ScarletLion's Movie Log

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I figured that given I am watching so many movies at the moment, I :

1) Was clogging up the "Rate the Last Movie you watched" thread with my mini reviews.

2) Need a single place to keep all the rants, praise and general wiffle that I spout.

If anybody comments on my scribblings then thanks. If not, no hard feelings as I'm going to scribble them anyway. I may even do a "Favourite 100 movies" at some point too. Cheers

First up 'Paths of Glory' (1957) :

1.
Kubrick's early movies all seem to be ahead of their time. The camerawork and general imagery in 'The Killing' and '2001' were decades ahead of everybody else. Paths of Glory is no exception. The "over the top" scene was pretty incredible as the camera followed Colonel Dax out of the hole into almost certain death. The move itself was incredibly emotional at the end and just summed up the 'absurdity of war'. I'd go so far as to say it's probably in the Top 15 or 20 WAR movies that I have seen for sure. I wouldn't say it's the most exciting, but it certainly makes you shake your head in disbelief. Based loosely on a true story it depicts man's insanity at the heart of battle. And does it very well.

I actually thought George McReady stole the show. He was terrific as General Mireau and outshone everybody, even Kirk Douglas. Kubrick was 29 when he directed this. Pretty amazing maturity to make something as adult and as intelligent as this movie. It's also amazing to think that this, in my opinion, isn't even Kubrick's best war movie.

A true great. 8.5/10




Cheers. Really enjoyed it. One of those big well known movies that I'm ashamed to say I haven't watched yet. There'll be a few of t in this thread.

Oh and I kind of mucked up the thread title, but there you go. It's just 'all mine' now.



the samoan lawyer's Avatar
Unregistered User
Cheers. Really enjoyed it. One of those big well known movies that I'm ashamed to say I haven't watched yet. There'll be a few of t in this thread.

Oh and I kind of mucked up the thread title, but there you go. It's just 'all mine' now.

I'm the same, loads of movies I should have seen but haven't yet. Wouldn't have it any other way though would ya?


Make sure you keep this updated



Nicely written up and a good film to start with

(hope you don't mind me scribbling something in here even though I don't have the initials SL anywhere in my usename )




2.

'American History X'

I've always been keen to watch this as it's highly rated. Edward Norton's performance stood out as extremely strong and brought back memories of the excellent 'Primal Fear'. Even Furlong was convincing (not an actor I particularly admire). The message was quite clearly spelled out at the end as we read Danny's paper. And that is...... hate doesn't work.

As I was watching it, it became quite clear that:

1) It is a very important film and I can imagine that the reason it's held up so well is that the message is so vital to take on board in order to make society stand up and realise what society should be, and that no matter what "justification" there appears at the time, violence just breeds violence.

2) Unfortunately, the message hasn't got through and the implications of the character's actions still mirror everyday life. I'm sure I don't need to rant anymore about the films moral and how it relates to current affairs, so I won't.

The transformation / 'rehabilitation' of Derek Vinyard was fascinating to watch. I think it all begins when he sees the hypocritical nature of the skinheads in prison (buying drugs from the very people they are supposed to despise) - showing that the neo-nazi bravado is just a sham.

I have 1 question:
WARNING: "Question" spoilers below
The character of 'Lamont' - the black prison inmate that leads to Derek's transformation - How much influence does he really have? And does he have any connection with the 'crips' (the black gang that eventually kill Derek's younger brother?


I thought it was an extremely good watch; although the early basketball scene had the completely wrong tone (felt like something out of Rocky when it needed to be more sinister). So there were minor flaws but overall I'd say it's a movie everyone should have on their lists. It would probably make my Top 100.

8.5/10



American History X is one of my least favourite films ever; i think it's horribly heavy handed and it's way of getting across it's stupidly simple message is disgusting. Glad you liked it though, the reps were mainly for you starting the thread because i think i'll like future entries.



American History X is one of my least favourite films ever; i think it's horribly heavy handed and it's way of getting across it's stupidly simple message is disgusting. Glad you liked it though, the reps were mainly for you starting the thread because i think i'll like future entries.
I think it's purposefully heavy handed. There are plenty of other films that deal with the message in subtler ways.



I have to agree with what Iro said when I reviewed it in my log - it played like an after school special. Good performances and I like the look of the film, but the content just wasn't there.





3.
'A Separation' (2011)

An example of what happens when a couple of white lies snowball into tragedy. It's a study of the human condition more than anything, and the impulsive not compulsive tendency to say and do whatever your instinct tells you.

The subservient nature of women's attitude to men in this film (and in Iran in general) is interesting, as the female lead breaks from that - making the story unfold in the first place. After she does that there's a conflict and a series of events that spiral a little out of control.

I thought there was an annoying flaw in the dialogue, with too many examples of the two protagonists always sarcastically answering a question with a question, like :

"You're not being fair!"
"Oh really, I'm not being fair?"

This seemed to happen every scene in which they were arguing, but it's only a minor detail.

One thing I will say, is that even though I don't speak Persian, the acting in this movie seemed rather incredible. I know very little about the actors used but it genuinely seemed that the casting department had just put the camera in a corner of a real family's apartment at times. Astonishing stuff - so much so that I'm willing to say that I cannot imagine the same all round performance given by a western cast. Every single character was just so real it was something else - even the old man who barely says a word. This tends to be the case with many foreign language movies - I wonder if I would be quite so enthusiastic if I could speak the language. Who knows.

Anyway, I find that while this is a very compelling movie with a fantastically ambiguous ending, although it is slightly overrated in some quarters. I'd give it about 7.6/10




4.
'The Mirror' (1975)

This is my first Tarkovsky film. And I have to say that even if I didn't quite understand all the meanings of the Russian literature and poetry combined with the history of society, I will watch more Tarkovsky films on the strength of the visuals alone. That may sound stupid to some, but I kind of let the entire experience seep into me, as it was clear early on that it would be a difficult film to watch in any sort of traditional manner. So I've not got much to comment on as regards any sort of plot, structure or meaning, safe to say that I enjoyed the "experience" that this film gave me. One of the 10 best looking films I've ever seen.



I watched A Separation for a Hall of Fame and I thought it was excellent. I agree that the characters felt very real. I also really liked that it didn't paint anybody as either hero or villain, but just all flawed humans.



A rather odd double bill for me last night:
5.
'Edge of Seventeen' (2016)



I needed some light relief to watch and wasn't expecting much from this. But I giggled my way through this sharp scripted one and in the end it did surprise me. It's a bit different from you're regular coming of age movie in that it shows that everybody has problems not just the young protagonist. Hailey Steinfeld was absolutely brilliant as the bumbling and unpopular junior (why she was unpopular I don't really know - she seemed a hoot). Woody Harrelson was also a joy to watch in this movie.

I thought the ending brought it down a mark or 2, as it was disappointingly slushy and predictable. But I really enjoyed the overall journey. 7/10

6.
'Persona' (1966)



All that light relief ended when I switched this on. It's one of the best Head***k movies I've ever seen and am still not really sure I fully understood the meaning of it. What I took from it, is that us as humans adapt to different people and situations and therefore we all have a split personality to some degree, as we use our "personas" at different moments. Bergman uses some gorgeous shots to make his point - the angles that he films the two female leads are so intelligent and really see the 2 characters meld together both physically on screen and metaphorically, as the usage of repeat dialogue and confusing imagery appear. He also made the score sound effective because alot of the film is silent, so when we hear some of the beautiful, eerie string sounds they stand out.

Those that think it is a pretentious art film probably need to take a step back and see just how much it might have influenced others. I can imagine that this movie inspired such movies as : 'Enemy' and 'Fight Club' and even 'Donnie Darko' and 'Shutter Island'. All with similar themes. I'd give this 8/10.



A Separation is one of my favourite films, my second favourite from this decade after The Master. Glad you liked it even though you don't as much as i do.

The Edge of Seventeen was good. Not fantastic though i agree with your write-up. Persona i need to see again, i watched it while very tired i do remember liking it though.



A Separation is one of my favourite films, my second favourite from this decade after The Master. Glad you liked it even though you don't as much as i do.

The Edge of Seventeen was good. Not fantastic though i agree with your write-up. Persona i need to see again, i watched it while very tired i do remember liking it though.
Did you agree about the ending in Edge of 17 though? It really disappointed me, the movie was heading for an 8 out of 10 before that.



Did you agree about the ending in Edge of 17 though? It really disappointed me, the movie was heading for an 8 out of 10 before that.
Yah, it wasn't good. Honestly don't think it affected my rating much though. I gave it a
+ so about the same as you did.




7.
'45 years'

I wasn't expecting much from this for some reason. But it turned out it was perfect Friday night film fodder.


WARNING: "plot and ending" spoilers below
The bombshell worked well in the fact that they'd been living a 45 year lie. Everything thy'd shared together was basically a fallacy, which I thought was great concept. I'm not entirely sure why the realisation hits her at the very end scene, as it should really have hit her way before that. I guess the pomp of the dinner hall and dancing just got to her and was perhaps the best example of the falsehood of their relationship.



Charlotte Rampling was her usual fantastic self, but I thought Tom Courtenay hammed it up a bit, especially in the first act when he played the bumbling, mumbling old gent.

Overall a good solid British movie about relationships.



8.
'Y Tu Mamá También' (2001)



Life just doesn't turn out the way you think it will. Dealing with that bobmshell is difficult, but this movie just explained in 2 hours why life is unexpected, brilliant, tragic and uplifting - and you can't plan what is going to happen. It's gone straight into my top 100. I absolutely loved it. There are goofy parts but they didn't take away from the message. The movie is simply about death and loss in my opinion, but to tell it in such an affirming and relatable way is huge credit to Cuaron. I probably need to let the film sink in as I've literally just finished watching. But for now I'd rate it as high as 8.5/10. Superb.



Little Devil's Avatar
MC for the Great Underground Circus
Great movies you have there. You show a good sensibility to aesthetics.

I have to re-watch The Mirror and I'll add Persona to my *to watch list*.

M;any thanks for this.
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