Movie Tab II

I highly recommend Funny Games as well, it will pretty much give you the full Haneke experience. Including a rather infamous scene that I think is brilliant. But, we can discuss that later as it is a major spoiler. I haven't seen Amour yet, but I've heard it described as the film that proves Haneke actually has a heart. So that should be interesting.

I left out another movie in my earlier post that I want to show some love to:

The Fox and the Hound (1981, Ted Berman, Richard Rich, Art Stevens)

A really touching Disney picture about friendship against all odds, and how good always prevails, and people can change, and etc... It has a lot of cliches, but it's just so damn sweet that it doesn't matter. I love this movie.

Quick jabs:

Take The Money And Run (1969, Allen):
Adam's Rib (1949, Cukor): +
The Nanny (1965, Holt): +
Ride The High Country (1962, Peckinpah):
Winchester '73 (1950, A. Mann): +
Seven Psychopaths (2012, McDonagh):



End of Watch (2012, Ayer): +
House of Games (1987, Mamet): +
The Good German (2007, Soderbergh): +
True Grit (2010, Coens):
Four Lions (2009, Morris): +
The Campaign (2012, Roach): +

And a small Joon-ho Bong marathon:

The Host (2006): +
Memories of Murder (2004): +
Mother (2009): +

Even though this board feels otherwise, I find Bong movies overrated and cartoony. They're OK, nothing more.

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

i don't like stoner films either

Just some quick rating...

A Crude Awakening
Four Lions
It's funny, but the ending is so bizarre it actually took me back. I would've wished for it just to keep it's juvenile humor and try not to mix it with dramatics, but it's certainly humorous.

The Young Savages & The Manchurian Candidate
I'd give both these Frankenheimer films the same rating, I wrote some on both in my self challenge thread, along with Ronin.
Ronin
(Rewatch) Anything Else
Farewell my Concubine
The Odd Couple +
A Hysterical comedy which manages not to feel dated to any degree. No, there's nothing genius about the idea, but the story points flowed together well. The acting and facial expressions brought as many laughs as the jokes themselves.

Three Colors: Blue +
I'll review in my self challenge thread when I'm done finishing the trilogy, but it's a magnificent start. Beautiful in every sense of the word.

Also, inspired by Lines my top ten for the month of April 2013. Rewatches are invalid.
1. Three Colors: Blue
2. Monsieur Hire
3. King Size Canary
4. Education for Death
5. The Odd Couple
6. Cube 2: Hypercube
7. Inside North Korea
8. Everything Will be Ok
9. The Young Savages
10. The Ascent

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The Lords of Salem (2013):
To the Wonder (2013): -
Blue Velvet (1986):
The Last Stand (2013): +
Perfect Blue (1997): +
The Breakfast Club (1985): -
The Thin Red Line (1998):
Hotel Chevalier (2007): -
The Darjeeling Limited (2007): +

Mark of Zorro 1940 with Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone and a very solid cast including Gale Sondergaard and the gravel voiced Eugene Pallette. This is a favorite from childhood that remains so in middle age.







The Pink Panther Strikes Again this has got to be the most slapstick out of the entire clousteau regime. It's a shame to have found out that Peter Sellers HATED doing that character.

Metropolis. All other gifts in this post are from To The Wonder. Because I can!

Soundtrack to this post:

Caligula -

Well, if you ask me it was OK. The porn scenes didn't spoil the movie, even if they were kind of over the top, but come on, Romans loved to fribble. McDowell was great portraying the psychopath and his sick desires. Rest of the crew did a decent job with Gielgud, Mirren and O'Toole giving nice, but not amazing performances. Loved the scenography. Especially the splenderous chambers and the moving wall of death with razor blades spinning and cutting heads off. Who came up with it was a genius. Sometimes it has this B movie feel, especially with the gore scenes (sic!) but other than that it's a good insight into the life of Ceasar, even though it's not too historically accurate, compared to flicks like Gladiator it's a history book.



Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans -

A true gem of silent cinema occupying the second place of my favourite silent films being inferior only to The Passion of Joan of Arc. One of these films that I really got into and felt sympathy to the protagonists. In the middle of the film, when I felt the happiness of the couple leaking out of the screen it was an extraordinary experience! The best melodrama I've ever seen. (?)



Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom -

Not an easy film to watch due to the amount of violence seen on the screen. It's not a slasher with hectoliters of artificial blood, but a really sad drama portraying people being sexual slaves to a group of wealthy perverts trying to realize their wildest sexual desires including acts of coprophilia and other sick things. The fact the deviants act according to predetarmined rules makes this movie even more horrific.



I Am Cuba -

A movie that remained almost unknown until it was seen by Scorsese and Coppola, who promoted it. Soviet-Cuban co-production gave birth to a propagandist film, in which guerillas are portrayed as heroes. Other than that we have three interesting stories, of which the most interesting could be one of a assassin, who couldn't kill his target, because "he had scrambled eggs on breakfast"... and it's not funny, you have to see the scene to know what's the point, as always I don't want to spoil too much.
But leave the story and focus on cinematography, as the movie has one of the most impressing camera takes I've ever seen. Especially genuine tracking shots of a mob and more. A must see for every nice-visuals admirer. Oh, and Guaporense, don't watch it, because you will most likely call it a propaganda crap and rate it , even though the "enjoyment" rating would be something like .



The Wayward Cloud -

In my short pean in 'Rate the last movie you've seen' I said I probably forgot something trying to make out the longest possible descriptions of the genre, this film belongs to. I forgot to add 'culinary'. Big crabs bite! Yay!



Metropolis -

Another great silent! It felt like Orwell's world mixed with some religious themes to spice it up. Impressive scenography and false vision of future world made the film kind of cyber-punk even though it wasn't intended! 20's planes flying next to highways floating between the skyscrapers? Seven sins, Great Babilon and mob raising against authorities? All of this and a lot more to be seen in Metropolis being a harbringer of a masterpiece Lang has made few years later.



City Lights -

I'm not keen on comedies, so I thought I'm gonna hate it, but strangely enough I enjoyed it! I even laughed a bit like 2 or 3 times and smiled all the way through. Even if Chaplin's gags aren't funny they ain't pathetic neither, which makes this flick an easy-watching piece of entertainment. Planning to watch The Dictator next. The idea of making fun of Nazis and Hitler himself tells me it's a good movie!



To the Wonder -

I love how Malick doesn't give a flying damn about people's opinions and keeps making the films in his own style. The Tree of Life received Palme d'Or, but it wasn't a financial success (at least in my country). The critics divided into two camps. One claiming it's a masterpiece, the other it's a piece of pretentious crap. To the Wonder is so similar to The Tree of Life, it may be a part of trilogy (next film to be released in 2013). Once again Lubetzki proves he's a genius providing the most impressive cinematography I've seen since The Tree of Life. The story is very religious-concerned, but as in The Tree of Life it seems to transcend the borders of Christianity and Western Civilization producing an universal meaning. It's not only about God, but also, or maybe mainly, about marriage. The relationship between a couple. Olga Kurylenko reminded me of some characters from Raffael Santi painting, only skinnier, being a tool in hands of Lubetzki.



Ikiru -

Another classic. This time it's Kurosawa. Shimura gives an outstanding performance and the movie is great, but a tiny disappointment nevertheless. My expectations were too high, I guess. It didn't top my favourite Kurosawa - Rashomon and I find another film with a similar theme - The Quiet Duet better.



Primer -

Legit independent American cinema. Really mind-tuggling, very hard to understand, story. Acting is a letdown, but considering it's an half-amateur production it's not a big deal. Recommended for physics enthusiasts.



A History of Violence -

As the title suggests it's a violent film. It shows it's not so easy to flee from your previous life and that people are not always what or who they seem to be.



The Hunt -

Is well-developed welfare and self-awareness in Scandinavia a good thing at all? Sure it is! But it leads to situations like that. Watch the film to find out what I mean.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Haven't been able to see as much lately with deadlines approaching, what I have been able to catch over the past few weeks:

The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006)
Bronson (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2008) -
Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)
Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen, 1985)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972)

I thought that I Am Cuba is surrealictic,now I might even watch it.

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

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100 Favourites From The Future: REWIRED

I think your movie is Invasion.

I like ICfOS well enough and I consider it a classic, but the main problem I have is with the dumb sheriff (although he comes around) and the "lynch mob". Bradbury's script is thoughtful at times, but I didn't think the film was as good as The Incredible Shrinking Man which I saw a few days earlier. It's all relative, but Outer Space was the best of the four Richard Carlson films I watched that day.

Hmmm...are you sure? I can find nothing online under that title. It would have been made in the 50's to early 60's I'd guess.

Here is a link. Also if you go to the page the photo is from, there's a brief description.

Muchas gracias

Strangely didn't appear when I put the title into IMDB.

Lola rennt / Run Lola Run (1998) - that is probably the fastest film I've seen.I enjoyed it,it was interesting,although sometimes too bizarre.

Casualties of War (1989) - that was a very interesting war drama not exactly about war but,as the title says,about the consequences of war.First half of the film is much much better than the second half but overall I liked the dark and different De Palma take on the war.I've got to thank Linespalsy for recommendation.

The Godfather Trilogy (1972-1990) - first Godfather film still remains the best film ever made for me.It's absolutely flawless and it could be an example of a perfect film.As I mentioned in my top 100 thread,every aspect of the film is above average - acting is memorable,screenplay is just perfect and F.F.Coppola's vision perfectly fitted the story.Cinematography is wonderful and the whole plot just flows along with music,dialogue,culmination and character development.Also,this movie proves that films can be both art and entertainment.
Now,the second film is also significant but second is second.It's not the same.Actually,I believe that the second one has better camera work and I prefer Vito Corleone played by De Niro,although his story seems a bit undeveloped especially considering how detailed the whole Godfather franchise is.Another thing,which I noticed is that is follows a similar formula to the first film,especially towards the end.
The third one is really weaker,even the acting is bothering me a bit and the whole story seems too much.I enjoyed it but in terms of craftsmanship,it's the weakest of the series.

There Will Be Blood (2007) - I really love this film and it's a delight for me but every time I see it,I think that it is flawed somewhere.Now,I really love the two main characters and the silent battle between them,I love the cinematography and the theme of the film,the story is great but I'm thinking maybe the plot is not so consistent,maybe even a bit jumpy.Not sure actually,maybe it's because,after seeing Godfather,every other film seems worse.

Gangster Squad (2013) - The first time I've heard of this film,I thought it will be good.When I saw the trailer,I expected it to be at least enjoyable but when I finally saw the film tiself,I think it was tragic.Phony violence,cliche characters,absolutely worthless dialogue and the plot is way too fast.Sean Penn acting just killed me,he was just "overplaying" his character.Also,this movie tried to make some catchy phrases which were not only not funny but maybe even pathetic.The films had resources but lacked talent.

Forrest Gump (1994) - Seeing this film for 7th or 8th time,I'm starting to understand what Roger Ebert meant by saying that it is a magical film.You can always find something new about it and it amazes me how differently I interpret it every time I rewatch it.This film has everything from politics to culture,from war to hippies,from love to business and I could go on and on.This time I noticed how accurately it tells about destiny and life,how unexpected the life might be and notice how the characters are drifting like the feather at the beginning and in the end of the film.Watching it during different periods of my short life I always manage to connect with it in different ways.I used to prefer Forrest Gump character over others but now I like watching Lt. Dan's or Jenny's unstable lives and Forrest's impact on them.It's the best drama I've seen and probably one of the simplest yet most humane films that have ever been created.It just proves that the best things are the simplest ones.

I need to re-read/watch Nausicaa. I remember the comic being a lot better, but I guess the story was only about 1/4-1/3 of the way done when the movie came out. ...Then again, I think the Akira movie is better than the comic, and that's pretty much the same deal.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding
One of those feel-good about life, love, family films. Just enjoyment for enjoyment's sake. This is one from the collection that is on high rotation for late night, drifting off to sleep to.

Bunraku
Title is named after Japanese puppet theater and some of the cinematic contraptions follow suite. It's flashy, wonderfully corny, with a graphic, artistic flair to the camera work.

Werewolf; The Beast Among Us
actually skipped through after the first 30 mins just to see how the premise worked its way out

Mission Impossible; Ghost Protocol
This was a re-watch. I was a fan of the first and second and tried to watch the third, and couldn't. Number 4 had all the great twists, high-energy action that make this series worthwhile. Newcomers Simon Pegg, Jeremy Perren and Paula Patton round off Tom Cruise's team of MIF agents.
I think I need to watch #1 again. **insert MI theme song here**