (Jack Clayton, 1959)

The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)

The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)

Originally Posted by mark f

Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)

Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993)

Originally Posted by mark f

Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (Joe Dante, 1990)

Originally Posted by mark f

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle, 1939)

Originally Posted by mark f

The Trouble With Harry (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955)

Originally Posted by mark f

Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)

North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)

From Russia With Love (Terence Young, 1963)

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Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964)

-
Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982)

+

Originally Posted by mark f

The Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk, 1954)

Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, 1957)

Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)

Originally Posted by mark f

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Robert Zemeckis, 1988)

The Flim-Flam Man (Irvin Kershner, 1967)

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The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)

-

Originally Posted by mark f

The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)

Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)

Elmer Gantry (Richard Brooks, 1960)

Originally Posted by mark f

The Train (John Frankenheimer, 1964)

Originally Posted by mark f

Marathon Man (John Schlesinger, 1976)

Originally Posted by mark f

The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952)

Originally Posted by mark f

The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)

-

Originally Posted by mark f

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Steven Spielberg, 1989)

Originally Posted by mark f

Sleuth (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1972)

yeah,some time ago I used to give ratings based not only on how I personally enjoyed the film but what objectively I think of it.Now it's just my subjective opinion so I try to comment each film.
And anyway,these recent films which I've seen doesn't look like the top material.

I'm with your pessimism on Nashville and Predator Gabrielle, but neither are films that are in the realm of movies I usually enjoy. Mark could you expand a little on Sound of Noise, I gave it a , but I think the musical(?) scenes were fascinating, and I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

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The Plumber (1979, Weir)

I decided out of the films I watched I'd do my writing on this one, since based on a search no one has wrote about this with in the Movie Tab yet. Peter Weir, better known for The Truman Show or Dead Poets Society, directs this television film in a direct and professional manner. The story centers around an educated couple who are already of age to settle down, almost instantly the antagonist is introduced, Max the plumber. He makes life miserable for the woman of the house, while her husband is reaching peaks in his business career. The film mixes light humor with family drama, and manages to mix the two well. What the film failed to do was attempt to have obviously cheesy scenes, mix with serious scenes. This caused the film to loose its voice, ultimately making the ending not work.

The Plumber is set in, for the most part, one location. The apartment of the couple, I would've wished that the apartment had more of a life. It seemed far to plain, and didn't paint a picture. When I say this I must remember that this is only a TV movie though. I did prefer this to the over rated Dead Poets Society on the other hand, which was an Oscar winner. I view this as a more passive version (earlier one to) of the Haneke film Funny Games ('97), this wasn't meant to be disturbing though. The movie was just over an hour and fifteen minutes, but I didn't wish for any more. I recommend this film for a rainy day.
+

Animated films
Education for Death
Everything will be Ok -
Spirited Away -

Makavejev
WR: Mysteries of the Organism
Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator
I'm doing him for my director challenge, and currently I'm missing what he's going for. I'm not a hippy enough yet. I'm still watching Sweet Movie, hoping I'll like it more.

Other
Scary Movie V
My Dinner with Andre
Heavenly Creatures +
H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer
(Rewatch) Fiddler on the Roof

Isn't "H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer" a tv documentary?

Amnesia is a terrible thing.

I don't believe so, doesn't say anything of that on Wiki or IMDB. It is independent though.

It has a totally original concept and a high level of wit and lower humor. The police inspector character is also someone you don't normally see, let alone carrying a movie. As you mention, the actual musical terrorism and their preparations are fascinating, but that actually sounds too dry; they made me feel almost giddy. Then, for something so subversive, it's terribly romantic and reassuringly old-fashioned.

A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)

Rating:



My first David Cronenberg was a delightful film experience, running at the short time of 96 minutes, this stylish neo-noir makes for easy viewing and is a pleasure to watch with a filled with style criminal filled (or not) world in which questions begin to arise over the past of Viggo Mortensen's character following an attempted robbery of his local diner.

The film is extremely straightforward and simplistic, its adapted from a graphic novel and you can feel it. It attempts to be nothing else and succeeds by making the most of what it needs to, I love Sin City for its fantastic feel as a pulp/comic/graphic film and this felt similar in that way. Although I've seen no other Cronenberg films, I know about his famous horror style and I've seen that famous scene from Scanners, and this film seems like it might be familiar to fans of Cronenberg in it's graphic and bloody showing of violence, which makes for some fantastic and enjoyable scenes.

Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)

Rating: -



Quite a favourite on this forum, it was only a matter of time before I got round to watch this film. It was pretty much everything I expected and I did enjoy it for most of the part, although I unfortunately didn't find myself connecting with it as much as some members on here will have, which is not surprising for its style.

Bill Murray is excellent in his role as a fading film star, and his performance is probably the best thing in the film for me, his relationship with Scarlett Johansson is the centre of the film and how you view/connect with this will deeply affect your rating, I found it enjoyable, at times it felt like a breath of fresh air to see a film like this that focussed on serious human issues - the fact that it was set in the modern city of Tokyo certainly helps it, it's the perfect setting for two lost characters.

Short Cuts (Robert Altman, 1993)

Rating:



I watched Magnolia recently, a similar style film that has obviously been influenced heavily by Short Cuts, I knew before about the relationship between Altman and P. T. Anderson so was looking forward to watching the work of Altman.

Short Cuts at times feels like Magnolia-lite, but at many times feels more ambitious. It has a wider scope of characters, and more comedy involved with the story, but I felt that this wider scope left me caring less and having not as strong an impact on the more focussed and defined storylines of Magnolia. There are some fantastic performances in the film such as Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr. and Julianne Moore (who is also brilliant, perhaps even better, in Magnolia) to name a few, and as a whole the film is a very enjoyable, artistic study of human relationships, certainly one of the most interesting films that I have seen.

Downhill Racer (Michael Ritchie, 1969)

Rating: -



This was an unplanned watch, it ended up coming on straight after Short Cuts on TCM, the fantastic open sequence and a cast that included Robert Redford and Gene Hackman made me want to watch more of this lesser known film.

Redford and Hackman both give really strong performances, the first is great as the centre of a character study that looks at a man fighting for success in sports, the second an impatient coach. The script isn't the greatest, but Redford especially does a great job in his role through ways other than speech, important to the development of his character.

Although not a conventional sports film, which appears to have lead to the film being, in my opinion, unfairly maligned by many and a box office failure, Downhill Racer has some beautiful cinematography and great music as well as some fantastic skiing scenes, such as the opening that got me immediately hooked. I noticed this film had a criterion release a few years ago now, and appears to have influenced Redford slightly in eventually starting the famous Sundance institute, an overlooked gem for me that I am very glad I decided to watch, not perfect and with weaknesses, but very interesting and definitely has a lot of strong points.

Panic Button (Chris Crow, 2011)

Rating: +



Me and my brother ended up flicking through Sky Movies for some late night horror films that we knew weren't particularly great, but this was the only one I ended up watching properly and I didn't think it wasn't all that bad actually, a decent low budget film that although wasn't great in parts, was a little more respectful as a horror and a decent to watch film at times.

The plot is far-fetched, and the ending left me with a bad taste, the film is basically a criticism of the social networking of today, cyber bullying in particular. The direction and acting is decent, and although it has its violent moments, and is respectable in its gorey scenes and doesn't fill the film with them for the sake of it, instead focussing more on the psychological side of things, the consequences of the choices humans make and so on. There's two clear references to 2001: A Space Odyssey that I noticed in the film as well, although hardly relevant to the film I found them pretty enjoyable. Overall I thought this was a decent, low budget, independent film that I think certain people might enjoy.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)

Rating: +



The best film of the bunch is the second film of Robert Altman that I watched, from this set and overall, which made for a great introduction to the director. I have mentioned before that one of the reasons why I enjoy the Western genre is the variety of the films involved in this, in films like this the 'Western' part is basically just a label for the stylistic setting of the film, what is more important is the characters that live within it.

This film focusses more on the 'American Dream', the business in America. McCabe is a smart and intelligent man who arrives in the North American town of Presbyterian Church and sets up his own business, a brothel with the help of the intelligent prostitute-turned-businesswoman, Mrs. Miller. These two characters are fascinating individuals, McCabe is an opportunistic and at times greedy man, he likes to have a feeling of superiority and control within his environment, this is immediately displayed in the opening bar scene, he is also stubborn and is at first quite reluctant and even embarrassed to accept the help of a woman, who decides to take his business to the next level by introducing a feel of class to the brothel, something he at first is not interested in.

One of my favourite scenes in the film does a fantastic job of reflecting McCabe's 'superior feeling' character, when he first encounters one of the three hired gunmen in the town, he enters the room wearing his huge fur coat and brings with him cigars to share, sitting down, waiting for McCabe is a man who is bigger than him and wears an even bigger fur coat, he is not interested in a cigar from McCabe, he has his own. Immediately we see McCabe now become a man who thought he had a control of the situation thrown into an uncomfortable environment, we see and hear his panic, attempting to appease the men and attempting to make a deal with them. It soon becomes clear that McCabe is no violent crook as one of the men of the town believes, and is nothing more than an ambitious businessman who has come to underestimate the possible violence he could face.

The relationship of McCabe and Mrs. Miller is as you would expect a strong point of the film, two contrasting and opportunistic, stubborn characters. Mrs. Miller is a determined and strong women whom McCabe often finds himself confused over, we feel sorry at times for both characters, their relationship can be quite tragic. I won't spoil the ending, it's brilliantly crafted, a great reflection of the character of McCabe, and a fantastic twist on the conventional Western showdown, it's also very sad and powerful.

The very last shot we see I thought was a great reflection of the two character's relationship, and it surely influenced the also tragic but equally delightful scene in Sergio Leone's crime masterpiece Once Upon a Time in America, a film which he made 13 years later.

The Backwoods (2006, Koldo Serra)



Dear God. "It can't be that bad" I thought.

I thought wrong.

"A Britain/France/Spain co-production" said the opening credits. What? Three entire sovereign nations? Is The Backwoods some sort of Credit Crunch Tax scheme? No wonder the world's in such financial bobbins.

You can see the pitch now - It's Straw Dogs crossed with that ... ermm ... Eli Roth thing ... and with big name actors! And Land Rovers! And weird children!

The Backwoods actually reminded me of Resident Evil 4 and its subtle take on the Spanish rural working classes. With worse acting.

Poor old Paddy Considine seems especially glum: He wears two facial expressions throughout the entire picture - 'I hope the cheque's cleared' and 'Can I go home now?' - and I suspect Gary Oldman's shame is hidden only by the massive 'tasche that he sports throughout. It's set in the 70s, see? Possibly.

There are menacing inbred yokels, shotguns, home invasions (with the obligatory uncomfortable rape scene), Land Rovers, wet t-shirts, the aforementioned weird child, Oldman saying 'F**k!' a few times and a conveniently placed lake. The lake is possibly the strangest bit yet - It's got its own micro climate about 10 degrees higher than the rest of the locale so ... y'know ... skinny dipping.

Yep, no stone left unturned for The Backwoods.

It's not even unintentionally funny.



If I learn my lines you'll let my dog go, yeah?

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Short films:

Being Bazaar (2012) by Anthony Lau

Harbour's Puddle (2012) by Lucie Mercandal

King Kong (2012) by Gurpreet Sehra

Ten Skies (2012) by Clint Enns

The Timeslide (2012) by Ariana Andrei

To Love is To Let Go? (2012) Sausan Saulat


Disquiet (2011) by S.J. Ramir


1984 (1983) by Ridley Scott


Become An Artist (1982) by William Farley, Don Novello, George Manupelli


Petites Planètes (volume 1): Tom Zé (2010) by Vincent Moon


Petites Planètes (volume 2): Ólöf Arnalds (2010) by Vincent Moon


Petites Planètes (volume 3): José Domingos (2010) by Vincent Moon +


The Waifen Maiden (2003) by Dominic Angerame


10b/65: Silver: Action Brus (1965) by Kurt Kren


Delmer Builds a Machine (2010) by Landon Zakheim


Für Elise (1982) by Christoph Schlingensief


Sign-Off (2010) by Brett Bell


10c/65: Brus wishes you a merry Christmas (1965) by Kurt Kren


7/64: Leda and the Swan (1964) by Kurt Kren +


8/64: Ana - Aktion Brus (1964) by Kurt Kren


9/64: O Christmas Tree (1964) by Kurt Kren


All My Life (1966) by Bruce Baillie


Gaudi (2006) by Gary Adlestein


La Pedrera (2006) by Gary Adlestein


Pixiescope (2003) by Dominic Angerame


Still Frames (2002) by Emmanuel Lefrant


Ulysse (1982) by Agnès Varda


Room 616 (2005) by Frédéric Pelle +

Feature Films:


Last Days Here (2011) by Don Argott, Demian Fenton +


101 (1989) by D.A. Pennebaker

The Blade (1995):
A Serious Man (2009):
The Shaolin Temple (1982): +
3 Idiots (2009): -
Your Highness (2011): +
Titanic (1997):
A Haunted House (2013):
City of God (2002): -
Last Tango in Paris (1972):