Inmate's Snazzily-Titled Film Log

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Most of the Allen films I'd recommend aren't the ones you've seen. I don't know if that's encouraging or not.
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5-time MoFo Award winner.



man who would've thought that writing less than two sentences a movie could be such a challenge.

January 26th: Obvious Child



this was pretty good. jenny slate is great, and i imagine if i was a female i would probably relate to this a lot.

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January 28th: Night and the City



really dark and gritty noir. i wasn't really into it in the first half, but by the end i was loving it. the cinematography was excellent too.

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January 30th: Temple Grandin



this was fine. claire danes was good, but i thought she kind of overacted. otherwise this is basically everything you would expect from a movie like this, but there were a few touching moments so i guess i liked it.




January 31st: Goodbye to Language



words cannot even begin to describe. it's so visually spectacular that it really doesn't even matter what else is going on, and a lot of the time it's hard to decipher, but when you step back and take in the whole thing, it's actually kind of sad and beautiful. i felt the characters alienation towards contemporary society more deeply than i have in any of the other godards i've seen. it's about looking at life in a different way, and it was successful because it made human existence seem more meaningless, but also limitless and beautiful at the same time. then of course the 3d was outstanding and literally every shot was fascinating in some new way and it was all just sort of mind-blowing. go see it, but unless it's in 3d you're just wasting your time.




January 31st, Part 2: Days of Wine and Roses



this was good and it had some great scenes and great performances, but i guess i just struggle with these movies that take an almost episodic approach to these lives. it's hard for me to get real emotionally attached when it keeps jumping forward in time. it's the same problem i had with serpico. i liked all of the individual scenes, and there's no one moment that specifically bores me. on paper they're great movies, it's just when i ask myself how much i care about what's going on, it's surprisingly low. this was still better than seprico though.




i'm bumping this, but i won't be doing a post for every movie i watch.

September 13: The Thin Red Line



really beautiful. it isn't unique in that it doesn't really say anything about war that hasn't been said dozens of times already, but it is unique in that it says it more eloquently and poetically than any film i've seen. the one shot where the camera is following a soldier into a bunker and then the camera makes a turn towards a japanese soldier who is cowering from the camera and you're placed directly in the shoes of one of the soldiers just for a second was by far the most powerful moment in the film for me. despite their best efforts, i don't think any piece of art has ever made the horror of war feel so immediate and distressing and evil as the thin red line did in just one shot, although that whole scene is similarly powerful. the performances are all great. nick nolte is one of the most underrated actors of our time and elias koteas looks like robert de niro and christopher meloni had a baby.

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September 13th, Part II: The Gift



the scariest thing about this movie is going to be how close to reality it could be for some people. it's sort of like a haneke film although edgerton seems to have more respect for his audience. the first half resonated with me because my parents had a friend who was always sort of inviting himself over and giving my parents stuff when i was a kid. not that my parents' friend was anything like edgerton, but there were some parallels. the movie is terrifying in that no matter how well-off this couple is, you know the whole time that they're eventually going to somehow be torn apart by this one guy. then the second half is terrifying because it hits upon just how easily human beings are cruel to each other and how someone's total lack of morality can stay under the surface and never quite reveal itself until it's too late. i called some of the twists early on, but it didn't take away from the suspense, and in some ways it helped. i love jason bateman, and he is so good at playing white-bred pricks that i'm not sure i'll ever be able to see him as anything else.

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January 1st, Part 2: Flesh



really intimate and honest portrayal of a male prostitute with a somewhat exciting experimental feel to it, thanks to the loud cuts. it drags in places, but overall i liked it and i'm really fascinated by underground cinema like this.


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Loved Joe Dallesandro
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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha