Movie Tab II

Bug -
Captivity -

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"I know, honey. Look at the map. We go your way, that's about four inches. We go my way, it's an inch and a half. You wanna pay for the extra gas?"

A charming, offbeat little New Zealand comedy with the star from The flight of the conchords, Jemaine Clement excelling as the dorky Jarrod on a revenge mission, and Loren Horsley (who unlike Jemaine isn't particularly convincing) as his dorky, on-again-off-again girlfriend. Great soundtrack too...

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http://www.last.fm/user/diezelpower/

Lost Horizon (Frank Capra, 1937)

The most successful and Award-winning filmmaker of the 1930s had his most-personal project edited so that it would make more money during its WWII reissue. They chopped about 20% of Lost Horizon out so they could play it one more time a day and earn those extra War Bonds. Those edited scenes are either gone forever or preserved in low-quality visuals. It kind of explains why the movie is great in the first place, since the film advocates living life to the fullest and being open to all of life's possibilities.



This is a movie where I may diverge with some of my fellow MoFos. I hope I'm wrong, but I can understand how some people might find the "Christian idealism" expressed in Lost Horizon as hokey beyond belief. To me, the film smoothly presages Temple of Doom, Gunga Din, The Man Who Would Be King and all the "socialist" flicks of the '30s/'40s (you guess which ones), to tell a highly adventurous story, but to fill it with beautiful philosophical overtones. Of course, it doesn't hurt that you have Thomas Mitchell and Edward Everett Horton spouting some humorous homoerotic sexual innuendo, especially when the native children repeat it, all because they love "Lovey".



This film starts out as a great adventure with guns blazing and planes flying. Then it turns into a philosophical tale; one which is very dear to my heart. In the middle of the Great Depression and before WWII, its theme of mankind looking out for itself through total love and care is heartwarming and enticing. For me, it's the scenes with the High Lama and Chang which push this movie up to . Even if you think those scenes are too hokey for words (i.e. you don't cry), you should still enjoy the uniqueness of a 70-year-old film which seems more politically- and socially-current than 95% of what's out there now and give it at least

Ultimately, Lost Horizon may never find its full support because the lost scenes will never be found. I guess you just have to have faith that the movie is as good as it seems. Either that or blow off one of the most unique films ever nominated for a Best Film Oscar.

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

No Country for Old Men (The Coen Brothers, 2007) One of the best movies this year. The Coen Brothers always deliver. The ending though was a little hoakey.

Beowulf 3-D
Yakuza Graveyard
Buffalo Bill and the Indians
Munich
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes

I can't really think of anything to say about this batch individually. Overall I didn't love any of them but Munich and 'Piano Tuner' were both good, Buffalo Bill was okay and the other two I wouldn't bother with.

All the President's Men, man this was good.
Network, this too was really good.
The Grinch, I know a lot of people hate the movie version but we really like it.
The Polar Express, enjoyed this more this year for some reason.

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

Drunk, I expect.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Hot Rod-

Bio Dome-

The Departed-

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I'm in movie heaven

The Conversation (Coppola, 1974)



Every time I show this film to someone that hasn't seen it, I hear the saame thing.

"Why haven't I heard about this movie?"

"Why isn't this more popular?"

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Runaway Jury (Fleder, 2003)

Solid film.


The Prestige (Nolan, 2006)

There was more thought here than I expected to find. The plot is, by nature, a difficult one to handle (not to mention disorienting time shifts), but Nolan and crew did very well. There were a few inconsistencies, but the focus was clear the whole way through, and performances by Bale, Caine, and a few supporters were quite captivating.

Tears of the Black Tiger (Wisit Sasanatieng, 2000)



This is a stylish Thai romantic melodrama, filled with sad love songs on the soundtrack, yet it seems to fancy itself to be a western at times. Most of the film seems to be set in the mid-20th century with characters riding in cars and the police riding in trucks. But the "bad guys" all ride horses and wear clothes which would most likely be found worn at a dude ranch. Yes, they use pistols and shotguns, but sometimes they use machine guns and bazookas too.

For the most part, the film is very melancholy, which does keep it firmly planted in the East Asian tradition, but when the violence erupts, it's pretty graphic. The director uses many stylistic devices, including painted backdrops (see above), colored filters, and computer technology to sometimes drain the film of its color or other times to add in pastels. The film is watchable, but the mishmash of genres and time periods, ultimately make it seem like too much of a gimmick movie. I'd recommend that one watch it because it might really hit home with you, but for several others, one viewing will be enough, or perhaps, even too much. That said, the director is a talent to watch.

Shrek the Third - bits of it were funny, but not as good as the first or second films.

My Favorite Year (1982)

Showbiz comedy similar to (but earlier than) Soapdish, Noises Off and Death to Smoochy. Liked it better than each of those except Smooch, but still found it pretty avg. minus two exceptional things that I will recommend seeing this for: 1) Peter O'Toole's performance as Alan Swan, a pathetically charming movie star drifting through a series one-night stands and drunken misadventures still afloat on his movie-stardom. 2) one of the plots involves TV comedian King Kaiser parodying a "real life" union-boss on his show, and there's a great scene where the boss comes into the studio to intimidate them into dropping the sketch. Kaiser shows up in costume to pull a sort of Groucho/Harpo mirror routine with the two acting almost identical stereotypical gangsters. In terms of writing and execution that was the best scene in the movie (and pushes it from a to a )

That Forsyte Woman (1949) A rather silly, melodramatic version of the first part of The Forsyte Saga. Soames' violence towards his wife is significantly toned down which rather takes the sting out of the tale, and the ending is poor.

Another pleasant surprise from the lists (sounds daft I know, but I haven't liked all the films I've seen from them), well written, intelligent and fast paced but easy to follow (as opposed to the disastrous The big sleep). Too bad Bacall wasn't in it...



Another brilliant documentary by an extraordinary director about another extraordinary man that had my stomach in a knot for an hour and a half. I haven't seen a bad film from Herzog yet and I'm very excited and anxious to explore his back catalog further.

Shrek the Third


I gave it a thumbs down because I can't not compare it to the first one, which I would give two thumbs up. I tried and tried and tried to think about it as a self containing movie, but I failed, miserably. Oh well. I don't even remember a lot of what happened in the movie. Shrek's kind of an A-hole. A little aggressive toward his, "friends." The donkey shouldn't put up with his crap, now that he's dating, or married to, a dragon with kids. He's got to set an example unless he wants his donkey-dragon kids to be side kicks when they grow up. He should really work on that, I'm talking about the donkey, he should work on that. That cat, Puss In Boots, is a playa'playa fo' realz'. I was like, "Daaaaaang." Maybe I should stop watching dumb movies like this one, even though it might not be entirely dumb, but maybe it is.

Oh. And what's with them puttin' hippies in the movie? I'm talkin' about the wizard. Pacifists are just as dangerous as warmongers. I'm talkin' about polarization people! Don't let it fool you.

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Grizzly Man is pretty amazing. I like his way of being. Like a flower or a samurai.

Waitress
I really liked it. Loved both Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion. He was pretty adorable as the befuddled Dr. Great date movie.

The Grass Is Greener (1960)
I liked it alright, but nothing special. Nice cast. I love Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr together. However, I've liked their other flicks better like An Affair to Remember and Dream Wife. Also...it's pretty unbelievable that any woman who had Cary Grant as a husband would have an affair.

The Grifters Didn't really like it.

Wuh-wuh-whuh?

Care to elaborate why not?